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Warrior Tabi
Devourer's Gauntlet
The Executioner
Void Shield
Malice
Deathbringer
Asi
Brawler's Beat Stick
Death's Toll
Hastened Fatalis
Heartseeker
Jotunn's Wrath
Qin's Sais
Titan's Bane
Transcendence
Bloodforge
Aegis Amulet (Old)
Combat Blink
Fist of the Gods
Girdle of Inner Power
Purification Beads (Old)
Weakening Curse
Heavenly Wings
Y
B
A
X
Xbalanque is an incredibly agile, fast, and deadly god that is fantastic for early game ganking on short notice, securing kills, initiating teamfights or ganks, and high-damage carry late game. If fed or left to his own devices for most of the match, Xbalanque can easily become a dominant force on the battlefield. This guide will outline the things that make him one of the ultimate single-target damage gods in Smite, and a hunter to be feared. Xbalanque. Specific counter-plays to other gods and strategies for specific modes will be coming in the future.
Xbalanque, but more specifically some of his strengths and weaknesses to keep in mind.
Rising Jaguar Poison Darts Darkest of Nights Poison Darts and Rising Jaguar synergize together for higher damage Rising Jaguar is disabled by some cripples or slows Xbalanque effectively can be a bit of an exercise for new players and old players alike because he requires a certain level of audacity and skill to play, but it is highly rewarding to those who have the ability. The motto here is: He who dares, wins. Xbalanque is a ranged physical god. However, unlike many other ranged gods, his primary two abilities ( Poison Darts and Rising Jaguar) require him to approach fairly close to the enemy in order to land hits (think similar to 
Anhur). This means that he can be quite vulnerable on his own, specifically when facing multiple enemies or enemies with CCs or cripples. Xbalanque when you could just pick a melee or different ranged god? Because he has the unique combination of Poison Darts and Rising Jaguar that allows him to pull off incredible attacks deep into the enemy's lane, as well as outstanding damage early game, especially if he's fed, in the form of his passive, 
Dead of Night. Late game, he can become a nearly unstoppable, unhindered force of destruction that will definitely make the enemy think twice before straying from the pack to recall or going off on their own, when played well with good awareness. Xbalanque is king of the low health kill, surprising the enemy from jungle or behind, stealing the hope of escape from the enemy, and making them realize that even standing in their tower doesn't make them safe.
Xbalanque's passive is somewhat unique in that it's a permanent and potent buff that he gains for each god kill. Simple, yet effective. Early game this can give you a very heavy boost over the enemy, especially if you're fed. At maximum of 6 stacks, you can get up to 30 extra physical power, so it functions a bit like a seventh item.
Xbalanque's basic attacks. When Branching Bola is toggled on and your basic attack hits an enemy, the bola splits into two separate bolas that fly at an approximately 45 degree angle from each other from the direction your basic attack initially came from. Each level of the ability adds a small damage increase as well, up to a maximum of 50 extra damage. Right-click or press 1 again to toggle the buff off.
Ares's or 
Hades's ult. It can also be useful for hitting fleeing enemy gods through minions that you otherwise wouldn't be able to reach. Only toggle this on when you know you'll need it, and only then, the mana drain is not worth it! Branching Bola: Do not waste a skill upgrade on this until you have maxed Poison Darts and Rising Jaguar, it's simply not worth the mana cost for each basic attack to use this toggle all the time, and the bonus it gives is not worth sacrificing the utility of the other two skills. (There is also a bug with the buff toggle and weapon effect showing up when the buff is not actually toggled on. This has no impact on the game besides visuals.)
Rising Jaguar's damage by 20%, slows the enemy and DoTs the enemy for the duration of the poison (3 seconds). Rising Jaguar for a combo or if you're poking. Take advantage of the slow and poison as much as you can by hitting enemy gods as much as possible. Try not to use it to clear minions if you don't need to.
