Ymir, The Ultimate Cold Shoulder

Ymir is on the top when it deals with base stats(besides movement speed), beating all the other guardians in damage, health, and protections. Now not saying that he's the best guardian, but he's up there if you know how to use his abilities to the fullest. Ymir has the potential to deal major damage, take major damage, and be a major pain the *** for your enemies.

Pros
Very good damage for a guardian
Ice Breath is one of Smite's best CCs
Best stats out of all the guardians
He's very balanced
Has a poke, CC, and two slows


Cons
Slow as hell
Weak in the beginning of the game
Can be countered very easily
His ult can be evaded very easily
Not the best support( Athena, Geb, and Kephri do a better job at "support")

I'm going to go on now to items that are useful with Ymir in the right situations.

Winged Blade should be bought if you are being hit with a bunch of slows. Let's say that you get hit by Ah Puch's attacks. Instead of being slowed, you're given a slight speed boost and are immune to slows for a short duration.

Let's say that you're being pegged upside the head by crits and need some armor+power. Celestial Legion Helmhas your back by giving you 60 power, 70 physical defense, preventing a critical strike every 6 seconds, AND giving you +40 power for three seconds when you prevent a critical strike.

Soul Reaver is a fun little item that gives you mana and power. Its ability goes very well with Ymir, and can make your glacial strike a bit more threatening. Do be careful though,as this item takes up a valuable slot of your inventory that can be filled for a defensive item.

midguardian mail can be used to counter hunters and assassins that keep coming up to poke your with their sharp sticks. The stats it gives you are rather bad(+300 health and +30 physical protection), the ability helps counter enemies who are building for attack speed. You have a 30% chance per hit to slow down your attackers movement speed AND attack speed by 30% for two seconds.

magis blessing is a **** item, giving you a teeny tiny bit of protections and 350 health. However, if you're getting stunned left and right(and it's killing you and your teammates), you need to pick up this item to help fight those stuns. Absorbing one hard CC every 30 seconds, it annoys just about everyone.

100% more damage for basic melee attacks sounds like you'll be wading through the enemy, slaughtering everyone left and right, but that's only half true. Treat frostbite like a "Good, how convenient" passive than a "I'll build everything around this one ability."

Ice wall can either screw your teammates over, screw you over, or (hopefully) screw your enemies over. Not only is it used to help you get kills, but is also your (kinda)escape. The reason why ice wall is leveled up once out of the blue is for the extra second.


This is your poke, wave clear, and primary way of slowing down your enemies. Just aim, shoot, and continue on with your day.

This is what makes Ymir a gigantic pain in the ***. When comboed with Gengi's Guard and Breastplate of Valor will let you cast it again in only 8 seconds. Not bad if I do say myself.

Let me first say that you can cast it early by right clicking, dealing not all, but some of the damage. Not only can it deal a whopping 1100(+150% of your magical power) at the last level, but it can also be casted early for less damage. I'll break it to you now, it will be rare for you to be able to wait the three seconds for it to charge. By three seconds, your enemy has popped their escape, used a relic, or use invlunerability. This does not make you invincible or take less damage Use it to slow enemies for your teammates to get the kill, get a kill yourself, or (in very rare cases, for example, 1 v 1 in your tower and you need your enemies gone) drive your enemy away.

Ice Wall and frost breath deserve their own little section on how to use them effectively! These two abilities are what really make Ymir so special(despite being the most popular god when Summer roles around)

Use Ice Wall to:
Escape(while running, look down, use it, and the ice wall will spawn behind you. Need to have boots for this to work though!)

Prevent ability escapes(escapes like Guan Yu and Apollo are prime examples. As the enemy pops his/her escape, spawn an ice wall in quickly, and laugh as the run into a wall for their entire escape)

Save your teammates(this is risky and should only be done when you've mastered Ymir. When your teammate is running away with an enemy in hot pursuit, spawn in that wall between the enemy and your teammate. Use the few seconds you bought for your teammate to save him/her.)

Prevent your enemy from running(spawn in a wall from behind and freeze them)
Slow down your enemies advances(Attacking a tower and need a few extra seconds? Pop in a wall to block the enemy.

