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Great Choice, Picking Me - Fafnir Support Guide (Season 4)

13 1 305,924
by Expecto Patronum updated February 13, 2017

Smite God: Fafnir

Build Guide Discussion 12 More Guides
Tap Mouse over an item or ability icon for detailed info

Fafnir Build

Basic Build

Build Item Watcher's Gift Watcher's Gift
Build Item Reinforced Shoes Reinforced Shoes
Build Item Breastplate of Valor Breastplate of Valor
Build Item Bulwark of Hope Bulwark of Hope
Build Item Winged Blade Winged Blade
Build Item Hide of the Urchin Hide of the Urchin
Build Item Void Stone Void Stone

Alternative Items

Build Item Sovereignty Sovereignty
Build Item Spirit Robe Spirit Robe
Build Item Heartward Amulet Heartward Amulet
Build Item Hide of the Nemean Lion Hide of the Nemean Lion
Build Item Emperor's Armor Emperor's Armor
Build Item Gem of Isolation Gem of Isolation
Build Item Mantle of Discord Mantle of Discord
Build Item Pestilence Pestilence
Build Item Mail of Renewal Mail of Renewal

Fafnir's Skill Order

Cursed Strength

1 X Y
Cursed Strength
2 8 11 12 14

Coerce

2 A B
Coerce
1 4 6 7 10

Underhanded Tactics

3 B A
Underhanded Tactics
3 15 16 18 19

Draconic Corruption

4 Y X
Draconic Corruption
5 9 13 17 20
Cursed Strength
2 8 11 12 14

Cursed Strength

1 X
Fafnir hurls his hammer forward, dealing damage to enemies in its path. If Fafnir hits a god the hammer stops short and Stuns them. The Stunned god also radiates out a cursed pulse, Slowing them and nearby enemies by 20% for 3s.

In dragon form, this ability deals increased damage that ticks 3 times over 3s. Also, the cursed pulse shreds Protections in addition to Slowing.

Ability Type: Line, Crowd Control, Damage
Damage: 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 / 260 (+50% of your Magical Power)
Stun: 1 / 1.1 / 1.2 / 1.3 / 1.4s
Dragon Damage per Tick: 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 / 130 (+25% of your Magical Power)
Dragon Protection Debuff: 20%
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown: 15 / 14.5 / 14 / 13.5 / 13s
Coerce
1 4 6 7 10

Coerce

2 A
Fafnir coerces his allies into fighting harder, boosting Attack Speed for 5s and healing himself. While Coerce is active Fafnir deals bonus Magic Damage whenever the affected ally damages an enemy.

In dragon form, this ability has a larger area of effect and can buff multiple allies.

Ability Type: Target, Buff, Damage
Attack Speed Buff: 20 / 22.5 / 25 / 27.5 / 30%
Bonus Damage: 4 / 8 / 12 / 16 / 20% of the target's power
Self Heal: 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120
Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70
Cooldown: 16s
Underhanded Tactics
3 15 16 18 19

Underhanded Tactics

3 B
Fafnir leaps to a target location and executes a despicable strike, dealing damage and disarming enemies in front of him for 2s.

In dragon form, Fafnir can leap much further. Also, this ability deals increased damage that ticks three times over the course of 3s and Fafnir Stuns the enemy god closest to him for 2s in addition to Disarming.

Ability Type: Cone, Leap, Damage
Damage: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+60% of your Magical Power)
Dragon Damage Per Tick: 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 (+30% of your Magical Power)
Cost: 60
Cooldown: 15s
Draconic Corruption
5 9 13 17 20

Draconic Corruption

4 Y
Fafnir transforms into a terrifying dragon and is untargetable during the process. When he emerges in dragon form, he regains 200 Mana and nearby enemies are poisoned, taking damage three times over 3s. He remains in this form for a duration or until the ability is activated again.

As a dragon, his abilities have additional effects and his basic attack changes to a Dragon Breath that deals damage 3 times per second. Dragon Breath can not proc item hit effects.

Ability Type: Circle, Buff, Damage
Damage Per Tick: 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 / 160 (+40% of your Magical Power)
Duration: 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60s
Dragon Breath Damage: 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 (+10% of your Magical Power)
Radius: 30
Cost: 70
Cooldown: 90s

Introduction - [VVGH] Your Hero Is Here

Welcome to this guide. It's my first so bear with me but I hope you'll find it helpful. It's up to date as of Patch 4.1.

