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Assassin's Blessing
Spellbook
Multi Potion
Purification Beads
These are the items that you must have with Athena. Everything else is pretty much up to you. Magi's Shoes and Shoes of Focus are interchangeable.
Shoes of the Magi
Void Stone
Breastplate of Valor
Rangda's Mask
Bancroft's Talon
Gem of Isolation
Ethereal Staff
Obsidian Shard
Chronos' Pendant
Purification Beads
Aegis Amulet
Blink Rune
Horrific Emblem
Heavenly Wings
Standard build includes Breastplate of Valor and Void Stone.
Breastplate of Valor
Genji's Guard
Mantle of Discord
Spirit Robe
Hide of the Urchin
Void Stone
Assassin's Blessing
Imperial Helmet
Healing Potion
Mana Potion
Sell Dynasty Plate Helm to get Spear of Desolation.
Dynasty Plate Helm
Shoes of the Magi
Bancroft's Talon
Void Stone
Breastplate of Valor
Polynomicon
Spear of Desolation
Sell boots for Speed Pot and Spear.
Assassin's Blessing
Bancroft's Talon
Shoes of Focus
Void Stone
Breastplate of Valor
Polynomicon
Shaman's Ring
Elixir of Speed
Spear of Desolation
Y
B
A
X
Athena OP. Burst down squishies with your combo and really offensive passive that essentially has no synergy with the rest of her kit. Use hard CC to lock down tanks, and induce salt nuking everyone with your passive. Destroy in ranked or casual. Athena Support is really overrated, so play Jungle.
This item is actually quite powerful, although its passive activates in the midgame. It gives you very good Magical Power and then debuffs the enemy when using an ability, making all hits deal 10% more to them. Build after boots to get the passive as quickly as possible.Shoes of the Magi: This item no longer has a Magical Power advantage against the Shoes of Focus, but it is still a very powerful item, as it has 10 Magical Penetration, which can shred most of any enemy's Protections early in the game. This could also be switched out with Shoes of Focus, for the extra CDR and Mana.Polynomicon: This is the item that makes Athena's Reach Passive so powerful. It procs right after you use an ability, just like Reach does. It increases your next Basic Attack's scaling Power by 75% for the next 8 seconds, or until a Basic Attack is used. Since Reach is ranged and increases the next Basic Attack's scaling by 15%, 15% plus the 75% from Polynomicon and the 20% base Basic Attack damage, you will get a free ranged attack that deals 110% of your Magical Power. This item also allows for ranged poke and even finishing up opponents.Shoes of the Magi: This item is recommended for the same reason that you would get it in the jungle.Breastplate of Valor: A very powerful item that is quite cheap, the Breastplate of Valor offers ample Physical Protections, 300 Mana, 10MP5, and a whopping 20% CDR. This item is a must-have for anyone in the solo lane. Build this after boots if the enemy solo laner is a Physical god.Void Stone: Another powerful defensive item, the Void Stone offers 60 Magical Protections, down from 70 in recent patches, but still very effective. It also gives you 150 Health, 20 Magical Power, and an interesting passive. The Void Stone is able to reduce the Magical Protections of all enemies by 20. This is a large amount, and is actually more penetration than any of the offensive flat penetration items. This item can really help in team fights. If your solo opponent is a Magical god, build this after boots.
Reach Reach is an amazing aggressive passive. After using an ability, the next basic attack instead shoots a spear that pierces all enemies, player deployables, and walls. It also deals an increased 15% of your Magical Power. This passive does not have any cooldown, so always basic attack after using an ability for added damage. This is best paired with Polynomicon.
Preemptive Strike This is your dash ability. It deals decent damage, provides a slow, and can give you up to three blocks based on the amount of damage that you deal. Level this second, but could also be leveled third if you prefer Confound duration. For high single target damage, level it first, although that is more of a casual troll build.
Confound This is Athena's main Crowd Control ability. It does not deal any damage, but can taunt all enemies for 1 second, plus 0.25 of a second per level. I usually level this third, but you could level it second if you value this more than Preemptive Strike. Very good when used with Shield Wall.
Shield Wall This is Athena's main source of damage and wave clear. This ability initially summons a group of Spartans in a circle, which deals a good amount of damage, who strike two seconds later, dealing more damage. When leveled to the max, it can deal 560 + 100% of your Magical Power, which is essentially the damage of an Ultimate when both hits connect. I usually level this up first for wave clear and damage. However, it relies Confound to deal the second hit. To maximize damage, use 3 and then use 2 just when the target walks out of the circle.
Defender of Olympus This is Athena's ability that allows global presence. It also deals massive damage when it hits. Level this whenever you can. This ability nukes enemies when playing in the jungler role with multiple offense items. However, if you are playing with random teammates, chances are that you probably won't be coordinating, which makes this ultimate harder to hit. You land at your current location if the target dies, so try not to use it on a teammate who is about to die. Best used on tankier solo laners or supports who get close to the enemies.
Your combos should go like this:
Shield Wall > Taunt > Basic in between each ability
You should always Shield Wall and then Taunt because Shield Wall has two hits. Taunting afterwards gives you the chance to make both hits connect, instead of just making one weaker hit connect. Using your basic will proc Athena's Passive, which deals an extra 15% of your Magical Power. This allows extra damage, plus Polynomicon.
Preemptive Strike/ Blink > Shield Wall > Taunt > Basic in between each ability
Preemptive Strike and Blink allow you to get up close to use Shield Wall.
