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Sentinel's Gift is your well-rounded, supportive starter item. You can alternatively opt for 
Benevolence.
Gauntlet of Thebes and potions for early sustain. Sentinel's provides good mana sustain, so you should only need 
Multi Potions, but you can change the ratio of potions as you prefer.
Sentinel's Gift is your well-rounded, supportive starter item. You can alternatively opt for Benevolence.
It is typically paired with the T1 form of Gauntlet of Thebes and potions for early sustain. Sentinel's provides good mana sustain, so you should only need Multi Potions, but you can change the ratio of potions as you prefer.
Sentinel's Gift
Glowing Emerald
Healing Potion
Multi Potion
Sturdy Shard
Gauntlet of Thebes can be replaced with 
Prophetic Cloak as preferred.
Pridwen provides additional dual protections and much needed CDR, but can be switched with another CDR item.
Stone of Binding provides a good health boost along with some offensive protection reduction functionality. 
Divine Ruin adds anti-heal (which Kuzen can apply very easily with 
Shell Spikes, and 
Spectral Armor adds anti-crit effect. Replace these if these counters aren't needed.
This is a general build for an all-around support. Gauntlet of Thebes can be replaced with Prophetic Cloak as preferred.
Pridwen provides additional dual protections and much needed CDR, but can be switched with another CDR item.
The last 3 items are situational. Stone of Binding provides a good health boost along with some offensive protection reduction functionality. Divine Ruin adds anti-heal (which Kuzen can apply very easily with Shell Spikes, and Spectral Armor adds anti-crit effect. Replace these if these counters aren't needed.
Sentinel's Embrace
Gauntlet of Thebes
Reverent Pridwen
Stone of Binding
Divine Ruin
Spectral Armor
War Flag provides aggressive early function in movement and attack speed, which can give you an advantage during laning phase.
Druid Stone, which you'll build into Stone of Binding. Complete your starting items with potions for sustain.
War Flag provides aggressive early function in movement and attack speed, which can give you an advantage during laning phase.
Shown here for added early aggression is Druid Stone, which you'll build into Stone of Binding. Complete your starting items with potions for sustain.
War Flag
Druid Stone
Healing Potion
Multi Potion
Sturdy Shard
War Flag, gets CDR early for ability spamming, and has penetration-type items to weaken the enemy. Divine Ruin adds anti-heal effect, but if it's not needed you can replace it with another item. Stone of Binding as preferred.
This example build targets early aggression from War Flag, gets CDR early for ability spamming, and has penetration-type items to weaken the enemy.
Divine Ruin adds anti-heal effect, but if it's not needed you can replace it with another item.
Replace Stone of Binding as preferred.
Spartan Flag
Prophetic Cloak
Breastplate of Determination
Void Doumaru
Divine Ruin
Stone of Binding
Sentinel's Gift, Benevolence, War Flag can be functional for Conquest and all other modes. Choose based on your preferred upgrade item.
Tainted Steel and 
Sands of Time are situational starter items for non-Conquest teamfight modes.
All 3 standard Support starter items ( Sentinel's Gift, Benevolence, War Flag can be functional for Conquest and all other modes. Choose based on your preferred upgrade item.
Tainted Steel and Sands of Time are situational starter items for non-Conquest teamfight modes.
Sentinel's Gift
Benevolence
War Flag
Tainted Steel
Sands of Time
Choose your protection items as preferred.
Gauntlet of Thebes
Prophetic Cloak
Sovereignty
Breastplate of Determination
Oni Hunter's Garb
Genji's Guard
Amulet of the Stronghold
Spirit Robe
Reverent Pridwen
Choose your counter items as fits your needs.
Winged Blade
Midgardian Mail
Spectral Armor
Contagion
Pestilence
Erosion
If you're confident in your own play, the matchup, your teammates, etc., choose from these items to provide offensive function and/or added utility.
Stone of Binding
Void Doumaru
Divine Ruin
Relic Dagger
Ethereal Staff
All of these relics are functional; many are situational and you should choose to fit the team's needs.
