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Book of Thoth changes make it less viable for her. Chronos Pendant gives Hera an earlier power spike and also increased CDR, which is crucial since Argus now has a longer cooldown at rank 1.
Recommended starter for Hera as of 6.1 since the Book of Thoth changes make it less viable for her. Chronos Pendant gives Hera an earlier power spike and also increased CDR, which is crucial since Argus now has a longer cooldown at rank 1.
Mage's Blessing
Lost Artifact
Healing Potion
Mana Potion
Spear of Desolation for the early Penetration and CDR, followed by 
Shoes of Focus and then your standard build, such as Chronos Pendant
EXTREMELY EXPERIMENTAL: Something I've seen being built by the "pros" more recently. The item order is supposed to be Spear of Desolation for the early Penetration and CDR, followed by Shoes of Focus and then your standard build, such as Chronos Pendant
Mage's Blessing
Magic Focus
Healing Potion
Mana Potion
Rod of Tahuti or 
Soul Gem could end up being replaced with more Penetration.
Since Season 6 is still relatively fresh, it isn't set in stone which build is (generally) the best for Hera right now. This is a build that I have been experimenting with recently and it seems to work fine. It's possible that Rod of Tahuti or Soul Gem could end up being replaced with more Penetration.
Chronos' Pendant
Shoes of the Magi
Spear of Desolation
Shaman's Ring
Soul Gem
Rod of Tahuti
Build into Penetration if the enemy solo rotates often.
Chronos' Pendant
Shoes of the Magi
Spear of Desolation
Soul Gem
Divine Ruin
Soul Reaver
Gem of Isolation will NOT make Argus' attacks or AoE damage slow enemies. Build items like Gem of Isolation purely for your own benefit, not for 
Argus, the Defender
With the return of Elixir of Speed and the intention of it being a replacement of Boots/Shoes, this leaves most builds open to the addition of a sixth item. Here are some suggestions of what I think can be added towards the end of the build.
*Note: Argus does not proc item passives or on-hit effects, for example: building items such as Gem of Isolation will NOT make Argus' attacks or AoE damage slow enemies. Build items like Gem of Isolation purely for your own benefit, not for Argus, the Defender
Bancroft's Talon
Book of the Dead
Obsidian Shard
Book of Thoth
Winged Blade
Gem of Isolation
Y
B
A
X
Tap each threat level to view Hera’s threats
|
General Health: 380 (+68) Mana: 265 (+45) Speed: 365 (+0) Range: 55 (+0) Attack/Sec: 0.9 (+1%) |
Regen HP5: 6 (+0.45) MP5: 4.8 (+0.41) Protection Magical: 30 (+0.9) Physical: 9 (+2.7) |
Basic Attack Damage: 34+1.45(+20% of Magical Power) Progression: None . . . . |
|
Pros:
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Cons:
. . . . . . |
Argus, the Defender: Cooldown increased from 70s to 90s. Hera all that much in practice. While the change does hurt her since she is so dependent on having Argus, the Defender available for her burst combo, it doesn't completely nullify her as a valid Mid-lane or Solo pick. With the increased cooldown time, Shoes of Focus seem even more viable on Hera as long as you have enough flat Penetration from the rest of your build.
Argus, the Defender she can still be incredibly strong in the right hands. The Queen of Olympus isn't one you should underestimate.
Chapter templates by Zilby
https://www.smitefire.com/smite/guide/a-template-for-guides-11963
Special thanks to Kriega1 for the (mostly) constructive criticism and for informing me about the interaction between 'pets' and item passives.
Guide Changes
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Grasping Hands
Mummify
Death Gaze
Purification Beads
Vivid Gaze
Wrap It Up
Life of the Party
Noxious Fumes
Flame Wave
Rain Fire
Glyph of Pain
Hieroglyphic Assault
Final Judgement
Flicker
Pillar of Agony
I do have a couple of comments towards this build as a player who has played a lot of Hera recently.
