Devourer's Gauntlet is my preferred starter item for
Artemis. Once upgraded you can begin building stacks immediately and the lifesteal provided allows you to take out lane minions while gaining health with your basic attacks, giving you much more sustain in lane. This offers a safer start because it's a cheaper item and provides more health.
ALTERNATIVE
Soul Eater is an even safer start than
Devourer's Gauntlet, providing health and physical protection, without sacrificing attack speed and lifesteal. This item doesn't have the same late game damage potential as the other options, but it does offer a stronger early-mid game which can help
Artemis out during her toughest time in the game.
ALTERNATIVE
Transcendence is a good alternative to
Devourer's Gauntlet because it provides better late game power when paired with
Asi and gives
Artemis a bigger mana pool. However, because of the lack of lifesteal early and the higher price, this leaves
Artemis in a dangerously vulnerable position during her early game. Be wary of this, this is a late game investment.
Bluestone Pendant is excellent both for wave clearing and as an early game poking tool, in addition to supplying you with additional mana. In general, this is essential for avoiding getting pushed to tower throughout the entire early game.
ALTERNATIVE
Death's Toll is greater than
Bluestone Pendant defensively, offering both better health sustain, and health, but leaves
Artemis more mana hungry and making it harder for her to clear waves. Generally this item is better against enemy duo comps that may burst you down very quickly during the early game.
Ninja Tabi is essential for
Artemis' core, giving her some mobility and attack speed which is generally preferred to
Warrior Tabi's additional power.
Ichaival works great on
Artemis providing attack speed and a passive that really playing into her
Still Target. However, I would only pair this with the
Devourer's Gauntlet build because otherwise she needs some lifesteal.
ALTERNATIVE
Asi provides lifesteal, attack speed and penetration making it a must have with the
Transcendence build. It's also a pretty cheap item, partially making up for
Transcendence's initial cost. However, do note that it's risky to sell this later for
Malice since you will then have no lifesteal whatsoever.
The Executioner greatly helps
Artemis' attack speed, gives additional power and reduces targets' physical protections for three stacks on basic attacks. Sustained but rapid attacks are made even more beneficial with this item, and it only costs 2200 gold.
Deathbringer provides great power, critical strike chance and makes your critical hits do 50% more damage. The only drawback is that this item is very expensive, making it a later game buy. Crits will make your damage almost double as you approach late game.
Rage will ensure you crit with
Deathbringer with its passive and increased crit chance, as well as provide more physical power.
If you sell
Ichaival, which is bought only because it is a cheap item that provides decent power for the early game, you can then purchase
Malice. Triple crit makes your damage intensely powerful and will allow you to tear through opponents with ease. Be wary that many games will end before you can achieve this though.
ALTERNATIVE
Brawler's Beat Stick gives you greater boxing potential against enemy adcs with its passive as well as good penetration and power. I would recommend replacing
Malice with this in your build, but buying it either before or after
The Executioner since you will still want this item in the laning phase of the game.
ALTERNATIVE
Asi can also provide many of the same benefits as
Brawler's Beat Stick for boxing other adcs (assuming you went with the
Devourer's Gauntlet build not the
Transcendence build) if purchased before or after
The Executioner but replacing
Malice. Its added attack speed, penetration and lifesteal as well as its cheap price can allow you to outpace the other adc. However, be careful, because this can be countered very easily if THEY buy
Brawler's Beat Stick.
Your actives should be chosen given the situation of the current match you are in.
Listed below are my three most common choices, however there are cases in which you should choose whatever best fits the current scenario.
Purification Beads are a go-to item whenever faced with enemies that rely on their hard CC such as
Hades and
Ares, but are still typically necessary to get out of hard CC throughout the match lest you be destroyed after getting hit by a
Frost Breath or something of a similar nature.
Greater Aegis provides CC and damage immunity. This can be incredibly helpful to combat enemies and teams with high burst potential, as well as quick but powerful ultimates.
Aegis Pendant is also an item to consider, but the CC immunity granted by
Greater Aegis is typically more useful than movement since I typically prefer this item when facing gods like
Ares or
Xing Tian.
Greater Sprint is an excellent escape tool, as well as a useful tool for getting back to lane. If you'd rather not use sprint as often, but to the greater benefit of your team,
Heavenly Agility is also an option.
Note: In higher level gameplay it is typically advisable to buy beads as your first active if it is necessary as enemies will know how to pressure better earlier on.
You should use Warrior Tabi with the Transcendence build though, idk why I put ninja there.
As for your build, you shouldn't need Hastened Fatalis late game since you can shred people with Vengeful Assault before they get out of your range. There's no real reason that you need to be able to stick to targets, you should force people to come within your range by focusing objectives and then punishing them once they do. Even for kill potential, you can still rely on your team late game to kill escaping targets, that's not really your job (your mobility isn't much). The only times I consider Hastened Fatalis is for other gametypes like joust 3v3 and assault since your team comp won't often be able to fill the same gaps in your kit as they would in conquest, leaving you with the role of pursuing escaping enemies more often.
