Guan Who?

Welcome to my Guan Yu guide. Guan Yu is an exceptional tanky dps character who excels at debuffing enemies and supporting allies. Guan Yu is best played in a side lane and can be played either solo or with a lane partner.

Pros:
-very tanky
-good support
-strong initiator
-above average mobility

Cons:
-below average damage
-can have mana issues early in the game
-no long ranged attacks

Guan Yu has a very strong skill set, but like all gods, knowing when to use them is crucial for successful play.

Tranquil Gift
Tranquil Gift is a great support and sustain ability that should be used constantly throughout the game to keep yourself and allies in the action for longer. Tranquil gift is also great to use simply for the cooldown reduction on Warrior's Will when chasing or fleeing from an enemy.

Warrior's Will
Warrior's Will is a strong ability for both chasing and running. It can also be used to clear minions at higher levels. If you have a good mana pool, you should always use Tranquil Gift immediately after using Warrior's Will so that it will be available for use as soon as possible.

Taolu Assault
Taolu Assault is Guan Yu's bread and butter. This ability buffs your defenses while simultaneously reducing your target's. Taolu Assault is best used when going for a kill with a team mate as it will allow them to do significantly more damage. Taolu Assault is also deceptively strong while solo since it creates a two way swing in protections.

Tactician's Advantage
Tactician's Advantage is Guan Yu's ultimate ability and is why Guan Yu is such a strong initiator. Not only does the ability cause two separate status effects in an aoe, but it also causes you to lunge in the direction you are moving with each of the three strikes. This allows you to cover a lot of ground very quickly while being completely immune to crowd control.

The following is the item build that I use for tanky Guan Yu:

Starter Items:
Reinforced Boots Hand of the Gods Healing Potion x2

or

Warlock's Sash Meditation Mana Potion x3

Early Game:
At this stage of the game you want to work to complete both your Reinforced Boots and your Warlock's Sash. These two items are the core of your build, giving you survivability, damage, and mana. The sooner you finish your Warlock's Sash the better as this will allow you to start building stacks early on in the game.

Mid Game:
During the mid game you want to work towards getting your Gem of Isolation. This item is fantastic on Guan Yu as it will allow you to initiate on targets and stay on them with Warrior's Will and Taolu Assault. At this stage of the game you should also be able to start working on either a Void Stone or a Mystical Mark. This choice will depend on who is carrying on the enemy team.

Late Game:
If the game makes it to late game you should have both your Void Stone and Mystical Mark completed. At this point I usually go for a Gauntlet of Thebes for extra survivability that will continue to build even if the game gets dragged out.

Early game, Guan Yu can be played either solo or with a lane partner. If you decide to go solo , it is very important that you get some sort of mana sustain so that you can clear minions and keep yourself healed. You can do this by either starting with meditation, several mana potions, or getting help from a team mate to secure blue buff (not advised if you have a dedicated jungler who needs it).

If you are in a duo lane, your start can be a bit more flexible. You can start with rank two Reinforced Boots and a Healing Potion, or you can opt for a more competitive start with rank one Reinforced Boots with Hand of the Gods and Healing Potions. This choice will depend on your communication with your lane partner.

Tactics
Early game Guan Yu is rather weak. During this stage of the game you need to play passively and use your heal as efficiently as possible since you can easily become mana starved. It is best to try to use your heal to hit yourself, an ally, and as many damaged minions as possible at the same time.

In the early game it is often best to wait until level 5 before considering to attack the enemy, but sometime you can catch an aggressive opponent off guard by popping Taolu Assault. Since the protection buff/debuff is the same at all ranks, it is very strong early in the game. If any enemy decides to attack you beside your minions immediately use Taolu Assault to debuff them and watch your minions eat them alive.

During the mid game you want to be initiating team fights as much as possible. Try to constantly be moving around the map to gank. If you go to a lane and see that there is no potential for a gank, farm minions instead until another opportunity arises.

Tactics
As Guan Yu, there are two ways that you can initiate a team fight. You can either come from beside/behind an enemy and open with Warrior's Will or you can start right off with Tactician's Advantage. Knowing which opening to use is crucial. If you are fighting an enemy who gains immunity while using their ult, it is best to save yours until they use theirs. If you are ganking an enemy with no immunity or an enemy who has already used their immunity, then it is often best to open with Tactician's Advantage.

While team fighting it is also very important to be cognizant of what is happening around you. If a team mate is being focused down or chased, use Warrior's Will followed by Taolu Assault to peal the target off your ally. You should also be using Tranquil Gift whenever it is off cooldown to heal your team and reduce the cooldown on your other abilities.

The late Game for Guan Yu is pretty much identical to his mid game except that you will be an even better team fighter with your completed item build. If the game gets to this stage, it is of extreme importance that you look to engage in team fights in the most optimal positions possible. A team wipe in the late game will almost always result in a game ending push, so make sure that when you initiate a team fight that you make it count.

1. Guan Yu's #3 Taolu ***ualt has a slight range to it. When combined with Gem of Isolation you can out range a melee god's auto attack by simply walking backwards.

2.When fighting an opposing Guan Yu, he who strikes first losses. If you see an enemy Guan Yu, never ever use your ult first. If you wait for the enemy Guan to use his ult, you can use yours right before he lands his second hit (before the silence) and gain immunity to his silence and stun. If you time this correctly, not only will you avoid both of his disables, but you will also land both of yours giving you a huge advantage in the duel.

3. When running for your life from an enemy or fighting a melee god in an even exchange, you can use your ultimate while moving backwards to land strikes while avoiding damage. This will let you land your stun so that you can continue to run with even more space, or immediately turn the fight in your favor.

4. Guan Yu's passive gives him extra protections when fighting near a tower, but is a set amount at all levels. This means that is best to make use of this early with Taolu Assaultfor diving towers and defending against tower dives. If you see an oportunity to tower dive an opponent early on I would go for it if you have enough mana to use Warrior's Will for escaping outside the tower's range.

5. You can sometimes catch an enemy off guard by using Warrior's Will from a distance followed by Tactician's Advantage. This allows you to start your attack from farther away than an enemy would expect.

Thank you for checking out my guide and good luck!