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Freya is an amazing goddess full of potential, and while she's not perfect, she's an incredible goddess with pros that vastly outweigh the cons.
Pros:
Before you can do anything with her, you need to know what Freya's skills can do!
This provides 15% magical lifesteal, which is very useful for staying alive in the jungle or in the lane. It can also provide just enough health to survive an encounter with an enemy. |
Freya is a very versatile goddess, despite being fairly straightforward. She is viable in the ADC, Jungle, and Solo roles, though most commonly she will be in the ADC role. When playing Freya the builds you use will remain the same regardless of your role. With the changes in Season 2 and the return of penetration on Shoes of the Magi, the full damage build is ideal.
Keeping her versatility in mind, Freya is most comfortable in the ADC role. She has fairly strong clear and can outclear a large amount of hunters, and comes online much sooner. She enjoys the farm and possible matchups on duo lane, though can be successful in the jungle and on solo lane depending on the team compositions.
Aegis Pendant is a great for absorbing burst damage from enemies, however it's extremely situational. This will mostly be used against teams with a lot of burst and low crowd control. It can also be used in situations when you don't quite know what to buy. This item has replaced Greater Aegis due to changes that made Greater Aegis un-usable while being stunned or silenced. |
Weakening Curse is an amazing item against teams with strong heals, as well as good for team fights. All enemies in range are slowed by a huge amount making their escape extremely difficult and all of your attacks easier to land. |
Heavenly Agility is a great item for escaping or chasing targets down, while it may lack the ability to slow multiple enemies it will allow you to catch any would have been out of Weakening Curse's range. High base movement speed from Shoes of the Magi or Shoes of Focus and Hastened Fatalis along with Heavenly Agility's boost makes you near uncatchable and inescapable. It will also give your team a movement speed boost, giving your whole team stronger chase or escape potential. |
Greater Purification is invaluable against teams with large amounts of CC. It removes any cc effects while giving you immunity to new ones for three seconds. This is one of those items that can singlehandedly turn a fight from a defeat into a victory. |
Magi's Blessing | Magi's Blessing is an item you will very rarely ever need, however against Arachne and Loki it's extremely useful. It will automatically cleanse their stuns and allow you to immediately counter attack or flee if need be. |
Witchblade is great against physical basic attack gods. It lowers their attack speed by 15% and their power by 25. It also provides movement speed, which when combined with the slow from Pulse will allow you to keep an enemy at a distance or make it harder for them to escape from you. |
Winged Blade is a very niche item, however when it's needed it can be very useful. This is great against an opponent or against teams that heavily rely on slows. It can be very useful against Nemesis, Loki, any other gods with abilities that slow you. It's also an option to consider when facing gods that like to build Frostbound Hammer such as Bakasura, or against gods that like to build Gem of Isolation such as Posiedon. Ironically, this item can be used against Freya as well. |
Hide of the Nemean Lion is a great defensive item against basic attack gods like Mercury, Loki, and various Assassins that depend on this method of killing as it punishes their offense by reflecting damage. Large amounts of lifesteal render the damage this item deals nearly worthless, so be cautious of using this against hunters who almost always have lifesteal in their builds. |
Obsidian Shard grants 70 magic power and 33% magic penetration, making it a great item to get through an opponent's defenses. If you aren't getting decent damage on enemies this is certainly a great item to consider. It will also allow you to kill objectives significantly faster, so be sure to pick it up of that's an issue for you or your team. |
Spear of the Magus gives only 40 magic power and 15% penetration, but for every hit you'll reduce your target's magic defense by 10+10% for 5 seconds, up to 2 stacks for a total of 20+20%. Thanks to Irradiate and Pulse making your basic attacks count as abilities you can maintain this debuff throughout the entire fight with your target. This item won't allow you to kill objectives faster like Obsidian Shard will, however it's great against teams with multiple bruisers/tanks due to Freya's ability to keep its passive stacked on multiple targets throughout a fight. |
Mystical Mail is good to use against teams that use ability based physical damage. This will allow you to get free damage from simply being on the battlefield. This item has limited use, as Freya gets more benefit from Midgardian Mail or Hide of the Nemean Lion when 1v1ing Assassins or Hunters, and will rarely build any of these items outside of 1v1s. That being said, this item is still worth mentioning. |
Midgardian Mail is strong against Assassins and Hunters, it allows you to slow their basic attacks and movement speed making it easier to box them or escape from them. It provides a very fair amount of health and physical protection as well, though it does come with the downside of only having a chance of working instead of working on demand. |
Freya is an excellent addition to any team fight, bringing in massive damage as well as CC to take a key target out just long enough to let your team set up a combo or to save them from a massive threat just long enough to re-position themselves.
When in a team fight recognizing when to use your Irradiate+ Pulse combo, or when to only use Pulse is important. Your combo can be bodyblocked, whereas Pulse by itself is trickier and requires the enemy gods to have distance between them to block it. A general rule of thumb is to use your burst combo if on a target if they're spread out, and to only use Pulse if they're grouped up. This will also slow all of the targets in range of the area of effect, making escape more difficult for the enemy team.
