Guan Yu Tanky/DPS (more dps)

Hi, my name is Stamatiou and I'm here to show you my take on Guan Yu. When I first got into the beta I bought Guan Yu straight away and played him as much as I could, and I believe he's one of the best god in the game when played correctly.I now play him when I want to win his heals and damage in lane with his Tranquil Gift, Taolu Assault and Tactician's Advantage make him to me a perfect solo laner or a support.

PROS

Good heal

Good slows and CC with

Tactician's Advantage

Warrior's Will

Great initiate

Can fill multiply roles

Extra tanky when defending towers or tower diving with his passive

Fortified Defense

Can lack damage early on

Mana costs

Squishy early on

The skill order I find maximises your damage early on, in some cases you can max out your 2 Warrior's Will first and your 1 Tranquil Gift second.

Passive,
Your passive, Fortified Defense makes you that much more tanky early on, with tower dives and when defending tower people will think twice before tower diving you.

1,
Your 1 Tranquil Gift is a decent heal the Heals you and any allies that get hit by it this includes minions, it also reduced your cooldowns by 2 second when an ally god is hit by it, making it to me one of the best heals in the game.

2,
Your 2 Warrior's Will Is a short dash ability that deals damage and slows anyone hit by 25%, and hitting an enemy god will reduce your cool downs by 2 seconds combined that with Gem of Isolation you become very difficult to escape from. The damage will not seem like much early on but later on it will be hitting very hard, use this ability to escape ganks and to catch people, remember tho it will not let your charge through things like Odins Ring of Spears and Ymirs Ice Wall.
3,
Your 3 Taolu Assault Is your main ability it is great to help farm and it deals great damage to enemy gods, it also steal 10 magical and physical protection stacking up to 30 which is amazing early on, combined this with your Fortified Defense you are deceptively tanky. Keep in mind that this spell can be interrupted by things like Ymirs Frost Breath and Anubiss Mummify. using Warrior's Will then Taolu Assault will deal a lot of damage.

4,
Your 4 Tactician's Advantage is amazing it does amazing damage, it slows, silences, stuns, makes you immune to CC and is AOE. Using this ability followed by Taolu Assault and Warrior's Will will result in many kills specially on squishy gods. This ability is a great initiate. In lane once your get 5 call for a gank if soloing or tell your lane partner that your about to go in, and it will result in a kill nearly 95% of the time, just be careful that the enemy doesn't have a leap ability or dash to run away with in the middle of your Tactician's Advantage. This ability can also be used to catch running enemy gods but I don't recommend it as you may need your Tactician's Advantage afterwards.

On Guan Yu I find having the right Mixture of Damage and tankiness is best in almost every circumstance.

The following List consists of all the viable items to me on Guan Yu.
(Only ever buy one items with Cooldown Reduction)
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Reinforced Boots Great items and should be bought by all tanks, It is also good for people that like to play aggressively or people who find themselves taking damage a lot.
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Boots of the Magi Good items for anyone that is magical damage based I would only take these if building DPS only.
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Book of Thoth Great mid-late game items 100 magical power is a huge boost in damage and the mana/mana regen is very nice.
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Breastplate of Valor Best Items to have on Guan Yu if you need physical protection, it also gives 500 mana with 20% CDR which is amazing.
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Chronos' Pendant Your main items if you need CDR it also gives you 50 Magical power and 25MP5 to help with DPS
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Doom Orb A lot of people buy this items on almost any Magical Power God it is an amazing item and I would only buy if your are destroying, other wise I wouldnt suggest buying it because the stacks fall of at death.
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Gem of Isolation Best items on Guan Yu This is core, no reason not to buy this at all, It gives you all the stats you want Health, Mana
and Magical Power, it also gives you a 35% slow on all of your abilities.
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Hide of Leviathan Perfect item if you need to be a little more tanky in every way.
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Magi's Blessing This item is great if you need magical protection, specially against gods like Agni or Ra.
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Obsidian Shard A core items for DPS Guan Yu the Magical Penetration is all you will need, 70 Magical Power is also very nice.
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Polynomicon Perfect item to have on DPS Guan Yu if you don't find yourself needing CDR. Your next basic attack will do 100% of your Magical Power is amazing, specially as someone who is normally in the middle of a fight only buy this items once you have some good Magical Power to back it up.
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Rod of Tahuti Amazing item will increase your Magical Power more then anything in the game. I buy it as one of the last items because I find other items are needed before it.
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Stone of Gaia Good items if your going to be full tank Guan Yu. Magical Protection is good and the 0.4% health Regen is amazing all game but in lane it is amazing.
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Void Stone A great item on Guan Yu 50 Magical Power and 60 Magical Protection is great to help with tanking and damage. The effect is amazing specially when your team has 3 Magical Power based gods or more, such a great item specially On a support or a tank.
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Warlock's Sash Perfect item for a solo lane Guan Yu, it gives you lots of health and mana and a huge amount of Magical Power if you can manage it fully stack it up. Get this item if you're planning on buying it.
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Winged Wand Coming soon.
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Spear of the Magus Very strong items to rush on Guan Yu, the 300 health makes you that much harder to kill, the small extra damage it gives early on is also great. This item is great not just because of it stats, but that it only costs 1850.

