Don't sleep on me: Kumbhakarna S5 Support Conquest guide

So this is my second guide, I haven't made one in awhile, but have been playing Smite for years now and mainly in the support role. I noticed that Kumbhakarna doesn't really get a lot of love in season 5, mainly because people think that he can easily be outshone by other guardians. The key to this guide is to use the items that compliment ***bha's play style and take advantage of his kit.

PROS AND CONS

PROS

Great chain cc
3 of his abilities are AOE
His passive gives you an extra shot at survival
Good at setting up kills or helping a team-mate escape
His ult can take a god fully out of a team fight for 2.2 seconds

His root has a windup and can be telegraphed
His clear is also his escape
pretty ****py damage mid/late game
Throw back ability is basically useless in a team fight

This build starts off with Guardians Blessing, tier 1 boots, and a health chalice. The chalice and Guardians blessing will let you stay in lane until you have enough gold to finish your boots and buy a chalice of the oracle. I buy shoes of focus to get the extra mana early game, and the 10% cooldown reduction.

After you have bought Shoes of Focus, you should grab a chalice of the oracle, or a couple wards if you dont have enough gold.

The second item I get is the Gauntlet of Thebes. It provides you with much needed protections, and give your team protections through an aura. You want to build stacks on this item as quickly as possible, but don't let it stop you from rotating lanes if you need to.

Third item, Mantle of Discord, provides you with 60 more protections, 10% more cooldown reduction, and when you hit low health you will stun any nearby enemies. This can be pretty useful, because as Kumbhakarna you are very often in the middle of a teamfight.

Fourth item, Shogun's Kusari, Works well with ***bha's 3rd ability, Mighty Yawn. This item provides your team with increased attack speed, while Mighty Yawn will slow the enemies attack speed and movement speed.

Fifth Item, Void Stone, This item I think is the only interchangeable item of this build, but I usually take it to give my magical team mate and myself a little more damage. This item can be changed depending on what kind of team you are fighting against, but If you switch it out, switch for something else that gives an aura.

Sixth Item, Relic Dagger. This item is insane on ***bha, as long as you are getting Magic Shell and Horrific emblem as your relics. 10% cooldown reduction, 10% extra movement speed, and 300 Health are decent stats, but this item is awesome for the fact that your relics cooldowns are reduced by 30 seconds each. With your relics upgraded, you will be able to use them quite often to protect your team and secure kills. Also the mobility that relic dagger adds can help you escape or join your team a bit quicker, which sometimes can make the difference between a win and a loss.

RELICS: I always get Magic shell, and Horrific Emblem. You can use Horrific Emblem and Mighty Yawn in conjunction to Reduce the enemies attack speed and basically render them useless.

***bha isn't a guardian thats going to carry the game by getting kills. He doesn't have the damage output that other gods like Ares Bacchus or Ymir have. ***bha is all about giving your teammates the extra edge through CCing the enemy, and area denial.

The first ability you want to get is groggy strike. It's not much of a waveclear, but it provides a 2 second root that can punish the enemy who stands in the minions, creating an opening for your carry to punish them. A lot of first bloods have been caused by the swing of the mighty ***bha's hammer! Because the only aspect of this ability that changes with level is the amount of damage it does, I max this ability out last. Always try to hit as many people with it as you can at once.

Your second ability will be throw back, to help out with wave clear, poking, and escape if needed. You will max this ability out 2nd. It can be a pretty strong execute for an escaping enemy early game.

Third ability, but arguably the most useful is Mighty Yawn. This provides an AOE mesmerize thats great for holding back an assassin or other enemy from getting the kill on your team mates. I also use it often to stop an enemy so my team has a change to catch up and gank them. This ability should be maxed out first.

Fourth ability: Epic Uppercut. Such a cool move, if you hit someone with this, its a guaranteed setup for a teammates ult. The cooldown on this move is relatively short with 40% cooldown reduction, so you can use it quite often to take an enemy out of the picture for a moment. I usually follow up with a groggy strike so that when the enemy lands they are rooted.

PASSIVE ABILITY: Not much to this one, but it definitely comes in handy! It can let you be a little more aggressive when your passive is up, and if you do die, then your enemies have to decide between finishing you off or focusing on your teammates. It has saved me multiple times in a single match, and is awesome when you have a great team to protect you while you're down.

***bhas strength, like other guardians, is in his ability to soak up damage and protect his team through crowd control. Basically you should always be on the lookout for an opportunity to set up a kill for your team, stop an enemy from stealing an objective, and of course saving your team members from certain death. The guardians responsibility is to put themselves in the middle of danger to help a god that can put out major damage survive. If you have to get yourself killed to save your ADC, Mid, or Jungler, just do it. They may not thank you or be appreciative, but it might help your team turn the tables to have a high damage god escape and survive. I usually try to help everyone, but if there are particularly good gods on your team, make them a higher priority to follow around. Call out who's ultimates are down, pay attention to the enemy placement through wards and counter warding, and also keep an eye on objectives constantly. I find it helpful to look at the mini map often. When doing objectives, you can tank them, but keep an eye out for any approaching enemies, or enemies that may have their global ults up. (thor, appollo, etc) If you have the opportunity to steal an objective, go for it. with ***bhas lack of damage, its not likely, but you can at the very least jump in and disrupt the enemy enough to scatter them until your team arrives. one last thing, and this is of the utmost importance. WARD!! USE WARDS!! CONSTANTLY WARD!! TELL YOUR TEAMMATES TO WARD!! WARD FIRE GIANT! WARD GOLD FURY!! WARD HERE! WARD WARD WARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SENTRY WARD OTHER WARDS! SENTRY WARD OBJECTIVES!! (chalice of the oracle is very useful once you can afford it, so make sure you buy that instead of spending more gold on two regular wards at a time.)

I don't really have much more to add. I think Kumbhakarna is pretty underrated right now, his kit can really be brought together with the right items and a competent team. What he lacks in power he makes up for with insane crowd control, being able to lock down a single enemy for 7.2 seconds, or multiple enemies for a maximum of 5 seconds. His cc and survivability are what makes him great, so remember that and use it to your advantage. If anyone has any suggestions or comments feel free to post them, I would be interested in hearing what other people think about the sleeping giant. DONT SLEEP ON ***BHA!!!!! zzzzzzzzzzzz goodnight.