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Watcher's Gift
Shoes
Healing Potion
Mana Potion
Shoes of the Magi
Greater Blink
Sovereignty
Heartward Amulet
Heavenly Agility
Winged Blade
Breastplate of Valor
Mana Potion
Ward
Sentry Ward
Y
B
A
X
Last Update: 04.03.2014
Hi everyone, you can call me Etakse, and welcome to my Ymir guide. I've been playing this god since September 2012, and I'm currently a Masters support player myself (and doing pretty well in the challenger cup too). This guide however is dedicated to new players. Sure there'll be some tips and tricks that some of you more experienced in SMITE might not know about, however most of what you'll find here is going to be pretty basic.
Also, regarding any sort of build controversy; it's important to realize that the same build might not work in every single match. I have added a list of other items below, so feel free to check out your alternatives, if you don't feel you're getting what you need.
Pros:
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A lot of CC Easy to play Goes well with most gods |
Cons:
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Long cooldowns |
As said in the introduction; this build will help you deal with most teams, and I find myself using the same one for most support gods in most of my ranked matches and tournament games, that's just how the game is at the moment. However, if you feel in need for something very situational, then go for it, give it a try.
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| In terms of early survivability this gives you health and sustain. It's great overall because it gives you extra gold, even if you're pushed under tower. | Penetration boots are back! Ymir is one of the heaviest damaging guardians in the game, adding pen to all that damage makes you a real threat! | Physical protection tends to be more valuable than magical protection, so looking into that, Sovereignty is still the best for supports. |
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| New item around the block, and really nice to. Together with Sovereignty you get the S1 Sovereignty aura, as well as it being good in general. | You're pretty tanky by this point, this item will make sure it's more difficult to pick you off, makes you faster! Plus some CDR is always good. | Speaking of CDR, this almost caps it for you, which makes for a lot of freezes in fights. You also get some physical prot. to tank objectives with. |
Reinforced Shoes god some nice changes in Season 2. The price reduction worked wonder for it, and now it stands as a slightly tankier option, however they removed the passive for crowd control immunity (VVGT). It's ok'ish, not the best.
Shoes of the Magi has a lot of damage, and that goes really well with Ymir, who's seen on as a high damage support, especially in the early game. With these you can pump out a lot of hurting, especially by good use of your passive, 
Frostbite
Shoes of Focus is really strong. Ymir's long cooldowns are made slightly lower, combine it with winged wand and you'll really start to feel it. Personally I prefer going for the more damaging option (magi shoes), but certainly good shoes!
Sovereignty It gives less in every aspect compared to how it was in Season 1, however it also got a price reduction. Having an aura for the team is great, and this should be your choice of p. defense as you don't really need any of the other passives.
Breastplate of Valor is nice for new players, or anyone struggling with their mana consumption. If you're having trouble surviving without meditation then this might be the item for you. 550 extra mana for this cheap of an item is great!
Midgardian Mail is fine if you die too quickly to make use of Sovereignty anyway. It's passive should save help you vs dangerous auto attackers such as 
Ao Kuang and 
Bakasura who tend to feed off of slow targets without escapes, like Ymir.
Heartward Amulet suddenly became the undispueted go to pick for magical defense. Sovereignty getting an HP5 aura made it so that 
Emerald Talisman isn't super necessary anymore, and with that out of the way another defense aura gets a must-buy rating.
Pestilence is still really good though, and if someone other on the team picks up heartward amulet, or healing just wins them the fights during longer engagements, then I'd consider going into pestilence instead. The passive, like other passives, only apply once though, so don't stack it on your team.
Void Stone works really nicely with Ymir. It works well in almost any team as it's a buff and not a debuff. However, if you need a debuff, like 
Pestilence or Witch Blade then buy those instead. 
Void Stone is somewhat of a luxury item.
Spirit Robe Became a much more .. "purchasable" item in season 2. I'd say it's alright if you're behind and need some general defense. Aside from that I also really like it as a last item pick up when selling 
Mark of the Vanguard.
Hide of the Urchin By all means a good item, but you have to buy it early-ish. It's a bit expensive, and gives nothing but defense. It's somewhat of a selfish item in that regard, biggest thing might be that it gives mana, so effectively; more skills!
