How to Build Guardians in Smite to be Tougher Than an Abrams Tank

As we looked in our best guardians in Smite article. Guardians are the tanks of Smite. They're there to engage the team fights, soak up the damage, and continue slugging on forward toward the enemy base. But what is the build philosophy of these guys? Let's look at that.

How Should you Build Your Guardians in Smite?

As we mentioned previously, the guardians are the tanks of the Smite universe. This means that you build them with the goal of achieving maximum damage output. You know, cause in real life tanks have cannons, and I'm pretty sure those work off of physical power right?

Wrong!

That is the exact opposite of what you should do with Guardians in Smite. Look at Ares above. He has more metal on him than a WW2 battleship. He's a pretty aggressive guardian as far as other guardians are concerned. That should hint at you that you should build him to last—I.e health ( no such thing as too much health ), physical protection as well as magical protection, and crowd control reduction items. That's the general rule at least.

As a guardian, you're not likely to have the spotlight of the match. But you're the main reason that someone else will have theirs. To use an analogy from the music business. The band always gets the attention when they're on stage, but the reason they were able to perform in the first place was because of the support crew behind the stage.

Guardians are that support crew! You make or break the fights that decide the match and destroy the other team. In many situations, you'll have to carry your whole team. So let's see how you can go about that.

Guardian Build Example in Smite

All these items in this build will focus on how you can build out Ares specifically. As we mentioned in our how to build mages in Smite and how to build hunters in Smite guides. Play to your strength! This is always the case, regardless of role or god.

First off, start off with Benevolence. It's as universal as tank items get. But as the game progresses, sell it for another item. For Ares, it's also a smart idea to pick up a Blink Rune & an Aegis Amulet. His first ability and his ultimate really benefit from being able to get in there quickly, making your play, and ruining the enemy team's day. And don't forget your health potions now.

For most guardians, you're probably gonna want to pick up the Gauntlet of Thebes as soon as possible. A relatively inexpensive item that offers great benefits the longer you hold on to it, thanks to its stacks. After that, you'll probably want to be able to do some damage. By the mid-game, you should get Chronos' Pendant. Not only does it give cooldown reduction, but its passive further helps with reducing cooldowns. And Ares is a god who hates to wait.

After those items, you'll want to pick up another item for defense. Both Bulwark of Hope and Oni Hunter's Garb are great choices. Although personally, I find myself picking up Oni Hunter's Garb more often. Next, you should pick up an offensive item that is support oriented. Void Stone is a good pick for this and it also offers decent damage in the form of magical damage. Alternatively, if your teammates don't need to be carried, you can pick up a Warlock's Staff.

Finally, time to look at specific defensive options. The thing that most often kills Ares is a stun. And if you have a particularly annoying enemy team that includes a lot of gods that can stun you, pick up Magi's Cloak. The combined effects of Magi's and your Aegis Amulet will make you a loathsome force on the battlefield in the late game. The last item are situational items. They can be either a Witchblade if you need even more movement speed or a Sovereignty. Depending again if you need to do a little more damage or if you need more defensive stats in your situation.

Can you build guardians as glass cannons?

You technically could build a guardian like a glass cannon. But what's the point? Even if you get maximum mana and the maximum amount of magic damage, you'll still be leagues behind the average mage. So don't even bother going down that path. The name of the game is always "play to your strengths" as we discussed in our Smite tips and tricks guide. You wouldn't use a hammer to mess in a nail now, would you?

Instead, focus on building them to last. Our how to build a solo god in Smite article will help with that, as Guardians usually go solo lane.