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Pros
Highest DPS in the Game Tied for Best Hunter Mobility with Apollo All Abilities are Teamfight Abilities Comes Online Much Earlier due to Branching Bola |
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Xbalanque is a very unique character in that his Branching Bola gives him insane boxing potential, and his other three abilities give him unparalleled teamfight potential. The latter is, of course, in regard to ADCs, although Xbalanque would certainly give teamfight mages such as Eset a run for their money.
Xbalanque is a Hunter, meaning he relies primarily on his basic attacks. His Branching Bola scales with attack speed, critical damage, and penetration. These are the core stats he will build around.
Since there are so many of them, I decided to make a separate section for situational items.
This provides 50 physical power, 20% CDR, and 50 magical protections at full stacks. It can replace Rage first, but if that is already changed, then The Executioner. If you need to change more than this then that means your play could be bettered. Get it against high-damage bursty mages such as Poseidon, Freya, Chang'e, Hel, etc. ONLY GET IT IF THESE CHARACTERS ARE ACTUALLY GIVING YOU TROUBLE! |
This provides 40 physical power, 20 penetration, and 40% healing reduction. It can replace The Executioner first, but if that is already changed, then Rage. If you need to change more than this then that means your play could be bettered. Get it against heavy healers such as Ra, Chang'e, Hel, Aphrodite, or even ADCs since it affects lifesteal as well. ONLY GET IT IF THESE CHARACTERS ARE ACTUALLY GIVING YOU TROUBLE! |
This provides 60 physical power and 15 protections when above 50% health and 40 physical power and 35 protections when below 50% health. It can replace Rage first, but if that is already changed, then The Executioner. If you need to change more than this then that means your play could be bettered. Get it against teams you are just taking a little too much damage from, since the passive can really help you in a clutch situation. ONLY GET IT IF YOU ARE ACTUALLY TAKING TOO MUCH DAMAGE! There are better novelty picks if you are ahead, like Malice and Titan's Bane. |
This provides 25 physical power, 50 magical protection, and all enemies within Xbalanque's basic attack range has their magical power reduced by 50. It can replace only Rage, as it does not provide enough physical power to compensate for a loss of The Executioner. If you need to change both The Executioner and Rage, then that means your play could be bettered. Get it against teams whose damage Ancile will not mitigate enough. ONLY GET IT IF THE MAGICAL CHARACTERS ARE ACTUALLY GIVING YOU TROUBLE! |
This item provides 25 physical power, 50 penetration, and reduces the physical protection of all enemies within Xbalanque's basic attack range by 15. It can replace Rage, but there is also a bit leniency in that the pseudo-penetration it provides can perhaps compensate for a loss of The Executioner. Get it against teams with both an aggressive ADC and bruiser/utility character, such as Cupid, Thor, Hercules, Chaac, etc. ONLY GET IT IF THESE CHARACTERS ARE ACTUALLY GIVING YOU TROUBLE! |
This item provides 45 physical protection, 15% attack speed, and reduces the attack speed and physical power of all enemies within Xbalanque's basic attack range by 15% and 25, respectively. It can replace Rage, but as with Void Shield there is a bit more leniency in that the debuffs it provides can perhaps compensate for a loss of The Executioner. Get it against teams Void Shield doesn't mitigate enough against. ONLY GET IT IF THE PHYSICAL CHARACTERS ARE ACTUALLY GIVING YOU TROUBLE! |
This item provides 300 health, 10% CDR, 10% movement speed, and 10% attack speed. It also gives you an immunity to slows every 30 seconds. It can replace only Rage, since the attack speed alone will not even come close to compensating for a loss of The Executioner. Get it against teams stacking slows like Poseidon, Zhong Kui, Ymir, etc. ONLY GET IT IF THESE CHARACTERS ARE ACTUALLY GIVING YOU TROUBLE! |
This item gives you 30 physical power and 33% physical penetration. Get it against teams with innately tanky bruisers and supports, such as Odin, Zhong Kui, Osiris, Nox, Bellona, Vamana, Tyr, etc. ONLY GET IT IF THESE CHARACTERS ARE ACTUALLY NOT TAKING ENOUGH DAMAGE! |
This is almost definitely the other active you will be buying. It gives you the temporary passive of Hastened Fatalis, improving his already astounding kill secure. Also, it is good for boxing since it allows you to box and juke simultaneously (which you can already do, but this improvs your ability to do so). |
This is definitely the form of Aegis you want since they removed the ability to use Greater Aegis during CC. This allows you to move and have damage immunity for a short duration. However, ONLY GET THIS IF THE ENEMY BURSTERS (usually Mages) ARE ACTUALLY GIVING YOU TROUBLE! |
