The Comprehensive Ares Guide

[WARNING] INSANE READING IS INTENTED FOR THIS GUIDE
Welcome to my guide to Ares. My goal is to familiarize you with tactics, counter measures, and in depth knowledge about Ares from my experience with him.

An Introduction to Ares

Ares
The God of War
Greek, Support, Magic Damage



An introduction to Ares

Ares is a great god, but a rather sub-par guardian. His CC isn't very impressive, and his ultimate is generally a bead check to setup a kill. His damage, however, beats every other support out there. It doesn't matter how much defense you build up, he will melt you regardless. Ares is the only god in the game that can build nothing but defense, yet keep in step with any god that builds straight power. It is very common to find my overall damage against players to be as high, or higher, than the carries. That being said, he is almost locked into being either Support, or Solo role (and that's with the jungle babysitting until he can complete Mystical Mail). This means you need another support, or you need a team that's full of hard CC to allow Ares to truly shine.

I do not recommend utilizing Ares as your main control element. It will not hold up in higher levels of play. Use him as a damage soak and kill secure. His shackles are his bread and butter. They slow and cripple the enemy for up to 8 seconds, and make you faster. This means a god who's shackled by Ares is a very easy target for his companion, so an unwary opponent will generally end up turning his lane into a very easy kill lane for Ares. Unlike every other guardian, Ares also benefits most of the time from a Core build, which will be discussed below.

Finally, you should largely ignore his passive. It's adorable, and most of your items will inevitably give you an aura, but do not limit your build just because an item doesn't have an Aura to it. Ares doesn't need to rely on power to get kills.


Pros of Ares
- High Damage
- Forced Beads and Bead checks
- 8 second Cripple
- Easy to snowball with
- Amazing at destroying Tanks and bruisers
- Can 1v1 any DPS God and win.
- Has an amazing Aura Skill from his Bolster Defenses


Cons of Ares
- Very susceptible to CC shutdowns
- Slow with no movement skills
- Very low CC when compared to other guardians
- Magi's Blessing will shut down his Ult
- Winged Blade will shut down his shackles
- Very bad lane clear

Skills and Skill Builds

Use this link to find out about Ares basic information: http://www.smitestuff.com/gods/ares#details/abilities

Notes about his Passive - As stated above, do not limit yourself to items that use his pasive.

Notes about his Shackles (1st Skill) - This is your bread and butter. You can get up to 10 ticks of damage with your chain with proper timing, as well as 3 Auto attacks. This raises potential Max damage to 250/450/650/870/1,050 [+150%] along with 3 auto attacks (Which is 20% magic damage + 40~67 damage a hit, so 120~200 + 60%). You should always Auto attack once or twice between chains, it's free damage, and they can't escape, so why not?

Notes about his Bolster Defense (2nd Skill) - This is actually a great ability, but you shouldn't prioritize it under normal circumstances. The best feature is the CCR (Up to 30%). This means that every team battle is skewed into Ares favor, since this ability basically acts like Shell with added CCR. It effectively gives Ares a third active end game.

Notes about his Searing Flesh (3rd Skill) - This should always follow your chains. This ability shreds tanks because it does 1%/1%/2%/2%/3% true damage of their total HP pool. Over 8 ticks, this means you will eat 8%/16%/24% of their hp just from the hp drain, regardless of armor. This ability also synergizes amazingly with gem of Iso, slowing all gods who are in his flames arc.

Notes about his Ultimate - As stated earlier, this ultimate is generally just a bead checker. Most players will hold onto their beads or CC immune abilities to cancel him out.

Skill Build 1 Emphasis will be put into Damage with this build. Skip your defenses on level 4, and put an extra point into your chain at level 5. You can start with flame for better wave clear at the start, I use this to invade.



Skill Build 2 Emphasis will be put on control and early team fights, or to help counter Crowd Control. You can start with flame for better wave clear at the start, I use this to invade.