1. Book of Thoth I have found is more a hinderance due to stacks. Hera bursts just as fine without it and can gain other benefits without even having to stack. For the start, an early boots can help Hera use her 1 to dip and and out. Or a Lost Artifact (Tier 1 Chronos') will help with MP5 and the power.
2. Spear of deso is in the same place as book; it's a good item but not necesary on Hera. Something like Shamans ring boosts Heras movement speed even more and gives her more damage.
3. Book of the dead simply isn't useful enough on Hera. Sure it may help you survive the close range gods but Hera should either have Poly or Argus up to counter that. If you play the abilities right you should never need book to save you. Hera effectively has 3 abilities to help her away. Poly is good CC that also slows, your shield gives you a shiled and boosts movement speed. And Argus is excellent for his knockup, damage, and the slow he has.
4. I read some comments talking about how obsidian shard doesn't work on Argus but flat pen does. This may be true but Argus damage mostly happens when Argus is dropped and when your shield is up. I find that most damage comes from Hera's other abilities NOT Argus.
If I sounded rude in this comment I didn't mean it that way, I appologize.
2. Don't think you understand the purpose of spear of deso, no it doesen't give her more damage than shamans. Deso has 15 pen and doesen't need to be stacked.
1. I don't think book is a go to anymore but it's still lategame option for power if you're also building soul reaver and perhaps book of the dead.
Why don't you get
Anyway, what are your thoughts?
'Bo- Wait... ARGUS! Do something!' is intended for mid-lane. Also includes a build titled 'Arena Build' because while it can work in Conquest, it's better suited to Arena where items like Book of Thoth are not practical.
'The Queen of Conquest' is intended for solo-lane.
I'll add (Mid) and (Solo) prefixes to each build tab respectively.
I know you think you were smart when writing this, but considering the second build is called "The Queen of Conquest", you can hopefully understand how this was misleading.
Defensive start you don't need those health pots if you're going Guardian's Blessing, just get blessing, health chalice and tier 1 boots.
The Hades build has 10% CDR. Not really ideal. I also don't think
Anyway, this all looks solid. Good humor, good, knowledgeable tips, and build choices and order seem solid. Also cool you've listened to critique but also kept to your own preferences.
No offense but i've seen this style of comment often written by you.
I give much more complex advice when I'm familiar with the god. Hence why I gave very brief comments for Knox's Hera build, but felt the effort given was worth my comment.
And Knox has responded to your comments with good patience. This is the type of person we want on the website. Not trolling, willing to listen and consider. Not everyone is just going to tailor their builds to exactly what you say. And if you want to scare off every person that doesn't build exactly like you want, then this is going to be an extremely lonely place.
In the end, this is a game we're discussing, and this is a gaming website. Discussion and debate is great, and no one is perfect. I do what I can (and with the time I have available) to offer advice, but I also rely on people like you and others to help with that.
Never suggested anything like that. But when a build has glaring issues that can be improved im allowed to speak on it. For the most part this build wasn't problematic, it just needed a few tweaks.
"For the most part this build wasn't problematic, it just needed a few tweaks." In my opinion, Kriega did convey his criticism in a NON disrespectful way (I appreciate his feedback in general as well).
IDK who started this chain of downvoting comments, but that wasn't necessary. I upvoted you guys' comments so we can all get back to neutral ground. Thanks.
I can be passive aggressive if I want. Don't you dare challenge me on that.
XD
You do know they have base magical protections right?
Take Ra for instance, he gets 30 magical protections at base (+0.9 per level until level 20). Thats 48 protections at level 20.
Lets look at Ne Zha, also 30 base (+0.9 per level).
15 flat pen just isn't good enough. And you have over enough mana from Reaver and Thoth to benefit book of the dead, and Hera also has her own shield.
And if you think the enemy jungler never builds magical defense you clearly have never heard on
Unless significantly ahead, a squishy jungler is just asking to get focused down and blown up.
I understand that you feel more comfortable with
The only thing im not too sure about is the Solo builds but I don't have anything on that right now.