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Use Frost Breath to:
-Initiate. Blink in, freeze and let loose

-Poke. This is more for early game as what you need the enemy to do is stand the hell still. Frost Breath then [glacial strike] to give a little poke. This "scares off" the enemy, forcing them to back off a bit and letting the "****, he can freeze me and deal a bit of damage" be ingrained in their minds.

-Escape: Use frost breath to help you escape(turn around and yell "Freeze!" or help your teammate escape "freeze the enemy and toss a wall in front of them"

-Scare: After a while, your enemy will get used to your frost breath and begin backing off in fear that you'll be casting it on them. Use that fear to your advantage(but don't go overboard with it).

Defense

Let's be serious, a guardian is really supposed to be a tank, but just how tanky can you get? This build will make you a really tough cookie, but will make you useless damage wise. If you build the defense build, you're doing it just to help out teammates, body block, and get in your enemies faces. Do be careful though!Not dealing enough damage+being hard to kill no longer makes you a threat.

Balanced

this is the build that I go(switching our reinforced shoes for shoes of focus if I need the CC reduction). Shoes of focus, breastplate of valor, and Genji's guard will assist you with cool-downs, letting you spam your abilities over and over. Though two seconds doesn't seem like that much, trust me, it really is. Winged Blade let's you move faster, harder to kill, AND get's rid of speed debuffs. Truly useful, but be ready to switch it out if you don't need it. Last but not least, etheral staff bumps up both your damage and health, getting you over 100 power late game.

Power Ymir

Need I say more? This build is risky(and I personally don't suggest it).

Conquest Build

Conquest is a bundle of joy, and because the fountain is so very far away, you'll need Stone of Gaia. The HP5, MP5, and health will keep you in the game miles longer. Grab hide of urchin only if you're racking up kills. If you're losing, replace it with something else. Breastplate of Valor, Genji's Guard, and Etheral Staff I've already explained.

Ymir's Frost Breath is feared by all and after a while, your enemy is going to start anticipating it. They'll be planning their attacks around your Frost Breath, waiting for you to use it so they can come in and take out one of your teammates. Use this to your advantage when you start seeing "the signs."

blink-> Frost Breath-> Glacial Strike-> Ice Wall-> Shards of Ice

This is your basic instigator combo. Use it, but don't only use it

Frost Breath-> Glacial Strike

This can be your wave clear combo when you have the mana and the time. Only use this combo when you and your teammates are save(or you really whatever you're fighting to be dead.

Glacial Strike->Basic attack

use this combo to clear waves, and deal a little bit of damage to your enemies.

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Tip #1: You're there for your teammate, not the other way around. Stick with them and only leave them if necessary.
Tip #2: Kills are not your primary goal. Keeping your teammate's *** safe and helping them get kills is.
Tip #3: Frost Breath can deal damage. Have someone low on health and your teammates are busy? Use it to kill them.
Tip #4: Enemies have escapes and they WILL be trying their best for your to waste your frost breath.

The battlefield is littered with, like, five enemies, which is still a lot if they're all on your ***.
As ymir, you need to watch out for a number of basic things:

-Sometimes it's too good to be true. If the enemy is being abnormally idiotic and running at you, they're trying to bait your freeze.

-Watch the enemy and adapt to their play style. If they're jumping over you to get to your teammate, turn around, pop Frost Breath then summon a Ice Wall in their faces. Try your best to keep your squishy teammate alive.

-Watch the enemy's guardian and use their attack to attack as well(try doing this only if you have the health to do so and your teammate does as well). Let's say that another guardian blinks behind you and starts knocking your teammate around. If your teammate can handle him/herself, DO NOT turn around and freeze them. Instead, freeze the enemy's teammate and get in his/her face. Keep the enemy's teammate distracted until A) the enemy's guardian retreats, B) your teammate needs help, or C) You need help.

-Watch your teammate. Your teammate isn't truly safe until they're back in the fountain.

-Watch out for assassins. If you know an assassin is nearby, save your frost breath. You'll need it when the assassin comes jumping in.

Ymir is a fantastic support and guardian, but like all gods, you need to be careful with him. This is my first guide so please be gentle :3