This is very situational in that it is essentially only useful against an Odin or possibly an Ymir. It makes up for the fact that Xbalanque doesn't have a leap while simultaneously maintaining his chase potential, but it has a three-minute cooldown compared to Greater Sprint's one-minute. ONLY GET IT IF YOU ARE ACTUALLY HAVING TROUBLE IN THESE SITUATIONS! |
useless space | STANDARD BUILD | more useless space | THIS BUILD |
With the standard start of Bluestone Pendant, Spiked Gauntlet, and a Healing Potion, you will need to farm up 1400 gold for this. It needs 60 stacks and caps at 60 power and 25% lifesteal. It gives more early game sustain due to lifesteal on top of Bluestone Pendant's mana regeneration. | With the start of Bluestone Pendant, Morningstar, and a Healing Potion, you will need to farm up 1950 gold for this. That is 550 more gold needed, or roughly seven waves (I think?), which equates to about four minutes factoring in purple buff. It needs only 50 stacks and caps at (assuming Lv. 11 Xbalanque) 85 power, 300 mana, and 6 MP5. This item attempts to prove that smart play and Bluestone Pendant are enough to skip health sustain, and it goes directly for mana sustain and raw power. | ||
IS THE SAME | IS THE SAME | ||
This item costs 1700 gold and provides 30% attack speed, 10 penetration, and steals up to 30 physical power from the enemy at a max of three stacks. It is very good early game because you can now heavily damage the enemy ADC as well as deal quite a bit of damage to the enemy support. The penetration also helps against towers, which is useful. | This item is where you come online, costing 1780 gold. You finally have lifesteal and now outbox nearly every character in the game. Once you have Ourification Beads of some sort you definitely do so. The penetration helps a lot against towers and both enemy duo laners, and the passive can keep you alive in a clutch boxing match. | ||
IS THE SAME | IS THE SAME | ||
IS THE SAME | IS THE SAME | ||
IS THE SAME | IS THE SAME | ||
even more useless space | So overall, the difference here is Devourer's Gauntlet, Ichaival, and the fact that Ichaival will be sold. | more and more useless space | So overall, the difference here is Transcendence, Asi, and the fact that Asi will NOT be sold. |
Cupid is one of twp ADCs to outright counter Xbalanque. He has an infinite supply of mana due to the passive of his Spread the Love, and he also outboxes Xbalanque early-game due to the cripple on his Fields Of Love as well as his double stun in Heart Bomb and Fields Of Love. The only way Xbalanque can hope to overcome Cupid is by rushing Purification Beads and zoning both enemy laners from the hearts. If they drop back to collect hearts, then attempt to freeze the lane (this is a laning style in which you allow the enemy minions to kill your minions while zoning the enemy the entire time, thereby stripping them of both gold and XP. The only time you attack is to zone or to last hit. Also, Greater Sprint can be used during cripple and can help you immensly in outboxing Cupid. Juking the Heart Bomb is what wins you the fights. |
Ullr is the only other ADC to even come close to countering Xbalanque outright. He has a stun in his Bladed Axe, and he also has a permanent steroid for both attack speed and lifesteal. If he manages to land the stun and then attack you in Bow Form, only switching to Axe Form when dropping to low health, then he will outbox you. Thus, you must juke the Bladed Axe. Once again, Greater Sprint is the answer. Purification Beads are not a must this time because Ullr has only one form of hard CC. Once again, juking is what will help you win the fights. You can try to freeze against Ullr, but his Hail of Arrows has an extremely long range and he will be able to tag the melee creeps at least. |
The ultimate counter to Xbalanque, both Sobek's Charge Prey and Tail Whip can interrupt all three of Xbalanque's main abilities. Also, his Lurking In The Waters directly counters Darkest of Nights due to its slow effect. Overall, he is just a great bully in lane. You have no hope of freezing against him due to his plethora of initiation options, so the only way to combat him is to semi-turtle. Traditional turtling is waiting for the enemy to clear your wave and then wait for their wave to come closer to you, thus making it safer to farm. With this semi-turtling, you must use Branching Bola when both waves are pushed up, and you must be able to time Rising Jaguar as soon as you see the Sobek channeling Charge Prey. It is EXTREMELY difficult to time, and if you do it incorrectly then it will be interrupted and go on cooldown. Then you land next to your tower, manually attacking the creeps and waiting for Rising Jaguar to come off cooldown before aggressing again. |
