SMITEFire Community Guide to Xbalanque (ADC)

Hey everyone, welcome to the SMITEFire Community guide to Xbalanque. In this guide, we'll be going over all the essential info you'll need to get started with the Hidden Jaguar Sun!

This guide was written by community members like you! Thank you to the following SMITEFire members for contributing to this guide:



Please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions if you have feedback on the guide. We are continuously working on improving the guide and any feedback is valuable! :)

Dead of Night

• Always hit your enemies as much as possible to stack it. Free power is always good! Prioritize this by harassing enemies throughout each stage of the game so you may reach the maximum number of stacks as fast as possible, making more effective use of them.

Branching Bola

• Early game, this is going to be your wave-clear ability. Keep it on to deal extra damage and help with your fairly weak early clear.
  
  
• During the laning phase, you can poke enemies if they stand too close to the minion wave or clear the wave through them with the help of this ability
  
  
• At higher levels, and especially if you don’t get Transcendence, don’t forget to toggle this ability during long team fights or when walking around. Late-game, the high mana cost combined with high attack speed means you will burn through your mana quickly.

Poison Darts

• Your main source of damage to enemy Gods. The slow helps you connect basic attacks against Gods or to escape when needed.
  
  
• The darts hit in a spread, so the closer you are to the enemy, the more darts you can connect. Use when close when boxing a single enemy for greater effect, while hitting multiple enemies at distance in a teamfight can help with overall control.
  
  
• You can slightly influence the spread of the darts by moving the camera during the firing animation.
  
  
• You can use this to assist with wave-clear. Stand at the side of a wave to hit the maximum amount of minions.

Rising Jaguar

• Used to chase, escape, or damage enemies. Since it’s your only form of increased mobility, you typically want to save it as an escape option unless you’re chasing to secure a kill.
  
  
• If you are just using it for damage, aim to use your Poison Darts first because this skill deals increased damage against poisoned targets.
  
  
• Use the built-in crowd control immunity to avoid getting locked down. Examples such as Ares’ No Escape, Artemis’ Calydonian Boar, or Bacchus’ Belch of the Gods. It can also be used to set off certain traps like Artemis’ Transgressor's Fate to clear a path. Do keep in mind that the immunity kicks in after the dash.
  
  
• This ability can also be used to cleanse crowd control effects like intoxication, disarm and slows.

Darkest of Nights

• Besides the blind crowd control, you can use this to escape due to the increased movement speed or to more quickly reach a far target.
  
  
• When you build Rage, you can use this skill as soon as you know an enemy will be killed in the next couple of seconds, to get a free assist and increase its stacks easily.
  
  
• This skill can be used to initiate a gank in another lane for a more effective surprise effect.

Xbalanque is a late-game carry with a very weak early game. Focus early on clearing waves and farming by prioritizing Branching Bola first in most cases.

As your main "burst" source of damage, focus on Poison Darts next, then level Rising Jaguar. After level 5, your ultimate has lowest priority as additional levels only provide increase movement speed.

Alternatively, if you find you're winning lane early, you can consider prioritizing Poison Darts over Branching Bola.

Xbalanque’s clear is not as effective as other hunters, especially in the early game, so he’s going to be needing some help to keep up during the laning phase. Buy this item early on in the build to keep up with the enemy carry.

The attack speed and lifesteal are enough to make an Xbalanque player buy this item, but the addition of increased healing when low on health for a short duration makes for an excellent panic attack while boxing.

A replacement for Devourer's Gauntlet, Bloodforge’s health shield and movement speed boost can help Xbalanque in continuing to fight or to escape if necessary.

Wind Demon

Xbalanque can hit like a truck in the late game, getting more critical strike hits to his already insane damage can make hit a bigger pain to deal with. Also the movement and attack speed increase is just the icing on top!

Sometimes it’s better to slow down the enemy than to speed yourself up. Use this if you’re having trouble with Gods with high movement and/or attack speed, or if you just want to salt the wound.

