About a couple of months ago, the Warrior class of Smite received some gamechanging nerfs to their kits and base stats. The patch received mixed feedback from players, however no one can deny that the warriors were too good for their own good. Sun Wukong was hit hard by said nerfs, now unable to poke as strongly in the early game, and unable to tower dive safely as he pleases.

Because of said changes, the Monkey King is no longer picked as often (if at all) in Conquest queues. My job is to show you guys that Sun Wukong is still incredibly strong in the support role, even if it's not the early game bully you're used to.

Abilities

Passive

Undefeated Body: When Sun Wukong is below 35% health, he gains +10% critical chance and +10 protections, plus another 1% critical chance and 1 protection for his current level.

THE AMOUNT OF TIMES I HAVE SURVIVED A 4-5 MAN ROTATION BECAUSE OF THIS PASSIVE! It never surprises me how much people underestimate this passive. However, be careful. You aren't as invincible as you once were, so once it is activated, it is not an invitation to stay and try to outbox the enemy jungler.

1st Ability

The Magic Cudgel: Sun Wukong's Magic Cudgel grows in length, and he slams it down, dealing 80/120/160/200/240 (+50% of your physical power) damage to all enemies 55 ft in front of him.
Cost: 50/55/60/65/70 mana.

Cooldown: 10 seconds.

This is going to be your main damage dealer. Albeit not as strong as it once was, The Magic Cudgel, aka. Jingle Bang, still provides enough poke to be aggressive in the duo lane. That's all there is to it, just smack the minion wave, poke the enemy, and do damage. Prioritise maxing out this ability before all the others.

2nd Ability

Master's Will: Sun Wukong strikes around him, dealing 80/130/180/230/280 (+50% of your physical power) damage and slowing all enemies by 30% for 2s.
Cost: 60/70/80/90/100 mana.
Cooldown: 12 seconds.

So if you guys have been playing before the warrior patch, Master's Will used to cause a knockup and an interrupt, providing some of the most unfair CC chains in the game. Personally, I find the slow to be infinitely more useful as a support/tank, seeing as you are going to be chasing down your opponent to set up a free kill for your hunter. This will be your third skill you'll be maxing out.

3rd Ability

72 Transformations: Sun Wukong transforms into an Eagle, Tiger, or Ox, and charges forward.
Eagle: Is the fastest of the three forms. Immune to Slow and Root effects.
Tiger: Mauls the first enemy runs into, stunning for 0.6/0.8/1.0/1.2/1.4s and causing 100/170/240/310/380 (+80% of your physical power) damage.
Ox: Knocks aside all enemies in his path and causes 50/90/130/170/210 (+60% of your physical power) damage. Immune to Slow, Root, and Knockup effects.
Cost: 65/70/75/80/85 mana.
Cooldown: 18/17/16/15/14 seconds

The thing to remember is that this ability has not been touched in the reworks. To get this skill right, you will need to gauge where you're looking; for example, aim at the ground and you will get the Ox, aim straight ahead and you will get the Eagle, and aim somewhere in between to get the Tiger. Your tiger will be your main initiator, as it provides a 1.4 second stun at max level, and deals the most damage.

Combine it with a CC heavy hunter, like Artemis or Ullr, and you will have a devastating combo early game. The Eagle, aka The Bird of Nope, gives you a great rotation into the mid lane and solo lane, as well as providing an escape mechanism. The Ox is mainly used as an escape mechanism, however it is a decent initiate/interrupt during a teamfight. This will be your second ability to prioritise maxing out.

4th Ability

Somersault Cloud: Sun Wukong leaps onto his cloud, leaving a decoy behind to fight. While on the cloud Sun Wukong is invisible, and regenerates 5% of his health per second. He may leap off before the duration expires, dealing 140/190/240/290/340 (+120% of your physical power) damage in a 20 ft radius. The decoy inherits a percentage of Sun Wukong's current strength and defense. The decoy is killed instantly if hit by a hard CC. If the decoy dies, Sun Wukong is revealed on his cloud.
Cost: 100 mana.
Cooldown: 110/105/100/95/90 seconds.

