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Boots of the Magi
Mana Potion
Healing Potion
Gem of Isolation
Polynomicon
Rod of Tahuti
Obsidian Shard
Book of Thoth
Y
B
A
X
Guan Yu guide. I believe he is a very good team support god who can deal a lot of damage, heal and control team fights very successfully.PROS
[*] Decent damage
[*] Heal
[*] Good CC
[*] Can be played in different roles
[*] Can survive where others will not
[*] Extra defense while near tower, phoenix or minotaur
[*] One of the best ultimates
Passive
Fortified Defense "I`m tougher than you think!" - This passive really helps early on. If your lane is being pushed you get extra def when close to your tower. If it`s you who is pushing, that extra defense allows you to tower dive close to death gods and survive.
1.
Tranquil Gift "I will not let you fall!!!" - It does not heal a lot early on but can be a life saver. As it scales with magical power it gets better and better. The best thing about this skill is that when you heal an ally your cooldowns are reduced by 2 seconds!!! It heals friendly creeps as well so pushing towers is more effective.
2.
Warrior's Will "Run, run as fast as you can..." - Short dash that deals decent damage + on hit reduces speed by 25% + reduces cooldowns by 2 seconds. Very good to close a gap as well as escape tool. You can escape most aoe ultimates with this. You won`t go through 
Odin 
Ring of Spears nor any wall, be it player made or map.
3.
Taolu Assault "You spin me round, round baby..." - Fast hitting, close range ability. The damage may not seem huge but it deals it every .4s for 4s!
It also reduces enemy protection by 10 on a hit, stacking to 30 and adds that protection to you! Now imagine early on that you get 30 protection from this skill + 20 from Fortified Defense while close to tower and suddenly you have +50 protection!!! That makes tower diving and defending dangerous for enemies while it benefits you.
Having Gem of Isolation and using this skill slows the enemies + your Warrior's Will slows them again.
4.
Tactician's Advantage "And one, and two, and three" - Why is this ultimate so fantastic? 1. Slow 2. Silence 3. Stun. It is a great way to initiate a fight as it can shut down any god that is unlucky enough to get hit all 3 times. Hit lvl 5, use it once and observe how your enemies suddenly fear you and respect you ( if they haven`t already :D). Great for killing squishy gods.
IMPORTANT When facing gods with leap or dash or any escape ability it is best to wait till they use it so that they will not escape while you start your ulti.
Guan Yu can be build in many different ways. For me going into damage is more fun than tanking. You can see above the core items that I like to use for my damage build, however, depending on situation I mix the items as well as take some other. I will try to show you why I use certain items, decision is yours to make.
As you can see, I start with lvl 2 Boots of the Magi, 2 Mana Potions and 1 Healing Potion. You may ask why take hp potion when you have heal - well, the heal is not that good early on so having 1 hp pot to be safe never hurts. i finish my boots after the second item.
Gem of Isolation - It gives you power, it gives you health and mana, and it slows when you hit an enemy with a skill. What not to love? Polynomicon - Best thing about this item is that after using an ability your next basic attack deals 100% of your magical power. It may not seem a lot at first but can secure a kill which otherwise might have been tricky. It gets better and better as you get more magic power. Rod of Tahuti - get this and suddenly you hit like a truck, a very big truck :] Obsidian Shard - 70 magical power + 45% penetration? Yes, please. Good item when enemy team have tanks with magical protection.
Breastplate of Valor - protection, mana and cooldown reduction. If you have 2 physical enemies in your lane that pose a threat and you want CD reduction, this is your best bet.
Void Stone - magical defense boost + magical power + reduces magical protection of enemies that are close. Very good if there are strong magical gods on enemy team.
Stone of Gaia - again, a good item if you going full tank as it`s passive works best when you have a lot of HP. Boots of the Magi if you want extra protection.
Hide of Leviathan - gives you a bit of everything, however no bonus aura. It is a ok item if you want to up both of your protections but you don`t really need them very high. Book of Thoth - huge damage boost, you can get it to finish off your damage build with a strong accent.
