Rama - Sniped From Across the Lane (S4!)

9/4/16:

• Adjusted Qin's Sais explanation
• Adjusted Transcendence explanation
• Added fancy picture to the introduction
• Updated build
• Adjusted Items chapter
• Updated Pros & Cons

6/2/17:

• Updated guide for Season 4
• Updated build
• Changed tips and tricks
• Changed Matchups
• Added Levelling order
  
  8/2/17:
  • Updated Skills to look more appealing
  
  22/2/17:
  • Changed the build to feature devourer's gauntlet
  • Removed Bloodforge from alternative items
  • Updated description for abilities and items

PROS Easy to use Strong Attack Speed Steroid Strong escape Has a great amount of CC for a hunter

CONS Below average early game Hard to master Dependant on player's ability to aim Requires great reflexes to use his escape

Pick Me Up

Passive: Astral Quiver

Rama's Astral Quiver generates an Astral Arrow every 12s. Also, every basic attack that Rama lands will reduce the amount of time to generate an arrow by 2s. Astral Arrows are used with Rama's other abilities.

This passive is basically just a little reminder for the main use of the god. You're going to be using his Astral Arrows a lot so make sure you always stock up before going into battle.

Ability 1: Astral Strike

Rama switches to a more powerful arrow that pierces and slows enemies. This ability consumes 1 of Rama's Astral Arrows and deals bonus damage with every shot. Damage from this ability is reduced to 75% for each enemy hit after the first. Rama cannot toggle this ability if he has no Astral Arrows. The slow can be stacked up to 3 times.

Ability Type: Buff
Bonus Damage: 15 / 25 / 35 / 45 / 55
Slow: 10% (Stacks up to 3 times)
Slow Duration: 2s
Cost: 20 + 1 arrow per shot

This is your main wave clear ability with Rama. By using your Astral Arrows you'll be doing bonus damage on your AA and slowing for up to 30% which is quite a lot if you're a slow support or a mage with no mobility.

Ability 2:Pick Me UpPick Me Up

Passive: Any time an enemy is hit by an Astral Arrow there is a % chance that an Astral Arrow pickup will appear on the ground (Only procs on the first enemy hit by Astral Strike). The pickup adds one Arrow to Rama's Astral Arrow count.

Active: Rama gains increased attack speed.

Ability Type: Buff, Pickup
Drop Chance for Arrow Pickup: 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50%
Attack Speed Increase: 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50%
Attack Speed Increase Duration: 5s
Cost: 80 / 85 / 90 / 95 / 100
Cooldown: 15 / 14 / 13 / 12 / 11s

This really allows you to pump out damage when it comes mid to late game. The simple fact you gain 50% attack speed allows you to hit the 2.5 cap with 2 or 3 attack speed items. Do mind that the arrows dropped from the passive can be seen by enemies as well so they will try to bait you to pick them up before ambushing you.

Ability 3: Rolling Assault

Rama performs a roll in the direction he is currently traveling. After performing a dodge roll, for 5s Rama's next basic attack will consume an astral arrow that cripples the target and deals bonus damage. Rama incurs no movement penalty during this shot.

Ability Type: Dash
Bonus Damage: 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100
Cripple Duration: 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2s
Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90
Cooldown: 11s

The roll can be considered a very strong escape due to the fact you don't need to face the way you want to roll in order to use it. If you're boxing with your enemy and see their support trying to come over to CC you, you can simply backpedal and roll away to find yourself a safe distance away. The cripple afterwards is also great for rather aggressive plays so this is a very versatile move.

Ultimate: Astral Barrage

Rama launches into the air and shoots 3 powerful arrows at the ground, each successive shot increasing in damage: 50%, 75%, 100% and decreasing in AOE size: 30, 20, 15.

Ability Type: AOE
Damage: 200 / 300 / 400 / 500 / 600 (+60% of your physical power)
Radius: 30 / 20 / 15
Cost: 100 / 110 / 120 / 130 / 140
Cooldown: 90s

This ability is probably the best skill shot in the game to master. You can impress anyone by using this. Enemy running away with a slither of health? Channel your inner Saiyan, scream "UGGHHHAAAAAA!" and start flinging high velocity arrows their way and 10 episodes later you'll win.

Ninja Tabi is the boots I recommend for this build mainly due to how effective AS is on Rama. You could use Warrior Tabi If you wish to have the damage but late game the AS will be much better.

The next item allows for your early game to be much easier against physical hunters but with Sol and Freya showing up here and there you might want to invest into Silverbranch Bow instead to steal their power.

