Xbalanque in League Conquest - Surprisingly Powerful

A lot of people say Xbal is low tier, but after trying him in league, I think he is quite underestimated.

His branching bolas and Dead of Night passive make him get close to gods like Artemis or Anhur in terms of damage on a single target, and he actually exceeds them in damage dealt thanks to branching bolas' other effect, as well as the good damage on his abilities.

His CC immunity allows him to avoid stuff like Frost Breath and Impale/ Spirit Arrow, and Poison Darts offers great lane control and poking ability.

His ultimate gives him global presence, and basically, I think he's really underestimated.

So...what do you think about Xbal in League?

I play him all the time, but out of league. He's the only ADC I'm that good with, so maybe I should start playing him more often though.

The main issues with him is that he can be shut down early and easily by a competent tank. His ultimate can be incredibly easily countered (just stop moving for a second) and if he doesn't get to snowball early game then he won't be useful at all again until late-late game.

A lot of people underestimate the poison damage on his Poison Darts though, I've gotten so many kills from DOT ticks. And if you have them low enough, Rising Jaguar has long enough range to pass completely through their tower zone and also kill anyone inside of it.

He's a god that plays incredibly well with an aggressive and skilled support, but fares much worse if your support isn't there to take damage for you or push, unlike Neith or Anhur, who can carry their own lane.

Xbalanque can push, IMO, he just needs a lot of mana to do it.

Any suggested builds/items?

In that match, I built Warrior Tabi, devourer's gloves, Qin's Sais, Malice, Deathbringer, and Jotunn's Wrath. In retrospect, I should have replaced the sais with an early JW, and I don't know what I should have gotten for my last item.

Well, if you're using Branching Bola before you have Rising Jaguar and Poison Darts maxed, then, in my opinion, you're only wasting mana and losing the utility of your more useful skills. He's a very bursty ADC and is heavily reliant on cooldowns.

I always build him Devourer's Gloves and Warrior Tabi (get both tier 1 on start), then Heartseeker or The Executioner (depending on if I'm winning lane or not), either Focused Voidblade or Titan's Bane (depending on whether protection or penetration would be more useful), then Malice and Deathbringer.

Sometimes I sell one of my intermediate items (either Heartseeker or Focused Voidblade/ Titan's Bane) for Qin's Sais, but typically not because his basic attacks already do so much damage the penetration benefits you more to put down tanks quickly.

I'd build him with Jotunn's Wrath for CDR, but it would have to be picked up early game to even get the use out of it, since once you start building or finish Malice you no longer need skills to secure kills because of your basic damage on its own.

He got awesome clear with the Poison Darts (which you should max first ofc.) just hit the minion wave sideways and AA to kill the large minions.

IMO all the hunters are really viable ;)

Yeah, Poison Darts > Branching Bola every time. I keep Rising Jaguar one tier ahead of Poison Darts simply because it has a lot more potential for damage against gods though, plus can't be dodged for the most part.

People spam Poison Darts and waste all their mana though, it's best used when you have the enemy support or even both support and ADC within the radius so you have a chance of nicking them with a DOT. Early game (level 1-3), you can kill an ADC with a single Poison Darts/ Rising Jaguar combo for the most part.

Every adc is Strong in conq. League if the Player is Good, the support also, and he is farmed or Fed. Even the hated amc.

I think Xbalanque pure damage wise is one of the best adc in the game, especially in conquest. If the build is right with him, he can literally 2 or 3 hit people with base attacks. In short I agree completely that Xbalanque is underestimated and I think he is awesome in league.

With Xbalanque you will have problems as soon as your support leaves the lane. As soon as you're against a strong pusher like Anhur or Ah Muzen Cab. He will get outpushed everytime, also if you try to use your Poison Darts on the wave you will have to get loose of your safe position and a good Anhur will take advantage of this and will stun you against a wall and then probably kill you. If you don't do it however you will get oupushed and the other ADC wil rotate to mid and there is nothing you can do about it.
Don't get me wrong I love playing Xba but he is lacking something. Against an Artemis However I think he might be viable.