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Death's Toll. By the time Xbalanque is level 3, 
Branching Bola is net positive mana when counted with natural MP5 (assuming you hit your mark).
With this start, Xbalanque gets an extreme mana efficiency and can stay in lane longer than most hunters, just because of Death's Toll. By the time Xbalanque is level 3, Branching Bola is net positive mana when counted with natural MP5 (assuming you hit your mark).
Death's Toll
Spiked Gauntlet
Healing Potion
Multi Potion
Purification Beads
Wing Shard
This start is far less mana efficient than its standard cousin. To mitigate this, we include extra mana pots. Later on, the high MP5 of the Chaser build will make up for the loss.
Leather Cowl
Spiked Gauntlet
Healing Potion
Mana Potion
Purification Beads
Wing Shard
Eye Of The Jungle provides him with all the MP5 he needs early. Branching Bola. Spiked Gauntlet to 
Bloodforge later.
Believe it or not, I've taken this for a spin in casual conquest games and have experienced lots of success. The main enabler for him to play jungle is that Eye Of The Jungle provides him with all the MP5 he needs early.
His camp clear is absurd, thanks to the Eye buffing both his auto and the branches from Branching Bola.
Regardless, you should get two blue pots as opposed to multi pots, in case your early mid-lane presence is prolonged. You don't get the Eye's MP5 if you're not actually in the jungle.
You need movement speed when jungling, so upgrade Spiked Gauntlet to Bloodforge later.
Eye Of The Jungle
Spiked Gauntlet
Healing Potion
Mana Potion
Purification Beads
Wing Shard
Demon Blade proc, and comes with a ridiculous amount of penetration. If you want to go glass cannon mode, this is your best bet.This gives you the best critical bang for your buck in terms of raw damage with this god. It just perfectly hits the 1.9 Attack speed cap with a Demon Blade proc, and comes with a ridiculous amount of penetration. If you want to go glass cannon mode, this is your best bet.
The idea isn't to hit quick and dirty. Utilize the slower attack speed to time and connect just a few shots that will hit incredibly hard. Sometimes, you can interrupt someone coming at you by simply killing them before they get close.
Death's Temper
Devourer's Gauntlet
The Heavy Executioner
Rage
Demon Blade
Deathbringer
Odysseus' Bow as soon as possible, then resume the build as normal.
This build is more of a rapid-strike style. Rather than banking on one or two big, slow autos to connect for a kill, this makes faster, increasingly damaging shots that will wear out a tank in a few seconds.
If you're up against enemies who are clearing waves/camps faster than you, consider building Odysseus' Bow as soon as possible, then resume the build as normal.
Death's Temper
Devourer's Gauntlet
The Ferocious Executioner
Qin's Sais
Dominance
Odysseus' Bow
This build sacrifices a good chunk of its damage potential for high move speed. As a payoff, you can utilize that movement to stick to targets that would otherwise escape from you.
This is helpful in games where your team is low on crowd control and/or enemies are applying those annoying poke or hit-and-run tactics.
20% Lifesteal is going to allow you to commit to the fight, as well.
Hunter's Cowl
Bloodforge
Griffonwing Earrings
Atalanta's Bow
Dominance
Odysseus' Bow
Malicious Deathbringer for more frequent use of 
Rising Jaguar.
This will be the go-to build when jungling. It boasts plenty of movement and very high burst damage. This is the same effective build as the "Pure Crit Potency", but modified to give him the MP5 he'd otherwise lack.
If the enemy has no healing/shields, consider Malicious Deathbringer for more frequent use of Rising Jaguar.
Protector Of The Jungle
Bloodforge
Dominance
Rage
Demon Blade
Envenomed Deathbringer
This is the modified Chaser build, just converted for jungling. Although you don't have Cowl in this build (and you shouldn't, as the camp clear is too slow), the yellow buff makes up for the missing move speed.
And, although you have less lifesteal, you do gain a significant amount of protections, allowing you to fight for longer.
Protector Of The Jungle
Bloodforge
Griffonwing Earrings
Atalanta's Bow
Dominance
Odysseus' Bow
Temporal Beads so we get another dash that much sooner. If we're in a situation where we need to use beads, we likely need that escape dash from Rising Jaguar, too. Alternatively, this can be used offensively, to bring your dash off cooldown to help you chase an enemy. Although 
Hastened Wings is your ideal tool for that, an offensive beads on backup isn't a bad idea.
We want Temporal Beads so we get another dash that much sooner. If we're in a situation where we need to use beads, we likely need that escape dash from Rising Jaguar, too. Alternatively, this can be used offensively, to bring your dash off cooldown to help you chase an enemy. Although Hastened Wings is your ideal tool for that, an offensive beads on backup isn't a bad idea.
