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Ao Kuang is BY FAR my favorite god in smite, he has a great kit that makes him one of the most fun to play. Instead of physical power, Ao Kung uses magical power to be an assasin, and he does it better than ANY OTHER ASSASIN. He doesn't rely on crit, and has far more reliable damage output (especially against tanks) and has won his place at the top of my list.
Also a shout out to Papa Murmz (I think is how it's spelled) for great feedback and help with the items!
The best combo with Ao Kuang is your 1, then 2, and 3 to finish them. (REMEMBER your 2 and 3 combined damage stacks because your 3 counts as a basic attack and procs item effects as well... the damage is better and has better range than a basic attack, as well as not slowing you) Only use your ult. When you need to get away from a 2v1/3v1, or if the person you are chasing pops sanctuary while alone, as the timer will run out and you can ruin their day.
You could also use your 2,3, then 1 to escape.
ALSO, REMEMBER TO CANCEL YOUR 2 AFTER EVERY FIGHT TO BEGIN COOLDOWN (If this ability Is not up, then you will not be able to kill anyone)
[*] gem of iso; If they are getting away often.
[*] Spear of Magus; If you have trouble with a tank and need pen.
[*] Demonic Grip; the attack speed is unnecessary, but the passive is useful, paired with nice Magic Power.
[*] Ethereal staff; I recommend this for the mana, but should be subbed late game. Has similar power to Demonic grip @lvl. 20
In the early game, try to not focus on kills but use your 3 to clear lane, and take camp whenever they are up. If someone is on low health, and you are confident that you can kill them, go for it! The earlier you vain a level advantage the better. Use your invisibly and burst to your advantage and "clean up" after a team fight. Note: if you run out of mana, no worries! Ao kuangs passive at full bars should be enough to get a kill!
After you acquire hastened fatalis, you will be able to melt people... as long as you are careful, you should be able to initiate a fight, kill 1 person, and get away. You CAN NOT sustain damage and should always retract when you exhaust your 2 (unless you will still get the kill). Focus on the squished members, unless the tank is building damage/phys. Res. Keep clearing camps and REMEMBER use your ultimate to get away, don't use it on a 1v1 unless necessary.
As soon as you get the rod of tahuti, you will hit like 6 Trucks, at the same time. You can kill tanks and all the rest... try to capitalize on mistakes and focus on lower life enemies as opposed to those with a full healthbar. You will likely have 3+ levels on their mage/hunter/assassin, and can take on anyone. YOU ARE A GOD.
It's like they ask for you to tower dive, with that execution mark on their back...
If some on is stupid enough to linger with below 30% health, you usually can tower dive(with full hp) just dash in with your 1 and cast your ult... AFTER EXECUTION ALWAYS, ALWAYS LAND BEHIND A WALL SO YOU DON'T DIE FROM 3 TOWER BLASTS! (Or cast sanctuary)
Your teammates keep stealing your kills: This can be a very problematic scenario, and can limit you, or even make you fall behind early game. To fix this, focus on getting kills only when that person is away, (dead, clearing camps,etc.) And clear lane/camps while they are there. Try to reciprocate their actions and steal THEIR kills until mid game.
You are facing a loki: you can see loki when he is invis. If you are (may be a glitch) follow him and warn your team before he strikes and kill him after he appears. If this is a glitch that I am experiencing, another way is to wait for him to strike on you, invis, then face him head on (you should win).
Fenrir: Use invis. To escape his 4 hit combo/ult, and don't let him level. Fenrir has a bad catch-up game, and if you can stifle his early game, then he won't be a threat.
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I would recommend 2 things to you. If you are persistent on using Ethereal Staff maybe consider building more Health items such as Warlock's Sash and Gem of Isolation to maximize the Passive on Ethereal Staff.
Another option you can do is completely cut Ethereal Staff out of your build and build an item like Demonic Grip or Spear of the Magus. You'll get the same Magical Power output from Demonic Grip as you do currently from Ethereal Staff but, you'll also be gaining +25% Attack Speed which pairs well with the Hastened Fatalis and Telkhines Ring that you build.
If building Spear of the Magus, you'll be losing about 20 Magical Power but, you will be gaining +15 Magical Penetration along with a reduction of Magical Protection by 10 when an enemy is hit by a damaging ability.