Rising Jaguar is more of a utility than an ability, its functions are only limited by your imagination or opportunities to use it (and your mana pool). This is your gank skill, your follow-up skill after poking, your escape skill, your chase skill, everything. It also makes you feel amazing as you soar through the enemy tower zone to kill a runner. The target area is a 30 meter ring, when activated you'll sprint forward quickly to the center of the ring shown and then leap into the air, firing darts at everything within the ring. You have full 360 degree movement capability while flying and can turn as well, so utilize it to its maximum effect by aiming at as many enemies as possible. You can also go around corners and anywhere you'd normally be able to go while running. You are immune to CC while in the air, but not while sprinting forward. You move much faster while flying as well. It functions as an on-demand 
Purification Beads. Use it and abuse it. Poison Darts in first for maximum damage. It is a good initiation skill, especially if your enemy is off-balanced or unprepared for an aggressive push. It can be a lifesaver many times as well, do not hesitate to waste this to escape from an enemy or get away after securing a kill. Rising Jaguar: This skill cannot pass through walls, go over enemy minions, gods, or any sort of object that you normally would have collision with while running. Use it wisely and don't waste it in a spot that you would get stuck with. Also, if you are CCed or stunned in the initial bit of the animation (the forward sprinting), the skill will not go off, but you will still receive a cooldown, so avoid getting too close to gods that could potentially cause problems (looking at 
Ymir and 
Cupid in particular). Many cripples or slows will disable this skill, like Cupid's ult. On the other hand, some will not, such as Hades's ult, which you can escape.
Xbalanque's ultimate is a bit of a departure from other gods in Smite, it is universal and does no damage, but it buffs Xbalanque and stuns all enemies that are moving at the end of the countdown for 1.5 seconds. The buff it gives increases the range of your basic attack by 40 feet, giving you a maximum of 95 feet of reach on your basic for the duration of the countdown! It also buffs your movement speed up to a maximum of 60%. The buffs synergize well with the effects, because it also severely limits the enemy's vision to only a few meters in front of them, and an unaware enemy will never see you coming or hitting them because of the massive range increase you have. It's also the perfect utility for helping teammates secure kills or escape ganks, because it forces everyone on the enemy team to either stop moving or risk being stunned. Darkest of Nights is best used in conjunction with other god's ultimates. Talk to your teammates and plan out when to initiate ganks. It can be used for initiation, but personally I have found the best time to use it is after your teammates have initiated the gank. Let the tank run in first and grab the enemy, and then trigger Darkest of Nights while the enemy is reeling from the first hit. For example, if Ares were to go in and grab with his ult, as his is finishing and all the enemy is piled up, initiate your ult right then to force them to either stand where they are or run blindly away and be stunned.
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Combat Boots |
Death's Toll |
This is the usual ADC/Hunter starting setup. Combat Boots give movement speed and start you on the way to
Warrior Tabi, while Death's Toll gives increased sustain, which Xbalanque can benefit from quite well. This is a good choice if you feel like you'll be wanting to stay in lane for a long time. However, you will take longer on picking up Devourer's Gloves due to this and may miss out on some farm time to build stacks early on, which could result in a slower mid game.
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Combat Boots |
Devourer's Gloves
Devourer's Gloves |
This is the preferred
Xbalanque starting setup for quickly getting into your early-mid game. Since you will have tier 1 of Devourer's Gloves bought, you will also have more lifesteal on your basics than if you had bought Death's Toll, as well. You should quickly have Devourer's Gloves built to tier 3 on your first return to base and can begin building stacks.
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Xbalanque due to his high basic attack damage, which is what we're going to focus on using to our advantage. Xbalanque is capable of dealing the highest physical basic attack hits in the game, so it stands to reason that you want to build around that strength. It also allows slightly more flexibility since you're less reliant on stacking pure physical power, as you are getting penetration and working on other areas to be more specialized in what you can fight. Xbalanque. Pick up these items throughout early and mid game. You may end up replacing some of them in late game to suit different needs, however.
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Warrior Tabi
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These are the quintessential Hunter boots, offering both attack speed and penetration, the two things you can stand to benefit from the most. The movement speed is helpful, also. However, keep in mind that the bonuses don't warrant finishing these before you have bought Devourer's Gloves. These will be the second item you complete.
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Devourer's GlovesDevourer's Gloves
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This item is your best friend for early and mid game survival, as well as building your damage quickly. As a hunter,
Xbalanque is inherently squishy, so the fairly large amount of lifesteal (topping out at 25% with full stacks) will benefit him greatly in duels or ganks early on. It's also obviously great for sustain. It gives 60 physical power at full stacks, which is a massive amount for an item with so much lifesteal. The stacks are permanent, so you will maintain your 60 power/25% lifesteal, even after death, unlike Heartseeker.
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The Executioner |
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The Executioner is a very cost-efficient early game item that you should be able to acquire quickly after finishing off your Warrior Tabi. It will stick with you until late game, even with its deceptively low cost, as well. The stacking debuff benefits both yourself and your teammates and it also scales to your target's protections, so even a tank stacking only phys protection will feel the hurt with this. And, the extra physical power and attack speed never hurts.
