Terra: The ultimate guide

Hello young ones! Welcome to my ultimate guide to playing Terra. I currently play her at rank 10 in ranked conquest and joust. In this guide will be suggestions on how to build her and little tips on how to improve your Terra gameplay.
Now let's get into it!

Terra is a magical guardian who excels in engaging, counter engaging, diving the enemy back line and has a global presence. She can deal quite a bit of damage, as well as providing large amounts of sustain and utility for her entire team. I believe the technical term for her is "op".

Pros:
High sustain
Good wave clear
Great engage
lots of cc
great at countering
Global ult
Tanky
Can deal damage
versatile kit
Amazing late game

Cons:
Terrible scaling
high cooldowns
Very mana hungry early game
Struggles against silences and cripples.
Steep learning curve
Can be squishy early game

In this chapter I will be going over her kit and how to use it most effectively.

Passive: Standing stones:
Terra's abilities create Standing Stones. As long as any Standing Stones are on the battleground Terra becomes Knockup immune and her Basic Attacks will Slow enemies and deal bonus damage. If Terra Shatters any stones she will retain this buff for an additional 3s after all of the stones are gone.

Terra's passive is useful but not game changing. It will provide her with immunity to knock ups which can be quite useful, and the slow adds to her ability to lock down the enemy team. But I must say ~10 bonus damage per basic attack is not super useful on a guardian.

First ability: Force of nature:
Terra gains momentum, causing her to dash forward and deal damage to enemies she passes through.
Terra may charge through her own Standing Stones to Shatter them. If she does she may charge one more time within the next 3s.

This is how Terra can engage/escape/smash standing stones. I will go over in more depth on it later but, I will just say this: You should ALWAYS use the double dash feature. ALWAYS.

Second Ability: Crushing Earth:Terra raises up two Standing Stone walls on either side of a target location. As long as both stones stand, Terra may activate this ability again to slam the stones together, damaging and Stunning enemies in between for 1.5s.
These stones can be Shattered into a cone of shrapnel with Force of Nature, damaging enemies in the area.

This ability can be used in so many different ways. It is Terra's main poking ability, it can be used as a clear. This ability helps you put pressure in lane early on and makes you something of a bully. It can be used to block player movement, or to create impasses/choke points.
But please, also remember you can smash these stones.
If you dash into them, you can damage multiple enemies. If you know you are going to miss the stun, don't activate the ability again, dash into the stones. Please note that if you dash and smash one, the other can't stun anymore. Also, you can smash them both in the same dash, dealing double damage. Another point is that dashing and smashing these stones may be a more effective clear than the stun as it will hit the swordsmen and bowmen.

Third ability: Monolith:Terra summons a Standing Stone monolith surging with natural energy. The monolith heals nearby allied gods every .5s for the duration but can be detroyed early if hit by 3 enemy basic attacks.
Terra can Shatter this stone with Force of Nature to Root enemies in the area for 1s and create a damaging area that lasts 5s.

This is Terra's main engaging ability and allows her to dive the back line so easily. If you place monolith at its furthest casting point, then use your one, you will smash it rooting all enemies in the area. Then you turn around and dash back towards your team. You can constantly hit and run the enemy team and take very little damage, as well as set up chain cc opportunities. The damaging field also makes it hard for the enemy team to manoeuvre without taking a surprising amount of damage.
This ability is amazing. It can heal up an entire team, at once, it is great for when taking objectives or towers, as you just place, receive the healing and your passive. It is also great for escaping as you can double dash and root the enemies chasing you. Likewise, it is great for chasing as it allows you to have a double dash and a wide area root, so it is easy to land and your teammates can catch up.
This ability is your main clear so level it first, as well as providing good healing and damage.

Ultimate: Terra's blessing:Terra channels her strength into the entire world, buffing all of her allies for 10s. While active, Terra and her allies gain increased Movement Speed, reduction of Mana costs for abilities, and increased Cooldown Reduction.
Terra also summons 4 stone around herself and each of her teammates. If any one of them take damage 4 times the stones will activate and heal that god.

