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Ingenious Hunter: Borderline Mandatory on Support?

RookPusher··1 votes·1,246 views

I'm sure people's immediate thought it "no, it's not mandatory" but I have a hard time not taking it as support and I wanted to lay out a few reasons why. For one thing, I just love the Hunter runes because I can mouse over the Rune-tip and see who I haven't killed. For no good reason I love that feature.

The reasons I think it's mandatory are that for blue ward alone, you're able to pump out the vision on yourside of the jungle before the enemy is routinely in it, and save your GI wards for the enemy jungle or laning brush. I generally get up to ward scores of over 100 with it and on that mark alone I don't see how it's not mandatory.

For the items it benefits, between Twin Shadows and Banner of Command, you're able to rack up gold and assists on a pretty regular clip. It's noticable after awhile that when I get those items and I'm not at 5/5 on IH it feels like the CD is taking forever. I think if you're taking an APC support it's negotiable, but I still take it on Bard and Zilean who could carry if needs be.

My only question is, and I have yet to test this, does Ingenious Hunter stack with Cosmic Insight. If so, I'll be trying that tonight.

6 Comments

Snowman Arc2 votes

It's a good idea to have it. Reduced cooldown on trinkets and oracles which is extremely important, also a lot of CD decrease for active items, like Redemption, Locket and whatever else you might want to be building. That said, it's not mandatory, for three reasons.

  1. What the rest of the tree offers isn't quite as good for supports. The warding thing is quite cool, but the extra AD or AP (mostly AP) you are gonna get is almost useless on tank supports and it's the same as if you took Inspiration on mage supports. Therefore, there isn't much reason to go into that tree.
  2. There are other trees that offer so much more. I play Janna and Taric, a mage-enchanter and a tank-enchanter. For Janna I use Aery + Resolve or Aery + Inspiration, because I either need the tankiness or Insp's runes are way too valuable compared to just reduced CD. Taric is Resolve + Insp for the same reason.
  3. You need to stack it up to see a lot of results. 15% from the get go isn't as much and it's only good once you get all stacks in, which can be tricky if you fall behind and can't kill people.

That said, sometimes, I do go into Domination tree for the Cheap Shot rune as Janna, because it offers quite a lot of damage with W-AA (Aery + Cheap Shot procced). But then, I choose that warding rune, because it's just so much more superior.

RookPusher1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Snowman Arc,realm=EUNE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=EBTkp9RM,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2018-05-30T15:24:45.613+0000)

It's a good idea to have it. Reduced cooldown on trinkets and oracles which is extremely important, also a lot of CD decrease for active items, like Redemption, Locket and whatever else you might want to be building. That said, it's not mandatory, for three reasons.

  1. What the rest of the tree offers isn't quite as good for supports. The warding thing is quite cool, but the extra AD or AP (mostly AP) you are gonna get is almost useless on tank supports and it's the same as if you took Inspiration on mage supports. Therefore, there isn't much reason to go into that tree.
  2. There are other trees that offer so much more. I play Janna and Taric, a mage-enchanter and a tank-enchanter. For Janna I use Aery + Resolve or Aery + Inspiration, because I either need the tankiness or Insp's runes are way too valuable compared to just reduced CD. Taric is Resolve + Insp for the same reason.
  3. You need to stack it up to see a lot of results. 15% from the get go isn't as much and it's only good once you get all stacks in, which can be tricky if you fall behind and can't kill people.

That said, sometimes, I do go into Domination tree for the Cheap Shot rune as Janna, because it offers quite a lot of damage with W-AA (Aery + Cheap Shot procced). But then, I choose that warding rune, because it's just so much more superior.

Yeah I typically go IH + Zombie Ward which (imo) helps dramatically in the early game by holding off ganks, and can add substantial late-gam vision in areas of the map people aren't migrating to which at least reduces possibilities as to where the enemy is.

The fall behind argument is valid though save for a few matches where you get an absolute dope, with the amount of play Bot lane gets you get get to 3/5 fairly quickly.

Do you know if IH stacks with Cosmic Insight?

Snowman Arc1 votes

Not sure how it stacks, but I assume it's additive, so something like 20% off to start.

ClumsyFerret1 votes

Personally I wouldn't take IH unless I'm playing a support with a lot of active items. (Like building redemption, etc.) If I'm playing a more tanky support that doesn't need all those cd items I feel like I never run out of wards. Not really required. Also yes, Ingenious Hunter and Cosmic Insight stack.

RookPusher2 votes

{quoted}

Personally I wouldn't take IH unless I'm playing a support with a lot of active items. (Like building redemption, etc.) If I'm playing a more tanky support that doesn't need all those cd items I feel like I never run out of wards. Not really required. Also yes, Ingenious Hunter and Cosmic Insight stack.

You're the best and I love you.

The ward thing is really for your 4 slot. Again, if you take farsight you're dropping wards every minute. If you start on your side of the map, closest to the base by the time late game hits you're rarely surprised (unless you're getting absolutely stomped.

ClumsyFerret1 votes

{quoted}

You're the best and I love you.

Oh you~

And for farsight I see where you're coming from now. I usually take sweeper or simply stick with the basic ward. I may have to test that later.

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