Sylvanus is the second-best counter to Xbalanque in lane, due to his Nature's Grasp's pull and Wrath of Terra's knockup. The pull will interrupt a three of your main abilities, and the knockup will prevent you from channeling your Darkest of Nights. This is especially crucial during teamfights, since a Sylvanus Blinking in during an enemy gank and then ulting under you will leave you completely vulnerable. Purification Beads is a surefire way to get around this, but once again the timing of Rising Jaguar, which acts as a split-second Beads, is what will save you many times. Don't try freezing against Sylvanus, either, since you have to be closer to him while zoning and him catching you with his pull is your worst nightmare. No, seriously, I think Xbalanque dreams about trees with old guys and owls on them using their magical arms to grab him. |
Probably the next best counter to Xbalanque, a Ymir with Blink is someone you always fear during the laning phase. Since your Rising Jaguar is a dash, Ymir's Ice Wall actually bodyblocks you from using it. Cabrakan's ultimate does this as well, but he is left out of this list due to Rising Jaguar being able to cancel his Disorient. Also, Ymir's Frost Breath interrupts, and both his Glacial Strike and Shards of Ice slow. This freezes (haha, see what I did there?) Xbalanque's kit almost entirely. However, there remains a way to combat him. You can't freeze against Ymir, because he can throw up a wall behind you, Blink to you, then freeze you. Purification Beads is one method, but there is an extremely small instant during which Ymir draws his body back before using Frost Breath. If you Rising Jaguar during this .5 seconds>, then you will be able to escape the stun. However, even this is impossible if there is a wall behind you. Ymir is the hardest but most situational counter to Xbalanque. |
And of course, we couldn't forget to mention Incon's favorite support, the generally accepted "best support in the game," Athena. Her taunt is the Titan's Bane of your existence, interrupting all three of your main abilities and also setting you up for her Shield Wall. In the early game, this will strip you of almost a quarter of your health. Rising Jaguar can get out of her Confound, and it neuters the only real threat Athena poses. This was really just an honorable mention, since Athena isn't the best support for her hyper-aggression. |
Sylvanus provides unlimited utility with his Verdant Growth, which gives you massive MP5 in lane. With the nerf to Bluestone Pendant announced mere hours before I publish this, and the lack of blue buff in duo lane, this extra mana regeneration will aid you immensely. Also, the pull sets you up for a quick Combo 1 or even a Combo 2. He is pretty good for helping you freeze the lane because he can use pull plus your Combo 1 or Combo 2 if the enemy gets too close or even just Blink in and ult with the help of your ult. You need very good communication, but it can happen. The heal of Wisps also helps you greatly due to Asi being your third item. |
Ironic, isn't it, that many of Xbalanque's counters seem to pop up on his preferred allies list? Ymir is the ultimate lane partner for him; he provides waveclear for semi-turtling, a stun and an initiate (his Blink combo) for fighting, and a wall for freezing and zoning. Ymir and Xbalanque are certainly a lane to be feared! Also, Ymir's passive allows him to do damage even aside from his abilities, since a Frostbite basic attack is basically a critical strike of a Level 1 Hunter basic attack in the early game. |
Osiris is another beautiful synergetic support for Xbalanque. He provides insane slows for freezing and zoning, as well as initiating. His Lord of the Afterlife is good for initiating and tower diving early-game, and his Judgement Tether can keep him alive during the dives. The passive also allows him to stick to targets while diving. Ymir is by far the only runner-up to the level of aggression a support can attain with a Xbalanque. Osiris, of course, claims the title of number one. The setup and the raw kill potential is simply too much, and he can even run Death's Toll to be super hard to poke down early game. |
Until HiRez Studios decides that it's high time that they nerfed Hercules, a.k.a. NerfMePlz, he will always be a superb Warrior support. His pull plus knockback into Tower coupled with the slow of Poison Darts and the raw damage of Combo 1 into Combo 2 is devastating in the early game. It's no surprise that most first bloods go to Hercules, and first blood or assist for Xbalanque is HUGE, due to the extra gold needed for Transcendence compared to that for Devourer's Gauntlet. His Excavate also provides amazing damage early game, and Bluestone Pendant plus Mitigate Wounds will give him infinitely more sustain than any support other than Sylvanus. The perk of being a physical character is the option of Death's Toll and Bluestone Pendant, which allows bruisers like Hercules to be more aggressive. Remember, more kills equals more stacks on Dead of Night. |
So, this is my in-depth guide to Xbalanque. He has the most excuses to be aggressive out of any ADC, and he is handsomely rewarded for it. I hope you've enjoyed this guide!
