Correct use of Ymir Ult

I have trouble applying Ymirs Ult correctly ingame.

Let's brake down the attack first.

On activation;
1) You are rooted in place (you can't even turn yourself or the camera)
2) You slow all enemies in the area for 30%

after 3 seconds of channeling
3) you erupt, dealing massive damage

The ult can NOT be interrupted by yourself, except if you;
4) Die.
5) (I'm not sure... what if you get hard CC'd? Is the damage still applied? Do you erupt before you're finished channeling? Need answer pls.)

I'm used to playing Nunu in LoL, his Ult is kinda the same with the exception of an enemy being able to cancel it by hard CC'ing you, or silencing you, and yourself being able to cancel it by moving.
The Nunu ult in competitive gaming isn't used for its damage, it's used for its massive slow applied to all enemies at once. -> What about the Ymir Ult in Smite?

Of course I know how to DEVASTATE the enemy team, if I have an Ares, an Odin or a Hades on my team, I wait till they Ult and just channel my ult in theirs. The 3 seconds are flying by like nothing and enemies take massive damage, nice synergy.

But what if there is no hard CC on my team except my own?
What if we're playing with a team like;
1) Ymir
2) Zeus
3) Kali
4) Vulcan
5) Ao Kuang

(I know its not the best team but one with little CC.)

How do I apply the Ult correctly? Only for the slow? Only for saving teammates?
Is there a way I can ENSURE to deal my damage with the Ult?

Okey so lets start :
1)Like all channeled ultimates in Smite Ice Shards can not be canceled by CC (note you can't cancel your ultimate yourself unless you die or use aegis).

2) Ymir has the second hardest to land ultimate in this game so don't expect it to work often
what you need to do to land it is : wait for the enemy to use there escape mechanics then use your Frost Breath into Glacial Spikes and ult if they don't use beads or aegis they should eat your damage.

3)Also Ymir kinda is the love child of Taric Nunu and Anivia I'm not even gonna discuss what happened between them :D

You can cancel your ultimate with aegis amulet, but it can't be cancelled by hard cc as far as I know

Let me preface this advice with saying it's been a couple months since I've played this game regularly.

That said, Ymir was my main God for awhile and I garnered a decent understanding of how to use his ult effectively. It doesn't seem as though he has changed much since I played, so this advice should still stand.

For damaging opponents:
His ult seems to work best in the laning phase against opponents who do not have a leap or recently blown their leap in an aggressive manner that leaves them vulnerable. Firstly you will want to freeze your target. Immediately after (or before if you can), position yourself in the way where they most likely want to escape, usually behind them closer to their tower. Now they can either retreat towards your minions and take damage there or retreat back to their tower and get blasted by the ult. This strategy isn't full proof, but it's the best way to regularly deal damage with the ult.

Also remember that Gods cannot directly pass through yourself, creeps, and other gods. You can use them as a wall to make it even more difficult for enemies to escape.

Back the F Up:
Pretty simple. Wherever you begin his ult, you're essentially making a giant circle where enemies can't be without risking massive damage. This has several positional uses that can save teammates and alter the course of battle. It's hard to advise how to do this effectively, but just knowing this should allow you to recognize situations where it is effective.

The Slow:
Like you mentioned, the ult creates a relatively hefty slow. Using it where enemies are running to escape is an effective way to either cut them off or use the slow to allow allies to catch up in pursuit.

Overall, he's got a very strong ult. However, it's very situational and in order to use it effectively you need to recognize when it is plausible to use. I hope this helped.

Thank you for your responses;

If they got no escapes, it's possible.
Max lvl 3 on Ymir stuns you for 2,25 seconds, and 0,75 seconds is not enough to travel the whole distance from Ymir to the edge of his ult if you're slowed by 30%.

The lifetime of a max lvl wall is 6 seconds, although I max it last.

There is a scenario I would even prefer to the close ranged stun, wich is;

We're in the jungle, I'm chasing an enemy through a narrow corridor, and I wall his face so his only escape is through me.
Before he realises what is happening I stun him for 2,25 and throw down my ult.

