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-Start building either prophetic cloak or thebes gauntlet, whichever you prefer.
-First Aura after should be whatever can help your team based on opponents. They're healing? Contagion. Magical damage? Amulet.
Mages and hunters on your team? Shoguns Kisari.
-I always purchase Chalice at match start to maximize my time and gold earned in that first charge.
Sentinel's Gift
Cleric's Cloak
Chalice of Healing
Blink Rune
Horn Shard
-Purchase order should vary depending on teams needs.
-Items from situational set are very versatile and can be intermixed as needed based on situation.
Sentinel's Embrace
Prophetic Cloak
Pythagorem's Piece
Shogun's Kusari
Sovereignty
Amulet of the Stronghold
Chalice of Healing
Potion of Power
Scorching Blink Rune
Phantom Shell
-Always open your combo with Shackles, ideally into a group of enemies to hit multiple targets to boost your next ability, bolster defenses. Do this in the fray with teammates or minions near to take fill advantage. Finally finish it up with searing flesh to chase down those shackled opponents.
-No Escape can be used to end the combo to capture any would be survivors.
-Can also be used to start the combo, blink rune into a group of enemies before ulting and then follow that up with the above combo onto any enemies captured.
Y
B
A
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-Never purchase both anti heal auras as they don't stack.
-This is more of a situational item pool rather than a full build though it does have its utility.
Sentinel's Embrace
Gauntlet of Thebes
Contagion
Mystical Mail
Void Doumaru
Void Shield
Spectral Armor
Chalice of Healing
Potion of Power
Bewitched Dagger
Scorching Blink Rune
Phantom Shell
This is an all around solid and fun build for Ares, I'll be focusing on building an aura with multiple boosts for teammates that can vary depending on the situation but offer various protections and buffs that could cripple an enemy team early and even late game. With good teamwork, taking advantage of the blink rune is crucial to crushing any defense, I always try to be sneaky and blink forward while they're preoccupied with a teammate, and paired with a good teammate following its safe to Leeroy Jenkins in and occasionally a team wipe will ensue, just beware of beads and be prepared to get jumped immediately in a worst case scenario. Good pairings for the ult in my experience would be anyone with a wide area special like Kukulkan, Sol or Scylla but you can't really go wrong. Ideally save your abilities for a successful ult then immediately rain the shackles down on the enemies captured, follow it up with the bolster defenses and then finish with the searing flesh to get the most utility out of this kit. I always buy the chalice at the match start as Ares rather than potions to maximize time on the field early on and its a solid buy anyways so might as well get it over with.
This sequence aims to maximize damage output and crowd control. The combo I use always opens with as many shackles across the enemy teams I can manage immediately followed by bolstered defenses to boost the team based off of how many enemies shackled and finally finish up with searing flesh to bully any enemies foolish enough to approach your team or even finish off that last bit of health an enemy may have. If any minions are near be sure to point some flames their way. If you're leading the charge don't be scared to charge in with your flames, with good aim Ares can basically wipe out a troop of minions in seconds with searing flesh alone.
Finally always try to pair no escape with your blink rune as you can sneak right into the middle of the enemy team to grah them all and pair with a teammate to do some crazy damage.
This ult is very useful as you can blink towards an enemy who otherwise would have escaped and ult them ruining their day, I've even ulted an enemy safe in their spawn zone and pulled them to my teammates waiting by their portal so do whatever feels right.
This build will be the outline of your team, giving everyone a solid boost able to penetrate almost any defense, I'm aware many people prefer the gauntlet of thebes for their starting build and if you do swap it for the prophetic cloak as its my personal preference. This build can be swapped a few ways depending on play style and enemy teams.
