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Charged Morningstar
Healing Potion
Mana Potion
Transcendence
Warrior Tabi
Hastened Fatalis
Bloodforge
Titan's Bane
Qin's Sais
Odysseus' Bow
The Executioner
Purification Beads
Aegis Amulet
Shield of Thorns
Heavenly Wings
Frenzied Ritual
Revealing Ritual
Warrior Tabi
Ichaival
Asi
The Executioner
Demon Blade
Deathbringer
Y
B
A
X
Hello, Smitefire!
Welcome to my first ever guide on smitefire (or anywhere for that matter).
My name is Str***attack and today i'll be going over the Norse goddess of winter, Skadi.
Skadi is a late-game centered goddess who has a strong anti-adc kit and is the best god in the game for taking towers. I recommend her to anyone who enjoys using Ullr, Bellona, Medusa, Nu Wa, Osiris, Xbalanque or Zeus.
Note: I am unused to writing explanations so this might not be the greatest guide, so please let me know in the comments what I messed up on in this guide, as I'm planning an Osiris and Apollo guide for the near future.
If you've never played Skadi before reading this guide, I'll warn you that you won't be pulling off pentakills just because you've read this. This guide is just here to give you a base from which to build up from. (except for ranked players and experienced Skadi players, for whom I hope this guide will grant a helpful new viewpoint).
Pros and Cons (although not many of the latter)
| Pros: | Cons: |
High sustained damage High structure damage Kaldr can body-block Kaldr can also tank towers High base health Excellent boxer |
Horrible early game No Escape Vulnerable without purification Low Base attack speed |
| Piercing Cold |
This ability is your lifeline in the early game, level it pretty much whenever possible. Unless you are taking way too much poke damage, always use this to clear a wave in the early game. However, this is also why Skadi has so much burst. Not only does it boast high damage, but it doubles Kaldrs damage to all enemies slowed by this, allowing him to deal 160 percent of your damage. |
| Rune Of The Hunt |
This one isn't so complicated. You use this to select Kaldrs targets and aiming this is easy. Put a level into this early for quick damage with Kaldrs dash attack and later put in two more levels one after another to attain Kaldrs heal, which will be absolutely necessary mid game as Kaldr will be dead more than he is alive. Late game, the 10% extra movement speed given to you if Kaldr successfully hits an opponent is just an added bonus that will give you an edge in boxing matches. |
| Permafrost |
Ah, back to complicated abilities. Early game, this is your long-range semi-waveclear which you should use if your opposing damage is dealing way too much damage to you while you clear (ex: Sylvanus, Izanami, Bacchus). Late/mid game, this ability can deal quite significant poke damage to multiple opponents and can zone the opposing team in a team fight. However, where this ability really shines is in a boxing match against a melee attacker. With the exception of Bakasura (hate that guy), nine time out of 10 you will win a boxing match against a melee attacker if they are affected by permafrost and are skating. Just remember to keep moving and take advantage of their sliding. |
| Winter's Grasp |
As ultimates go, this isn't an Isis, Chaac or Hun Batz ult that will win a game for you. But, it's quite versatile. Early game, when the root lasts for less than a second, most times you will use this to steal maybe 8 extra auto attacks on a tower by making Kaldr immortal while he's tanking the tower (Note: only do this if you are guaranteed the tower, you might blow your ult and leave the tower with 200 life remaining). Late game, though, this is a 1v1 dream (or 1v2). The 2 second root is a guaranteed hit with Piercing Cold, two auto attacks, Kaldrs dash attack and depending on your build, a Kaldr normal attack for 2X damage. This. Is. Insane. The only boxers capable of surviving this with a hope of a chance of getting out alive are Osiris and Bellona. Just be careful not to engage a boxing match late game without this, it might become a fair fight (and if you're playing Skadi, it's not because you want your opponents to have a chance).
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Rune Of The Hunt, Kaldr will dash attack immediatly into your opponent, activate Winter's Grasp, use Piercing Cold, AA, AA, look for where your opponent is, if they've escaped, use 
Flickering Ritual to catch up with them and AA. If your opponent has not escaped, look around. Nope, for some reason they've disappear after the megaton of damage you've let loose in 2 seconds (a tiny bit more). Dang. Guess there's no corpses for war trophies...
Heartseeker stacks.
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The reasoning for starting off with Charged Morningstar into Transcendence is that Skadi's early game problems are bad enough without a worse mana problem than usual. Also, Skadis abilities contain high scaling, so more power is always a good thing. You will still be very vulnerable without some kind of movement speed item, so never, ever take a risk early game without a guardian like Khumbhakarna who can guarantee to get you out.
