FENRIR
- by dignitas/FrostiaK (March, 03, 2015 - Patch 2.1.2598.3)

Fenrir has been making a return to the jungle as attested by a 46% pick/ban rate in Week 3 of the European SPL Qualifiers. Time to ask the pros what makes The Unbound so strong and how he is best utilized. Team Dignitas jungler FrostiaK gives you the details!

Transcribed by Sam Oakley/Karma.

Related links:
@DIG_Frostiak - Profile Page

INTRODUCTION

Fenrir has great mobility from his Unchained and Brutalize abilities as well as probably some of the best early game damage from an assassin. With the ability to stun people with a full Runes leap and then proceed to either pick them up with his ultimate or use Brutalize on them, Fenrir can cause chaos for the enemy team.

BUILD

Starting items

 Bumba's Mask Boots Hand of the Gods Healing Potion Mana Potion  

This being a standard build for most junglers, I feel taking boots over Rage of the Gods helps Fenrir finish boots earlier and gives you strong early kill potential.

Full build

Warrior Tabi Jotunn's Wrath Devourer's Gauntlet Ichaival Spirit Robe The Executioner 

Fenrir has massive early game potential, because of this you should rush Warrior Tabi and Jotunn's Wrath. These two items will give you the good early game burst and utility. Next up Devourer's Gauntlet is a good pick up, this is because you will not be using your Unchained or Brutalize abilities for your main damage in the later stages of the game. After Devourer's Gauntlets you should take Ichaival, it is cheap and combined with Fenrir's Seething Howl you should have the upper hand when trading.

At around this point in the game most players will be level 20 so its a good idea to get some defence. Spirit Robe is a brilliant item to fill this role. It gives 15% CDR on top of 40 physical and magical protection and its passive which mitigates 15% damage for 3 seconds when hit by hard CC, this can only occur every 10 seconds. To finish up the build The Executioner is perfect, it is very cheap which gives the option to push for a defence potion end game to leave Fenrir with 160 protections and plenty of damage

ACTIVES

  Fist of the Gods Greater Purification Greater Sprint

As with most junglers you will need a Hand of the Gods. If you are up against a god like Thor I recommend you upgrade that to Fist of the Gods after finishing Jotunn's Wrath to stun him out of his Beserker Barrage, similarly you can do the same against gods like Nemesis with her Shield.

Your second active item should almost always be Purification Beads, considering nearly every god has a CC in some form this is probably the best active in the game. Sometimes it can be a good idea to rush for Greater Purification to get the 3 seconds of cooldown reduction. This is good against mid laners like Isis so you can use them when you Brutalise and you cannot have the ability cancelled. If the enemy team doesnt have CC, then you can take Sprint which works great for you to chase people whilst auto attacking them with Seething Howl activated.

SKILL ORDER

PLAYSTYLE

Jungle Start

You should always start on your Movement Speed buff with the Solo laner, then clear the Solo laners Mana buff. After this you should stick around for 1 or 2 waves and head for mid lane to try and get an early gank. Following the early gank head to your back harpies to clear them with your mid laner, stick around in mid lane for another wave or take the other back harpies if you please. After this you should recall unless you have a good oppurtunity to gank in the duo lane. Be ready for the Mid harpies at 3 minutes and try to look out for pick ups on the enemy mid laner and support.

Early Game

In the early game you should look for kills on the solo lane if you have a decent 2v2 match up. If this is not the case try to not to take too much poke and wait to head for mid lane as mentioned in the 'Jungle Start' previously. If you can get a kill off in the early game without losing too much HP try to snowball from this and gank the Duo lane. If not play passive and look for kills with the aid of your support and mid laner unless you are matched up against a weak jungler, in which case try to counter jungle them when you can.

Mid/Late Game

During the mid game look to camp one lane unless they buy Greater Purification. If they have rank 1 or 2 beads do not be afraid to use your ultimate on them as your ultimate has a lower cooldown than beads. Try to use sentry wards to put high pressure on the enemy jungle. Try to fight on the mid camps with your mid laner as much as you can. Engage with your leap and then use Ragnarok to pull an enemy over to your team.

In the late game try to pick up kills on people who are out of position and join team fights at the end to clean up anyone still standing. If you are the only assassin on the team you should look to take the enemy mage(s) or the ADC before a teamfight breaks out. You should also use Ragnarok to take the enemy support out from objective range making it easier for your team to steal the objective.

Team Composition

Fenrir has good CC and for that he works well in teams with good burst damage, especially with mid laners such as Poseidon, Ra or Kukulkan. During the mid game Ragnarok makes for a nice engage but during the later stages of the game it helps to have another god with good initiation as Fenrir ends up too squishy and has to play like an assassin at that point.

Using Runes effectively

For ganks, be sure to make use of your passive to stun your target with your Unchained ability. This can be very effective for helping start a CC chain on an enemy or can force them to use Beads or a CC immune ability to escape. To make sure you are fully stacked on your passive to clear you should leap on to small camps and then finish them with auto attacks. If your target wishes to trade with auto attacks then Fenrir's Seething Howl at max runes is good for trading. Use max runes with Brutalise to clear the damage and mana buffs effectively. Using your ultimate with max runes is a waste in most situations but if you have do to it then do not hesitate to do so.

COUNTERS

Counter Picking

Fenrir is best against gods with no leaps or teleports. Gods with CC offer little problems for Fenrir as long as he picks up Beads early on. Ideally the best ways to escape from him would be with abilities like Scylla's Sentinel or Anhur's Disperse. Fenrir also will struggle against gods with healing and big damage from auto attacks like Arachne. As Fenrir you can avoid fighting her but sometimes you have no choice and Arachne can take advantage of this. In lane it's good to have a CC immunity ability like Vamana or Nu Wa, this makes ganking for Fenrir a nightmare without them even having beads.

Counter Building

In the late game good counters to Fenrir are Brawler's Beatstick or if you are a mage then Divine Ruin to counter his lifesteal. If you cannot take Purification Beads or the enemy team has lots of CC, then take Magi's Blessing to gain its CC immunity every 45 seconds. This makes it difficult for Fenrir to just straight ultimate you without stunning you first.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Fenrir is a great god with plenty of CC and utilty. His early game damage and bully potential can help his team gain the upper hand from the start. Use of your passive makes life very difficult for players to counter his early game, especially when he has beads and is sentry warding well. Make use of that strong early game to ruin your enemy team!

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