Mage's Blessing vs. Hunter's Blessing on AMC

Here I want to take a more in-depth look at these two blessings as starter items for Ah Muzen Cab, and which one I think might be better in certain situations.


A Quick Note About Mage's Blessing

While experimenting with this in Jungle Practice I learned something. The Bees! passive procs the Mage's Blessing bonus ability damage. This means that when you use an ability that applies Bees! ( Swarm for example), it will give +50 Bonus ability damage in total rather than just +25.

Upon further testing, I found that a Swarm into Honey combo added +100 Bonus ability damage in total. +25 from Swarm, +25 from Swarm's Bees! application, +25 from Honey, +25 from Honey's Bees! application. This doesn't work if you use Honey and then Swarm, as then they will apply Bees! at the same time, resulting in only +75 ability damage from the combo.

Mage's Blessing versus Hunter's Blessing Early Game Above, we found that we can get +100 damage from AMC's 2-3 combo. Comparatively, in order for Hunter's Blessing to provide +100 damage, we would need to be landing around 6 or 7 basic attacks. From here we can see that Mage's Blessing provides you with great early burst potential. Also, it is better if you are looking to poke out your lane opponents, as your Swarm and Honey abilities have great range to easily apply the damage, even if they are under their tower or behind walls. To apply this damage with Hunter's Blessing, you would need to be closer to the enemy, which could put you in a potentially dangerous position. Furthermore, the Mages Blessing also applies to minion waves, allowing your 2-3 combo to full clear at around level 3 or 4 (depending on what else you built alongside your blessing). This can give you great lane pressure. Hunter's Blessing relies on you to spend a bit more time basic attacking waves in order to clear. If we look at the MP5 on these two blessings, Hunter's provides a set +10 MP5, while Mages provides +2 per 10% missing mana. In terms of hunters, Ah Muzen Cab is more ability reliant (similar to Neith, Chiron, and Skadi). He will be relying on his abilities and therefore will be using mana frequently. As a result, his mana will usually be below the 50% threshold, in which case Mage's Blessing is the superior MP5 option. Better Early Game Pick: Mage's Blessing

Hunter's Blessing versus Mage's Blessing Late Game In the later game, Hunter's Blessing provides a significant boost to your DPS, while Mage's Blessing gives 10% Cooldown Reduction. Although Ah Muzen Cab has an attack speed steroid in his kit via Hive, Hunter's Blessing generally won't overcap you in a standard build. The 10% CDR is nice when paired with other familiar items like Transcendence, but in terms of reliable DPS, Hunter's evolved passive is stronger for an attack-damage carry without much debate. Better Late Game Pick: Hunter's Blessing

Conclusion

I think Ah Muzen Cab is in a unique spot as he can make good use out of both of these blessings. Before now, I had the misconception that Hunter's Blessing was the better choice overall for AMC. I see now that this isn't always the case. What it comes down to is identifying your enemy and when you want to maximize your damage potential.

If you are against an enemy with a weaker early game, such as Cupid, Mage's Blessing can allow you to exploit this. The strong poke and quick wave clear gives you excellent lane pressure that can starve your opponent of gold (and potentially XP) and cut into their farm, giving you an advantage moving into the late game.

If you are against an enemy with a stronger early game, such as an Ullr or Izanami, Hunter's Blessing could be the better choice as you safely farm and work towards the late game and maximize your DPS.

Both options have their pros and cons, and both can effectively contribute to your game plan when applied correctly.

The Bees! passive also procs the effects from The Crusher, meaning abilities like Swarm and Honey will double proc it.

Similar to Mage's Blessing, a 2-3 combo will proc The Crusher 4 times!

This god has a very interesting kit in how he interacts with certain items.

Great writeup, DV! This is super interesting and I'll have to try mage's out!

If I'm trolling I would go Mage's Blessing it is fun to see yellow numbers :)

I feel that the extra damage from Hunter's Blessing is a lot more relevant at least for trading 1v1 etc.