Provides incredibly high crit chance, especially at full stacks. When building this, prioritize as early as possible to complete those stacks.

Traditional 2nd crit item, this increases the damage your crits deal. Due to price, this is purchased late-game.

This can be considered as an alternative to Deathbringer or an addition to any crit build. The CDR provided in the base stats and passive can allow you to spam your abilities in a teamfight.

A traditional basic attack DPS item that sees increased damage against tanky targets.

Great for late-game use when facing the tankiest of enemy team comps. The % penetration is particularly helpful in getting higher damage out of your abilities.

High attack speed and power (when stacked) help overall DPS. The passive is great to counter enemy basic attackers.

If you’re having trouble dealing against Gods with high healing, then pick this up to reduce the effectiveness of their healing abilities. Since it doesn't provide any power, it's best considered in Qin's builds (instead of crit builds).

ADCs need to stay alive as much as possible. These two relics are the traditional picks and should be picked up in almost every game.

Cleanses CC of all types. Typically purchased first unless facing low CC enemy comps.

Makes you immune to damage for a short time. Typically purchased second unless facing high burst potential in the early game, and can be particularly helpful against ults from gods like Scylla and Thanatos.

Game Start

You'll typically start at your Void buff (the purple area near your tower). Clear and take the buff before heading to lane.


Early Game

By the time you reach the minions, they will already be fighting each other. Clearing this first wave is a race between you and the enemy, as whoever clears first will automatically gain pressure, which can be used to poke the enemy. Taking early damage can put people on the defensive and can mentally be the first step in dictating who will dominate the laning phase. It also can force the early use of potions, leading to an earlier first-back, which means even more pressure and a lead in farming XP and gold.

If you find yourself out-pressured, back off without taking too much poke while concentrating on clearing the wave. If you manage to outclear your opponent try to get some poke in on the enemy gods.

After 3 minions die from the second wave, you and your Support should reach level 2. The goal is usually to clear these 3 minions before your opponent does, as gaining your second ability before the enemy can allow for even more pressure. Keep an eye on the positioning of both Supports and the minions' health bars as they will dictate if and how a level 2 fight will happen:

• Winning: you and your support hit lvl 2 first
• Even: both teams hit level 2 at the same time
• Losing: enemies hit level 2 first

You want to know your matchups and which abilities will be gained by your Support and the enemy ADC / Support. Some level 2 abilities won't be a large threat, while others (e.g. Sobek's Charge Prey or Ymir's Frost Breath) have stun/root/displacement actions that can put the other Duo under immense pressure and lead to an early kill.

In a situation where you win or go even in the level 2 race, and your abilities provide high pressure, you may plan to be aggressive. In this case, your Support will usually be positioned closer to the enemy, behind or next to your front melee minions. If you plan to be aggressive, the moment lvl 2 is reached, your Support will try to go in on the most vulnerable enemy god (though preferably the ADC) by CCing them. At this time, you want to switch targets from the minions to the enemy god. You want the Support to hit the opponent first to draw minion aggro. If your level 2 ability is a movement ability, be cautious about using it aggressively, as your main goal is to survive and gain pressure on your opponent.

In a case where you lose the level 2 race or your Duo's level 2 does not provide strong aggression, you and your Support will want to be positioned defensively, and may even want to fall back out of range behind the archer line. You will be the likely target of the enemy Support, so you need to determine proper positioning if you see them approaching you. If you feel safe enough, you can attempt to finish more minions to reach level 2, otherwise you’re better off backing off to not get CCed and severely poked by your opponents. During the retreat, you'll want to maintain proper range to prevent getting hit by CC, but this can also give you an opportunity to get in a few basic attacks on the enemy Support to dissuade them from continuing to pressure. Your Support may also try to help by drawing aggro, allowing you to do some damage on them and/or retreat. However, they will also not want to take much damage at this point, so don't rely on them to save you.


