A Guide to Xbalanque: The Hidden Jaguar *Updated for Season 2!* *Updated 3/12/14*

Hi. My name is Firraria.

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This guide is going to cover three of the areas in which Xbalanque shines: ADC Duo lane, Arena, and the Jungle.

I viewed my own guide over 295 times before publishing. That's a lot. :|

2/19/15 - Published the guide.

2/21/15 - Fixed typos, updated gameplay tactics.

2/24/15 - Updated build.

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Xbalanque is an ADC-type Hunter. He holds his place with incredible chasing power and a very high skill ceiling. His basic attacks are among the most powerful due to Branching Bola, and he can easily dominate team fights with his amazing area damage and his ultimate ability, Darkest of Nights. Xbalanque has a strong early game compared to a lot of hunters.

People often say that Xbalanque is a garbage tier character, and I completely disagree. I've been playing him since I first started Smite, and have learned a lot about him. He's not only great in the duo lane, he's also great in the jungle.

Xbalanque seems like an odd choice for the jungle, but the cake is a lie he's actually very good. His camp clearing speed is very fast. A combination of his poisonous darts and his Rising Jaguar makes for some very fast camp clearing. A Xbalanque
in the duo lane may have a hard time clearing lanes, as he can not reasonably hit all the minions with his darts, and his Rising Jaguar is not particularly efficient without landing those poison darts. In the jungle, however, this is no problem, as you can easily hit all minions in a jungle camp with your darts. That's why he's so incredibly efficient.

Great Area Damage Amazing Chasing Built-in CC Immunity ( Rising Jaguar) Huge teamfight presence ( Darkest of Nights) Good Early Game

Squishy Long Cooldowns Very Little CC

At the start of the game, be sure to pick up Bluestone Pendant, Spiked Gauntlet, and a Healing Potion.

This item will give you decent HP, a little bit of power and MP5, and a great passive. You'll find yourself rarely running out of mana with this.

This item will supply you with a little bit of lifesteal, which will help keep your health up early on. Regardless, you'll eventually turn this into Devourer's Gauntlet.

Pretty common item for a hunter. It offers lots of power and lifesteal at full stacks, and it's cheap. Definitely a good choice.

These are essential. Power is very important, but the attack speed on these is greatly useful in the later game. It will substantially increase your killing power, and will allow you to kill jungle camps much faster.

Not a bad item at all. Lots of attack speed, decent attack power, and a great passive. Not only will this help you shred through enemy defenses, it will help you shred through minion defenses as well.

As you hit enemies with your basic attacks after buying The Executioner, you'll start doing more and more damage as their defense decreases. Well, with this, it's sort of the same, except instead of penetrating their defenses, you'll be increasing in power.

Pesky healers, beware! If the enemy team has an abundance of healing characters like Hel or Ra, this may come in hand. It's also very useful with all of the penetration and attack power on it. Still, only buy this if you need to combat healers.

Decent power, and tons of crit. You'll hit like a trick after this. The constant crits you get will be constant. ;)

There you have it, you are now freakishly scary. Tons of power, crit, and an amazing passive. Let's just say that you'll kick like a mule with his balls wrapped in duct tape. (TIGHT TIGHT TIGHT! BLUE, YELLOW, PINK, WHATEVER!)

I don't know when this is ever not useful. It's such a great active. It will allow you to run away quickly, cleanse yourself of slows, and chasing enemies extremely efficiently.

This is always nice to have on hand. Pesky characters like Ymir and their damn stuns will be much less troublesome. Just pop this when you need to cleanse yourself of CC (Crowd Control), and you're good to go. It can also be used to reduce your cooldowns if you really need to fire off an ability ASAP.

Healers got you down? Not anymore! This active is incredibly beneficial. Pop this active in a team fight, and I promise your team will love you for it. Block out their heals, make them all slow as hell. What's not to love? You can also use it to slow enemies who are pursuing you, or slow enemies down so that you can pursue them. This is great for countering healers like Hel and Ra. It also cancels out enemy lifesteal, so it's good for boxing gods who rely on that, such as Mercury or Kali or Bakasura.