Blink Rune
Divine Barrier
Bracer of Radiance
Horrific Emblem
Heavenly Wings
Magic Shell
Shield of Thorns
Sundering Spear
NeNe Kappa is prioritized first for clear and poke damage. Shell Spikes is very useful for the situational cooldown it provides, and is also prioritized for decreasing cooldown as it is leveled.
Sumo Slam only increases in damage and is prioritized last.
Watery Grave should typically be upgraded whenever possible.
Priority:
Ult > 1 > 2 > 3
NeNe Kappa is prioritized first for clear and poke damage.
Shell Spikes is very useful for the situational cooldown it provides, and is also prioritized for decreasing cooldown as it is leveled.
Sumo Slam only increases in damage and is prioritized last.
Watery Grave should typically be upgraded whenever possible.
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Tap each threat level to view Kuzenbo’s threats
 This guide is maintained by Branmuffin17 in honor of the memory of Gulfwulf. The Intro, pros/cons and skills sections will remain relatively untouched, but other sections will be updated as needed. Community feedback will be considered and appreciated in build and tip recommendations. Thank you in advance, and may Gulf be surrounded by many NeNe Kappas on Olympus. If you'd like to contribute to something in his honor, his wife said that the best way we can honor his memory is one of two ways:
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Kuzenbo as a support in Conquest or as a tank in Assault, Arena, and Clash.
Shell Spikes and Sumo Slam; Shell Spikes can activated whilst in an enemy's skill to damage them from afar. Watery Grave can disrupt a team fight. NeNe Kappa can kill fleeing enemies or peel them off of allies. Sumo Slam can cancel an enemy's abilities. Sumo Slam is a great escape tool and can peel enemies off of your allies. NeNe Kappa can be bounced off of walls to hit distant enemies and/or attack objectives. NeNe Kappa will process items like 
Gem of Isolation and Ethereal Staff. Sumo Slam can be easily avoided and any CC immunity will cancel both it and the silence. Watery Grave only lasts a short time and can easily be avoided. NeNe Kappa will attack the nearest enemy or objective and will stand still if there are no enemies/objectives within range. NeNe Kappa starts out with very low health and protections and can easily be killed. Sumo Slam can push enemies away from your allies.
skill discussion
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Blink Rune is available. Blinking and immediately ulting will allow you to locate yourself optimally in the midst of a group of enemies to disrupt a teamfight and allow your teammates to get a head start on damage.
Purification Beads or an escape ready, you can Sumo Slam them for further control. This is often best used on the highest damage enemies, to prevent them from hurting your teammates. It's often smartest to target gods that don't have any escapes (e.g. dashes, leaps, etc.). NeNe Kappa either at the same target or a different one as needed, and then activate Shell Spikes to quickly get your abilities off cooldown for another round.
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Sumo Slam to push the enemy; if you're near a wall, this can be great to hold the enemy in place for teammates to easily hit. Follow it up with a NeNe Kappa for the damage and slow it provides; it's easy to hit if you just pushed them and they're right next to you. Shell Spikes to reflect damage and reduce your cooldowns.
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Blink Rune (for setup purposes). As long as the enemy doesn't have a way to counter the CC (e.g. Purification Beads), your ult provides massive disruption to your target. Continue moving toward them and immediately use Sumo Slam to continue your control. If needed, finish with NeNe Kappa. Shell Spikes to reflect damage and reduce your cooldowns.
Sentinel's Gift is the support starter item because supports tend to struggle gaining gold, especially early game. With Sentinel's Gift, you can toss your NeNe Kappa through the minion wave and let your ADC get the killing blow on minions. Upgrade to Sentinel's Embrace for extra protections for you and your team. In non-Conquest modes 
Sentinel's Boon provides amazing health sustain.
Benevolence has gotten nerfed pretty hard, but can provide some situational gold gain. You'll pick this up with the future in mind. Upgrade to 
Compassion as it has some amazing synergy with Shell Spikes.
War Flag is an aggressive starter that can work really well for Kuzenbo, allowing him the added speed to put pressure on the enemy and help get a potential kill. Upgrade to 
War Banner for situational teamfight advantages.
