The Bongcloud Opening - October 30th Update

Solomon · ID 868321

48.6% win rate, 36.4K matches, 20.1K players

48.6%

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All ranks Emissary+Phantom+Ascendant+Eternus+

Opening

High-Velocity Rounds
1. e4 - Open with some gun utility. We'll develop this piece into a real threat soon.
Extra Regen
(Optional) 2. Ke2 - Lane sustain and a solid 800 green to get to that early spike. You can replace this with other 800s from the Greens section if you prefer/aren't being harassed.
Opening Rounds
3. d3 - Develops our High-Velocity rounds into extra spirit + opening gun damage, use this to set up a double bishop nuke
Extra Stamina
4. c3 - You can't restore your own stamina and having 2 is a liability, especially when you're so floaty
Mystic Burst
5. Qc2 - Starting development of your actual pieces, you now deal enough damage to proc this consistently
Spirit Sap
6. f4 - Pop this before slamming your combo on enemies. Previously you'd rely on extra squares for damage, but now we simply go for extra shred and direct impacts.
Enchanter's Emblem
7. e5 - A strong defensive move into spirit comps. Alternatively, replace this with Weapon Shielding into a gun heavy comp (e.g. Vindicta + Haze + Venator + Rat King)
Healbane
8. d4 - Heal cut is easy to spread on Solomon and let's face it, most of your teammates aren't buying any.
Tankbuster
9. Nf3 - We're out of the book now, we've developed our core pieces and we're ready to deal some real damage.

Midgame

Compress Cooldown
10. fxe5 - You need this as early as possible for your ult. The 240 second cooldown is second longest in the game and your ult is insanely powerful on rift/midboss.
Spirit Rend
11. g3 - Even more spirit shred and your gun spike means you can do even more damage. Spam headshots on tanks late game for maximum throughput.
Mystic Vulnerability
12. Bg2 - More shred to stack with your bishops for even more damage.

Endgame

Witchmail
20. Qd3 - This is a strong anti-spirit item AND improves your cooldowns on your combo and sustain abilities.
Spirit Burn
21. b3 - Significantly better late-game anti-heal option that also builds Escalating stacks for you. You can trigger this pretty easily with ult or 2 bishop hits.
Vortex Web
22. Ke2 - Even better now after the update, this is your best way to lock people into the very long Queen stun. Prioritize this for teamfights.

Greens (optional)

Rebuttal
Melee heavy lane? Get this for a chance to turn around and pick up a kill or two on that Billy/Abrams
Sprint Boots
If you're planning on going speed later (or want a cheeky Trophy Collector) you can grab this over Extra Regen in a passive lane.
Grit
Gun-heavy lane? Grab this early and upgrade it to Weapon Shielding at your earliest convenience.

Gun Alternatives (optional)

Kinetic Dash
Probably the best Opening Rounds replacement - solves the ammo and fire rate problem all at once.
Titanic Magazine
If you don't feel confident in your dash jumps and don't like Opening Rounds grab this with Swift Striker.
Swift Striker
Extra fire rate, pair with Titanic Magazine to match Opening Rounds' damage.

Skill order

Setup Bishop	1	2	·	·	·	6	·	·	9	·	·	·	·	·	·	·
Kingside Knight	·	·	3	4	·	·

Superior Cooldown

13. Ke1 - You want as much uptime on everything as possible and this gets you there.

Stamina Mastery

14. Bg5 - This turns your movement from King to Queen in no time flat. You become significantly more mobile and are now able to effectively kite.

Greater Expansion

15. g4 - Threaten mate in every fight by making all of your pieces massive and threatening. We can also leverage the extra square scaling now for more damage in teamfights.

Mystic Slow

16. Nbd2 - Pin all their pawns in place by reapplying this constantly.

Spirit Resilience

(Optional) 17. Bf1 - Most teams are going to hit you with more spirit than anything, replace this with a different 3200 if needed.

Escalating Exposure

18. Rxf1 - You have so many bishop moves at this point that you'll max this out in no time.

Lightning Scroll

19. cxd4 - Your ult has 5 chances to actually hit someone, meaning you're almost always going to land a stun that leads into your next Queen hit for insane damage.

Spellbreaker

23. b4 - Even more spirit resist + debuff resist (in case you're being silenced to prevent 2 usage)

Divine Barrier

24. a3 - You already have a fairly strong dispel, but this helps with silences and gives you even more ways to save your pawns (teammates).

Refresher

25. b5 - Promote a second queen.

Echo Shard

26. a4 - Imbue on 2 for support, imbue on 3 for evil permaroot teamfight nonsense.

Focus Lens

27. Bxe7 - Single-target lockdown and damage amp for your team. This is a great way to hurt enemy spirit carries and ensure that you can get a pick in fights.

Boundless Spirit

28. Qxg6 - Straight up damage.

Transcendent Cooldown

29. g5 - Really good if you pick up items with cooldowns - notably Spellbreaker, Spirit Burn, Vortex Web, Divine Barrier. This is the endgame support option.

Diviner's Kevlar

30. Nxd2 - This is used for one reason and one reason only: the Ult CD reduction lets you move the Queen faster. That, and you get a big barrier.

Magic Carpet

31. Nf3 - This is kind of a meme item. It lets you get up above your pieces to move them more easily, yes, but the stats are pretty paltry for your kit. Get this if you really can't micro your pieces.

Enduring Speed

Can be useful against a ton of slows.

Weapon Shielding

Early anti-gun option. You kind of struggle against gun damage, can replace Enchanter's with this.

Counterspell

In case your 2 invuln isn't enough, this is a second option.

Dispel Magic

In case your 2 dispel isn't enough (e.g. Silence), this is a second option.

Bullet Resilience

Brainless anti-gun. Useful into sustained gun damage characters (e.g. Rat King)

Metal Skin

Anti-Haze.

Fortitude

Pure HP option, good if you go jungling.

Veil Walker

Allows for an incredibly stupid (and fun) invisible rook -> queen combo for picks in the late game (especially good with Refresher + Transcendent!)

Juggernaut

One of the best anti-gun items in the game, slowing fire rate is insanely powerful against most gun carries (and some spirit carries too)

Mystic Shot

This is a pretty insane damage item late game. Pair this with Boundless Spirit for maximum damage.

Ballistic Enchantment

This is strictly worse than Greater Expansion, but if you find yourself wanting to maintain your shred potential while transitioning to a gun heavy build this is a decent pickup. Imbue on 1.

Headhunter

Very good healing utility for Gun Solomon and extra speed to get out of dangerous spots. Works well with Transcendent Cooldown.

Sharpshooter

Picking up this item locks you into a playstyle where you stay far away from the fight. This is a solid Spirit Rend alternative and pairs best with Magic Carpet and other movement items.

Weighted Shots

Your build-up on shots is quite high, so this can be a useful pickup if you want to play a more close-range, aggressive style. Use this to set up your Rooks and Bishops.

Toxic Bullets

Similar to Weighted, you build up this proc insanely fast and the scaling is quite good with all of your spirit investment. Consider this as a mid-game anti-heal option in a hybrid damage build.

Crippling Headshot

Anti-heal that's harder to notice than Spirit Burn plus a solid dual threat shred item. Replace Spirit Rend with this if you plan on going gun-only, and get this alongside Spirit Rend for hybrid.

Silencer

Solomon's very fast buildup allows him to proc this quickly in fights AND this helps you shut down enemy spirit carries. Get this into an all-spirit lineup for your gun/hybrid build.