Chronos' Pendant - good item if you want CD reduction but don`t need physical protection from Breastplate of Valor. Guan Yu as the other items give you all you need + you have your heal that will keep you going later on. Mana Potions with you, at least until you get Meditation. Having 1 or 2 Healing Potions can help as well.
Aegis Amulet - can save your life if you find yourself in big trouble. Use to endure all the **** enemies decided to throw at you.
Creeping Curse - If you don`t like your enemies to run from you, this item will help. Nice addition to your Warrior's Will and Gem of Isolation slow.
Purification Beads - This item speaks for itself. However with your ability to dash out of most ultimates with your Warrior's Will you might find other options a better choice, unless there is 
Ares on the enemy team ;D
Heavenly Agility.
Early Game
Guan Yu is not very strong early on, and with damage build you have to be careful not to get focused by enemies + creeps. It always help when you have a range god with you so you don`t have to be on the front line taking damage. Just play safe and try to last hit creeps. Do not engage the enemy before level 5, unless they are low on health and/or you are sure you and your partner can secure a kill. However, watch for those archers as they hit pretty hard.
Upon hitting level 5 you get your Tactician's Advantage so you can start being more aggressive. If you are playing versus gods that have and escape ability wait till they use it before you unleash your ultimate. In other case they might leap/dash before you get to the end of your ultimate. We would not want that, would we? Once you stun them, combo of your Warrior's Will and Taolu Assault + help from your lane partner should secure a kill in most cases.
Remember that you have a heal, although it doesn't heal a lot early, it might save you or your partner if chips go down. Use it wisely though, as you may find yourself out of mana pretty fast. Without mana, you won't pose much threat to the enemy.
Mid game
You should have your boots and the second item finish by now. With the extra slow from Gem of Isolation fights will be slightly easier, especially vs gods that can't jump or dash. It is a good time to strike whenever your ultimate is up, but remember - wait for enemy gods to waste their escape abilities, either fooling them that you gonna attack using your Warrior's Will (A lot of people seeing you dash forward panic and use their jump/dash/whatever) or wait for them to jump you and counter that with your ulti.
Make sure you let your partner know you gonna start your ulti so he can be ready to follow your attack (VAA).
Late game
That is just continuation of Mid game for you. But now you going to engage most/all of the enemy gods at once. Now you have some options - if you have a tank who is good at initiating ( Ares, 
Hades, 
Ymir ) wait for them to start their combo then follow with your Tactician's Advantage so you can keep the enemy stunned for longer allowing your team to tear them apart.
If you don`t have initiator, you gonna do the honors. Try to hit as many gods as possible so you can silence/stun them making it easier for your team to follow.
In between fights, heal your teammates with your Tranquil Gift and remind the enemy that "My blade is sharp, don't say I didn't warn you" ;)
As you can see Guan Yu is a very team oriented god who can do damage, has great CC and a heal. If played right he can keep his teammates alive and initiate with fearsome ultimate.
I hope this guide provides you with some insight and convince you to try this great god.
If you like this guide Vote up please. Any comments and criticism are also welcomed.
See you in game.
Vodzu.
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I've tried a build VERY similar to this for my offensive guan yu. I really do love him as a offensive and a defensive character...if only I could decide which I like better. I always incorporate Gem of Isolation in my build with guan regardless! Definitely an effective strategy for him! No overextended enemies will ever get away before dying without help with gem of isolation in this build. Thanks for posting it up, I'll try an exact mirror, but this is very similar to what I've used in the past. Also guan is a very mana thirst character...but reducing your ult cooldown by 15+ sec per use in team fights is ridiculous.
Thx for the comment. As I said i usually try to opt for this setup but things not always go the way I want so sometimes you have to mix in a defensive item too. For example, skip the polynomicon and get void stone instead. However I like the Polynomicon for that 100% magical dmg on next hit, it can mess your face when you get hit by a basic attack that does 300 dmg only to get hit by it few seconds later again, in between skills.
So yeah try it out but don`t follow it blindly, adjusting is winning :]