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Focused VoidbladeFocused Voidblade
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Following the penetration theme, Focused Voidblade should be on your shopping list for mid game and to prepare for late. Typically a bruiser item, the 50 physical protection it offers is a substantial boost against other hunters and many assassins alike. At this point, your penetration should also be high enough that tanks present little resistance to your basic attacks, which the build centers on.
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Malice |
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Malice is  Rage's new brother that everyone loves more than him. Statistically, Malice has a higher chance to crit and, combined with Deathbringer, nearly always results in a crit. As a hunter that already deals absurdly high basic attack damage, you can only benefit from more crit chance, and uniquely so. Your crit damage will easily be in the 800-1000 range at full build.
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Deathbringer |
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Physical power, a flat crit chance boost, and on top of that, +50% crit damage. It should go without saying that this is something that you want. It's an expensive endgame item, but is well worth the cost to get. You might even opt to build this before
Malice.
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Titan's Bane
Replace:
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Teammates just not doing enough for you? Feel like you want to be even more carrier-y? Build this in place of
The Executioner. It gives a flat 33% penetration boost to yourself, which, combined with Focused Voidblade and Warrior Tabi already is a pretty substantial amount. You'll be able to shred tanks and bruisers even more quickly since you don't have to wait on debuff stacks to build, either.
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Brawler's Beat Stick
Replace:
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Qin's Sais
Replace:
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This would have been a core item, but they removed the lifesteal on it, making it overshadowed by a few others. On the other hand, if there's someone on the enemy team that always seems to get to low health but never die, then this is the item for you. It's a good counter against lifestealers, tanks, and assassins alike, as it increases damage dealt depending on how much health the enemy has left. Note: Never buy
 Qin's Blades. Just don't.
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Transcendence
Replace:
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Transcendence serves a dual purpose for both mid and late game. If you find yourself having mana issues, this is the item you need. At max stacks, it also gives a hefty boost to your physical power. It's worth keeping at level 20 with full stacks, because it gives more physical power than anything else at that point. It's
 Book of Thoth for physicals.
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Sprint
Aegis Amulet can be a lifesaver in case of ganks or that annoying Anhur who spams his ult every minute and a half. Watch as enemies helpless burn all of their cooldowns on your invincible body! Sprint is a good pair for this since its Hastened Fatalis-like effect lets you chase enemies far into their territory and have the security and defense you need to escape.
Sprint
Xbalanque is well-suited to all lanes, but tends to fare better on left or right sides, whether solo or duo. In this section I'll go over some basic strategy to keep in mind for both Conquest and Arena. Strategy for Conquest can be blanket applied to Domination or any other game mode involving laning. This is strategy for the god Xbalanque, not for the game modes themselves, so you'll have to go elsewhere if you're trying to find a full winning conquest or arena strategy.
Combat Boots and level 1 Devourer's Gloves or Death's Toll as soon as you start. Branching Bola for now. If you've got a laning partner, chances are no minions are getting close to your tower to begin with and you should be getting quite a few last hits in if you're attentive to minion health. This is a good time to prod the enemy a bit with Poison Darts. Don't use Poison Darts to clear minions. Poison Darts enough to drop their health to roughly 50% or lower. You don't want to overuse it too much, try to make sure you're going to get a hit in every time you do. Use 
Mana Potions as necessary. Try not to be overly aggressive, you're not a tank. You will die if you go for a kill too soon or at a time where the enemy is prepared. Try to time your pushes when the enemy has used their skills on minions and they have nothing to defend themselves with. The keyphrase here is: off-balance. Poison Darts and Rising Jaguar. If you are out of reach for Poison Darts but are confident you can make the kill, then don't hesitate to use Rising Jaguar first and leap in with that as your starting hit and push, then finish them off with Poison Darts. Rising Jaguar if you can, as typically they won't be able to turn around fast enough to get hits in on you and will backpedal to try to keep up. This also presents a great opportunity to land a basic attack or two for heavy damage to secure the kill, as they'll probably be moving slower by backpedaling or trying to spam attack in response. Darkest of Nights Dead of Night, return to fountain and buy the rest of Devourer's Gloves and start on The Executioner or finish up Warrior Tabi depending on what you feel would benefit you more. If you're doing okay in lane and your teammate is helping take down enemies, go for The Executioner because the debuff is invaluable, especially against supports and bruisers. If you're having trouble with keeping up, having to run a lot, or your lanemate is simply not doing a whole lot of work, go for Warrior Tabi because the movement speed and self-buff penetration will benefit you more. Xbalanque, or any god really, is to simply not die. Darkest of Nights as much as possible, and if you see a teammate in a bad spot or a gank incoming on someone, don't be afraid to use it. You can be as much of a savior for your team as a killer for the enemy. Darkest of Nights timing: A common mistake I see a lot of Xbalanque players do is using their ult as a stun alone just for themselves to try to get a solo kill. When you use it, it's safe to assume that it won't stun anyone, because most experienced players know all they have to do is stop moving momentarily. So, timing is key here. Don't be greedy and waste it. Use it for the self-buff movement speed boost and range increase to hit fleeing enemies, or if you see an enemy in a position where he's in danger of dying but might escape. It is especially good to use in teamfights after your team has initiated, on top of other god's ults.
