Ares for New Players

This is my Ares build that I used when I first started to play Ares. Please bare in mind that this is a build for players new to Ares or even smite in general looking for a good guardian to play with some damage capability as well. Also this is my first guide so any feedback will be welcomed.

Ares is a destructive force in all game modes. Typically I feel that he is by far at his best in arena but can be very useful in team fights in conquest and joust. Coupled with a few team mates you will fined yourself getting multi kills a lot. Particularly Odin to trap the enemy after you pull them in with your alt and anyone with an AoE such as Poseidon, Zeus or Vulcan. Ra also works well because his ability will penetrate through the enemies that you pull in, you just need to time is so that it fires as they are stunned by your alt. If they all use purification however, you could end up causing your team to waste their alts.

Pros -
- High damage capability for a guardian
- High cooldown for fast ability usage
- Great possibility to combine alts with other team mates to provide massive multi kills
Cons -
- Slow limited escape possibility
- Relies on abilities a lot
- Purification makes your alt nearly redundant

- Shackles
This skill is your bread and butter. this slows them, deals DoT and the best part of it is that you can fire up to 3 if the last hit within 2 seconds of each other. This means that if they all hit one target you can slow them by 45% (15% each). Although the damage does not stack on a single target so firing to multiple targets after firing your alt will probably be the best idea. Especially if you have an Odin to trap them as well.
- Bolster defence
This ability is unfortunately the least useful one in Ares' array. It bolsters defence and provides a CC reduction. Although its uses are limited it is worth activating it at the start of team fights and if you are caught in Hades alt. I find it can help you survive some situations as the protections buff is sizeable. Also Ares gets extra protections for each enemy shackled to him, so if you have just popped your alt and shackled 3 people then activate it to make sure they don't turn around and kill you before your team kill them.
- Searing Flesh
This skill is a good skill adding to Ares' damage potential. It gives him knockback immunity and adds some DPS to his moves. Activating this does not add the move penalty usually got form basic attacks so, especially with 3 shackles on a player, they will find it hard to escape. Not much else to be said about this.
- No Escape
Like most alts this makes or breaks its character. It is capable of a deicide almost every time if used properly. However if the enemy team is running purification it becomes quite redundant. Although if used very quickly after it cools down the enemy will not have their purification up all of the time. Also it is useful for baiting out purifications to aid other players with the same weakness in their moves. This ability pulls all enemies in range to Ares after 2.5 seconds, deals damage and stuns them for 1 second. the stun time is good enough to allow you to get most of you chains off so you can start your searing flesh. if the enemies are trapped inside Odin's magic circle you may as well start to prepare a coffin. a few AOE's later and you have a deicide. the damage is good enough on it so that if you see an enemy on low health running away, it my be worth popping it to ensure the kill for your team (don't do it just for the sake of padding your stats though). Also a good idea is to pull the enemies into your tower, the stun and three follow up chains will make it hard to escape, magic circle or not.
- Blessed Presence
This is a simple buff that gives 30 additional magic power for any aura item Ares has completed. Magic power = always good.

Mark of the Vanguard -
This is a good starter for new players. it provides an edge on the protection and health that will keep you alive early game. you will want to sell this to buy a 6th item though.
+ 5 magical and physical protections - Although not that much of a boost, it helps early game.
+ 150 health - Another ability to keep you alive early.
All damage is reduced by 5 - Very useful early , if you make a mistake it may just get you out of trouble.

Shoes of Focus -
Everyone likes boots.
+ 30 magical power - magical power = always useful.
+ 250 mana - a nice touch since Ares relies on his abilities so much.
+ 10% cooldown reduction - cooldown reduction is a must have on any Ares build. he relies on his abilities so much that not having one up can be the difference between life or death.
+ 18% movement speed - may be just enough to keep you alive.

Breastplate of Valor -
This is such a useful item for Ares and most tanks because it is fairly cheap and provides tow of the most important things for Ares, cooldown and protections.
+ 75 physical protections - protections are a staple for any guardian to keep you out there and fighting long enough to combo your alt with others on your team.
+ 300 mana - again nice since Ares relies on abilities so much.
+ 20% cooldown - such a good skill for Ares to keep him effective, it allows him to charge his alt before people can charge their purifications and keeps the shackles + searing flesh combo available.

Pythagorem's Piece -
This item finishes of your cooldown putting it at max and has some good other bonuses such as activating Ares' passive since it is an aura item.
+ 70 magical power - this increases the damage potential for Ares making the Shackles and searing flesh combo better.
+ 15% magical life steal - not the most useful skill for Ares but its certainly not bad.
+ 10% cooldown - maxing out the cooldown to allow more frequent alts and combos is a big plus.
Aura + 20 magical power and 10% magical Lifesteal to allies within 70 units - since its an aura item it adds an extra 30 magical power to your total so this item actually gives you 100 magical power essentially.

