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Doom Orb
Ward
Mana Potion
Healing Potion
Shoes
Ward
Mana Potion
Healing Potion
Cloak of Meditation
Shoes of Focus
Book of Thoth
Focused Void Stone
Rod of Tahuti
Warlock's Staff
Breastplate of Valor
Polynomicon
Gem of Isolation
Purification Beads (Old)
Aegis Amulet (Old)
Doom Orb
Shoes of Focus
Book of Thoth
Focused Void Stone
Polynomicon
Rod of Tahuti
Aegis Amulet (Old)
Purification Beads (Old)
Y
B
A
X
Ao Kuang. Ao Kuang is one of my favorite gods in Smite and he seems to be the god I understand the most and I usually do well when I'm playing as him. Now I don't consider my self a pro at Smite or a amazing Ao Kuang player, I'm just a casual gamer who want to share his knowledge and tactics about Ao Kuang to aid my fellow Smiters who want to start playing as him or don't understand how to play as him. This guide is meant for Conquest and may or may not work in Arena, Domination and Assault. Please keep in mind that this guide is not 100% complete and I'm working on adding as much information as possible. So with out further a delay, lets begin!
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Pros: +High damage and Powerful AoE +Amazing farming +One of the best middle lane gods in the game +Great in teamfights +Doesn't need kills to keep up in gold +Has some of the best skins in the game! Ao Kuang is indeed a mighty storm: he can deal some massive damage, has amazing farming and can be really hard to kill if used to his full potential not to mention his ultimate can turn the wind of a battle if it hits. One awesome plus that people often overlook is that Ao Kuangs farming is so amazing that he doesn't need kills to keep up in gold which makes it really hard for him to fall behind! |
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Cons: -Like all mages he is squishy -Mana hungry without the right items -All skills have a delay and can be hard to aim -Hard to master -Low basic attack damage -Slither is his only escape and it can be lacking Like all mages Ao Kuang can't take to many hits. Even tough Ao Kuang is a pretty easy god to just pick up and play, using him to his full potential is not going to be easy. His skills require well skill to consistently hit and if missed or used at the wrong time, it can easily lead to his death.
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Ao Kuang (literally). What it dose is that when you buy items that increase Ao Kuangs mana, Ao Kuang starts dealing more damage. Considering that his main source of damage is his skills that cost mana, this passive fits him well!
Anubis or 
He Bo and the small immunity to slows means you can get out of things like 
Grasping Hands or 
Whirlpool without taking too much or any damage. Ao Kuangs do is that when they are being chased they just use Slither and run away, don't JUST do that. Hit the enemy with Squall and plant a Tornadoes behind you as well, this will make you even faster then the enemy and the Tornadoes will discourage the enemy from following you.
Ao Kuang, Ao Kuang. A well placed Tornadoes can greatly damage a enemy god and kill all of the minions (except for that pesky Cyclops) in a wave late game. The easiest ways to hit all of the minions is either to place it in the minions path, forcing all of them to walk through it or so that the edge of it pearly touches the archers in the back while still hitting the warriors and Cyclopes. Remember the skill has a small delay but will still appear where you aimed even if you move or look the other way, so retreat right after you placed it to make sure the enemy can't harass you. Ao Kuangs do is harass with this way to much, which will just weaken your push and use more mana then is worth it. The best ways to harass with this to either place the Tornadoes on top of them when they get close to there minions so you can push the lane and harass at the same time. The other way is to first hit the enemy with Squall the place the Tornadoes on top of them. If you are up against a god like 
Fenrir or 
Loki with no long ranged attacks you can place a Tornadoes on top of you're minions, that way they are forced wait for the Tornadoes to pass before they can push.
What to spend that farm money on: |
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Boots on any god is a must in Smite and for the most part these are the best boots for Ao Kuang with its magical power, movement speed, mana and cooldown reduction. This item gives you 2.5 extra magic power thanks to Graceful Winds. |
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This item used to be a risky, but effective item. However since you now keep half of the stacks on death and gain stack on kill there is barely a reason not get this item. You will get full stacks in no time and get a huge boost to your magic power and it gives you MP5 that whill satisfy Ao Kuangs early mana hunger. However if you are new with Ao Kuang you should pick the safer starting items because they are, well safer. You might also want to sell this item if you die a lot mid or late game, don't let it hurt your pride even pro Smite players have moments where they have to accept that they are not doing well. This item gives you 10 extra magic power thanks to Graceful Winds. |
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or Warlock's Sash |
These two are the best best stack item for Ao Kuang. Thanks to Ao Kuangs awesome farming capability, you can farm stacks really quickly and get a lot of magic power and mana/health. Most of the time you want to pick Book of Thoth for its great synergy with Graceful Winds (which stacks up to A LOT of magic power), but Warlock's Sash is good if you want to be not so squishy and its slightly cheaper. Book of Thoth gives you 6.25 extra magic power with no stacks and 43.75 with full stacks. Warlock's Sash gives you 20 extra magic power thanks to Graceful Winds.