During the rest of the early game, your primary focus is to farm the waves and secure the Void and Alpha harpies between waves. Keep a close eye on the positioning of the Supports as fights may be initiated at any time. Also keep an eye on the minimap for possible ganks. In cases that you out-pressure your opponent, you can try and go in to steal their Void and Alpha harpies after clearing their minions, but you should only do so when they still have to deal with your wave and are pushed back near or under their towers.


Mid Game

During this phase, the Supports will have usually started to rotate into the Jungle and other lanes, allowing the ADC to farm more efficiently to gain levels and gold. You will find yourself 1v1 against the enemy ADC. Depending on matchups and how the early game went, you can be winning, drawing even, or losing lane. Identify your situation accurately and adjust your playstyle accordingly. Your main goal during this phase is to keep farming, but depending on the situation, you may attempt additional actions.

If you’ve been winning the lane, you can attempt to maintain pressure by outclearing the minion waves, and poking with basics and abilities when possible. If you know you’re safe, you can try pushing them back under their tower and forcing them to lose some farm, or damage them enough to force them to back. If you force them to back or you get a kill, you may consider going for the tower or the Gold Fury with teammates. Remember to ward the nearby Jungle to avoid getting ganked when you’re farther away from your tower.

If you’re at a stalemate, you can consider calling for a gank to tip the pressure in your favor, or if you’re not confident in fighting and the enemy has strong poke, focus mainly on continuing to farm.

If you’re losing your lane, and especially if you’re behind in levels, your safest bet is to continue farming as close to your tower as possible to avoid being caught out and ganked.

No matter which situation, be careful during this phase to keep up wards and proper map awareness to prevent being surprised by the enemy Jungler or Support, turning your 1v1 into a 1v2. Also keep an eye on the minimap to see if any fights in the nearby jungle break out; you may consider rotating to try and help your team out. Keep in mind that your main focus is still on farming, so make sure you can get some kills / assists out of it, and won’t die yourself, as this can make you lose your lead or push you even further behind.



Late Game

At this point in the game you will be mainly grouping with your team to secure objectives on the map. Sticking together is important in any teamfights.

During teamfighting you want to position yourself in the backline, behind your tankier teammates and at range of your opponents. Your goal during a teamfights is to dish out a lot of damage, and the way you do this is by staying alive as long as possible. To help achieve these goals you can remember the next 3 rules:

• Focus the closest targets in range: During most teamfights your opponents frontliners will try to get into the backline to disrupt their damage or even kill them. The reason you want to focus on closer targets instead of the most damaging targets is that you will be severely out of position if you try to go for the damage dealers, as they often are in the enemy backline. Your goal is to try and be as safe as possible while doing damage, therefore it can be more beneficial to kite/backpedal that solo laner that is trying to kill you.
  
  
• Focus the most threatening target: In cases where multiple enemies are trying to attack you, prioritize the enemy that is the highest threat for killing you. So if the Jungler and the Solo Laner are trying to kill you, you will want to try and kill the assassin first as they will kill you more quickly.
  
  
• Focus the more easily killable target: If you have 2 targets of roughly equal threat, your best option is to focus on the one that is easier for you to kill, due to either lower health or low to no mobility.

After winning a teamfight (and hopefully killing multiple enemies), your main objectives will always be to focus on objectives. If you’re healthy enough, go after any nearby towers or phoenixes. If enough of your team is healthy and you know the enemy is either dead or is low health and has to retreat to heal, you should prioritize killing the Fire Giant. Be mindful of respawn timers and your health, and don’t overstay trying to push an objective.

Remember that, as an ADC, you typically have lifesteal from items like Devourer’s Gauntlet or Asi, and you can heal up quickly by attacking minion waves and jungle camps.

Thank you for reading this community guide to Xbalanque! If you'd like to contribute regularly to guides like this, just send me a Private Message. Everyone who contributes to one of these Community Guides will be credited in the guide.

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