Guan Yu for Fun and Profit(in the solo lane)

This is the build I find entertaining to play in Conquest. Also the first time I've done a build here.

After determining your opponent in lane as best you can, select an appropriate starting item. I like to break it down in to 3 categories:

Melee Physical
Ranged Physical
Magical

Melee Physical:

Here I like to start out with Steel Mail(2nd level Mystical Mail). It gives you good tanking ability against your opponent and minions as well(bonus if you are facing a physical jungler). It also allows you to spool your passive healing boost up without taking a ton of damage. With the rest of your gold buy 1 healing and 1 mana pot.

When laning against your opponent your goal is not to kill him(although if you can that's great). Focus on clearing waves and keeping your minions healed to they can push the lane. I like to avoid damaging the enemy God if possible so I don't get targeted by minions. Focus on clearing the wave before he does and then your minions will target him. Bonus points if you can force him in to his tower where it will leech gold away from him with minion kills. If I am winning the lane I like to avoid attacking the tower myself. The longer it is there the longer it will leech gold away from your enemy.

Once you have Mystical Mail online pushing your lane becomes EZ mode. You can wade in to full waves as they leave his tower and eliminate them before your wave gets there allowing it to run right in to the tower. You don't have to worry about camping his tower as your ult will take you right back to your own tower if you get ganked.

You will find that once Mystical is online you can keep him penned in his tower where he will fall behind in gold. If he does try and fight his way out he will take tons of damage and have to Base.

At this point you can clear waves and camps very quickly allowing you to help with mids, gank, or steal some of their jungle camps.

Next item is Ninja Tabi for attack spd and power. I will sometimes build in to Hastened Fatalis if I am well ahead on gold and he has not started or completed boots. The extra attack speed helps a lot with clear allowing you to conserve mana for emergencies. Eliminating the movement debuff for attacks is a bonus too. Mostly though I will just build boots first.

Once boots are done I move on to Hastened Fatalis. People like to laugh at Fatalis or any kind of attack speed on Guan Yu, but this guy has the best melee attack progression of any warrior out there and it would be a shame not to use it(1/1/1.3/1.75).

At this point you can start to melt almost anyone without protections. My combo will usually go something like:

Engage with Taolu Assault. The movement bonus from Fatalis usually allows me to stay in range through the entire effect. I can then usually burn them down with autos until they try and run because through all this Mystical Mail is damaging them every second too. If they try and run I have Fatalis online so I have no movement debuff as I chase them with autos. If they start to get squirrely with dodging or are getting out of reach I can get back in range or finish them with Warriors Will(dash) or Cavalry Charge.

This leads in to the next item. Frostbound hammer. I like this for its cc bonus of slowing enemies hit by it. Extra cc for the team is never a bad idea. If you imagine a 30% in the above scenario every time you hit your opponent he will not be getting away from you at all. Extra power helps with damage and the extra 400 health on top of the 400 from Mystical Mail AND the physical protection makes you real tough against physical opponents and the cc keep them in line for team mates to help finish them off.

Now thet you've got attack speed, movement speed and slow online you can really start piling on damage with Qin's Sais. The physical power and attack speed aside, doing an extra 4% damage on top of that AND adding in Mystical Mail damage on top of it is a lot of sustained damage not a lot of people will want to tangle with. Throw in some cc with Frostbound Hammer, some healing with Conviction, a dash with Warriors Will and a versatile attack or escape with Cavalry Charge and you have a well rounded kit that can secure kills and carry a battle.

Last item has some options. Jotunn's Wrath for some CD and penetration. Brawlers Beatstick for some anti-healing. Magi's blessing for some added protections and hard cc immunity if you're getting stunned out of Taolu Assault to often.

With the lane clear of ranged physical gods your initial setup should be modified slightly.

I recommend Hand of the Gods level 2(rage of the gods), Iron Mail(level 1 Mystical Mail), a health pot and 2 mana pots.

The HOG 2 will allow you to clear the front minions of the wave immediately every 60 seconds and allow your wave to clear archers with your help(healing/damage). It will take longer to finish Mystical Mail but you will be able to sustain your lane without losing much gold to a better lane clearing god.

Proceed with build as normal for facing a physical god from there.

Here the build is the same except that instead of Mystical Mail you will start with Emerald Talisman(level 2 Stone of Gaia). The magic protection will help a lot in tanking damage as you clear. The extra health and mana regeneration will help you maintain the lane along with the 2% health regeneration every 8 seconds.

Once I decide to Back and buy items I will decide to either finish Stone of Gaia for the extra health/mana regen and extra protection or go right in to Ninja Tabi. If I'm holding the lane or pushing with little difficulty I will go in to boots. If I am having trouble with the opponent I will finish Stone of Gaia. I find that a completed Stone of Gaia allows me to take very little damage as I clear the minions. Just be careful not to agro the minions and you will be fine. You will find that once you are able to ignore magic damage from your opponent you can start clearing before the waves meet and you can start pushing to tower.

Build proceeds as normal with Stone of Gaia instead of Mystical Mail from here.

Sprint - I like Sprint here for the mobility it gives. It really helps to run opponents down or GTFO when things get hairy. At level 3 it's like a fatalis as well where it doesn't matter if you hit or not you have no movement penalty for 5 seconds. It's the only item I always take with this build.

Shield of the Underworld - I like this item for its extra damage and damage prevention. It adds nice to survivability in team fights. Also it is a godsend when you are facing a high damage output god with lifesteal as it prevents the lifesteal allowing you to melt them very quickly.

Hand of the Gods/Fist of the Gods - Good for early clear and late game objective/stun

Purification Beads - 'nuff said

I will usually take Sprint and Shield of the Underworld unless circumstances dictate otherwise.

Overall I just find it fun to run around and hack on people, chase them down, and kill them all while being hard to kill and able to get out alive. In Smite that is...