Soul Reaver if you don't need more defense then soul reaver is your best bet for a good chunk of power. Opponents don't usual calculate the sudden soul reaver into how much damage they're about to take, which makes it a good late game pick up.
Now talking about every active in SMITE, and how well Ymir does with each and every one of them, is a waste of time for both you and me, instead let' talk about the ones you'll be and should be using.
Blink is an ability you'll see on most Ymirs. With it you gain the ability to gank efficiently to apply a surprise stun, or to blink in on a chased ally to save him with a freeze and wall. In other words it's for initiation, which is the reason we don't get 
Combat Blink.
Heavenly Agility is always good. There's never a match that wouldn't benefit from having an heavenly agility on. It's a huge area speed increase and slow immunity, super strong for both offense and defense. Oh, and some healing increase, but no one really remembers that.
Weakening Curse is really good against healers, and although 
Enfeebling Curse is really good against auto attackers, they're not as obnoxious that you need to invest into an active for them (most of the time). You don't get blink if you do this, so only pick it up if no one else can.
Shell of Absorption is one of the strongest team fight actives in the game, and can decide the entire battle if used correctly. I think blink is one of the reasons Ymir is as strong as he is, but you can try it out and see what you think, sometimes it's better.
Frostbite is a lot of damage early game. Auto attack already do an ok amount, doubling it is great! It also lets you solo clear the small camps when walking past them, so pretty handy. Don't put yourself in a bad spot trying to get the 4 auto attacks off though. Ice Wall is the ability you'd like to max last. It's an amazing skill with a long range. The range is so great that even if a low health enemy were to dash or jump away you might still be able to block their path. Which is fantastic. You can use this both offensively and defensively. Defensively there's a trick you can use, where you aim directly downwards at your feet while casting it. Since Ice Wall has a cast time it'll appear behind you. However! Don't do it if you're slowed, or it won't work. Other than that; you can use it to initiate, block enemies from backing for a second so you can approach them and use Frost Breath. Glacial Strike comes first, kind of. In terms of crowd control it might not contribute a lot (a slow, I mean, pfft), however the damage you gain from this ability is pretty good, and it can help out a lot through the early and mid game. Frost Breath, Ymir's third ability. Max this second. At max level this skill provides a stun of 2.25 seconds, which is a lot. If you can freeze 2-3 important characters in a big teamfight, then that alone is enough to turn a bad game around. Along with blink it also gives Ymir a huge ganking potential if you're ahead enough to leave your lane early-mid game. Shards of Ice has a really long cast time, but a lot of damage, max this third. It's a somewhat risky move to use as it makes you immobile for a little while. I'll try to give a few examples of when you should use your ultimate.
Wrath of the Gods when the objective bar turns yellow.
Odin's 
Ring of Spears, or timing it to go off after 
Ne Zha's 
Wind Fire Wheels goes down are examples of great ultimate synergies. However don't strive for it throughout the game, take the chance if you get it, because most people knows not to get caught by combos like that, and keeps actives and jumps ready to get out of tight spots like those. Frost Breath to get control of your enemy. However if all your skills are on cooldown, and you need to zone or hinder your enemy in anyway, then pop your ultimate. Make sure to position yourself right, and look out for opponents with jumps at their disposal. Ice Wall before using your ultimate. Thirdly, look out for characters with jumps. Characters with jumps going over walls won't have a hard time dealing with your ultimate. Especially if they bought 
Purification Beads. To help pull your ultimate off, make sure you have teammates around you that can cripple, slow or put forth an ultimatum of facing either your ultimate or something worse.
Anhur and 
Hou Yi though, as they have skill that work in conjunction with Ice Wall. 
Freya can be pretty fun as it can allow for some extra charge up time for Shards of Ice before they walk out of it, and laning with 
Cupid is kind of the same idea.
Ares specifically. The irregular 
Tyr support might be a little difficult if played well, and so will 
Sobek. 
