"Winter is Coming..." - Joust Guide *outdated*

Hi guys and girls,
I'm CakeSlapping or CAKE SLAP, a casual player who's been enjoying Smite since the Xbox beta.
I've loved the thrill of PvP ever since the first time I played against my brother at Micro Machines on the PS1, and have since become competent at various PvP genres, however Smite is my first MOBA.

So, here is my build guide for playing Skadi which will hopefully help improve your game.
Hope you enjoy.

I'm currently taking a short break from Smite, but I will be updating this guide to reflect the most recent patches when I come back to the game, in a few weeks time.

Skadi is the Norse god of Cold weather, skiing and big fluffy wolves with funny names.



She is a hunter who is quite unique, in the way that she interacts with her pet Kaldr on the battlefield. She is able to put great pressure on single opponents and towers, by utilising Kaldr to attack them.

During teamfights she is able to effectively disrupt the movement and positioning of her enemies by using her AoE and crowd-control abilities, and then quickly burst down gods who get separated from their team.

I haven't actually had time to put any Skadi clips together yet, so in the meantime please enjoy this Raijin drum solo.
Play Video

Now you may think my Skill levelling looks a little chaotic, but there is method to the madness, and levelling the skills in this order gives you, in my opinion, a better pressure and zoning game, and more kill potential, than just straight maxing your 1, then 2, then 3.

So you'll see that firstly you want a point in each of your abilities to start with, so that you have all your tools available and Kaldr has his dash. You will want to put a point into your ult whenever available, to increase the damage, and more importantly the root duration on it.

After each ability has a point in it you want to prioritise Piercing Cold until it has 3 points in it. With 3 points it does enough damage to let you comfortably clear minion waves with a Piercing Cold and a handful of basic attacks. And it will have a 30% slow on it, which is more than enough to give you some solid kill potential.

Next you will want to put a second point into Rune Of The Hunt to bump up Kaldr's damage to 80% of your own basic damage.
From then you want to prioritise maxing Permafrost. Levelling up Permafrost increases its radius, which gives you a much greater pressure and zoning game, sooner than if you had maxed Piercing Cold first. Having a bigger ice field means you can catch people from further with it, disrupt people longer with it, have a bigger area to boost your own speed with and more, which are all much bigger benefits than the extra 100 damage (before mitigation) and 10% slow you would have from maxing Piercing Cold first.

After Permafrost you will then want to max Rune Of The Hunt for the benefits to Kaldr's damage, before maxing Piercing Cold and your ultimate ability last.

Pros
-Good damage scaling on abilities
-Lots of CC (a slow, a root, a slippy slidy thing)
-Great pressure with Kaldr
-decent zoning with abilities
-2 abilities which buff movement speed
-You have a big cuddly fluffy pet wolf!!

Cons
-Lack of a dash/leap can make it difficult to escape
-No stun in her kit
-Ground target for selecting Kaldr's target can be frustratingly fiddly in tight situations.
-Combat efficiency stifled significantly while Kaldr is out of combat
-No CC immunity built into her kit

Kaldr, the Winter Wolf

Skadi's

Kaldr, The Winter Wolf

Skadi

It's so fluffy!

Kaldr attacks with 50% of Skadi's attack speed, and 110% of her movement speed. His attack damage is dictated by the ability Rune Of The Hunt and Skadi's own physical power.
Building more attack speed will allow Kaldr to attack faster, but building more power will make him bite that much harder. I honestly don't feel it's too important to build loads of attack speed on Skadi, as I feel you will get more combat effectiveness building other things.

Piercing Cold

Skadi's

Ice, ice, baby!

This ability provides great basic wave clear, taking out minions in a line in front of you. It has great damage scaling and so is very potent throughout the game.

Enemies hit by Piercing Cold are also debuffed to take an additional 100% damage from Kaldr's attacks. This gives you a HUGE boost to damage so you should always try and hit enemies with Piercing Cold whenever you have Kaldr attacking them. Pair this with the slow it causes and you can put incredible pressure, and cause serious damage to, your enemies.