Gem of Isolation -
This will add a massive slow to your shackles searing flesh combo. it will ensure no escape whilst adding some other nice benefits.
+ 70 magical power - magical power = always good
+ 250 health - health is always good for a tank, basic knowledge why this is useful
+ 250 mana - always good to have
Slows enemies hit by your damaging abilities by 25% - this passive makes this such a good item. hitting an enemy with your shackles already slows by 45% if you hit all 3 plus the buff you. adding an extra 25% putts it at 70%, enough said.

Ethereal Staff -
I really like this for Ares because it is a great way to increase his damage. If you are going for pure support tank then maybe skip this, although the health is still quite good.
+ 30 magical power - Its actually more than this because of its passive.
+ 400 health - wow. 400 health is a lot for one item making this item very good for a guardian.
+ 300 mana - I don't think you will run out of mana to easily.
2.5% of your health is converted to magical power - you should end up with around 3000 health or more with this build, so 2.5% of that is 75 extra magical power. So 400 health and 105 magical power for one item is very good.

Hide of the Urchin -
This item adds a lot of protection for your god so is naturally a great fit for a guardian.
+ 35 protections (magical and physical) - protections = good.
+ 250 health - health for guardians is always good.
+ 250 mana - at this point you probably wont need this but still.
+ 3 protections for each god kill or assist up to 10 stacks - 30 extra protections of each kind at max stacks

Rod of Asclepius -
+ 75 magical power - enough said about this.
+ 200 health - Enough said about this too.
+ 10% movement speed - Ares typically does not have an escape so anything to help him do this is good.
Allies within 70 feet gain 20% healing and health regen - this is an aura so that adds an extra 30 magical power to Ares. The health regen and extra healing is great if you have a healer in your team such as Aphrodite or Sylvanus.

Bulwark of Hope -
+ 60 magical protection - a useful skill to add extra tank...iness
+ 200 health - enough said.
20% crowd control reduction - may just get you out of a annoying situation
When you drop below 30% health you gain a shield - this skill may just save your life. it can get you out of sticky situations as Ares has no escape. Anything to help him escape becomes very valuable.

Sprint -
This relic is a great way to solve the fact that Ares has no escape. It will save your life. It has saved my life many times and dying is Always worse than running as you don't give up XP and you don't have to wait a respawn time.

Blink -
This is great as an engagement starter. Ares lacks much movement so using this and sprint is what I did a lot of the time. It allows you to reach places faster and have the element of surprise so you can catch more people in your alt.

Purification -
You need to at least consider this for every god. If the enemy team has a CC heavy god (such as Ares) then pick this up. It will make people like Ares' and Hades' alt redundant.

Combo 1 -
Shackles (x3) -> Searing Flesh
This is the main combo you will use. This is how you get all of your kills, it will slow the player by 70% (with gem of isolation) and deal a lot of DoT. They will have very little chance to escape and with a bit of added damage from allies will reduce a person from 100 to 0 very quickly. Use this on gods that stray away from the main pack or find themselves on their own. If the god is on mid to low health or is generally fairly weak you have a good chance to get the kill.
Combo 2 -
Blink -> No Escape -> Shackles (x3) -> Searing Flesh
This is probably your most devastating combo. It does however require your blink and alt to be up at the same time so you will have limited use of this. If your team drop a few AoE alts on this and maybe a magic circle from Odin then anyone caught it this may as well be dead. The enemy will have little time to react because of blink and before they know it they're all dead and your storming the titan, or helping a siege minion through the portal. Remember though, purification makes your alt redundant. Use one Alt without blink to bait out purifications and then next time use your blink to provide instant death. Keep alternating to provide maximum death.

So the most important thing as Ares is to remember you combos, keep in mind that your escape is limited and watch for purifications to know who to target and who not to. Remember that the little diamond below your team mates pictures will glow blue if they have their alt and try to find a good balance between timing your alt with them, and the purifications of the enemy team. Also pulling enemies into towers is a good trick to help you maximise the DPS you put out when trying to kill them. Lastly remember to try to chain all enemies You pull in not just the one 3 times.

So to summarise this build, I would say it is a high damage variant of an Ares build. It allows people to find a balance between getting themselves kills and setting up their team mates. remember to combo with other team mates (cant stress this enough), remember to use your own combos and don't overstretch yourself. Ares' biggest downside is his lack of an escape, even if you do choose sprint, the cooldown is not short. any feedback is appreciated and I hope this helps some new player get into playing Ares as he has potential to be one of the best gods in the game if played smartly.