Guan Yu could go either way, you can cancel his clear with freeze, but you're very susceptible to being focused down by his 
Cavalry Charge. Frost Breath is not only damage, but also a great set up and almost always a guaranteed. Ice Wall is also super important. Sometimes a little overlooked maybe, but one of Ymir's strongest traits. It might not be good against characters with jumps, but against dashes, or just low mobility characters, it can do a lot. Blocking a path can be used offensively as well as defensively, and even if the character has a jump, you could always just pick a character like 
Awilix to really lock them down. Wrath of the Gods ready in case of a big objective push on Gold Fury or Fire Giant and you should be more or less set!
I while back when I started playing League of Legends I read guides on supports and they showed me a map of where to ward. These maps were 'doted' out really well, but they didn't really help me. A lot of times I would ward somewhere just because the guide told me to, not paying any mind to why I would ward there in the first place. Because of that, I've decided to not include a 'doted' map myself.
So let's begin with; "why do we ward?". While in lane you should ward in order to know if you're being ganked. Junglers don't have a lane they need to be in, so they could be on their way to gank if you don't see them on the map. Warding the closest purple buff is generally a good idea, because that's where they're the most likely to pass by. If you want to be extra safe, then ward both. If you're very new to the game however then the enemy team might not even have a jungler, in that case you can probably be a little lax on the early wards and save yourself some gold, you'll have to assess that yourself.
Another standard type of ward you'll need is the Gold Fury ward, and later on, the Fire Giant ward. When warding the Gold Fury you generally want to use a Sentry Ward. These wards lets you spot out enemy ward and destroy them, stripping away vision for your opponents. You can then either sneak a Gold Fury attempt, or bait the enemy support over for an easy kill.
In the case you want to bait the Gold Fury, or especially the Fire Giant, ward the path your enemy has to take in order to contest either. This'll make it easy for you to set up and ambush to first get kill, then the objective.
These are the most general guidelines for warding, it's basically; if you want to know where your enemy is, ward. Also be aware that some wards needs to be placed very specifically, versus for example 
Thor and 
Mercury, who can ult from great distances, where you might not have any wards placed.
is the first god we'll concern ourselves with. This god will try to help clearing the minion wave with shockwave. You should avoid being hit by this, and the most effective way to do so is standing on Gebs side of the lane, and then just move past your own melee minions in order to not get hit. Your lane clear will mostly be comming off of Glacial Strike. Hit the entire wave, and you will have more push. Also remember that when playing versus Geb, unless you decide to focus him down, 
Stone Shield will cleanse a single target off your stun.
has a clear about as good as yours, what you need to concern yourself with is staying on the opposite side of the lane as your carry in order to avoid both of you getting hit by 
Confound, putting you in a bad spot. When she tries to engage on your carry, try to freeze both of your enemy's, and if you can only hit one, hit the carry, just don't dive so deep that you die. After the laning phase she'll have more global pressure than you, if you see her rotating over to solo lane, try and look to do the gold fury, your ultimate does a lot of damage to it!
has alright clear with his 
Sickening Strike, but his strength lies in 
Charge Prey. Hide yourself behind minions if he tries to go for you, or stand far enough back to make it awkward for him. If he goes for your carry, then try to freeze him before he reaches there, this'll put him in a really bad spot. If he does hit however, then you can use your Ice Wall to stop your carry of being flung too far and also block sobek's escape route. This move is a bit tricky and outright difficult to pull off though, and so is the match up in general. Your ganks should be more effective though!
is a good and a bad match up for you. During laning phase he might get the better off you. If he roots you at the melee minions you'll take a lot of damage from his aoe auto attacks. Also beware of 
Nature's Grasp which'll put you in a really bad spot. It's a good match up because your clear is still really good, and if you buy 
Weakening Curse you'll be able to pick him up with only one assisting god if you catch him out, using your Frost Breath -> Glacial Strike -> Ice Wall -> Weakening Curse -> Shards of Ice combination.
does a lot of things really well, one of them being damage. He's an aggressive support that benefits from dealing more damage than he tend to receive. Luckily for you, 
Ymir is the counter! All of Ares' damage is dot damage (except for ult), so Mark of the Vanguard is really good in order to mitigate it. In lane he'll try to use 
Searing Flesh to clear, you can cancel that however by using Frost Breath on him and the melee minions. However, it might not always be the smartest option, it depends on your laning partner. Sometimes you just want to contest the clear with Glacial Strike and then stun him when he goes aggressive with his chains instead. Also, always remember that your Frostbite passive deals a lot of damage early, and is great for returning a hurting.
