As I mentioned earlier, this build is most definitely not a typical "meta" type build, but I have found a lot of success with it recently in S4. The fact that his ultimate is not leveled up until end game will send some into shock I'm sure, but it really works for this build.
In every game mode start with purchasing your T2 boots, Meditation, and the Chalice of Healing and Chalice of Mana. If playing Conquest then put your first skill point in Hive. For everything but Conquest I purchase the first level of Hive, Swarm, and Honey.
You will start out a bit "weaker" than most opponents with this starting build, but the chalices and relic should give you enough sustain along with your hives to manage. The key thing to remember about this build early game is that you must play a bit more defensively. You will want to play more a the back lines and work on keeping gankers off your teammates and preventing the enemy team from making coordinated dives. I will keep conquest specific strategies for its own section below.
EARLY GAME
The first hive placement goes right outside of the fountain exit. This gives you a "free" hive as your mana will instantly refill. From there you leap frog your hives as best you can to create a fast path back to the battle from the fountain. This ensures that the hive movement speed bonus always gets you back into the fight as fast as possible. After minions have spawned and your team has taken whatever camps it is going for, begin setting up hives at your towers.
For arena I will typically place hives from the fountain to our buff camps basically taking over our side of the map and giving my teammates as relatively safe escape path as I can quickly and easily rotate around the map and help as needed. From this point on you simply want to maintain and spread your hives based on what the rest of your team is doing. If they're currently playing defense, then you'll want a network of hives overlapping across your territory. This will make sure you can move anywhere you need to be quickly.
In Clash, for example, I will often place a hive in the center jungle on our side of the damage camp. Then place 1 hive at each tower. This gives me the ability to rotate from one tower to the other as needed if one lane is getting overrun. It also ensures that nothing can slip into the center jungle secretly to gank from the sides.
MIDGAME
At this point you should have your Ninja Tabi, Charged Bow, and at least have T1 purchased into Jotunn's Wrath. While your attack speed will be decent, keep in mind that your damage output will still be struggling a bit compared to other hunters in most cases. As long as you stay within the safety areas provided by your hives, your healing and speed bonuses should keep you in the fight just fine.
If your team is successfully taking ground from the enemy and putting consistent pressure on enemy objectives, then you want to start "leap frogging" your hives forward as you can. As you begin to move the radius of your hives forward you'll be able to slowly but surely take and, more importantly, hold enemy ground. You should have 3-4 levels in your hives and 2-3 in swarm and honey at this point.
One thing I think should be mentioned at this point. I purposefully ignore leveling up stinger until my other abilities are maxed out. The stinger, while having some decent burst damage potential, is secondary to the sustain of the hives and your bees passive. Once your hives hit level 3+, the bonuses become invaluable to being able to counter the late early game start.
ENDGAME
Ok, you've made it to the enemy's pheonix and trying to push past them to the Titan. At this point you should be looking into finishing off your Qin's Sais and/or your second crit item (I typically like Deathbringer for the burst damage combined with Malice) If your damage output isn't quite where you want it to be you can drop Charged Bow at this point and grab something with a little attack power and/or penetration. If I find myself in this position I have found that The Executioner works really well. The attack speed bonus helps mitigate some of the speed you lose from dropping the bow while providing a decent boost in damage output.
At this point you should be following your team's rotations and fight initiations. Keep a row of hives going down whatever lane you're working. This ensures that you have a fast lane back towards your side of the map should the team fight not pan out. Once you have an area cleared out start placing extra hives in the general area. Remember, any time you hit an enemy with Honey they will be swarmed by bees from all hives in range.
BASIC STRATEGIES
The thing to keep in mind with this build is that you're almost a quasi guardian. You are very much the fall back position. If your teammates initiate a fight and things go badly, then it is up to you to slow and, if possible, stop the enemy pursuit and encroachment into your side of the map. Having multiple hives set up and using your abilities liberally will get the job done. The chalices will help mitigate the mana drought issues that Cab suffers from, but not get rid of it. You have to be willing and able to fall back.
One of the biggest mistakes I find myself making with this build is staying in lane a bit too long. With all of the healing and sustain it is easy to wrack up a 2k gold and not realize you haven't made a trip back to fountain yet.
Be flexible in rotating. The entire premise of this build takes advantage of Cab's increased mobility due to his hives. You can easily provide base defense quickly to just about any part of the map if you are smart with the placement of your hives.
When under the range of your hives, your movement speed bonus will make it near impossible for most gods to effectively chase you down. Toss in the slow that honey creates and you've got great escape prospects even without any abilities specifically dedicated to that purpose.