Rune Of The Hunt

Wolves are prowling...

To put Kaldr into combat stance you have to use a ground target to select who/what you want him to attack. This can sometimes be hard to do effectively when you're under attack, and when there's multiple enemies in close proximity to each other you can often end up targeting the wrong one, so try and beat this in mind when using it.
To switch back to defensive stance you simply need to reactivate the ability and Kaldr will be called back.

Switching stances allows Kaldr to either attack or recover. He has 5 hit points which can be depleted as he is attacked, in his combat stance, but replenish over time in his recovery stance.
You want to try and make sure that anytime he is not needed you have Kakdr in his recovery stance, to keep his hit points topped up.

As you can use Rune Of The Hunt to direct Kaldr to attack a particular enemy, he is good for picking out squishies in the back lines during teamfights.
Brilliantly, you are also able to direct Kaldr to attack towers, which allows you to put great pressure on your opponents towers, and also makes it much safer to attack them when you have no minions about, as Kaldr can take the hits for you.

As you level this skill it will also give Kaldr some bonus benefits.
At level 1 Kaldr gets a dash attack, which helps him initiate with his targets. At level 3 his kills will heal him, giving him more sustain, provided he is the one to secure the kill.
And finally at level 5 his attacks boost Skadi's movement speed.

Permafrost

Skadi's

Slip n Slide

This is a great skill for being obnoxious and making things difficult for your opponent, although it has decent other uses which may not be so obvious.

One of the best uses for Permafrost is for the disruption it causes to your enemies. Its great for pulling people out of position, or towards yourself, your teammates, and tower, which is great for putting squishies in a vulnerable position. It's also good for disrupting enemies escapes, giving you and teammates a chance to catch up.

It's also great for helping you escape, due to the movement speed buff it gives you whilst your standing on it. This can help put a bit of distance between you and any pursuers.
If your pursuers are right on you you can also drop the ice field, then back up into them to bounce them backwards across the ice, and away from you.
You could also drop it as you're about to run away round a corner so your enemies slip and slide past the turning, 90's cartoon style!

Permafrost can also be a great tool for boxing other hunters. If you drop it under your own feet the movement speed buff will help you be able to out-strafe your opponent, giving you a great edge in 1v1 situations against other hunters.

Winter's Grasp

Ive got chills, theyre multiplying!

This is a brilliant ultimate. It allows you to lock down enemies while you and Kaldr are attacking them.

As it puts a blizzard around both you and Kakdr it is very effective for locking down squishies in the back lines, so that your team can pounce on them, as you can send Kaldr to attack before activating Winter's Grasp to get the root.

You can also use this ability to help you escape, as the root will allow you to get some distance between you and your pursuers, however I would only recommend this as a last resort because it is much more effective as an offensive ability.

Between yourself and Kaldr the two blizzards can cover a very large area, making it very disruptive to the enemy team during teamfights.

Starter items

The hunt begins

Throwing Dagger start

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These are the starting items I would recommend using, in any game mode (except for arena). Starting with the Throwing Dagger, 4 potions (how many of each is down to your own preference, but I usually get 2 of each), and whichever Relic is most appropriate, is a great start that will give you very strong minion clear and lane pressure through the match, due to the Dagger's passive which causes all of your basic attacks to damage all enemies surrounding the one hit by your attack, in a small area. This start will often allow you to bully your lame opponent(s) under tower, allowing you to outfarm them.

It is to be noted that you will NOT be upgrading your Throwing Dagger into a Golden Bow, as you will be selling the Throwing Dagger at around the time you'll be buying your 5th or 6th item.



Rushed Transcendence start

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If you really don't think you'll need to start with a Throwing Dagger starting with the Charged Morningstar, several potions (how many of each is down to your own preference), and whichever relic is most appropriate will give you a great solid start which will give you plenty of early power, and allow you to get Transcendence finished earlier on, giving you a nice steady power snowball heading towards the mid game a bit sooner.

