Smash and Freeze - Tanky Support Ymir

Hi! I'm a noob who has fallen in love with Ymir, and wants to help others theorycraft a better guide for the Father of the Frost Giants.

I mainly play Joust and Arena, so my guide is going to be focused towards those gameplay modes. While only lvl 12 as of the time of writing, my win rate with Ymir is 54%, averaging a KDA of 1.4/2.5/8.2.

Am I going to be the perfect guide out there? Absolutely not! Am I out of my mind? Most likely. Do I have some good ideas? Maybe. Either way, I'm going to try to help out as best I can. Please leave comments offering ways to improve.

This Ymir build is fairly reliant on items to really get off the ground. As a result, you'll need to use your smarts to get yourself up and going. I'm going to take a moment to break down what items you want and when to get them:

Starting out, this item is a necessity. Since you're not going to be killing minions out the gate, you need alternate sources of gold income. This will help you out a ton later.




Your first priority item should be BoV. The extra mana and cooldown reduction is very important to have, and it will help in the long run.



Oh sweet jebus! This item is so very, very helpful for you. In addition to the HP5 and MP5, it also gives you a passive regen equal to 2% of your maximum HP. I've seen my HP regen as high as 75 and even 80. It's crazy. This helps you out, so very very much.



Ethereal Staff is one of those items that you don't realize how important it is until you try it out and wonder why you didn't use it sooner. Turning your max HP into an outlet for additional magic power can really improve your Glacial Strike and Frost Breath in a pinch. Since you're building HP to begin with, it's a good item to have in the mid game to get extra damage on the board.


As an aside, you'll want to consider selling your Watcher's Gift around the time you build your third or fourth item. By that point, your team should be reasonably well fed and you shouldn't be worrying about your creep score. It's time to dive into team fights and tower dives, not minion kills!




In all honesty, you can switch the purchasing order of Magi's Blessing with Reinforced Shoes, or one of the alternate items depending on what enemies you're going up against. Magi's Blessing is really only useful against teams with lots of crowd control abilities. Teams that use Thor, Ares, Athena, or Mercury will make you want to prioritize this over other options.





I like the Reinforced Shoes for the crowd control reduction and extra health they give you. If you're running up against less crowd control and using your abilities more, you may want to switch for Shoes of Focus instead. Assess the situation before changing your mind, obviously.

While I put the shoes lower on the list, you should consider buying the basic Shoes before you build your Breastplate of Valor The extra move speed is definitely needed for this hunk of ice...




From here on out, this section is a little bit more freeform. I personally believe the first five items are must haves, but this sixth item is your "reactionary" item. You build this one to suit your team and what you're fighting. All of these have value somewhere, it's up to you to decide if they're right for your particular skirmish.


This is one of those items that's highly situational. If you're running a magic-heavy team, this item shines in team fights. On the other hand, if it's just you in a joust match with Artemis and Loki, well...you might want to look to other items to fill in this sixth slot.



Sovereignty is one of those items that really, really helps your team more than anything else. The magic protection and HP5 help your whole team stay alive a little longer, which helps you get more assists, and more wins. A solid option when facing lots of casters on the enemy team.



This item is less than ideal, as you don't really get kills or CS, but astute usage can lead to a much bigger, much more dangerous Ymir. Building Warlock's Sash will force you to build stacks, which takes time to build and pulls you away from team fights. The gain is extra health, which boosts your magic power from Ethereal Staff. If you take this item, be aware of your surroundings. When a team fight looks like it's on the horizon, you don't want all your abilities on cooldown.



Like the Void Stone above, Pestilence is very, very situational. You'll want to build it if an enemy team is running a lot of life steal.

Ymir's options for active abilities depend on how you play. Here's my four picks for best options:

When in team fights, Salvation lives up to its name. As a tank with lots of HP, the healing you do can mean all the difference. A well equipped Ymir can get up to 3990 HP, maybe even more if you prioritize HP over other stats. 15% of that is 599 HP. That's a significant heal to all allies in range! When you're in the thick of a team fight, that can be all you need to keep someone alive just a little bit longer. In addition, Ymir uses a lot of mana for his abilities. Running out of mana is a concern for Ymir. Being able to instantly regain mana and have extra regenerate over time can mean a free Shards of Ice or even a full mana bar to keep up the pressure on the phoenix.



Extra damage output for teammates? Yes please! Girdle of Support plays nicely with team fights. That little extra damage might mean a few fewer hits. This, in turn, means your team takes less damage. You can also use it for phoenix or titan dives, where you need the burst damage as quickly as possible. All in all, it's a very versatile ability that you should consider taking for the team.



If you feel the need for sanic speed, Heavenly Agility has your number. It's good for chases, as well as boosts healing. Cupid's Share The Love gives just a little bit more health with this active on him. Personally, I feel that Girdle of Support is a better option, but your mileage may vary.