Itemization and Actives

Itemization - Ares will generally fall into a standard category for itemization. You'll want a Boot, 2 Physical Defense items, 2 Magical Defense Items, and 1 Situational item. You want to be in the ballpark of 180 for each defense, so after penetrations are applied you're left with 100 ~ 150 armor.

Starter Items - This really only applies to conquest.

Mark of the Vanguard - This is pretty much the best item for Ares to get if he enters the Support slot, or if facing another DOT god like Anubis.

Watchers Gift - With the GP5 falling off this item, it's not as strong as it used to be. It's arguably better to simply play passive for the first 5 levels, and rush another item.
/
Iron Mail/Steel Mail - This starter item is good for allowing early aggression. You'll take a little more damage from the archers, but your mystic mail will be finished faster.

Emerald Talisman - Good for facing off against a magic user in solo lane, or against heavy aggression when you know you'll get pushed.

Core Build - As Stated earlier, Ares is the only guardian that profits from setting up a core build. My core contains 3 items, and I will always build them first unless I'm facing all physical.

Shoes of Focus - Ares should almost always use focus boots. I don't believe Ares particularly needs full CDR, but this lets him push more damage out as well as dropping his ult CD below beads to help confirm lane kills.

Mystical Mail - I build this item first 90% of the time. The reason is that mail is only viable early game, and falls off later. The aura stacks with your passive, as well as allowing you to lane clear with no problem. Being a DOT god, Ares is in the fight for no less than 10 seconds. This means your mail will deal a minimum of 400 damage. This stacks amazingly with your chains and fire, and basically doubles your damage output throughout the game.

Void Stone - Void Stone works great with Ares because it's both magical protection as well as an Aura penetration. This means you, your mystical mail, and any magical ally hits your target harder. It's a good item all over and works great with Ares.

Items to build for Defense - All items on a tank are situational. Get items that are most useful to your current situation. These are the most common defense items that you'll want to build in this category.

Hide of the Urchin - (Physical and Magical) Hide of the urchin is a great fill item if you need more tank. This item counts as both a physical and magical item, so this paves the way to having 2 situational items.

Spirit Robe - (Physical and Magical) Spirit robe has decent stats, and is often overlooked. It's sadly for a good reason. Generally, most items are just better than this one. However you can grab this if you're getting CC locked often.

Breastplate of Valor - (Physical) I personally don't think full CDR is useful on an Ares. This is the best item to get for it, however.

Hide of the Nemean Lion - (Physical) I get this item if the enemy team has more than 1 AA reliant god in order to kill their life steal.

Mail of Renewal - (Physical) A very Niche item. It can be very useful to ares, since he has to stay in the fight for so long. It works best in assault, allowing Ares to be much more aggressive.

Midgardian Mail - (Physical) Another niche item. It's a direct counter for Fatalis users. Bakasura, Kali, and Osiris are not fond of this item at all.

Sovereignty - (Physical) Personally, I don't like this item on Ares. I would rather get something detrimental to the enemy.

Witchblade - (Physical) A great item for Ares. Works best for AA reliant gods, such as Hunters, Poseidon, Chronos, etc.

Bulwark of Hope - (Magical) This item is good if you keep getting bursted down from half HP. It's not very often you'll pick this up, but it's an outstanding item regardless.

Heartward Amulet - (Magical) Great HP, and a good aura on it. This is a solid item to consider picking up.

Pestilence - (Magical)If there's any healer on the enemy team, you want to pick this item up to help with the team fights.

Stone of Gaia - (Magical) Another great choice for a tank to grab. Especially since Ares needs to be in the fight for long periods of time. This effectively gives you about 6% more health every fight. It's a good item to look at early game.

Situational Items - You will generally have 1 situational item.

Ethereal Staff - This is a great item for almost any support. The main reason you would want it on Ares is the HP. Looking at VHP at 150 armor, Ethereal staff is worth 1400 extra Health. Without any extra items on a lvl 20 Ares, This item is worth about 90 magical power.

