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Bluestone Pendant
Morningstar
Healing Potion
Charged Morningstar
Healing Potion
Mana Potion
Transcendence
Ninja Tabi
Asi
The Executioner
Deathbringer
Rage
Greater Purification
Greater Sprint
Aegis Pendant
Achilles' Spear
Combat Blink
Ancile
Brawler's Beat Stick
Shifter's Shield
Runic Shield
Void Shield
Witchblade
Winged Blade
Titan's Bane
Transcendence
Ninja Tabi
Asi
The Executioner
Deathbringer
Rage
Greater Purification
Greater Sprint
Y
B
A
X
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Pros
Highest DPS in the Game Tied for Best Hunter Mobility with  ApolloAll Abilities are Teamfight Abilities Comes Online Much Earlier due to Branching Bola
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Cons
Poor Early Game Sustain All Three Main Abilities are Interruptable No Damage Ultimate No Reliable Hard CC |
Explanation
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.
Dead of Night
MY THOUGHTS
Branching Bola
MY THOUGHTS
Poison Darts
Xbalanque fires 10 darts gradually, each at a different angle, in a cone shape from right to left. This firing animation is the only time it is interruptible. Each darts does initial damage of 110 +40% of your physical power. A character can be hit by up to three, with the other two doing 30% damage each. Getting hit by any number of darts applies a damage over time of 30 +20% of your physical power every .5 seconds for 3 seconds, or 6 ticks. In total, this all results in a minimum damage of 290 +160% of your physical power, or 698 damage at full passive stacks. This all results in a maximum of 356 +184% of your physical power, or 825.2. Also, the darts apply a 20% slow for the 3-second duration.MY THOUGHTS
Rising Jaguar
Xbalanque is CC-immune during this part of the animation.MY THOUGHTS
Darkest of Nights
Xbalanque gains 60% extra movement speed and 40ft attack range. To put this into comparison, ranged characters have 55ft normally and melee 12 normally, and 
Bellona's 
Scourge gives her +4 range for a total of 16ft.MY THOUGHTS 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.
Bluestone Pendant is very standard right now, with mana regeneration being extremely helpful to sustain waveclear, the poer good for poking, and the health good for receiving poke. Morningstar allows for a quick rush of Transcendence. The Healing Potion allows you to take even more poke and stay in lane enough to farm for Transcendence.
Charged Morningstar provides very early mana regeneration and also gives some good mana and physical power. However, the lack of Bluestone Pendant's health and extremely quick mana regeneration must be compensated for with massive potion buying at the beginning. However, the benefit here is that you will not need to buy Bluestone Pendant and sell it back later, saving 800-533=267 gold. Although these potions cost 300 gold in total, later on you will need maybe two or three whereas you may need more Healing Potions with the standard build. This alternate start is only worth it if you plan to rely less on potions and are more skilled at last-hitting.
Transcendence gives Xbalanque 95 physical power by itself at Level 20. It also adds a massive 1050 to his mana pool, more than doubling it, and also adds 6 MP5. 95 extra damage on his basic attacks does him wonders in boxing, the mana and mana regeneration allow him to keep Branching Bola on indefinitely, and the power also scales really well with his Poison Darts.
Ninja Tabi is standard on Hunters right now. The power and attack speed are essential for keeping your DPS on par with the enemy ADC's, and the movement speed is generally good for going places and juking things. Remember, juking while still hitting is your lifeline in boxing. Asi provides much-needed lifesteal and attack speed, and the penetration is very helpful in wearing down tanks and structures. It is also extremely cheap, and once you have spent the ~6850 gold required to get here Xbalanque has come online. He can successfully outbox any other ADC with this much gold to spend. The passive also gets him out of tough spots in boxing, and the passive of his Branching Bola means that he can even 1v2 if the situation demands it. Also, Xbalanque can solo Gold Fury as soon as he gets Asi.
The Executioner gives everything a Hunter needs: attack speed, power, and penetration. This makes it ideal for boxing and makes killing tanks a cinch. Even late-game when tanks have all their defenses built, this item's passive helps your entire team do extra damage to the enemy.
Xbalanque reaches late-game in his build, he indisputably outboxes every single other Hunter in the game with just basic attacks. Critical strikes will deal 250% of the normal 674.5, or 1686.25. This is before mitigations, of course, but this makes destroying enemy ADCs a joke, and their Mages will be dropping like flies, too. Even the bruisers and supports will have time dealing with his insane 1v1 and teamfight damage.
Since there are so many of them, I decided to make a separate section for situational items.
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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!
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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!
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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!
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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!
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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!
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This is completely and absolutely necessary in every possible situation, despite however ahead you may be. It is the only constant through all of your games, and you will always buy it. It gives you complete and utter immunity to all forms of CC for 3 seconds, making it very good for escaping and even during fighting. |
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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).
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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!
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This is the new form of Sprint that gives you movement speed, attack speed, and lifesteal. However, it is situational only because you are also taking extra damage the entire time. Cases of diminishing returns are commonplace with this item, so ONLY GET IT IF YOU ARE ACTUALLY BEING OUTDAMAGED! |
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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!
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StartInitial LaningPost-Item LaningTransition to Mid-GameLate-GameTeamfightsYour Time in the JungleInvading
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Explanation Poison Darts's range, then you can do the following: use Rising Jaguar first, but only AFTER the enemy's escape has been burned and you know this for sure, and then using Poison Darts AFTER you have caught up. This will allow you to secure otherwise impossible kills and also lands a few basic attacks afterwards due to the slow.
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Explanation Rising Jaguar if it will force them to back or if your jungler is rotating to gank. Also, if your support is 
Sylvanus or 
Ares and one of them can pull in or slow the enemy ADC, you can do this combo with Rising Jaguar and land a few Branching Bolas to nab the kill. This is your early game execution combo.
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Explanation| useless space | STANDARD BUILD | more useless space | THIS BUILD |
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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. |
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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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
Ichaival for another item, such as Malice, 
Odysseus' Bow, or Titan's Bane. The latter build retains high DPS even with Asi, and it saves gold by not selling an item. Both builds will sell Bluestone Pendant, although my aforementioned Alternate Start can avoid even that. Basically, this build is completely mathematically superior in every aspect, and to top it off stacks quicker. The only possible downside is the greater cost of Transcendence over Devourer's Gauntlet, but after factoring in selling the second build is cheaper as well. This makes it vastly superior, and the greater attack speed fully abuses the flat damage on Branching Bola.
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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.
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 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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Qin's Sais
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
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
I don't know what the reason is you changed (or why this changed for hunters without inbuild crit ) the
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,
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
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
I don't know what the reason is you changed (or why this changed for hunters without inbuild crit ) the
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
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.