I am sucking a little too hard on Sol... Little help?

Got my *** handed to by a Medusa mid-late game. Still not understanding how a mage can out AA a hunter. Asking for Sol players to help.

* Hunters have more power: Hunters have better power scaling on AA (100%) Even though magical items has higher stats in general, with 5 times the scaling factor it's easy for the item scaling part to contribute much more in AA. (Also, hunters general has better base damage on AA as well)

* Hunter have more attack speed: Besides the fact that hunter's base AS stats are better. They have more item to choose from. It's typical for a hunter to build 4 or more AS items Ichaival/Soul Eater/Executioner/Hasten/Asi/Ninja Tabi. Even at full heat Sol can only be about even with a hunter in terms of attack speed. (Sure, Sol can build 3 AS item as well but she would be sacrificing so much power she won't be able to farm early game. And even if she made it to late game her AA would feel like mosquito bites due to poor power)

* Hunter have crits: If a hunter spend too much money build AS mid game. They can build crits to make up for the lack of power. Sol only have 25% damage bonus from her passive. Trying to box a hunter as Sol feels ineffective like a triple crit hunter trying to take down a Geb that has a ADC hiding behind him shooting at me.

* Qin Sais: Enough Said

The numbers just don't add up for me here. How can Sol out box any hunter?

Side question:
How do you land Sol's ult? I am guessing you should start by leading your enemy by about half a second, predicting enemy's direction of travel at the time and slowly glide the "paintbrush" backwards? I have not have much success with this tacit but feel like it should work in theory. If the enemy got knocked back by one of the fireball it should in theory sets up a chain reaction of knockbacks and successive hits.

How can Sol outbox any hunter?

She can't. That's not what her kit is designed for. Avoid boxing hunters when playing as Sol.

Be smart and dont try to outbox hunters. You are still a mage.

Combo against anyone (still dont try to 1v1 hunters though) 1-2-4-3.

What's her purpose then? She is not a burst mage as she is AA based. What's the point of AA if you can't box?

ADC are supposed to dish out damage. If her AA just can't keep up with a hunter, why is she ADC? (I am not trolling, just a very confused noob)

Being AA based doesn't mean you should be able to box hunters...

You even explained it all, in your original post, why AA mages can't competently box hunters due to item and scaling differences etc, so I don't see why it doesn't just click on your head that AA mages aren't made for boxing hunter

A good Freya or Chronos would be able to box a hunter though. Their AA damage with ability activated are comparable with hunter's crits.

What's Sol purpose then? If she can't box, her AA can't output as much damage as hunters. She has less burst than a average mage. Her AOE damage is weak compare to other AOE mages. What is she good for?

What's not clicking in my head is: I can't find her purpose in a battle.

I think maybe you want to step back a bit and recategorize in a less specific way.

Basic attacking hunters with steroids and crit...well, there's almost no comparison in straight DPS if they've got a full build. But, when you consider most of those gods, that's pretty much all they have in their repertoire. They are meant to box someone 1 v 1. Granted, Medusa is a bit of a hybrid, as she can be built for abilities too, and is a bit more ability-reliant, but her main damage is still going to be basic attack in most standard builds.

Sol's kit, though emphasizing basic attacks, is way less limited. She's got multiple AOE abilities, and should be counting on those abilities to provide almost as much damage as her basic attacks. Besides that, her Disapparate is an ability that most hunters would kill to have.

Really, it's best not to compartmentalize Sol. She definitely has her place, relying more on her full kit than the average hunter.

That said, there are other skill-based issues at hand. Maybe the Medusa was just super bad-***. Did she build Hastened Fatalis too? What was her build? Juking is a huge thing, and that type of item can really make a difference in avoiding hits just as much as sticking to the enemy for attacks. Did you build Hastened Fatalis? What was your build?

Beating out other basic attackers isn't just both of you standing still and attacking each other. In that case, absolutely, the hunter will always win. Is that fair? Sure, because Sol has a lot of other tricks up her sleeve. Just my take.

Right, I guess I have been fixated too much on the topic of 1v1 potential for Sol. In fact my real question is not in how to win a boxing match as Sol. My confusion is more about how I can play Sol effectively.






I think these are the answers I was looking for. Confront the enemy, try and hit them with your ability as well as a few basics. If it doesn't work out, run away.

Maybe the problem come from my inability to land her ults. I always find I come in to a fight taking much more damage than I and dish out.

If her AA is just a supplement, can I just not build AA item? Maybe just Polynomicon....

My take on this
first gonna point out only the first ult hit of sols ult has a knockback

Depending on the type APC (normally the mid laner but can also be jungle and sometimes even solo) they can shut down a ADC or they can't.
Any ability based/burst APC (if it's an assassin like Loki or a mage like He Bo) are counters to adc and could (unless they miss something) kill an adc easily.

DoT or auto attacked based mages are worse at this and are favoured in longer duels.

you could say there is some sort of triangle here
1. burst > sustained/DoT squishies (AA mages, assassins and adc)
2. sustained/DoT > tanky sustained damage (warriors and guardians)
3. tanky sustained damage > burst

what I mean with this is that burst gods get countered by tankier champions as they rely on a combo to instakill someone and they don't have the damage to do that on most tanky targets)
While sustained damage types take a longer period (endless for basic atatck based champs) and are better against the lower damage sustained damage tankier champs.

Only most of these the gods have stuff from multiple like Odin or Thanatos they bring a dangerous burst combo on the table early game. but late game they change more to a sustained damage type of champion