Ares Magical power build

X Ability:
Shackles: Deals damage to an opponent after sticking to them. Slows them down by a considerable amount. Shoots in a straight line, and if a god is hit with a shackle, another may be fired (Up to 3 at once).

B Ability:
Fire breath: Sprays fire in a cone shape, useful for deal with groups of minions and slowed/stunned enemies.

A Ability:
Armor up: Gives teammates and himself extra protections, both magical and physical, for 8-10 seconds. Boosted by number of shackles on enemy gods.

Y Ability:
No Escape: Ares grabs all enemies within a radius and slams them down infront of him, stunning them for 1-2 seconds, depending on the number of gods hit. Useful for pulling people into towers and phoenixes, setting up combos with your teammates, killing the other teams momentum, or for pulling someone out of their tower. Can be dodged with beads or an aegis.

Ares is a strong character, oddly being a Guardian, even though he is the god of war. Well, the reason he is the god of war is due to Ares' Passive ability. This ability makes this build viable, and you will get a TON out of his passive ability; the ability being that for every item Ares owns with an aura effect, he gains an additional 30 magical power. This makes Ares extremely balanced, considering he starts out with an amazing defense, and with defense items like Sovereignty and Mystical Mail, he gains many protections, lots of health, excellent support, and 60 magical power. That's outstanding, that means that for 4950 gold, Ares recieves 500 health, 115 physcial protection, and 60 Magical power, along with Aura effects that deal damage and help your teammates. These are amazing pros for Ares, so here are a few more. Enjoy!

Pros of Ares:
-Amazing crowd controls
-Shackles slow enemies to around his speed
-Kills many minions with his fire (B ability)
-Can stop enemy momentum and can control lanes
-Amazing late game
-Better support character because of his aura usage
-Hands down best passive in theSmite so far
-Deals the most damage of almost all the guardians

However, as amazing as I think Ares is, he has a few drawbacks which can severely damage him, especially in early and mid game.

Cons of Ares:
-Extremely slow character
-No escapes
-Purification beads and Aegis nullify his ultimate
-Extremely mana hungry, which can lead to more recalling, and thus, a lower level over time
-Assassins have his number early game, as he has no way of dealing with high damage (Which is why I buy armor second)
-Long cooldown times in the early game.
-Buying Combat blink may be a necessity if your team is losing, which is 900 gold down the drain
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Ares, though a god of many flaws, has a lot of good matchups. His ability to take a lot of damage is beautiful, and the best part is he can deal tons of damage right back. So, what can Ares deal with successfully?
Well, Ares has a distinct advantage of different classes in different parts of the game, and has to maintain strategy to handle some classes.

So, in the early game (Levels 1-8)
He is good against
-Guardians. Their high health means nothing to Ares after he has all three of his abilities. He can deal more damage than most guardians and can simply outlast most of his adversaries. His main problem facing a guardian is his mana hunger, so picking up a mana camp before going into a long battle with a guardian is highly recommended.
-Warriors. Most warriors build in offense, which is good news for Ares. Ares, being a guardian, has more health and protections than warriors can really take down in the early game, and it is likely he will just outlast his opponent.
-Mages. Ares has no difficulties dealing damage, it's what he is good at. He destroys mages in the early game because more often than not, they need more mana than he does, and their lack of defense makes them easy targets for Ares, if they get too close that is.
-Hunters. Ares can vary against hunters, but he has one distinct advantage over them: close quarters combat. So while Cupid or Artemis is trying to get their level up, shackle them and keep them close. They can't do much against Ares in the early game because they have no lifesteal items yet, but in the late game I find these guys to be the most difficult to deal with.

Bad in the early game.
Thankfully there are less bad matchups for Ares than good ones in the early game, taking only one category. Assassins. Ares cannot typically deal with assassins, allow me to share why.
-Assassins. The only class that have a very obvious advantage over Ares in the early game. Depending on the assassin of course, Ares may not be able to deal as much damage as them, and will likely have to stay close to his tower if he wants to stay alive. These guys deal more damage than an early game Ares can handle. Even if Ares manages to syrvive, he will need to recall to his fountain, which slows him more than dying early game.

Mid game. Mid game, Ares' hardest game. (Levels 9-15)
Ares has a very difficult time in Mid, and allow me to explain why. Ares falls into one of three categories. The first, you dominated the early game, maybe took a tower, are 1-5 levels higher than your opponent, and have more gold than you know what to do with. The second, you and your opponent are about even, you having no distinct advantage over them, and being samey in gold, but having less equiment. Or third, the most common group, you are underleveled (3-5 levels lower), underfunded for all of your armor, and always out of mana. This makes midgame difficult for Ares because he has 3 very different categories to be in, and two of which do not guruantee victory for Ares and his team. So, in this game, it depends where you stand.

