Diamond Ne Zha, The flaming shredder (S4, Joust, applicable for conquest)

Hey, guys! I'm bizz435, and I have been playing smite for a VERY long time. Since the PC Beta, and now on Xbox; feel free to hit me up and play some games. I have played a lot of gods, mastered a few as well; but only a few of them i have really fallen in love with. I've recently taken a liking to guardians like Athena, Sylvanus, and Xing tian; warriors like Chaac, And Osiris; And mages such as Isis, Hel, Scylla and Posiedon. However none of these gods compare to the instantaneous love I found for Ne Zha. He/she (it) was the first god i got diamond and i expected to get bored after that, but here i am still playing it. I mostly play joust and Assault (and oh my dear lord, the gratification I get when i roll a Ne Zha in Assault), I prefer joust due to the smaller team battles, you have more room to walk all over your enemies, or rather, fly over. This guide can be tweaked to Conquest, however.

*Edit* Since writing this build i have gotten Athena, Chaac, Isis, Da ji, and Ne Zha Diamond. I am considering on writing guides for these gods but I'm not too sure yet. Let me know what you would like to see in the comments!

Ne Zha is my personal Golden God, that does not mean he is yours. If it isnt working out for you, maybe my build is not for you, maybe we should tweak it, feel free to leave a comment, I would love to assist.

your early game will be weak, it is a given with this god. you are heavily item dependent. If you are being shut down early game your first few plays, try playing a bit more defensively. This is not a god you just play with out a thought to what your doing. Position is everything, concentrate on what your enemies can do and how you wont be caught in it. If your balls deep between Ares, Hades, and Odin; you're f**ked, sorry. But if your looking for a god that will two hit a Ra and then ult (and kill) an Ao Kuang, then toss a ring, fake a retreat, and ambush a chasing Artemis with a sash then get her with the old double AA before her boar can stun you. Then that kind of Team kill potential is exactly what you should expect from this god and this build. My single handed enemy deicides are many and few between.

Ne Zha's kit is real simple and I am not going to get in to it, I just will not. Smitefire does an excellent job of telling you the Lore and Abilities of the god before the guids, use the tools you were given. But i will give a short description.
Passive- your basic attacks stack, your crits stack twice. up to 20 stacks, then when you use flaming spear, at max stacks, you will get 25% of your health. decent sustain for a super squish. Also provides additional crit chance.
1- throw a ring. it bounces. up to 8 (as you level it) it slows them, speeds you, and debuffs them. Don't underestimate it. It secures kills just as well as Malice does. EXCELLENT lane clear, the few times i have played conquest, this has cleared camps in record time, in record low levels.
2- The attack speed is only useful for clearing structures on build one, build two utilizes it a lot more. that being said the crit is tippity top, so we keep this at level one. Use this just before you three.
3-throw a ribbon, stun the person you hit, jump to them (immune to damage in air, VERY important. I have escaped a few ults with this, works even if they are CC immune though you wont get the stun) This ability can crit for MASSIVE damage.
4- your ult is the bread and butter to your build, i usually attack with a 2,3,4,1 where i get the crit boost, sash to them, ult them in the air, get my three free crits on them, then throw the ring to slow them/ finish them and maybe throw in an AA after. DO NOT WASTE THIS if they have 5 health after you sash, just hit them.

The "RIGHT NOW!!!" build is what I generally use and mostly in that order. Generally early game is very weak, though i have been known to get 13 kills with just tier two boots, you want to be EXTREMELY careful. Use your potions, talk to your team mates, and share the Kush (meditation). The only variation I would Suggest is if you are doing very poorly early game you should build Jotunn before Deathbringer.
I know Bloodforge is the new best this every for all you Assassin players, but i think that's because you don't realize how INCREDIBLE masamune is. This item will straight up bring you out of the weeds and have you hitting 2k crits (with this build you hit around that much, especially with power potions and frenzy active) Masamune gives you 50 power straight up, and up to an additional 50 based on how much higher their health is compared to yours. So if you are under-leveled, or fighting the bane of your existence- Odin Masamune makes your life a hell of a lot easier, everything else in the build is absoutely required, the cooldown, speed, penetration, and two crits.

*EDIT* Masamune has been changed and is now pretty much useless, However, Heartseeker has been dubbed the new ridiculous assassins Item and I strongly suggest picking it up.

*Secondary Edit* I have begun forgoing Heartseeker for either spirit robe or blood forge. spirit robe has quickly become one of my favorite defense items due to the mitigation and cool down on top of the protections. Blood forge gives an excellent post-kill escape that I quickly fell in love with as I went after diamond Da Ji.

These are some general Tips.
1- Use the speed boost on your one to catch up to people; +40% speed, even for a second, is very helpful

2- Do not be afraid to use your ult as a dash, lets say Nemises Came in with her Ult, you use Sprint to Back up a bit, Do a 2,3, Can't ult because you have ten seconds left on cooldown, she has 40 health and puts up a shield and dashes away, you chase her but its too far for you to sash. don't be afraid to chase a bit, ult closer then sash to get the kill when the shield is down. you Ult for the kill, you Don't need to necessarily need to use the ult on them for it.

