Yemoja Mastery Guide: Rank 10 Tips, Abilities and Item Builds

Yemoja is the newest guardian in Smite. With her majestic, water-themed abilities, Yemoja is a powerful backbone to any team composition. Her healing abilities also rival those of Smite’s best healers. Perhaps Yemoja’s most powerful asset is her never-ending supply of mana. Her mana meter refills itself, and with the ability to heal herself in the presence of teammates, Yemoja can stay on the battlefield long after her opponents have fled.

After reaching Rank 10 with Yemoja, I’ve learned a lot about her abilities, when to use them, what items to use situationally and what her weaknesses are. This Yemoja guide should give Smite players, of all skill levels, the ability to play Smite’s newest water deity with confidence.

Yemoja Abilities Guide

Just like all the characters in Smite, Yemoja has a passive ability, three base abilities and one ultimate ability. Yemoja is unique in that she doesn’t need mana and can use her base abilities as much as she needs to, provided that she has enough omi.

Passive – Omi

Yemoja’s passive, Omi, enables Yemoja to never need mana refills, nor do her base abilities have a cooldown. Her ultimate ability is the only ability that has a cooldown. Because her base abilities have no cooldown time, players can use abilities as fast as they can activate them — so long as they have enough omi.

Patch 16.3 changed Yemoja’s omi system. She now gets bonus omi at levels 4 and 12, and from equipping items that provide 300 mana/MP5 accumulatively.

Additionally, Yemoja’s omi allows her to heal teammates with her basic attacks. There is a generous hitbox around teammates, so players don’t need to be as precise as they would if they were attempting to land a basic attack on an enemy.

Ability 1 – Bouncing Bubble/Moonstrike

This ability is likely going to confuse some players because the in-game tooltip doesn’t explain that the abilities alternate upon use. So, when you use Bouncing Bubble, you’ll have to use Moonstrike before you can use Bouncing Bubble again.

Bouncing Bubble sends out a large, you guessed it, bouncing bubble that bounces twice and then bursts into a ring of smaller bubbles that spread out from the second impact site. Players will be able to see the location of the bounce impact and then where the burst impact will take place, prior to activating the ability. The range of the bounce/burst can be adjusted as needed.

If an enemy is hit by the first bounce and then the second impact, they will take increased damage. Being hit by either impact of the large bubble will slow enemies’ movement.

Moonstrike deals damage to all enemies hit by it, but the enemies who are unlucky enough to be caught in the center of the ability will take damage and be stunned. Moonstrike also stuns enemy structures if Yemoja centers the ability on a tower or phoenix.

Ability 2 – Mending Waters

Mending Waters is (in my opinion) Yemoja’s key ability. Upon activation, Yemoja sends out a wave of healing that, upon hitting a teammate, heals teammates by proximity. So after landing the ability on one teammate, it will automatically travel to another nearby teammate and from there will travel to another nearby teammate. The wave heals teammates and provides them with a temporary health shield.

Mending Waters can also be used on enemies. It deals unmitigated damage to enemy shields. The wave passes through enemies until it reaches the maximum range and dissipates, or until the wave hits an ally and triggers the healing-by-proximity effect.

Ability 3 – Riptide

Riptide summons a portal-like pool of water that can propel Yemoja forward or backward based on how the ability is placed.

Allies can follow Yemoja through the portal for a boost to their movement speed. Enemies who follow Yemoja through the portal are temporarily slowed.

However, if the riptide is placed at the ability’s farthest distance, the effects of the portal are reversed; it will repel players who try to enter it. Yemoja can use it to yank fleeing enemies back to her.

Ultimate Ability – River’s Rebuke

When Yemoja uses her ultimate ability, two massive waves rise up from the ground creating a corridor. After a few seconds, the waves slam down into that corridor. Enemies hit by the waves take damage and are slowed and trembled. Yemoja’s omi (her mana) regenerates faster while she stands within the waves.

Enemies cannot pass through the wave walls, nor can their projectiles pass through the waves. Yemoja’s allies can move and shoot through the waves.

Yemoja Gameplay Tips

I reached rank 10 with Yemoja, something many players have yet to do. I spent a lot of time with the river goddess over the past few weeks and I’ve come to learn much about where she excels and where she needs a bit more help. Consider the following Yemoja tips to improve your efficiency with the Yoruba goddess.