Winged Blade - This is a great overall item. I would encourage you to pick it up simply as a place holder early game since it's so cheap, then simply sell it off later. It's the perfect thing for faster rotations, and it also lets you walk through any slows, allowing you to stay up close and personal with no issue.

Magi's Blessing - If you're facing a ton of CC, and just can't keep damage pushed out, this item is a very smart idea. They'll be forced to waste two or three stuns on you simply to stop your damage, which makes it safer for your team to run in and bash skulls.

Gem of Isolation - A perfect item for Ares as a 4th ~ 6th slot item. This makes your shackle slower, your flames slow enemies, and your ult will also slow for the entire duration. This is one of my favorite items to get for Ares, if you could barely escape before, this item makes it almost impossible to live when Ares looks in your direction.

Actives - Need I say More? You should avoid actives unless they're on this list. Remember, get an active to support your team.

Wrath of the Gods - In conquest, try to coax someone else to take this so you can get shell. If you're running with my suggestion, with a proper support like Athena or Ymir, then have them take it.

Shell of Absorption - Shell is hilarious on Ares. You basically make your entire team pseudo tanks when you stack it with your Bolster Defense Skill. Together, they'll give Ares and his team an ungodly total of 85 ~ 106 protections (plus aura's if you have them), 30% CCR, and 15% Damage absorption. Think Tank. Think BIG DISGUSTING TANK.

Greater Blink - This is one of the most common actives on Ares, and he pretty much needs it because he's very slow, and has no way to initiate properly otherwise.

Combat Blink - Never under ANY CIRCUMSTANCE should you get combat blink as Ares.

Heavenly Agility - A good item if the enemy team is full of slows, as well as a good initiator.

Salvation - The only time you should get this is Assault. Ares isn't really that mana hungry. You should be able to get 3 to 4 full cycles comfortably with him.

Weakening Curse - This is great when you're up against a healer like Aphrodite, Ra, or Hel. Jump in, Slow em, And let the comedy ensue.

Enfeebling Curse - It won't be often that you get this item, you should only get this if the enemy ADC or AA reliant god is rampaging through the map hard.

Damage Ares Thought

Personally, I think it's a waste of potential to play Ares as a damage dealer. His Scaling may be good, but his high ability CD and close combat DOT make it fairly prohibitive or viable. By the time you kill one player, you're probably on your last legs when you go damage Ares. You need to stay in the fight for a minimum of 10 seconds to unload all of your damage. In comparison, Scylla, Janus, and other DPS oriented gods only need to stay in a fight for 2 ~ 3 seconds to unleash all of their damage, and their CD will reload in half the time Ares will. This means by the time Ares is done with 1 skill rotation, most DPS oriented gods have already finished their second rotation.

Simply Stated, Ares is not a great DPS god. He's an extended DOT go. Where gods like Janus and Scylla can see 500+ DPS, Ares can only get about 150 to 250 DPS.

How to play Ares in Arena

Suggested Starting Items
Shoes of Focus or Rush Mystical Mail, along with level 1 Blink (Finish Blink by lvl 6)

Suggested Build
Shoes of Focus > Mystical Mail > Void Stone > Gem of Isolation > Armor > Armor

In Arena, you want to be constantly in the front lines and battle crazy. You want to punish the enemy team by keeping your skills on CD as much as possible. If you find yourself against another Ares, the most important thing is to Ult after he does. Your main mission in Arena is to make yourself a giant target. You want to be top damage if at all possible to increase focus.

As stated above, you also want to have another support like Ymir on your tail. By doing this, you can lone wolf Ares, while the other 4 act as a separate entity. This allows you to dive deep into the enemy team. If you happen to die, the entire enemy team has probably just spammed nearly all of their abilities on you to kill you, which lets your team come in and clean up fairly easily. It's a win win situation.

How to play Ares in Conquest

Suggested Starting Items - This is preference, and there's quite a few ways to start. Here's 2 suggestions for you.

1 - lvl 1 HOG/Blink, Starter Item, 4 Multi Pots, 2 Wards
2 - Steel Mail, 1 Ward, 1 Multi Pot (Mystical Mail Rush)
3 - lvl 1 HOG/Blink, Starter Item, 2 Wards (place and RTB), 3 HP pots, 1 mana pot.