A light snowfall

Transcendence

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Building Transcendence first will give you a great deal of power early on, and practically solve your mana-hunger, meaning you will be able to use your abilities to lay the pressure on your opponent a lot more freely.
Building the stacks, by farming minion waves, will also give you great, steady flow of power heading into the mid game.

finding your footing

Ninja Tabi

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Ninja Tabi is a good choice of boots to buy if you want a little more attack speed. The extra attack speed that comes with them will help make up for the lack of other attack speed items in your build, making it easier to keep up with enemies, who may have built a higher attack speed, when boxing.

Warrior Tabi

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Warrior Tabi is a solid choice of boot that will give you a great chunk of early power, along with the movement speed

Take what's theirs

Asi

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I feel that Asi is currently the best lifesteal item in the game, for hunters, as the stats it gives along with its passive work perfectly with any hunter.
The attack speed and base lifesteal will help you hit faster and sustain yourself, while the penetration it gives will give a nice boost to your damage output.
The passive gives you a crazy amount of lifesteal when you're at low health, which can be a real tide changer as it gives you the potential to bring yourself back up to max health very fast, provided you can hit your basics while the passive is active.

tooth and claw

Frostbound Hammer

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Frostbound Hammer gives you a crazy huge boost to your kill potential, when utilising Kaldr, as it makes it incredibly hard for them to escape him and more difficult to fight back against him. This is because of the passive which slows enemies movement and attack speeds, when you hit them with your basics, which ensures enemies will not be able to escape Kaldr unless they have a really good leap or dash (even then, they still might not be able to get away because of the slows). This is my recommended choice for your 4th item.


Jotunn's Wrath

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Jotunn's Wrath gives you a multitude of offensive stats, but the main reason to buy it is for the 20% cooldown reduction which will allow to use your abilities much more often, which will give you a bigger edge to your zoning and pressure game.


The Crusher

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I would only recommend picking up The Crusher in conquest, as its passive will not give you a great benefit in other modes due to there being less towers. This item will give you some incredible damage against towers, allowing you drop them in a matter of seconds of you can get in unimpeded, making it a powerful split-pushing tool in conquest, espescially if you pair it with a teleport

a piercing cold

Titan's Bane

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Now, I know you're probably thinking "Pfft, everybody knows that The Executioner is the best pen item for hunters!".
Well, not anymore! Since the Season 3 changes to penetration items things have now shifted somewhat. Let me bring your attention to this sound explanation, on Titan's efficiency, by Zeznex, from the comments thread on his brilliant Artemis Guide;

Zeznex wrote:

It's probably true that Executioner is good a choice as well in situations, and I do agree with the things you are saying. Obviously it is good once it has full stacks. However, I think that the times before you get full stacks are significant. Your first basic gets none of the stacks and it takes 4 basic attacks until it's fully stacked, and even then it's less {effective penetration} (though the difference is insignificant.) Of course, once you have all the stacks you and your team will be doing higher damage, but it takes 4 AAs for you to get there, and as ADCs you want to focus squishies so at that point they're probably already dead or very close to it. Also your abilities will likely be used early so with Titan's they get full pen. Another thing is that you usually won't get full stacks of it on anyone late game and in team fights because there is not gonna be much 1v1s or times where you're fully focusing on one target for more than 3 or 4 AAs. Also objective damage gets a huge increase, and that's another one of your big jobs.

The Executioner

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i would only recommend building The Executioner if you have a lot of physical damage dealers on your team, who haven't bought it already.
The protections reduction debuff this item causes will allow all of your physical teammates to benefit from a higher damage output, which can be devastating when capitalised on.
But, like I said, only consider this when you have a physical heavy team.

Deep freeze

witchblade

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Witchblade is a great item for shutting down, and defending yourself, against AA based gods, such as the enemy carry. It gives you some attack speed, power and physical protections, while the passive reduces nearby enemies attack speed and physical power. This gives you a great advantage against other hunters, and makes it harder for enemies to shrug off kaldr by using basic attacks.


