Stuke99's Rivals Guide to Ares Support

Hello again smitefire, Ive got another build for my most played god in the game this time, Ares. I have spent hours in jungle practice testing previous builds here on smitefire, but have found the best success with this one.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

This is the ability you max 1st. Its ares' best damaging ability. It applies a slow and a cripple that you can stop dashes with, say sobek's Charge Prey for example. Its best to time your chains instead of spamming to get the most damage out of them, and they can go through walls. Thats all there is to know about shackles.


This is the ability you max LAST. Put one point into it at level 4 because the early 20 + 21 protections are useful early game and applies to minnions, but ranks 2-5 of this ability suck. Still use it late game, but early to mid, prioritize leveling your damage first.


This is ares' 2nd best ability. Mostly for the % damage, you will melt through enemy tanks, and its really your only lane clear. Ability also works for zoning.


Sadly ares's ult got nerfed back in early season 3. I feel that it was unjustified, but the stun doesnt last as long as it used to. Its also on a longer cooldown, and now that everyone gets beads for free, its better to focus on ares' chains instead. I pick this up 3rd after my two main damaging abilities are maxed first.

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These are the relics you want. Med first, because its the best early game relic for playing aggressively. Because ares is an aggressive guardian, med will let you abuse that, maybe allowing you to win lane, first blood, and snowball from there.

I used to build blink first on ares, but early game laning phase its unnecessary. I played one game against Aror and Cyclonespin in casuals the other day by random and I learned the hard way. Aror was a cheesy Erlang adc, and just when I almost had him dead with my chains, they med. That single active can turn around fights so quickly early game that its almost mandatory IMO. Blink can wait till level 12.


These give ares mana and some cooldown which he needs, and theyre not that expensive. I dont like talaria, because we will be building sovereignty anyway, and taliria encourages you to stay out of combat in order to get your healing, which is against ares' morals.

I dont like pen boots, because theyre expensive, and not only that, but Spear of the Magus gives you more pen then magi boots, dynasty helm, and void stone combined. Because focus boots are 100 gold cheaper, not only are you getting mana and cooldown, but also 2 wards for the same price magi boots would cost you.

Lately Ive been trying out Reinforced Shoes even after the nerf and have still been having success with them. This is an item to consider when behind, as you wont need cooldown as much as prots and health early game. The way season 4 is so far, lane pressure is very important, something ares doesnt do too well since his lane clear isnt the best. More often then not, these will be the best boots to buy.


This is where I see many players makes their first mistake purchase. They think they should get breastplate so their ult will be at low cooldown for teamfights. Problem is, youre not teamfighting 10 min into the game, youre still in lane more than likely.

Focus boots took care of your mana issue, but Sovereignty is cheaper, its give you 200 more health, hp5, aura so +30 more damage, and helps your adc in lane compared to breastplate. An ares with early game in mind will beat an ares with late game (ult bot in mind) every time. Not only are you harder to deal with, but so is your adc, as well as the sustain it gives the both of you. If you want cooldown, save it for later in your build, besides ares' passive is begging you to build aura, early game where the 30 damage is most effective.


Magic defense for you and your whole team and health. Pestilence is also a good pickup if they have healers.


Ive decided to move the cooldown in the build until later in the game when you need it, vs early game where health and protections are necessary. I used to be a fan of Hide of the Urchin, but in order to build stacks on it, it requires that your team does well in the first place. That and this build needs at least 10% cdr to be effective. This makes spirit robe the better item to pick up vs close games where you arent getting many assists. Spirit Robe gives you decent protections, along with a strong passive. The loss in 20 protections is made up via reinforced boots, downside being you lose 175 health in the build.

Another alternative to Spirit Robe and Spear of the Magus would be running Breastplate of Valor and Void Stone. This option makes you tankier and does not rely on stacking assists, however offers less health and less dps due to ~25 less pen. This is the better route to take when behind.


THIS IS ARES' BEST DPS ITEM HANDS DOWN. Better than tahuti, and even better than void stone which I used to endorse. Ive found that void stone is in weird spot, it doesnt give you as much pen as spear, nor does it give you the effective health heartward does. It doesnt really accomplish either yet its more expensive than both. Late game, most squishies have about 50 mag prot or less, mages having around 30. So going over 45 pen is overkill IMO, and this item does it perfectly. And because both of ares' main damaging abilities are dot, the passive gets applied right away. Very good item to have on ares.


