Overview
Updated! Not sure what items to build on your Hunter god? This guide covers the different types and options for Hunter builds!Updated for 3.22 with adjustments to items and new builds added!
Intro
Hunter builds are settling into their final Season 3 forms now, and there’s acutally quite a bit of variety to Hunter builds, which I think is a great improvement over Season 2, but that can make it confusing for newer ADC players. Not to mention you might also be seeing builds for different game modes/skill levels or changes in the meta… The Hunter meta has really shifted all over the place this Season, so if the guide or video you’re looking at is over a month old, it might be outdated. Meanwhile if it’s over 9 months old it might be back in line with where we are now… except for newer items… So it’s a little complicated, but we’ll get through this!
Types of Hunters
There also are a few variations in types of Hunters: basic attack focused, ability focused, hybrid, and “other” (we’ll get to that later). You’ll see slight variations on the ADC/Hunter build depending on the category of Hunter within a game mode, and other variations depending on the game mode itself.
Basic Attack Focused Hunters include gods like Apollo, Jing Wei, Artemis, and Rama; whose kits have abilities that don’t do much damage and instead rely on most of their damage coming from the Hunter’s basic attacks and therefore tend to favor Attack Speed and/or Crit-heavy builds.
Ability Focused Hunters include the classic Mid-Lane Hunters like Neith and Chiron as well as gods like Cupid, Medusa, and Ullr; whose kits have abilities on which the Hunter will depend to do a significant portion of their damage and therefore tend to favor Power-heavy builds. These are the Hunters you will most often see in the Mid role when you have a Magical ADC.
Hybrid Hunters are just about every other Hunter not listed above, though some lean more towards one of the categories than others, most can go into either a more basic attack focused build OR a more ability focused build (or a hybrid, hence the name) and do fine either way with slight adjustments to playstyle. One of the most notable examples of this is Hou Yi whose kit has parts that could go either way on the spectrum and make him one of the more popular and powerful Hunters due to his versatility. The other Hunters that would qualify for this category would be Ah Muzen Cab, Anhur, and the “Other” Hunters, which we’ll talk about next.
“Other” Hunters include gods like Izanami, Xbalanque, and Skadi who are pretty much a subset of Hybrid Hunters with unique mechanics that require special consideration and have some unconventional build options depending on how you want to exploit those mechanics.
“Core” Hunter Items
In general, Hunter ADCs require 3 core stats to ensure maximum DPS from their basic attacks: physical power, penetration, and attack speed. In order to ensure the greatest efficiency in obtaining these stats, the “baseline” core ADC build I work off of is Death’s Toll starter (sustain from basics), Warrior Tabi (early cheap power and move speed), Ichaival (cheap attack speed, penetration, and power), Asi (cheap lifesteal, attack speed, and penetration), and Qin’s Sais (expensive, but gives %hp damage on each basic which gives the greatest DPS jump of any single item).
+15 Physical Power +90 Health
PASSIVE – Hitting an enemy with a Basic Attack restores 6 Health and 2 Mana.
Great basic sustain item that will give you health and mana for doing what you’ll already be doing.
+40 Physical Power +18% Movement Speed
Great value as the cheapest complete Tier 3 item available and gives a chunk of power comparable to most other T3 items, but at a fraction of the cost.
+30% Attack Speed +10 Physical Penetration
PASSIVE – Every successful Basic Attack increases your Physical Power by 10 and reduces your target’s Physical Power from items by 10, for 3s. (Max 3 Stacks)
Marvelously valuable item that provides all 3 of the core Hunter stats in attack speed, penetration, and power and all for an extremely low price. Really hard to beat as an early item.
+15% Physical Lifesteal +20% Attack Speed +15 Physical Penetration
PASSIVE – If you drop below 35% Health, you gain an additional 25% Physical Lifesteal for 5 seconds. Can only occur once every 15 seconds.
