*NEW* Comprehensive Guan Yu Support Guide

Everyone has heard someone say, "Bro... Guan Yu support is OP" at some point, yet there are few recent, decent, guides telling you exactly how to make it OP. Now I am just a lowly platinum player on PS4, so my word is not that of God on this matter, but I do play a **** ton of Guan Yu support, which I love, and these are my builds and thoughts.

Also, remember to refer to yourself as Big Daddy Guan at all times.

First of all Guan Yu support is a little bit different than a guardian in the sense that his HP is not nearly as high as a guardians throughout the game. He REQUIRES items that boost his max HP for this reason. He is also insanely mana hungry, and highly benefits from CDR in order to spam his heal, slow/escape, etc. So the 3 principles of Guan Yu Support are: HP, mana, and CDR. I recommend that by late game you have 2 +HP items. Obviously protections are important, but the good news is that there are plenty of items that provide HP,Mana, CDR and some form of protections - the idea is to produce a highly protective build which gives him a ton of mana, a ton of health, and a some good CDR.

NOTE: Couldn't see where to add relics - get meditation first and then either purification or sanctuary.

Early on, Guan Yu is very straightforward in the support lane. You and your hunter will out clear almost any other lane comp by a mile. Aggressively approach the wave and use your 3 to push the front line into the back line and hit them at the same time. Wait for the enemy hunter to use his abilities on your creep wave, then heal them. This combination of high early damage and sustain for players and minions makes your push damn near impossible to counter. If faced with an Athena, ***bha, Apollo, or any other gods that can mesmerize you out of your 3 skill, simply focus on healing your creep wave instead of clearing theirs and try to bait their abilities out so that you can use your clear. Also, don't be afraid to be very aggressive on player damage since you can just dash out of any real danger and heal yourself. Eventually, you should wear your opponents down and either get a kill or start rotating.

Make sure to pay attention to your passive stacks. Sometimes its not a bad idea to let their archers hit you a little bit to boost your stacks just so you can have a stronger heal on your carry and the lane.

I would say that his starting items are pretty set in stone, he has a heal and an escape, so you really do not need Mark of the Vanguard. Watcher's Gift will help get you the gold you need to build a proper support, and you will hardly miss the physical protection thanks to your great sustain. BUY MEDITATION RELIC. SRSLY.

Finish Reinforced Greaves first, Talaria Boots are definitely viable at times, but the greaves give you some DMG and some extra health which is very nice on Guan Yu early.

From there, it is largely situational how you will want to build: I highly recommend breastplate as your second item because it gives good physical protection, mana, CDR, and can pretty much cover all of your mana and CDR needs for the rest of your build. Now if their team is doing weird **** and have magic damage all over the place go for either spirit robe or hide of the urchin. But by default, breastplate is item #2.

Assuming you got breastplate, the next step is to ask yourself exactly how severe is their magical damage? If they have say a Zeus, or a Scylla, who can borderline one shot you - get Bulwark as item #3 no questions asked. If they are a bit less threatening in the magic department, and have a lot of CC go for spirit robe or hide of the urchin.

Item #4 is Mail of Renewal - I don't care what their team looks like. Get it.

Your last 2 items are up to you, depending on how the game is going you might want to grab that Midgardian Mail to slow down their annoying jungler, and that +health is no joke. If their magic users are dominating the game maybe pick-up a Genji's Guard for the additional CDR and great protections. Most junglers are building Void Shield these days, but if not, this is also a great pick up for your team.

If you are facing a CC or slow heavy team, pull some items out of the Anti CC item section. As a heal/slow based support you cannot afford to be tied down for long.

Lastly, if you have some serious potatoes on your team and no one can finish a damn kill go for the "Clean-Up Build". The core here is breastplate, jotunn's, Mystical Mail, and some movement speed. It should be obvious why this is the clean-up build so I am not going to explain it, but I will say that this build is not very good and is literally just to confirm the kills your potato team repeatedly fails to pick up while still providing decent support.

You are a total douchebag. No seriously, you are a ****ing douchebag for playing Guan Yu support. Say this to yourself over and over again while you are team fighting. Look around, BE AWARE. Is their jungler sticking to your mid? Hit him with the crispy dash, slow his *** down, and heal your mid. If he pushes the issue ult his *** and cancel to stun him and drop your 3 on him. If your team hasn't absolutely raped his ********* at this point, then there is no hope and you lost the game anyway. I would like to actually take a moment to stress how badly Guan Yu rapes assassins. He constantly enters them without their permission. Anyhow...

Is their team grouping up at their tower and being very defensive? Cool. Make sure you have the health, are close in levels, and have good backup. Then don't hesitate to ult in there to get things started and slap the **** out of them a couple of times. Try to land your stun on their biggest threat. You are CC immune during your ult so you should be able to escape the tower without a problem.

Constantly be looking for who needs the crispy heal. Someone always needs the crispy heal. If you have the crew in a party chat you should be yelling "Stack on Me" every once in a while to drop the heal and the meditation if you have it.

Use your dash constantly. Honestly his slow is so underrated. The enemy assassin is usually sticking to someone the hardest, so that's a good place to start, but if you notice someone else who is really on one of your guys... like say Ravana, slow him immediately and get your heals out there.

Pay attention to who your physical damage dealers are attacking. Your 3 shreds protections and almost everyone builds some sort of physical protection. Watch as your hunter goes from tickling them to absolutely melting them.

Lastly, remember - you have a heal, 2 escapes, a slow, a stun, and CC immunity in your ult. Play like it. Don't be afraid to dash in and annoy the hell out of their team so they blow their moves on you, then ult to safety and heal yourself and get right back in there. This is Guan Yu support.

Guan Yu support takes some getting used to, as he has some strict build needs that aren't as easy as simply identifying what type of protections you need for their team.

Be aggressive on lane clear and player damage early, and use your heal at the right times - don't just spam it whenever it is up.

Be aware of your team in a fight, and who needs the crispy heal/slow.

And once again, DO NOT FORGET to constantly refer to yourself as Big Daddy Guan. I cannot stress this enough. If your solo laner is getting nervous about the fact that he has a 4v1 at his tower, this is when you show up and tell him to chill out because Big Daddy Guan is here. It works wonders.

Have Fun!