Picking this up early on and getting to stacking allows you to benefit from the power and lifesteal late game for those rather rough teamfight. Just do not delay picking this item up otherwise you may find yourself un-able to stack it.

Wind Demon

This item has been in the meta for a good while now and for the good reason. It has crit, attack speed and a movement speed buff that can make landing shots more easier. For this build we're going to be focusing more on crit then pure penetration.

40% increased crit damage?! Sign me up! But no seriously, between this and Malice it's really up to you with Malice rewarding consistent shot landing and DB allowing for solid trading in lane when mid-late game shows up.

We do Titan's bane last to make sure that our crits are able to easily punch through defence. If you want to you could trade this for The Executioner but you will be even more reliant on your AA for the damage to amp up.

Now this mainly comes down to what you feel most comfortable using and how many tanks they have. If it's one or two I can say Executioner is much better choice since you can focus on shredding their protections. However if they have a very tank heavy line-up then I'd keep with Titan's Bane since you won't be needing to stack the protection shred on everyone.

Swap the crit build for a Qin's build and watch as that extra physical damage rip right through some tanks. Do note that mitigation effects can counter-act this.

When you're getting beaten in lane and don't have enough for the bigger brother of Wind Demon then you can switch over to this to have crit and damage reduction along with a slow which should give you a fighting chance.

Once again, I'd pick up Malice over DB if you're struggling to make the gold up. Poisoned Star and Malice is a rather nice combo as you'll be able to land more shots and the DoT should allow your DPS too soon rack up on any enemy.

With season 4, Soul Eater got a rather nice change to it allow you too easily regain health from fights by constantly auto-attacking and at 2200 gold it's pretty cheap.

Once again building this as a replacement to Ichaival allows you to box magical ADC's such as Sol and Freya. Plus with it being just as cheap as it's little brother it is pretty great!

It's cheap and it provides fairly decent protections along with added power. This is probably the only real defence item I'd recommend for any ADC due to it's sheer versatility.

Magi's Blessing

Along with the other defence item this is quite good for team's that have waaaay too much CC for an ADC to handle. Sure you can take Purification Beads but this just adds that little bit extra.

TIP #1: Calm and Steady Wins the Race!
Aim your ultimate! Trust me, I've gone against so many Rama players just to see them mess up all 3 shots of their ultimate. It's quite embarrassing so note then when you go up into the air you've got time and patience is your best ally. 6 seconds to fire 3 shots is pretty long.

TIP #2: Dodging Daringly vs Dodging Carefully
We've all been there. Duo lane and your chasing the enemy ADC in order to catch up and deal the last blow but their support is hastily running back from fountain. Your ult is down but your roll is up. Do you waste it to probably get that last shot in or do you just let them go so you can dodge any incoming ganks? To be fair it's all about judgement at this rate but just make sure you don't try and make sick plays only to get bombarded on by all 5 of the enemy team.

TIP #3: Press 2 and Go Pew Pew!
YOU SHOULD ALWAYS USE YOUR 2 OFF CD WHEN IN A FIGHT!

No I'm serious, the DPS increase from your 2 is practically allowing you to get to 2.5 attack speed so please just abuse it. Rama isn't as mana hungry late game as other hunters so just make sure your using this all the time!

Ramavs Chiron Difficulty: Average
Chiron has as much range as you let him have. It's all about lane dominance so having an aggressive support such as Ymir and Kumbhakarna can help immensely at shutting him down. Just watch out for backing in case he decides to use Centaurus to finish you off.

Ramavs Neith Difficulty: Easy
Fighting a Neith comes down to whether she lands her Spirit Arrow on you or not. If she does then she'll easily burst you down with a few AAs but if she misses it then you can easily punish her. Rolling Assault can easily counter her Backflip before and after she uses it so use that to your advantage.

Ramavs Ullr Difficulty: Hard
Ugh....This guy...This guy right here is a nuisance to deal with in lane. His trading is off the charts with his 1 and 3 in bow stance being able to do half if not 3/4 your health. Best thing to do is to use Rolling Assault in order to dodge and use the cripple to allow you to get a few AA's in. JUST BE READY TO BEADS HIS STUN!

Rama is probably one of the hardest gods to properly nail down as you need to have practically Barracuda levels of aiming. But once you get that aim there is no shot you can't aim and no shot you can't miss.

Hope you guys enjoyed my guide to Rama! Make sure to check out my other guides and as always...
Happy Hunting,
-Sods