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Build Explanation
Starter Items
Answer the call
Option 1
Golden Sash provides magical power, health, and mana. The main reason to go with this as a starter is to slightly reduce the time you need to farm the lane before you can start building stacks of Warlock's Sash, helping you get ahead. This start is what you'll default to if you don't want to decide between the other two. Golden Sash is pretty cheap considering that it isn't actually a starter item, but it is more expensive, so you can't buy as many consumables at the start.
Option 2
Soul Stone is the most aggressive starter item, favoring burst damage with less sustain, so you should get this in mid lane Conquest to help balance out your bad early wave-clear, and increase your chances of securing first blood and early lane dominance. Soul Stone's passive gives you a stack of (literally nothing) for landing a basic attack, up to a maximum of five stacks. At full stacks, your next ability consumes your stacks, and you pack a surprise 40 additional magical power on every ability for 3 seconds.
Option 1
Sands of Time is the utility start option, letting you stay in lane a bit longer than Soul Stone. The passive gives you extra mana per 5 based on your missing mana, and you also get 10% CDR, allowing you to use your abilities a bit more often. (Using your abilities more often means you can heal yourself with your main combo more often.)
Core Items
Essential Gear
Item 1
Warlock's Sash is the core item of choice for all mages needing some survivability, and the king of ghosts is definitely no exception. At full stacks, this item gives you a total of 110 magical power and a vital 600 maximum health. Pretty much any mage build that isn't a complete glass cannon you see will include Warlock's Sash, so if you're new to Smite, please take a moment to adjust yourself to the sight of it.
Item 2
Shoes of the Magi Gives you early magical penetration, and can be put before Warlock's Sash if you really need the movement speed. Which, mostly in mid-lane mode, may make merrily massacring many enemies more manageable. In other words, you should buy a pair of shoes before buying a belt if you're too slow to juke the opposite mid lane mage's attacks.
Item 3
Spear of the Magus Gives a stack of flat protections shredding after each tick of ability-based damage you do to an enemy, up to three stacks. Since its nerf, Spear has gotten a lot of flak (people said that it's useless now). I partially disagree. What I believe is that Spear is a niche item for use until you need a different kind of penetration. You will not keep Spear of the Magus the entire game. I have Spear of the Magus listed here as a core item because, in Conquest and long gamemodes, you should start with Spear a while before buying whatever penetration you'll be using later. Why? Short answer: Spear is flat shredding, which is most useful when the victim target has less than 90 protections. Long answer:Check the Math section. Information on deciding what item to replace Spear with when the time comes is in each penetration option's description.
Item 4
Hide of the Urchin is a stacking item, but is best purchased around mid game, because you don't obtain stacks by getting kills on gods and minions, but instead on god kill or assist, which you will be getting much more often in team fights, which is what mostly happens late game, than while farming lane, which is done early game. Also because stacks are gained on god kill/assist and not minions, Hide of the Urchin can be bought in Assault. Fun fact: it's the only item here that isn't glowing. Maybe it has a Uranium deficiency.
Penetration Items
Making a Breakthrough
Option 1
Spear of the Magus Gives a stack of flat protections shredding after each tick of ability-based damage you do to an enemy, up to three stacks. Spear of the Magus can reduce a mage's inherent protections to null. Like I said earlier, Spear is a niche item for use until you need a different kind of penetration. However, sometimes the other team goofs up and none of them buy defensive items. This is most likely to happen in Joust. In such case, you can keep Spear of the Magus, as it is the most efficent penetration against targets with low amounts of protections. Remember to let three ticks of Expose Evil hit the enemy you target before your next ability for maximum efficiency. Three hits from Recall Demons also works.
Option 2
Spear of Desolation's passive gives you the ability to completely wreck a teamfight if you manage to get a kill without taking too much damage. It's a an item best bought if your team is ahead in gold, because of its extremely high price. It can help Zhong Kui be more effective late game.
Option 3
Obsidian Shard is normally best when late game rolls around, and you want to attack a few tanks. By this time, they will have a large amount of protections, and the flat shredding from your Spear of the Magus won't do much good. The solution is to add Obsidian Shard, for percentage-based penetration that will make sure you can take on the tanks and still be efficient. In solo lane, you should skip Spear and either go straight into Shard, or you should start with Dynasty Plate Helm and then Shard.