This item is a lot like Weakening Curse, but instead of being good for countering healers, it's best for countering characters with high attack speeds such as Mercury or Bakasura. Personally, though, I always prefer Weakening Curse, because it will stop lifesteal, which is also great for countering gods like Mercury and Bakasura.

There are a lot of characters in this game that do a **** ton of damage with one ability, but can't do much else after that. That's where this item comes in. Activate it before you get hit with a very powerful ability, and you'll walk away free. It's great for countering the ultimate attacks of gods like Thanatos and Kukulkan.

After I've completed my ADC build, it will usually look like this:

1. Devourer's Gauntlet
2. Ninja Tabi
3. The Executioner
4. Ichaival
5. Rage
6. Deathbringer

Actives:

1. Greater Sprint
2. Greater Purification

That's the build I've had the most success with, and it's definitely what I would recommend.

At the start of the game, be sure to pick up Bumba's Mask, tier 1 Boots, tier 1 Hand of the Gods, a Healing Potion, and a Mana Potion.

This item supplies you with great early sustain by increasing your MP5, and healing you for 10% of the health of each jungle minion you kill. Not only that, your abilities will do 10% more damage to jungle monsters, and your basic attacks will do +10 true damage. That's incredibly helpful, and will greatly speed your early camp clearing. It also gives you the same amount of gold when you take out a camp with allies as it would if you were solo.

Xbalanque is an extremely efficient jungler, so there's no need for a power pot at the start. These, while they have no power, will suffice.

Hand of the Gods is essential for all junglers, and Xbalanque is no different. Getting a drastically faster clear speed every 90 seconds is very well worth the 300 gold.

These are essential. Power is very important, but the attack speed on these is greatly useful in the later game. It will substantially increase your killing power, and will allow you to kill jungle camps much faster.

Pretty common item for a hunter. It offers lots of power and lifesteal at full stacks, and it's cheap. Definitely a good choice.

Not a bad item at all. Lots of attack speed, decent attack power, and a great passive. Not only will this help you shred through enemy defenses, it will help you shred through jungle camp defense as well.

As you hit enemies with your basic attacks after buying The Executioner, you'll start doing more and more damage as their defense decreases. Well, with this, it's sort of the same, except instead of penetrating their defenses, you'll be increasing in power.

Pesky healers, beware! If the enemy team has an abundance of healing characters like Hel or Ra, this may come in hand. It's also very useful with all of the penetration and attack power on it. Still, only buy this if you need to combat healers.

Decent power, and tons of crit. You'll hit like a trick after this. The constant crits you get will be constant. ;)

There you have it, you are now freakishly scary. Tons of power, crit, and an amazing passive. Let's just say that you'll kick like a mule with his balls wrapped in duct tape. (TIGHT TIGHT TIGHT! BLUE, YELLOW, PINK, WHATEVER!)

*as a jungler, you'll always want to start the game off with rank 1 Hand of the Gods.

I don't know when this is ever not useful. It's such a great active. It will allow you to run away quickly, cleanse yourself of slows, and chasing enemies extremely efficiently.

This is always nice to have on hand. Pesky characters like Ymir and their damn stuns will be much less troublesome. Just pop this when you need to cleanse yourself of CC (Crowd Control), and you're good to go. It can also be used to reduce your cooldowns if you really need to fire off an ability ASAP.

Healers got you down? Not anymore! This active is incredibly beneficial. Pop this active in a team fight, and I promise your team will love you for it. Block out their heals, make them all slow as hell. What's not to love? You can also use it to slow enemies who are pursuing you, or slow enemies down so that you can pursue them. This is great for countering healers like Hel and Ra. It also cancels out enemy lifesteal, so it's good for boxing gods who rely on that, such as Mercury or Kali or Bakasura.

This item is a lot like Weakening Curse, but instead of being good for countering healers, it's best for countering characters with high attack speeds such as Mercury or Bakasura. Personally, though, I always prefer Weakening Curse, because it will stop lifesteal, which is also great for countering gods like Mercury and Bakasura.

