Ares Guide: God of Crowd Control

Hello everyone, This is my first guide in SmiteFire! English is NOT my native language, sorry if I make any spelling issue. Ares, The God of War, is a Meele Magical Tank, I think he is the best Tank of the game after Ymir because of his Passive and of his Abilities, he can be pretty tough with the right build.

Help me to improve this guide! If you help me out, you'll be listed in the credits, at the end of the guide!

Why?

When?

Just don't autolock with him, wait for your teammates to choose their gods, if they need a tank, fine, pick Ares, if they need other type, just choose other type.

Feared by his enemies, reviled by his father, adored by the Goddess of Beauty, and worshipped by warriors, Ares, a tortured and lonely soul, is the bloodthirsty Greek God of War.
Ares is not loved by the people. He represents everything they fear and despise: war, strife, chaos, and murder. Its said that the sky darkens when Ares takes the field. That he rides to battle on a chariot drawn by fire-breathing steeds and delights only in the clash of battle and smell of bloodshed.
Ares is not loved by his father. Zeus has many sons, but only two with his wife Hera. However, the thunder God has long suspected Hera of having an affair that led to the birth of Ares, perhaps as revenge for all of Zeus infidelity. For this, Zeus is disgusted by him.
Ares is not loved by his sister. Athena and Ares are both Gods of War. Where Ares represents violence, force, and slaughter, Athena is the embodiment of intelligence, strategy, and leadership. Ares is quick to act and leave a bloody trail. Athena is thoughtful and careful with lives. Often they have been on the opposite sides, most notably at the Battle of Troy, where Athena viciously wounded him and forced Ares to retreat.
Ares is the lover of the Goddess of Beauty. Though Aphrodite is married to Ares brother, Hephaestus, Ares takes what he wants, and Aphrodite gives in willingly. Their union created offspring almost as terrible as Ares himself: Phobos and Deimos, Fear and Terror.
Ares is loved only by the Spartans, who revere the God for his masculinity, his merciless warrior spirit, and tenacity against all odds. The Spartans, however, know the unpredictable fury of their patron, and bind his statues in chains. This is, in part, to prevent Ares spirit of victory from escaping Sparta, and a vain effort to keep the God of War contained.

PROS
[*] High Defense.
[*] High Crowd Control.
[*] Good Combo Starter.
[*] No Escape is very useful.
[*] Can steal Speed from enemy gods with Shackles.
[*] Blessed Presence can make him do a lot of damage with abilities.


CONS
[*] Low Damage.
[*] No Sustain.
[*] Abilities are useless without ally support.
[*] Shackles can be easily missed.

Blessed Presence

PASSIVE - Each completed aura item that Ares' owns grants him 30 additional magical power.
Ability - Buff
Affects - Self

Shackles

Chains extend from Ares' shield, doing damage to all enemies in its path. Hitting a god shackles them to Ares, cripples them, preventing movement abilities, dealing the same damage every second while slowing them and buffing Ares. While shackled, Ares can fire another chain for free within 2s.
Ability - Projectile
Affects - Enemy
Damage Type - Magical
Minion Damage - 25/45/65/85/105 (+15% of your magical power)
God Damage per Tick - 25/45/65/85/105 (+15% of your magical power)
Slow/Speed - 15% per unique Shackle
Duration - 4 seconds
Max Shackles - 3[i/]
Cost - 70/75/80/85/90
Cooldown - 15 seconds

Bolster Defenses

Ares strengthens the defenses of himself and all nearby allies, granting protections and reducing crowd control durations. For each shackled enemy, the protection buffs are increased.
Ability - Buff
Affects - Self/Allies
Radius - 35
Protections - 10/15/20/25/30
CC Reduction - 10/15/20/25/30%
Lifetime - 8 seconds
Shackle Bonus - 7
Cost - 60/65/70/75/80
Cooldown - 15 seconds

Searing Flesh

Flames pour forth from Ares' shield, engulfing enemies in a cone in front of him damage every .5s for 4s. Ares is immune to knockback for the duration.
Ability - Cone
Affects - Enemy
Damage Type - Magical
Damage per Tick: - 15/20/25/30/35 (+7% of your magical power)
% Max Health per Tick - 1/1/2/2/3%
Cost - 55/60/65/70/75
Cooldown - 12 seconds

No Escape

Ares throws chains out to all enemy gods in an area around him. All enemies hit by the chains are pulled to Ares after 2.5s, taking damage and are stunned plus additional time for each enemy god hit by the ability.
Ability - Area
Affects - Enemy Gods
Damage Type - Magical
Radius - 35
Damage - 200/275/350/425/500 (+40% of your magical power)
Stun - 1s + .3 seconds per enemy god hit
Cost - 80/85/90/95/100
Cooldown - 90 seconds

This is a good starting as it gives you both physical, magical defense, speed and give some extra protection from it's passive.


This one gives you physical protection, mana AND cooldown reduction, perfect for Ares.


It gives magical protection, power and it has an AURA passive, which reduces the magical protection of enemies within 25 feet and grant him more Magical Power thanks to Blessed Presence.


