Season 3 Hunters - Penetration Options

With a new season comes changes to item builds. The nerf that The Executioner received means that in our Hunter builds we have to look at our penetration options. Last season, The Executioner was the great over-ruling penetration option for hunters, but with the great many changes that have happened, it is no longer. Let's take a look at the two items.

The Executioner: 2250 GOLD

+30 Physical Power
+25% Attack Speed

PASSIVE - Basic Attacks against an enemy reduce your target's Physical Protection by 8% for 3 seconds (max. 4 Stacks).

Adding the passive up, after for auto attacks you get a total of 32% Physical Protection reduction.

Titan's Bane: 2050 GOLD

+30 Physical Power
Passive: All of your physical attacks gain 33% Physical Penetration.

At a first glance, the penetration difference does not appear to be too great, at only one percent. However, we have to take into account the 4 auto attacks The Executioner requires to get to that level of Protection Reduction. If we take a look at Krett's Krettcalc DPS calculator, we can see the damage numbers of each item, starting with a base build of Transcendence - Warrior Tabi - Asi - Qin's Sais.

Damage Numbers with The Executioner:

Auto Attack Number	Damage Total
1	232.61
2	484.06
3	757.66
4	1057.69
5	1357.72

Damage Numbers with Titan's Bane:

Auto Attack Number	Damage Total
1	274.09
2	548.18
3	822.28
4	1096.37
5	1370.46

As we can see from these charts, even after 5 auto attacks the extra attack speed from The Executioner does not make up for the penetration difference between the 2 items. The Executioner does give an extra 25% attack speed, but it's passive means you must land 4 auto attacks to get the maximum penetration on them. In a team fight situation, you don't usually have the time to hit 4 auto attacks on one enemy in those 3 seconds the stacks from The Executioner last. On top of that, every time you hit a stray auto attack on a random target by accident, Titan's bane will deal far more damage than The Executioner will.

However, with more changes to items, the Hunter build has changed a lot. Opposed to Season 2, with only The Executioner used for penetration, Hunter builds now seem to be penetration focused, and a lot less critical hit chance focused. Qin's Sais received a buff, which has now made them quite strong on Hunters again. While not strictly penetration, it is used against tanky targets which increases your damage the more health your enemy has.

Qin's Sais: 2700 GOLD

+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 an extra 10 physical power, and a 150 gold price reduction, Qin's Sais are back, and they're good. Against any normal team comp with a Guardian and a Warrior, or 2 Guardians, Qin's Sais will counter the massive amounts of health they will get. Qin's Sais is a good mid game pickup in just about any Hunter build.

After Titan's Bane has been built, we have a lot of options for our final item. This last item more often than not, is even more penetration. Looking at the Heavy Mace tree, we have 3 options.

Brawlers Beat Stick: 2400 GOLD

+40 Physical Power
+20 Physical Penetration

PASSIVE - Enemies hit by your Abilities have 40% reduced healing and regeneration for 8 seconds.

With its recent change to the passive, Brawler's is now weaker on Hunter than previously. Brawler's passive no longer procs on auto attacks, instead it procs on abilities.

Jotunn's Wrath: 2440 GOLD

+40 Physical Power
+150 Mana
+10 Physical Penetration
+20% Cooldown Reduction

Jotunn's is weaker to its counterparts for hunters, as it gives half the penetration that the other items give. Hunters, focussing on auto attacks, don't need to worry about cooldown reduction.

The Crusher: 2300 GOLD

+40 Physical Power
+20 Physical Penetration

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 gives the exact same stats as Brawler's Beat Stick, only differing in the passive. Your choice in items all comes down to team comps, the Hunter you are playing, and also which team is on the aggressive. Take a look at your enemy team comp. If there is too much healing for you to deal with, Brawler's is a good choice.

Which Hunter are you playing? Some Hunters, for example Rama, only have one ability that Brawler's Beat Stick will proc on, being his ultimate. On Hunters with only 1 or 2 abilities that cause damage, The Crusher is a far stronger item.

If your team is on the defensive, The Crusher's passive becomes pointless. This means that even if the enemies don't have any healing abilities, the small impact Brawler's has will be more effective than The Crusher. Even without any healing abilities, you can still lower the enemies' lifesteal, and if applicable, the Fire Giant buff.

Between The Crusher and Brawler's Beat Stick there is no clear best item, you have to choose your item situationally.

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