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Death's Toll
Healing Potion
Girdle of Might
Warrior Tabi
Voidblade
The Executioner
Qin's Blades
Deathbringer
Rage
Soul Eater
Jotunn's Wrath
Fatalis
Frostbound Hammer
Devourer's Gauntlet
Aegis Amulet (Old)
Girdle of Might
Purification Beads (Old)
Heavenly Wings
Y
B
A
X
Apollo. I decided to start my guide making experience with Apollo because I didn't see a decent guide for him at the time and I love playing ranged physical power carries. Of course, I'm open to feedback as long as it's helpful and not just mean spirited, you can keep those to yourself, please. I hope everyone is enjoying playing Apollo as much as I am and hopefully maybe this guide will help some of you do better at playing him.
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Pros
Apollo is a very good God to have on your team. His early game damage isn't lacking at all and gets boosted even more with his passive  Audacity. If his abilities are properly used you can easily secure kills and lane dominance with ease. Positioning is key, with the right awareness you can devastate a team fight. Co-operating with your team goes a long way, don't try and be a hero and chase when your team needs you. Remember, you're the main source of damage! |
Cons
Apollo suffers from the same thing all ranged physical power carries do, they're easily killed if caught with their pants down. If you aren't positioned right you could find yourself in one of these situations. The Moves is a great escape tool but will likely be followed up on by another gap closing/creating ability from whatever God may be chasing you down. Don't forget as well, most abilities that impair movement also disallow you from using such abilities like The Moves.
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Death's Toll - We start with this item as well as 5 Healing Potion's for good lane sustain and early damage. I also take Girdle of Might for even more damage when my lane initiates but you can choose whatever fits your play style. Others I would consider would be 
Aegis Amulet or 
Purification Beads if you're up against Gods like 
Ares, 
Ymir or 
Hades.
Warrior Tabi - These are a great next purchase due to the movement speed for escaping, slight physical penetration, a good boost in physical power and slight critical strike and attack speed. Everything Apollo needs!
Voidblade - I take this next because not only does it give a good boost to physical power but it also gives some physical protection which could be the difference in a duel with another physical carry. The passive is also pretty good when enemies are up close and personal. All around great item for any physical power carry.
The Executioner - I get this next to give Apollo a little extra speed on his auto attacks as well as more physical power boost. The passive reduces the targets physical protection even more allowing you to put out more damage and allowing you the ability to still hit tanks for decent damage.
Qin's Blades - I get this item next because by now, tanks on the enemy team will have quite a bit of health and will be taking a little longer to take down, not to mention most tanks by now would have purchased 
Hide of the Nemean Lion. This will help you bypass that and keep them second guessing if they should charge at you.
Deathbringer - This is where you would want to start packing a punch and this item will help you do that. You'll start to see other carries get hit pretty hard once you buy this and even tanks will take chunks of damage. This item is a must buy item for all physical power carries.
Rage - I get this last to round out my attack speed and critical damage. This item accompanied with Deathbringer makes you crit very often and for a lot of damage. By the time you finish this you will be three shotting almost any physical carry on the enemy team.
Soul Eater - I would take this item if you felt you needed a bit more health and attack speed in your build. The physical lifesteal is pretty good along with the aura which helps other physical damage Gods on your team but I would honestly take devourer's gloves as my main source of lifesteal which will be covered below.
Jotunn's Wrath - This item is a good source of cooldown reduction if that's what you're looking for. It's also has a decent amount of physical penetration which is what this builds all about. The mana will help a little in team fights, it will give you that extra boost to spam your abilities. Of course the extra physical power never hurts. I would take this item if I felt like being super aggressive.
Fatalis - This item is good to get for positioning I find. In team fights positioning is key and if you aren't in the right place you could find yourself in a heap of trouble. With the passive you also no longer move slower when moving backwards so for those backpeddlers out there. This is probably a sure buy. Although, I would only get this if my team is doing much better than the enemy due to it's lack of physical power.
Frostbound Hammer - This item is good for both kiting and chasing, the slow is the main reason you would pick this up but the health portion doesn't hurt either. I normally leave this item to the melee physical carries like 
Thor or 
Hercules but I have used it in the past. Soul Eater is because I go for damage over attack speed. This item gives you plenty of physical damage plus the passive stacks even more. Note that the stacks are not lost on death so you don't have to worry about losing your stacks like some of the other stackable items in the game.
Girdle of Might - I take this along with my first purchase because I find it very helpful for those early skirmishes in lane. I have, on many occasions, won the early fights only because I've have this in my back pocket. Some people say it should only be bought by supports and tanks but I honestly think that's not the case if used properly.
Aegis Amulet - I buy this pretty early on if I have to lane against such Gods as Hades, Ymir or Ares. It can be used to stop incoming damage as well as pulls from their ultimates. It's a must buy some time during the game if they have any of those Gods on their team. I normally combine this with the Girdle of Might as my active purchases.
Purification Beads - This is another strong purchase against Gods such as Hades, Ymir or Ares. It gives you an immunity to pulls for a short while and can also break Ares ability 
Shackles.In this section I am going to briefly go over Apollo's skills and which once I take in order. His skill set is not as important as some other physical power carries I find because most of his damage comes from his auto attacks.
So Beautiful - I take one point in this at the start of the game and then max it first. I do this because it is a great source of damage throughout the game and can help you harass your opponent in lane.