Only slightly more expensive than Ichaival and also provides 2 of the 3 core Hunter stats plus lifesteal. Lifesteal isn’t always necessary to a Hunter ADC build in the current meta, but Asi will give you the best stats cheap to have that bit of sustain for prolonged fights. (More on lifesteal later)
+40 Physical Power +15% Attack Speed
PASSIVE – On Basic Attack hits, deal Physical Damage equal to 4% of the target’s maximum Health. This only affects gods.
With the %hp damage this item gives the biggest jump in DPS you can get from a single item, and the best part is that if the enemy builds more health they also take more bonus damage from Qins’ passive. Eventually crit chance can outscale this, but it takes multiple crit items, all of which are just as expensive or more expensive than Qins’ to consistently provide more DPS than Qins’ does alone.
You’ll notice that’s still missing two items once you sell off the Death’s Toll starter item, because the other two items are going to be situational. Though actually it can just about be considered 3 additional items in a Hunter build since if you make it late enough in a game, a lot of Hunters will sell off their Ichaival and replace it with another more expensive item with better late game stats.
This Core of items will work well on just about any Hunter in any game mode (though you may choose to skip the starter item in non-Conquest game modes without much issue). You’ll want to build them more or less in this order as it gives you items with good stats that don’t cost a lot of gold so you can get the ball rolling and get the most value for the initial gold you’re farming. Save the expensive items for later or else you risk falling behind. Some Hunter builds don’t get some of these items, and that’s fine, because they’ve replaced one of them with something else for a specific reason, but when in doubt, these are the items you can count on to give you almost everything a Hunter needs.
Stacking Items
Now, the first major thing this Core build doesn’t have is a stacking item, so we’ll talk about those two: Transcendence and Devourer’s Gauntlets.
+35 Physical Power +300 Mana +6 MP5
PASSIVE – You permanently gain 15 Mana per Stack, and receive 5 Stacks for a god kill, and 1 Stack for a minion kill (max. 50 stacks). Additionally, 3% of your Mana is converted to Physical Power.
Transcendence is by far the more popular stacking item, since it’s the biggest source of Physical Power in an item a Hunter can get their hands on, giving %power based off of total mana and with its stacks providing extra mana. Transcendence is an obvious choice for ability focused Hunters because it provides power for the scaling of their abilities and mana for using those abilities, but it also works well on just about any Hunter simply because more power also translates into more damage in general.
+25 Physical Power +10% Physical Lifesteal
PASSIVE – You permanently gain +.4 Physical Power and +.20% Physical Lifesteal per Stack, and receive 5 Stacks per god kill and 1 Stack per minion kill. (Max. 75 Stacks).
Devourer’s Gauntlets provide flat stacking power and the most constant lifesteal out of a single item, but are currently unpopular due to stacking items often just taking too long to come online with the currently fast-paced meta, at least in the SPL, and some Hunter builds skip lifesteal entirely, including Asi. But you will sometimes still see stacking items in Ranked builds, particularly if you’re playing a late-game team comp that provides time for you to build up your stacks without falling behind early or not being farmed up enough once teamfighting starts.
P.S. This means stacking items can still be very good in Conquest especially (Transcendence OR Devourer’s) even in Ranked up through at least Gold tier, since games tend to last much longer than they do at high-skill levels of play like SPL, so don’t dismiss Devourer’s entirely based off of SPL, since if you’re reading this, you aren’t in the SPL! š Just realize what they are good for and what they are bad for.
The reason I don’t include Transcendence or Devourer’s Gauntlets in the Core build is because stacking items in general aren’t especially needed in the current meta. You’ll see lots of ADCs even in the SPL straight up skipping any stacking item in favor of going straight to items with more useful passives, and in other game modes, particularly where there’s a greater ratio of gods to minions and so less chance of being able to stack in the first place, it’s even less efficient to get a stacking item.
