Smite Item: Silverbranch Bow

wait it didn't work like that before. Well that's good to know that it now will work as expected

It's about time HR did something useful with this item.

The big issue with this item is that it is looking to provide a benefit when you're going past the AS cap. Basically, "hey, this item helps if you build inefficiently."

So the item's concept to begin is basically ****py. The better bet right now would be to completely revamp the passive.

If we consider that this should stay in the AS bow tree, we see 3 other items.

• Ichaival offers potentially the highest power, while also reducing enemy AS.
• Atalanta's Bow offers additional MS.
• Odysseus' Bow offers no power, but has the chain lightning effect which is helpful for minion clear and teamfight damage.

In that vein, Silver should provide a stat that offers something else than these. It could be just bonus stats, like pen (it already has pen but perhaps you can build a different concept around that). You wouldn't want it to get too powerful, because flat pen is killer on squishies, while The Executioner covers the % prot reduction that's more effective against tanks...so perhaps pen isn't the best direction.

You can look to cover a different counter function. Ichaival used to offer reduced power to the enemy, maybe you could look to that direction, for early counter-play. Anti-heal is also an option, but we already have one alternative for basic attackers in Toxic Blade, so that's probably not the best consideration.

Another direction to consider might be on the defensive side. Perhaps it can offer stacking defenses.

The other option would be to just drop the item altogether.

We still have to see how much play Sol and Chronos get in ADC now, with their Fatalis nerfs. Maybe we'll see some minor adjustments that will keep them relevant in that role.

As it is, I can still potentially see Sol there, and Telkhines Ring fits well with her, but it's more of a late game item due to its high price.

Back to Silverbranch Bow, if we only commonly see Freya there and you're looking to counter-build, yeah, it's a good basic boxing item for a Hunter, but that passive is only going to affect her a small amount. Since magical basic attack damage is only 20% of a god's magical power, and since Freya's main damage comes from activation of Pulse and Irradiate, she'll still be able to output decent damage.

That said, it would be an essential bridge item if you see both ADC and Support as magical, and even more so if they have either a magical Jungler or Mid...then you've got functional debuffing on multiple gods.

Another interesting aspect that is be experimented with right now is combining Ichaival and Silverbranch Bow. There are absolutely positives and negatives, the positives being able to quickly stack 60 power for good basics (but not good for abilities if you haven't built those stacks), and when combining with the nice buff to Death's Toll, pretty decent early sustain.

The biggest negative is that you've now got 2 bridge items that become a bit less relevant as the game goes on, which means more replacements. It's definitely an item that fills a gap, but it'll still see less play than Ichaival.