Fafnir is the 12th Guardian to be added to Smite, and the 2nd Norse Guardian after Ymir.

Since his addition to the roster, Fafnir has undergone a series of changes that have made him more or less balanced as of now. He's an incredibly effective team player if operated correctly, and tends to be a stalwart of any team-fight. This guide will focus on his main role in Conquest, Support, although he is (somewhat uncommonly) used in Solo and Jungle.

So what does he bring to the table? Well according to Hi-Rez themselves, "Fafnir has excelled as a Guardian who can provide a lot of utility to his team through abilities like Cursed Strength and Coerce" (Patch Notes 3.15). That's absolutely true. His role is to enhance the destructive power of his teammates through:

  • Hard crowd control - Using the Stun from Cursed Strength and Disarm from Underhanded Tactics to help allies pile on to enemies.

  • Attack speed boost - Using the strong attack speed boost from Coerce to let your ADC (or anyone else) get a leg up and clear waves or take people down.

  • Mobility - Using Underhanded Tactics, which has a high radius, to get from A to B and block enemies off.

  • Sustain - Using his passive Endless Greed and heal from Coerce to stay in lane for a very long time. In all my time playing Fafnir, I've rarely had to back before level 10, and even then it's only for items when duo is ahead.

At the time of writing, Fafnir has six skins:

- Standard Fafnir
- Covetous Fafnir - 100 Gems / 9,500 Favor
- Dread-Lord Fafnir - ?
- Griffindwarf Fafnir - Limited (Season Ticket 2016)
- Golden Fafnir - 200 Gems / 9,500 Favor
- Legendary Fafnir - 300 Gems / 12,500 Favor
- Diamond Fafnir - 400 Gems / 15,000 Favor

Skills - [VVGR] Easy Life

Dragonic Corruption



Endless Greed is Fafnir's passive, and one that gives him a lot of sustain. Guardians can sometimes lag behind teammates in terms of Gold, but Fafnir easily squares up to others even if he doesn't land killing blows on minions. The passive used to give more Gold but despite the nerfs over the months it's still a potent passive and insulates him against the risk of becoming irrelevant in the late game like some Guardians do.

The second effect of Endless Greed is also very potent. It pays for Fafnir to stay in lane and hoard Gold, only returning to base at lengthy intervals to make the most of high protections. The two effects of this passive work quite well to both give Fafnir a leg up in Gold accumulation, and give him a strong boost to protections, especially in the early game.

Don't hold back in terms of buying items. It's more worth getting yourself kitted out than having the passive. Also bear in mind that the passive gives protections both Physical and Magical, so it works against any adversary.



Cursed Strength is Fafnir's first move. It's a 55-range projectile attack where he throws his hammer. It goes through minions, and if it hits a god they are stunned for 1.5s, and slows that god and nearby gods for 3s.

This is Fafnir's main clear. If you like, you can level this first but I prefer to level Coerce first for reasons I'll explain shortly.

The stun does not scale but 1.5s is a decent base, and it can mean the difference between life and death for some enemies, especially in a teamfight. The 15s cooldown is quite generous in my opinion, and feel free to throw this fairly arbitrarily at enemy gods in the duo lane (especially if they're low on HP) to open up opportunities for your ADC or Jungler to get an early kill.

Levelling this move will increase the damage, slow % and mana cost. The scaling is reasonable so if your ADC is a bit timid and your lane needs more push factor, level this first.

Once you use Fafnir's ultimate, Dragonic Corruption, the cooldown of this move is reset and becomes a damage per tick move. It becomes a whole lot more potent and still retains the stun, whilst adding a protection shred. A good finisher if someone is trying to get away or to initiate a teamfight.

All in all, this is a good move.

Pros:

- Reasonable clear. Goes through enemies.

- 1.5s Stun.

- Resets after ultimate.

- AOE slow.

- No charge time.


Cons:

- Fairly high mana cost.

- Easy to miss.

- Insufficient damage to clear entire wave. Some basics needed if full support build.




Coerce is Fafnir's second move and arguably the biggest selling point of the god. The headline news story is the attack speed buff it gives the target ally (or Fafnir himself). It scales from a base of 10% and goes up every 10 percentage points to a maximum of 50%. This is a significant buff and building points in this early can give your ADC a lot of lane pressure.

The second effect is that any damage done by the recipient will get a slight Magical Damage boost for hits. This scales effectively from 5% to 25% which is not bad, but don't be expecting any kills from this because all damage officially counts as the recipient's, not Fafnir's.

