S11 (11.1) General Support/Tank Fafnir Guide for Multiple Game Modes (updated February 2024)

First of all, English is not my main language so please excuse some of my grammar mistakes :)

Hi.. I'm not a high-ranked (diamond and above) or pro player. But I'm a very loyal and long-time Smite player. I'm mostly a casual and golden to plat ranked player and for a long time I'm at a 10+ mastery level with Fafnir. Tho I'm not an advanced competitive Smite playeryet, at the same time I watch and follow professional players, analysts, and educator streamers. And try to follow the current meta since 5.17.

I try to cover Fafnir as a supportive god for multiple game modes.

Fafnir is a Norse god that is classified as a guardian. He is a magical melee fighter. Smite classified his difficulty level as "average" but I found him hard to master. Both his skill floor and skill ceiling are high. Not super high but it's mechanically demanded. Because he is an ability-dependent, utility type of guardian. And Fafnir's bread&butter is his and once you miss that it's bad news for you, especially if your is down at the moment. requires specific targeting, and his requires pinpoint accuracy. He is a mechanical god.

Fafnir ain't have a big setup cc ultimate. But he has a lot of good assistance-based skills. is a self-heal for himself and power & attack speed buff for a targetted teammate(usually an ADC). This is the best skill in terms of duo lane relevancy imo. And with other aura items such as or Fafnir makes his aa base teammates such as adc and jungler way deadlier.

His is his main clear, main damage, and also has great stun peeling. And he can buff any auto-attack base god on the field. And Thanks to his passive even getting behind in terms of the level he never gets behind in terms of gold. His passive + the passive of helps him a lot in early gold collecting.

And he also got a couple of buffs during the previous season. So it's still a good time for Fafnir.

Let's start!

Actually, I mentioned a lot of his key points in terms of abilities in Introduction section. So lets move on from there.

And don't forget Fafnir dwarf->dragon->dwarf transformations always will reset all cooldowns on skills. For example, if you used in dwarf form. And then when you use Dragonic Corruption and turn to dragon. You'll see that the dragonic version of has no cooldown on it. It's resetted. So that's why before turning to Dragon use all your kit. To box the enemy. And ın Dragon mode keep the same thing cuz when you turn back to dwarf mode your cooldowns will reset again.

Thanks to his passive Fafnir gets extra benefits from farming and due to passive at late game his extra (in hand) golds will return as protections buffs (30 protections magic&physic each for 1000 and above gold).

This is Fafnir's main clear, setup and utility ability. It got buffed now its a bit more threatful.

This is a self heal and bonus attack amp for you and Attack speed for your teammate.

This is your main escape or due to situation its your main engage tool. It has a disarm effect when you hit with this to enemy. And in Dragon form it has disarm effect and 2nd stun. And remember this is a leap. It can pass thru walls.

This is one of the most unique ultimates in the game. Because this is not stance swamp ability, it has an experiment time on it, and its a transformation.

As Dragon you have all abilities of your Dwarf form but now on bigger scales with better CC and damage.

In his Dragon form his AA (auto-attacks) are very deadly and important to use wisely.

And a final tip for Dragon form. When your form close to its limit go away from the actual battle. Cuz you'll be vulnerable thru transformation process (Dragon to Dwarf). Always consider this disadvantage of Fafnir.

Fafnir ain't have much of a combo chain imo. But you can pull off some'em.

Short Combos:





Mid/Full Combos:

Dragonic Corruption

Dragonic Corruption


Dragonic Corruption

Full Combos:

Dragonic Corruption


Dragonic Corruption

For Arena;

Fafnir could be the best arena support when you have lots of hyper-carry gods. Fafnir is one of the (if he is not the most) hardest gods to kill. So as Fafnir can dive into the enemy backline and drag the enemy's attention to himself and while they're trying to take him down, your team can kill stunned, debuffed, disarmed, dazzled enemies easily. They will waste a lot of skills or even ultimates on Fafnir and he just turns to the Dragon and pop off from there too far away.

Build as tanky as possible and use your utility abilities wisely. Don't use your for minion clears. There are other 4 gods to do that. Kept that for upcoming attacks or for your own setup.

Always feed auto-attack base gods with your if you don't need clutch heals for yourself.

For Joust & Slash:

Lanes are narrower compared to Conquest and objectives are closer compared to Slash or Conquest. So you don't need crazy mobility. And at these modes, Every fight is directly a team fight and gank. So that's why farming, is not your main focus. You don't need chalices maybe for these modes but wards still would be helpful.

In the early game approach act as backline support and through mid to late game switch to frontline juggernaut mode.

Always feed auto-attack base gods with your if you don't need clutch heals for yourself.


For Assault:

AS Similar to Slash and Joust act as backline support in the early game and start to go aggressive through mid-game. And always pick aura items for the best sustainable team fights.


And at last but not least; Conquest

Fafnir is always an exceptional and suspicious support pick for me in Conquest cuz his main clear ability is also his main utility and setup ability. Cuz of that sometimes his kit makes you feel unrewarded. Also, his cooldowns are kinda a bit longer than you want. So you need to decide on the usage of your abilities wisely maybe more than any other guardian. That's why probably he is one of the most mechanical tough guardians out there.

But he is not a slouch for sure. His boxing and sustain are also one of a kind. Use this. He has decent mobility and escapes tools and cc. Plus he can deal surprisingly good damage, especially in the late game. All you need to do is act as backliner support when ur ult down(such as Khepri, Sylvanus, Yemoja, etc) between early and mid and then switch to frontline (Such as Xing Tian, Ares, Bachus, etc) mid to late. That's the key for Fafnir.

Thx to his passive, he kinda of counters his bad early laning/farming phase cuz he always gets more gold than his actual effort. Thx to both his and the passives of many support starters. And cuz of it, you could keep your for setup instead of for a clear. He has that flexibility.

Also, you should always be careful about warding and using Chalice of The Oracle after during mid-game. You don't have defensive or supportive big guardian ultimate so you can't save your adc/carry from 3 or 4 men ganks if you don't pay attention to warding and chalice of oracle your adc and then probably you too would be dead.

Ward, rotate, be cunny, be sneaky. Fafnir demands "Underhanded Tactics" after all.

PROS:

- Unique mechanical, not boring game style (not a brain-dead god).
- You're turning into acid firing dragon!
- Hard to Kill and Hard to Catch.
- He is especially good with AA base teammates via his #2
- He can deal big damage thru the late-game
- His passive covers his farming disadvantage
- Very small hitbox as a dwarf. Hard to hit, easy to juke.
- Landing his utility skills are satisfying and rewarding.
- He is generally a popular pick on pro leagues. So ı don't remember a time that he ain't a meta pick!


CONS:

- Hard to Play even harder to Master it.
- Long cooldowns
- His biggest utility and damage abilities also his only escape and clear abilities so it's not compatible or useful as old fashion supports.
- Some Level of Mana Hungry
- Ability Dependent (Specially in the Dwarf form)
- He has only 2 types of CC (stun & disarm) and those are hard or situational to setup.
- The early game could be rough
- In Dragon Form, you have a huuuge hitbox.