Xbalanque - Joust

Hi Green,

Would like to comment on this build, and suggest some adjustments...depending on various factors.

Mainly what I'm seeing here is a hybrid build where you're committing to basic attacks ( Odysseus' Bow, Wind Demon, and Deathbringer, but also committing to ability use ( Transcendence, Warrior Tabi, Jotunn's Wrath). Doing this makes you sort of a jack of all trades, and master of none, and doesn't really maximize your potential. You're also lacking any sort of reasonable penetration.

With some of what I'll be discussing below, I strongly urge you to check out my items guide, and more specifically read the Basic Attack Progression / Physical Damage Spikes chapter. I'll still touch on some of those points here, but you'll learn a lot in that guide.

• Transcendence is a fine item for Xbal to go into. Understand this is perhaps a partial commitment to ability use...but Xbal has some strong abilities, so this makes sense. It also makes it easy for him, once built, to just keep Branching Bola on almost indefinitely. No problems with that choice.
  
  
• Warrior Tabi is another commitment to ability use. It can also be fine for basic attack focus, as long as you have enough attack speed in the rest of your kit. One major thing to note for Xbal is that he doesn't have any attack speed steroids. He's not like Artemis, Rama, Chernobog, Hachiman, etc. that have strong temporary AS boosts in their kits.
  
  To me, this means if he's going to focus at all on basics, he's best building more AS where he can to get his base AS up, and going into Qin's Sais for DPS instead of crit items. And so, depending on how you focus the rest of your build, Ninja Tabi might be a better option.
  
  
• Regarding Odysseus' Bow, I see the purpose you have here. You haven't built any AS to this point, so a huge boost to AS really helps get that up. That said, Odysseus' Bow is often more effective later in a build, when you have the essential items already built. Also, note that the passive damage scales with your power...so the more power you've built, the more damage that passive will do.
  
  ALSO...you have Branching Bola. That's sort of like an O-Bow passive, in that it chains to multiple nearby targets. Depending on the rest of your build choices, I don't know that this is all that necessary. But again, depends.
  
  
• To address a major lacking in this build, you have no strong pen item which is core to any damage build. It'll be one of two items.
  
  The Executioner is the typical item you want for basic attack function. It provides attack speed, power, and stacking protection reduction to help cut through enemy protections. Those enemy protections are from items, BUT they're also from inherent protections. At level 20, enemy gods will have around 70 protections, WITHOUT building any physical protection item. You want enough pen or protection reduction to cut through that and deal more damage.
  
  Titan's Bane is the other option, and that's typically more for ability users, because it does not require consecutive basic attacks to gain the pen effect.
  
  Choosing one of these is typically CORE. There are only situational times when you wouldn't necessarily build one or the other, and that might be if you're facing a fully squishy team (no tanks), in which case you'll try to get your pen from flat pen items like The Crusher, Brawler's Beat Stick, etc.
  
  So, that's a major, major flaw with your build in general.
  
  
• As stated above and explained in my items guide, I don't feel crits are the way to go with someone like Xbal. I'd either suggest committing to basic attacks via Qin's Sais, or considering a build based more on ability use.
  
  
• When you build Jotunn's Wrath, that's again a commitment to ability use. That's okay if you want to go that route, but then I'd suggest replacing multiple items in your build. I'll give some example builds.

Okay, with the base knowledge portion out of the way, here is what I might propose, depending on the direction you'd like to take.

Ability build: Focus more on CDR, power, and pen. You'll want to be pretty active with your ability use, as you sort of need to get in close to get the majority of your damage off.

• Transcendence
• Warrior Tabi (or Ninja Tabi can be fine if you want a bit more hybrid ability/basic attack function)
• The Crusher (this is a hybrid item, as it has functions for both abilities and basic attacks)
• Jotunn's Wrath (strong commitment to ability use)
• Titan's Bane (core pen)
• Soul Eater (if you want some lifesteal) or Brawler's Beat Stick (anti-heal). You could probably even consider a defensive item if you really needed. This is also why it's almost never a good idea to propose a single build with no situational / alternative items.

Hybrid build: Partial commitment to ability use, but with an end focus on basic attack DPS.

• Transcendence
• Ninja Tabi
• The Crusher
• The Executioner
• Qin's Sais
• Situational (I don't know what your AS would be at this point...the cap is 2.5...but Odysseus' Bow could be considered here...or Asi, or Bloodforge, or Brawler's Beat Stick, or a protection item if you really needed)

Basic Attack build: True basic attack function.

• Devourer's Gauntlet
• Ninja Tabi
• The Crusher
• The Executioner
• Qin's Sais
• Situational (listing similar to that from above)

Of all of these, I think my preference would be the Hybrid build.

In any case, hope this is helpful. The build as it currently stands (Trans Warrior O-Bow WD Jotunn's DB) has a lot of issues, and has lots of room for optimization.