Better for Siege or Conquest than the other modes, you really only want to use this to finish off jungle camps. Truthfully, it's better for your Hunter or Assassin to take this, but if they're going full potato, then you may need to take this instead. You really shouldn't, though...

Ymir's kit is very crowd control friendly, which plays nicely into this play style. Here's the breakdown of what you need to prioritize:

Like Jiminy Cricket told Pinocchio, "not just a little squeak! Pucker up and blow!" Frost breath is your main ability. You're going to use it to initiate team fights, or use it to give your teammates time to peel away from a fight they can't win. The freeze is very, very lethal early on, and as your magic power rises from your Ethereal Staff, it only gets stronger as the game progresses.

A well timed Frost Breath on an overextended enemy can be all your team needs to get that first blood.



Glacial Strike is that one ability that you don't use to initiate team fights or get kills, but to help soften up enemies or deal with minion waves. The slowing ability is nice for chasing, but its limited range makes it less than ideal for this purpose. Use Glacial Strike for clearing minion waves primarily, then extra damage in team fights second.



Ymir's ultimate works great in team fights. The extra slows will help keep pressure on the enemy team, and the damage output is pretty decent. The one drawback to support-style Ymir is that your ultimate's range is fairly limited. You really only want to use it when everyone is bunched up. You're less likely to use Shards of Ice in Arena than you are in, say, Joust or Siege, but it can the the ability that sways the fight in your team's favor. Be aware that Neith can jump out of harm's way with her Backflip ability. Hades, Apollo, and Thor also have similar escape abilities that can get them out of the blast radius in a pinch. So be mindful of this when they jump out. Don't be afraid to detonate early and get partial damage. That extra boost can be enough to get your team ahead.



This ability is very utility minded. Use Ice Wall to block off enemy escape routes, especially the two side chutes in Joust. A well timed Ice Wall can deny an enemy backup, escape routes, and generally just be a pain in the arse. Time your usage of this ability to maximize disruption. Cutting off enemy reinforcements will get you all sorts of kudos from your teammates.

In arena, you won't use Ice Wall as much as other game modes. Since the arena is wide open, Ice Wall's viability drops dramatically. Your best bet is to use it to cut off minion waves from reaching your portal.

No, I'm not talking about that juvenile dancing under the table. Footsie is a very important concept for Ymir's abilities, especially for the play style of this build. Footsie involves moving back and forth, trying to trick the opponent into thinking they have a clear opening, when they really just trapped themselves. An example of footsie can be seen in this video:
(unknown embed type)/smite/skill/frost-breath-60you will need to lead your group, and make sure that they watch your lead. Early communication on your footsie tactic will mean all the difference. In Conquest, this means coordinating with your lane teammate early, letting them know your intentions and to follow your lead. If they're running someone who's a little squishy, have them back up at different intervals than you. The difference in timing will add another variable for your opponent to watch and be aware of.

Ermahgerd, this one is important! This Ymir build is very support oriented. Your main goal with this build is not to get the kills, but to help set up your Hunter or Assassin to make the kills happen.

Early game, plan on being in front of your team. Coordinate with them to ensure that they know when to strike. When engaging the enemy, you don't want to overextend. You'll be playing a lot of footsie, waiting for the right moment to drop a Frost Breath and start the team fight. Make sure your team knows what you're doing, so they don't think you're charging into battle, only to see you back up and leave them exposed.

Playing footsie with the enemy team is what's going to help your team the most when it comes to engaging the fight. You want to bait the enemy into overextending, then have the whole team converge Custer-style on the target. This can be difficult for random teammates to learn, but it wins games when the team works together.

You don't need to worry nearly as much about killing creeps thanks to your Watcher's Gift. Your goal is going to be supporting your teammates, setting up the best opportunities to team fight.

You're using your Frost Breath and Ice Wall to set up your opponents, then using Glacial Strike and Shards of Ice to soften the enemy while the Hunter/Assassin moves in for the kill.

Playing off of Team Work, here's a couple things to try with Ymir.

1. Odin

icon=odin size=100][/center][nextcol]Mr. Allfather can play nicely with Ymir's abilities. Have a teammate build a damage-oriented Odin, and drop [[Wall of Spears and Shards of Ice together. Odin's ability will prevent escapes, and you'll do a ton of damage to any enemies trapped inside.

2. Medusa, Hou Yi, Rama, Neith, Artemis, et al.

[ wall of ice

A well timed Frost Breath can set up for free attacks from your AD. Open with Frost Breath then use Wall of Ice behind the enemy to block their escape. You can set your team up for an early lead if you play your cards right.

That's all I have to share. Hopefully you'll look at this build and find ways to improve it, make it better, or just tell me it sucks. There will always be people to drink the haterade.