The Rise of Double Hunter Compositions in the SPL Part 2: Strategies

Compositions with two Hunters stormed the Spring Split of the North American Smite Pro League. In part 1, we covered which characters are great in double Hunter compositions. In this article, we will go over strategies from both sides of the match. We will cover itemization and macro strategies that can boost these dual Hunters as well as ways to shut the carries down.

 

Attack Speed is the best stat for Hunters. Team-wide attack speed steroids are very strong in double Hunter compositions. When Hunters free attack speed that they don’t even have to spend gold on, their DPS rises massively. Fafnir’s Coerce and Hachiman’s Heavenly Banner are big reasons these gods are priority picks. Shogun’s Kusari is item often bought by Supports to further increase the attack speed of their Hunters. There are other itemization choices that line up with the goal of double Hunter comps, which is to boost the damage of the Hunters. Items such as the Executioner and Stone of Binding provide penetration to eat through enemy protections.

Relics are always important and Belt of Frenzy is a key pickup when you have two Hunters or any aggressive game plan. Frenzy provides 15% attack speed and 10% damage to a whole team for five seconds. When upgraded, the effect gains 10 penetration and three seconds added to the duration. Magic Shell and Heavenly Agility are also great Relics to run. Shell helps protect the Hunters while upgraded Heavenly Agility gives Hunters the Haste effect, which removes the movement speed penalty on auto attacks and allows the Hunters to hold W and continue to mow down retreating foes. 

Some team fight Relics see added benefit in double Hunter compositions

The best-case scenario of these compositions is to snowball through the pressure of the jungler or mid laner. A mid Hunter should be able to outclear most Mages early. or match their clear and pressure them out with basic attacks and kill threat. Once the enemy mid is under tower or low health, you should be able to invade their jungle. North American teams were consistently invading the enemy red buff on cooldown. By continually taking the enemy jungle, a team can grow a lead and use it to take a fight or objective and snowball the game.

Alternatively, teams with two Hunters can stall and win fights in the late game. The Hunter class is designed to have insane DPS in the late game and with two, they destroy targets in the late game. The DPS of the Hunters is then boosted by itemization from their team. The support and solo laner should have great control in fights, peeling for their Hunters and locking down enemies. This is risky because you can get snowballed on and lose the game before the Hunters have full itemization or the opponents can build enough itemization to hold off the Hunters can win fights.

One Hunter is great at taking down towers and neutral objectives. Two Hunters makes the task even easier. Auto attack-based characters bring a lot of DPS to the Gold Fury and Fire Giant. With two Hunters, a team can burn down these objectives early and quickly. This is especially true of the Gold Fury, where a small rotation from mid can bring down the objective before the opponents have time to understand and respond to the situation. However, teams with two Hunters often lack the objective secure Mages can bring, meaning they may have to leash and let go of the objective if found out or risk having it be stolen by a big ultimate.

Hunters with attack speed steroids are especially good at taking down objectives

Double Hunter compositions are not infallible and do have weaknesses. These squads bring primarily physical damage and often lack magical damage, so it is easy to itemize into two Hunters. There are also strategic decisions that teams can use to outmaneuver and conquer double Hunters.

While double Hunter compositions bring high DPS, Hunters tend to lack big AoE burst spells. As stated above, Hunters are great at lowering the health of neutral objectives but can be vulnerable to having it stolen by a long-range Mage ultimate. Low amounts of AoE can also hurt dual Hunter comps in teamfights. While Hunters can destroy isolated or out-of-position targets, it is harder for them to take out a whole team unless they are ahead. Without the AoE or safe range of Mages, double Hunter teams can have trouble penetrating or disrupting enemy battle lines.

Itemization is easy against teams with two Hunters. Physical protections should be prioritized by tanks, and even squishy characters can often fit a defense item into their builds. One of the best items to purchase against a double Hunter composition is Midgardian Mail. This item provides health, physical protections, and a passive that slows the movement and attack speeds of those who basic attack you. In addition, Hide of the Nemean Lion and Thorns are pick ups that punish Hunters continually shooting you. Items that dull or deter the DPS of Hunters are great choices against teams with two of them.

There are strategies that can be used to beat double Hunter compositions. Teams can play for the late game, letting the mid Hunter grind up an advantage and then grouping up for objectives and fights. This can happen at power spike opportunities or when everyone is six-slotted and Mage AoE can tear through a poorly positioned team. Alternatively, an early game composition can try to snowball on the Hunters. Ganking junglers can camp and focus a Hunter for their laner to get ahead and carry the game.

There are some characters that are designed to give Hunters a hard time. Kuzenbo has a lot of control and reflects damage to harass carries. Bellona’s kit contains basic attack absorption and a disarm, making her particularly annoying to Hunters. Warriors and Guardians from the solo lane can rotate in the early to mid-game with a physical defense item or two and cordon off or beat up a Hunter with their high base damage and survivability. 

Gods like Kuzenbo and Bellona are great at shutting down Hunters 

Team compositions with two Hunters were very popular in the NA SPL Spring Split. Items that increase the attack speed and penetration of the Hunters are strong in these comps. Teams with two Hunters should have pressure in the mid lane and hope to snowball or stall and use their highDPS in the late game. To fight double Hunter compositions, slowing down their DPS and forcing them to group and fight against AoE allows you to beat them in the mid and late game. We will see how SPL teams continue to iterate on double Hunter compositions in the Summer Split.

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