With the upcoming 7.7 Mid-Season patch coming July 14th, it's time for some theory-crafting. While some other physical classes will be affected by the significant change to penetration items, Hunters are likely to see the largest shift in build style.
To summarize these changes:
Patch 7.7 Changes to Common Hunter Items
Physical % pen is now capped at 40%. Titan's Bane is assumed to work like Obsidian Shard and give you the situational ability to exceed this cap, but is unconfirmed to my knowledge.
Titan's Bane gets what is essentially a hard nerf, seeing a price increase from 2,300 to 2,550, power increased from 30 to 40, and now has a base 20% pen, w/ first ability cast gaining 20% pen, CD 10 seconds. A main purpose here is to decrease Hunters building into this + Exe for massive shred potential.
The Executioner sees a price decrease from 2,350 to 2,200, power increased from 30 to 35, and protection reduction decreased from 12% per stack (max 36%) to 7% (max 21%). Concept here is to allow this to be a smoother mid-game purchase, while also requiring more investment into pen items later (rather than being a one-stop item for hunter pen).
Atalanta's Bow sees a fairly large change. MS is removed from the base stats, while 20% penetration is added. It also sees a new passive that gives you 20% AS and reduces the attacking/backpedaling/strafing MS penalties by 50% for 10s upon getting an assist or kill. I'm going to be playing around with this on Medusa as a late-game item option.
Rage sees a minor nerf to the price, going from 2,300 to 2,400. I don't see this as being a big issue.
Silverbranch Bow sees a shift/buff. Loses 10 flat pen while gaining 10% pen, which means it'll be a bit less effective against squishy gods, while being more helpful against tanks late-game. It also gets further increased power gained from overcapping AS. Minor, and the passive still sucks. As much as I don't want to theory-craft with the item...I'm going to use it in an example you'll see below.
Shadowsteel Shuriken is a new item for crit builds that provides anti-heal function. This should see pretty common use, though the general stats are mediocre. The other anti-heal items ( Toxic Blade and Brawler's Beat Stick) don't fit in quite as well in crit builds, as Toxic doesn't have power, and Brawler's applies on abilities.
Poisoned Star gets a shift, decreasing an already low 15% AS to 10%, but increasing the power from 30 to 35.
Wind Demon also gets a shift. Crit chance decreases from 20% to 15%, and power decreases from 30 to 25, while the passive now also provides 10% pen. Some might consider this a nerf, but depending on build structure, could be a fairly even trade.
Soul Eater isn't a typical hunter item, and should only be considered for the more ability-based hunters like Neith, Skadi and Ullr, though isn't usually built even on them. It's getting a big price reduction, from 2,300 to 2,100 gold, while also seeing a power decrease (from 40-60 power down to 30-40). It completely loses the 200 mana (why? it's an ability-based item!), but adds 10% penetration and increases ability lifesteal from 0-15 to 5-20%. I can see this being built on someone like Ullr or Skadi.
Heartseeker gets a shift, but technically pretty much a buff, and the world outside of Hi-Rez/Titan Forge scratches its head in unison. It sees a decrease in price from 3,100 to 2,900 gold, while shifting from 10 flat pen to 10% pen. The layman might think, well, this is a nerf to fighting against other squishies...but if you think about it, this is a late-game item. Most gods at level 20 have at least 60-70 inherent physical protection. So okay, if facing that kind of god, you might be losing 3-4 flat pen, perhaps as low as 5 if under full stacks of the new Exe. That amount is quite negligible, while you gain damage potential against any bruiser or tank that has over 100 physical protection. If anything, you KEEP THE SAME PRICE, PEOPLE!!!
Fail-Not gets a straight buff, adding 10% pen. Given that this item was considered to be lower viability, this is a nice buff to the item.
Honorable mention to Warrior Tabi, which gains 100 mana, which is nice for the ability-based hunter.
Now, we can consider how typical hunter builds might change. Giving some general examples and discussion; don't know if these are all reflective of current meta builds. Items not necessarily in order.
Standard Qin's Build
Standard Qin's Build
This build gets hit pretty hard. The change to Titan's is pretty significant for effect in this.
We consider this build to be used for best effect against tanky comps. The old combo of Exe, Qin's, and Titan's really chunks high prot/high health gods. How do we make this as viable as possible? Does Titan's drop out of the build? Do we (gag) start considering Silverbranch Bow over Odysseus' Bow?
I honestly don't know the best direction for this one. But here's my personal proposal.
Trans, Ninja, Asi, Exe, Qin's, finish with a combination Atalanta's / Silverbranch. Hear me out.
Atalanta's is an option to replace TB. It has the same base % pen, but is much more focused on basic attacking function.
The build is still dedicated to high base AS. And while some people love O-Bow, Silverbranch provides a better balance of general stats compared to O-Bow IMO. Given that it now has 10% pen, adding that to the 20% you get from Atalanta's gives you a solid 30% pen.
This build direction is going to lose some anti-tank effectiveness no matter what. Any build that incorporates the old Exe and Titan's is going to do that. But I think here we can maintain some good general function, while the much higher power of this build compared to the old one maintains its general use. I expect a Qin's build to see less use overall, though.
