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The Conduit Gem start provides helpful early mana sustain, and the passive true damage will help with early wave clear. The upgrade Gem of Focus provides good utility via MS and overall damage increase.
Emerald Ring builds into Telkhines Ring for early sustain.
This build upgrades Conduit Gem into Gem of Focus. As an alternative to Gem Build #2, it provides some good bonus damage from Focus, Telkhines, and Cyclopean (should you choose it).
The 6th item is situational / preference. Consider:
This start grabs Death's Toll for early sustain. Emerald Ring will build into Telkhines Ring for extra health sustain and early AS.
This build upgrades Death's Toll into Death's Temper (when you reach level 20) for the attack speed and high basic attack damage.
The build as shown provides high lifesteal for boxing, while giving you added MS utility from Hastened Ring.
Consider replacing Telkhines Ring late with Nimble Bancroft's Talon.
This Sands of Time start provides helpful early mana sustain, and the early CDR will allow you to have Pulse (your only wave-clear) up more often.
Emerald Ring will build into Telkhines Ring for early health sustain and AS.
This is the build start I would probably recommend for non-Conquest modes, as the CDR will be helpful for more ability use.
This build upgrades Sands of Time into either Pendulum of Ages or The Alternate Timeline (your choice). Combined with Cyclopean Ring, you'll have 20-30% CDR which is great to have your abilities up often, and you can still get high base AS with standard itemization.
Consider replacing Telkhines Ring late with Nimble Bancroft's Talon.
This start uses Manikin Scepter for early attack speed and helps clear jungle camps more quickly. This build can be used if you want to play Freya as a Jungler in Conquest, but can be used as standard ADC.
Emerald Ring will be upgraded to Telkhines Ring for early health sustain in lane, but if in Jungle, you may consider building straight into Hastened Fatalis for mobility and chase/kill potential.
This build example upgrades Manikin Scepter into Manikin Mace (upgrade when you hit level 20). This build is great for countering enemy basic attackers, as well as providing strong jungle objective damage for securing the Fire Giant.
Upgrade Bancroft's Talon to Nimble Bancroft's Talon anytime after completing Demonic Grip.
6th Item: You only need 4 AS items to get a strong AS base, so your last two can provide you with other utility. Tahuti gives you % penetration and high power, but you can also consider Cyclopean Ring or Ring of Hecate.
Consider replacing Telkhines Ring late with Nimble Bancroft's Talon.
The Vampiric Shroud start provides you with immediate lifesteal for some sustain. This can allow you to go immediately into Hastened Fatalis, which is the most core item to Freya's kit due to the mobility it provides.
This build upgrades Vampiric Shroud into Sacrificial Shroud at level 20. You shouldn't have to worry about the minor health drain when using abilities due to the lifesteal you have.
The kit overall provides good penetration, while also giving high utility by allowing you to easily fit both Cyclopean Ring and Ring of Hecate into the build, while retaining all core items.
These are your core items that should generally be built every match.
Hastened Fatalis (Boxing Mobility): The Haste effect this item provides is key in allowing Freya to stick to her enemies and out-box them effectively.
Demonic Grip (Main Penetration): This is the magical basic attacker's core penetration item, helping Freya punch through enemy protections.
Typhon's Fang (2nd Lifesteal Item): Pick up as the 2nd lifesteal item for a significant lifesteal, power and % pen boost.
Telkhines Ring (1st Lifesteal Item / Bonus Damage): This is a well-rounded item providing lifesteal and AS, and should be purchased early in the build. Grab it except if you chose [[
Nimble Bancroft's Talon (1st Lifesteal Item / AS Glyph): Strongest single lifesteal item option, but early game doesn't have AS. Do not upgrade to the Nimble glyph until after 4th item or later.
Typhon's Fang (2nd Lifesteal Item): Pick up as the 2nd lifesteal item for a significant lifesteal, power and % pen boost.
Rejuvenating Heart (Team Utility): Grab this later in a build if you'd like to help keep teammates alive. More functional in teamfight modes but can be considered in Conquest.
Choose as suits your playstyle or needs.
