10 pen is nothing. Most gods have base magical protections around 48 at level 20. 10 pen is only going to reduce that to 38. And we haven't even started on tanks who are building magical protection allowing them to go into 100+ or even 200+ magical protections in their build. If you had 25 flat pen you would get the opponents base protections down to 23 from 48, which is a bit better against squishy gods, but still worthless against tanks.
And lastly, why are you reoommending Meditation Cloak? It's a terrible relic in most situations/game modes save for assault. You are always better off having Purification Beads to cleanse Hard Crowd Control such as stuns.
Good suggestions from people here. I think my preference would be to run at least 1 full protection item (e.g. Mantle of Discord) somewhere in the build. Unlike Anubis, who is also a god with no escape/mobility, Baron doesn't seem like the type that has enough damage to 100-0 an enemy, or output enough damage in combination with lots of lifesteal to stay alive in a fight the same way. Protections will likely help him take some damage, because he's going to be a god you want to stick close to others...he provides a lot of utility in his kit that will help in a teamfight.
Ok Build is looking much better now. The players that told you not to build pen are idiots that don't know how the game works. The link I provided in my previous comment explains why it is a necessary pick-up.
Basically, you need at least a
So if I had to re-do your second build I would build like this:
Alternatively, re-doing your first build:
And lastly, why are you reoommending
Here, check the Penetration section in the Word of Thoth:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/166529015/The-Word-of-Thoth-A-Smite-Mechanics-Guide
Good suggestions from people here. I think my preference would be to run at least 1 full protection item (e.g.
@OP yea he's right. Pen is needed if you're trying to do damage.