And PLEASE don’t buy a stacking item past your first three items… Beyond that point you’re likely too late in the game to complete the stacks before the game is over and so you’re wasting your gold on an item that will be giving you subpar stats! Get a crit item or Brawler’s or Bloodforge or, heck, even Soul Eater if you need the power or lifesteal; just don’t get a stacking item that late in the game… It’s not worth it.
So what else goes in those last two (or three) item slots?
Crit Items
If you’re going for a crit build, you usually want to have at least two crit items to make sure you have at least a 40% crit chance to make the most of getting those crits. The most popular crit item is Deathbringer for the straight extra 40% damage on top of the 100% extra damage a crit gives in the first place, then Wind Demon for the bonus attack and move speed it gives on crits and Malice is the other major option that provides lots of damage in the form of a DoT effect after the initial crit.
+50 Physical Power +20% Critical Strike Chance
PASSIVE – Critical Strike damage is increased by 40%.
+40 Physical Power +20% Critical Strike Chance
PASSIVE – Your Critical Hits increase your Attack Speed and Movement Speed by 20% for 5s.
+50 Physical Power +20% Critical Strike Chance
PASSIVE – When you deal a Critical Strike, you deal an additional +75% of your total Physical Power as Physical Damage over the next 3s. Additional crits refresh this effect.
Wind Demon is usually favored on basic attack focused Hunters simply because of the attack speed boost meaning the more basics you get, the more damage you do, while Malice can just provide more straight-up damage, particularly on hybrid or ability focused Hunters, where the DoT scales with your power and can continue applying damage while you pause your basics to use your abilities.
+30 Physical Power +20% Critical Strike Chance
PASSIVE – If your Basic Attack does not Critically Strike, your Critical Strike Chance increases by 10% (max. 6 Stacks). Resets on successful Critical Strike.
+30 Physical Power +15% Critical Strike Chance
PASSIVE – Critical hits on enemy gods afflict them with poison for 2s. This poison slows them by 20% and reduces their damage output by 20%.
The other two crit items are Rage and Poisoned Star and they are less favorable because both have weaker stats (less Phys. Power, less useful passives for Hunters) than the other crit items and are therefore less efficient. They are better utilized by gods that have some other form of crit chance inherent to their kit (like Ne Zha, Artemis, Hun Batz, or Jing Wei) and can’t afford a second crit item or need a cheap option to get more crit chance earlier in the game. But in general, I would avoid them right now until you understand better how to build with Hunters.
Final Items (Penetration, Lifesteal, etc.)
The other items Hunters would be looking at to fill out those two or three remaining item slots and finish out their builds are:
+30 Physical Power
PASSIVE – All of your physical attacks gain 33% Physical Penetration.
Titan’s Bane is used for the % Penetration, which is so good on Hunters that it should practically be considered part of the Core build. One reason I left it off though is because if the enemy team isn’t very tanky then the pen from Ichaival and Asi MIGHT be enough, but the % penetration really helps you tear through structures quickly, knocking down towers and phoenixes very quickly. So in most cases one of these last few item slots should be reserved for Titan’s Bane just for the sake of taking objectives since that’s how you win the game. But the main reason I left it off the Core despite it being so useful, powerful, and ubiquitous is becuase of the next item…
+30 Physical Power +25% Attack Speed
PASSIVE – Basic Attacks against an enemy reduce your target’s Physical Protection by 12% for 3 seconds (max. 3 Stacks).
Executioner is the other main Penetration item a Hunter would get, since it provides protection shred on basic hits and extra attack speed that Titan’s doesn’t, but due to Titan’s Bane being better for taking down objectives quickly, while Executioner is best against Tanks, it is still a little less popular than Titan’s Bane. Though recently it has been seeing a comeback with Guardians showing up in the Solo and Jungler roles more as a means to help break through heavier defensive team comps (again, this is the reason Titan’s Bane isn’t in the “Core” build, since you might want Executioner instead).