This ability is op as f&$#.

It can turn the tide of a team fight. Trigger it if you team needs to:
a) escape
b) snowball in a team fight
c) as a counter to enemy ults
d) needs sustain and adv. in a team fight
e) to mobilise your team

Do not be afraid to use this ability. This was my biggest mistake as I learned to play Terra. I only used this ability scarcely, as an last stand/escape kinda thing. If you haven't used it by level 9, you're doing something wrong. Use this ability as much as you can BUT wisely, as it has a very lengthy cooldown.

What you build on Terra depends on which play style you want.
Her kit is very versatile so she can play support, solo or even jungle.
General suggestions for conquest:
Core and starters:

- Watchers gift. Always get watchers gift when playing Terra. This item provides crazy sustain early game and is perfect for when your ADC is stacking. No more needs to be said.

- Lono's mask. This is a good item on supports, as it works with watchers gift and provides a 4/5 of what the gold fury will give you once fully stacked. I would recommend getting this, and try to have it stacked as quickly as possible.

- Shoes. Terra should always buy shoes of focus. Always. Early, in the pros and cons, you can see that Terra has long cooldowns and is very mana hungry early game. Shoes of focus help solve both these problems as well as giving her a damage boost. Depending on which role you're playing you can swap these for shoes of the magi late game for a damage kick, or if you're playing support, swap them for travellers shoes so you can get to team fights faster. You could even swap your shoes out late game for another item, providing even greater defence and utility to your team, as long as you have an item like relic dagger which provides 10% movement speed, so you're not always dragging behind.

- Jade Emperor's crown:
This item is so good on Terra. While providing some defensive stats, (enough to get her through the early game), it also provides increase damage/healing and it makes the enemy ADC almost redundant. By taking away 30 power early game, it makes your ADC the one who shines. Hopefully shiny enough to get an early kill.

Now that you have shoes and Jade Emperor's crown fully built you will need to start building situational items.

- Breastplate of Valour:
This is a good item to get as it provides mana, cooldowns and it will keep you safe from enemy junglers and ADC's. This item is great early-mid game because it provides some very important core stats that Terra needs to get through to late game. Build it if the enemy team is heavily physical.
- You could also buy hide of the Nemean lion if the enemy team has 2 or more hunters, but if you are looking for a way to counter AA gods, witch blade or midguardian mail is a better choice (I will explain later)

- Shogun's Kusari:
This is the perfect item for Terra if you are facing a magical ADC, as it protects you against them and gives your ADC more attack speed. If you are against a magical ADC you should usually be getting this item pretty early on. It also is good for her passive, allowing her to apply the slow easier and it's good for when you rotate to mid lane. If they have magical jungler who keeps ganking you or magical gods are posing a big threat to you you can go genji's guard, but it is probably better to get that late game.

- Mantle of discord/Spirit robe
These are both very strong defensive items, and provide great stats. Buy spirit robe if the enemy team relies on hard cc to start their combo, oterwise opt for mantle even though it is more expensive. However I would recommend you either get a magical/physical defence item as item 3 and reserve these for the late game as you are still lacking vital base stats.

- Gauntlet of Thebes:
Gauntlet of thebes is a good item to buy around the mid game as it provides defensive stats to the team mates around you and this is important as there will be more and more team fights occurring. This item gives you a decent chunk of health as well as some hp5 which will help with sustain. Overall a great item and you should be getting it 9 times out of 10.