Starting Items:
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magi's blessing
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Winged Blade, which is kind of the jack of all trades item in SMITE. It gives you a little bit of everything, while being relatively cheap. It lets you get your actives up and running while not really lacking in any stat. Sovereignty and Heartward Amulet next is usually a good and safe call.
Greater Purification and other actives. Spending gold on those limits their capabilities on dealing damage as well.
Scylla, Odin and 
Kukulkan works really well. Mages like Scylla and Kukulkan really benefit from you freezing a target still for them, assuming you have a different support to peel for them in the backline as you set up kills. The Odin + Ymir ultimate combo is also really strong in focusing and 100 to 0'ing a lot of the enemy team's players.
Lastly I'd just like to give a few more tips before you go out on the battlefield to give you enemies the chills. Ymir has long cooldowns. You can build a lot of CDR, but it'll still be the case. It's perfectly ok to use them all at ones, and it's usually what you should do, however it's what comes after that's challenging. After using your skills there's nothing really more to do, no matter how much you feel like you should. Try not to stay in the middle of the fight too much and take poke damage. That's why we have say .. Hercules. Basically, stay around for body blocks, and item auras, but distance yourself properly so you don't get hit by the big area mage ability meant for your carry.
What differs a good Ymir from a bad one is his positioning. Spend the time your skills are down on getting ready to help again, don't just stand there and take poke damage.
Good luck, and have fun Smiting!
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Why not add the Ethereal Staff within the core? It seems like a very good item.
The health from Ethereal Staff is really nice, but it's a bit too expensive as a defense item. You can go into a more bruiser oriented build (like jungle Ymir's do) and then Ethereal Staff looks a lot better.
If you want to try that then you can go:
You might be questioning why there are no other health items to compliment the E-Staff passive, and that's because E-Staff's role in this build is to make up for the lack of health on Breastplate and Void Stone. You can then build into more health afterwards with something like a Midguardian Mail.
However this is a bruiser build, it's more effective from the jungle, and you won't be as tanky as you'd otherwise be with a normal support build.
Game's usually don't drag on for that long though, that'd be like a 40 minute item or something. :P
Also that item is always situational (like magi's blessing always work but like ..) so it's probably a nice opportunity for new players to try something out themselves :P
Why not add the Ethereal Staff within the core? It seems like a very good item.
for a support
I would recommend you to put the
As a fellow X Ymir player, I must say that this isn't just one of the best Ymir guides, but one of the best guides to date! Great job!
I have 1 thing I think you should atleast consider, and that is to buy 2 Wards right as you spawn, go and Ward the purple buffs, and then go back to base and buy your starter items, which in my opinion should be MoV, HoG and 3 Mana Potions (as you stated in the guide), but also Multi Potions instead of Mana Potions, but maybe that's just my personal preference. Still though, try it out
Other than that, like I said before, fantastic job!
Hey thanks a lot, warding early is definitely a good strat, and I should probably include it somewhere when there's another update. MoV, Watcher's, Boots 2; all work really well early, and it's a lot about playstyle, preference and match up. Watcher's Gift is generally better, but I'm recommending MoV here since it's more forgiving for newer players.
Again, thanks for feedback, good luck in games :)!
I have 1 thing I think you should atleast consider, and that is to buy 2 Wards right as you spawn, go and Ward the purple buffs, and then go back to base and buy your starter items, which in my opinion should be MoV, HoG and 3 Mana Potions (as you stated in the guide), but also Multi Potions instead of Mana Potions, but maybe that's just my personal preference. Still though, try it out
Other than that, like I said before, fantastic job!
And thanks :)! Good luck to you too.
I really like the Winged blade in your build but I think if you go for it you should rush it before the boots. Otherwise it dosnt do much sense
I get your point, but it makes you slower for longer. You rarely get to back and buy
Boots are so ridiculously cheap now anyway, so to me it doesn't feel right delaying them when they're easily picked up early.