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Since you are not getting  Shoes of the Magi you will need a some magical penetration and this is the best one you can get since not only does it give you 25 magic penetration, but a nice amount of magic power and some magic defense two things that never hurt to have on Ao Kuang.
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You want to do as much damage as possible? Then this item is a must. 125 magic power + a 25% increase in your magic power is really going to leave a mark on the enemy! |
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This item is good because it makes your basic attacks actually deal damage and not tiny amounts of chip damage, plus the lifesteal is pretty neat and some more mana never hurts. I recommended you buy this item pretty late, because early on your magic power won't be to high and there for the items passive won't do much. This item gives you 15 extra magic power thanks to Graceful Winds. |
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When I play as a mage (Even if I'm focusing on offence items) I like to buy at least one defensive item, and this is the best defensive item for Ao Kuang. Physical protection, mana and the much needed cooldown reduction. What more can you ask for? This item gives you 27.5 extra magic power thanks to Graceful Winds. |
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This item might seem a bit unnecessary since Ao Kuang has a speed buff and a nice slow, but keeping people in your Tornadoes for as long as possible is always good. It also provides solid stats (magic power, health and mana). This item gives you 12,5 extra magic power thanks to Graceful Winds. |
Wards and Abilities: |
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and
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A wards a day keeps the gankers away. These are life savers if your team is not to keen on calling missing, just place them in the entrees to your lane and BAM ganking you just got a lot harder. Even if your allies are nice and call missing placing a Ward early game, and then the Fire Giant and Gold Fury late game is a good idea. You can really catch an enemy with there pants down if you attack them when they are trying to take a buff, even if you can't kill them you might still be able to steal the buff. Oh and lets not forget the extremely satisfying feeling of stealing the Fire Giant or Gold Fury from the enemy using Spirit's Tempest.
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Close to a must on Ao Kuang. You don't have a lot of health and if you get stunned the enemy can easily focus and kill you, This solves that problem. If you are laneing against Anubis,  Anhur or  Hades recall and buy this before they hit level 5 or you are going to regret it.
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Can save you're life in a pinch and turn the wind of a battle if used with good timing. If there are not a lot of crowed control heavy gods like  Ymir, Hades or  Ares on the other team and you are laneing against a god with a one-shot, high damage ultimate like  Poseidon,  Neith or He Bo then getting this before  Purification Beads is a good idea.
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Junglers/Gankers to watch out for:
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"I can smell your fear!" Difficulty: HARD |
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This little puppy is a force to be recon with. Not just can his claws and teeth violate your squishy dragon body in seconds, but it is almost impossible for Ao Kuang to run away from him. Tips: *If he Brutalizes you he wont stop unless you make him, place and stand inside one of your Tornadoes he will either cancel it or take a lot of damage *Have Purification Beads or  Aegis Amulet when  Ragnarok arrives. If you become immune to CC right before he bites you it will cancel his ultimate (you will still take damage though) saving your life.
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 Agni, The God of Fire.You will face him in: Middle lane Difficulty pre level 5: Medium Difficulty after level 5: Hard |
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*He can actually out farm you until you get 4 points into Tornadoes by using Path of Flame, but doing this gives you an easy opportunity to get some damage on him. When he dashes quickly hit him with Squall and step in then out of the fire trail, your minions will agro on him and hurt him a lot. *Avoid standing behind your minions, because he can use Path of Flame to dash trough them then stun you with  Noxious Fumes and then use the rest of his skills to hurt you a lot.*Aside from that tactic his main harass comes from  Rain Fire, try to bait it the use Slither to get out of its area, remember to move unpredictably so he will have a hard time hitting you with it.
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Anhur, The Slayer of Enemies. Difficulty pre level 5: Easy Difficulty after level 5: Hard |
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*Be aggressive pre level 5, harass him as much as possible and try to deny him of his farming. He cant really do much as long as you make sure he cant stun you, even if he does as long as you are far away from him he wont hurt you to bad. *Dont stand behind minions or with a wall behind you .If he uses  Shifting Sands or if jumps in with  Disperse then quickly use Slither to get away and make sure you are not close to any walls*I highly recommend you get [Aegis Amulet before he hits level 5. If he manages to stun you with  Impale he just has to use  Desert Fury and you will within seconds.