+75 Physical Power +15% Physical Lifesteal
PASSIVE – Killing an enemy god forges a shield from their blood with Health equal to 200 + 10 per Player Level for 20s. While the Blood Shield is active you gain +10% movement speed.
Bloodforge is another lifesteal option besides Asi and Devourer’s, but it is one of the most expensive items in the game (and therefore inefficient until late-game) and its passive doesn’t work quite as well on Hunters except maybe in game modes like Arena or Assault (Bloodforge actually isn’t a bad first item in Assault where you start with a good chunk of gold and sustain is super important). However, with certain ability focused or “other” Hunters where straight Power is more effective, it can still be a good item, but far more situational on Hunters than a lot of people seem to think, since it was designed more for Assassins (though it’s usefulness on Assassins is also debateable right now). Still it can be useful in a lot of Hunter builds, but NOT until late-game! It’s too expensive to buy early!
+20% Physical Lifesteal +30% Attack Speed
PASSIVE – Killing an enemy eats their soul granting +0.5% Movement Speed (max 20 Stacks). If you take damage below 25% health all stacks are consumed restoring 1% of your maximum health per stack.
Soul Eater would be the last lifesteal option for a Hunter, but its stats are in an odd place right now that make it the least desirable: Bloodforge and Devourer’s Gauntlets are usually preferable over Soul Eater right now, and I still think Asi gives the best stats for a Hunter lifesteal option in most situations. However, if you make it to the super late game and really want to sell your Asi for something more expensive, this could be a better option on Basic Attack Focused builds since it provides attack speed and movement speed (on the stacks) which Bloodforge doesn’t.
+40% Attack Speed
PASSIVE – Every fourth Basic Attack triggers a chain lightning, damaging the target and up to 4 nearby enemies for 30 damage +50% of your total Physical Power.
Odysseus’ Bow is an option some Hunters go to in the very late game mid-section of the farming phase as a replacement for Ichaival as their attack speed item, especially since the branching damage from the passive will boost your overall DPS for wave-clear and in teamfights quite nicely. Not worth getting early (at least in the Tier 3 version) as it is expensive Since the 3.22 update reduced the price significantly, this item is far more viable earlier in the game as your main attack speed item. However, since it ONLY provides attack speed and AoE damage, don’t make the mistake I see some Hunters doing and neglect getting other power items, since it doesn’t provide the power buff/debuff that Ichaival’s passive does. It works great in stacking builds for this reason, since you’ll be getting lots of power from whichever stacking item you’ve chosen, and it might become more of a meta item as we go along with this new change…
+20 Physical Power +20% Attack Speed +100 Mana +18% Movement Speed
Ninja Tabi is technically more efficient than Warrior Tabi on a Hunter who is using their basic attacks for most of their damage, but early game a Hunter is usually in greater need of the cheap source of raw power Warrior Tabi provides and Ichaival is also cheap for providing attack speed (and power). However, late game when you sell your Ichaival for something else, like a third crit item, also replacing Warrior Tabi with Ninja Tabi can help you maintain your attack speed a little more. These looked like they might become the new meta boots for Hunters given the buff they got in 3.17… But it appears that the cheap early power from Warrior Tabi is still usually better for clear, especially when you can get Ichaival for cheap attack speed stats instead, while cheap power stats are more difficult to find.
Situational/Unusual Items
Very situational (meaning you only see them occasionally and for very specific circumstances) items would be:
+25 Physical Power
+10% Movement Speed
PASSIVE ā Hitting an enemy with a basic attack helps you gain focus, increasing Attack Speed by +3% per stack (max 5 Stacks). At 5 stacks your next ability cast consumes the stacks and provides an additional +15% Attack Speed and +40 Physical Power buff for 3s.