Xbalanque does best, killing out-of-reach enemies. Xbalanque does it especially well. By now, you'll be approximately level 14+ (if the lane phase hasn't dissolved too quickly) and should have built up to Devourer's Gloves, The Executioner, Warrior Tabi, Focused Voidblade, and Malice, (or equivalent lifesteal build items) or have at least begun working on Focused Voidblade. If you're at Focused Voidblade by now, it's probably safe to say you've been doing quite well for yourself, if not then don't worry, the build can be quite expensive, even in the long run, but it's worth the grind. Branching Bola available to you also. This will make it easy to quickly clear lanes of minions or to inflict AOE damage so that your teammate can clear with last hits so they can catch up. When helping a teammate, do not take all the last hits! Xbalanque, you're not going to be a front-line fighter in any teamfight, you are very squishy and if you get caught in a pull or ult it could easily mean a quick trip back to fountain. Don't be afraid to use your Rising Jaguar to your advantage to escape AOEs if you are careless and get caught in them. It can even be used to counter Ares and Hades ults in particular (use it right at the end of Ares's ult, because the CC immunity from Rising Jaguar only lasts approx 1 second). Poison Darts) the enemy until a teammate can get an ult up, or a jungler comes in for an initiation (
Mercury is one of my favorites with 
Special Delivery). In most cases, with the exception that you're the one coming in from jungle, you will NOT be the sole initiator in a full-on teamfight. Dropping Darkest of Nights might seem appealing and look good on paper with the stun and blind, but I can assure you that if the enemy team is even halfway aware of what's going on then they'll take the cue, seeing you coming in and your ult, and use you as the initiate for them, and you'll inevitably die. You simply don't have the punch for initiation on Darkest of Nights alone. This is when you let your tank or assassin buddy start the show.|
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Ares initiates the teamfight with  No Escape and catches three enemies. As soon as Ares comes down, Xbalanque uses Darkest of Nights and enters the fight with Poison Darts and Rising Jaguar, landing behind the enemy team. Xbalanque either activates Branching Bola and begins attacking the squishiest target caught in the ult or gives chase to enemies that were not caught, assuming neither of them were the enemy tank or an assassin. Xbalanque has guaranteed that the enemies caught in No Escape had no way to react to the ult through retaliatory attacks and has also caused their teammates to lose sight of their allies who were pulled in through the blinding darkness. Great job Xbalanque!
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Xbalanque initiates the teamfight from the front of the enemy team with Darkest of Nights. The enemy sees this and falls back into their tower or scatters into the jungle. Ares now can't engage with No Escape because the enemy is out of range or there are fewer in range than would warrant it. Xbalanque has now blown his Darkest of Nights cooldown and the enemy team can regain their footing to make their own push without the threat of Xbalanque's ult. Xbalanque has also used a valuable escape tool for his team in the case of a botched push, creating a higher probability of the enemy team making a determined push back. Bad Xbalanque!