There are a lot of characters in this game that do a **** ton of damage with one ability, but can't do much else after that. That's where this item comes in. Activate it before you get hit with a very powerful ability, and you'll walk away free. It's great for countering the ultimate attacks of gods like Thanatos and Kukulkan.

This is great for a surprise stun every 90 seconds. The stun may be short, but it can be very useful for giving you time to finish an enemy off, stop them from fleeing, or stun them so you yourself can flee.

After I've completed my jungle build, it will usually look like this:

1. Ninja Tabi
2. Devourer's Gauntlet
3. The Executioner
4. Ichaival
5. Rage
6. Deathbringer

Actives:

1. Fist of the Gods
2. Greater Purification

That's the build I've had the most success with, and it's definitely what I would recommend.

Obvious choice is obvious.

When is this not useful? Seriously. This active is usually a go-to. It's very nice in arena, where you may have to flee from fights (a lot).

Power, speed, and power. Did I mention power? ALL THAT POWER! These are essential. That 40 physical power is quite a lot, it will definitely help you out this early into the game.

You don't see this on a hunter everyday, and there's a reason why. Xbalanque is not like other ADCs. He relies on his abilties more than other hunters, and he also has long cooldowns, which means this is incredibly useful. Lots of power, mana, decent penetration, and lots of cooldown reduction. This item is essential, and gives you a big boost to your damage.

Some would argue that this item is for late-game only, and that's what I thought until I tried it. This will give you a huge boost to damage, and enemy defenses will have nothing on you. Trust me, this is good. This truly makes your Poison Darts a very scary ablity.

Lots of power and penetration, and a great passive to counter those healers. Generally, you'll want to buy Titan's Bane, but if you up against a team with heavy heals then you're going to grab this instead.

Lots of power and attack speed, and also an amazing passive. This will complete the pain train that is Xbalanque. You'll be penetrating your enemies harder than Shrek penetrates my ******** something that penetrates stuff.

Now this is when things get going. You no longer have to rely mostly on your skills for damage, because this gives you a lot of power, decent crit, and a kickass passive. The passive goes very nicely with your Poison Darts. Nail them with your darts for the damage+slow, it will make it easier to land your basic attacks, which can active this item's passive ability, making for a monstrously strong DoT (Damage over time).

There you have it, you are now freakishly scary. Tons of power, crit, and an amazing passive. This item is critical to your build. Get it? Critical. Like the critical hit. Nothing? **** it.

I don't know when this is ever not useful. It's such a great active. It will allow you to run away quickly, cleanse yourself of slows, and chasing enemies extremely efficiently.

This is always nice to have on hand. Pesky characters like Ymir and their damn stuns will be much less troublesome. Just pop this when you need to cleanse yourself of CC (Crowd Control), and you're good to go. It can also be used to reduce your cooldowns if you really need to fire off an ability ASAP.

Healers got you down? Not anymore! This active is incredibly beneficial. Pop this active in a team fight, and I promise your team will love you for it. Block out their heals, make them all slow as hell. What's not to love? You can also use it to slow enemies who are pursuing you, or slow enemies down so that you can pursue them.

This item is a lot like Weakening Curse, but instead of being good for countering healers, it's best for countering characters with high attack speeds such as Mercury or Bakasura. Personally, though, I always prefer Weakening Curse, because it will stop lifesteal, which is also great for countering gods like Mercury and Bakasura.

There are a lot of characters in this game that do a **** ton of damage with one ability, but can't do much else after that. That's where this item comes in. Activate it before you get hit with a very powerful ability, and you'll walk away free. It's great for countering the ultimate attacks of gods like Thanatos and Kukulkan.

This is great for when you're in a tight spot and need a quick escape (which happens a lot in arena mode). I personally don't pick this up very often, unless I don't really have anything else to buy.

After I've completed my arena build, it will usually look like this:

1. Warrior Tabi
2. Jotunn's Wrath
3. Titan's Bane
4. The Executioner
5. Malice
6. Deathbringer

Actives:

1. Greater Sprint
2. Greater Purification

That's the build I've had the most success with, and it's definitely what I would recommend.