Cyclopean Ring (AS, CDR & Burst): Strong basic attacker's item for extra damage and AS. The CDR can be helpful.
Ring of Hecate (Power Shift): You can quickly get a shift of 15% power between you and your enemy, and this also comes with helpful flat penetration.
Rod of Tahuti (High Power): A standard mage's item that is great for power and % pen, especially as you drop an enemy's health below 50%.
Magi's Revenge (Anti-CC): Defensive option chosen to counter strong enemy CC. The glyph has some offensive function.
This list of relics is short, but likely to be the only ones you'll ever really want/need.
When in doubt, the combination of Purification Beads (anti-CC) and Aegis Amulet (anti-burst) will help prolong your life or get you out of sticky situations. These two will be your standard pickups.
Heavenly Wings is a situational utility pickup, useful to counter lots of enemy slows.
Magic Shell and its upgrade are good to consider for the Phantom Shell upgrade, which is great if your ult is on CD or you'd prefer not to use it yet and you're facing an enemy Ymir or Odin, for example.
Standard skill leveling sequence.
Option to level Irradiate at level 2 or 3 for early aggression / kill potential. Otherwise, use the shown leveling sequence for best wave-clear.
If you find yourself boxing a lot and getting kills, you can prioritize maxing Irradiate before putting further points into Valkyrie's Discretion.
***NOTE*** Build itemization discussion is now only at the top of the guide.
Recent Updates:
2023/1/24: Guide is current as of Patch 11.8, "Underworld Unleashed." Builds and skill info updated.
Revision History
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Freya’s necklace grants her additional Magical Lifesteal. (10.5% + 0.3% per level, max 16.5%) Discussion: This is an ability you don't have to think about. Having built-in lifesteal is great, but keep in mind the individual lifesteal effect per each target is somewhat lessened when you're using an AOE ability (e.g. Pulse is activated without Irradiate). This built-in lifesteal can allow her to build Typhon's Fang as a standalone main lifesteal item and still get great sustain. | |
Freya activates a Buff that makes her Basic Attacks do bonus Magical damage (35/50/65/80/95 per attack). Duration 5 seconds. CD 8 seconds. 20% scaling. Leveling Priority: Max this 2nd. General Use: Burst Damage Discussion: This is an ability you'll use situationally, to provide extra damage to your basic attacks. Typically, it will be activated after Pulse, to provide bonus damage to your ranged attacks when fighting enemy gods or other individual targets (such as the Gold Fury or Fire Giant). Note that the ability only goes on cooldown after the duration of the ability. Tips: Consider using this without Pulse when fighting smaller jungle camps or to finish off a small remainder of minions from a wave. You'll use less mana than comboing with Pulse while still doing solid damage, and saving Pulse in case an enemy shows up. | |
Freya activates a Buff that makes her Basic Attacks ranged, dealing additional Magical damage (30/40/50/60/70 per attack) and Slowing the target (25%) and all nearby enemies. The area effect and Slow is lost when Irradiate is active. Duration 6 seconds. CD 12 seconds. 15% scaling. Leveling Priority: Max this 1st for minion clear and overall damage output. General Use: Wave Clear / Ranged Damage Discussion: Activate for efficient minion clear and ADC ranged boxing function. Use alone to provide control on an enemy (via the Slow). Combine with Irradiate for max damage output on a single target. Note that this ability, unlike Irradiate, goes on cooldown immediately upon activating. Thus the 12s cooldown, while seemingly significantly longer than Irradiate, will come off CD around the same time if both are used together. Tips: It may be tempting to always use Pulse when clearing camps or minion waves. However, if there's no rush to push a wave or clear a camp, consider saving this, and use regular basic attacks or Irradiate instead. This keeps Pulse available in case you suddenly can use the ranged ability to fight enemy gods. Warning: The AOE from Pulse can backfire. Early game, enemy minions can deal a TON of damage to you, and if an enemy steps in range of the AOE, taking one hit can be worthwhile if it turns minion focus onto you. Be cautious of this possibility. | |