Sometimes that extra attack speed boost can cripple enemies early game so don't be scared to purchase shoguns kusari early on. This purchase order aims to maximize overall team defenses and maximize team damage output, but that does depend on a team willing to stick with you or baby sit your team, otherwise half the utility here is wasted. If the enemy team isn't doing serious damage ill occasionally swap out either sovereignty or the amulet depending on which damage stat their team is lacking for another useful aura like contagion or pestilence to cripple their heals, be sure not to use both as their anti heal auras don't stack. Another good option for a switch would be mystical mail as that little bit of damage being dealt throughout the match can add up to some big numbers especially if you spend solid time in the fray with multiple enemies you can even finish off enemies with your presence, so if you have a solid team this is a good option to maximize your damage. Another great final item to swap out with would be relic dagger as the blink rune cool down will allow you to blink and ult the enemy team many times throughout the match and the extra team shields can save you and your teammates in a pinch especially in the instance of an unsuccessful blink ult combo. Be sure to return to base occasionally to refill your chalice and don't forget to engage your chalice while in fray to maximise your time on the battlefield.
This mostly consists of aura abilities to cripple an enemies offenses and defenses which should allow your team to push forward confidently, teamwork is a must.
Now I wouldn't use this set outright most of the the time as this set can be fun but the defenses your team would otherwise receive are absent so a mix of the full build with situational items from this set would be more ideal in most instances but if you're blessed with a good team and can pull this off the results can be godlike allowing you to bully an enemy team to their spawn. Contagion is a must to shut down annoying healers and life steal. Mystic mail can deal massive damage overtime especially pushing forward with a good team. The void items are excellent for shutting down enemy defenses, ideally use whichever your teams offenses are taking advantage of whether it be magical or physical damage or if you have an extra ability slot and your teams doing great get both. And finally the spectral armor can shut down annoying assassins or hunters taking advantage of critical attacks as they can shred even your solid defenses if stacked aggressively, I often encounter Rat, Cernunnos, Fenrir, Da Ji and Cupid among others dealing crazy damage utilizing critical attack builds so keep an eye out when you encounter them and have spectral armor ready in your back pocket as it can completely catch them off guard and shut down their playstyle.
Picking and choosing which items and which auras can benefit your team and shutdown your opponents strategies is key and its all the easier with a great team behind you. With a little practice you can be leading the charge as Ares and completely overwhelm your opponents. Don't be afraid to sell an item late game to get one you may need as sometimes a change in your approach is all you need. Good luck!
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Agree with Kriega that Chronos is better with a higher focus on ability use (he's also a high level Chronos player). That said, in Arena for funsies, a full basic attack build w/ Hastened, Demonic, Telk and Typhon's can be fun. Cyclopean Ring is also good for the hybrid function w/ CDR but not sure if you might start overcapping here. Maybe swap it for Hastened if you'd overcap.
Another fun trolly thing to do is build protections and MS from things like
Thanks for the input dude, Ill have to checkout Chronos.
Intersect, a long time player who gives in-depth explaination of lifesteal in Smite, said that lifesteal is best with auto atttacks. Sol teammate+Ares Pythagoras' Theorem boosting her lifesteal is a big win! Glad you had fun. Afterall, the Phythagoras' Thm. was your idea, not mine
Reference from Smite Wiki:
- Lifesteal: "Lifesteal is the statistic used to measure the percentage of damage dealt to enemies that will be returned to the damage dealer as Health. Most gods begin with 0 Lifesteal. Much like with Power, Physical and Magical Lifesteal are restricted to certain gods. If a god with Lifesteal kills an enemy, they will only Lifesteal for the amount that it took to kill the enemy. Physical Lifesteal only works when dealing damage with basic attacks. Magical Lifesteal works with the damage dealt by both abilities and basic attacks, but Area of Effect abilities have diminished Lifesteal efficiency (33%). Physical Lifesteal caps at 80 while Magical Lifesteal caps at 70."