Heartseeker is another item (in addition to Odysseus’ Bow) that HiRez buffed recently to try to make it more useful for Hunters, potentially as an alternative in competition to Ichaival. It’s cheap, provides power, movement speed, and attack speed with its passive; kind of like a reverse Ichaival (base power stat with passive attack speed rather than base attack speed stat with passive power). However, due to the way the passive works kind of like Soul Stone for Mages, Heartseeker requires Hunters to use an ability to make the most use of the passive, which can just be awkward when a lot of Hunters save their abilities for occasional use rather than using them on a consistent basis like a Mage. This makes the always-on passives of Ichaival and now Odysseus’ Bow much more useful to most Hunters than Heartseeker’s passive. Though it might work better when using a Hunter in the Mid-lane role for Conquest, due to its similarity to Soul Stone making it useful for the constant wave and camp clearing with abilities that Mids (even Hunter Mids) have to do.
+50 Physical Protection +15% Attack Speed
AURA – All enemies within 55 units have their Attack Speed reduced by 20% and their Physical Power reduced by 30.
Witchblade provides attack speed and physical protections along with a debuff aura that is a fairly decent defensive option that should still allow you to box another Hunter on a relatively even level while providing more protection against pesky Assassins ganking you.
+40 Physical Power +20 Physical Protection +20 Magical Protection
PASSIVE – While over 50% Health, you gain +20 Physical Power. While under 50% Health, you gain +20 Protections.
Shifter’s Shield is another defensive option you’ll see some Hunters go with, particularly those who lean towards being Ability Focused, because it provides lots of power with the protections you get. It’s also the only item I’m recommending as a possibility for Hunters that has Magical Protections, so that’s something important to note, but again, you want to focus on DPS as a Hunter and avoid defensive items if at all possible.
+25 Physical Power +300 Health
PASSIVE – Enemies hit by your Basic Attacks have their Movement Speed reduced by 30% and have their Attack Speed reduced 15% for 1.25 seconds.
Frostbound Hammer provides health and slows an opponent’s move and attack speed when hit by your basics, so it used to be a more common defensive Hunter option, but is less popular now with the buffs the above two items got in S3 over S2, and you might still see it from time to time, but there are usually better options.
+30% Attack Speed +10% Movement Speed
PASSIVE – When a Basic Attack hits a target, the attacking movement speed Debuff is removed from you for 1s.
Hastened Fatalis gives you lots of attack speed and some move speed, but more importantly it gives you the “haste” or “Fatalis” effect where you no longer get your movement speed slowed by basic attacking if your basic attacks hit an enemy. While this seems great on an ADC, since it doesn’t provide you with power or pen or lifesteal or crit, it’s actually usually less efficient than other options. But it does find some use on bigger maps with longer lanes like in Siege or Assault when you need to kite or chase an enemy, especially on the more Basic Attack Focused Hunters, but in most cases Wind Demon will provide all the move speed you need plus crits.
+40 Physical Power +20 Physical Penetration
PASSIVE – Enemies hit by your Abilities have 40% reduced healing and regeneration for 8 seconds.
Brawler’s Beatstick provides power and penetration as well as letting you counter enemy healing and lifesteal. Good if the opposite Hunter goes heavy into lifesteal or if there is a dedicated Healer god causing problems on the enemy team, particularly if your Hunter is more Ability Focused because (important to note) the anit-heal effect only works on people you hit with your abilities so it is far less useful on some Basic Attack Focused Hunters who only have one ability to use to hit enemies.
+40 Physical Power +150 Mana +10 Physical Penetration +20% Cooldown Reduction
Jotunn’s Wrath is useful for the power, pen, but of course, mostly the CDR in certain circumstances on Ability Focused gods, since we were just talking about them.
+40 Physical Power +20 Physical Penetration
PASSIVE – Each Basic Attack against towers and phoenixes grants a Stack that increases your Attack Speed by 10% and Physical Penetration by 5 for 2s.(Max. 5 Stacks).
