Hi i'm mikechimike or IC: Firaworks and i'm a ADC marksmen player you can check out my guides here as Blue Beetle / Green Arrow / Supergirl or a slew of other characters. This is my guide for Star Sapphire.  I have never personally been good with blasters (other than Joker), so i decided to try something new and go for broke with SS (Star Sapphire). Because she doesn't work like conventional blasters, i'm going to do a more in-depth talk on her skills.

Strengths

- has the ability to poke and strong lane harass abilities
- has one of the greatest reaches in the game
- can hit multiple people with her primary abilities.  (Crystal Bomb/Violet Harvest)
- a powerful ulti!

Weaknesses

- she has no escape! (but this is true for Green Lantern too, one of the most powerful Blasters)
- very squishy (but that applies to any blaster)
- like all assassins/markmen/blasters you are a high priority target in team battles, so you need to stay in the back, and select your targets from a distance.
- steep learning curve when first using her, you WILL die alot.
- her ulti can take alot of practice to use correctly


Interesting Facts- that you probably already knew

- When her crystal (the predator) is attached, her move speed is increased.  (with the September Update, she's going to be slightly faster now)

- She has a unique attack

Explaination: - All her attacks center around the predator.  and two types of damage, indirect and direct (using "Q" and "E"

Indirect: Imagine you had an invisible dog on a leash.  "Q" marks the spot you want the dog to run to.  So anything between where the dog was, and where its going to, its going to hit stuff.  THAT counts as damage, in this case its relative to your passive.   If you mark ("Q" different spots consequtively, the dog will run between the points.  "E" calls the dog back to you, again anything between you and the dog that gets hit, gets hurt for the damage on your passive.  

Direct: using "Q" when the 'dog' reaches the marked point it explodes.  Keep in mind this isn't instantaneous, you have to wait for the dog to reach it, but when it does BOOM.  using "E" lets the Crystal explode, so wherever it is the people still around it take some damage.  

Items

The reason for my Core items, are to increase 
1) Power damage (cause she's a blaster.. duh) The Starheart (3)
2) Health for suvivability, no health means No damage to be done Atlantean Royal Seal (4), its very important cause she doesn't have an escape!
3) Power Penetration - the more you cut in the more it hurts! The Book Of Eternity (2)
4) (even though this isn't in my core items) Cooldown reduction - more times you can cast, the more damage, simple.
( you can see them in Optional items)

Special Mention 
- WILL ITEMS.. but for myself i find after i've unloaded, i'll be running anyway.

You can also go for [[Eclipso's Diamond (2)]], but personally unless you need the power armor, and the sustain, i would get other power items

Amps/Mods

Right now with my assassins and blasters for PD i focus on Power Penetration, Power Damage and Cooldown reduction.  Hit them hard and get the hell out.  That's the focus.  

The mods will depend on the build you want  to use, i will typically have cost reduction for Starheart and increased stacks or reduced time for Logo's or Two-face's coin incase, but utilize it for your own style of play.

Skills

Focus on R > Q > Passive = W > E 
however Get "E" early, it'll be explained below

The Passive helps support the "Q"  skill and increases the indirect damage, while "W" helps support on both fronts, which is why they are both important.  If you are playing a long range game with another blaster/marksman i would probalby put points in "Q" rather than passive.  

Before i get started on my speil why you should get what skill before what, read up on interesting facts



"Q" - Crystal Bomb - Your bread and butter.  Get this up as quick as you can , cause it reduces the cooldown and this is the basis of 99% of your attacks,  Crystal planting.  If you read my interesting facts portion i talk about direct and indirect damage, but you can't do anything if you can't use "Q".  So make sure this is leveled up and a short cooldown.
  


"W" - Violet Harvest - Your "Q"'s best friend.  Crystal placement is important, You should ALWAYS KNOW WHERE THE PREDATOR IS.  I can't stress that enough.  It determines where you're doing your damage.  Also this gives you bonus power damage for each person around the exploded crystal, so make use of that when attacking.  Its a bit of a cost hog so don't level it up till finishing "Q" first.  



"E" - Bonds of Love - A great utility skill, although its still not as good as an escape.   Lets you bind together two objects (champions, minions).  They will both be hit with Damage over time, unless they separate (walk far enough away from each other).  Press "E" again and it snaps then back together and stuns them briefly.  

Another great application is binding an enemy champion to your Predator (after manifest).  this is a GREAT way to finish off a escaping champion. 

Or if you need to run away, you can also bind someone to your crystal, and snap back.  This gives you time to put some distance , Violet harvest and run/kite.   

Even though you don' t need it leveled up , its good to get it early on to help with those situational points.  



"R" - Manifest - Your nuke.  The predator comes out of hiding to start smashing stuff.  Crystal placement is important cause where the predator manifests, also has a short stun.  You can guide the predator on who to attack by highlighting them and pressing "R".  Or move the predator with "Q" as you normally would .   I normally place a crystal behind a turtling/running-away champion (or group that is on a capture point) and hit them with "R", then i begin targetting the ADC or hardest hitting champion.  






Passive - Glimpse of the Predator - This determines the amount of damage when the predator is running around.  


Laning

I've been successful in top laning solo , mid or  laning with a person bot.  She has great range, so poke, harrass and annoying the other player, until they make a mistake and hit them hard.  



Combos

When chasing - When chasing, you'll want to utilize "E" So bind them to your crystal, bind them to the predator, bind them to something.  if they are getting too far "W" to get back your move speed

When in team fights -  Dance that predator around with "Q".  When you can hit the most possible poeple use "W" to get that power damage bonus and use normal attacks.  or Use "R" to hit them with the predator

When Running - Just like chasing use "E" to bind them to something, and "W" to get your move speed back


Closing

IF you liked the guide or found it helpful, please leave comments or give me a 'thumbs up'. otherwise...

I want to say THANKS to all of you reading this.  And thank you to Sacrilege for maintaining this awesome site

This isn't a cookie cutter guide, but written the best to my ability understanding of SS. 

Show them that the power of Love is a beautiful (and LETHAL) thing with Star Sapphire