Suggested Build - You can grab lvl 2 Gaia to start with as well if you're facing a lot of magic.

Starter Item > Mystical Mail > lvl 1 boot > Winged Blade > Void Gem > Shoes of Focus > Armor 1 > Armor 2 > Situational

Ares can only be played well in the Support or Solo lane. Your entire team needs to have a good amount of hard CC for you to bring Ares out, because Ares has very little to offer fights concerning CC. For items, I honestly suggest ignoring a starter item, and trying to rush Mystical Mail. Then you want to get lvl 1 boot and winged wand, the entire time you need to be helping your team place wards.

During the lane phase as a support, you want to be as aggressive as possible, in order to turn your lane into a kill lane. You want to rotate to the mid lane as often as you can, but always stay in lane for at least 1 minion wave if you can to maintain your level. Early game Ares can set up and secure kills very easily, especially if you rush your Shackles ASAP.

During the lane phase as a Solo, you need to be fairly passive. You'll end up being pushed against your tower fairly hard because your lane clear is absolute garbage until you get mystical mail. The second you get Mail up, it's time to pop a few veins and do a 180 on the passive plays. Be extremely aggressive, and do your best to deny the enemy any and all experience. The only time Ares should be in solo lane is if he's against a Physical Solo, and have a jungler that can babysit him until his mystical mail is up. The early game will be hard, but the end game will be devastating for the enemy team, as they have to deal with 2 Tanks (5 tanks if you get Shell). This is a very advanced spot to play Ares in, and requires quite a bit of cooperation.

End game and Team fights you want to be in the thick of it with Ares. You want to be placing aggressive wards, and doing your best to make the enemy teams life a living hell. You can easily go into a 2v1, kill a player, then run away with little problem in most circumstances. Ares is a god that enables free picks late game, so keep that in mind. When the team groups up, you want to be the initiation, while your support is the counter initiator. Try Baiting the enemy by diving and burning everyone's beads. There is very little anyone can do to Ares when he's running shell and full bolster defense. The main target for Ares should be the current MVP. If you want to go for gold fury or fire giant, try to pick off the Tank. In a team fight, you want to target the player who's the biggest headache (For example, Hebo, Hel, the Hunter, etc).

How to play Ares in Joust

Suggested Starting Items With your base being so close, and starting at level 3, you can rush mail here very easy.

1 - Steel Mail, 1 HP pot, 1 Multi Pot
2 - Ward Stone, Multi Pot

Suggested Build

Mystical Mail > Lvl 3 Blink > Shoes of Focus > Void Stone > Armor 1 > Shell > Armor 2 > Situational

Ares in joust is fairly disgusting. As always, be hyper aggressive. You need a team with CC to be useful, so you want gods like Anubis, Isis, Thor, and Mercury on your team. Ares almost assures a successful invade, walking away with no less than 1 kill. Use that to your advantage. If you rush your Mystical Mail, or any physical defense for that matter, you can dive for about 5 shots from the Tier 1 tower by level 5. Most players will let their guards down early game while sitting under the tower, leaving themselves open for an easy kill for Ares. If the enemy sits under tower below Half HP, it's almost an assured kill for Ares. You generally want to play Ares like you would in Arena when you're in Joust. There's very little the enemy can do to you when you have a good team backing you up. Go red in the face and work up a good froth.

How to Counter an Ares

The short and long of countering an Ares is simply using CC on him after he uses his first chain or during his flames. Any god with Hard CC is a natural enemy to an Ares. Ares relies completely on his DOT to retain any kind of control over the battle. A good team will spend two of their crowd controls the second an ares tries to push out any damage. The rest of the fight will collapse around an Ares unless he has a support behind him to counter this. You want to stun Ares about 1 second after his first shackle lands, or as soon as he uses his searing flesh. Doing either of these effectively halves his damage output. I would recommend stunning him for chains early game, and flames late game.