Credits: http://www.smitefire.com/smite/guide/code-blue-bbcoding-for-beginners-4537
And everyone linked in it, because I stole a lot of templates:P
However, I also used this table and created my own template for that, so Jordenito if you want it I can give it to you
And with that, we depart. Long live the Mayan Moon, Xbalanque
P.S. Let me know if I missed any sections or have any mistakes, I prolly do
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I'm going to agree with zilby and avorus.
But some points:
-xba's mobility doesn't tie apollo's as apollo can travel the whole map with his ultimate. xba's ultimate can't get him this far.
Also the part of avorus with Rage is not true. it's even better to get Rage before Deathbringer as the higher crit chance (and passive) will deliver you more crit's and is cheaper raising your damage more then the deathbringer as the +50% on the low crit's and higher price is worse.
if you compare them you will have rage sooner. so you will start critting (and a lot as 30% +10% for every non crit is a lot) and because you can get Hidden Dagger right after you pass the price for deathbringger ( Rage + Hidden Dagger= 3445 cq 300 gold more) you will have a bit more power (still 10 short from DB) and even more crit's.
I don't know what the reason is you changed (or why this changed for hunters without inbuild crit ) the Rage Deathbringer combo (as I call it) as I haven't seen changes too one of these items.
Also do I like to get them as 4th and 5th item as crits can be pretty game changing (and pen is more a late game thing for me to burn through tanks) this is still a season 1 thingy though zilby knows the recent build better then I do atm
I worded my comment incorrectly! D:
But yeah, Rage is the better first choice.
But some points:
-xba's mobility doesn't tie apollo's as apollo can travel the whole map with his ultimate. xba's ultimate can't get him this far.
Also the part of avorus with Rage is not true. it's even better to get Rage before Deathbringer as the higher crit chance (and passive) will deliver you more crit's and is cheaper raising your damage more then the deathbringer as the +50% on the low crit's and higher price is worse.
if you compare them you will have rage sooner. so you will start critting (and a lot as 30% +10% for every non crit is a lot) and because you can get Hidden Dagger right after you pass the price for deathbringger ( Rage + Hidden Dagger= 3445 cq 300 gold more) you will have a bit more power (still 10 short from DB) and even more crit's.
I don't know what the reason is you changed (or why this changed for hunters without inbuild crit ) the Rage Deathbringer combo (as I call it) as I haven't seen changes too one of these items.
Also do I like to get them as 4th and 5th item as crits can be pretty game changing (and pen is more a late game thing for me to burn through tanks) this is still a season 1 thingy though zilby knows the recent build better then I do atm
The guide does feel a little cramped, especially the Skills, Situational Items, and Counters in Lane section. Perhaps you could add a little bit more spacing in-between the paragraphs?
In addition, while I can see the point of leveling Branching Bolas first, wouldn't leveling your clear make more sense? I don't play Xbalanque all that much, though, so I may be wrong. Also, I think that getting Rage first will result in the same-ish dps as getting Deathbringer first for a cheaper price, though Deathbringer does help with your abilities.
Other than those two complaints, however, this guide is great! Upvote.
So many great sections that more guides should have: situational items, ability combos, counters and partners in lane (I should really put this much work into my own guides).
And on top of all that the bbcoding is pleasing to look at and makes the guide more readable (I do recognize a lot of it from Jordenito's guide, but it was all implemented very well so kudos to you :] )
My only real critical comment is very small. In your items section, there are the words
SPACESPACE in black text. To do transparent text ie:
SPACESPACE just do
Fantastic guide though, +1 from me :]
about the boxing thing, i realize that and mention it. its pretty unsafe to box someone with lifesteal when you dont have it yourself. however, this is why xbalanque has an excuse to he overly aggressive with a support such as ymir, since you absolutely need to kill the enemy before they kill you to justify transcendence over devourers gauntlet. also about the costing thing, yes you will be losing early game. but as soon as you buy asi you are instantly better than any other hunter could be with that amount of gold, also, due to the nerf to bluestone today, transcendence provides much-needed mana regen and you can cast far more than the enrmy to harass.
but thx for the feedback, will try to put expkanation for the gold diffrenece thing
You seem to mention how transdence costs more, but nothing about how this can effect the game. While transdence is defiantly a strong stacking item, and in some cases better then devo gloves it all puts you behind the enemy adc. They will be stacking before you, and therefore be dealing ore damage early. Meaning that you are going to be losing the early game. This is different if you get a early lead from a kill for instance, but most of the time that will not be the case. It also means that if you try to box them before you get asi online, they will have lifesteal and you will not.