Billy tanking is so much fun!
[Formerly GiggleNuts' Silly Billy]
Annotated and includes additional categories for pivoting your build. I highly recommend prioritizing 4.8k bonuses if you decide to pivot from the main build early.
Billy's lane has very little poke and needs his enemies to be close to him for him to do some serious damage. Your job as Billy in lane is to not fall behind in souls and punish the enemy for overextending and/or getting too aggressive with you or your partner. You will generally be clearing wave first and then looking for people to catch off guard with Rising Ram and start your combo to do a lot of damage to them. Try and steal enemy camps as soon as they come up with Blasted. It's always good to steal camps and this will force enemies to fight. Make sure your lane partner joins you. Look for kills around 7:30 - 8:00 minute mark so you can steal Sinner's Sacrifices as well. Don’t be afraid to rearrange the order of items depending on the situation. Your worst enemies in lane are people who restrict your movement, such as Warden, Doorman, or Vindicta, avoid laning into them if you can. Try to lane into characters who have little mobility. Your best friends in lane are Bebop, Vindicta, and Paige, as they force your enemy to stay close to you and create opportunities for you.
11.2k Souls


I
Prosciug. salute corpo a corpo
Activates on Bashdown. Heavy melee minion waves to keep the cooldown short. Feel free to sell this first.


I
Tiro ravvicinato
Melee resist to help you make all melee damage trades positive. Extra gun damage in Billy's effective range.


I
Cartucce anti-mostro
Helps you kill all NPCs faster to gain wave prio and take jungle faster. Take less chip damage from all NPCs. Super good item.


III
Infondere
Incantesimo balistico
This item is INSANE damage. Cultist Sacrifice is less necessary with how squishy jungle is now, and this grants you the range and damage aspect but better early on.


II
Emblema dell'incantatore
Very good spirit power (+ resist) increase item. Spirit power not only increases your damage but also your Blasted bonus HP scaling.


II
Giubbotto da battaglia
Nice bullet resist and damage output increase.


II
Velocità persistente
Must have item to stay in your enemies' face, better than Sprint Boots as it improves your move speed instead of sprint speed.


I
Caricatore esteso
Extra bullets and damage, very good for how cheap it is. Can be upgraded into Escalating Resilience later on.


I
Obiezione
For the naughty laners who like to melee you a lot. Don't just spam it like a bot, that will get you killed.


I
Rigenerazione extra
Very solid green item, always worth taking if you're taking more damage than you'd like.


I
Attiva
Rito curativo
Extra speed and big HP regen. Great for leaving to run boxes quickly while regenning HP.


II
Barriera reattiva
Super clutch against cc from Haze, Paige, Mo & Krill, etc.


II
Protezione spirituale
Nerfed, but still good. Now not the answer to everything but still worth considering.


II
Protezione balistica
Not as broad use as Spirit Shielding but still nice.
After lane I would generally recommend trying to play around your ult's cooldown. Farm by catching trooper waves and stealing enemy jungling. Using Blasted in jungle will allow you to leave camps with more HP than you entered with. Make sure to pause jungling to prioritize catching the nearest wave EVERY time, the jungle will still be there and is worth less than troopers. When ult is off cooldown, keep farming but look at your map and try to scope out where a fight is going to happen and start rotating. If one is already happening and you can make it, start rotating. Billy is an insane teamfighter when his ult is ready. You can also rotate for fights when you have no ult if you can gank quickly, or if you catch someone seriously out of position.
21.6k Souls


III
Furto spirituale
Still an insane item, arguably even better on Billy now once Bashdown reaches Lv3.


II
Pallottole perforanti
Resist, shred, and gets you 4.8k spirit. Synergizes well with Torment Pulse.


III
A bruciapelo
Huge damage increase up close, which is where all your fights will be. Gives a slow effect as well to help you stay on top of your target.


III
Impulso di tormento
Free fat DPS for existing near enemies. Very nice item that scales.


II
Attiva
Fuoco di risposta
Situational pick but can be used with other resists to put more pressure as you tank.


III
Resilienza balistica
More useful now than pre-November patch. Fat resist bonus when low.


III
Attiva
Pelle metallica
No more bullets for you, evil gun carry. Be aware you can still be punched and have spells cast on you.


IV
Armatura corazzata
Very good item against really strong gun characters when you already have some bullet resist.


III
Furia
If you can sustain yourself enough to take the high damage this will turn you into a dps monster.


III
Attiva
Aura eroica
Help your team become tankier when you lead the charge.


III
Resilienza spirituale
Can work into main build to be super tanky against spirit. Be aware of diminishing returns.


IV
Rompi-incantesimo
Not only helps you eat large spirit damage chunks but gives base spirit and debuff resist too.


