Here's some advice for those who want to play Odin

[Anal ♥♥♥♥]

Before I start, I want to let people know that, as of right now, I'm rank IV on Odin, I used to play him a lot myself. The only reason I'm stopping is because right now I'm busy getting Ares to Diamond with a fun Aura/CDR build. I do believe I've figured Odin out enough to give advice to people, especially since these same people play him in the most cringiest ways ever. This also won't cover Conquest too much (if at all), so you've got warned.

GET BLINK ON HIM FIRST RELIC!

I can't believe this isn't common knowledge.
We all know Odin's ultimate, the cage. It is incredibly powerful, can allow for some fun team compositions because everyone can be restricted in one place. People may believe the birdbomb (which is his 2+1 combo) can help him initiate to get everyone in.

HOWEVER, THAT IS NOT TRUE.

Your initiation is slow. If you go with birdbomb the enemy will see you coming. Usually if I play someone like say, literally anyone with a dash/leap and I see Odin trying to birdbomb me, I do an 180 and dash/leap away. You have absolutely no surprise factor, not to mention that half of your damage is concentrated into the birdbomb so you're hit-or-miss.

But Theo, what if he leaps from behind a wall?

That's simple, wards. They will help you see him coming and if you still overextend despite wards showing you otherwise, then that may be your fault. Wards will strip him off whatever surprise factor walls may have given him and then he will go back to square one.

THIS IS WHERE BLINK COMES IN.

Blink is that one tool that gives you a surprise factor, an unpredictable nature. It's instant, so people will not be able to react to it unless their reaction time window is located in the attoseconds.

By getting Blink, you:

- will not need to gamble with walls anymore.
- will get more than just 1 or 2 people stuck inside your cage.
- can save your birdbomb if you want to deal damage or just get out.
- will see your overall performance get higher.

People hate Ares because every Ares player along with their bloodline gets Blink first relic, the enemy team will never be able to counter an unpredictable Ares ult outside of Magi's Blessing or Beads. People will hate Odin for the exact same reason. Likewise, not getting Blink on Odin is like not getting Blink on Ares, you'll have to waste your time while people will pretty much see you coming just for the sake of your ult.

DO NOT GET SANCTUARY ON ODIN!

This should also be common knowledge not just for Odin, but for every other Warrior, and for Guardians as well. Sanctuary is a relic that was designed to give some form of bait and survivability to Gods that can't afford to get too much defense (like Hunters), YOU ARE NOT ONE OF THEM. You are meant to be tanky, you can take damage in the face especially with your shield. By getting Sanctuary you are wasting your time with useless damage immunity when you could've got a teamwide relic like Shell or Horrifying Emblem. I've seen too many Odins getting this stupid relic first, including a Diamond Odin with 5k kills/8k assists. Beads is also a relic you should not get most of the time, but there are times when you CAN get it. If you're up against a Fenrir, that's probably fine. If you're up against an Ares, that's probably fine as well (although you can just get Magi's Blessing and Ares won't be capable of doing anything about it, he would need outside help to pop out that bubble).

IF YOU'RE TRYING TO ESCAPE, USE YOUR SHIELD FIRST, THEN, WHEN YOUR SHIELD IS LOW/ABOUT TO EXPIRE, LEAP!

This is an important tactic because your shield is high as far as amount goes, it will give you time to walk away while the enemy is busy trying to get rid of it, and when they do succeed, you can just leap and make them rage. Going with shield then leaping will waste your shield and that makes you vulnerable. Also, keep in mind that this shield can eat damage for you, so use it to bait abilities like Nu Wa's ult, Apollo's ult, etc. Keep in mind this will not help you against Thanatos, so in his case, time your leap properly THEN shield yourself against a potential scythe throw. HOWEVER, the shield is a delayed type of damage when it explodes, so be very careful against Kuzenbo or everyone with Thorns because if you're low enough, you can easily kill yourself.

This is about it. There's also other obvious stuff like don't build Odin damage or full tank (bruiser is better, at least in my opinion) and maxing out his CDR should be the very first thing you should do after you bought boots, but even the Odins who bought Sanctuary first relic understood this.

