Throughout Season Three we have seen various hunter builds come and go. We have had the Penetration meta, the Golden Bow meta, and most recently we have seen the rise of the old Transcendence meta. In Patch 3.14 however we have seen some changes to starting item Death's Toll which now gives two mana when an enemy is hit by an auto attack and the tier one lifesteal item Spiked Gauntlet, which saw a 50g price reduction.

These changes may not seem that significant, but the change to these early game items now allow for three different starting builds for Hunters in the ADC role. The builds consist of the Boots start, the Gauntlet start and the Charged Morningstar start. There is also a very risky start which allows for very early stacking which I call the Cursed Gauntlet start.

Death's Toll (800g) + Boots (300g)

The Death's Toll and Boots start is the cheapest of the three builds, allowing you to purchase eight potions. Thus having the most sustain level one, this allows the build to be the most aggressive in attempts to force the enemy ADC out of lane and get an early game lead. The build's first back involves picking up Warrior Tabi for 1250g and the main objective is to box the enemy hunter before their stacks can get online, and begin snowballing the lane before the early game build gets outscaled.

Since the Boots start doesn't rely on building stacks, the hunter can build an early Ichaival and Asi by the time the other builds finish their stacks and have lifesteal of their own. This means that for the entire duration of the early game, the build has an advantage over the stacking builds and can attempt to gain an early lead. The adverse effect of having the Boots build is that the stacking builds outscale it in the midgame so it needs to get ahead early to be worth building.

Death's Toll (800g) + Spiked Gauntlet (600)

Death's Toll and Spiked Gauntlet is a relatively old build that was meta for Season One and the early part of Season Two. It is most effective on Auto Attack based hunters such as Rama since they can get the most out of the lifesteal and boxing potential the items provide. The now cheaper Spiked Gauntlet allows hunters to purchase six potions, which is the same amount that the Morningstar start uses, so the start allows you to outsustain the enemy and have more boxing potential than either of the other builds. The first back will be for Devourer's Gauntlet at 1400g and the main objective is to get an early game lead to offset the weakness Devourer's Gauntlet has until midgame.

The Spiked Gauntlet build has the most pressure out of the three builds, especially on Auto Attack oriented hunters. The reason the build has so much pressure is due to the damage and lifesteal that the items give, which allow the hunter to take more fights than the Morningstar start due to the early lifesteal, and the power from Spiked Gauntlet gives the hunter a slight advantage in a boxing match if the enemy hunter uses the Boots start. The issue with the build is that the enemy hunter will have more pressure in lane while Devourer's Gauntlet is stacking since Morningstar will become Transcendence and have more mana to fight with, and the Boots start will have early game power spike items. Thus the Devourer's Gauntlets is weaker than the other two builds until the hunter builds Crit and can outsustain the other builds in the late midgame.

Charged Morningstar (1200g)

The Charged Morningstar start has been in meta since the latter half of Season Two for ability based hunters such as Neith. Due to the mana and power that the finished item Transcendence has once it gains all 50 stacks, ability based hunters are allowed to dominate their lanes once they reach the midgame so it is a very powerful first item for most hunters. The start allows the hunter to purchase six potions so they can sustain relatively well until the hunter needs to back, which will be at 1400g. The main objective of this start is to get the stacking item Transcendence as early as possible to gain a huge power spike over the other two builds.

The Morningstar start has the weakest boxing potential in the early game, but the hunters who make use of the start mostly rely on their abilities to do a majority of their damage anyways, so the other starts are much weaker for these hunters. This doesn't mean that the start is weak, as these hunters have the opportunity to overcome the other starts as long as they use abilities wisely. Gods like Medusa and Chiron can easily poke the enemy hunters with abilities while clearing wave, which may force the enemy hunter to play further back than they would like to. The major weakness with the build has is the lack of early game sustain outside of potions. Since the other builds have the option to build early lifesteal this build can be easily out sustained if the matchup between hunters is played poorly, so hunters need to be careful if there are prolonged engagements.

Risky Cursed Gauntlet Start (1450g)

This build is easily the weakest early game. It can only afford one potion and has the least boxing potential compared to the three builds since it doesn't have the power and sustain from Death's Toll or the mana from Charged Morningstar. This forces the hunter who uses the build to be very cautious before their first back. The first back however, can make this build fairly strong since it gives the Hunter an insanely early Devourer's Gauntlets at only 600g for the first back. The first back allows the build to have a power spike over the other builds until their first backs, and the start can begin to start stacking the very lengthy 75 stacks very early on, which can offset the power of Transcendence having less stacks. The build then has the same issue that Spiked Gauntlet start has, where it gets outscaled until late game. However, the fact that the build has its major item very early on allows the hunter to purchase power spike items earlier than Spiked Gauntlet start.

Good luck with the new starts and happy hunting!

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