Questions about becoming better

[projectmayhem]

I want to start by saying I mainly play Assault. It's by far my favorite game mode. Please respond with that in mind.

I'm looking for advice on upping my game, I generally play pretty casually and don't stress about winning or losing, I really enjoy just playing the game.
With that said, I completely suck at determining what I should be building, especially if I roll a tank or warrior (with no tank present). I feel like, no matter what I build, I die quickly. And the other teams tank will run around with 4 people focused on them, with their health barely moving.

Generally I start out with some kind of mana regen no matter what god I get, since having no mana means not being able to help the team effectively. But after that, I'm at a loss.

I had thought about pulling up guides online, then going through each god and setting a pre-set item build, but obviously that doesnt take into account when the other team is all phy damage or all magic damage.

Is there any general advice on building gods on the fly, what do you normally look for and look at when doing random assault matches?

[Altondra]

If you are the only tank against a balanced team of physical and magical, the first item you build is probably Heartward Amulet. Its aura provides magical protections and mp5, the latter of which is quite important as it provides the team with mana sustain. If you don't have Heartward, you will end up stuck under your tower more often waiting for your team's abilities to recharge.

Sovereignty is the counterpart of Heartward. It offers physical protections and hp5 to the team. It is decent for recovery and definitely something to build against a physical comp, but against a balanced team I would go for Heartward first.

Gauntlet of Thebes is another decent aura item. It gives you great protections and some hp5 and offers your team mates a few of both types of protections. However it doesn't offer the team hp5 or mp5, so it doesn't help with recovering after a fight.

I'd say that it's enough to build two of these aura items and you don't need to build them in a row. Guardians are not just there to protect, they are there to apply crowd control as well. You will want cooldown reduction for that, so Heartward > Pridwen might be a good start. Keep an eye on which opponents are the strongest to determine what other things you can get your CDR from. It could be a Breastplate of Valor for physical protections, it could be a Spirit Robe to cover both bases or you could go aggressive and build Chrono's Pendant.

With two aura items and two CDR items, you will have one or two slots left for variation, depending on whether you build a starter item like Sentinel's Gift or Benevolence. I personally like to sneak in a Gem of Isolation to slow enemies down once I have decent CDR. You could also use a slot for antiheal, such as a Pestilence or Contagion. Or get another aura item, such as Void Stone for penetration, Jade Emperor's Crown or Witch Blade to weaken opponents, or Pythagorem's Piece to strengthen the team if you are not worried about the damage you are receiving. And if you often manage to lock enemies down and get your team to focus them, a Stone of Binding could help increase your teams damage output as well.

I hope this gives you something to think about when it comes to building guardians. For warriors I don't have direct advice because they can be quite varied and are probably more susceptible to meta changes. Hopefully somebody else can provide advice about that.