II
Vulnerabilità mistica
Cheap resist and shred that pairs well with Spirit Snatch.


IV
Attiva
Flagello
Fat spirit resist and max health percentage damage.


IV
Attiva
Trasformazione eterea
Get out of jail free card + short period of big buffs after exiting Ethereal Shift.


III
Colpi ponderati
Gives additional weapon damage + debuff and spirit resist.


IV
Silenziatore
Lowers enemy spirit damage output, and silences them. It builds up stacks on your Bashdown so you can hit multiple people with it at once. Very good.


III
Controincantesimo
Super good item, highly recommend against characters who rely on their abilities. Can also parry walker stomp to proc a free heal and stat bonus.


III
Attiva
Dissipatore debuff
Extremely important item to remember, can be used to clear debuffs and curses like Warden's Binding Word or Vindicta's Stake.


II
Attiva
Maledizione di rallentamento
Unironically OP item. Silences movement abilities, so it's very good for shutting down characters who rely on them like Lash, Mina, or Infernus.


II
Soppressore
Can replace Bullet Resist Shredder for this, good into gun carries.


III
Attiva
Maledizione disarmante
Good for giving you the edge against characters relying on their gun.


III
Attiva
K.O.
Like Slowing Hex, kind of OP, lets you get picks easier and shuts down people in the sky.


III
Attiva
Onda del silenzio
Fallen from grace since last patch but still a silence which proves useful against some heroes, notably Victor.


IV
Attiva
Maledizione
Another item to shutdown carries with, boasting even more debuffs and clearing all buffs.
Do not be afraid to grab items from the optional section. The “Late Game” section contains generally good picks for T4 items, with Frenzy and Colossus being the most favorable. Communicate with your team and try to bait the enemy team into a team fight when you have Chain Gang ready. Soul urn is very easy to bait fights with. Be aware of the enemy team's comp and do not get caught out by yourself, because if you die early or before the fight even begins, your team lost a huge ult and tank character, and will likely lose the fight if they don't have someone else to tank. Try to identify and target the enemy team's carries with your ult and kill them ASAP with your team. Communicate this with your team!! Secure picks, mid-boss, get Rejuve, team up, and destroy the enemy base.


IV
Frenesia
Very good item to resist incoming spirit damage and retaliate with bonus stats.


IV
Attiva
Colosso
Fat HP increase + insane resists and more weapon damage. Very good tank item.


IV
Sanguisuga
Very good for constantly staying in fights longer.


III
Resistenza crescente
Great stat increases + bullet resist that scales pretty high and lasts a long time. Has no fall-off range so you can shoot targets from afar to get your resist stacks early.


III
Espansione maggiore
Synergizes with all your Bashdown and Chain Gang very well and also gives you spirit resist on top.


IV
Attiva
Ragnatela a vortice
Insane CC item. Pairs really well with Bashdown and Chain Gang. With Vortex Web you dictate the teamfight.


III
Attiva
Pietra deformante
Mobility to get in and/or out paired with a huge resist buff.


IV
Juggernaut
Great tank item to compliment bullet resists when going against multiple gun builds.


IV
Attiva
Inarrestabile!
Use this to face tank cc ults during sensitive moments such as midboss. Enemy team comp dependant item.


II
Caricatore titanico
Even more ammo and gun damage. Extra ammo is important because it scales our melee ammo replenish and lets us mix up our melee mindgames.


IV
Attiva
Condensatore
Adds burst of damage and active ability slows + disables movement items, abilities, AND disables stamina usage. Use it to counter mobile targets.


IV
Colpo di fortuna
Crazy damage output with this item on with no downsides and even more ammo.


II
Maledizione curativa
Cheap antiheal and heals on kill. Great for ganking playstyle.


IV
Inibitore
Like Silencer, this item works with Bashdown, so you can affect multiple people at once. Destroy the raid boss Victor.


III
Attiva
Decadimento
Antiheal best suited for characters with a large HP pool.


IV
Colpo alla testa invalidante
Super easy to activate shred for both damage types + antiheal.


II
Colpo alla testa sfiancante
Cheap and easy bullet resist shred.


III
Punta cava
Very good bullet damage boost and bullet shred. This will make you delete people instantly.


III
Attiva
Fuoco alchemico
Free damage and considerable scaling bullet resist shred. Effect does not linger outside of the fire. Use it to control key spaces.


III
Aura del cacciatore
Kind of a bully item but still pretty good. Slightly pricey.
DEFEAT THE ENEMY AND DEFEND THE GATES TO AGARTHA!!! YOUR BAT IS BEING INFUSED WITH WHITE MONSTER ENERGY FOR THIS MISSION! BRAVE THE FLAMES AND FACE TANK INFERNUS ULT!!!! AGARTHA IS COUNTING ON YOU, BILLY!!!!
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