S4 Hunter AA guide (4.3)

I cannot take credit for this build or give proper credit to the creator because I'm not sure who it is. I played against this build a few times and decided to try it out (first for Jing Wei/ Artemis, then even for ability based hunters). Unless these items are significantly changed, I don't think I'll ever use another build for a hunter.

I only filled out the skill sequence so it shows up as a full guide, but this is not a Cupid-specific guide.

Pros

No stacking required
Not incredibly expensive
35 flat pen with ~2.07 attack speed still good against tanks, even without Qin's Sais
Both lifesteal and attack speed provide great boxing capability
40% crit chance makes up for lack of power




Cons

Not great if you like to do most of your damage with abilities
Requires accurate auto attacking skills

Ichaival, Silverbranch Bow, and Hastened Fatalis
While playing with Hastened Fatalis is extremely fun, I've found that I can only afford to build it when the enemy team does mainly one type of damage and either Ichaival or Silverbranch Bow is not required. In addition, the small stacking power boosts for both of those items work well together in a build that puts little focus on power. The order in which you build these two is purely situational.

Deathbringer vs Malice
I changed the crit item from Deathbringer to Malice in the build against squishies because it will do more damage than Deathbringer with the added power of Bloodforge behind it. Also, since Malice does damage over the next 3s, it may be more desirable than Deathbringer in all of these builds if you're playing as Ah Muzen Cab, since it can combo with the tic damage from his abilities and kill an enemy even after they escape.

The underlying strategy is easy to see with the 4 build options above: boots, lifesteal, pen/attack speed, then crit. Obviously there are more than simply 4 options but I thought they best represented the strategy. The trick is to match up your items to your opponents' strengths.