Get through this storm! (W-I-P)

I know it's not great to have a WIP guide on the site but the build is complete, the skills are the way I want them and most of the text I want is there.

I will need to add some chapters down the line but I feel the guide is pretty much there.

Also please don't rate on the look of the guide, it is absolutely hideous justnow and I need to work on putting in icons, changing the colours to highlight information and impoving the layout significantly.

Many thanks,
RevanClaw

Let the storm rage on!!
This is my first build/guide and a quick one to understand Ao Kuang!!

Currently my favourite god and has the most unbelievable pushing ability of all time!!

This guide is predominantly based on Ao Kuang being mid lane and being a farmer/pusher. You should be able to deny the mid lane enemy farm and severely impact their late game ability.

Pros:
One of the best pushers (I think best)
Can help set up ganks once you have Gem of Iso
Supreme damage Ultimate
Crazy farmer
Mobile
Utility in team-fights with CDR

Cons:
Super squishy
One skill reliance throughout
Ultimate is hard to hit
Can run out of mana fast due to tornado usage
Can't farm buffs solo well until tornado lvl 4

[Graceful Winds] Fantastic passive which mixes absolutely perfectly with Book of Thoth!! This gives you 5% of your mana converted to Magic Power, with Book of Thoth, this becomes 8% and is just fantastic on Ao Kuang!

[Squall] Solid straight line nuke with a slow. Not incredible and is not the best item in Ao's disposal. However, combined with your boots gives you some escapability as well as damage later on.

[Slither] This is a self buff giving Ao some speed for 4 seconds and immune from slows for 1 second. Use this to get back to lane, escape from the enemy or go to a side lane for ganks.

[Tornadoes] This is THE skill which makes Ao Kuang so good. He can literally eat up wave after wave of minions as well as placing a nice big splodge on the map which enemies don't want to go near and lasts for 5 seconds. On lvl 5 with this (once you have full boots 15% CDR), you hit it, it lasts for 5 seconds then the skill is ready to use again in 4.35 seconds.
To use this skill properly you need to watch the minion movements. Placing this skill in the area which will have archer minions is important, but place it before the melee minions get there, so it can wipe a whole wave quickly. Using this you can easily clear waves and keep Ao ahead of the enemies.

[Spirit's Tempest] This is a great Ultimate on one condition... you can actually land it!! This has a huge amount of damage and the delay has been reduced recently, this is still a great Ultimate, just difficult to get right!
I utilise this in the jungle and when ganking, not for much else, can be great at the start of a team-fight if their team is grouped up.

Now to the juicy bit of the guide... item selection!

Note: The items I have selected are intended as an initial thought only and should not be used in this order every game. This is a guide but this will vary depending on the enemy team and compositions as well as where you are playing.

Doom Orb: Cheap as chips and with Ao Kuang charges up nice and fast, you'll be destroying waves in no time and get some great pushing power. Another option is to start with boots but as I've gone for Boots of Celerity over the Magi Boots, this is not the option to take!

Boots of Celerity: Another cheap option in this build and gives you fantastic speed around the map and the cooldown reduction is another great reason to take these.

Book of Thoth: The synergy obtained with his passive is crazy, it's like HiRez were saying "We made an item just for Ao Kuang - use it now"! The item is fantastic once you get it to lvl 3, before then it's nothing special. I normally save up to buy it in one go however, if I'm back and can get a level or two then no point leaving money in the bank!! The 3% mana as magic power is the reason why this is great on Ao Kuang, it is just great! I've done a table later on the Book of Thoth effect...

Gem of Isolation: People say that his 1 gives you a slow so why bother with this... I say bother with is because you get a slow from every skill, hit a slow then put him in tornado! Tornado hits another slow so hit him with Ulti... you get the picture! A slow enemy is an edible enemy!!

Now it becomes more interesting...

Polynomicon: This item gives you power, magical lifesteal and mana! These are the things that Ao loves!! The passive is why I have selected this item over say, Pythagorem's Piece or Bancrofts Talon. The additional damage to your basic attack isn't really to kill enemies (although can be useful in a fight because they get some physical damage) but for its ability to push towers down at a really quick rate! See magic power table for an analysis of the magic power and the damage you'll deal with this!

Rod of Tahuti: This item is the magic power item in the game and is a must on all magic gods, there's no question of that!

Other items I enjoy:

Breastplate of Valour: Fantastic defensive item on Ao. The physical protection, mana and cooldown reduction (lvl 3 passive) mean this item is a real heavy hitter in terms of stats. If the enemy team has lots of physical damage dealers who have good gap closers and are really good at ganking, this item becomes a must as that doom orb isn't good if you keep dying!!

Boots of the Magi: Standard magician's boots! If you're getting the breastplate (which gives the cooldown) then these are a great choice! These will give you a nice wee bit of penetration and some magic power and mana! Good choice but I prefer the celerity boots for better speed and cooldown!

Chronos' Pendant: Gives Magic Power, MP5 and cooldown! Sounds good on paper but you have book of Thoth and doom orb MP5 which is more than enough!! Cooldown you have from your boots and power you're getting a ton of elsewhere. In my build, there is no room for the time-keepers pendant!!

Obsidian Shard: Gives you magic power and penetration. A great item when the enemies start stacking up on magic resist, I haven't found it very necessary yet (not played ranked). If you notice that enemies have magic resistance, this is the item to get!!

Pythagorem's Piece: Gives magic power, mana and magic lifesteal plus an aura. I always compare this to the polynomicon because they are similar; Polynomicon has higher magic power, same amount of mana but less lifesteal and doesn't give the aura. You're not often with other mages so the aura is wasted for a good portion of the time except in teamfights and even then they probably don't really need lifesteal. I feel that the damage you gain on the polynomicon (physical damage from the passive) is far better and can help secure objectives.

Voidstone: This is a decent item, with magic power and magic protection however the passive is a waste! Your job is to sit at the back and poke the hell out of people, not stand next to them and give them a debuff! This skill is good against gankers but ward the sides and keep an eye out and with the Gem of isolation, you should be able to get away...

Warlock's Sash: Okay, this is a great item on Ao Kuang, I admit it! With the book of thoth it will give you 132 magic power (fully stacked), 400 mana and 500 health, it's a great item to have. Unfortunately I just don't have room for it in my build and I don't want to give up any other item for it! This is your choice, if I was changing something in my build, it would probably be for this item!!!

To Get Those Tornado's Swirling with power...
Start with a Lvl 2 Doom Orb [1150] an ability [250] and Health/Mana Pots [100].
The doom orb gives power, mana and MP5 at the start which can really help clear the first few waves, I really do like this item first on Ao Kuang.

The ability depends on your own playstyle.
I like to run with Meditate because of the mana sustain it gives early game, which as Ao is really useful. You're using Tornado's on every creep wave and at 90/100/110/120/130 cost, it can deplete a mana reserve fast which starts below 300 (I know you get 150 from Doom Orb - just making a point)! Other option is to start with blue buff which I don't like because of the time it takes for you to kill it at lvl 1 and i like to be in lane early to dominate from the first wave.

Basically follow the following pattern... clear the wave with Tornado's, push your minions to their tower, then retreat and wait for next wave... rinse and repeat!!

Wait until you have at least 1200 gold (probably 1300) and return to base. Finish up your doom orb and get Lvl 1 boots!

Use your 2 to get back to lane and return to farming!
Note: You do not want to take their tower, instead you want to freeze the lane.
Instead of attacking their tower, look to your side lanes for opportunities to help. If no opportunities are there, go to the Xp/damage camps and farm them.
Note 2: You do not want to play it risky or too aggressively unless you see a clear chance, you are charging up your doom orb and farming to build your next items.

Okay so you have the pattern now, farm, push, look for opportunities and get buffs!

Below I list out the prices of the next couple of items so you know what levels of gold are good to return to base and buy:
1200 gold finishes your boots off for the supreme speed and cooldown reduction.
Book of Thoth is as follows: 1010 lvl 1, 1970 lvl 2 and 3000 lvl 3. This item comes into its own at lvl 3 so don't feel under pressure to come back before you have the 3k to finish it off.

From this point on farm up the book of thoth and keep the doom orb charged, you should be a pushing machine by this point!

Below is a table of nice items on Ao Kuang once you have build the Book of Thoth.
The below also compares the items with just his passive as well as with the Book of Thoth in the build so you can see the difference.

Just wanted to give Kaden a shout out for his build: http://www.smitefire.com/smite/guide/ao-kuang-the-dot-slayer-1923
It was in Kaden's build I found the power of using Boots of Celerity, Book of Thoth and Gem of Isolation (The Holy Trinity). These items work wonders on Ao Kuang and I have used these since finding them on his guide.

Another shout out to Wolfbane on his build too: http://www.smitefire.com/smite/guide/ao-kuang-pure-power-2073
It was in his build I found the early doom orb, which I really liked the idea of for the MP5 and raw power once it is finished. (I also never thought of saving points at lvl 4 and 8 to max tornado's early which is in his build).

^^ Basically I liked the ideas of the above two guides and have incorporated those 4 items as my core! It means the only bit I actually came up with in this build is the polynomicon (Rod is a must on mages anyway)!

Anyway I find that this build has great potential and really allows for you to dominate as Ao Kuang, but I do admit the two guides above provided a great basis for me to begin my Ao Kuang!! Thanks to Kaden and Wolfbane.