Option 4
Void Stone reduces the protections of all enemies within 55 units by 20. The best thing about this item is that you can help the rest of your team without doing a thing. You don't have to basic attack, wait for stacks of DoT, or even fork over a ton of gold. All you have to do is stand near the other team, and your mages and guardians get more penetration! Great, right? But there is a downside to this. It's only 20 reduction, and you don't get any actual penetration, so it's useless against towers. What's more, 20 reduction isn't that much. You get more from Spear of the Magus. The best time to use Void Stone is when you're going for full support, so you can take advantage of the 50 added magical protections. Also useful in gamemodes where you're in teamfights a lot, like Arena and Assault. Remember: auras don't stack, so don't buy this item if someone else on your team already has it.
Option 5
Dynasty Plate Helm is a cheap item with an odd set of stats. 45 Magical Power, 15 Magical Penetration, and 30 Physical Protection. Da Nasty Plate Helm also has no passive and does not build up to a tier 3 item. This item's best use is as early penetration in solo lane, where you are most likely to be against physical gods.
Fifth/Sixth Items
The finishing touches
Option 1
Polynomicon has its fans and critics. Some people prefer a different lifesteal option, and don't like the change to gameplay necessary to fully utilize it. Zhong Kui's Book of Demons adores it. They're both magic books that glow green. More importantly, Polynomicon adds 75% of your magical power to your next basic attack after using an ability, which is more scaling than Exorcism. And, what's more, I might have mentioned earlier that your Book of Demons pet is affected by items, including Polynomicon. That means that you'll be churning out ~112% of your magical power after each ability through basic attacks if your aim and timing is good enough.
Option 2
Taken at face value, Rod of Tahuti is a fairly straightforward item. You get a truckload of magical power. Yes, I know this is a short description, but if you want the exact numbers on this, check the Math section.
Option 3
Gem of Isolation's passive gives you extra control in a teamfight, as it will proc on each hit of Recall Demons, allowing you to slow entire teams at once. It's also a great item because of its power, health and mana, all of which help Zhong Kui be more effective late game. Buying a relic like Curse on top of this can be kind of overkill, resulting in the other team counterbuilding items like Winged Blade.
Option 4
Bancroft's Talon is a good pick in solo lane or assault as part of a moderately tanky build, because the passive gives you extra power based on missing health, and if you're solo lane or assault, you might spend a lot of time at half health or less. Keep in mind that it's generally not a good idea to run around the map at low health with a full damage build, as you are extremely enticing to execute for the enemy jungler, unless you have sufficiently substantial skills. In other game modes, Bancroft's Talon can turn the tides in a frantic one-on-one. You might also want Bancroft's Talon if you want a bit more lifesteal than Polynomicon and 25 more magical power than Polynomicon. Or if you really hate green glowing books, and would rather have a purple fingernail from some unknown bird-animal.
Option 5
Ethereal Staff gives you more health and magical power, and more magical power again depending on your max health, providing roughly the same stats as Warlock's Sash without stacking. I had math here, but I moved it. The gist of it is that Ethereal Staff gives you ~100 more magical power once the recommended build is complete. Therefore, the best use for the magic stick is basically as a second Warlock's Sash, or in Assault, a replacement Warlock's Sash.
Situational Items
For the Unexpected
Situational Item 1
Divine Ruin is usually a good buy when laning against with enemies like Aphrodite, Hel, or Ra, in mid lane, or Chaac, Guan Yu, or Bellona in solo lane so that you can better out-sustain them by reducing their healing. Also note that this item also gives you more lifesteal than either Polynomicon or Bancroft's Talon at a significantly lower price.
Situational Item 2
Telkhines Ring adds a set amount of extra magical damage to your basic attacks. This is to be used only in dire circumstances, such as when your team comp is so bad that all of you are guardian or mage, and nobody can do a thing to objectives because towers and phoenixes only take damage from basic attacks. Remember, this also helps your plucky papyrus pal properly pillage pylons.
Situational Item 3
Winged Blade Gives you immunity to slows every once in awhile. This item is generally not recommended as a core item, because you can noramlly get by with the slow immunity from your ultimate instead. But if the entire other team has either Gem of Isolation or Frostbound Hammer, and you are always at a snail's pace, you may not have a choice.
Situational Item 4
Magi's Blessing grants you CC immunity when hit by hard CC or a root, but only once every 70 seconds. You might need this if the other team is very heavy on the crowd control, like an Ymir with a deep love for deep freezing. Or an Ares/ Zeus/ Hades combo, the cheap dreaded chain gang.
