SMITE: Demigods, Deities and Gods Explained is a column dedicated to introducing prospective players of SMITE to its massive back story of lore. From the Greek to Hindu, each week we’ll look at two characters from a major pantheon and provide a quick recap of their history and in what capacity their digital incarnation will represent on the field of Hi-Rez Studios’ upcoming MOBA.
Lore: The most important aspect about Freya’s lore is that it remains unclear. Not just small details either. To this day, scholars still have lively discussions about her past, importance and growth through the ages. But it isn’t all shrouded in mystery.
What is largely agreed on is that the “Lady” is the norse goddess of love, beauty, fertility, gold, war and death. Quite a spread of topics to lord over, eh? Freya, her brother Freyr, her father, Njoror, and often-unnamed mother are all part of the Vanir, a stable in norse mythology that did battle with the Æsir, lead by Odin. The resulting victory by the Æsir lead to a unified pantheon. Freya rules over Fólkvangr, a field home to half of those that die in battle. A less well known but no less honorable compliment to Odin’s Valhalla.
Constant scholarly disagreements revolve around her and Frigg being the same goddess, her connection with the valkyries, her relationships with other deities and her connection to mother nature. Nearly all of the possible sides of the disagreements have championed in popular culture, such as Hi-Rez Studios declaring Freya “Queen of the Valkyries,” which highlights her realm of Fólkvangr.Fun fact: Thor has his day and Freya’s follows, Friday.
In-Game: Freya is a highly unique and challenging character to master. Launched as a melee mage with plenty of support capabilities, she’s capable of dealing strong physical damage through her passive, Brisingamen’s Blessing, which converts a small portion of her magical power to physical damage. Mix in Pulse, changing her melee attack to a ranged attack, and you have a character capable of being built in a variety of ways that are still optimal. Her versatility makes Freya the trickiest character in all the pantheons to defend against.
The easiest build to begin learning Freya is to stay on the magical side. That’s where most of her damage comes from. In this role, additional magical power and items that modify basic attacks, like Polynomicon, are perfect for her hybrid design. Adding movement impairing and increasing your own movement speed will allow Freya to chase down enemies and disrupt battles with Banish or her ultimate.
Further reading:
- Freya on Wikipedia
- Norse Mythology on Wikipedia
- Poetic Edda by Snorri Sturluson
- Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson
Head over to SMITE: Demigods, Deities and Gods Explained for details on all of the playable characters.
Surprise!: Single-use Ultimate God Pack code redeemable in game: GM354B99D86E5140F