Freya - The Queen of the Arena

Hi there fellow Smiters ,

I have played Freya for over 10 ranks now and I thought I'd share my experience with her here .

Now , this is my first guide (hopefully not the last) so excuse me if I will forget to mention some stuff or , on the contrary , wrote too much useless stuff ,also , any criticism is welcome and I encourage you guys to tell me if there is anything wrong here .

I will try to keep this as short as possible , no one wants to read a wall of text but I don't want to skip on stuff I find interesting to mention on Freya .

Freya is labeled as "Melee , magical" but her abilities make her a mostly ranged god .

She has insane damage and late game few gods will not turn around and run at the very sight of you if you will build and play her right .

She is very squishy though and you will die very fast if you do not pay attention to what's happening around you .

These being said , let's go to the actual guide here .

Passive : Brisingamen's Blessing

- I really love this passive , 15% lifesteal is awesome to start with , combine that with the 15% from Polynomicon later on makes it 30% lifesteal .Enemies won't stand a chance !

1. Irradiate

- This skill is so very useful for taking down the buff camps .
- It increases the damage of Pulse is used in combo , however the damage of Irradiate itself is halved .
- Only use this alone if there is only one enemy facing you .

2. Pulse

- This is your most useful skill , it does tons of damage , is used alone it also slows the enemy , if used in combo with Irradiate it will not slow the enemy but will do even more damage but you will run out of mana quickly .
- You should only use 1 + 2 combo if the enemy is stunned/snared or slowed already or you might miss some shots(especially early-game) and he may get away .

3. Banish

- This is your one and only escape & chase (except your ultimate) / way to help chased team mates .
- Always save it for the worst moments , it WILL do the difference between a Loki getting a kill on you or you killing Loki with a huge smile on your face after you'll banish him .
- Don't banish enemies with no reason unless they are trying to escape or to kill a team mate , you will give that enemy a free Aegis Amulet and they'll sure thank you for that .I know it happened to me when enemy Freyas saved me from Grasping Hands or Whirlpool .
- If a melee god is after you , just place Banish where you are and re-position yourself to finish him with Pulse or eventually + Irradiate . A smart enemy will turn back and run , if not ,you got yourself a kill .

4. Valkyrie's Discretion

- This is the best "finisher" ultimate in the game in my opinion . You are immune to everything while in the air (except you've got some over-time damage like Ao Kuang's tornadoesin which case you will die .
- The range is more than decent and you may kill a fleeing enemy hiding between his team mates .
- This is also your best bet on getting kills early game .

Shoes of the Magi

- A great started item , it provides the mana needed to last longer in battle instead of always coming back to the fountain as well as 50 magical power .

Demonic Grip

- Oh , that attack speed will make you much more effective in battle , you will throw more pulses at enemies and at this point you should be a moderate threat to the enemy team .

Hastened Fatalis

- I absolutely love this new item . That 30% attack speed will make you a ...pulse machine .

-Remember that Pulse counts as basic attack , which works great with Hastened Fatalis's passive , removing the speed debuff IF the attack hits an enemy .

-This will allow you to keep up with an enemy while throwing pulses at him .

-After finishing this item you should have no worry about always fighting with Irradiate + Pulse combo because you will be fast even when attacking .

-Some called me a "newbie" for using Fatalis and more recently Hastened Fatalis on Freya but I find that attack speed AND 10% movement speed a MUST .

-First , you gain no speed buff when using your ultimate and Fatalis made me get an enemy in my range which otherwise I would've missed .

-You also have no dash or ability to buff your ground speed and that 10% speed from Fatalis will prove incredibly useful when chasing or being chased , engaging or disengaging from a battle .

Polynomicon

-This really makes Freya hurt so bad .

-After completing this item I change my tactics just a bit : if I have an enemy banished I activate Pulse , throw 2-3 pulses at the enemy , THEN , if the enemy is still standing (this means the enemy is not an assassin or mage) activate Irradiate .Make full use of Polynomicon's passive .

-Don't throw pulses at the enemy if the enemy is banished , try not to miss that first shot , it will do a lot of damage comparing to the rest of your pulses not "blessed" by Polynomicon .

Rod of Tahuti

-This is must on every damage-built mage and Freya makes no exception .125 magical power and 25% inceased magical power as passive is pretty amazing .It's costy , but it's worth it .

Obsidian Shard

-The reason why I use this is because I enjoy taking down tanks .

-It provides 70 Magical power AND 33% Magical penetration .This will make tanks fear you .Will go in detail later on .



Why didn't I mentioned gem of isolation/binding here ? I don't use it .It's expensive and I already have a slow with my Pulse alone if I need it .I went for cheap items so that I may get actives more early after finishing my build .


Actives :

Combat Blink

-This active has saved my life so many times , I usualy get it first after finishing my build or earlier on if Odin is part of the enemy team as I sometimes have my ultimate down .

Purification Beads

-I will get this early game right after my Shoes of the Magi are completed in case the enemy team has some hard crowd control like Ares , Athena , Ymir or Anubis .It's a very good item against Mercury too , but Mercury players rarely get to me because I am so cautious .It's good to have in any match though .

Your role in every arena match is to do most of the damage and eventually finish someone with your ultimate .

-At match start you should go for the speed buff for 2 reasons :

- You will love that extra speed especially with your ultimate since Hastened Fatalis isn't even started .
- 10% attack speed until you will build Demonic Grip and Hastened Fatalis will prove very useful .

-Don't initiate , never initiate , not even late game or you will die if the enemy team is smart enough .

-You will love 1 vs 1 fights , keep an eye out for enemies going for buffs and go for him if their team mates are far away from him .

-Save Banish for the same reasons I mentioned in the "Abilities" section .

-Don't roam around with less than 60% or greedy enemies will find their way to you .

-Make full use of that 15% and later on 30% magical lifesteal , recharge your life with a few pulses on minions .

-Don't hesitate to use your ultimate as an escape , 10/0 will always look better than 11/1 .

-Try not to use your basic attack or Irradiate alone unless the enemy is on your turf .

-Aim for enemies with very low hp so that 2 or max 3 shot will be enough to kill him with Valkyrie's Discretion, this way you will still have some time to retreat while being immune and in the air .

-You will get focused a lot in team fights so try to always stay between your team mates .

-Don't underestimate your damage if an assassin is after you , by the time he will get close to you he will be dead if you turn back and fight by keeping your distance in this time .

Note: This is the way I play , my main purpose is NOT dying , you are free to play as you will , enjoy your play .:)

Awesome teammates :
- Athena is definitely the tank I prefer .She can just counfound 1/2/3 guys and you will Pulse+ Irradiate them to death .Easy kills .

- Ares Easiest way to make a quadra/penta .

- Hades Same as Ares .

- Sobek Charge Prey = VVGB .

I don't know what else to add here , I feel it's already too long and I hope at least someone reads it all to this point .

These being said (or written) here I put an end to this first guide of mine , I hope someone will find it useful in any way .Enjoy your time in the game and destroy everyone with Freya , THE Queen of the Arena .