Situational Item 5
Statwise, Spirit Robe is similar to Hide of the Urchin without stacking and should be used to replace Hide of the Urchin when you find yourself in a match that is 50% staring contest, and you are having problems getting god kills and assists. It's also helpful when your team is behind in gold, and need something cheaper. Also unlike Hide of The Urchin, Spirit Robe has had its daily dose of Neon, and is not missing the healthy sparkle.
Meditationcurse
Relic Items
The Secret Weapon
Option 1
Shell
Shell gives 45 protections to you and all your allies within a radius of you for 5 seconds. This item is mostly so you can help out your fleeing or defending teammates, and is best suited for Arena.
Option 2
Curse
Curse reduces nearby enemy healing and movement speed roughly by half. It's great for securing kills by making it harder for the other team to escape your lime circle of doom. Look at the Math section for how it interacts with other slows.
Option 3
Thorns
When Thorns is active, 40% of all the damage you take, before being reduced by your protections, is thrown back at its dealer as magical damage. This is best used by high-healthed targets against squishy damage dealers, such as yourself. My recommendation is to combo this Relic with Recall Demons, since becoming a mobile AOE of doom is likely to get you focused.
Option 4
Frenzy gives you and your team within a radius 20 magical and physical power, and 10 extra damage towards objectives. On top of that, you all get 20% more attack speed. You can use this to gank a team fight with more than just your ult, or you can use it to help push objectives. Best used in Siege or Assault, since these two games put the most emphasis on lane-pushing.
Option 5
Meditation
Meditation is practically a mandatory item in Assault. You restore health and mana to yourself and your teammates near you. This item is not recommended in any gamemode except Assault, since you can otherwise restore health and mana by returning to base. Some new players may attempt to use Meditation as a crutch, which is generally frowned upon because it takes up a Relic slot and is not very useful late game.
Option 6
Scout can be useful in Conquest because it frees up a consumable slot for something other than wards, and the extra 25 gold for revealing enemy wards is also nice. However, it takes up a Relic slot and is not useful late game. Because of this, many consider Scout to be a crutch, like Meditation. Important note: because it allows you to place unlimited Sentry Wards, Scout is banned in Siege.
Option 7
Teleport
Teleport lets you, well, teleport. You can teleport to any allied towers (but not Pheonixes) or wards. Teleport can go hand in hand with Scout, if you periodically place a ward, then teleport to it. If you decide to go full tank, this can help you be further support-oriented. You can try saving a tower with it, but don't go it alone, because your ult and kit are designed for prolonged team fights, not for instant damage. Buying Teleport is common in solo lane. Important note: Teleporting takes a few seconds.
Tmod Pillar Concept
Hastened Katana out of the comparisons. Two, I didn't know that 
While some prehistoric turtles had teeth, no modern turtles possess real teeth. Instead, all of the turtles alive today have very sharp beaks which the use to bite with. Hatchlings emerge from their eggs using what is commonly known as the egg-tooth or caruncle. This is located at the front of the upper jaw and typically it disappears a few months after the turtle hatches. It is a modified scale and not a real tooth.
Bancroft's Talon gives you extra power and lifesteal based on missing health. Bancroft's Talon is useful during teamfights, when you're tanking a lot of damage, because the extra lifesteal will help you survive longer (and the extra power is also nice). Keep in mind that it's generally not a good idea to run around the map at very low health, as you are extremely enticing to execute for the enemy jungler. Return to base when you need to.
Ethereal Staff makes your abilities deal extra magical damage equal to 5% of your target's maximum health, but only once every 10 seconds. This adds a bit more to your damage, and the CCR and health add a bit to your survivability. You could call it a 
Soul Reaver for hybrids, the main differences being the stats and that, while Soul Reaver is for burst damage, Ethereal Staff is better for gradually whittling away at your foes. Overall, this is a well-balanced item that gives you a bit more of everything.
Demonic Grip, 
Telkhines Ring, 
Hastened Fatalis and 
Polynomicon, et cetera that your regular basic attacks get. You can use this when you end up with a team comp with no ADC or pusher, and desperately need to make yourself more effective against objectives.
Soul Stone.
Spear of the Magus gives you a stack of flat protections shredding after each tick of ability-based damage you do to an enemy, up to five stacks. I have 
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