1. Stay with at least one teammate. Yemoja’s heal will not heal herself unless it lands on a teammate first. While the healing wave can damage enemies, the ability will not heal Yemoja unless the wave reaches an ally.
2. Wall off enemies with River’s Rebuke. Because the wave walls are impassible to enemies, Yemoja can prevent an enemy from escaping, essentially turning an open lane into a dead end. You’ll have to angle yourself just the right way to ensure the wall is perpendicular to the lane, or diagonal, but the ability indicator is clear enough to show exactly where the walls will appear. River’s Rebuke can also be used to prevent enemies from attempting to steal objectives.
3. Avoid the Riptides. It’s difficult for your teammates to know which way the riptides are orientated. The difference between a boosting and repelling riptide is the direction the water is spinning (clockwise and counter-clockwise) — a difficult detail to recognize in the heat of battle. The last thing you want to happen is for a teammate who is eager to get away from enemies to run into your riptide for escape only to be bounced back toward the enemy team. I generally avoid placing riptides and focus on healing and rooting/slowing enemies.
4. Bounce out the bubbles before a team fight. Because Bouncing Bubble and Moonstrike alternate between uses, be sure that you are reserving a Moonstrike for the start of a teamfight because its near-instant root is a valuable asset for your teammates to take advantage of. Because Yemoja’s mana (omi) regenerates quickly, there’s nothing wrong with tossing out a bubble to ensure that Moonstrike is ready to go. Just be sure to toss the bubble behind you, to avoid giving your position away.
5. Monstrike stuns towers too. Yemoja can use Moonstrike to stun enemy towers for as long as an enemy god would be stunned for. The stun scales as the ability is upgraded. This can buy a few minions enough time to finish off a low tower.
6. Basic attacks heal your teammates. If you’re out of omi and a teammate needs healing. Spam them with basic attacks to give them a little bit of healing until you can hit them with a wave of Mending Waters.

Yemoja Builds

I use different Yemoja builds for Smite’s different game modes. You’ll be playing Yemoja a bit differently if you’re playing her in Assault, Arena, Clash, Conquest or Joust. The build you select should reflect those variations. I’m breaking the builds into separate configurations for clarity.

Yemoja Arena Build

1. Shoes of Focus
2. Breastplate of Valor
3. Lotus Crown
4. Rod of Asclepius
5. Gem of Isolation
6. Soul Reaver

I like this arena build because you get your ultimate quickly (thanks to the cooldown items — Yemoja’s ultimate ability is the only ability she has that has a cooldown). The Lotus Crown and Rod of Asclepius are great support items that provide protections and increased healing for teammates respectively. Gem of Isolation may seem redundant because Yemoja’s bubbles do have a slow of their own. However, only the big bubble has a slow. With Gem of Isolation, once that bubble bursts into little bubbles, all those little bubbles will apply a slow to enemies as well; it’s an excellent way to bog down a group of enemies because the burst spread pattern is hard to predict.

Yemoja’s abilities don’t do a lot of damage, so Soul Reaver is a handy, late-game item that can help chunk down an enemy player’s HP. The last item should be situational though. Sometimes, I’ll pick a more defensive item if my team is having particular trouble. In that case, Sovereignty or Heartward Amulet are good picks thanks to their protective auras.

Yemoja Assault Build

Yemoja is a beast in Assault. If you’re lucky enough to have her on your team, she can easily keep her team healed through an intense teamfight. Her Moonstrike is also useful for disabling towers, so always be ready to poke a tower, even without a minion wave, if Yemoja is nearby.

1. Shoes of Focus
2. Breastplate of Valor
3. Lotus Crown
4. Rod of Asclepius
5. Pestilence
6. Gem of Isolation

Again, I start with Shoes of Focus and Breastplate of Valor. Your ultimate ability can easily be used to wall off and trap any enemies who extend too far away from their teammates, and having that on standby is an easy way to secure kills. Lotus Crown and Rod of Asclepius are great support items, for their respective protections and healing increase. Pestilence is a good item to grab because chances are, unless the enemy team flubbed their god rolls, the enemy team has a healer too. Since there is only one lane in Assault, you’ll be close enough to the enemy healer to get some serious use out of Pestilence’s anti-healing aura. Gem of Isolation returns for my Assault build, it’s just such a good item for Yemoja considering the bubble spread and her healing wave passing through all enemies it hits.

Yemoja Conquest, Siege and Clash Build

In the modes that have lanes to focus on, Yemoja’s build shifts a little bit. Cooldown isn’t the main focus anymore since teamfights in these modes are not as frequent as in Arena and Assault. You’ll want to be able to survive long enough to see your team through a teamfight. These modes require a bit more gameplay knowledge, and the builds you choose will likely vary from game to game, to best counter the enemy team composition.

1. Guardian’s Blessing
2. Shoes of Focus
3. Gauntlet of Thebes
4. Breastplate of Valor
5. Lotus Crown
6. Void Stone
7. Starter Replacement (situational)

Starting with Guardians is a safe bet. Once Shoes of Focus are finished, Gauntlet of Thebes provides Yemoja with the survivability needed if any enemy tries to dive her. Breastplate adds to her survivability, while Lotus Crown helps her team’s survivability. Void Stone comes with a health and magic power boost that will help keep Yemoja strong near the end of the match. The situational item should be decided based on how the game has progressed up to that point. Gem of Isolation, Ethereal Staff and Rod of Asclepius are all good picks.

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