Standard Ability Build
Standard Ability Build
This one doesn't get hit so hard. You can make pretty easy arguments to sub out Jotunn's Wrath with Soul Eater, though.
Standard Crit Build (Rage Rush)
Wind Demon
Standard Crit Build (Rage Rush)
There are obviously variations to this build. Instead of WD + DB, you might get WD + PS, PS + DB, or just DB + a non-crit item. Also, you can delay Rage and get Exe before it.
But while we see some adjustments to the Shuriken tree, I think these are all still viable builds, with a new option thrown in, in the form of Shadowsteel Shuriken and its anti-heal capability. Yes, a crit hunter is mostly going to want to burst an enemy down, so anti-heal is less important. I think we won't see SS as much as WD and PS, at least in hunter builds, but it IS an option.
The nice thing with WD is the added % pen. I think this crit build direction will be the most common.
Standard Crit Build (Shurikens)
Wind Demon
Standard Crit Build (Shurikens)
Like the other crit build, people build the shurikens in different orders, I think. Unlike the Rage rush direction, I think this one suffers quite a bit.
I believe Wind Demon is the most common first crit item when you don't go Rage, and with the drop from 20% to 15% crit chance, it's really suffering. Yes, the % pen helps, but not as much in the middle of a build.
So what do we see here? WD + PS = 30% crit chance. That's **** until you get the larger contribution of DB into the mix, boosting the 3 crit item combo to 55%. Not so great. Late-game, you can see better potential if you replace Tabi with Shadowsteel Shuriken, giving this build 75% crit chance.
Could we even see SS being picked up as the first crit item, since it's got higher % crit chance than WD and PS? Maybe, against an enemy ADC like Neith, perhaps.
I think overall that this build structure gets hurt similarly to Qin's Sais builds.
Finally, I think I have a new ability/crit hybrid build to propose.
This is interesting to me. The Trans/Ninja direction is standard, but throwing a VERY cheap SE in mid-game gives you fairly early sustain. While the % pen isn't that great at this stage against squishy gods, you're going to see some really nice consecutive ramping up of CDR and % pen.
The low price, in a way, translates to making Fail-Not's high price more palatable. OR, you can build Malice in that earlier slot, and pick up FN later. Both, IMO, are interchangeable.
Depending on your preference or which god you're using, you can get Atalanta's Bow, The Executioner, or Heartseeker. And of course, replace Tabi late with another one of these, or pick up another crit item...Wind Demon would fit well here as it also provides % pen.
In the end, you get solid power, 45-60% crit chance, 40% CDR, lifesteal, and anywhere from 30-40% penetration.
Anyway, those are my initial thoughts. I didn't delve into DPS numbers or anything, this is pure off-the-cuff theory-crafting, but am curious to hear everyone's thoughts.
ShadowSteel Shuriken wont ever be picked up first (if at all). It has mediocre stats with no dps or utility on the passive.
I think the new Devos crit build could be something like: Devos > Ninja > Atalantas > Rage > Wind Demon > Executioner > with boots being sold for Poisoned. Or maybe Devos Ninja Executioner Rage Wind Demon Poisoned > Atalantas.
On base stat consideration for Ata vs Exe it's: 30 power vs 35 power, 30 % attack speed vs 25%, 20 % instant pen vs slower 21% shred
Also I don't think you've considered the new berserkers shield on hunters which might be picked up.
Ata is an interesting idea for mid-game...the price is right.
And you're right, I didn't consider Berserker's. But when revisiting the item, I still don't think I would normally purchase. Guess it could go interestingly with Asi.
And you're right, I didn't consider Berserker's. But when revisiting the item, I still don't think I would normally purchase. Guess it could go interestingly with Asi.
So some of my thoughts:
first of all, I think soul eater will stay with regards to adcs not considering it. The power reduction kinda hits it (and mana slightly). even though it gains % pen and a cost reduction. I do like your hybrid build example though (maybe would drop soul and add in a bloodforge and TB)
I also think Atalanta's and exe can be changed depending on playstyle and team comp in the game. I do however favor Atalanta's myself. Mostly because of the attack speed. and well the standard crit build being the stars build will regain the lost attack speed from poison.
Honestly, I don't think the crit build is going to change much apart from losing some pen and gaining some AS. or maybe is going to include Deathbringer again to keep the crit chance up. Or go for the LoL treatment of trying to get 100% crit utilizing 4 crit items for the permanent damage increase.
So we will get Ninja Tabi/ Warrior Tabi Devourer's Gauntlet Rage (pretty much a crit core item) Atalanta's Bow/ The Executioner
wind demon (for more pen making this one the most important) Deathbringer/poison star (I also think fitting in Fail-Not somewhere can become an option)
swapping boots either for Atalanta's Bow/ The Executioner or more crit for the 100% crit goal. Bloodforge or Asi also staying options.
For our qin's build, I think if it's not dead we will see your proposed changes, but I think trans will fall a bit more out of favor with the lack of pen you're going to need the extra lifesteal for survivability, I think, or if Atalanta's-silverbranch becomes a thing maybe Ichiaval is going to see more use instead of it. Or berserker for survivability.
I am also curious towards berserker but if that happens I do fear tank meta has arrived and then most assassins are not gonna have fun.
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