- Emperor's Armor:
Emperor's Armor is a great item for Terra in conquest. Not only does it provide some good tank stats, it allows you to tank towers and phoenixes late game. This is basically a core item on Terra (conquest), but only build it later in the game, because early game you still won't be tanky enough... to tank. Along with Gauntlet of Thebes, this item will set you up for an amazing late game.
- Relic Dagger:
Relic dagger is a great option for late game Terra. It provides core stats that compliment what you have already built and it lets you use actives with -30 second cooldowns, giving you even more team fight presence. In most circumstances, I would build this. Because it gives me +10% movement speed you can also sell your shoes, allowing you to build another item to provide even greater utility to your team.
If you didn't buy genji's guard midgame and you are still struggling to take on the enemy mid, now is the time to get it. Thi is great on Terra as the cooldown reduction late game as well as the passive allows you to hit and run on the enemy team giving them very little recovery time.
On the other hand, if you are still struggling agasint hunters/AA focused gods, get basic attack counter item. For Terra I recommend witch blade, as both midguardian mail and hide of the nemean lion require the ADC to actually attack you, and if I were an ADC I wouldn't be attacking the tank, I would attack the squishy. Witch blade allows you to effectively nerf the enemy ADC by just being near them.

Finally you could also get spirit robe/mantle of discord to finish off your build and make you unkillable. Read above for my reasons o get which one and when.

Actives:
I am finding the best active at the moment to be magic shell, and this is a great item for Terra as it allows her togrant herself and allies a shield. It is great if you know when the enemy will unleash an ult (eg. A medusa or A Zhong Kui) and potentially save an allies life. Please keep in mind though that it doesn't prevent executions so deploying shell against a thanatos or Ao Kuang ult is useless.
Likewise meditation is a good item for similar reasons.
Earlier I said sprint wasn't a good item on Terra because you already have your ult which causes a similar effect, but now after experimenting with it I have found sprint is actually an amazing relic on Terra as it allows for the ultimate snowball if you pop your ult at the same time.
Horrific emblem can be used if your ADC has low mobility allowing them to shoot at the enemy longer.
Beads are god i you are constantly dying from ults like Daji or Ares and thorns is good if you are always in the middle of a team fight and want to give your enemies some karmic retribution.

Situationals:
Winged blade can be substituted for Relic dagger, if you are facing a team full of slows like Osiris, Anhur or He Bo.
Witch blade can be bought if against many AA focused gods.
Heartward and Sovereignty can be substituted for your magical and physical defence items respectively, if your whole team is struggling against a particular god/damage type.
Pestilence should always be bought when facing a tam with large amounts of healing, like if they have an Aphro, Sylvanus or Ra which are providing crazy amounts of sustain. Substitute it for your magical defence item.

Early game:
Began by building basic shoes and watcher's gift. Lono's mask is a good option as well. Get a mana chalice and some hp pots.
Terra can be quite vulnerable early game so be careful. Please don't die. Don't try to clear the wave. Your main job in the first 5 levels is to keep the enemies away using crushing earth and heal up your ADC with monolith. Use your ult to survive any enemy ganks.
Always level your 3 first. It will provide the best heals and it will allow you to clear the wave if needed and it's an easy damage source.

Mid game:
You should have built up to or be building item 3 now. You need to be able to clear a wave or jungle camp independently.
Now Terra can be more outgoing, rotating to other lanes and clearing some jungle camps. You can begin diving the enemy team with shattered monolith. Try to gank enemies in lane by setting up for the solo/mid/jungler or ADC to kill them using your 2 and 3+1. Rotate to where your teammates are struggling most. Try to avoid the jungle and stick to lane as much as possible.

Late game:
At this point most of your build should be completed.
You should now be going around getting to as many team fights as possible. Dive the backline. Set up chain cc and secure kills. Tank for your team so they can advance. You know what to do. Run around the map, seizing objectives and killing enemies. Use your abilities to keep enemies occupied so others can come in and take the kill. The enemy team needs to be very wary of you. Use your ult to turn a team fight on it's head.

When playing other game modes, play along similar lines. Safe early game, building mid and devastating late. Joust and clash can be played more aggressively than conquest and arena even more. Assault, just build full defence.

Overall, Terra is an extremely potent god that can change the outcome of any match when played correctly. Hopefully, you found one, if not more things helpful in this guide. As this is my first guide here at SMITEfire, I would appreciate any comments or feedback.
Thank you for reading my ultimate guide to Terra.