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| Warrior Tabi | Do I need to explain why to get this? It's just the best boot, period. End of story. Moving on. |
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Once you buy this item, Skadis damage will finally come online. This item provides everything she needs, with attack speed paramount. It will finally give Kaldr the ability to attack more than once a century, it removes the auto-attack movement penalty (which is 50% for hunters) and as a bonus, it grants 10 penetration. This is a must-have on Skadi. |
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This item is necessary for the build I use, which focuses more on overall usefulness than god damage. Basically, this is by far the best option for removing towers and phoenixes from the enemy team, and it doubles as quick, easy penetration. There's not much more to say besides that. |
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This is the item people always are iffy about on a build, but hear me out. Skadi is not in need of early lifesteal, anyone who is able to play her well will realize she's not like  Apollo or  Xbalanque who need early game lifesteal. This is because of her high base health and her mostly passive early game playstyle. But late game, this will add unbelievable damage to her autos and her abilities and the passive is essential for teamfights or 1v2s.
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| Qin's Sais |
Nine times out of ten, this is the item that you will buy as your sixth item. The sheer amount of damage plus the attack speed you get out of this is just too good to pass up. The only reason you would not get this is if you're being out-boxed by  Bakasura or being snuck up on by  Loki.
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This is the ultimate situational boxing item which can be used as a free-damage generator. Most of the times I use this, it's because i'm up against a good or decent Loki (The Lokis who are really bad don't need this to kill them). What you do is fire on a nearby target ( Loki's doll for preference) and the lightning hopefully will deal around 100 damage to him and revealing him. This also is a must-have against Bakasura. He just requires very high attack speed to deal with and this lets you get his  Regurgitated minions out of the way, fast.
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This item actually isn't a 6th item. If you are having lot's of trouble with high-protections/low health enemies, get this in place of Titan's Bane.
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Warrior Tabi and Transcendence) here as I have already explained them in the build above. They give power, mana and movement speed. Moving on.|
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This item is insane with Skadi jungle. The least important thing this item grants is movement speed, which is pretty darn important. The incredible thing is the passive. At the end of this build you will either have 270 or 280 physical power. This means that late game, Piercing Cold will deal 776 damage just on it's own, and if you combine that into Skadi's ability combo, well... It's beautiful. And don't say that it's difficult to build the stacks. You are a hunter. Hitting things with auto attacks is what you do.
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The reason that the jungle build has this as a necessary item is that this build needs attack speed since it lacks Hastened Fatalis. Also, the penetration is quite nice.
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This item used to be the laughingstock of the physical penetration tree. But now, it is very nice indeed. Power, a little attack speed, and a nice amount of penetration all are just what anyone needs in the jungle. But it's passive will allow you to be able to use Winter's Grasp very often if you consistently auto attack various things. And again, you are a hunter. Auto attacking is what you do.
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Ah, bloodforge. what can I say. Just get it. |
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This item is merely an anti-heal item. Get it against  Aphrodite,  Camazotz,  Chaac,  Chang'e,  Erlang Shen,  Guan Yu,  Hercules,  Kali and  Thanatos. But only if your opponent is good at these gods, and are a threat to you. Otherwise,  The Crusher will see you through better.
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It's only one game in a hundred where you won't select this relic. It's just extremely necessary if you don't want to die. Always get this relic, no matter what role you are playing. |
| Aegis Amulet | Get this if you are worried about early game burst damage. Late game, this is still very useful but don't use it at low health. |
| Shield Of Thorns |
Get this if you anticipate boxing a lot late game. And always get it against Bakasura and Kali.
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Hand of the Gods which Skadi jungle should select if the enemy jungler has a good early game, such as 
Bastet, 
Anhur or Erlang Shen to name a few.
Heartseeker stacks up before you fight, your burst is so much higher with it.
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Status = Average While  Ares isn't the best guardian to pair with  Skadi, he's not a bad choice. His early game aggression will turn enemy fire away from you, allowing you to clear the wave with Piercing Cold while keeping Kaldr alive.
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Status = Less good Athena, while she may be the guardian to end all guardians, is not good paired with Skadi. Her added wave clear is too up close and personal to the minion wave and far to similar to yours, and will make it easy for your opponents to hit both of you at the same time with their abilities, not something you want.
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Status = Good Skadi +  Bacchus is one of the best duo lane combos you'll find. The Sheer damage of  Belly Flop will keep your opponents away from their archers, allowing you to stand directly in front of the enemy melee minions for the most efficient use of Piercing Cold.
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Status = Average If you manage to find yourself paired with a skilled support  Cabrakan player, you are in luck. His insane CC and damage will keep your opponents far back, allowing you to breeze through the early game. The only problem is, I've only come across 3 or 4 good Cabrakan players in 600 hours of smite, and they were all jungle players. Except one, whose amazing support plays allowed me to nab my first penta kill. I don't know your player name, but if you read this guide, thanks a lot. I owe you one.