Health movement speed and slow immunity. Ive decided to remove Gem of Isolation as it wasnt doing too much damage wise, and while it did stack well with ares' built in slow, it made ares slow himself. Winged Blade is cheaper, is easier to finish in arena, and allows you to buy Potion of Magical Might by the time you finish tier 2 of gem.

Its overall cheaper and better. If the enemy team doesnt have slows, and youd prefer auras for your team as well to round out your passive, Gauntlet of Thebes is a decent final option.

Fair matchup, you can chain his flop, but he can burp your chains.


Bad matchup. He has more cc than you, more burst, and you cant do anything about his ult.


Fair matchup. He can shield your ult, but only one person. He cant really hurt you in lane either, and if you can bait shield with your chains, he cant do much about your ult afterwards.


Fair matchup. You can stop his leap, but he also has a stun. He can ult your ult, but doesnt do much for his adc initiation wise. Hes more of a late game focused team fight god.


Difficult matchup. Tons of cc, can can mez your chains, root you for his adc, ult you, etc however I have won lane against many ***bhas surprisingly. It all depends on the skill of the player.


Fair matchup. You can chain her dash, but she can taunt you. She has better mid game rotations, you have better late game setup.


Fair matchup. You can chain his pluck, he can pluck you into minnions. He can also ult your ult. It all depends really on who gets to lane first and who wins lane pressure.


Sylvanus already wins lane. He can heal any dot damage you to to them. He can ult your ult. However late game he offers nothing to the table, so if I were you Id say just let him win lane and rotate later.


Difficult matchup. He doesnt have a way to escape your ult which is good to know, but he was tons of cc and better lane clear that lets him win lane. Especially if he has a cc hunter like neith, you cant do anything. However, focus your ult on him, he cant run away from it, will end up wasting his ult on himself in the process, and you will still get the kill. Forget about ulting the adc. Early game he only has boots so he will be easy to kill as well.


Probably the biggest counter to ares out there. Hard cc, walls, a slow, and cc immune big damage ult he can kill you with. This is why you pick ares support 4th or 5th so you dont get counter picked. LOL


Literally the same thing as Ares but with less damage and more mobility.


Similar to sylvanus, she can heal all of your poke, and she wins lane pressure. Late game she does set up well for her team though, which makes her better than sylvanus. If she isnt banned, you can stop her 3-1 combo mid dash, and if you can creep aggro on her shes in a rough spot, but overall shes tough to deal with.


Him along with ymir and cabraken are the top 3 biggest threats to ares. Dont only pick him up against support odin, dont pick him up against odin period.


Other warriors are not so bad to deal with. Guan is like sylvanus but better late game, ravana and hercules you dont see too often, and chaac and wukong are a joke. So they shouldnt be any issue. Just be sure to pick into the right team and know when to rotate and youll be fine.

*changed last three items in clash/arena build #2 to make the build more affordable. 7-29-16

*corrected some grammar as well as replacing ethereal with the recently buffed gem of iso. Also swapped damage for cooldown by removing Mystical Mail for breastplate in build 2 to make it more affordable. 10-20-16

**12-9-16** Removed gem of iso as winged blade + power pot does the same damage for less w/ better passives.

*2-3-16* updated for season 4. Added optional items.

Just had a neat thing happen yesterday. I almost never see ares played in any game mode anymore, but sure enough, I ran into tow other diamond ares back to back yesterday and had a fun time joking around. Both of these guys played very well, and Id like to give a shoutout for my fellow ares brothers.





Holy smokes DjStivi....

Thats my ares guide! This build will give you 3200 health, 200 phys prot, 180 mag prot, auras for you team as well as early game laning phase, 10% cooldown which is all he needs IMO, and tons of damage thanks to spear. Your chains will be hitting for 137 damage per tick with this build. all for the low price of 12,100 gold!


I have many other top builds on this site if youd like to check them out.

Zeus

Ullr

Thor

Ymir