At her ground target location, Freya "banishes" her enemies into the air for 1.5 seconds. Enemies can't be hit or take action while in the air. CD 16/15.5/15/14.5/14 seconds. Leveling Priority: Max this last. General Use: Initiation / Escape / Control Discussion: This can be used as an initiation, continued attack, or escape tool. The small affected area means it's slightly difficult to land consistently, but when it does, it allows you and/or teammates to close the gap or run to safety. You can use more aggressively to initiate when your main "escape" tool, Valkyrie's Discretion, is up. Tips: Banishes make the affected enemy untargetable. This means you should use the ability with discretion, as untimely use can cause teammate abilities or ults to completely miss. Although the enemy is untargetable at the height of the banish, as they fall back to the ground, you can hit them, so you can get in an easy hit before they can even do anything about it. | |
Freya flies above the battlefield, where she fires down AOE magical damage blasts up to 4 times. She can't be targeted or hit while at full ascension, and can cancel anytime. CD 110 seconds. 35% scaling. Leveling Priority: Level this as it becomes available. General Use: Escape / Teamfight AOE Damage / Finisher Discussion: Many players will just consider this for its offensive capabilities, which are impressive...the large AOE blasts can hit multiple enemies for good damage, and have longer range than her ranged basic attacks, helping her finish enemies just out of normal reach. However, Freya doesn't have a low CD teleport or jump, so this is the only ability she has that can get her out of some dangerous situations. Tips: It provides her with CC immunity and allows her to escape from player-made obstacles, making it a great, easy counter to abilities such as Ares' No Escape or Odin's Ring of Spears. When facing these types of enemies, it's suggested to save the ult until absolutely needed. |
Thanks for reading, and I appreciate any and all comments, suggestions, etc. Feel free to add me/invite me if you want to play!
Brandon / PC IGN: Branmuffin17
Thanks to the following people:
For helping with Conquest builds and some tips |
For general Arena knowledge and in-depth help with builds / calculations |
For multiple suggestions for better presentation! |
For aesthetic ideas and templates to make the guide prettier |
For suggestions for build options and missing info |
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It's gotten a couple buffs, and until just a few days ago when DV-8 had me experiment more with it in general, I hadn't really paid it much attention.
Right now, it's in a very solid position overall. I typically like to get items with other functionality when possible: lifesteal, pen, etc. I do think it's stronger and makes more sense for specific gods...those that have longer range like Hachi or Ishtar make a lot of sense for this, as it makes those easier to hit. In addition, the physical power is pretty strong at this point, now that most other phys power items e.g. Bloodforge have gotten nerfed. Price is also really cheap.
I feel Freya's Pulse hitbox has always been pretty large. I don't think she needs the Griffon passive as much as some others, and the magical power is fine but not amazing. That said, the MP5 is nice and the attack speed is definitely very solid right now. I think it's viable, but I still place some items above it in importance...Hastened, Demonic and Telk in particular. Cyclopean is also solid, and if you get those 4 your attack speed is close to max, and Griffon would put you over the top...or a teammate's Shogun's would put you right there. If you value Griffon over Cyclopean, then you could do it.
As an FYI with my recent Griffon experience, I've been playing ranked Joust lately, and I've been using Ishtar after playing 10 games using Medusa. I was originally going with a Cowl -> BF -> Exe -> Demon -> DB -> Qin's build. I've just switched it up after having experimented more w/ Griffon on her. It takes the place of BF, getting it first, and picking up Qin's after Exe. I've tried 2 other things past that point for the last 2 slots. Demon/Boomerang -> DB, or O-Bow -> Silver. Feels really good and the price really helps get it quickly.
Also Griffon isn't bought for the passive.
Late game I can agree replacing it would be best.
Recently in bonus update 10.1, with the Claw Shard nerf, did the Wing Shard become the best option on Freya? With the start suggested in the Conduit Gem and Emerald Ring guide , the great attack speed gain provided by the Wing Shard on Freya seems to be a very strong, it helps both in clearing jungle fields at Lv 1, when in the lane phase in more aggressive moments or quickly clear the wave of minions. With his build and this start, I took a lot of advantage in the matches.
Thank you very much!