This can be an effective initiator, but in my experience with the god, you're mostly going to use it as another escape mechanism. Remember that this ability has a 2 second start-up, and you are CC immune during that time. Use it when you feel like you're about to get bursted down; your opponent doesn't know where you are going to land until they destroy your decoy.

Itemization

1. Death's Toll: For a starter item, DT scales so well with the Monkey King in the early game. Since you won't have have Watcher's Gift or Midas Boots, you will be slightly gold starved in the early game, but you're compromising early game gold for more poke damage. Besides, early game Gold Fury, anyone?

2. Reinforced Greaves: Sun Wukong is no longer the same tanky pain in the neck he once was. Saying that, Reinforced Greaves do help you survive early game bursts, as the extra protections and your passive will give you this much more survivability. Again, you'll be gold starved since you don't have Midas Boots, but you're compromising gold for lane presence.

3. Sovereignty: Standard support/tank item. Extra tankiness, as well as protections for your team. Need I say more?

4. Magi's Blessing: Another standard support/tank item. You won't be getting Greater Purification, so this item is core on any support.

5. Jotunn's Wrath: Now we can have some fun. Sun Wukong's skills have some painful cooldowns. This item gives you the ability to spam your skills a lot more often. If you're still not comfortable with his tankiness, this item could always be replaced with Breastplate of Valour.

6. Bulwark of Hope: More protections, more tankiness, more survivability. Self explanatory. Can be replaced with Stone of Gaia for the health regeneration.

7. Your last item after the final DT sell is really your choice (if the game even goes on for that long). I'd recommend Runeforged Hammer for even further tankiness, as well as the amount of damage Sun Wukong gets out of it. Relatively cheap, and scales well with Sun Wukong's base stats.

Actives

Your mandatory active will definitely be Wrath of the Gods for securing objectives and jungle camps. However, your second active will be situational based on what you're up against. Weakening Curse counters healers like Ra and Aphrodite, while Shell of Absorption just gives you and your team extra tankiness in teamfights.

Playstyle

Early Game: Because of his nerfs, Sun Wukong can't safely towerdive as effectively as he did previously. However, you're still going to have to play aggressively in order to stay relevant in your lane. You and your lane partner will have to focus on harassment, rather than diving for kills. You will need an aggressive hunter with plenty of CC abilities, like Ullr or Artemis. If utilised correctly, one CC chain between Artemis and Sun Wukong could harass (if not kill) an enemy god, forcing him or her back to base early. In other words, choose your fights, and keep a steady balance between aggression and safety. Rotate to midlane when your mid laner needs help and/or you're looking to secure midcamps (Eagle form does help with that quite a lot). Very basic support role protocol, really.

Mid Game: This should be around the time Sovereignty comes online. You should have Wrath of the Gods complete by the time, and you should be relatively safer tanking tower shots. If you can quickly outpush the enemy duo lane, you can take the time to counterward Gold Fury, and possibly even secure it if they're not in position to defend it. You'll be at a significant gold disparity in comparison to the enemy support, provided that this isn't casuals and you're not pubstomping everybody.

Late Game: Sun Wukong returns! Now you'll be causing general havoc wherever you and your team choose to go. If you're looking for objective steals, initiate safely using your (mostly) CC immune Ox, use Wrath of the Gods for the steal, then use your ultimate to get away safely. Your Eagle should be online in a few seconds to get you to safety, provided that you have bought the appropriate CDR item(s).

Final Thoughts

Sun Wukong is still a fantastic pick in the support role. However, because most guardians are considered safer in lane, they tend to be the more popular picks. While you might struggle against aggressive guardians, like Athena or Ares, your presence in lane should be enough to outpush most duo lane compositions.

So ban out my Geb, ban out my Kumbhakarna, take away my Athena; the Monkey King is more than capable of dealing with anything. With a diverse kit and powerful teamfight presence, your opponent will have to think twice before initiating, especially with the kind of disruption that Sun Wukong brings to the table. I hope this guide was helpful for you, and I'll see you in lane. Eat your heart out, Hercules.