Hello everyone! My name is Big Damage and I am primarily a Solo main. These builds are designed to be very generic, cookie cutter outlines for Warriors, Guardians, Mages and Assassins that are viable in the Solo lane.
There are between 1-3 builds for each god and around 50 gods in this list, meaning anyone unfamiliar with the role or a god should have all they need to get started here. In this guide I will NOT be covering:
Hunters, obviously
Gods that are NOT viable in Solo (e.g.
Ganesha,
Nu Wa,
Da Ji)
Counter Building
These are all 'cookie cutter' builds. This means that if you are trying to improve you should NOT copy these 100% of the time, you should adapt to different situations in games and build what is necessary to win. For example, I haven't included any magical counter builds in this list so you as the player with the 'cookie cutter' build should change the items to fit your situation better because if you copied all of the items, you would build physical protections first and lose your lane. With those things in mind, take into account enemies building attack speed, crit, healing, and change items in the build to what works best. I hope this is actually helpful and not super annoying :P
NOTE 1: In builds where there are multiple options or in the 'Relic Options', the first (from the left) will be the primary option, second will be secondary, etc.
NOTE 2: In most builds with
Breastplate of Valor it can be swapped late game for
Pridwen,
Mantle of Discord, or
Spirit Robe
NOTE 3: In builds that go into
Tyrannical Plate Helm, if you don't have enough gold but can afford
Celestial Legion Helm (250g cheaper) that is a fine alternative.
NOTE 4: In builds with
Hide of the Urchin, it can easily be swapped out for a situational item, such as
Magi's Cloak,
Winged Blade,
Witchblade or
Spectral Armor.
Horus I removed because his solo potential is so limited due to his poor wave clear, he has some pressure with his 2 > 1 combo but gets out traded by most other solo laners.
Ao Kuang isn't a typical solo but I've come across it enough in ranked to believe he should be added. It's a pretty cheese pick but he can still do the job of diving the backline and pretty much guarantee kills late game.
Edit: Another way to put it would be to say I'd rather load into a ranked game and see my solo pick Ao Kuang than Ares.
Edit: Fixed it (:
If you need any builds just ask and I can type it out for you now, just takes a lot of time because of figuring out the meta and writing it all.
The same goes for The Morrigan. However, I did consider her because you can get away with a slightly bruiser build and using your ult to do your job. I chose not to because of how difficult and niche it is to play her solo overall, definitely always better picks and only something for fun in casuals.
This is your current true viability group of Solo-laners. Any others aren't fully viable; this doesn't mean you can't make them work for you, but you'll be much more dependent on matchup and your skill vs. enemy skill.
Gods I think you are missing though are Athena, Chang'e and Tsukuyomi.
Also I still disagree that Jorm is a flex pick and not a standard pick. Jorm is only played in conquest solo he is not made for support at all, it's like calling Cthulhu a flex pick into solo because he's a guardian.
The reason Jorm was listed as a flex pick was because he's barely viable at least for high level play in Solo. Your example of calling Cthulhu a flex into solo because he's a Guard is directly non-applicable here, because he's straight up listed as standard for Solo. But I get what you mean.
That said, Jorm is not listed in any of the 5 roles as a standard / meta choice, so I'll probably move him up for Solo. It's the same reasoning for
I'll probably consider adding those others you've listed. It'll probably be a list that keeps changing based on feedback.
The other 3 I mentioned can go into flex picks because of that viewer base and Jorm defo solo because the only people I've seen play him support built meditation.
All mages selected can do the Solo job and build tanky(ish).
Thanatos you just need to hold on until you get your
Baron on the other hand doesn't really have any early boxing potential, however after he gets his boots and a little bit of protections he can become quite a problem for the opponent. Dying between levels 1-8 can put you in a bad spot so stay safe and just keep hitting your combos and eventually you will out-poke most enemies because they don't have the ranged damage and CC that you have. If you get a lead do the same as Thanatos and rotate to win fights for your team and take objectives.
Edit: These are ability combos for them, try to weave auto cancels in between the abilities if you can but if not these will still work fine.
Thanatos - 2>3>1 or 2>4>1>3 / 2>4>3>1
Baron - 3>2>1 or 4>1>3>2 / 4>3>2>1
Now, as for the warrior section, I don’t value Cad Shield as much as you do which is why I don’t have it many of my builds. I find it to be very situational on most characters with self sustain in their kits. A big one is Chaac. Though his heal is big there are other item more worth picking up over Cad Shield like CDR items or even The Sledge. If your team has another healer then I wouldn’t second guess this item. Achilles however makes little use of this item without another form of sustain(soul eater, and yes I saw you had it in the initial build). His heal is very underwhelming meaning you could have purchased an item that would be more beneficial, such as Void Shield and picked up Heartseeker or Pridwin later on.
I think your Ares build is pretty spot on, I wouldn’t change much at all about it. But Artio needs CDR/MP5 out the ***. [Stone of Binding] is a fantastic item on her. Though no CDR it has some prots and MP5 as well as making you and your team do more damage. Jorm’s build is kind of good too though. [Ethereal staff] is a must have on him because your pools are everywhere meaning just walking over it can reduce someone’s health. It’s big brain, same as getting [Spear of the Magus]. I love the pick up of [Mantle of Discord] though. I’ve grown to love [Hide of the Urchin] so I think it’s also a good pick up. Raijin isn’t a viable solo mage, he has quite a bit of damage but his carry potential means he belongs in mid for a better chance at getting a snowball lead. Camazotz build is good too but you’ll be ridiculously squishy. Maybe rushing a [Caduceus Shield] then getting [Soul Eater] or swapping the purchase order if you wanted.
After all of this, the guide isn’t bad. It should be able to help players understand items and which gods are good in solo, aside from a few picks. I saw an underwhelming amount of [The Sledge] which I would’ve liked to see more of. You’ve shown you understand interactions between items and gods well. I think you could help your viewers though by explaining further in detail why certain items are good to give them the knowledge you have. Also, I think you have an unhealthy addiction to Cad Shield.
Overall, 6/10 for consistency and knowledge of item interactions as well as having solid builds on strong picks, notable King Arthur. Though, I suggest moving forward from overusing Cad Shield as it’s value is slightly being nerfed into the next season. Nonetheless, we’ll done.
*Note* the rating is based on a 10/10 perfect SPL level build along with alternative options, in detail followed by descriptive explanations for use of items and items interactions on certain gods.
I agree on Artio MP5 is good as is
I never thought Raijin was a viable solo however I watched fineokay play him a few times and he even put Raijin as an honorable mention in his top 5 mages earlier last year. His ability to permaslow teams with
As
Either way thank you for your well thought out response.