Ares - still viable?

I would say he is still strong just because he has so much early damage with his chains and the buff he gives is also really strong. And Ares ult damages even if you beads it, and if you dont bead you are pretty much dead, so I would say is the best way to burn beads/Aegis on the enemy.

I really laning with ares, when im playing Thor Early damage is just way too strong.

Lets cut it straight I already talked a lot about Ares cuz I openly think that hes far from God Of War title- he needs total change of aproach, skills and roles...
here s the thing about him :
https://www.smitefire.com/smite/forum/general-discussion/complaints-and-grievances-please-read-p-615?page=6

Ares' usefulness requires an out-of-the-box approach to understand how good he is. Just because Aegis Amulet and Purification Beads nullify his ultimate doesn't mean Ares isn't contributing to the team. Know that when you make an entire team use their abilities to avoid No Escape, you just deprived them of one of their panic buttons. This leaves them vulnerable to everything else your team can throw at them for the next three minutes!

As for his early game, it's not as strong as some people might say. Mark of the Vanguard is the biggest counter to him early game. It greatly mitigates DoTs, which are his main source of damage. I'm talking roughly one third of his damage with Rank 1 Shackles and Searing Flesh gone just by taking a 750 gold item.

I agree with what you said about him having some contribution, but Ares also has the ability to put his teammates out of position to be slaughtered. Ares has to run up or blink into a group of enemy players before using his ultimate and his team needs to follow. If nullified by the other teams Aegis and Beads, then his team is now exposed and way out of position if they aren't careful. A good team will not build their composition based on Ares' ult, but rather just one or two good partners to wait for the occasional slip up by enemy gods who forgot Aegis/Beads or just didn't get it off in time.

I've been playing a lot of Ares, and the number one thing he has going for him is his peel. Yes, he does a lot of damage if he gets a hold of someone, and enemy gods know this ... and so they all avoid Ares like the plague. When he runs into a group, they scatter. When team fights start to break out and posturing is going on, I will take Ares and start to push into the middle of the enemy group. Usually they see this as an Ult coming or Chains coming, and so they start to break off and get some distance from each other. Which, in turn, allows your team to get favorable 4v2 scenarios.

His chains with the cripple is so good, too. Preventing leaps and escapes, plus a slow ... Ares can keep low hp gods from running away, allowing your team to finish them off. And sometimes, Ares just has enough damage to kill them himself.

I play mostly Tanky Ares, with just enough magic power to be dangerous. THis combination lets me stand at the front of team fights without worry, and cull a weak link from the herd for my team to eat.

2 items solve all your problems: Breastplate Of Valor

combined with:

Mail Of Renewal, Idol Of Concentration or Winged Wand

35% cooldown reduction will allow you to spam your ult to the end of times and their beads won't be able to keep up with you. Combine this with blink and you have a win. Mail Of Renewal will ensure you top off your health with all the assists you'll be getting.

Beads counter the pull
Aegis counters pull and damage

You need both if you want so survive against cooldown Ares

sir please look at the date on the post before you. right now you are necroing a very old tread and it is very annoying.

please do not comment on treads that are not on the first page.

Don't let them do anything.
Ares can stomp anyone on low levels just build him properly and maxout chains.
you can beat people to death with just first spell.