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Anubis, The God of the Dead You will face him in: Middle lane Difficulty pre level 5: Medium Difficulty after level 5: Medium |
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*There is only one thing you need to do to win this matchup, which is to not get hit by his  Mummify. Early game not getting hit by Mummify means he cant harass you, any other time it means he cant kill you. Like Anhur I highly recommended you buy Purification Beads or Aegis Amulet before he hits level 5.*Remember that you can use Slither to get out of his Grasping Hands, try to get out of it unpredictably and not take the quickest route out or he will predict it and Mummify you.*If he uses  Death Gaze on you then use Spirit's Tempest, place a Tornadoes on top of him and then use Aegis Amulet or Slither and circle him to avoid as much damage as possible. If you manage to live through it he will have taken massive damage and possible died, if he is still alive then try to finish him off if you can.
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Hades, King of the Underworld You will face him in: Middle lane Difficulty pre level 5: Easy Difficulty after level 5: Easy |
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*His farming sucks, you can easily out push him and force him to waste all his mana. Just stay as far away from your minions as possible. If you see him use  Death From Below use Slither and back up so he can't harass you with  Devour Souls and  Shroud of Darkness then harass him back.*When he gets to level 5 he becomes a really threat. Hades is great at killing mages because vary few of them can escape his  Pillar of Agony. However you can easily spoil his plan, just recall anytime before he hits level 5 and buy Purification Beads. Then when he is going in and uses it just activate Purification Beads, use Slither and laugh at him.
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Hades, The World Weaver You will face her in: Middle or Solo lane Difficulty pre level 5: Medium Difficulty after level 5: Medium |
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* To be added |
Play aggressively passive early game.
What this means it that you should play passive, but harass when ever you get the opportunity. If you are sure you can go in and get a kill then go for it, but don't take any unnecessary risks. If you get greedy you are more likely to make mistakes and get yourself killed, but if you play passive the enemy might get greedy and make a mistake :D.
You are the most powerful in the jungle
In the jungle your skills will be a lot harder to dodge and deadlier. Your Spirit's Tempest will either be really hard to dodge or really hard to see coming. Your Tornadoes will basically work like 
Ice Wall, but instead of blocking the enemy it will cause heavy damage if they are foolish enough to walks through it.
Pay attention to your mini map and be careful if someone calls missing
Ganks are the number 1 source of casualties in middle lane. Be paranoid if your allies call missing and retreat, especially if there is a good ganker like Loki or Fenrir on the enemy team. If your allies are nice and call missing then remember to repay the favor and do the same. If they don't then you should still call missing and they might follow. If they still don't call missing then buy Wards.
Stay in the back in teamfights
Your attacks are long ranged you can help your teammates while still staying a safe distance away. If you get to close to the enemy or get separated from your teammates you will get focused and easily die.
Q: Way do you give so many options for items and builds? and do I have to follow you're builds completely?
A: These Questions answers each other. You should NEVER follow a build completely, because there are a lot of things like you're team compensation, you're enemies team compensation, what you want to focus on doing and how good you are with the god you are playing as that decides what items you want to pick. So that is way I mention as many items as possible and give you good replacements for some items so you have a lot of options to choose.
Thank you for reading my guide and I hope it helped you!
Believe it or not this was my first guide and I worked hard on it (all the BBCodeing gave me a headache x_x). Feel free to comment if there is something you agreed or disagreed with, you have a question or if you just want to say something nice!
Credits:
A big thanks to Thanax for his thread about BBCodeing and TheAmazingComicBookGuy for directing me to it!
(http://www.smitefire.com/smite/forum/build-guide-discussion/bbcode-general-604)
Special thanks to:
*ShaoTheGreat
*JararoNatsu
for providing feedback and ways to improve!
11-June 2013
Guide finished and publish!
12-June 2013
Split "Useful items" in to "Useful items" and "Situational item".
Added more detail to the item section and removed the rules (Screw the rules I have money!)
13-June 2013
First up vote!
Removed some unnecessary color.
Fixed some grammar and spelling mistakes in the items and skill section.
24-June 2013
Added Anhur and Anubis to the enemies section.
Added difficulty levels to enemies section.
Fixed minor mistakes in enemies section.
The much needed update!
19-?-November 2013
Tweaked build (stopped being stubborn and ditched Meditation for Doom's Orb).
Added how much magic power Graceful Winds provides for each item.
More coming soon
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I play Ao Kuang very similarly to how you play him, and our builds are similar.
You should add a section on gameplay. You have excellent tips, but what should the player do in early/mid/late games? This will be an excellent addition to your guide should you choose to add it.
Overall, the guide is looking really good. Keep up ze good work, but I do recommend removing most of the colors. Some color is good, but the guide literally hurt my eyes to look at.