Temporal Beads
Hastened Wings
Tap each threat level to view Xbalanque’s threats
Hi there! I'm Wes, here to introduce you to a more advanced way to try out my favorite hunter, Xbalanque, in ways you might not have considered since the recent patch changes. Imagine jungling with this guy!
As a preface to this guide, I'm going to assume you know the basics of his skills and have read other guides in terms of trying to make this god pack more of a punch. I won't be reviewing what his abilities do, for instance. Rather, I will point out nuances that aren't regularly caught within these abilities.
Transcendence Dominance, even at maximum stacks. Therefore, any mana-supporting builds for this character should focus on MP5 items like Death's Toll, Dominance or Griffonwing Earrings. Each of these items provides a much more significant impact on damage while achieving the same goal -- keeping that blue bar full.
As you likely noticed above, I intentionally skipped the skill chart. There's a big reason for that.
For Levels 1-5, choose Bolas->Jaguar->Darts->Darts->Ultimate.
From that point onward, you should be following a priority system based on the current situation.
Here's a quick-and-simple overview of the priority system. If you want to know more, the rest of this chapter covers the reasoning. Elsewise, the rest of the chapter can be skipped. Level your abilities in order from top to bottom when possible on or after Level 6.
Branching Bola should be leveled up ONLY IF procs from Death's Toll are close to or bigger than the cost per shot of the NEXT LEVEL UP (e.g. the proc gives 7 mana and the next level would be 8 mana per shot. It's safe to level up.). OR you have sufficient MP5 to comfortably cover the cost. OR you're nearing level 15-20, where MP5 is going to matter less. OR you're playing Arena, in which case freely max Bolas first.
Poison Darts is used mainly to slow; the damage is icing on the cake to mitigate the time lost auto-attacking. Don't use unless you need to slow someone, or your attack speed is still low and you use it to weave (auto-darts-auto). Rising Jaguar should always be used as an escape or chase tool. Never use it for direct damage, especially not to try that tempting 2->3 combo.
Darkest of Nights is an excellent chase tool, but shouldn't be leveled unless there's nothing else to. While the buffs do increase during the ultimate, it's not by enough to justify leveling the impact of your other abilities first. Branching Bola, it may be appropriate to intentionally not level it up until you can afford to pay for its costs, especially if you're still having extended periods in lane or away from base. Branching Bola: The One-Below Rule Death's Toll, you should have a simple measure of when to level up the skill. As the proc nears the cost of the next level, it's OK to upgrade. This is because the natural MP5 combined with this proc will make the cost of the bolas net zero or net positive mana. If you have MP5 from items, as some builds permit, you may find yourself even more comfortable than this measure, so feel free to use your best judgment and upgrade as you feel comfortable with the MP5 you're getting in combination with the item.Jungling with Xbalanque can be a refreshing and fun experience. He's definitely not the best jungler in existence, but you may find an edge with this character if you're a fan of AA-style assassins, with the added safety of fighting from range. He can also safely clear major objectives alone, such as the Gold Fury, pyromancer, and even Fire Giant.
The main advantage to his jungle clear is the combination of Branching Bola with the bonus from Eye Of The Jungle. This allows him to mow down camps with extreme efficiency by keeping the main auto focused on the center, larger minion; while the smaller minions take the damage from the branches. Essentially speaking, this god comes with a free 
Golden Blade equipped. Where other AA gods tend to rely on this item, Xbalanque has it built-in, freeing up a slot for more damage.
In terms of ganks, it's still ill-advised to go in swinging with a 2->3 combo. Instead, sneak up on the enemy and engage with just your autos. Once they panic and blow their escape, that's when you use your kit to close the gap and secure the kill.
Sometimes, you need to deal with a low-health enemy sitting under the tower. If friendly minions are walking in on it, approach the enemy without doing anything (so as not to draw tower aggro until the last moment). Then, Darts and auto until they're dead, then dash out of there. If you're comfortable with it, you can utilize the homing dart from Rising Jaguar for a finishing blow while also escaping the tower.
Ratatoskr or 
Thanatos, who will plan to use their ultimate to get away at low health. One of the best ways to secure a kill this way (if you know that your next auto won't land in time before they takeoff), is to launch Rising Jaguar. The projectile that launches from this skill is homing, and will follow the enemy through the sky if you go airborne with your skill before they do with theirs. It won't be much damage, but it sure is a satisfying killing blow when they think they got away -- best of all, it will consume their ultimate since they used it fully, as opposed to killing them before takeoff.
I hope that, in this guide, you've found some new tricks and tactics with this seemingly simple god. There's definitely more than meets the eye with Xbalanque -- and with enough mastery, you can surprise your enemies with these tactics... maybe even some of your own!
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