This item give you physical protection, health and it has an AURA passive, that give magical and physical protection buff to allies within 40 feet and gives more 30 magical power duo to Ares' Passive.

Mystical Mark
It gives Physical Protection and health, it has an AURA passive that deals damage to enemies within 20 feet and gives him 30 magical power due to his passive.


It gives you magical power, lifesteal, mana and has an AURA passive that gives more magical power and lifesteal to allies within 30 feet and as you are tired to know, gives Ares more 30 magical power duo to his passive.

This item is a good starter, because it gives you magical power, mana and Cooldown Reduction, so you don't have to care too much about the cooldown of your abilities.


Physical Protection, mana and MORE Cooldown Reduction, Beads is not a problem anymore, at least not until late game.


It gives you Magical Power, MP5 and even MORE Cooldown Reduction, Beads is now useless, YAY!


This item gives you more health, some magical protection and when you're low health he reduces all damage by 50% for a short time, which you can use Sprint or Heavenly Agility to run away.


This one gives you physical protection, health and give allies an Physical and Magical Protection buff, and don't forget the 30 magical power duo to Blessed Presence.


This item gives you more health, mana, magical power and converts 2% of your maximum health into magical power, just AWESOME.

It gives you both protections and absorb some damage duo to it's passive, great starting item.


I use this item a lot right? Because it gives you physical protection and Cooldown Reduction, this is great on Ares, and the coolest thing on this item: he is cheap.


Some people don't like this item because they say his passive is "useless", and is exactly the opposite, this item is incredible against AD Carrys and Assassins as it returns basic attacks.


This item gives magical protection, health, and if your health is below 25% it creates a shield that reduces 50% of the damage you receive during a short time, it's a great item.


Did I said this item is great? No? IT IS GREAT!


I don't need to say this item is great on Ares, it gives a lot of Magical Power duo to Ares Passive and it gives Magical Protection.

If you are playing with Ares or another tank like Ymir, Guan Yu, Vulcan, Odin and others, you must pay attention to the enemy formation.

DO NOT FOLLOW THE BUILD ENTIRELY, YOU MUST DO YOUR BUILD DEPENDING ON THE ENEMY.

For an example: if the enemies are Hercules, Sobek, Ao Kuang, Ymir and Fenrir you must first focus on Physical Protection because the Bruisers of the team have Physical Damage, and only Ao Kuang, the mage, has Magical Damage. If the enemies are Anubis, Hades, Zeus, Odin and Thor you must first focus on Magical because most of the enemy team do lots of Magical Damage. Here's a list of Situational/Optional Items:


This item gives you magical power and Physical Protection, and his passive is great, when hit by a basic attack, your physical protection is increased by 15 for 5s, with the maximum of 3 stacks.

Magi's Blessing
Magi's Blessing is a good item, not so great as other protection items, but this one is kinda of good, it gives you magical protection, mana and health, and it's passive absorb a single enemy ability hit every 30 seconds.


This item gives both protections, health and mana, it's passive reduces 30% of all Crowd Control abilities, very useful against other Ares, Hades, Ymir, Neith.


This item is VERY good, it gives Magical Protection, increases HP5 and MP5, and it's passive heal 5% of your maximum health each 5 seconds, this item is great on Ares, and the greatest of all in Ymir.

These items are very important for Ares, i mean, SOME of these are...

GOOD CONSUMABLES:

Health Potion
In Early Game this item is very important to maintain yourself, in conquest, in arena, in any gamemode.


This consumable is important from early game until late game, if you don't have meditation, this will be your best friend.


This item is the most important thing for a tank after finishing his build, drink it and you will be kinda of invincible as long as you know when to be aggressive and when to be passive .

Teleport
This item helps a lot if you too far away from a teamfight, just ask a friend to put a ward and PUFF, you are there.


Wards are pretty good to prevent enemies from ganking you, so, BUY IT, LOTS OF WARDS!(Just 3, 3 are enough)

BAD CONSUMABLES:

You must be asking yourself: "Why not buy this consumable? It would make Ares more powerful D:", well, it would be a waste of gold, that you could use to buy Elixir of Defense after some time, Ares don't need much magical power if his allies are already focusing on Damage.

Potion of Physical Might
Kinda obvious why not buy this consumable, Ares has Magical damage, not physical.


This item increase both magical and physical damage, and it really increases a lot, but why not buy it? Simple, as i said in Potion of Magical Might, Ares don't need a lot of Magical Power if his allies are focusing on damage, it would be a waste of money.

GOOD ACTIVES:

Meditation
Some people may deny it, but Meditation is one of the most useful actives of Smite, it regenerates Mana, and at the third level it can regenerate Health, just incredible.

Blink
Everyone knows that Blink IS needed for Ares, you can ****in teleport to where your enemies are and use No Escape, it's great to start combos.


This item is good when the teamfight is happening, use it and use No Escape, you will have a Kill Secured if someone is pulled.