Gods that work well against Ares - Anubis, Ao Kuang, Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Athena, Chang'e, Chronos, Freya, Hades, Isis, Janus, Kali, Kululkan, Khumbakharna, Scylla, Sobek, Thanatos, Thor, Tyr, Ymir

Gods that are competent against Ares - Anhur, Arachne, Chaac, Guan Yu, Hel, Mercury, Ne Zha, Nu Wa, Osiris, Serqet, Sun Wukong, Xbalanque

Gods that have trouble against Ares Agni, Ah Muzen Cab, Anhur, Artemis, Awilix, Bakasura, Bastet, Cabraken, Cupid, Fenrir, He Bo, Hercules, Hou Yi, Hun Batz, Loki, Neith, Nemesis, Nox, Odin, Osiris, Poseidon, Ra, Rama, Ullr, Vamana, Vulcan, Zues, Zhong Kui

Actives to buy to counter Ares

Fist of the God - Being an extra stun, this item works wonderfully in stopping Ares from pushing out damage.

Sprint - With the extra movement speed and slow cleanse, this item works great for getting out of an Ares chain. Do not bother holding onto this active, use it as soon as he chains you, or you will probably die to a competent ares.

Purification Beads - Ares almost forces this item. If you don't get it, you're probably going to die a lot.
OR
Aegis - While not as good as beads, it's till a good item to help protect you from his ultimate.

Items that counter Ares
Mark of The Vanguard - Being completely DOT based, this item shuts ares up, HARD. This item will completely stop any of his viability early game, and continue to be a great item well into the mid game.
Winged Blade - This item will counter Ares chains, and allow you to get away from him with ease. This item is basically a sprint.

[A Grand Slamwich from Denny's]

Im not a fan of HoG because it was nerfed a while back and blink and shell are much more viable, but still a great guide.

[Korneliy]

Diamond Ares approves this guide.

[Not A Beach]

@Captain Sparrow Hmm... I'll test it out and see because I am pretty sure when you use the skill it gives you 2 separate damage popups every tick, similar to basic attacking someone with telkhines ring. You get base damage, then the addition 40 from the passive. This is interesting though, as I have never gone and tested out the exact mechanics of it.

EDIT: Ok, so I tested it and it appears you are correct. Using the odin dummies is not the best way. as they have low HP, but when I maxed out penetration, the damage did go up by a few points. This is good to know, and may very well change the way I play as/against Ares in the future.

[Overlord Ducky]

@Tritix Searing Flesh deals magical damage based on the reciever's max HP, not true damage.

I went into Jungle Practice with Ares. With maxed Searing Flesh and Spear of the Magus, the first hit on the Odin dummy did 14 damage, whereas following hits did 16. This means that the Spear of the Magus passive affected my flames, confirming that it deals magical damage. Similar to Qin's and Geb ult, both of Searing Flesh's damage sources are fully mitigatable.

[Not A Beach]

@Cactipus it kind of is true damage though because defense won't reduce how much damage you take. it is a % of damage based on the receivers max hp.

[Cactipus]

Ares' 3 doesn't deal true damage, it deals % health as magical, just like Xing Tian's 1.

[Mushroom]

Useful guide.

[Not A Beach]

As someone who mains Ares, this guide is quite good and I agreed with most of it. The few things I didn't like mostly came down to personal preference. Sovereignty + Heartward = A good combo of sustain, protections, damage, and health for everyone. I get both most games, with the few exceptions being when the other team has a very strong ADC. I also always tend to play more passive unless I have a good team that knows how to follow up when I initiate. Not a huge fan of ethereal staff on him, but it definitely has its uses, and gem of isolation only if I'm not taking massive damage and the enemy team keeps escaping.

His ultimate makes a good bead check, but I find myself mostly using it on gods just before they escape, either killing them if they are low enough or pulling them back into the fight to die.

[Papapo]

kukulkan

[KonuroSilverTTV]

Very nice..Now how about someone that is capable of kicking my butt all over?