Yes, the Claw Shard nerf has definitely affected a lot of gods that preferred that item. I haven't called out shard use/choice in any of my guides to this point, as I generally think this is per player preference, but I would say that in general, for all ADCs, I would typically default to Wing Shard before and after the patch, just for safety purposes. You never know how often the Jungler might attempt ganks in the duo lane, and with them being generally strong right now, choosing to box them rather than retreat to safety is going to be very situational.
I actually haven't used Wing to help clear the initial camps, as I typically save it for emergency escape, but the fairly low CD probably really helps if you want to clear the Green, Purple, and back harpy camp at the same time. That's a good strat.
Also, assuming I'm playing with friends, which type of supports would be best for Freya in the early to mid game? If my goal is simply to survive, would it be better for something like a Ganesha to keep me peeled or a Sylvanus to heal me? Or something aggressive so I can try to go for the early game kills and get my items sooner? I only ask because my buddy asked me which support he should play and I had no good answer.
Thanks for the comment!
Okay, so...there's some decent flexibility with how you can build her, and I think I left some previous instructions that are now outdated. But let me see if I can answer your questions and also expand.
When I talk about grabbing Bancroft or Hecate, I think that's old info. Previously, I would have said to grab Hecate if you're going Embrace, since Embrace doesn't have AS, or grab Bancroft if you're getting Temper, because Temper has AS. But now Bancroft (Nimble glyph) has AS also, so...outdated info. Make sense? At this point, upgrading Bancroft to the Nimble glyph also gives you AS, and I'm often no longer recommending / requiring Telkhines. You have enough AS items to choose from that again, the flexibility is there to choose what you want in a way.
Also previously, I would have gone ONLY Hecate or Bancroft, and ALSO get Typhon's as the 2nd lifesteal item. At this point, I feel that you could go Hecate AND Bancroft if you really wanted, and not need Typhon's. Just don't get all 3.
If you want to choose one or the other of Hecate/Bancroft, then I think it's best to choose either one at the start for the sustain.
To answer more of your questions...
You can go aggressive if you'd like, and that CAN work well, but I find it is only reliable if there's an obvious skill difference or you can get your Jungler to gank early. Other situations are often toss-ups.
Doing some basic math, Freya should... likely have about 12% lifesteal from her passive by the time you get your first item. On a Bancroft's that means (based on passive, and assuming realistically, you're only getting about half the effect from it) that's 100-150 power and a total of 27%-44% lifesteal, effectively. Inverse if you build Typhon's you'd be looking at a consistent 124 power and 27% lifesteal that's being increased by 25% (which doing that math averages out a healing roughly around ~33% give or take). So to me it just seems that while, yes, when you're low you're gonna do more then Typhon's, but Typhon's provides a consistent result that's somewhere in the middleground.
Not saying you're wrong, that's just the conclusion the math has taken me too. I know far too often math does not equal results on the game lol. Just providing evidence to my logic is all.
Lastly, is Rod of Tahuti the best overall item to pick for a last item? I recall I used to go Spear of the Magi for that increased damage potential, which in turn pairs well with Hecate (if you build that) and provides some flat pen. Is flat pen even something worth thinking about with Freya, or is % pen the king of kings choice?
Also, this is a small side note, but I found it particularly useful, the current Stone of Fal is a really good defense flex on Frey if you need it. It procs its passive based on you auto attacking and provides mitigations instead of straight defense. It's not amazing, per se, but I found that if a boxing match is close, it keeps me alive long enough to win and keep fighting.
Yes, this is very insightful. I mostly just want to get all the rust off, and play as efficiently as I can with her, tbh. I'm a Freya main that stopped playing for a about 2 years, so I'm trying to catch up with the meta, now.
At one point Typhon's Fang was in fact rushed, and I don't think it's a bad thing as you're right, it does synergize with her passive. However, I'm finding that the earlier AS is just more helpful at this point, and my builds have been updated to reflect that...in most cases, I'm recommending just to grab Hecate first. But besides the somewhat higher price compared to Bancroft or Hecate, the other part of the passive that gives you the power boost is more effective if you've got more lifesteal. Using it as a 2nd lifesteal option helps maximize that function also.