Sands of Time is an option in certain teamfight modes where the above Support starters may not be available. Kuzenbo can be mana hungry and the MP5 helps, while the CDR is always appreciated. Either upgrade can be chosen, or you can replace it late-game as preferred.
Tainted Steel is an option in certain teamfight modes when you're facing a lot of lifesteal and healing. It provides no health or mana sustain so be mindful of this and consider other items that provide those later. Either upgrade is functional.
Gauntlet of Thebes is one of the strongest all-around protection items, providing both physical and magical protections, along with health. As an aura item, it provides a small amount of protections to nearby teammates as well.
Prophetic Cloak is an alternative to Thebes with added CDR, with a slightly more offensive leaning. It requires you to hit enemies to build stacks, but once stacked, it provides you with mitigations and an aura of protections that's double that of Thebes. You can even build both together if you want strong dual protections.
Sovereignty is a great team-oriented item that provides health, protections, and HP5 to yourself and protections and HP5 to nearby allies. This is a great item to take against a heavily physical enemy team, but can be good against almost any comp, as physical protections help against enemy minions and objectives.
Breastplate of Valor is provides high CDR and is a good choice if most of the other items you plan to get don't have CDR. The Breastplate of Determination upgrade is strong for added protections.
Oni Hunter's Garb provides good magical protections and some health, with a nice addition of MP5 and CC reduction. The passive damage mitigation is perfect for Kuzenbo, who wants to be in the middle of a teamfight.
Genji's Guard is an alternative magical protection item with an emphasis on CDR and mana sustain. Against a heavier magical enemy comp, you can get good use out of the passive bonus CDR.
Heartward Amulet is a good magical protection aura item, providing nearby teammates with some magical protections, which will likely offset any flat magical penetration the enemy picks up. The Amulet of the Stronghold glyph upgrade makes you even tankier.
Spirit Robe is a relative of 
Mantle of Discord (the older sibling, in fact), that provides some balanced protections and CDR but with added CC reduction and damage mitigation that synergizes well with Kuzen's passive.
Pridwen provides extra protections and has a nice passive that useful since you'll usually be ulting in the middle of the enemy team. The shell helps protect you while you're fighting/retreating and the explosion is a nice bonus. The glyph upgrades give even more shielding or extra explosion damage.
Winged Blade is picked up to counter enemy teams with lots of enemy slows that are really disrupting your ability to be where you need to be. It's cheap so it can be picked up early for a boost of tankiness, and sold late for another item if preferred.
Midgardian Mail is a specific counter to basic-attacking enemies and is your better option when facing those that don't build crit (some ADCs, select Junglers and the ADC mages).
Spectral Armor is used as a specific counter to enemies building crit damage (typically ADCs and select Junglers).
Contagion is the physical variant of Pestilence, providing anti-heal properties. Pick up against lots of enemy healing and lifesteal.
Pestilence is the magical variant of Contagion, providing anti-heal properties. Pick up against lots of enemy healing and lifesteal.
Erosion is chosen specifically to counter enemy shielding.
Stone of Binding is a somewhat aggressive item picked up to provide extra penetration whenever you apply CC to a target (3 of your abilities do so).
Void Doumaru provides a nice balance of health, MP5, CC reduction and magical protection. The passive aura decreases nearby enemies' protections, allowing you and magical teammates to deal increased damage.
Divine Ruin is a pure offensive item, providing anti-heal properties. It is best chosen against strong healing comps, when you're confident in being able to take enemies down without the need for added protections/health in its place.
Relic Dagger is a solid pickup when you find good use out of Blink Rune and teamfight relics. Lowers the CD of relic use significantly, while also providing good utility via CDR, health, MS, and CC reduction. The 
Bewitched Dagger glyph upgrade is a great counter to enemy basic attackers.
Blink Rune is a very aggressive starting relic that allows you to teleport behind the enemy ADC and either push them into a wall or towards your ADC for an easy kill (or Beads burner). You can also use it to position yourself so that you can use Sumo Slam to peel for your ADC if they're being out pressured.