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| Fafnir |
Status = Good  Fafnir, in my opinion, is the most versatile guardian in smite. However, while he is a jack of all trades, he isn't incredible in any. He isn't as good an aggressor as  Ymir, he isn't as passive as  Geb, and he doesn't have as much a initiator as Athena. This suits Skadi just fine. while his wave clear might not allow you to out clear your opponents, his disarm will allow you to win early fights against the enemy ADC.
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Status = Abysmal Geb just won't work with Skadi. While his wave clear will be an asset and his shield might save your life, he cannot relieve early game pressure off of Skadi. It works okay on paper, but not in practice.
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Status = A bit More Abysmal Than Geb Khepri isn't good with Skadi for the same reasons geb isn't, only Khepri has less wave clear. moving on.
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| Kumbhakarna |
Status = Excellent! With fantastic wave clear and early game pressure,  Kumbhakarna is everything Skadi could wish for. Mainly, his  Throw Back and  Groggy Strike eliminate the need for Skadi to use abilities on clearing the wave (note: you should still use Piercing Cold on the wave, it's good manners).
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Status = Good If i were to summarize  Sobek, it would be as a less good Kumbhakarna. Both specialize in continuing CC chains, but Sobeks clear isn't as total as ***bhas. But, overall, not a bad pair.
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| Terra |
Status = Less good Terra has everything Skadi is not in need of. While she does have a very good heal, Skadi is not in need of health sustain. Skadi needs mana sustain, not health. And while her clear can be better than Sobeks', she needs to become level two before she can do it, and it takes a while to position her clear.
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Status = Good The main reason  Sylvanus is good is his passion for growing flowers. The mana sustain from his flower auras will help you in so many ways. Also, his level one clear will allow you to gain an immediate advantage over the enemy duo lane, unless they're  Izanami or Kumbhakarna.
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| Xing Tian |
Status = Even worse than Khepri Nothing this guy has works well with Skadi. His clear isn't bad, but it's not good and he cannot carry Skadi through the early game. Just no. Don't let it happen.
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Status = Good He has early game pressure, and an excellent kit for preventing you being chased down. Overall, a very good partner. |
Skadi.
Skadi, especially against hunters (except Izanami. She's always the exception). Kaldr will absorb the enemy auto attacks for you, and it doesn't matter if the enemy adc is critting for 1000 damage. It's still only one life off of Kaldr.
Nemesis. If a 1v1 or 1v2 is imminent, first thing, use Piercing Cold before the enemy attacks. As a hunter, you cannot hesitate. Find the smell of blood and go for it. Winter's Grasp. Sure, after the root it's nearly useless because its damage is so low, but even so, waste not want not. If you manage to keep your opponent in the Winter's Grasp surrounding You and Kaldr, that could be 800 damage instead of 400 late game. Piercing Cold. About 50% of your damage comes from it, so don't blow it. Transcendence. So much is lost if you are killed with only 1100 gold out of the 1400 you need to buy Transcendence. Also, you will be quite angry.
In Summary of this entire guide: A good Skadi player never needs to lose.
Author's Note: I'm 99% sure this guide has everything it needs, but if you can think of anything it's missing, please let me know in the comments, i'll be checking them periodically after the release. If you have any suggestions, please put them in the comments. If you hate my guts for no reason whatsoever, also put that in the comments. Actually, put anything in the comments. Oh yeah, one last thing. If anyone has found a video of an 
Osiris pentakill, please put a link in the comments, my bucket list has "see an Osiris pentakill" on it.
Osiris, i've kinda got a bit of an obsession with him and I kinda like it).
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Think Skadi will be viable on mid?
Also, why skip some points for her ultimate? I notice you skip some and level it 3 times as last.
Just curious, thanks!
Welcome and well done for your first guide in its first iteration. There are multiple things I might point out, BB-code wise (e.g. forgetting to close indents in the item section), but as a first time writer, guide-wise or bb-code wise, it's a lot to learn.
The way you talk about her skills, it's clear you're very familiar with her. One thing you miss discussing with the current iteration of
I do want to point out that
Your reasoning seems sound to me for the use of
You talk about
With regard to
Or I'm wrong. I don't play her, but reading this (and listening to Ducks all the time) I plan to. So if I'm just straight up wrong, cool, lol.
In your conclusion, you say to comment if you think anything is missing. You could maybe talk about some high level comboing, like if they're chasing you, and they're closer to your tower, drop 3 to continue their momentum, sic Kaldr followed immediately by
And wow, just saw that last bit, that's very nice of you to say, thank you.
As for next guide, sure...go for
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrzrDdtPxdY