Hades is no mage, Hades is a guardian!

Why to play Hades?

First, because he looks really cool, but most of all because of his abilities that grants him with pretty good combos for most type of games. He's also pretty great to control lanes and engage fights.
If you are not convinced yet, just remember the times you lost a game just because Hades got all your team killed at once.

About the author (I always dreamed of doing that):
I might add that I'm an Xbox One player (it's been released only for 3 weeks so far), so I don't have the same level of expertise that most of you PC-gamers that have been playing for a long time now.

I should also mention here that I'm no native English speaker, so please be lenient if I'm not making myself perfectly clear, and feel free to correct my English in the comments ;)

Blight is Hades passive that will give extra powers to your abilities when applied to enemy gods/minions. In order to Blight an enemy, you have two options: basic attack or Death From Below.

Death From Below is a leap that will makes area damages and most importantly that will apply Blight to all enemies in the area. That will be the basis of most of your moves and combos and that is also a good tool for escaping difficult situations. In attack phase in early games, don't use it if you don't have enough mana to use Devour Souls just after.
Another interesting fact is that this ability let you go through walls.

Shroud of Darkness is a silence move that might also stun if the enemy god is blighted. If will be important during defensive phases.
NB: Using this attack will "consume" the Blight, so you shouldn't use it before the Pillar of Agony.

Devour Souls is your everything. That's for damages AND healing. In most cases, you will use this attack just after Death From Below in order to deal a lot of damages to minions and heal yourself and any other ally god in the area. That can of course be applied to enemy gods. Remember that if an enemy is not blighted, you won't get healed.
NB: Using this attack will "consume" the Blight, so you might want NOT to use it before the Pillar of Agony if you don't have good support.

Pillar of Agony is the reason to choose Hades but also probably the reason you'll die if you don't have a good build to support your abilities.
When doing this attack, you'll be pretty opened to all attacks, especially AOE. In order to survive, you'll need a lot of protection, some good actives and a good support from your team mates. You most likely won't be able to kill the enemies on your own with this attack unless there almost dying, so you will need your allies to shoot and make the kills.
If the enemy gods are blighted, a debuff will remove some of their protection (both magical and physical, which will help your team mates).

Don't forget that your enemies can get away from your ultimate, so it can be wise to wait for them to use it before engaging.

My tip to improve your survival rate and kill ratio is to use the Shield of the Underworld just before the Pillar of Agony. If a god tries to counter you with damages, he'll probably kill himself more quickly with reflected damages. This item was probably build for the King of the Underworld anyway ;)

If you want to deal a lot of damages or if you are obsessed with how many kills you will have at the end of the game more than winning the game, then you should probably skip Hades and try a real mage, go play Scylla!
I often see Hades builds that are mage builds, using only MP items. Sure, you'll do great in some games and you'll get some decent kills... but this is probably not the best way to take advantage of Hades abilities, and you'll be as vulnerable to assassins as any mage. Just yesterday I serial killed a mage Hades with Loki in the arena (like 8 kills to 0).

He shall not die.
Hades is one tough god to kill, because of his ability to escape ( Death From Below), his ability to self heal ( Blight+ Devour Souls) and his protection when throwing his ultimate ( Pillar of Agony).
In order to make sure you will be able to survive your ultimate, you should have a good protection basis. That's why you should remember he's a guardian, not a mage.

Making damages to other gods on your own is secondary. The damages of your ultimate will mostly come from your team mates, if you perform your moves correctly, and with the right help.

However, if Hades is a guardian, he's also a pretty god solo laner for Conquest or Siege. Keep that in mind, I'll come back to it later.

Minions Killer Machine

Death From Below

Blight

Devour Souls

Border Line

Death From Below

Devour Souls

Shield of the Underworld

Pillar of Agony

Thunder-stuck

Death From Below

Shield of the Underworld

Pillar of Agony

Devour Souls

Blight

Runaway

Shoes of the Magi

Shroud of Darkness

Death From Below

Devour Souls

Greater Sprint

I won't go into much details regarding the items I chose, because I guess it's quite obvious what I'm trying to do : max my protection and HP while trying to take advantage of this to have some Magical Power (using the Ethereal Staff in the full tank build for instance).
Also, the Warlock's sash is a really valid choice considering you'll clear a lot of minions waves and max it really easily in most games.