*the skill order is the same for each build I use, ADC Duo, Jungle, and Arena.

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At the beginning, you'll want to use your 1500 gold to purchase the items I listed in the build section of the guide. If you skipped that part, the items are Bluestone Pendant, Spiked Gauntlet, and a single Healing Potion.
After you buy your things, go with your support and the mid-laner to help the mid-laner get the red buff (the power buff). After that, go have your support help you with the nearest purple buff (basic attack buff), take it, and then move into your lane (you terrible, terrible driver).

If you're playing with pl3b n00bz who don't know to do those tactics I listed above, well, you might as well just go to your lane. Your lane being the long lane, AKA the Duo Lane.

At the beginning, you'll want to use your 1500 gold to purchase the items I listed in the build section of the guide. If you skipped that part, the items are Bumba's Mask, Boots, and tier 1 Hand of the Gods.
After you've purchased your things, go to the speed buff (the orange buff) with the solo laner, and use your Hand of the Gods to speed up the process of killing the camp. After you've taken the speed buff for yourself, go to the blue buff (the mana buff) and help drop it for the solo laner to take. After that, move into the solo lane (the short lane), and help push the lane until either the enemy jungler leaves the lane, or until you reach level 4, and then go back into the jungle.
If the enemy jungler goes to base before going into the jungle, go up and take out one of their small fury camps, and then go kill the two small fury camps nearest to your base.
If the enemy jungler does not go back to base, simply go into the jungle and kill both of the small fury camps nearest to your base, and then either go back to base to heal up and buy things, or wait for the mid fury camps to spawn. Make sure you have your Hand of the Gods ready to kill the mid furies! Just hit them with Poison Darts and then Hand of the Gods, and they'll die.

At the beginning, you'll want to use your 1500 gold to purchase the items I listed in the build section of the guide. If you skipped that part, the items are Combat Boots and Improved Sprint.
After you've bought your stuff, help your team defeat all the buff camps on the left side of the map, unless your team plans to invade the enemy buff camps. After those camps are defeated, go out and help clear minion waves/fight enemy players. If your health is too low after killing the buff camps, just go back to base. Better safe than sorry.

Poison Darts shoot off into a wide area, which means that if an enemy is not standing behind their minions to block the hit, you can spray your Poison Darts out to hit some minions and an enemy player.

When in a lane, it's best to stand inside of your wave of minions to avoid getting hit, unless the enemy player has an ability which pierces through minions, in which case, stand to the side of the minions to avoid getting hit. Some examples of abilities that pierce minions are Impale, Swarm, and So Beautiful (those are all Hunter type abilities, by the way).

If you see an ally who is in trouble and you can't get there to help them in time, use your ultimate ability Darkest of Nights! It will speed you up so you can get there faster, and it will blind the enemies, giving your ally the edge. Hell, it may even score your team a kill.

Unless desperate, always hit your enemy with Poison Darts before Rising Jaguar. When using Rising Jaguar, you can steer yourself in the air, meaning you can fly around corners for a surprise attack on unsuspecting enemies, or you can spin in circles around your target, to dodge all of their hits and leave them disoriented.

If an enemy is hiding behind a minion, tower, phoenix, or titan, you can use Branching Bola to hit them behind it! Although, it wont do much damage, so it's only advised if the enemy is very low on HP.

Branching Bola can also be used to clear minion waves, because it can branch off and damage multiple minions. However, this is quite costly in mana, so use this tactic wisely.

Unless it's an enemy that you'd rather not get near ( Bakasura, for example), it's best to use your Poison Darts at the shortest range possible. This will make it harder for the enemy to dodge it by going between two darts, and it will allow you to hit them with more darts at once, dealing bonus damage.

If a target is fleeing from combat, activate your ultimate ability! It will allow you to run faster, and it increases your basic attack range, making it easier to hit the enemy as they run. And you can also use Rising Jaguar to catch up, and then nail them with Poison Darts to slow them down or possibly finish them off.

