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First of all, I want to say hello and thank you for looking at my build. I usually play this build in Arena and get 9-13 kills on average and just as many assists. You are extremely squishy and I recommend avoiding getting stunned unless you like dying a lot. If you happen to play me online, may the better Loki win.
Stick to the jungles if you want to sneak up on the enemy with little to no detection.
Can vary based on situations
Transcendence this skill is important because it will give you a lot more mana after each minion or god kill. It stacks up to 50 and stays even with death.
Warrior Tabi Bonus speed, bonus damage, what's bad about that?
The Executioner This skill reduces the victim's protection with each basic hit, making them more and more vulnerable from your attacks.
Jotunn's Wrath This increases mana and reduces the cooldown on your abilities. Great for when you need a quick escape while your abilities are on cooldown.
Titan's Bane Massive penetration equals massive damage.
Hydra's Lament This item's special "perk" deals even more (25% more) damage from the next basic attack after using one of your abilities for 8 seconds. This is amazing for your ultimate: Assassinate.
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First, with skills...no aimed strike until level 14? I think I understand the thinking here, as it looks like your main focus is to clear waves via Decoy (and build Trans stacks), but that is a HUGE amount of potential burst damage you're passing up. Since it activates on a basic attack (along with Vanish), it doesn't make sense to completely ignore it. I'd also argue the major concern you have with "giving yourself away" with Aimed strike. The whole arena map is a big battlefield. In the jungle in Conquest, sure, it's a reason to activate while still far enough away, but in Arena? There's significantly less to hide behind, and so much going on, that I don't see it being a huge issue.
Now with item choices...
Obviously, no contest regarding the following item choices: Warrior Tabi, Jotunn's Wrath, Titan's Bane.
I understand the draw of something like Transcendence, and in fact, I had it as a potential item in an early iteration of my build. He's definitely mana-hungry early on, and the high power at full stacks is enticing. The biggest reasons I don't think it's the best are:
The other two items, to me, are extremely questionable as to build efficiency and consideration for his kit, and turn this build into multiple personalities. As you mention, Loki is squishy. This means he doesn't want to be in one place for too long, as he can be burst down easily. You can sort of counter that with lifesteal items, protection items, or both, to turn him into a boxer. Although you have one item with a health boost ( Frostbound Hammer), it by itself won't do much for your survivability.
Now, all of your other items ( Jotunn's Wrath, Titan's Bane, Warrior Tabi...are all items to mainly help ability damage. You're combining them with basic attack items. And, in order to make Qin's Sais worthwhile, you need to basic attack. I get the synergy between Qin's and Frostbound Hammer, but if you're using Aimed Strike, you've already got a built-in slow, making Frostbound Hammer much less necessary.
All of this together, if you're finding relative success with Loki, I'd say it's more your skill level than the build. I suggest trying my build if you're focusing on ability damage. If you like the basic attack part, I'd suggest building at least 1 protection item (e.g. Hide of the Urchin) along with at least 1 crit item to increase your damage. I'd use The Executioner instead of Qin's Sais at that point, and Deathbringer or Malice in place of Frostbound Hammer. If you're committed that much to basic attacks though, you'd probably also consider switching Jotunn's Wrath out.
In the end, optimally, you want to maximize ability function, and stay out of fights. If you're open to it, try my build, get Aimed Strike up way earlier, and see how you do. Don't be scared to use Aimed Strike because of the sound.
Hope this helps!