Birdland: Horus Guide (Mid-S7)

Greetings, one and all, Stuke back with another guide. It's about time Hi-Rez final got around to this god, this was a long time coming. In this guide, I will be showcasing the God of the Sky, the Predecessor to Ra, the son of Osiris and Isis, and the Avenger. Ladies and gentlemen, Horus.
Note: you don't have to follow this guide to the smallest detail, these are suggestions on how to play Horus. I encourage you to look at the comment section below and see other suggestions.

Horus is a Physical, Melee, Warrior who specializes in getting to the front lines and providing support through crowd control, protection buffs, and healing. Playing a more supportive playstyle when compared to the other Warriors who can fill that role, Horus makes use of his ability to position himself, his teammates, or the enemies in team fights to secure his victory.

• High Mobility
• High Defense
• Able to Postion Team Anywhere

• More Defensive than Offensive
• Can Still be Hit During Ultimate
• Can't Surive a Fight On His Own

Every time an enemy god attacks Horus, he gains physical and magical protection as well as crowd control reduction per stack up to 10 stacks. If Horus is no longer being attacked, a timer will begin and will give Horus a small amount of health when the duration is up. While it seems like a very good passive to be aggressive, and it is, the protections, CCR, and the healing isn't much so do not expect that to keep you going throughout a fight as it takes a while for the heal to activate.
This duel-part ability will be your main clear tool and one of two forms of crowd control in your kit. In a small circle around Horus, he summons a gust of wind that knocks up all enemies caught in the radius. That's not all, after the knock-up, Horus has the option to fire a second gust of wind that acts as a projectile that passes through all targets. Use this ability to either help clear the lane or to set up the enemy for your teammates to better confirm damage on them.
The second crowd control ability. After a short build-up, Horus dashes forward and passes through all enemies in his way dealing with damage. If Horus were to collide with an enemy god, the target is stunned. After contacting his target, Horus brings out his glaive and cleaves in a 180p degree cone in front of him shredding protections to all enemies caught in the cleave. Use this as your main initiation tool as the stun and protection shredding will help set you up for hitting them with Updraft or a follow up from an ally. Since this is a dash, it can be used to get away, but you would get more out of this if you use it to engage instead of retreating.
The saving grace ability, Horus selects a friendly, god or minion, and fly towards them. When he reaches his destination, Horus releases a heal and protection buff to all friendlies in an AoE around him. Use this ability to heal a friendly or to give them a boost in their protections to keep pressing the enemy in engagements. Or if you find yourself in danger, you can use this to fly to a safer location or to get the heal off for extra sustain when fighting. If you're pushing the lane, you can use this on minions to better assist with keeping them alive when moving down the lane.
Sending a projection of yourself into the sky, Horus flies over the map and is given a targeter. After picking a spot, Horus begins to channel for a short duration and teleports to that location and knocks-up all enemies caught within the radius of the summoning point. What makes this ability better is that before you teleport, Horus has an AoE circle around his original body that any friendly god, pet, or minion can walk into and if they remain in the circle when he teleports, they go along for a ride. A perfect tool for getting the drop on an enemy if they are crowded around an objective in which Horus can drop his whole team on top of them and create chaos with a sudden team fight. This can also be used as a great scouting ability as the enemy team cannot see Horus' projection so it can make for some sneaky vision. It should be noted that the enemy can see where Horus and whoever is in the circle are about to land but that's at the last second of the channeling so they will have enough time to act but not enough for a complete counterattack.

As stated in the introduction, Horus plays better as a support tank than as a bruiser, like most Warriors, but that doesn't mean he can't be a bruiser. If you're playing a standard warrior, then focusing on protection, damage, and cooldown reduction is the way to go. If you're in the support role, the setup is the same but instead of focusing on damage, having a larger health pool instead of damage will benefit Horus much more.
Here is a selection of items that can synergize with Horus that could be a nice addition to your build.

Having the number of crowd controls comparable to that of a Guardian, this item works wonders for Horus. A warrior with tons of CC is scary, so let's make use of that CC by giving his attacks a bit more bang that before.
This might seem an odd choice but hear me out. Horus has a bad basic attack chain, and once his main clear goes on cooldown he has to resort to basic attacks. To make up for his lackluster clear, grab this to not only keep up the pressure against an enemy laner but the nice movement speed increase is just the cherry on top.
An item custom made for Horus, or any other physical god with a heal, and is amazing with it. Being able to give a boost your healing is especially helpful for any healer and this item is no expectation. Not to mention the protection, power, and health you get from this item makes it a perfect item for warriors.

• Play Sneaky
  Despite being the front-line tank of the team, Horus has great ganking potential with his ability to get up close to the enemy via his ultimate, dash, and heal ability. Utilize his abilities to get from one point to another to get the jump on the enemy team.
  
• Agressive Healing
  Besides the obvious use of Protector's Surge being used defensively, this ability can be used to engage on an enemy that a teammate is already attacking.
  
• More Pain More Protection
  Make use of Horus' passive to gain more protection and a small heal from being hit more but don't get carried away and die because of it.
  

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Your standard engagement combo, rush at the enemy, shred their protection with a stun, and hit them with a knock-up. If in the support role, wait for your ADC to get into position before engaging.
If the enemy is collapsing on an ally, use this combo to help keep them alive while peeling the enemy away from your teammates.
Horus' main engagement combo is Fracture into Updraft, but you can include To The Skies! to get the drop on the enemy if they are doing an objective as well as the inclusion of Protector's Surge to position yourself away from the enemy or to give an ally or yourself a bit of a pick-me-up.

While not necessarily bad, Horus struggles as he relies heavily on having all his abilities online to perform effectively. Play defensively until you have the means to start pushing back.
This is where Horus starts to take off. Having a good number of points in his abilities, he can take the hit and send them back. After finishing up the tier 1 tower, start to rotate around and help the other lanes if they are struggling.
Get in the enemies' face, smack them around with CC and protection shreds, then provide heals and buffs to your allies. Keeping your team alive while being a threat to the enemy will be your top priority throughout the rest of the game.

In conclusion, Horus is a high mobility support warrior who can get ion the face of his opponents and wrangle them up for his teammates to follow up or deal with them by himself if possible. Always remember to utilize your mobility to deal with the enemy or support an ally, get the drop on the enemy with your team, and claim your place on the throne.