When Fafnir was released, he was met with a lukewarm welcome. The new god was generally considered to be clunky and lackluster, to not be competitively viable. As time went on, people became more accustomed to Fafnir and he saw some minor tweaks. As players learned the ins and outs of Fafnir, his placement on tierlists began to rise. Fafnir’s strength lies in the coordination of his team. At the casual end, he remains just a decent god. He gets stronger as the teams get better, up to the point of SPL talent, where he is considered one of, if not the best support. This article will be a look at how Fafnir plays throughout a game.

Laning phase

Fafnir is a Guardian who is best suited for the support role. He is playable in others roles such as the solo lane, but is not as strong as other characters. In the early game, Fafnir is a weaker support. He has slow camp clear, which may cause you to get to lane later than your opponent and lose pressure. Fafnir also has high mana costs, which prohibits constant aggression and ability usage. Fafnir is not a character you pick to win the laning phase. Instead, you pick him because he excels in team fights and during objective encounters.

Fafnir’s performance can also vary based on the Hunters on both teams. Innately, Fafnir can annoy a hunter with his all-in potential and disarm, but he is a great counter pick into Freya because he can lock out much of her clear by cc’ing her when she casts Pulse. Fafnir also gets better the more basic attack-oriented his Hunter is because his Coerce ability buffs attack speed.

Coerce

Coerce is an amazing ability and one of the best non-ultimate spells in Smite. In dwarf form, Coerce targets a single ally and gives them increased attack speed. In dragon form, Coerce becomes a targeted circle that can hit multiple allies. The spell also heals Fafnir on cast and deals damage whenever a buffed ally does damage. Coerce is best used on basic attack-oriented characters such as Apollo, Sol, and Kali. Fafnir increases the attack speed of these characters by up to 50%, which then also increases the frequency of damage procs from Coerce. Fafnir can also Coerce himself for bonus damage when clearing alone or caught out. In addition, Coerced targets proc Fafnir’s items such as Gem of Isolation or Soul Reaver.

Much of the late game strength of Fafnir comes from his Coerce ability. Hunters already shred towers and Fafnir just makes the job easier for them. Dragon form Coerce allows your team to quickly destroy objectives such as the Fire Giant and enemy Titan. Lastly, a well-placed Coerce can win a team fight by greatly boosting the damage output of your team.

In-game screenshot of Coerce

Draconic Corruption

Fafnir’s ultimate ability turns him into a dragon and gives all of his abilities extra effects. All of Fafnir’s direct damaging abilities turn into heavy hitting DoTs. While in dragon form, Fafnir’s auto attack becomes a channeled breath attack that does AoE damage but does not trigger on-hit effects. Cursed Strength shreds up to 40% of a target’s protections, Coerce becomes AoE as described above, and Underhanded Tactics has increased range and stuns a target in addition to its disarm.

When Fafnir casts his Draconic Corruption, he becomes invulnerable for 3 seconds and unleashes a poison blast that leaves a damage over time effect on any enemies within range when the transformation is finished. All of Fafnir’s cooldowns are also reset on transformation. When Draconic Corruption is cast while in dragon form or the duration runs out, Fafnir transforms back into a dwarf. During this transformation, Fafnir is still vulnerable to attack and his cooldowns reset again.

Fafnir’s ultimate can be a game changer in fights. The initial transformation is a great zoning tool because of the DoT. In dragon form, Fafnir not only boosts the damage of his team, but becomes a high damage threat in his own right. The additional crowd control and damage provided by Draconic Corruption help Fafnir become such a late game monster.

Team Fights and Objectives

Fafnir performs great in team fights and skirmishes. His Cursed Strength hammer throw can single out a target for his team while also slowing a group of enemies. This ability can be hard to hit, but can be used after an ally’s crowd control ability to keep a target disabled for longer. Underhanded Tactics can be used as an initiation to get into a fight. Draconic Corruption can be used for damage when inside the enemy team or before a fight to zone or get stronger cc out of Fafnir’s other abilities. We have already gone in-depth on the benefits of Coerce.

Fafnir also excels in counter initiations. Cursed Strength and Underhanded Tactics can slow down enemy advances and ulting on top of an enemy that just jumped into you can make an opponent rethink their decisions. While in dragon form, jumping into the enemy back line when your team gets initiated on can win you a fight by disrupting the enemy damage dealers or just killing them yourself.

One more facet of the late game that Fafnir is great in is objectives. This is mainly due to Coerce and Draconic Corruption. Both forms of Coerce allow your team to quickly burn through an objective. Draconic Corruption is a great zoning tool that can be used on the edge of an objective to ward off enemies as your team finishes.

On Fafnir’s release, he was thought to be a poor character. Now he’s considered to be one of the best supports in the game. Players have a harder time utilizing Fafnir when in a solo-queue or casual environment, but he becomes a beast when coordination hits the professional level. Fafnir has a weak laning phase which is more than made up by his excellent late game. His Coerce and Draconic Corruption abilities are large pieces to the success of this god. In all, Fafnir is a difficult but rewarding character.

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