The Crusher can be a useful item for split-pushing with the extra attack speed and penetration it provides against towers and phoenixes, particularly on gods like Apollo or Jing Wei who have great mobility for Hunters and make good split-pushers (or on Skadi, the split-push queen). However, in the vast majority of situations, with this passive only applying to towers and phoenixes, it means you’re giving up an item slot that could have something to help you win teamfights and push the tower or objective as a team anyway.
+15 Physical Power +100 Mana
PASSIVE – Enemies hit by your damaging Abilities take an additional 30 Physical Damage over 2s. (Max 2 Stacks)
Bluestone Pendant is another Starter item option that you could pick up for Hunters with more damaging abilities, like Neith, particularly in non-Conquest game modes where poke can be just as important as clear (Arena or Joust for instance). It provides a nice bump in mana at the start and an extra source of damage that can sometimes get you an early kill or make your opponent back when they didn’t expect that much damage that early.
Example Final Builds Part 1 (Standard Builds)
So putting this all together some good, basic Hunter builds would be the following, which accounts for pretty much the four most common paths a Hunter might want to build for:
Standard Crit Build
(Good versatile build for any Hunter in most situations)
Death’s Toll > Warrior Tabi > Ichaival > Asi > Executioner OR Titan’s Bane (team fights or objectives?) > Qin’s Sais > sell Death’s Toll for Wind Demon > sell Ichaival for Deathbringer
(> sell Warrior Tabi for Ninja Tabi)
Standard Stacking Build
(If you like stacking for late-game, then this is a good build to shoot for with some versatility options)
Death’s Toll + T1 for Devourer’s Gauntlet > Devourer’s Gauntlet > Warrior Tabi > Ichaival) OR Odysseus’ Bow > Executioner OR Titan’s Bane (team fights or objectives?) > Qin’s Sais > sell Death’s Toll for Deathbringer
Heavy Crit Build for Basic Attack Focused Hunter
(Want more crit for your basic-spam? Try this build out!)
Death’s Toll > Warrior Tabi > Ichaival > Asi > Executioner (OR Qin’s Sais, but once you’re critting, the %hp isn’t as significant) > Wind Demon > sell Death’s Toll for Deathbringer > sell Ichaival/Asi for Malice (> sell Warrior Tabi for Ninja Tabi)
Heavy Power Stacking Build for Ability Focused Hunter
(Want to blow people up with your abilities? Try this build for your Physical-Mage!)
(Death’s Toll sometimes >) Transcendence > Warrior Tabi > Ichaival > Asi > Titan’s Bane > sell Death’s Toll for Qin’s Sais > sell Ichaival/Asi for Brawler’s Beatstick/Bloodforge (or Malice or Deathbringer if you really want crit)
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Example Final Builds Part 2 (Unusual/Cheese Builds)
This first “unusual” build is not that unusual, but it does get items in a bit of a different order, which necessitates a little bit of a different playstyle.
It is used by a few Hunters in SPL and is thoroughly examined in this DukeSloth video: For a summary if you don’t want to watch the long video, it is basically an SPL-focused build for quick games and where ADCs aren’t going to want to be boxing each other in favor of quick poke with basics using Qin’s passive and Titan’s ability to shred objectives. In exchange, this item gives up the more efficient damage ramp in other Hunter builds as well as ay lifesteal beyond the Death’s Toll starter item, so you have to be VERY careful early and know what you’re doing as an ADC to avoid dying and/or falling behind…
Qin’s & Titan’s Rush Build
Death’s Toll > Ninja Tabi > Qin’s Sais > Titan’s Bane > Wind Demon > Deathbringer > sell Death’s Toll for Odysseus’ Bow (or maybe Malice or Soul Eater?!)
The video doesn’t specify an item to replace Death’s Toll, presumably because it is designed to end games quickly (one way or another) and so you shouldn’t really be getting to that point, but I favor Odysseus’ Bow since otherwise this build is a bit light on attack speed items (hence going Ninja Tabi rather than Warrior Tabi also, in case you were wondering). However, I could also see wanting to go Malice just for the full-on crit damage, or if you find you’re needing to keep some sustain, this is one build that could possibly really make use of Soul Eater’s combination of attack speed and sustain since you actually already have items for every other stat you need by this point… If you’re feeling daring, try this build and let me know what you think.