[RecalledDread]

About blink on Ares (I know it was only mentioned in passing), it's not as necessary on him as it is on Odin. Ares, whilst not having much initiation, can slow and cripple before ulting. People might beads prematurely (I see a lot of people do this on his basic chains if they are attacked too long), and you might not even need to ult (I tend to save it until the end of a fight).

Beads can be ok, even against Ares and similar enemies (Magi's seems to get popped by the cripple on his chains when I've seen it used), but his shield can usually get him out of most of the follow up damage anyway.

But this seems really helpful (probably worth putting it as a guide if you include example builds and why you might get those items) and hopefully the less experienced Odin players will see it.
With Conquest relics would depend on your role, but otherwise could possibly apply for the general gameplay parts.

[Anal ♥♥♥♥]

Originally posted by RecalledDread:

About blink on Ares (I know it was only mentioned in passing), it's not as necessary on him as it is on Odin. Ares, whilst not having much initiation, can slow and cripple before ulting. People might beads prematurely (I see a lot of people do this on his basic chains if they are attacked too long), and you might not even need to ult (I tend to save it until the end of a fight).

Beads can be ok, even against Ares and similar enemies (Magi's seems to get popped by the cripple on his chains when I've seen it used), but his shield can usually get him out of most of the follow up damage anyway.

But this seems really helpful (probably worth putting it as a guide if you include example builds and why you might get those items) and hopefully the less experienced Odin players will see it.
With Conquest relics would depend on your role, but otherwise could possibly apply for the general gameplay parts.

If you don't get Blink on Ares you have to walk up to your opponents and that depends on whether you're willing to take damage to the face and be potentially kited or not. Your chains are all good and dandy, but what I do is I blink in, ult, if I get someone I chain them. Before I chain them, my teammates are usually preparing to get their teamfight abilities up (like KKK ult, Zeus ult, etc.) and when that happens, the teamfight is most likely as good as won. Then again, this could be a matter of playstyle.

I don't remember seeing Magi's getting popped by the cripple despite literally playing Ares all the time. Although you are correct, you can bait Beads with your 1 and when that happens they're as good as dead if you ult. And yes, your shield can help you eat the damage, so you don't have to rely on Beads if bad things happen.

I forgot to mention that the second relic is pretty much dependant on the situation. Of course, don't go with Sanctuary, like I said. Beads could probably not help you much if you buy it that late. Everything else can mostly pass as an option.

[RecalledDread]

Originally posted by TheoHel:

If you don't get Blink on Ares you have to walk up to your opponents and that depends on whether you're willing to take damage to the face and be potentially kited or not. Your chains are all good and dandy, but what I do is I blink in, ult, if I get someone I chain them. Before I chain them, my teammates are usually preparing to get their teamfight abilities up (like KKK ult, Zeus ult, etc.) and when that happens, the teamfight is most likely as good as won. Then again, this could be a matter of playstyle.

I don't remember seeing Magi's getting popped by the cripple despite literally playing Ares all the time. Although you are correct, you can bait Beads with your 1 and when that happens they're as good as dead if you ult. And yes, your shield can help you eat the damage, so you don't have to rely on Beads if bad things happen.

I forgot to mention that the second relic is pretty much dependant on the situation. Of course, don't go with Sanctuary, like I said. Beads could probably not help you much if you buy it that late. Everything else can mostly pass as an option.

Oh, I get blink on Ares, just not first relic normally. It would usually depend on the teams. In Conquest I tend to go for Meditaion or Shell (again, depends on teams and ADC's preference) since I'll be in lane a while first, and enemy almost certainly has beads, so it would be wasted (damage from ult could kill them after chains). Other modes I prefer gettign blink last since I don't feel like I need it first thing - Med or Shell also keep me alive whilst I run someone down.

In fact, with Flickering Ritual, it might not be necessary at all if I don't feel I need it for that team (they might be slow to react/inattentive etc). It gets a little expensive late game, but by then I'll have full build, and can afford to buy it every time I back, but again that's more down to playstyle as you said.

I thought Magi's was popped by all CC, or maybe it's just all Hard CC (so root instead of cripple), it may be that I'm remembering incorrectly there (or allies used a CC ability and popped it).