I'd also avoid going Malice and Deathbringer. Idk why I have Malice in my second build, but Rage gives you better and more consistent dps.
My new build is as follows (after who knows how long of testing)
Dev Gloves
Warrior Tabi
The Executioner
Deathbringer
Hastened Fatalis (so I have more juking potential, steroid or no)
Malice.
I dont think we want too much base attack speed merely because its a crazy 75% attack speed steroid, which is huge with crits, including her passive.
And honestly supports can make or break your laning phase significantly. Especially early EARLY game, where you are so vulnerable.
I feel like her three needs a buff in terms of scaling. Its so low and a buff in just that ability can help her a lot.
Just a fun question to ask.
I feel like she's that God everyone loves but doesn't play.
I like how with this build you can literally kill the titan in around 3 seconds with no help . _ .
*boops vote button*
Lol that's Artemis for ya
*boops vote button*
Zilby, a quick question when you get a free moment.
How does your Artemis build and skill order change (if any) when you are playing Arena?
Personally I dislike playing Hunters and Assassins in Arena (tbh Arena's always been my least favorite gametype aside from Joust 3v3). However, I can still give advice based on the times I have played and seen what works best. In terms of skill order, I would probably still level up Suppress The Insolent since Vengeful Assault really needs to scale from your items. I would however level up transgressors fate a bit earlier for added survivability.
In Arena, stacking items tend to be a nuisance more often than not. If you're going to stack, get Devourer's Gauntlet early on (don't get Transcendence since you don't need mana with base so close and don't get Heartseeker since it will be nigh impossible to keep the stacks), but I would much rather recommend Bloodforge or Asi for lifesteal.
Aside from that though, my build would be pretty similar. Since you're not stacking you may want to grab Ninja Tabi first. If you want a build similar to the main build, try just replacing Devourer's Gauntlet with Bloodforge, Arena doesn't change the build's effectiveness. If you decide that you want something more similar to the Transcendence build, try just replacing Transcendence with Brawler's Beat Stick, Jotunn's Wrath or even magi's blessing for added survivability later in the build (before The Executioner for the power items, after Deathbringer for magi's blessing).
Good luck!
How does your Artemis build and skill order change (if any) when you are playing Arena?
Thanks for making that awesome guide!
Personaly, i do love Hastened Fatalis on hunters, u can do some nice trick shot and i can chase like a démon, That's how the huntress goddess should be, never letting go her pray and lose her suiters.
Still looking for a good Artemis build, i'm gonna give a go to yours :). But, here is the build i had the most success with.
Devourer's Gauntlet
Warrior Tabi
Asi
Hastened Fatalis
Deathbringer
Rage
I kinda like double lifesteal on artemis, like that i can stay longer on fight when my shot connect and thanks to fatalis i can keep my distance from my ennemies and dodge most of the other adc auto-attack (or ult). When i happened to be fed, i can easily win 3vs1 like that. Unfortunately, this build don't pack a lot of power so against high prot/high health targets i have some hard time unless all my shots are critical. And since i'm the total counterpart of Gladstone Gander... i never crit when i need to xD
i also don't take any other atk speed item cause with asi and fatalis onlly, i cap at 1.78 (don't remember exactly) attack/s and that is enough cause with artemis steroid, i go up to 2.5.
I personally am a fan of Hastened Fatalis, but not on hunters. In almost all games I find that you're sacrificing too much power in your late game (especially since this build has almost NO penetration) even if you're a bit more potent during the mid. Additionally since you're not really roaming a whole lot and weaving in and out of teams, the movement speed goes a bit to waste, and the passive can be easily replaced by sprint and Vengeful Assault (and you usually need sprint as an escape regardless).
On the other hand, if Hastened Fatalis really fits your playstyle go for it, Smite isn't all just about build stats, you're more likely to do better with builds that really work for you.
The biggest advantage to building this way is that you should be able to have Asi and Short Sword finished by the time they have enough gold for The Executioner.
Getting Asi online earlier gives you that extra pen and lifesteal as well as a higher attack speed, meaning you will most certainly outbox them possibly even after they have The Executioner finished up until full build.
I honestly don't build an ADC without Brawler's Beat Stick since Season 2 started. The passive is just huge when boxing the enemy ADC. You can also be a gigantic pain in their rear by buying Shield of the Underworld XD.
I feel as though normally Artemis' weakest point of the game is her early game, so using a build that helps her in that area and lets her get to her late game faster could definitely be advantageous. My personal playstyle is more reserved in the beginning and more aggressive towards the end, but tbh your playstyle probably makes more sense in competitive play.