Try to get used to how much damage your poison does, so you can predict whether or not the poison is enough to kill the target. You don't want to linger in combat any longer than necessary. If you know that your poison will finish the enemy, feel free to turn around and walk away, and enjoy the kill.

Remember that Xbalanque is great for team fights. Darkest of Nights will give your team an edge in a team fight, your Poison Darts and Rising Jaguar can hit multiple people, and your Branching Bola can branch off and hit multiple enemy players. Xbalanque has great area damage, so take advantage!

When ganking a lane, make sure to let your allies know you're about to gank it beforehand, otherwise you may be running into a deathtrap, while your ally does nothing to help you.

The mid furies spawned at the 3 minute mark. Keep your eye on the spawn timers, and make sure you Hand of the Gods is always ready to take down the mid furies. They give you the most gold out of any jungle camp, aside from the Gold Fury herself. Mid furies top priority when it comes to which jungle camp should be taken first, unless your team wants to do Fire Giant or Gold Fury.

To clear a jungle camp quickly at a low level, spray your Poison Darts at the camp up close, and then use Rising Jaguar. This will deal a lot of damage, making it easy to finish off the camp with basic attack. Later in the game, you should just be using Poison Darts and/or a few basic attacks to save mana.

Make sure the enemy is pushing an an ally's lane before you gank them, so they can't simply run under their tower. The exception to this rule is if the enemy is on low HP and you know you can finish the job quickly, or if you have several allies there to help.

Never initiate with Darkest of Nights when going in for a gank. This will alert the enemy that you're coming. Instead, use the ability when they try to run away. Initiating attacks with Poison Darts is advised. Also, if you have Branching Bola activated while the enemy is blinded by Darkest of Nights, the glowing from Branching Bola will still be visible, and thus they can still pinpoint your exact location. Remember to turn off your Branching Bola if you want to sneak up to the enemy with Darkest of Nights.

If the enemy jungler ever dies, run up to their jungle area if it seems safe, and kill as many of their jungle camps as you can before they come back. This will hinder their XP and gold gain, but boost yours. Some people say this is a dirty trick, but hey, a win is a win.

For jungling, your priorities should often be:

Ganking>Mid Fury Camps>Jungle Buff Camps>Small Fury Camps.
Some exceptions to this would be if you see a free and easy kill, an ally needs saving, or if your team wants to fight the Gold Fury or Fire Giant. Just remember that these are just guidelines, and cannot make up for common sense. Using your head is always the first step!

Thanks for reading my guide, I hope you can find some use in it. If you have an criticism or feedback, feel free to post it in the comments. If you liked it, remember to upvote! It boosts my ego!

Remember that this is just a few guidelines and tips. You should never try to follow a guide exactly how it says, otherwise you wont do well. Adjust your play to the situation, use your head, use common sense. Sometimes you may need to go against the guide, and that's okay! I go against my own guides all the time. With how situational the game can be, you may have to mix up your tactics at times depending on how good or bad you're doing that match, how fed or underfed the enemies are, how bad or good your team is, what characters are on your team and on the enemy team, etc. etc.

Credits to me, and:

Jordenito and TormentedTurnip (and Piederman, Sanguis, Subzero008, and BestMinionEver) for being delicate little turnips. Oh yeah, and for making Code Blue: BBCoding for Beginners. Really, they taught me all I know about coding.

Credits to Devampi, for pointing out things I missed.

Credits to Greenevers for providing build advice.

To Kill a Mockingbird of Nope: Sun Wukong Solo and Support Guide

Fenrir: The Ultimate Jungle Guide

The Complete Beginner's Guide to SMITE!



Jordenito. He's proved himself to be one of the best guidecrafters out there. His guides are always incredibly useful, and have personally helped my own gameplay.

Subzero008. His incredible understanding of jungling have helped me in numerous ways, and he is extremely skilled in guidecrafting.

TormentedTurnip. A very skilled guidecrafter, and taught me a lot about Smite, guidecrafting, and BBCoding through his various guides.

Greenevers. He's a great guidecrafter.

****ing me. Duh.