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Darkest of Nights is a very tempting ability to start pushes with, but what matters here is: timing, timing, timing, timing. I really can't say it enough, timing. You are not a bruiser or tank, but you can do a hell of a lot of damage on shot notice. If you're coming up on a teamfight from the rear and see that your team is being piled on, or vice versa, then you're going to pick someone squishy in the back of the enemy team and that's when you use Darkest of Nights to throw some chaos into the mix and begin getting basic attacks in (preferably with Branching Bola on for extra damage, provided you have mana to spare) from a good distance away. Once the stun is on or the self-buff is off, either use Rising Jaguar to close the remaining ground or use your Poison Darts, Rising Jaguar combo. Try not to start off with the combo during your ult if your basic attack is an option instead because usually you don't have to worry too much about what the enemy will do while Darkest of Nights is counting down, but what they do after it's hit. You may need Rising Jaguar to make a quick escape or to run down someone using Combat Blink or escape abilities, like 
Agni or Cupid. Purification Beads at this point, especially if the enemy team is CC-heavy. Some gods in particular to watch out for are Cupid, 
Poseidon, 
Athena, 
Artemis, and 
Neith. Cupid and Poseidon both have the ability to disable your Rising Jaguar through cripples (
Whirlpool and 
Fields Of Love), while Athena's 
Confound ability is simply deadly when she has teammates around or you're on low health. Artemis and Neith are other ADCs that have counters to you through CCs, particularly 
Spirit Arrow that will root you and either disable your Rising Jaguar or possibly stop you mid-air and 
Calydonian Boar which has a fairly potent stun combined with damage that you'd be better off avoiding.
Xbalanque is that he is an incredibly teamplay-oriented god. Yes, he can do quite well on his own in solo fights against single enemies, but he truly shines when he is supporting his team with Darkest of Nights and harassing the enemy by never allowing a kill to walk away free. A skilled Xbalanque player will take full advantage of the arsenal of skills and tools he has available to him to ensure his team stays ahead. Xbalanque can reach many places that other gods can't to finish off enemies or to kill weakened enemies that can easily domino into a full-blown deicide if played well and aggressively. Many people will underestimate your presence because you should stay back as much as possible, but you have one of the longest reaches of any god in the game when combining your Rising Jaguar with your basic attacks that can do an incredibly respectable amount of damage on their own, especially when building penetration. Xbalanque is a powerful early game god with a lot of punch and even more powerful late game, where he finishes stronger than he began.
10/26/2013 - Release revision
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Hel
Unravel
I really think that
Also,
But this guide is quite good. I already upvoted it.
Voidblade is taken for the protection, not only penetration. Qin's Sais is there as an optional, the build is very flexible. If you don't need the protection, then build Sais instead. The idea on the core build is simply staying alive, since you always build your protections first. You're going to be a target in mid-game because people will generally do everything in their power to stop you from snowballing, which is why it helps.
And I know, it's a slow. I haven't really seriously updated this guide in months and I made this in like the first month that I started playing.
Also,
But this guide is quite good. I already upvoted it.
His strong basic attack damage is usually enough to scare off anyone getting close to try to damage you 1v1, in my experience, because once you eat a Xbalanque bola you're going to be having serious doubts about whether you want to be in range or not to someone that's hitting 700-800 on a regular basis, plus has an ult that allows it to have absurd reach. Someone that's good with basic attacks can kill virtually any ranged god solo without needing the heal and most melees. All up to preference though, and lifesteal is always beneficial if you are finding yourself in lots of 1v1 situations, however.
Also, I should probably edit that lifesteal build now that I'm thinking about it, because it's not as refined as it should be.
And that's exactly why Heartseeker is such a powerful early game item, especially combined with the Executioner. Both items and on the cheaper end and are incredibly powerful when used together, especially if you're duo lane and your teammate can take advantage of the debuff from the Executioner. A fully stacked Heartseeker is +75 physical power. And even if you lose half of the buff on a death, you're sitting on +50 which is respectable for that cheap of an item. It's a win/win.
I appreciate the suggestions and things though. Perhaps I'll cover the alternative build at some point, for a better explanation and maybe a "beginner" section for people who have trouble with his squishiness. He can be built very well as a lifesteal/sustain god, it's just not the purpose I typically go for with him.
Also with him I either start with tier two boots, one mana pot and two health pots, getting blue camp, or death's toll, tier one boots a mana pot and a health pot if I want to play a bit safer. If I'm doing good in lane I rush Heartseeker before I get boots, if you think about it, full heartseeker cost only 1950 coins, if you are winning lane and getting kills enough to feel confident you wont feed, you should be staying in lane long enough to buy the item in full on your first trip back to base!! That's what usually happens to me.
I rarely, if ever use lifesteal because you'd be better off devoting your hits to pure damage instead of trying to stay alive. Xbalanque doesn't exactly last long enough in a straight up fight to make use of lifesteal.
I appreciate the compliments, and I'll be continuing the modify things and fine tune to try to make it even better!
You have it all. Detailed skill and item section, great active's section and lots of BBCode without it being annoying and a nice format. I can't wait until your strategy section is complete.
I don't know what constructive critism I can give you. This guide is gorgeous.
I will +1 and favorite and start playing some