Look out ladies, here comes Hades

Hi, and thanks for visiting my guide! My IGN is Cuddlewub, and I'm also semi-active on the Smite subreddit. This is what I believe to be the absolute best way to play Hades is.

Hades is a tank, but not in the traditional sense. Normally, he would lack any type of presence that would force anyone to focus him and therefore he'd fail at his job. With the things I'm about to teach you, however, be prepared yourself *****tomping with Hades. Using tactics I've learned from being a well seasoned League of Legends player, I believe I've created the most optimal Hades build to date. Time has a way of changing things, so if a patch touches Hades, be sure to check if there are any changes to the guide.

This next bit will be copy-pasta'd entirely from a reddit post I made. Apologies if you've already read it, but it has some great content!

The game is very, very dynamic so you should not have the same build across any two games (unless luck puts you against a very similar enemy team).

First of all, do not go mid. You are a tank and support. Lane with someone who pumps out a ton of damage (whether it be jungler or otherwise). So do not like, lane with Ymir or something. So you have a lane partner who can **** damage. Consider his intelligence, his willingness to go with your plans. If he is your friend or something, you guys will both grab Hand of the Gods and grab buffs whenever you guys feel like it for an advantage all game. If not, things get iffy. Did your anonymous partner get hand of the gods? If so, ask if he is jungling or playing the meta or being silly. If he's playing the meta, get hand of the gods, level 1 reinforced boots, and potions. If he is jungling or being silly, get level 2 reinforced boots and a bunch of hp potions.

Finish your boots first, and look at your opponents. Counter build whichever one does more damage. If it's an Artemis-Guan Yu in your lane, build physical protection. If it's Ao Kuang - Ymir, build magic protection. I imagine your opponents will usually justify physical protection.

Don't build too much to counter your lane, because they have 3 other people who can potentially **** on your face. I figure Reinforced Boots + 2 items to counter your lane is all you need during laning. After that, try to counter the rest of the team.

tl;dr: Use the Hand of the Gods if both you and your lanemate are familiar with it. If not, build to counter your lane until laning is over where you'll begin to counter their entire team. For the most part.

From my reddit post, with some new content.
Hades is considered among the worst gods, so if you don't do well.... well, there it is.

Hades' ult can be dashed and jumped out of. Be very, very patient. Wait for the escapes to be blown before you strike.

Your Mystical Mark+Void Stone combo does a lot of damage if you get the entire ult off.

If they haven't blown their escapes and you need to act, use your Death from Below into them, landing the blight, and silence them. Throw some auto attacks, and use your 3. Get into their ****ing space until you they blow their escapes, allowing you to Death from Below into the chase and ult.

Sobek and Hades creates an absolutely ridiculous lane. Sobek initiates with the grab onto the squishy. Squishy blows escape, you (Hades) uses Death from Below in the chase. Right after landing the blight and damage from your Death from Below, use that ULTIMATE. Don't miss. Your Sobek follows up with his own ult, and you have a guaranteed kill in lane. Only time this won't work is with a ******* Thor.

The new Jungle (as of 9/8/2012) is awesome for laning, so you should really learn how to effectively use Hand of the Gods. Hell, I'll tell you what I know right now. I only grab Hand of the Gods when I'm laning with someone I know. Two Hand of the Gods means grabbing a buff every time it's off cooldown in a few seconds. This gives you a huge boost in EXP and a minor lead in Gold. Absolutely worth the 700 gold it costs to buy Hand of the Gods. I usually see my friend and I going right because we usually run Sobek+Hades. This opens the option of stealing the enemy team's blue buff, and giving our left lane a secure blue buff. Nothing spectacular happens with Sobek or Hades with blue buff, so it's better off (most of the time) with someone else on the team, like Anubis or Ao Kuang. If you can't steal the other team's blue buff, just grab your green buff safely, and try to get to level 5 before them and make a play. With Sobek, I told you how, with anyone else I'm not sure. Do make sure to never try to use your ult until the God you're attacking has used their dash/escape. For example, don't use your ult on a Hel who hasn't used her AoE cleanse. Try to get on her before she reaches level 5, or after she has used the cleanse.

Aegis Amulet and Purification Beads are *******s. If the other team neglects to grab them, ****ing rejoice. Do not be afraid to use your fear/ult on people with these items IF THEIR ESCAPES HAVE BEEN BLOWN. For example, an Agni uses his dash defensively and trololol's away. Use your Death from Below on him after him and land the fear. Do not throw any autoattacks, because at this point you're trying to position yourself in front of him. After you are safely in front of him, land 1 autoattack, and use your Devour Souls for the big boy damage. At this point, you're hoping for two things: 1. You've given your team the chance to catch up and 2. He has used his Beads. You're hoping for these things, but after following the directions I just gave you, you will ult. With a full item build, I'm pretty sure the Agni is dead, as he still has to jog across your ult with the beads, or remain stationary with the Aegis Amulet which gives your team an extra opportunity to catch up. This scenario is assuming his ability items are available to use! If you are absolutely sure his ability items are on cooldown, just Death from Below and Ult.

Pros
Fabulous initiation
Fabulous presence to Squishies
Fabulous synergy with AoE based Gods
Fabulous chaser
Fabulous teamfighter

Cons
Weak autoattacks
Requires a team
Not great in small, split skirmishes