If your Ares falls into category one:
Don't even worry, the world is your playground. You basically have the game on lock if you have all of your equiment by level 15, and not even assassins can stop you once your ult reaches their underleveled hitbox.

If your Ares happens to fall into the second category:
Be cautious. Your opponent can likely take you on in a fistfight, and Ares' attack speed doesn't help him if your abilities don't kill your opponent. Play tower, stick by your teammates, and ALWAYS check for assassins. You are likely to be beaten by: Other guardians, mages, assassins, if they're lucky, warriors. So stay back, gather some levels, and hope you have a better late game.

If your Ares falls into the third category:
I've got some bad news for you buddy. You've lost. Surrender, it'll save you the time. If you fall into this category in the midgame, and your teammates are on level with the other team or are as low as you, the game is done. However, if your teammates are a good level, maybe one to 5 levels higher than the enemy team, stick with them at all times. Do not leave their side. Ares helps his teammates, and with their support you may get a kill, even if you are way lower than your enemy. This is where Ares has to come through as a support character instead of the cannon he really is.

Late Game. What to say about late game. Ares now falls into one of two categories. Defeated, or destroying. Your Ares has either captured the battlefield, or retreated to you Titan.

If you fall into category one, then your only threat are those darn assassins, and typically hunters. Hunters have lifesteal, and Ares has plenty of health to give. Ares will need to attack first, scare the hunter, and lead them into your teammates to successfully take one down, even when you are overleveled.

Category two makes me sad to talk about. Because you've either dominated your opponents so hard that they surrendered, or you're in the back, fighting for your Titan against a seemingly endless onslaught of minions and enemy gods. Well, being that Ares has no good ways of distracting minions, and you can only ultimate so often, you will lose. I'm sorry, but at that stage, there is nothing to be done. Assassins will mop the floor with you when you leave your fountain, hunters don't even need to lie in wait, they can charge you and have good results, mages will rain down on the Titan, and the game is over. You've simply been outplayed, so give a good gg, and try to end up in group 1 next time.

Shoes of focus (1500 gold)
30 Magical power
15% Cooldown reduction
18% Movement speed

What isn't nice about these? 1500 gold for power, which Ares needs early on, cooldown reduction, which helps your regular abilities cooldown so you can more effectively fight players, and movement speed that helps one of the slowest characters in the game get a move in his groove.

Sovereignty (2100 gold)
200 Health
55 Physical protections
Aura- Allies within 70 units get 20 Magical protections and 25HP5
(Activates passive, +30 magical power)

This set of armor is your first step towards overpoweredness. It cranks up your health with a good 200, helps your defense against pesky warriors and assassins, supports your allies with an outstanding ability, and it triggers Ares' passive. Probably some of the best 2100 gold you spend in the game.

Pythagorom's Piece (2600)
70 Magical power
15% Magical lifesteal
10% Cooldown reduction
Aura- Allies within 70 units gain 20 Magical power and 10% Magical lifesteal
(Activates passive, +30 Magical power)

This one is a little bit more expensive, but it definitely pays off in usage. Lifesteal keeps Ares afloat against large amounts of enemies, and can soften a lot of blows. This also helps him outlast his guardian adversaries, and hold steady against Mages and Assassins. Cooldown reductions further lower the time between shackles and fire, and are a huge help to Ares.

Ethereal Staff (2700 gold)
30 Magical power
600 Health
300 Mana
Passive- 2% of your health is converted into Magical power

Wow. This item may not be the cheapest, or trigger Ares' passive, but there are still massive gains to be made here. The extra mana helps satiate the mana hungry beast within Ares, the extra health is needed for a guardian, and the most important part, the passive. Ares, level 20, after this build typically has around 3500 health. Meaning that the Ethereal staff gives you 70 extra magical power, atop the 30 you already gain from it.

Mystical mail (2850 gold)
300 Health
60 Physical protections
Aura- Enemies within 25 units of Ares recieve 40 Magical damage every second
(Activates passive, +30 Magical power)

This piece is also important to Ares, and it clears assassins from your list of threats. It discourages staying anywhere NEAR Ares, and assassins will be taking a lot of damage trying to attack an Ares. It may not affect other classes so much, but every damage hurts. The health also adds to your ethereal staff, and the protections are for longevity against opponents which are difficult to run from, like hunters.

Rod of Tahuti (3320 gold)
125 Magical power
15 MP5
Passive- Increases your magical power by 25%

This is the most expensive piece of equipment in Ares' arsenal of goodies, but it adds the most power to him. By the end of the first 5 equipments, Ares will have around 200 Magical power. After this comes out, he's got more than 400. Yes, more than 400. Insanity! That is almost breaking the limit of power for a character (500). This increases the level of danger Ares puts out, and will leave a mark on any opponent.