"Shot to the heart, and I'm to blame"- Cupid

Hi everybody! This going to be the first build that I ever publish, and of course it is going to be over my first diamond, cause why not? I'm most definitely open to any criticism. I will say though, that this build is mostly a preference build! I'm not sure how many times I hear that this isn't even a good build, due to Devo's gauntlets and Asi being here both! I'll get into that later, because there are multiple people who believe Asi is enough life steal, and a lot of people who think that Devo's gauntlets are enough life steal. But without further a due, let's hop right into Pro's and Con's of even playing Cupid!

Fully stacked Heartbomb allows for an aggressive early game poke.
Best sustain as a hunter, so long as your support picks up your hearts from Share the Love.
Viable team healer
Hits like a freight train
Comes with a stun and a 2.5s mesmerize
His dash can also increase the support's movement speed also

Very squishy early game
No lane clear what so ever!
Besides Cupid's ultimate, his 1 is the only other damaging ability

Passive:

Lovestruck- For every basic attack that cupid lands on an enemy, he builds 1 stack towards his passive. The passive maxes out at 8, giving an additional bonus to Cupid's other moves.

Abilities:

Heartbomb- Cupid shoots a heart that sticks to the first enemy hit (Doesn't go through minions) dealing initial damage, and has a timer that activates doing additional damage equal to that of the initial damage dealt. If Lovestruck is maxed, when the heart explodes, it gives of a 1s stun.

Share the Love- Cupid drops 3 floating hearts that can heal anyone on his team that picks them up. If an ally picks up the hearts, Cupid will gain mana for each heart picked up. Heals are more effective with Lovestruck maxed.

Flutter- Is a dash that temporarily attack speed for 6s, leaving behind a trail of hearts. If an ally walks through the trail, they gain an extra 30% movement speed.

Fields of Love- Cupid fires heart arrows at a selected location, slowing and crippling an enemy inside. When the field explodes, it mesmerizes enemies for 2.5s. If Lovestruck is maxed, it also applies a 1s stun.

Typically on hunters, you just build attack speed and crits, right? Well, on cupid, I tend to focus more on hitting hard than the attack speed. Reason being, his flutter is a natural attack speed steroid! This will allow for Cupid to build more damage and still end up with the same attack speed as a normal hunter, or possibly even more. Another part in this process is the fact that I build two lifesteal items! This is preferential as I like to be able to take intensive amounts of damage and still drop a triple due to the massive amount of lifesteal. Don't take the build for being trash if you like more attack speed because it still averages to about a 1.8 attack speed. However, every know and then I tend to build the triple crits, as I actually aim and shoot, rather than holding down the trigger button, and this will allow for great damage!

You may already know how to wombo-combo with certain supports, but I'm going to throw this in just to show the only supports you really want to lane with. (1) and (2) represent the initial scenario explained.

Ymir: Without a doubt, anyone can lane with Ymir, but Ymir provides a great duo lane partner. Reasons being: (1) Imagine the ADC getting to cocky on the minion clear and decides to move up or its just that point in the game where you want to focus the other ADC. Ymir will initiate with his freeze. While frozen, Cupid drops a heart bomb while hitting auto's at the same time that Ymir goes in with his Ice Spikes. Quarter health left, if not dead... (2) Now imagine the jungle ganks the lane and all three decide to push you and Ymir. You go through the same phase as before, deciding whether to focus ADC or Jungler, and then Cupid will drop his Ultimate at the same time Ymir drops his ultimate. This will cripple, double slow, do tremendous amounts of damage, and the 2.5s Mesmerize allows for you and Ymir to catch up to whoever is still barely alive.

***bakharna: ***ba is probably my favorite duo laning partner, due to the fact that he is never banned and makes for an amazing wombo-combo! (1) ***ba will initiate by using his mesmerize, which should be maxed first allowing for a 3s time period, he will line up his root and as soon as the root lands, cupid will throw his heart bomb onto the enemy. From here, ***ba will Ult, and then Cupid will wait about 1s and then throw his ult down. As soon as they land, they will immediately land and be instantly mesmerized taking another 25-50% health. By now, Cupid's heart bomb should be up again, just in case they aren't dead already. The Mesmerize will allow you to catch up to him/her. Another fun thing is called heart bomb grenades! You throw your heart bomb on a full health warrior minion and then ***ba belly flops it towards the enemy. This not only does a significant amount of damage, but allows for a 1s time frame from the stun, if the heart bomb was stacked.

Hades: Not going into much detail here, because in my opinion, you have already lost if you have been reduced to a Hades support.. but (1) Hades will initiate with his fear move, cupid throws his heart bomb, when they dash away or try to run away, Hades dash forward, does his combo (Don't know the name of his moves XD) while Cupid dashes forward to use his autos and clean up. (2) Pretty much the same as Ymir, except you would replace the freeze with a fear move. So it goes, Hades dash forward, combo, Cupid heart bomb, and then Hades and Cupid drop Ults on top of each other and unless they have beads, they are screwed!

Ares: Ares is another one of my absolute favorites, as I completely dominate with Ares as my support. (1) Ares will begin by throwing his 3 chains onto the ADC, making sure he can't escape and slowing him down at the same time. This allows for an easy heart bomb shot, and then Ares will pretty much burn them to death as you continue using your autos. That's how strong this duo is. (2) If the other team doesn't have beads, they are royally screwed, as Ares will blink in, Ult, Cupid ulting just a few feet behind him at the same time, allowing for instant damage and mesmerize, and then a heart bomb as soon as they teleport to Ares. Now, hopefully the guy with the heart is stupid and stays with the team, resulting in the entire team taking additional damage and a stun as well!

Those are 4 really really good duo laning partner, but my order would probably go 1. ***bakarna 2. Ymir 3. Ares

Early game with cupid is kind of passive for me, or at least until level 3/5 (Depends on my support) You will build your 8 stacks for your heart bomb, throw it at the back 3 archers, and auto the warriors to death. This will allow for a decent wave clear, as Cupid isn't known for wave clears whatsoever. Once you and your support get to level 5, this should be the turning point in the lane. Wombo-combo, as previously mentioned, the ADC to death, and this afterwards try and push the support out of lane. Depending on whether the support is forced to recall or just forced into the tower, push the current minion wave and try and get some early damage on the tower. If not, fall back and grab your attack speed camp (Or theirs if you are cool enough). You just continue to do this until your support is ready to roam around.

At this point, you should already have your support roaming around, allowing for you to even further your power leveling/gold income. At this point, save your 1, and continue building your 8 stacks, make sure your 3 is also up (In case the enemy team decides to gank you, as it can be an easy 3v1 in their favor). You will just mow the wave down with your autos pretty much for the remainder of the game, as getting stuck in a cool-down situation is not going to work in your favor at all. You should also possibly be able to 1v2 them so long as you kill the ADC, as your lifesteal will sustain you enough to kill off the tank. You should also be able to get your tank to rotate over to the duo lane and cover as you have the ability to solo Gold Fury usually around levels around 13-15.

At this point in the game, you should already have your full build and if your team doesn't already have all the towers down, start to split push. Every now and then, if gold fury is up you can attempt it (Bring wards so you can know when to back down) but it won't damage you very much at all. Also make sure that you are there whenever a phoenix is being pushed, for you and the (assuming the jungler is an assassin) jungler do the most damage to buildings.