Ymir Tanky but powerful

Hello all, Lucadelano here. I am making my first guide here for the main tank that I love and adore. I will give a quick rundown of the item choices and play styles I use when playing Ymir.

Core items for all my builds are Reinforced Shoes for the protections and the Crowd Control Reduction, Mantle of Discord for minor Cool Down Reduction as well as protections for both Magical and Physical, and Ethereal Staff for the Health, Mana and the extra power it gives you. After that, Breastplate of Valor for the Cool Down Reduction, Mystical Mail for area damage and health, and Bulwark of Hope for the shield. That is one of my standard builds for him. Occasionally I change out certain items for more protections or for certain effects to help the team as a whole.

As for the Relics, Blink is a major one. Being able control where and when the initiate and surprise the enemy is a great help for the team as a whole. Blink into Frost Breath to stun the enemy allows your team to destroy at least 1 enemy giving your team the advantage. After that Curse to keep them slow, Sprint to help your team escape or push, Meditation for that extra health to keep everyone in the battle, or Purification to escape those pesky Ultimates from Ares or Xing Tian.

I will now give a quick rundown of his skills and a few tips and tricks to use them properly.

His passive, Frostbite, gives you a straight 10% damage reduction, plus makes it so that after you hit an enemy with your abilities, your basic attacks against them for the next 4 seconds do double damage.

His number 1, Ice Wall, creates a barrier of ice for 2-6 seconds depending on the points in it. Three major ways to use this are, first, running for your life, drop it right at your feet so that is raises behind you, but be warned, this can only be done if you have level 3 shoes and are not slowed by anything. Second way, raise it in front of a retreating enemy to force them to go around it and slow their progress. And third major way to use it, place it in between an ally who is retreating and the enemies chasing them, but be warned, you misplace, people will rage at you for killing them or not helping.

His number 2, Glacial Strike, is a line attack that creates an area on the ground that after a second gets filled with razor sharp spikes. This also slows the enemies by 35% for 4 seconds. Great for punishing or killing an enemy that gets to close.

His number 3, Frost Breath, is a cone attack that freezes the enemy in place for 1.25-2.25 seconds depending on the points in it. Freezing the enemy then using Glacial Strike is a great way to damage and soften up the enemies for your allies to kill.

His ultimate, Shards of Ice, is a giant area attack that charges up, does the most damage when fully charged but can be ended early to damage the enemies before they leave the area. With this attack, Ymir remains immobile, gains Crowd Control Immunity, and a giant circle appears around him and another circle starts small in the center and expands outward until it reaches the outside edge. Once it reaches the outside edge, the ability reaches full charge and explodes. It can be ended early for less damage by right clicking any time during it.

Some good combos for his attacks are Ice Wall to make them go around into Frost Breath to lock them down. Ice Wall against an in game wall to trap the enemy then use Shards of Ice and watch them panic trying to find a way out. And Frost Breath into Glacial Strike to deal some damage and slow them allowing you to basic attack for major damage.

I really hope this guide helps you all in some way, shape or form. I love playing Ymir and have gotten fairly decent at playing him. And no, I am not an OP uber l33t player for Ymir, I do alright and do what I can to help the team push to victory.

Enjoy everyone and have fun turning the enemy into popsicles!