Finally, this move heals Fafnir, and at the 5 ticks it gives Fafnir some serious sustain. Just bear in mind that this is not a heal for the recipient.

This move becomes scarier when Fafnir is in his dragon form from Dragonic Corruption. It becomes an AOE (rather than single target), so in team fights this becomes incredibly helpful for giving a small group of your team a big boost. Use this when pushing towers, objectives or in team fights. It can seriously turn the tide of battle.

I would recommend investing in this skill first because it boosts lane pressure, especially for auto-based gods like Apollo, Artemis and Xbalanque. But if you already have good lane pressure, it may be worth going for a more aggressive Fafnir and level Cursed Strength.

Pros:

- Strong buff to clear lane.

- Can help out early game gods.

- Focuses allies on enemy objectives. This can reinforce your cohesion as a team.

- AOE extremely potent. In my opinion the radius is very generous.

- No mana cost scaling.

- Impossible to miss.


Cons:

- Trade-off between Fafnir's own clear and investing in the buff.




Underhanded Tactics is Fafnir's third move, and his main form of escape. It is a leap that does a fair amount of damage in a cone in front of you. Previously this was bugged to not do damage at shorter distances but it's fixed now.

But importantly, this move has a 2s disarm (this does not scale). This can be helpful to take the heat off your allies if they are being chased.

In his dragon form, you can travel further with this move. In fact, the possible distance is extremely far. I recommend using this to get far from enemies before his ultimate expires, which leaves you exposed. If you want to be aggressive here, it also performs a stun that, when partnered with the distance he can jump, can sort out pesky enemies trying to flee teamfights.

Pros:

- Good escape.

- High distance in both forms, especially dragon form.

Disarm can be very useful.


Cons:

- Low damage.


Dragonic Corruption

Dragonic Corruption is Fafnir's ultimate. It has a few seconds' wind-up time during which he is invincible, and poisons any enemy around him (the circle around him is the radius of the poison). The poison only kicks in once he has fully transforms into the dragon.

First thing's first. If you're about to die, using the ultimate will make you temporarily invincible, poison enemies, reset your cooldowns and give you a better escape. Always a good idea.

Second, Fafnir's basic attack changes. It is now a ranged (not a huge range though) high-attack speed basic attack.

At its highest level, this move gives you a whopping 40s in the dragon form, which is more than enough to cause an immense amount of pain and devastation to the enemy team.

Crucially, this move will give you a boost to each of Fafnir's preceding 3 moves. These have all been mentioned before, but generally speaking the highlights are the damage over time and protection shred of Cursed Strength, making Coerce a rather generous AOE and the enormous distance boost and stun to Underhanded Tactics.

Be sure to use Underhanded Tactics or run away from enemies just before the ultimate ends, as you will be vulnerable to attacks for a few seconds whilst you return to Fafnir's normal dwarf form.

Pros:

- Temporary invincibility.

- Unlocks arguably the greatest team-based skills in the game.

- Cooldowns reset (both after wind-up and after wind-down).

- Decent basic attack damage.


Cons:

- Wind-down leaves you very vulnerable.

Items - [VVGN] Not Bad, Kid

This a build for full support. I will give an option or two for more aggressive items, but it's still within the overall support structure.

Going into Season 4, Watcher's Gift is still the Guardian go-to starter item. If you're familiar with Conquest you'll know why so I will not go into details here.

I would recommend going straight in with Reinforced Shoes first, although some folks may wish to start with Breastplate of Valor. Either way, both are good. Round off the laning phase with Bulwark of Hope or some equivalent. Be sure to go for this (or Heartward Amulet) instead of Breastplate of Valor if both your lane opponents are magical based.

Here are some suggestions of items which I've found effective on Fafnir. This is not a set build but a series of suggestions to build him into a support character you're comfortable with. Deviations are certainly welcome and I regret that I haven't managed to give every S4 support item a go yet in Conquest so the list may not be complete.

Early Game



Reinforced Shoes is the standard start for most Guardians, giving fairly reliable insulation against aggressive duo laners. It's especially effective if you're against auto-based gods like Apollo or Izanami who rely on basic attacks to whittle you down.



Shoes of Focus is an alternative to the above. If you prefer the cooldown reduction (CDR) and mana boost then go for it, although I think Fafnir's cooldowns are already pretty generous and he rarely, in my experience, has problems with mana so long as you stock up on potions and get the Meditation Cloak relic.