Another side note is maybe consider cutting Rod of Tahuti out of the build. Yes, this item is known to essentially be a staple for Mages but, when building an Auto-Attacker like Ao Kuang, Chronos or Freya, Rod of Tahuti doesn't nearly have as much impact as you think it would because when building an Auto-Attack style, your abilities are not intended to be your main damage output thus, maximizing your Magical Power isn't a priority. Although, Rod of Tahuti can help Ao Kuang apply more damage when initiating an enemy coming out of Water Illusion and Basic-Attacking with Dragon Call activated.
As for applying these changes, a target build with Ethereal Staff is...
1. Shoes of Focus
2. Warlock's Sash
3. Hastened Fatalis
4. Telkhines Ring
5. Gem of Isolation
6. Ethereal Staff
and then the build I would personally recommend (if you want to be an Auto-Attacker) is...
1. Shoes of Focus
2. Hastened Fatalis
3. Telkhines Ring
4. Demonic Grip
5. Polynomicon/ Rod of Tahuti (Your Choice)
6. Spear of the Magus
* Telkhines Ring slightly falls off late-game which is why I would recommend selling the item once you hit full build and replacing it with whichever item you didn't buy in slot 5. Whether it be Polynomicon or Rod of Tahuti.*
Just some things to considering when building an Auto-Attack based build for any Mage. Ao Kuang almost plays more like an Assassin than a Mage in the sense that his abilities are mainly used to initiate/finish-off the enemy team. So ultimately, building and playing him in that role will really cater to his skill set and kit!
Overall nice guide, solid build, you got my Up-Vote! Keep it up and I look forward to seeing your guide develop in the future!
in what you said, as Ao Kuang isn't really an auto attacker because he relies on his 2 for damage (without it he would be underpowered and weak). The guide will be regularly updated, and I appreciate your vote!
After reading this guide I decided to play some Ao Kuang last-night & I must say, he feels a lot like a Loki to me which, is why I guess I was often referring to Ao Kuang as an Auto-Attacker.
I know that coming out of Water Illusion, Ao Kuang relies heavily on initiating with Wild Storm and then activating Dragon Call (which almost has a Golden Bow feel to it) so Rod of Tahuti is a must-grab to help that damage.
No problem, always glad to up-vote! If you ever catch yourself wanting to play Anubis you can check out my Full Build & Guide here >> Anubis Guide
2) your first build has no penetration
3) your earlier understanding on Rod of Tahuti on magical auto attacker was wrong, because Chronos doubls his basic attack damage when he uses his 2, so that power gained is super useful for Chronos, and Freya's Pulse scales, so getting Rod of Tahuti is also a must on her.
4) Health is really not the best stat now because of Qin's Sais, so building around health is extremely situational.
5) Polynomicon is a must have on Ao Kuang.
6) you can't buy Demonic Grip with Spear of the Magus, since it simply reduces 12% of the already reduced 10 by Spear of the Magus, so it is an overkill. same goes for Obsidian Shard and Spear of the Magus.
7) Actually, Ao Kuang is now usually built similar to a normal mage but with Polynomicon, which basically gives him the ability to easily snatch a target quickly and more efficiently then auto attack Ao Kuang, which sticks on the target longer then mage Ao Kuang is easily cc'd and stopped.
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i could have clarified though, sorry about that.
Demonic Grip and Spear of the Magus DO work well together.
Because % prot reduction is calculated before flat prot reduction, you don't get reduced effectiveness on Demonic Grip.
Obsidian Shard, on the other hand, does not work well with Demonic Grip.
As a general rule, the only items that "lose efficiency" are % penetration, when combined with anything that gives protection reduction (% or flat).
So, that means only Obsidian Shard and Titan's Bane can have their efficiency decreased.
Assuming you initiate while your target has none of the debuff, if your first attack is by using Wild Storm, you won't get anything beside 15 penetration (from Spear of the Magus), then this attack will apply 2 debuffs to your target.
Therefore, for your next attack, your target will have (-12% -10) magical protection.
If you used Dragon Call before using Wild Storm :
1- Your Wild Storm will not benefit from any debuff stack, and will apply 1 stack of each
2- Your Dragon Call will benefit from 1 stack of each, and will apply a second stack of Spear of the Magus (but not a second stack of Demonic Grip)
3- Your next attacks will benefit from both debuffs (-12% -20 protections)