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Devourer's Gauntlet
Warrior Tabi
Bloodforge
Rage
Deathbringer
Malice
Asi
Titan's Bane
Magi's Cloak
Qin's Sais
Aegis Pendant
Greater Purification
Greater Sprint
Shield of the Underworld
This is only an item build; for skills, I myself simply use the auto-level skill feature, and it works just fine. You may substitute your own if you wish.
I use this build mainly for Joust, so it may not work as described in other game modes.
PROS
Damage
Basics:
Damage + Crit + Lifesteal = OP-- a hunter's main form of damage.
So Beautiful:
More damage. No lifesteal, though, so unless you're at full health I'd advise against using this.
Chase
The Moves + 
Serenade + So Beautiful + Basics:
Make sure they're in your range- if The Moves says they're just out of your range, do the combo anyway 'cause 90% of the time, they're going to be in Serenade's range.
Across The Sky + Serenade + So Beautiful + Basics + The Moves + Basics:
If they're not dead at this point, it means you suck at playing Apollo ;).
Escape
Serenade + The Moves:
You've got to get those pesky melees off of you first, then slide away with a The Moves
Serenade + The Moves + Run for a bit + Across The Sky:
You've got to get those pesky melees off of you first, then slide away with a The Moves, run for a bit, then Across The Sky to base, baby!
Initiation
Yell at team to attack [VAA/VA#] + The Moves + Serenade:
Verbal communication is important in effective teamwork. After using Serenade, use basics to focus a squishy and hope and pray to the gods that your team is initiating with you. If this fails once, replace The Moves with "Striding toward the enemy team and Hoping they don't hit you too much", and use Serenade, leaving you with The Moves for escape should your team be idly standing behind you instead of engaging.
Yell at team to attack [VAA/VA#] + Across The Sky + Serenade:
What to use if you just respawned and your team is having a staring contest with the enemy. Repeat above combo.
Saving Teammates
Serenade:
This will be your main form of helping escaping teammates. Don't attempt to attack if the opponent might kill you, though. Instead, GTF out of there, ASAP.
Across The Sky + Serenade + Attack/get the **** out of there:
Depending on your health, choose between the two.
Devourer's Gauntlet:
Hunter staple. How could I not include?
Warrior Tabi:
Physical god staple for chasing down enemies. Why not 
Ninja Tabi? Well, attack speed won't matter too much, and early game you'll need the extra +20 power from Warrior Tabi.
Bloodforge:
Now here's where some people may have issues. And I say, sure, you can switch Rage with this one, if you want, or omit it altogether to get some other item since you already have Devourer's Gauntlet. But Bloodforge really does make a difference, and has practical use even in combat. Right about now, unless you've been dying too much, your Devourer's Gauntlet stacks should be adding up (30 or 40ish, if you've been farming). Early midgame, this item gives you amazing sustain provided that you keep your finger down on the left mouse button. Heck, even if 
Neith roots you and starts autoattacking, stay there and shoot back. You'll be surprised, with your lifesteal most of the time you can force her to retreat or even kill her.
Rage:
By now, your physical power stacks from Devourer's Gauntlet should be starting to hurt, about 200 per non-critting basic. Why not add in multiple 400, 500 crits? You're going to start lifestealing 70's from minions and 150-200's from gods. Watch your HP go up faster than Ra's magic healing circle.
Deathbringer:
The harder the crit, the better! You'll be able to take off 33% of an enemy squishy's hp with one attack now, and about 15% of a tankier one's.
Generally, at this point, I take Malice for even more crit and damage.
However, if the enemy team consists of some tankier gods such as 
Vulcan, 
Ymir, 
Hades, 
Hercules, etc, a Titan's Bane is in order.
If you find yourself in small skirmishes with 1 enemy hero, and your already monstrous lifesteal isn't enough to "tank" them, Asi would be a good choice. However, if you really never dip below 35% health, drop this item and get Malice instead.
If you're getting cc'd a lot, it wouldn't hurt to sacrifice some damage for a Magi's Blessing. It's better to live to kill another day than die constantly, after all.
As for actives, well, Aegis Pendant is always nice to have, just don't forget you have it. Shield of the Underworld is a great defensive active as well with its damage reflection, and if for some reason you're unable to chase down a fleeing enemy or unable to flee, try getting Greater Sprint for that extra mobility.
3/1/2015
- Guide created.
Notes: n/a
3/29/2015
- Secondary build created.
Notes: There have been concerns as to the lack of attack speed in this build. Firstly, this build is unconventional but works if you can get enough stacks on your gauntlet. Secondly, it is a simple matter to add attack speed by replacing a couple of items.
A secondary build has been added, but take note that this guide's main focus is still on lifesteal.
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This is a very good guide!
Did you read the comments? Even I agree with them.
Now, with excess lifesteal, even if 2 enemy gods gank you, you can survive for a good 30 seconds purely on lifesteal, and if you're good, you can take one of them with you instead of just dying and not being able to do anything. If 1 enemy god ganks you (Let's use
With this build, you'll be healing 100-300 per hit. They won't be able to take you down.
Geekzoid, I ask that you at least try the build in a joust or three before responding.
But the problem with
Now, why not multiple light attacks instead of a few hard-hitting ones? Because when attacking, you have a "movement penalty", and this movement penalty can and will waste your attack speed steriods, your passive. If you advanced toward a fleeing enemy (which you will do often, since you have no good stun) while autoattacking, they will get away. And if you focused on building attack speed while autoattacking basics, even if you have a hastened fatalis in there, you're not going to hit a retreating target very well. Game says they're in range, in truth, 0.1 secs later, they won't be.
So as
Try this build out in a joust match or three. Play more aggressively midgame, and start making your opponents run from you instead of you running from them (as is, sadly, the fate of many squshies). And I hope you'll reconsider your downvote after trying this out a few times.
Cheers ^.^
I just don't feel like this build suggests that you're experienced with hunters.
I'm questioning the effectiveness and efficiency of building two lifesteal items...Sure it'll help with your sustain but should you be taking that much damage in the first place? This build makes me feel like I'm looking at some sort of warrior who's in the fray of battle taking damage and healing it back up with his basics....Apollo isn't a warrior and relies on using his range to his advantage.
If you can really pull this build off and do well, then I'm seriously impressed, but I don't think it's viable.
Sorry, but I have to downvote this. Maybe you can change my mind?