Divine Barrier is a relic designed to help you protect objectives. It also doubles as a zoning tool, especially in the narrow corridors of the jungle.
Bracer of Radiance is a utility relic that can be picked up first or second, and provides situational movement or power. It also acts as a 
Ward with low cooldown, and a 
Sentry Ward when upgraded.
Horrific Emblem is a great 1st or 2nd relic with multiple functions...it slows nearby enemies and provides both anti-heal and anti-shield effects.
Heavenly Wings is a useful 1st or 2nd relic, providing a boost of movement speed and cleansing and making you immune to any slows that are currently applied.
Magic Shell is a relic you should only consider for the 
Phantom Shell upgrade when enemy obstacles (e.g. 
Odin's ring, 
Ymir's wall, 
Cabrakan's wall etc.) are a threat.
Shield of Thorns is another very aggressive relic that reflects damage done to you back to your attacker and it stacks nicely with Shell Spikes.
Sundering Spear is a very aggressive option to target and take down individual targets. Use only if you're confident with this skill shot, and if you don't feel your team needs a more general support relic. Wards, which can help prevent ganks early against you and the ADC. As you start to roam, pick up a couple of individual Wards or a 
Chalice of the Oracle and start dropping wards like crazy. If the ADC can cover their area, it allows you to ward other areas, giving much greater vision to your entire team. Cover your ADC first if they're not warding, then expand from there. (More in the Warding section)Proper warding is very important because having vision of the enemy's movement can give you early warning of a gank or an attempt on the Fire Giant / Gold Fury. Pathing from the Jungle will come from either your Void Camp or the enemy's area, depending on how far up you are in the lane. Do not try to initiate a team fight near the enemy's tower unless you have vision on a possible gank.
After your first or second back, you should be regularly picking up regular Wards and dropping them in strategic locations in the jungle to help your ADC and Mid-laner. Consider grabbing a 
Proximity Ward to protect your teammates when you're not there.
As the match progresses, you'll want to have a Sentry Ward handy, which will be used to counter enemy wards and protect the Fire Giant. If you're not always close enough to watch it, a timely 
Raven Ward can be useful to spot enemies attempting it.
It's everybody's responsibility to ward, but not everybody does so. Just remember that you can only have a maximum of two wards active at one time.
If you want more specific information on warding, visit The Overarching Conquest Guide's Warding Chapter.
Kuzenbo is a great support. He's very tanky and can dish out quite a bit of damage with his kit. He's a constant threat in any team fight and can use his abilities to disrupt the enemy and quickly turn the tide. If you like being an unkillable tank that annoys the hell out of the other team, then the King of the Kappas is your man, er, turtle!
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No Escape
In honor of Gulfwulf, I plan to maintain his first and biggest guide. Builds have been updated, with some added writeups.
I would also recommend
Overall nice work, glad to see an updated guide on your belt :P
Also, from my games (your experience could be different), assault didn't last me long enough to buy
I personally wouldn't bother with
There are probably 2 ways you can start. Sent +
Another option would be T1 Shoes + more potions and/or Chalice for higher early aggression.
You might want to uncheck the "starter" and "main build" options, as it makes it read weirdly, and throws the rest of your item options way below.
As for your assault builds, I feel strongly that
Also on start I do not fully agree to start T2 boots and only 2 Hp pots. especially as most will use it after the camp clear. It's better to start with more pots or chalice for supports or just start T1 item as you gold gain is higher than last season with a blessing. Support starts are slightly more flexible than last season
t2 boots can be good if you know you have the better pressure in the pre lvl 5 but if you don't safer to start more sustain so you don't fall behind in exp to much early.
It's very noticeable how much more flexible things are with an extra 200 gold at the start for Supps though (when going Sentinel's).
The other aspect of this is it's Kuzen...his initial clear on the camp should be way better than most supps, due to bouncing his Nenes.
Yes, Midgard is fine to use, but as the main example, I think Nemean fits better. I also think it belongs in the "physical heavy comp" build example.
Hey I found another guide that needs to be archivedNice one Gulf, you have my +1