"Why Ares needs to use Beads? WHYYY?!" If the enemy team has an Ares or an Hades, Beads is needed.

Sprint
These items may help you to run away when possible or to reach your target to use No Escape.

BAD ACTIVES:

Why not use this item? You need space for Blink or Meditation or Girdle of Might or Purification Beads, let this item for other tank.


Same reason as Hand of the Gods.


This item just serves for two things: To escape from Ares' Ult or to make your death a bit late, nothing more than that.

First you must know that Ares is horrible at creeping. Why? He is a meele, not convinced? He has no ability that really does a lot of damage at once, that makes him almost useless if soling lane, that's why you NEVER should solo lane as Ares, believe, it doesn't work. To creep without losing too much HP you must wait your creep wave, stay behind it and keep using Searing Flesh and auto-attack, this will be enough, just don't waste all your mana with Searing Flesh, or buy Meditation and you'll be happy.

Chaining Early Game

At early game Ares is not much useful, as his abilities won't do much damage, but when you reach level 5 the fun starts, as you use No Escape to pull enemies to your location and your teammate just finish him with his/her ultimate. Killing an enemy at early game give you an nice advantage as you will keep him away of the creep waves, and don't let him feed. If you can buy a complete item, don't fear returning to the base, your teammate will be safe as long as he stays inside the tower area.

Burning Mid Game

If you didn't died yet you are doing as Ares(Or the enemy team sucks), but well, at this moment of the game you and your teammate may already take 1 of the enemy tower, try ganking others lanes when they need, using No Escape to pull enemies and secure the kill. And to prevent from being ganked by the enemy, buy some wards instead of Health Potions, put them in the jungle near your lane and pay attention to the minimap, the enemy by now have Beads right? No problem, if your teammate have CC it's even better, as he can use it, the enemy will waste beds, and you can pull the enemy, some people may use Beads when you chain then, enjoy the moment to pull them as well. Only pull enemies if your teammate is ready, pulling ramdomly will result in a ultimate wasted, and even a death, so be careful.

Bringing War to Late Game

This is where Ares mostly shine, Teamfights will happen a lot at this phase, and your No Escape can change it's course if used in the right moment, don't chase enemies to much, as some of them do a lot of damage and penetration at this moment, the problem of this phase is: Everyone may have Beads by now, but some may not, try to pull THESE persons that didn't buy Purification Beads or Aegis Amulet, when you take 3~5 of the enemy gods head to the Fire Giant or the Gold Fury, if you have more defense, start the battle.

Ares' combo does a lot of damage with the "War Beast" Build, with a teammate it do even more, so I'll just put the order here and you train it, because it's hard to start it!(Seriously, I keep missing it every ****in time, you should train it a lot).

WITH ONE TEAMMATE:

>>> >>>

WITH LOTS OF TEAMMATES:

>>> >>>


Bolster Defenses can be used before starting both combos to give your allies a protection buff.

Teamwork is where you must focus with Ares, because he is totally useless without and ally by his side, I will suggest some combinations that can result in a good combo.


It's no secret that Zeus and Ares are a fantastic combination because of their ultimates, right after using No Escape, if Zeus uses Lightning Storm it may be enough to get a kill, the enemy gods haven't died? if Zeus uses Detonate Charge it's a Kill Secured.


For me, this is the best combination, Anubis Have a stun, a slow and his ult do tons of damage, after pulling and enemy god, Anubis can use Mummify, Grasping Hands and Plague of Locusts/ Death Gaze, the enemy will be almost done, then use Shackles and Searing Flesh and the enemy will be dead(or not).


Poseidon is the faster god of all Smite and has the coolest ultimate ever called Release The Kraken!, when Ares uses No Escape, Poseidon just have to use Whirlpool to maintain the enemy god where he wants and use Release The Kraken! to finish him, if the enemy don't die, just use Shackles and Searing Flesh to slow him and do a lot of damage, so Poseidon can catch up to him and finish the god.


A very rare combination, but deadly! Hades and Ares are both Magical Tanks with High Crowd Control in their ultimates, using No Escape and right after it Pillar of Agony can hurt a lot.


This combination is even more deadly than the others if done right, Ares can pull the enemies with No Escape, Odin can lock them into the area with Ring of Spears and Ymir do the last hit with Shards of Ice, that may hurt a lot.


It doesn't look like it, but this one can do a Triple kill with easily, it just have to be done very synchronized, First Ares pull the enemy(ies) God(s) with his No Escape, then Ao Kuang uses Tornadoes and Spirit's Tempest, then Ares uses Shackles and Searing Flesh, or Ao Kuang can use Squall to slow them enough to secure the kill.


Yeah, that's a pretty good combo, and sometimes you don't even have to use No Escape, Fenrir does a lot of damage and only by slowing the enemy with Shackles and doing damage with Ares' Searing Flesh and Fenrir's Brutalize can finish a Carry or an Assasin off.

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Thanks for reading my guide, I hope you enjoy playing as Ares.

Credits
People who helped to improve this guide shall get their names in here.

Dark Jaw, Give me a base for my guide.