Mana Potion Buying three Mana Potions should help with the mana costs early on, and let you be able to use your Tranquil Gift more.
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Healing Potion I do not find that you need the health you get from these is as good as being able to keep full mana and spamming your Tranquil Gift, but later in late game Healing Potions become more valuable.
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Meditation Getting Meditation as early as you can will help with the mana issues a lot, but if you find yourself not needing the extra mana simply put of buying it but, I do recommend getting it as soon as possible.
____________________________________________________________________________________________ Aegis Amulet I find this Ability amazing specially during mid game. Using this item in sticky situations can result in life or death, using this item when almost dead or to avoid a good chunk of damage is best.
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Sprint Sprint Can be Good in some cases but I do not recommend it unless you find yourself lacking Mobility.
____________________________________________________________________________________________ Creeping Curse This item can be very useful during initiates. I like this item when going Tanky but in DPS I do not find it as useful.
____________________________________________________________________________________________ Purification Beads Can be OK but I do not find myself using it a lot unless the enemy team has a LOT of cc, or if I am being the focus of the enemy team.
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Hand of the Gods I would not recommend this ability unless jungling, It can be useful in a solo lane for clearing Waves a lot faster but, there are better abilities over all for Guan Yu.
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Girdle of Might This ability is good in DPS build 50 magical power is no joke but for the tanky build do not buy it.
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Heavenly Agility Great ability for when you are playing support/tanking can help when escaping or catching up to enemy gods, and Movement speed in the middle of a team fight is never a bad thing.
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Potion of Magical Might Elixir of Defense Elixir of Power Always buy these once you have a full build or maybe if your nowhere near your next item, and need a boost in damage.

Early Game

Early game Guan Yu is somewhat weak, until around level 5-6 because of this I prefer to play passively early on. Last hitting creeps when possible and try to take as little damage as possible. If they push to your tower try and tank the creeps until your creeps arrive, so your tower doesn't lose much HP. Don't try and harass unless you know you can get back out. Just try and stay in the lane for as long as possible to get ahead in xp and gold.

Once your get Tactician's Advantage try to set up ganks with the jungler. You can try and 2v1 if there is someone squishy in the lane e.g. Anubis or Artemis, its is however unlikely that without help you will get the kills before they can run away.

Mid Game

This is around the time you have Reinforced Boots & Gem of Isolation. I normally start to roam around mid. You should always try and protect your lane if they are still trying to push it unless your team needs you. Make an effort to be in team fights. Majority of times you will be initiating the team fights, use your Warrior's Will followed by Tactician's Advantage(try to hit as many people as you can with it) then use your Taolu Assault while using Tranquil Gift & Warrior's Will when ever you can. If they focus you in the fight try and use your Warrior's Will to get out and use Tranquil Gift to heal yourself and allies.

Late game

Not much will change from mid to late game. Your damage will be high and you will be healing for a fair amount with Tranquil Gift. Initiating is the same as mid game apart from where you will be destroy there squishies, just try and get as many allies as you can in your Tranquil Gift and do as much damage as you can with Warrior's Will & Taolu Assault.

You should also be only 1 or 2 items of a full build, and as always Don't focus tanks and hit the carries.

Guan Yu overall is a force to be reckoned with. His utility with his Tactician's Advantage and Warrior's Will is amazing, he can be played in three different roles DPS, Tank and Support, Tho I like to play him as tanky Dps(more DPS). I think that his versatility to play many Roles, his Strong skill Set and his damage makes him one of the most devastating Gods in smite.

If you like my guide please Vote Up also if you could leave any helpful suggestion that would be awesome.