Raelynn/Builds/Monkey's Paw Aggression

Foreword
This build guide attempts to cover a specific build revolving around an upgrade for the protoblaster called "Monkey Hand". This guide assumes that you have a basic familiarity with core MOBA concepts, but will be as detailed as possible without being redundant.

To start this guide, you must understand the concept of Opportunity Cost. Whenever you choose to run an upgrade on a character, you must measure it's worth against the best possible alternative for that upgrade. That means that by running Monkey's Hand, you cannot run a different upgrade on your load-out in that slot. Continue at your own peril.

The Monkey's Paw; or the Double Edged Sword
The Monkey's Paw is a short story written by W. W. Jacobs about a man and a mystical Monkey's Paw which grants three wishes. However, each wish had an unexpected consequence which brought grave misfortune to the wisher. The moral of the story is not to tempt fate.

How is this relevant, you ask? Well, lets talk about Monkey's Hand.

Monkey's Hand

 * Description: Receive extra Solar for every Awesomenaut kill.


 * Cost: 75 solar.


 * Amount: +50 solar.

As you can see, Monkey's Hand is a unique upgrade for the Protoblaster which grants you +50 solar whenever you kill another Awesomenaut. This does not have to be done with the blaster, any kills from any of your skills will trigger this effect. Normally, you would gain 30 from an enemy death and 30 for the last hit on a player, totalling up to 60 solar per kill, but with this upgrade that improves to 110 solar per Awesomenaut kill. This upgade pays itself off after only two kills, and starts granting you free solar. Great! So what's not to love?

Well... a few things. First of all, there's an opportunity cost. When you purchase this upgrade, you're using one of three slots dedicated to improving your blaster. If the game goes on long enough, a Raellyn player of equal skill will have a better gun than you do. Second, you're weakening your early game potential on the chance that you will get kills. By purchasing this upgrade, you're playing with a handicap until you get your second kill. This is the curse of the Monkey's Paw. You're taking the risk of being too weak in the early game and late game for the promise of being very strong in the mid-game.

If you're absolutely confident in your ability with Raellyn, you will be rewarded though. For each kill after the second, you become stronger. You buy better upgrades, and you start to grow more powerful than your opponents in an exponential factor. Each kill gets you better upgrades, and each upgrade gives you more kills.

List of Upgrades
For clarity, I will be listing effects instead of upgrade names.

Timerift

 * 1) +1/+2/+3 damage.
 * 2) +10%/+20% slow.
 * 3) +5 duration.

Snipe

 * 1) +7/+14/+21 damage.
 * 2) +14 damage.
 * 3) +8/+16 range.

Protoblaster

 * 1) +50 solar per Awesomenaut kill.
 * 2) +2/+4 damage to Awesomenauts.
 * 3) +3 damage.

Utility

 * 1) +30/+60/+90 health.
 * 2) +1.6 movement.
 * 3) +150 solar.

Explanation

 * For this build, a few things have to be understood. First, we run Power Pills Turbo because we will have a lot of solar to spend in the mid-game, and if we ran regular Power Pills we would reach our final upgrade sooner, which makes all solar gain redundant after that point. This also gives increased flexibility in matchups where more health is vital, like against Clunk and Gnaw. Our upgrades on Timerift are planned for the end-game, when it becomes time to push hard into the enemy base. You can substitute duration for height at your discretion, but improving durations allows you to maintain two timerifts at once and even perform the intensely lethal dual-rift combo where you place two rifts in the same spot for 100% slow and 6 damage a tick. Besides this, dealing lethal damage is our top priority, and other upgrades are dedicated for that purpose. Range on snipe allows you to steal kills you normally couldn't from faster characters, but cooldown has the possibility of giving you a kill you normally would miss.

Buy Order Considerations
I'm not going to definitively tell you in what order to buy your upgrades, because different build orders are necessary to fight different characters, and while Snipe is a great tool to upgrade against Voltar, you're less likely to hit many Froggy players with it as opposed to your blaster. Here's the general idea:

After Dropping
First, buy Piggybank, Denny's Boots, Monkey's Paw, and Snipe. Your early game is mostly farming bots and looking for first blood like a hungry buzzard. Use your great base damage on protoblaster to try to put your opponents to low health, then use snipe to deliver a fatal burst. Try ambushing opponents on maps like Ribbit from bushes to grab a quick kill if possible.

Early Game
You're going to be focusing on upgrading damage solely. First, try to get the Iron Blaster upgrade for Snipe for the quick and cost-effective +14 damage on Snipe, and try to get the Receding Ponytail upgrade for Protoblaster to increase your damage on your attacks by +3. You're trying to get kills here, so try not to buy health very quickly unless there is a serious amount of burst damage on the other team.

Mid Game
Upgrade damage on your Snipe to its maximum, and start working on increasing your survivability. Increasing your range on Snipe can be very good once you maximize it's damage, but if you're already on their core, you might want to skip this entirely. You should have some kills by now, if not, just try to keep yourself safe and watch out for openings. If you think it's necessary, upgrade your Protoblaster's damage against Awesomenauts, and maybe buy an un-upgraded rift if the enemy team has destroyed your first turrets.

Late Game
Upgrade your Timerift to maximum. At this point, you're attempting to use the power of a fully upgraded rift to corral your opponents back into their base and make counter-attacks very dangerous to attempt to perform. You should be able to lay down two rifts at once most of the time, so keep dropping rifts and only use Snipe if you are sure it's safe to do. Finish upgrading health and damage on your shots if you haven't yet.

Play Style and Tips
One thing which should really be considered when playing this build is whether or not you're playing with an organized team or a public match. In random pub matches, it's very hard to convince your team to let you get killing blows, even when you can guarantee a kill. Many players tend to be very greedy, and if they don't understand what you're trying to do, it can make your job very difficult. If you're playing this build in a random PUG, you should clearly communicate with your team on drop and let them know you're using Monkey Hand and that you will receive 110 solar if they let you get the kills.

In most fights, you're going to want to be a vulture. You're not so concerned with general attrition and damage as much as you are with grabbing that last hit on the weakened player. That's why we tend to prefer to upgrade Snipe to Protoblaster, because we're not concerned with wasting 70 damage on an enemy with no health left as long as it trigger's Monkey Hand.

Remember, in the very last stages of the game, Raellyn is an absolute monster with a fully upgraded Rift, so make sure to use it at every possible moment. Place the rift in tight spaces and to deny attack avenues to your opponents, and be aware that your Snipe has knockback that can push them into your rift.

Use your great horizontal mobility to give you great map control and awesome solar stealing power in certain situations, like the Worm on Corona. Remember your jump is low, and that it takes a while for your boots to trigger after a teamfight. If you die, you lose 30 solar, as well as a lot of potential pickups or kills, so if you're being challenged to a game of chicken, don't take unnecessary risks when it's clear that you'll be the first to reach the jungle creeps because of your Denny's boots.

Anyways, that's my guide! I hope it's helpful!

~Nerf Pyro Plz