Later on I will cover some of the more odd build options for the “other” Hunters, as well as some of the other cheesier or “just-for-fun” builds, so feel free to submit suggestions! But first up, Skadi!
Kaldr the Immortal Assassin Build for Skadi
Skadi can do just fine with either the Standard Crit or Stacking Builds, but if you want to exploit her mechanics with Kaldr for fun, check out this build. Kaldr actually scales harder with power than with attack speed, so this build emphasizes power items along with cooldown reduction so Skadi’s Ult can transform Kaldr into an unkillable, inescapable damage machine.
Transcendence > Warrior Tabi > Heartseeker > Jotunn’s Wrath > Titan’s Bane > Bloodforge or Hydra’s Lament (more CDR and damage if you’re feeling cheeky)
Further Thoughts on Lifesteal Items
Bloodforge only has 20 more power and 10% less lifesteal but costs way more than Devourer’s Gauntlets, so you kinda have to buy it later or screw up your power curve as an ADC, and Hunters need lifesteal earlier in the game than Assassins (who often don’t even necessarily need lifesteal at all), hence why Bloodforge on Hunters is just inefficient like going for Deathbringer on a Hunter too early is inefficient.
Personally on Hunters I still prefer Asi (at least until very late game) because it gives you the attack speed Hunters need plus penetration, all while giving the same lifesteal as Bloodforge under normal circumstances and even more lifesteal than Devourer’s when you’re low health and really need it.
Bloodforge doesn’t give a Hunter as much lifesteal as either Devourer’s or Asi, plus Hunters can get the little bit of extra power Bloodforge has from better items for them. Not to mention Bloodforge’s passive gives you a shield if you happen to get a kill, which Hunters WILL do, but if a Hunter gets a kill, often the shield is just overkill then, since they should still be with their teammates at range and they have just removed one of the major threats to them; meanwhile Asi’s passive gives Hunters the lifesteal stat they need when they need it at low-health to survive a gank/dive, all much cheaper than either. Bloodforge’s passive gives an Assassin the ability to survive tower- or backline-diving to finish off an enemy carry without immediately getting blown up by the other carry or CC-chained to death by their Tank (at least hopefully long enough for the Assassin’s movement ability to be back up for them to escape)…
Bloodforge’s passive is designed to be a late-game item for Assassins to help them survive in teamfights after diving in for a pick, Asi’s passive is designed for Hunters to help them survive long enough to kill the ganker/diver and/or for help to arrive, and Devourer’s is designed for Hunters to just have as much lifesteal and power as they should ever really need if they can get the stacks.
Bloodforge has not really been meta for Hunters in most game modes (anywhere other than maybe Assault where you can’t get Devourer’s and have the initial gold to buy it right off) except maybe when first released before they adjusted it a little, though it is really popular in Normals right now because all that power is just so shiny and attractive and Asi seems like it can’t possibly be better when it’s so cheap…
Finally, to round out the Physical Lifesteal items, Soul Eater is currently supposed to be kind of a hybrid between Asi and Devourer’s Gauntlet, providing attack speed and lifesteal plus a low health heal based off stacks (except temporary stacks rather than permanent stacks)… But right now it’s a little expensive for only providing 10% more attack speed and 5% more lifesteal than Asi while also NOT providing any power OR penetration with crit builds being back in the meta.
So Soul Eater might see some tweaks again or maybe the meta will shift again elsewhere to allow it to come back, but I still prefer Asi because it provides all the other stats a Hunter needs (attack speed, lifesteal, penetration) all in a neat little package of one item so the rest of your items can be focused on crit chance/power (or more attack speed)..