However, I feel like I need to explain why I don't put shoes in the core build items while obviously everybody uses shoes : I don't mind being slow. What I want to do is to put myself in the middle of my enemies, and I can do that by leaping, of just by letting them chase me. As I don't do a lot of basic damages, they won't focus on me unless I use the Pillar of Agony (that's their mistake).

Regarding escape, I think that my "Runaway" move is efficient enough to allow me not to buy shoes.

BUT PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR FEEDBACK AND IMPRESSIONS ABOUT IT

Maybe that's not the easiest game to start with... but you can make it work in the arena if you have good team mates.
Basically, I only choose Hades in the arena when :
1- Other players are using their mic (or are really playing smart)
2- There is at least 1 ally god with good AOE (like Zeus)... but if point 1 is valid (otherwise it is useless, you won't be fast enought to synchronize your combo if he initiates)
3- There is at least 1 hunter (so that I don't have to worry a lot about minions), Neith would be the best choice due to her good ability with CC and her sniper ultimate to finish/stun the gods that might escape

If you have those 3, then you can defeat almost any team.
My dream team in the arena would be Zeus, Neith, Bakasura or Loki, Bellona or Guan Yu and of course Hades.

In the enemy team, I really like when there are a lot of Assassins and gods without escape abilities... because that might mean a lot of easy kills.

In the arena, I generally wait for the other gods to buy their 2nd item to really decide what build I will use. Most of the time (I remind you that I play on Xbox One) only one opponent really boosts his protection (sometime none). If there is no tank in front of me, then I would play the "Moderate" build, in order to be able to deal some damages, and I might switch one item with Shoes of the Magi in order to run away if I go low in life.

My strategy would be quite simple :
Early Game
Lay low. Don't die. Take opportunities for kills if you can using the Death From Below + Devour Souls combo
Mid Game
Buy the Hide of the Urchin and Shield of the Underworld as soon as possible to max the Hide of the Urchin stack (should be easy with assists) and increase your damages when using the Pillar of Agony.
When possible, if you are really comfortable with your protection, buy the Warlock's Sash asap as well, because it takes more time to max the stack.
Late Game
You should now deal low damages compared to your opponents, that's no biggie. If your team is doing fine with kills, play it safe by adding extra defense and CDR ( Breastplate of Valor is a wise choice) to use your Pillar of Agony as often as possible. If you need to play risky to win the game, then buy some extra damages and shoes, for example the Rod of Tahuti and the Ethereal Staff.

In most of those games, you will probably be a solo laner, because you can take a lot of damages and you will early be able to clear waves of minions. However, at the end of the game, you'll be requested to be in the melee in order to kill as many enemy gods at once as possible.
I generally go for the "full tank" build, unless there is a clear tendency on enemy gods using similar kind of damages (physical or magical), in which case :
Physical enemy gods :
- Replace the Bulkwark of Hope by the Celestial Legion Helm
- Replace the Spirit Robe by the Rod of Tahuti (you have already good physical protection with the Hide of the Urchin, Breastplate of Valor and Celestial Legion Helm)

Magical enemy gods :
- Replace the Brestplate of Valor by the Void Stone
- Replace the Spirit Robe by the Rod of Tahuti (you have already good magical protection with the Hide of the Urchin, Bulkwark of Hope and Void Stone)

NB: In Joust, this happens most all the time because there are only 3 enemy gods.

Early Game
Lay low. Don't die. Kill Minions.
I would recommend buying one of two mana potions to stay on the lane longer and the Watcher's Gift to make more cash quickly (cause your builds are expensive)
Take opportunities for kills if you can, but don't play too risky. Use towers at your advantage, and try the "Border Line" move if you can

Mid Game
As for arena, buy the Hide of the Urchin and Shield of the Underworld as soon as possible to max the Hide of the Urchin stack and increase your damages when using the Pillar of Agony.
When possible, buy the Warlock's Sash asap as well, because it takes more time to max the stack.

Late Game
Your main goal will be to kill all enemies at once in order to finish the game. In order to do so, you should synchronize with your team mates so that you can use your special combined with them all. A sort of Mega Thunder-stuck move if you will.

NB: For late game, Sovereignty and Heartward Amulet are of course good items, especially it you're not the only one wearing it...

Unfortunately, you will have to remove the Warlock's Sash from both builds if you are playing assault, because it's banned. No worries, you can use the Gem of Isolation instead. That's it.