Defender of Olympus > Shield Wall > Taunt > Preemptive Strike > Basic in between each ability
Defender of Olympus allows you to get up close, where you can then unleash your Shield Wall combo. Use Preemptive Strike to chase and use the Passive to snipe escaping enemies. Combined with Polynomicon, you can deal around 600 to 700 damage on squishies.
Currently a lot of better options for Jungle, but if you play Athena correctly and accurately, you can be a pretty devastating force. Other current S6 junglers would include Pele, Ao Kuang, and Ne Zha. However, Athena has some of the highest ban rates in the game, which means that you probably won't get to play her unless you are first pick and Athena is not first two bans, which is quite unlikely.
Use Taunt to save your allies. Note that opponents who miss out on kills due to Taunt will be extremely salty and may spam message you throughout the game. Taunt can also be used to gather enemies in one place for an ally to use an AOE ability, such as Scylla's I'm a Monster, Odin's Raven Call + Lunge, Hou Yi's Sunbreaker, etc.
Coordinate with your team to use Defender of Olympus. It has 20% damage mitigation, so use it on teammates who might be in trouble or teammates who are close to bunched up enemies. You can also combine your Ultimate with Ares's Ultimate to hit everybody, Ult to Hades when he is using his Ultimate, Baron Samedi, etc. However, coordinate with your team so you can set up your combos correctly.
In conclusion, Athena is a powerful Guardian with great offensive and defensive stats. She can be used in multiple roles and can succeed in every one of them. Combine different items for different effects to create devastating combos, and don't forget to use Reach. Polynomicon is a must. Coordinate with your team to make the most out of your abilities, and combine Defender of Olympus with other Ultimates to get Decide every time. Remember not to play Loki.
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So I'm looking at your August 2nd update of this guide, and I'm guessing it's been revised to not just be all squishy item options. I think that aspect is okay.
- With your Jungle tab, I will say that I don't feel that starting
Soul Reaver is a good idea. Yes, the passive provides extra damage...but that passive will not see peak effectiveness for some time. For the first 1/2 of the match, you're basically going to see ALL enemies with < 2,000 health, which means you're not getting any of the very nice scaling against high health enemies. That's not worth it, especially at the very high (2,750 gold) cost. I think it's a fine item in its current 5.13+ form due to no longer having any cooldown from the old Ethereal passive...but if you get this...get it significantly later. Also not sure I'd consider it core...but that might just be preference.
- Further to
Soul Reaver, I think it was more meta before 5.13, when it still had its true damage proc. Since it no longer has that, it's less appealing for specific early kill attempts.
- One thing I would consider more for core would be
Void Stone. If you're playing Jungle, there's a good chance your team is going to have 3 magical and 2 physical gods, meaning the protection reduction is going to help multiple teammates, not just one other. Your engagement on enemies is going to help, because your taunt will keep those enemies in range. If anything, I'd probably say this is a great item to get fairly early in your build, when enemy protections are lower. It's also really cheap.
- As always, I'll speak out against the use of
Mystical Mail. I just feel the damage output is weak, so I'll ask, for what purpose do you mainly get this item? As stated above, there's a good chance your team will have 3 magical...meaning the enemies that counter-build for protections will likely have a higher amount of magical protection than normal. Since the damage Mystical provides is magical, it'll hamper its damage even more. The health is great, and the physical protection is...okay...but feel you'd be much better served replacing this item as an option with 
Midgardian Mail. The fact you can force people to basic attack you means you'll get at least a proc, forcing a move speed and attack speed slow, which can help control for gank attempts and general control in late-game teamfights.
- In the Jungle role, just curious...are you looking for ganks at level 3? Or do you still concentrate more on farming? If farming, you might consider leveling
Shield Wall a 2nd time for significantly stronger clear at that specific stage of the match, and then leveling 
Confound at 4. Just a thought.
- For Solo, I don't think you need all those consumable potions, and you're perhaps better going with
Warrior's Blessing instead of 
Mage's Blessing...though I can see wanting Mage's for better early clear. Instead of those potions, consider getting 
Chalice of Healing, and some added 
Healing Potions or 
Multi Potions to start. You shouldn't need too much added mana, due to having the blue buff. You'll appreciate the renewing Chalice for early health sustain purposes, since you won't get that in any of your 3 core items.
Thoughts?Void Stone is a good item to have early game, but in this build, I was focusing solely on damage. I can create another build for Hybrid Junglers.
I personally like Mystical Mail, as it can deal hundreds of damage on squishies if you stay on them long enough. It is personal preference, though, and can always be switched out for other defensive options.
When Jungling, I generally like to farm one or two levels before going to other lanes to gank, so I build Confound at Level 3. I think that if you are not planning to encounter any of the enemy gods anytime soon, then you should upgrade Shield Wall at Level 3.
I like to get Mage's Blessing because it gets you the extra damage you need for wave clear. I get three of each potion because I would like to have both Health and Mana. A Chalice costs 300, so you can't get any other potions until you back. Athena also gets quite Mana hungry sometimes. However, if you are willing to compromise some Mana, you could always buy Chalice first and then some Mana pots on your first back. Note that when you are playing the Jungle role, you should have ample sustain with your Assassin's Blessing.
Branmuffin17, thanks for your feedback. I could always use an expert's opinion to improve my guide later on. Thanks!
Mage damage items on a solo lane build? Obsidian Shard on Athena Solo is also a joke, right?
These builds need to be changed.