And he bites the dust.
...Ice.
I don't care lets continue.

Also, Ymir ult seems kind of a waste to me throwing it on only one enemy.
Since Smite is a team-based game, and the ult slows exactly 30% on all levels...

Would it be a good idea to only put one level into it so I can finish my frost breath first, for greater utility, of course this means I'll not use it for damage but for the massive slow in teamfights only. (Too bad there is no flash in smite q.q I always loved doing that with Nunu.)

This speaks against every intuition I as a Moba veteran have, not leveling your Ult, but the only things that change with Ymirs Ult are:

1) Damage: 600/750/900/1050/1200 (+200% of your magical power)
2) Cost: 80/90/100/110/120
3) Cooldown: 90/85/80/75/70 seconds

The cooldown might actually speak against this, but if we totally disregard the damage as we're only using it for its utility in this case, its even kinda cool to keep the manacost to a minimum so the chance is higher we can still use it when we're low on mana.

What do you think? Only put one level into ult a viable option? Or HURR DURR WE NEED THE DAMAGES!!!111one ?

Delaying maxing your ultimate is never a bad idea (on most gods it isn't) if you see that the enemy team has a lot of escapes and abilities that aid in escaping your ultimate also if they are playing smart and saving there leaps/dashes to avoid your ultimate maxing it after frost breath and glacial spikes is quite good since mainly you will be using it for a slow and as a huge GTFO Button especially in jungle namely near fire giant or gold fury but even then I would still level it up before maxing your ice wall. While ice wall has many uses I found it that there are only few scenarios in which a longer lasting wall would benefit you more then a possibility of inflicting massive damage to enemy team.

However if you see that you are able to consistently land your ultimates (2 out of 5 attempts is good enough) I would strongly recommend getting points in it then ever you can ,because that damage can net many kills, make enemies easy targets for your carry or force them to run in fear from you (Note in some extreme cases your ultimate can outright kill someone)

Hope this helps you in THE QUEST TO IMPROVE YOUR YMIR PLAY!!! :D

Proper use of a Ymir ultimate? Pop it on a buff camp in the jungle. Quick and easy clear :D

I mean, it wasn't like you were actually planning to use it for a kill right?

Why not? 1200 DMG (+200% AP) is pretty cool if combined with Odin Ult or Hades Ult.

Well, I wouldn't usually agree with that, but I must. Rarely do I see Sunfall do emotes so I agree with his point to use his Ultimate on a buff camp unless there's an ally with some sort of pull or trap mechanism.

First of all, I would like to say that you shouldn't always assume you're ult has to be maxed. If you're someone like Zues, then of course, it's designed to do damage and maxing it increases damage. However, someone like Ares only gains a small amount of damage for his ultimate, and it's primary function has nothing to do with what level it is (the pull is always a pull, and the stun is lengthened by opponents caught, not level of the ability).

Secondly, I think SmellyHarry had the best point, and it's one that I agree with whole-heartedly as a regular Ymir player. Early game Ymir's ult is a fantastic way to crush an opponent that can't get out, but the mentality his ult creates is more important than the damage it does. While 1300 damage or so at max rank sounds awesome, He bo can do the same thing in two normal abilties, less if he has doom orb. However, everyone knows the ymir ult, and everyone fears it, even if their god is perfectly capable of tanking that damage. In the instant a player has to make a snap decision about how to deal with a Ymir ult, rationality doesn't always win out, and sometimes their panic to get away can land them in a worse position. Using his ultimate as a, NO, THIS IS MY SPOT can force enemy players to make bad decisions, and that is generally a good thing.

Finally, Ymir objective steals are easy with his ult. You have a freeze, you have a massive damage output on your ult, and you are a tank. Very little is stopping you from telling everyone to quiet down for a moment while you take FG and then walk away.

tl;dr Ymir's ult makes carries panic, and carries that panic are carries that are easier to kill