Serenade - I take a point in this at level 3 and save it for last because you need to be closer to your opponent to use it and that's the last place you want to be as Apollo. You could however use it to combo an enemy playing in your lane to secure a kill but not many people can use that effectively unless you're doing well at communicating with your lane mate.
The Moves - This ability is great for both escaping and engaging. If used correctly you could time a pretty good combo along with Serenade to output a lot of damage on the enemy in your lane. This could also be used to position yourself in a team fight.
Across The Sky - Apollo's ultimate is good for many things. Securing a kill in your lane, escaping an incoming gank when you've been caught out pushing a lane or even joining in on a fight across the map, if you have enough mana to make it there that is. With full mana you can use Across The Sky all the way across the map. It's pretty entertaining.
BRIEF INTRODUCTION
Team work is something I believe many gamers need to learn more of. What I see in almost all team based games I play, whether it be a shooter, moba or mmorpg is teams fighting more with themselves rather than the enemy. People blow up their own ego's on the internet and think they're better than everyone else and end up not co-operating and eventually losing the game which gets them even more enraged. In this section I'm going to discuss how to combat that in ways pertaining to SMITE which could also be used in many other games.
SMITE TEAM WORK WITH FRIENDS
When playing with a couple friends, teamwork is much easier to achieve because you are probably talking with them over one of the various voice communication programs out there. Being with friends also helps because you know how they play and what they're strong and at what they would need assistance doing. This helps the rage level of players to be reduced drastically. People win more games with friends as well due to being able to think up different strategies to overcome the trouble they may be having whether it being swapping lanes, ganking more often or setting up better ganks or assisting at taking jungle buffs. Though, communication with your other teammates is still key. Don't think you're better than the ones playing solo just because you're with a friend. Talk to them, work as a team and don't start yelling at people because it does nothing but bring your own team down and likely make you end up losing the match.
SMITE TEAM WORK PLAYING SOLO
Playing solo queue can be difficult at times. Sometimes you'll get the groups of friends that say you're a terrible player before the game even starts or you'll get other solo queue players that do not communicate at all. Communication starts with the God Selection lobby. Don't just instant lock a God you want to play, communicate with the team and come up with a strategy that may work well against the enemy. If someone is being stubborn then try and work around it and not just get mad and say gg. Giving up before the game even starts helps no one and breaks any line of communication later on in game. When in game remember to call things to your team. Whether it be an enemy missing in your lane or you going back to base or an enemy returning to your lane. There are in game voice commands, default key is v, that will help you announce these sooner than typing. Pinging the map is also a good way to show location for objectives. The best advice I could give you to remember is you're not as good as you think. Take a breath, admit to a mistake you've made and learn from it rather than firing your rage at your team. No one will benefit from your anger. You can't win every game and no one at level 30 will have won every single game.
AS APOLLO
As Apollo you're going to want to try and stay in the background in team fights and try not to engage until the enemy teams tanks have used their main abilities. Apollo is excellent at positioning due to his ability The Moves. Remember that team work is more important than kills on the scoreboard so make sure you survey the fight before doing anything drastic. If your team is losing the fight, don't catch yourself overextending and getting caught by the enemy. Also use your abilities wisely. Don't go into a fight smashing your keyboard trying to get kills. Combo Serenade and The Moves to get out of sticky situations and not to dive into the enemy team. If you're trying to set up a gank with Across The Sky make sure you communicate with the lane you're headed to before hand so they will know to engage and have a better chance at killing your enemies.
Thank you for reading my guide on Apollo. I hope you found it somewhat insightful and possibly learned a few things on how to play him. This guide is still a work in progress and I'm going to try and make it better with more info, more detail and possibly more eye catching. If you have any advice on how to do that please leave a comment and let me know. This is, again, my first guide I've ever tried to create and do appreciate all and any help to learn. Thank you again and hopefully I'll see you guys around on the site. I may make more guides if this proves to be useful.
Addition Timeline:
31/03/2013
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We should talk. Pm me.
Well we don't have scouts, do we? We have Raging trolling all around, ElGrizz being a ninja, and you... doing whatever it is that you do on a daily basis with which I cannot tell. Mostly commenting on things, I suppose.
Cheesecake is delicious.
If you want me to review guides feel free to ask me and I will start reviewing them
Cheesecake is delicious.
This guide suddenly goes to top because of Ragingstorm! I think get voted by editor should be top priority >.<
that is where scouts are for on mobafire, they give scoutpoints to guides ;)
The one thing i'd like to see is a bit of fleshing out on your descriptions of abilities - for instance:
This hints at a cool combo you can pull off, but doesn't go into any details about how that combo is done. I think the best way to approach guides is to never assume the reader knows anything. Explain everything in detail and then highlight the main points for those users who don't need the detail.
Screen shots / videos etc are always nice too! :D
Anyway, great guide - deserving of my upvote
NIXON
I like your guide.I played with a friend that has Apollo and he used your build.He was destroying everyone :D.But I have a question.What I should buy?Apollo or Loki?
Apollo and Loki are very different in the case of playstyle. If you're looking to stay out of the thick of things and get kills from afar, then I'd suggest Apollo. If you're good at managing ganks, you know when to engage and when not to and have a strong grip on playing the assassin role, then Loki can be very strong. It all depends on where you're most comfortable. I wouldn't suggest playing your first game against live opponents either. Make sure you play a few bot matches to learn the God a little then try your skill set from that experience on live opponents. Hope this helped.