Winged Blade

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If the enemy team are messing you up with a lot of slows then Winged Blade is a great counter. It has a bunch of useful stats, and a passive that will allow you to negate slows cast on you.


Odysseus' bow

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Odysseus' Bow is somewhat of a side grade to a Throwing Dagger], if you picked one up earlier. It's passive is similar in that it damages additional enemies to the one you hit, allowing for some obnoxious poke, but the main draw is the 40% attack speed to make yourself and Kaldr able to attack much faster.


Qin's Sais

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Qin's Sais is another good choice of attack speed based offensive item. It gives you a nice chunk of power and attack speed, along with a passive that helps chip away your enemies' health with every basic you hit.
As the passive deals bonus damage based on a percentage of the enemy hit's own health this item is most effective against enemies with a high amount of health.


Hastened Fatalis

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Buying a Hastened Fatalis won't give you any extra power, but it will give you a major boost to attack and movement speeds and a great passive to go along with it.
The passive will remove your movement speed penalty when you land basic attacks. This gives you great chasing and boxing potential, provided you can hit your basics, allowing you to much more easily outmanuever your opponents when in combat.
This can be a great choice when facing enemies who are very manueverable, and slippery to catch normally.


Spirit Robe

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If you feel at this point you need some protections then Spirit Robe is a great final choice. It gives a decent amount of protection and cooldown reduction, plus CC reduction and a passive which will both help to stop you getting locked down and killed by CC.

an active lifestyle

sanctuarySanctuary

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sanctiary is a solid starter relic which will give you a great life saving tool when you're in a tight situation. This is my general starter relic.

Frenzy

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Frenzy gives you an immense power boost, which is excellent for taking down towers and objectives. I wouldn't buy this 1st, but it is a great 2nd relic, and is usually always what I choose.

TeleportTeleport

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Teleport is a brilliant split-pushing tool, allowing you to instantly move around the map to take unprotected towers. Brilliant in conquest, but I wouldn't recommend it in joust or ***ualt. You can also use it to get across the map to help teammates who may be struggling.

PurificationPurification

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I feel that purification is a lot weaker than used to be, but it is still well worth picking up any time the enemy team has a god with strong CC that moves you out of position, like a Fenrir or an Ares. Aside from that I'd only recommend it if you're really struggling with getting CC'ed.

Transcendence

Mana Potions

Wards wards wards

Now, I've given my build explanation but the items and order are not necessarily set in stone.

There are times when it may be more appropriate to switch up the order a bit;
"hey, your getting fed! Why not build Frostbound Hammer before Asi!"

Or, it may be appropriate to build items I haven't listed at all;
"they have how many mages!? Definitely gonna buy a Bulwark of Hope now then!"

The only items I would say are mandatory are;
Transcendence
Boots
Asi(although this one can be swapped out for something else if you really need to)
Titan's Bane

The order of these 4 can be swapped as you see fit, according to how the match is going.
The other two slots are completely flexible, if you need them to be.

Here are few handy hints and tips, that may not be immediately obvious when you play, which you may find helpful.


Kaldr's dash attack does more damage than his basic bite attack, but does not benefit from the double damage buff on enemies slowed by Piercing Cold, so damage-wise it is ideally best to set Kaldr on an enemy, wait for his dash attack to hit, then hit the enemy with Piercing Cold, to maximise the number of basic attacks he will be able to get the double damage buff from.

Permafrost

Thor's

Thanatos'

Permafrost

Coming soon...

So there you have it. My guide for playing Skadi

I hope you enjoyed reading and hopefully this guide helps improve your game.

Thanks for reading, please feel free to leave a comment as all constructive feedback is appreciated, and don't forget to upvote if you found the guide helpful!

Please feel free to take a look at my other build guides, on this site:


"I am the one who Nox"


Land of the Rising Sun - Amaterasu Jungle Guide

Thanks for looking!