- Basic Attack Damage: "Basic Attack Damage is the statistic used to measure the amount of damage a god will do with their basic attacks (before mitigation). Each god has a different base Basic Attack Damage, and they also gain a bonus with each god level. Additionally, basic attacks gain a bonus based on the god's current Power amount (100% for Physical gods, 20% for Magical gods). Buffs giving a percentage bonus in power increases Basic Attack Damage with an amount equal to the percentage times the base Basic Attack Damage of the given level. There is also a neutral Attack Speed buff that provides a direct Basic Attack Damage bonus to the god that picks it up. Basic Attack Damage caps at 10000."
With the 11.1 patch, remember that your lifesteal value only applies 50% of the value against minions...it's only half as effective as it used to be, making it much more difficult to heal up from camps and waves.- Overall Lifesteal Calculations: In reference to any calculations, I will refer to a base damage of 100 just for ease of calculation and understanding, along with 30% lifesteal (physical or magical depending on topic). I will not be referring to any anti-heal effects that could be applied.
- Physical Basic Attack Damage Scaling: Outside of the consideration of base damage, if you build an item with 40 power, your base damage will increase by 40 damage. Simple.
- Physical Basic Attack Lifesteal: Lifesteal ONLY works with basic attacks, except for those specific items or buffs that allow for physical ability lifesteal, e.g.
Soul Eater, 
Jotunn's Vigor, the Conquest crimson spirit totem. It needs to indicate "ability lifesteal" or it's only standard basic attack lifesteal.
Izanami or any abilities that allow basic attacks to hit multiple targets per shot. Iza's standard basic attack power scaling is 75% when fired and 35% when returning to her. The basic attack only benefits from 33% lifesteal due to it being a multi-target effect.
- Magical Basic Attack Damage Scaling: Magical gods only gain 20% base damage from power. Get an item with 100 power, your basic attacks will only increase by 20 damage. Much weaker compared to physical gods.
Freya has the damage buffs in her 
Irradiate and 
Pulse.
Olorun has slightly increased scaling on his basic attacks and crits on his passive 
Touch of Fate and an attack speed steroid in 
Overflowing Divinity.
Chronos has a steroid + additional magical power scaling to basic attacks in his 
Accelerate section 4.
Sol has increased power and attack speed when building heat with her passive 
Unstable Manifestation, with an additional basic attack damage boost when at 100% heat.
- Magical Lifesteal Scaling: The basic attack lifesteal portion of this is simple. As long as it only is able to hit 1 enemy per attack, your lifesteal scaling is like a physical god. Base damage of 100 w/ 30% lifesteal means you gain 30 health.
In all, what this says is that for the most part, basic attacks are going to get you the best lifesteal effect, which is why hunters value it so much. Magical ADCs that focus on basic attacks also use lifesteal extremely well, which is why a base lifesteal item +Physical basic attack lifesteal provides 100% of the value. If you deal 100 damage w/ 30% lifesteal, you gain 30 health. Simple.
The outlier for this effect is
There are 2 things that help balance it for magical gods. 1) Magical items typically have higher power than physical items. 2) The magical ADCs usually have some form of damage increase in their kits.
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However, with abilities, MOST magical god abilities are able to hit multiple targets. If it does, it applies that same AOE lifesteal effect...it cuts it to 1/3. If your ability deals 100 damage and it can technically hit multiple gods but you only hit 1 god, and you have a lifesteal of 30%, you will only lifesteal for 10% of that damage, or 10 health from that 100 damage ability.
Usually, burst mages that mostly deal damage from abilities, but those abilities usually being AOE/multi-target and only able to cast every few seconds (instead of basic attacks being cast more than once per second), don't get nearly as good of an effect. This is maybe one reason why
For abilities, you really need to be able to deal high amounts of damage - hopefully easily on multiple targets at once with tick or DOT damage - to see good lifesteal.
Once you understand all the above, you'll realize why certain items and gods do better with lifesteal than others, and better evaluate why some lifesteal items are worth it while others are more situational. Pythag's at certain times has been a very good item, but right now it's more situational as it's lost the CDR effect for the person building the item.