However, it never quite reaches one, as proven by the forum games like "You're banned!" Scientists are currently looking into the mysteries of the "You're banned!" thread, and whether it's immunity to such discussions may be developed into a vaccine for other threads.

I much prefer the Staff of Renewal on TB and Rook.

Blade of the Serpant is GODLY!

Bejeweled Goggles are great to free up an item slot for a Plate Visor.

Hahaha!

I prefer the Serpent on TB and the Teleportation Amulet on Rook

Renewal on Fire TB all the way...

Choosing swift anclet and not buying swift boots for 1000g have to be a bad choice.

I mean then you have a favor item that only saved you 1000g and perhaps one inventory slot.

hmm, think again about what you have posted!

the point is what do you get and what do you lose if you take a different favor item as the anklet. one example has already been made.

anyway, what others don't take into account ist that sometimes the time when you have an item and its features at disposition is more important thus making some favor items worthy over others not because of a better monay/feature relation but because some things are much better having them early on.

i.e., the gold upgrade does not pay for itself in 5 minutes, as for its duration you were down 1800g worth of gear (although the upgrade is still AWESOME). In the same way, one can see use in BotF for its rather impressive earlygame advantage; 800 HP is a lot at level 1. Sure, in the long run it can be topped, but that certainly doesn't rule it out as a strong item.

When playing Sedna, I tend to favor Swift Anklet when I join pubbie games because you're always very likely to have at least one ally and one enemy who are clueless. In these situations, it helps to be fast because your stupid ally will frequently get into trouble and you will need to run to him and give him a heal asap, and simultaneously the extra speed helps you repeatedly farm the weakest enemy on the other team for gold. In this situation, BotF or another similar favor item would be thoroughly pointless since the extra hp is not needed to win an engagement against an opponent who is relatively or totally clueless about how to play the game.

On the other hand, against opponents who I suspect are good at playing the game, BotF is my favor item of choice.

I used to be all about swift anklet but now I'm loving the cloak of night. It helps me escape way better (especially around corners) and I've also telefragged a fair few people ;D

Warp cloak thing on sedna.

i've seen so many rage quits due to Warp/pounce. Never gets old.

Also useful on Oak, but less rage inducing for some reason.

i escaped a Bat Swarmed  - Stun - Bite combo Erebus with a Foul Grasping Beast while using Boots of Speed, Swift, Wand and 1 Sigil of Vitality using Reg. lol

Everyone forgets about Magical Coin Pouch.

Actually, in all seriousness, hear me out here. (not arguing that the pouch is ZOMG IMBA or that it's going to be the *best possible item*)

Let's discuss why the pouch could be viable, if all of you don't mind a change of direction here.

First : ceteris paribus, you get citadel upgrades more quickly, if only by 10%. What can this 10% mean? 10% faster gold upgrade, 10% faster priests, angels, catas, giants, etc. Can this be critical? Yes.

Second: If you added up all the money you saved from using Pouch, you could easily replace nearly any favor item. ex: buying a Godplate (not that the game should be going on that long...) saves you 1000g, which you could use to buy boots and thus a 66% replacement of Anklet. That's just one item's cost saving you an entire favor item's worth. Sure, you could eventually run out of room, and your favored counterparts would eventually be more powerful, but there would be a point in the game where your full item inventory surpasses your opponents. That would be the chance you take to end the game yourself.

I completely disagree.

There is really no gold cost conversion of favor items, because their effects stack with things you otherwise get.  Anklet is not just 50% better than boots of speed, because the two effects stack.  No one without anklet can get permanent +25% speed, not with 1000 gold, not with 4000.

I also disagree that your full inventory would surpass someone elses.  Because the coin purse gives nothing to start, at the point where your savings would equal out to giving you better gear as if you had a real favor item, you have merely achieved parity.  That is, you are now as good as if you'd taken a real favor item. In all reality, I believe this point would come very late in the game.

It just doesn't work out.

Sire, they can! Its called the Journymans Treads.. expensive yes ..and its better

I'm surprised there aren't more mentions of niche favor items.  Swift and BotF are great all purpose items, but for certain builds there are just ridiculous synergies availible with some items.

Some fun tricks:

Staff of Renewel + Snipe Reg on leviathin - The mana flag plus some mana items let you really, really spam snipe with this build.  If the opponent has no healing, it becomes very hard for them to hold flags early-mid game.

Horn of Battle + Minion erebus - If you are reading the forums you have most likely heard of this.  If not, go ahead and try it.

Blade of the Serpent + fire TB or Burst Reg (Mines and Mark) - Spam high mana abilities like theres no tommorow.  Mana items optional.

Heaven's Wrath + Snipe Reg - the 250 damage is more than you think, and certainly more than your opponent will anticipate early game.  Often gets you a free kill in the first 5 minutes before your opponents start doing their mental math correctly.

Rook + Teleportation Amulet - Yes, the amulet is a replacement for an item you can buy at the store.  But the ability to use it over and over for free, especially on maps with a cooldown flag, is very powerful.  One of my favorite tricks is teleporting into a fight and boulder roll stunning an opponent, either setting up a kill or preventing one.

I'm sure there are more of these.

I see these happen all the time. They just aren't mentioned as much.

Tower Rook + Staff of Renewal = win

Oak + Wings of Seraphim

Dark Crimson Vial is pretty nice as it gives you free large potions

As soon as I get enough favor again I'll try Cape of Plentiful mana with QoT Spike build.

Teleport Cape + Sedna Pounce

Cape of Plentiful Mana + Sedna Heal = never needing to retreat to crystal

Also, Cape of Plentiful Mana is an aura that is not debuffed while in mist. Oh yes.

If you are not taking Swift Anklet why take boots of speed? I never use boots of speed that much either.

How about that versus BOTF and Nimoths.

+700 HP and +750 Armour vs +800 mana and 15% speed. The only DGs that will benefit is really TB and Reg, possibly Sedna, although I would still prefer to have the HP and armour on Sedna. Buying boots of speed is really a bad idea, unless you are doing a speed build. Just use teleports instead or wand of speed. They take up a valuable item slot.

On the OP, I used to think that swift anklet was top dog, however, I rarely use it now, ocassionaly with TB (who I still suck at). In all cases, 800HPs is usually a better investment.

I think if the items ever get rebalanced, I can imagine BOTF will be nerfed to 600HPs, making it attractive still, but not overpowering.

Staff of Renewal pwns with a tower rook, and it's the only way to make the build viable.

you can buy movement speed relatively early, you can't buy cooldown items until late game (stormbringer, and the money's better spent on ashkandor)