Travelers Shoes

Travelers Shoes is another alternative. Many will be attracted to the gold boost from its passive, which can contribute to Fafnir's Endless Greed passive and build early protections, and then build more quickly to come online. It also helps his sustain.



Breastplate of Valor is a reliable, in-meta physical defense item. The CDR is great and it gives you a good platform to round off the laning phase. If your opposition is mostly magical based, go for a different item like Genji's Guard or Bulwark of Hope and either give this item a miss or pick it up later, although by that time Spirit Robe will probably be better.



Hide of the Nemean Lion is a slightly more extreme version of Breastplate of Valor, focusing on insulating Fafnir against the threat of auto-based gods who might be ahead. This is incredibly effective against Xbalanque in particular, but to a lesser extent against any auto-based ADC like Artemis, Apollo and Rama.



Mystical Mail is handy as another alternative, and it works quite well with Fafnir's crowd control to apply constant damage over time pressure to enemies. It's quite expensive though so do watch out as it'll take you longer to finalise this build than other options.



If a magical ADC like Freya or Chronos is giving you an enormous amount of trouble, Genji's Guard is a slightly radical solution to give you some protection.

Mid Game



Bulwark of Hope is a stalwart of any median Guardian build. The idea really is to keep you alive. Long story short, good on any Guardian.



I believe that every support god should get either Heartward Amulet or Sovereignty in a game depending on whether the majority threat from your opponents are magical or physical, respectively.



Sovereignty is the physical equivalent of the above.



Pestilence is a standard anti-heal item. This really depends on your opposition, but the usual suspects you might want to counter with this are Ra, Hel, Aphrodite and Guan Yu. Don't bother getting it if your solo laner has already got an anti-heal item (unless they're clearly staying in lane until as late as possible).



Mail of Renewal is coming into its own in the meta, finally. A huge spike in health, and as you look to rotate with your team and capture objectives (especially now that there are more in the Portal Demon, in addition to Gold Fury and Fire Giant), means more opportunity to benefit from the passive and improve sustain.



Emperor's Armor is an item I've played around with quite a bit. One pro of Fafnir is his ability to get the team to attack an objective or tower using his Dragonic Corruption/ Coerce combo. Whilst your whole team in concert can usually take a tower together, Emperor's Armor can give your team the extra oomph it needs to speed things up immensely and, if you're quick and lucky enough, push harder into enemy territory.



If you're racking up a high death count and feeding, or falling behind, pick up Hide of the Urchin to stimulate some defensive stats.



Always a handy item, Winged Blade boosts Fafnir's team utility whilst increasing his own prowess whilst in dragon form.



One of the new Season 4 items, Stone of Binding is a diamond in the rough item that Fafnir can exploit. For just a little gold you will get some protections and a great team passive: if you hit a god with crowd control, allies within a certain range of you get extra penetration for 5s. Absolutely worth it because Fafnir has tons of CC.

Late Game



Get Void Stone or Void Shield to reduce the enemy's ability to cope with your team's magical or physical damage, respectively.



I think Gem of Isolation is seriously effective on Fafnir, able to both boost his HP and give Fafnir's offensive moves more team utility in fights. Remember that Fafnir can chase down enemies very well, so to do that any also slow them is very potent.



Guardians' luxury item of choice, Mantle of Discord gives some serious risk factor to enemies' decision to pile up on Fafnir. If Fafnir, in teamfights, is in his dragon form and buffing allies, the decision to focus on Fafnir and accept the stun is almost certain death if your team is behind you.

Tactics and Allies - [VVGF] Let's Win

ADCs who enjoy Fafnir's Coerce:



All these gods benefit from Fafnir's Coerce more than the usual. When you're with these gods, I'd recommend investing in that move before the others to benefit.

Others who enjoy Fafnir's Coerce:



During team fights, all these gods benefit especially from Coerce, especially in its AOE form. Most Junglers and Solo laners benefit, and some Mid. Note to all: a Fafnir-injected Vamana ult is a terrifying thing.

Fafnir tactics:

Fafnir is great with any god who is auto-based, or has a focus on late game. And with a meta that isn't kind to late game gods, that's important. It's your job to keep folks alive and relevant.

Use Coerce as much as possible to let your ADC clear waves. Be prepared to step in if you've got an especially aggressive duo opposition (e.g. Bacchus/Jing Wei) with bodyblocks, quick stuns and clearing the rest of the wave yourself with Cursed Strength and, if necessary, Underhanded Tactics. Tail your ADC and make sure they're safe in the Jungle, warding as much as possible.