Banish is tricky to use in a team fight, you can ruin your team's burst combos just as easily as you can save them from certain death with it. A Freya who uses Banish well is a huge asset to their team, while one that can't make good use of it will do nothing but hinder them. Banish can be used as a great initiation skill, or as a way to secure a kill by keeping them airborn long enough for your team to catch up and end them.
Valkyrie's Discretion brings a huge nuke to any teamfight, and if you manage to catch the enemy team grouped up they're in for a world of hurt. It's also a great way to ensure anything under half HP won't escape, or at the very least can't turn their situation around.
Pulse makes dealing with minion waves or jungle camps much easier early game, and allows you to plow through them in seconds by mid game. Freya's ability to hit hard with constant AoE makes her an excellent jungler.
Jungle Starting Items:
8/14/2014 -
Updated situational items.
Added situational items to purchase order list.
Fixed grammatical errors.
1/25/2015 -
Added Valkyric Destruction build (traditional Freya build).
Edited Introduction slightly.
Updated Situational Items.
Updated Jungling Items.
Updated Jungling guide.
Edited the name of Hades' ultimate to be correct.
Edited various parts of the guide to be more visually appealing.
1/29/2015 -
Switched the Notes and Changelog sections.
Added a 1v1 video of Freya vs Bakasura to the Videos section.
2/6/2015 -
Corrected various grammar mistakes.
7/25/2015 -
Added a Viable Roles section.
8/14/2015 -
Edited Jungle section and corrected typos.
Removed old Replays from Videos section.
Updated Builds (Specifically Actives).
9/9/2015 -
Removed Video section description since I have a video up.
Removed Fist of the Gods as an optional active item. (Due to the ineffectiveness of HoG)
Replaced Greater Aegis with Aegis Pendant
This guide is a work in progress, things may be changed or added.
Suggestions are always welcome, feel free to suggest any improvements you can think of.
-2/6/2015-
We have exciting new conquest changes ahead of us, unfortunately I'm unsure if I'll be able to invest a lot of time with Freya on the new map. Even if I can it will take a while to incorporate the new items and actives into the builds/playstyles, however if I can find time I will certainly try.
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Hey Zanryuu,
Great guide. Upvoted. I'm thinking of making an arena guide for her, and I think my general build (mentioned in more detail in my assault guide) is similar to yours overall.
Since you probably have a ton more experience with her than I do, wondering how you might differ a general build for an arena match. I'm trying to decide if at least 1 CDR item would be worth it, or if 1 protection item (e.g. Spirit Robe) might be beneficial over other standard items.
I start out the same way your Valkyric Destruction does... Shoes of the Magi, Hastened Fatalis, Demonic Grip. Not sure if Focus might work first, but other than that possible deviation, I consider those the 3 starting items for obvious reasons. And of course Rod of Tahuti is essential for damage, though usually built late because of price and increasing power based on power contribution from previous items.
So, final 2 items. Depending on how people are building, Spear of the Magus could really help things, but if Magi is chosen, in combo with Grip, that might be enough penetration to be effective for bruisers and under. Could I throw Spirit Robe in there for some survivability? Maybe alternate option would be Chronos' Pendant for higher CDR and power? And then final option (not necessarily last item) being perhaps Polynomicon...or Bancroft's Talon though I'd prefer Poly myself. Thoughts?
With regard to your guide, if you like your setup right now, more power to you. But since there are large chunks of text, have you thought of using spoilers? Check out one of my guides to see how I employ it myself. Might make it look a bit cleaner.
With regard to the 1/2 combo, you might go into a bit of detail to how you can start with Pulse, ensure a hit with that for the slow (thereby making them an easier target to hit subsequently), and then activate Irradiate after?
Finally, I think you only mention Hastened Fatalis with regard to its offensive capabilities (mostly attack speed), but with the increased move speed and avoiding the movement penalty, perhaps you could also mention that getting it early can really help reduce damage via juking and creating distance if you need to retreat...?
Thanks a lot, I appreciate your opinion of my guide. I was worried about my guide having too many words when I first created it, I always brought it up when I asked the people I know what they thought of my guide so it's good to have feedback on that. I'll definitely work on including the defensive potential of Hastened Fatalis when I have some time to really get in there and edit my guide, since there are a few other things I want to change as well.
As for your question, in Arena I consider Shoes of the Magi, Hastened Fatalis, Demonic Grip, and Rod of Tahuti (with Rod being the 6th item) core items. For the remaining two slots I usually build Spear of the Magus and Bancroft's Talon/Pythagoreom's Piece. I'd recommend keeping Spear of the Magus for dealing with warriors and gaurdians. Spirit Robe would be great against CC heavy teams, especially if it's magic AND physical damage that's taking you out. If it's mostly physical, consider a Breastplate of Valor or Hide of the Nemean Lion if they have two or more basic attacking gods. If you want a little bit of cooldown and some extra sustain after kills the new Mail of Renewal is pretty good. If magic is taking you out consider trying a Stone of Gaia.
