Fafnir has been released for a just over month now as of time of writing and hasn't really seen favourable play. Obviously he was played initially as somewhat of a novelty but, like anyone not deemed overpowered, has been left to the wayside since. In this article I'll be exploring the possibility of him being viable in both the Solo lane and in the Support role, his 2 main markets.

In Smite Fafnir (the Lord of Glittering Gold) is a Norse dwarf with the uncanny ability to transform into a dragon, he was designed as a guardian but, like most guardians has seen reasonable levels of play in the solo lane too. He is a low damage, reasonable control melee god with high defense and reasonable mobility.

So, what exactly does Fafnir do in a nutshell?

His passive ability is called 'Endless Greed'

Fafnir gains 4 bonus gold from all minions, structures, kills and assists. Fafnir also gains bonus Protections based on the amount of gold he is currently holding. The bonuses gained from this ability are capped at 1000 gold in hand.

His first ability is 'Cursed Strength'

Fafnir hurls his hammer forward, dealing damage to enemies in its path. If Fafnir hits a god the hammer stops short and Stuns them for 1.5s. The Stunned god also radiates out a cursed pulse, Slowing them and nearby enemies for 3s.

In dragon form, this ability deals increased damage that ticks every second for 3s. Also, the cursed pulse shreds Protections in addition to Slowing.

His second ability is 'Coerce'

Fafnir coerces his allies into fighting harder, boosting Attack Speed for 5s and healing himself. While Coerce is active Fafnir does additional bonus Magic Damage whenever the affected ally damages an enemy.

In dragon form, this ability has a larger area of effect and can buff multiple allies.

His third ability is 'Underhand Tactics'

Fafnir leaps to a target location and executes a despicable strike, dealing damage and disarming enemies in front of him for 2s.

In dragon form, Fafnir can leap much further. Also, this ability deals increased damage that ticks every second for 3s and Fafnir Stuns the enemy closest to him for 2s in addition to Disarming.

His fourth, and ultimate ability is 'Dragonic Corruption'

Fafnir transforms into a terrifying dragon and is untargetable during the process. When he emerges in dragon form, nearby enemies are poisoned, taking damage every second for 3s. He remains in this form for a duration or until the ability is activated again. As a dragon, his abilities have additional effects and his basic attack changes to a Dragon Breath that deals damage 3 times per second. Dragon Breath cannot proc item hit effects.

In The Solo Lane

Why would you lock Fafnir into the solo lane role? With the recent Mark of the Vanguard changes, and his passive ability 'Endless Greed', it's incredibly difficult to actually kill a competent Fafnir, however, he sacrifices any form of wave push and will frequently get pushed under tower by a normal solo lane warrior pick.

This passive playstyle not only hinders him slightly (although with his passive it's not difficult to stay even with the enemy solo laner) but really shuts down any ganking potential from the junglers. This can both work for and against you unless the enemy jungler is willing to tower dive you in the vain attempt of glory.

His problems are applicable in both the early and midgame, even after his Shoes of the Magi and an item such a Dynasty Plate Helm have been completed. His passive nature really aids the enemy solo laner to control the fire imps and, unless your friendly jungler helps, invade the blue buff on cooldown.

Going into the late game his role is somewhat similar to that of Vamana and performs the duty of a sustained damage front line bruiser with a very good teamwide attack steroid and self-heal in 'Coerce', a decent stun in 'Cursed Strength' and reasonable mobility in 'Underhand Tactics'. Be aware though that it's incredibly likely that you'll be behind going into the late game, albeit not as far behind as some gods due to his passive but almost definitely not ahead.

To summarise his solo lane experience, he's difficult to kill, either by a solo kill or ganking, doesn't get too far behind because of 'Endless Greed' and doesn't really have a terrible matchup against anyone, he's just equally mediocre against everyone. However, he's likely to be losing control of the jungle, constantly pushed under tower, not able to rotate as quickly as the enemy and doesn't provide ganking potential for your jungler.

Fafnir's alternate card art for his recolloured Covetous skin

In The Support Role

Fafnir in the support role acts similarly to a worse, non-damaging Ares in that he should be constantly in the face of the enemy duo lane. His gold spooling in the support role again aids him in staying even, but ultimately you should be getting pushed under tower unless you have a very favourable ADC matchup. His long cooldowns really hinder your jungler's ganking potential again, unless you can communicate when your abilities are off cooldown. Otherwise you'll just be a dwarf running after an ADC who most likely has an escape, waiting for your stun or leap to finally come off cooldown.

Eventually, after building some CDR items (Breastplate of Valor, most likely) you'll be able to be a bigger influence in teamfights until the point that you have maxed your ultimate and start handing out free attack steroids to all friendly gods. This is really what Fafnir excels at, his 'Coerce' can buff all allies in an area increasing their auto attack damage AND attack speed. This is possibly one of the best abilities in the game, especially for bursting the Gold Fury and Fire Giant.

Fafnir's problem when playing support is he's not very good at protecting the backline with his very limited peel potential due to his lack of a lengthy, easy to hit stun, knock-up, root or mesmerise but he's equally not very good at being in the frontline with his slow movement speed as a result of breathing a constant, self-slowing auto attack fire into enemy faces while in dragon form.

In a summary of supporting, his role really comes to be that of a team-wide auto attack steroid and tanky individual who's tough to kill but not very slippery or individually powerful. Most of his kill participation potential in teamfights comes down to how many allies he can buff with coerce and how much of a large, body-blocking nuisance he can be. He's somewhat of an area of effect (AoE) hero if he picks up a Sprint, Shell, Ritual Blade and his Coerce, allowing him to boost protections, movement speed, auto attacks damage and attack speed in one fell swoop to really turn the tide in teamfights.

Conclusion

Obviously, like any god, Fafnir can have really good, influential games, especially when in the hands of a SPL or top Challenger Cup player, but in your lower level casual games be prepared to accept lower levels of success.

Fafnir struggles to influence the early game in either role due to his lack of push potential, this isn't much of a problem because of his passive but, as a team, you'll find yourself waiting for the later stages of a game and a reasonably favourable teamfight, where he will be an excellent addition to the team. Up until that point though, be prepared to have trouble unless your ADC is of the likes of Zapman or BaRRaCCuDDa.

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