The 10% pen is also a semi throwaway stat early game as well. You get a bit of pen equivalent on the enemy gods, but I wouldn't call it that significant. And you get no added function against minions, and a good portion of early gameplay is minion clear and farm.
One note...with lifesteal, the actual value you get out of it depends on if you're activating an ability (or two), and which ones you're using. Anytime you use just Pulse, your lifesteal is cut to 0.33x (1/3 the value), which means any lifesteal gains from either Typhon's OR Bancroft's are potentially minor. Lifesteal is absolutely solid when you're boxing 1v1 on an enemy god, but part of what I value on the lifesteal is in clearing waves or jungle camps to help get your health back up after an engagement. In that respect, I'm especially sold on just going Ring of Hecate early, as the AS is going to do more for your clear speed than anything else.
Regarding your Rod of Tahuti / Spear of the Magus comment, I do feel Tahuti is still a very solid item, and it just got a power buff. For other mages, Staff of Myrddin has been a popular alternative pickup to Tahuti, but while the power boost on the passive is great, it's fairly short-lived and you won't get anything out of it if you are retreating from an engagement and used your ult defensively (and the enemy isn't sticking to you...which they'll do sometimes). I like the general passive power boost for enemies below 50% health, which just helps you finish gods off that you've engaged.
Spear of the Magus was one of the item options for all mages, including mage ADCs, but it's the same thing. As lifesteal, I value Hecate and either Typhon's or Bancroft over it for that purpose. And while Magus flat pen is fairly nice to have and the passive can be helpful, you're almost solely a single target god and rely on your own burst to 1v1 rather than focus on a single enemy as a team. When you choose the god you're engaging, you should be able to burst them down fast enough (hopefully) that teammate damage boosts won't be all that needed. I've always considered Magus more for gods that are going to get in some burst / poke, and need others to help them finish an enemy. Note that with the TTK adjustments and inherent protections being boosted, the flat pen is a bit less functional than it was previously.
Overall, if we consider you'll always get Typhon's, I like the combo of Typhon's + Tahuti for 20% pen in combination with the Demonic protection reduction...the % pen is great for ult damage, and while prot red + % pen brings about inefficiencies, you are able to do massive damage to the tankiest targets if they decide to run at you.
I can see Fal being functional for her...I will try it out sometime and see how it feels.
Reason I like this is even if the early game is weaker due to lack of AS, the rest of the build provides plenty of AS and I've always liked the lifesteal potential at lower health. Will reevaluate as I haven't touched Hecate.
Conduit? What's the draw compared to traditional?
Mention Seer as alt to Protector.
Add a 4 rings Gilded Arrow build, with mention of selling Gilded late for Tahuti / Typhon's.
I'd also say add Telk to the list of core items on Freya.
Thanks for the kind words. She's pretty straightforward with her kit, so that portion is usually easy to get the hang of...
But while she has her Banish and her ult, she's still a very vulnerable god so learning when to engage, when to trigger abilities, and when to back off is equally important. Hope this guide helps!
Also imo, Magus as a alternative wouldn't ever be considered over Typhon's, which you always want. It would be considered over Hecate.
Also, no I haven't really considered Seer Of The Jungle. Reason being, I would almost always get Tahuti, and the scaling between that and the 12% power bonus just seems nice and synergistic, esp when fighting in the jungle or going for the FG. You think it's worth?
Also in the Arrow build I'd sell Arrow late, not upgrade it, cause outside of the gold gain the item doesen't really offer much to Freya, her stim has too much power scaling to get good benefit from the +80 basic attack damage that someone like Sol would cause her stim works differently, and the attack speed isn't reliable (it's similar to how Death's Temper passive isn't reliable). And for the Sands build, another variant you could tryout is: Sands, Magi Shoes, Hastened, Demonic, Magus, Telkhines, sell Sands for Tahuti, sell Boots for Typhon's.
And agreed on Arrow, don't like Diamond and my normal instinct would be to sell and get a regular item.
Will try that build suggestion, thanks Kriega.
Will adjust builds soon. Thanks again.