Feel free to move to different lanes, and remember that you can jump over walls with Underhanded Tactics for a disarm and then stun them with Cursed Strength.

Use Dragonic Corruption when in the middle of enemies to make the most of the poison AOE, and remember that all moves' cooldowns reset when you ult. Focus Coerce on the area with the most allies (or say VVVG) and push objectives.

If you need to go do defensive, use the stun and disarm, and Fafnir's enhanced mobility to get out of tricky spots. Be sure to be out of the way of enemies before your ultimate expires.

Videos - [VEG] We All Know Who The Real Champ Is

Fafnir has had a great Season 3, and I hope his run in the sun can continue. Check out some footage of pros playing Fafnir. A few highlights and other relevant videos are below.

Fafnir God Reveal:


Incon's Fafnir Guide:


Raynday Gaming:


NRG v. Obey, 20/11/16 (iRaffer Fafnir):


NRG v. Obey, 20/11/16 (PANDALIKE Fafnir):

Thanks - [VVGB] My Job's Done Here

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy Fafnir, he's an excellent god.

This is, as I mentioned earlier, my first guide here on Smitefire. Apologies if I did anything wrong or could improve my style - feedback is most welcome!

And if there are any suggestions, do let me know! I love Fafnir and he's had a good run in the sun. If there are any tips or tricks I've missed, just post them and I can put them in.

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Collapse All Comments

1
TheSunEater | February 13, 2018 5:32am
Hey! great guide! Do you plan to update it for Season 5? :)
1
Gulfwulf (81) | May 5, 2017 11:10am
Dread Lord costs 600 gems.
1
Bernardozomer (33) | May 5, 2017 11:42am
Niiice
1
CirclesAreRound (14) | May 5, 2017 11:15am
Cool
2
Morzen | March 30, 2017 8:19am
Nice guide, but I would like to say some things about Coerce.

1: The bonus dmg does count as Fafnir's dmg, but it is applied before the dmg of the buffed ally, making the chance to get a kill with it very small, though still possible (I have done it twice I think).

2: Since that bonus dmg is Fafnir's dmg, and is ability dmg, it will actually proc item effects like Soulr Reaver, and Gem of Isolation. The latter is especially good because of this.

3: When the bonus dmg is applied on every single instance of dmg, it also makes Coerce very good on gods who deals dmg through DoTs, like Anubis and Kukulkan. They should be on your "Others who enjoy Fafnir's Coerce" list.
1
Sobek-Ra (5) | March 8, 2017 12:41am
Good Vocab, good writing style, and most importantly, it's a support guide! I love supports. Anyways, your build is so greedy! I mean I'm sure it works well, but do you not feel bad for not buying Sovereignty, Heartward Amulet, or Gauntlet of Thebes? I mainly play Terra when I'm not playing Bellona or writing Bellona guides, so I don't know what is standard for more aggressive support play. This kind of reminds me of Dukesloth and Incon's Greedy Support Build, which I guess makes sense for Fafnir. The part that irks me is deciding to build Valor early on a support, because the lack of health is gonna hurt you early on especially, although it does solve any manna problems he had. At this point I'm rambling, but big thanks anyway, I'm a total noob when it comes to Fafnir gameplay, so this helped me.
1
RonPerlas (3) | February 20, 2017 12:48pm
I main support. Your build is alright, but for me playing Fafnir feels so squishy to me? compares to Kumbhakarna, Ymir or Khepri don't you think?
1
Branmuffin17 (394) | February 16, 2017 1:40pm
Hi Harry Potter person,

You asked for some feedback, so I'm just here to comment on my opinion...keep in mind you don't have to change anything on my account, and it's likely you're way more familiar with Faf than I am.

Griffin...dwarf
1
Jofum | February 16, 2017 8:46am
Odin loki amd thor are all norse mythology. The wolf fernir too. But good job on the build.
2
Branmuffin17 (394) | February 16, 2017 12:26pm
Jofum, just note...Expecto is correct...he said "2nd Norse Guardian." Not 2nd Norse god.
2
Technotoad64 (46) | February 15, 2017 12:45pm
I would like to see more elaboration on certain items, but other than that, this is a very solid guide. +1

EDIT: Thank you for going more in depth.
1
dskassai | February 13, 2017 10:13am
Excellent guide, thanks!
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