I personally prefer full damage, but if you want a bit more utility then Chronos Pendant is good. I'm not a fan on Polynomicon on Freya anymore, since it's harder to confirm that hit after banish and you can't hold the proc from Poly, as once you've used your steroids if you don't attack you're just wasting them. If you want to be a jerk, Gem of Isolation is a great item. It basically ensures that anyone without anti-slow can't get away from you unless they have an escape. If it's got Gem of Isolation in it, call it the Doombringer build 'cause there's not really much anyone can do to get away from that kind of slowing power. It's easily one of my favorite things to build on her.
Great guide. Upvoted. I'm thinking of making an arena guide for her, and I think my general build (mentioned in more detail in my assault guide) is similar to yours overall.
Since you probably have a ton more experience with her than I do, wondering how you might differ a general build for an arena match. I'm trying to decide if at least 1 CDR item would be worth it, or if 1 protection item (e.g. Spirit Robe) might be beneficial over other standard items.
I start out the same way your Valkyric Destruction does... Shoes of the Magi, Hastened Fatalis, Demonic Grip. Not sure if Focus might work first, but other than that possible deviation, I consider those the 3 starting items for obvious reasons. And of course Rod of Tahuti is essential for damage, though usually built late because of price and increasing power based on power contribution from previous items.
So, final 2 items. Depending on how people are building, Spear of the Magus could really help things, but if Magi is chosen, in combo with Grip, that might be enough penetration to be effective for bruisers and under. Could I throw Spirit Robe in there for some survivability? Maybe alternate option would be Chronos' Pendant for higher CDR and power? And then final option (not necessarily last item) being perhaps Polynomicon...or Bancroft's Talon though I'd prefer Poly myself. Thoughts?
With regard to your guide, if you like your setup right now, more power to you. But since there are large chunks of text, have you thought of using spoilers? Check out one of my guides to see how I employ it myself. Might make it look a bit cleaner.
With regard to the 1/2 combo, you might go into a bit of detail to how you can start with Pulse, ensure a hit with that for the slow (thereby making them an easier target to hit subsequently), and then activate Irradiate after?
Finally, I think you only mention Hastened Fatalis with regard to its offensive capabilities (mostly attack speed), but with the increased move speed and avoiding the movement penalty, perhaps you could also mention that getting it early can really help reduce damage via juking and creating distance if you need to retreat...?
With the first build here, with Chronos' Pendant and Shoes of Focus you should not have to worry to much about cooldown, but if you go for the more aggressive build, you need to make sure you are not being bated before chasing, and ward a lot helps also for the laning phase.
I personally prefer Vampiric Shroud for better sustain (the longer you stay on the lane, the faster you lvl up). I'm not sure how the Soulstone works with Freya. I mean, do you release the extra power when activating Pulse and filling it after your 5 basic attacks? If that's the case that might be OP, just need a few mana potions...
There was also a Freya on their team. Everytime she was done with Pulse she would take off. Its like noone does hamd to hand with her. Except minions. Ive had some success with just Irradiate when i didnt have mana for Pulse or it was cooling off. I like rushing with her. ;)
Also ive been using Soul Stone overDemonic Shroud but ive only done that for 3 matches. Soul Stone twice.
My friends also tell me shes a Mid lane.. And its pretty rough. Ive been pit against Poseidon and Anubis. That nonsense dont feel right :/
Actually that's what I do these days, at the time of writing the guide I primarily did 1v1 and I used the same build in Conquest because I enjoyed the ability to take towers easily. It was written before the changes to Ao Kuang, which was the patch where they nerfed Freya's ability damage to objectives. I actually need to change that part of the guide to include Spear of the Magus as a normal item in that guild. Thanks for pointing it out, it completely slipped my mind.
Not a problem, good guide, thanks for taking the time to write all of this. +1
Have you ever thought about getting Demonic Grip and Spear of the Magus? They both proc if you hit with either you 1 or 2. Essentially... it makes Freya do true damage to anyone under 90 magic protections, and anyone above gets severely hurt anyways.
Actually that's what I do these days, at the time of writing the guide I primarily did 1v1 and I used the same build in Conquest because I enjoyed the ability to take towers easily. It was written before the changes to Ao Kuang, which was the patch where they nerfed Freya's ability damage to objectives. I actually need to change that part of the guide to include Spear of the Magus as a normal item in that guild. Thanks for pointing it out, it completely slipped my mind.
Thanks for your reply! :)
In the meantime, I had plenty of time to test that by myself and confirm what you said! :D
Awesome! Good to hear you're enjoying Freya and interested in maximizing her potential. Freya is bae yo
In the meantime, I had plenty of time to test that by myself and confirm what you said! :D