3- Early game, just sit back, throw some rings, and drink some potions. it may be getting lit but you need to chill until you can do some damage. we get death bringer first so your ult can do some serious kill securing... if you don't miss.

4- It is very common for smite players to sit in lane till they can finish an item and then back. Generally I sit in lane till i have around 7850 gold, or if i am forced to back. at 7850 you can finish your boots and finish both your crit items super early. The advantages that come from that are just unreal. If you are playing safe enough or you are stomping on some kids like no body's business you should be fine, otherwise just play it safe, and get your jotunns.

5-DO NOT follow this guide to the dime, I spent a month perfecting my Ne Zha playstyle. If you feel a shifters shield or Magi's blessing will improve your game, than do so. Every person, and every game is different. Play to the strengths of your playstyle.

Obviously you should spend your time getting the easy kills, sit in the back with Ne Zha, Sash to your target, Probably a Ra or even a Loki. (I tend to shut down Loki's, please don't message me for a 1v1, I don't care how good you think you are with Loki) Later in the game You can pretty much shut down hunters, mages, and assasins with the old 2,3 combo with a basic attack at the end.

Before I close my guide I would like to throw out some very Important Information

Ne Zha players- For the love of god use your ult to escape, i am so tired of seeing a Ne Zha kill himself because he wants to save his ult, it comes back.

Do not be afraid to use your ult even though it will not get the kill. Taking a Loki in the Air to allow your kuku to escape is the best thing in the world you can do for your team, beside killing that Loki out right. (seriously though, screw Loki)


To all the Guardians Out there- If you see a Ne Zha tower dive and Ult in the Tower, please remember you have far more health than they do, go in and tank that tower when they drop down so they don't have to base right after, or die. The Early game is hard enough with out that kind of support.

Thank you for your time and i hope you enjoy! let me know what you think!

P.S. the odd titles are jokes, I have to keep myself amused some how!

If anybody has Art work they would like me to add in, or a build you think I should feature let me know!!

With season 4 developing it was time to update my build. Masamune is now useless so don't bother with it; where as heartseeker is now pretty meta for an assassin.

I have also developed a slightly tankier additive hide of the urchin which, similar to my comezotz build, should be used if you find yourself up close and personal. If you find the enemy team is all physical sub this out for breast plate of valor to max your cool downs.

additionally I have added rituals and relics to change up and enhance Ne Zha's performance in game. I am currently and always a huge fan of the team purchasing meditation because I am a joust player; however, I am also a big fan of the relics:
Bracer of undoing, Hand of the gods, and Aegis Amulet and these are all for the same reason: you are a burst assassin. your goal should be to sash in, unload, get out, collect your health with a Flaming spear and get back in there when you have your abilities again. hand of the gods lets you stun when you land, giving you free basic attacks, bracer of undoing lets you get some health back when you get out of there, and aegis amulet gives you a cleaner escape especially after tossing a ring.

Rituals I have included are very basic, Frenzied for damage, obviously. But, Flickering is a common Ne Zha trick to get yourself closer with out using your sash, Ulting, and then using your sash as a chase.

*edit* Rituals were removed and so they have been removed here as well.

Thanks to Comatosebones12 for bringing to my attention the potential Auto attack based Ne Zha. Below is my response to his comment, to see the context go check it out!

Don't forget to check out the second build!!

That really depends on how much you rely on your ult. Generally, Ne Zha is a late game god that collects a few kills early game and starts to develop his kill ability post-crit items. you should purchase Deathbringer early if you want to be an effective team member early game; collecting infuriating low health enemies. If you want to try an extremely off-base build, try: Urchin, Heart seeker, Hastened Fatalis, Wind demon, Deathbringer, titans bane.

The general response to this is: why don't you have boots? why include a defensive item?

both hastened fatalis and heart seeker give a 10% movement speed increase, together that increases you by 20% (2% higher than boots) so the movement speed difference is actually in the positive and allows you to keep heart seeker's ridiculous season 4 passive as well keep from those pesky movement speed penalties for AA.

Because your play style is more similar to how I play Camazotz than Ne Zha I've included Urchin to give you the health, mana, and defense to stay in the fight, collect kills, and literally just walk away (in stead of diving a phoenix and barely making it out with your life)

A penetration item is a requirement for assassins and you had the right idea with Asi but 15 pen is less then your standard penetration item and we are looking for something to counter act warriors who tend to balance protections and power. with out the defense of urchin or the 33% penetration from titans bane, you will have a hard time going against any decent Odin, or chaac (feel free to sub this our for a brawlers beatstick for the latter). Asi is a good item if you would like to buy it early and replace it with titans bane later on, as it is so cheap.

I also suggest you replace poisoned star with wind demon. I assume your play style is to pop a 1, hit your 2 for the crit and attack speed, then 3 your way to a target. Before the poisoned star made sense as it kept them from doing as much damage to you making yourself less killable and more threatening. With the protections from Urchin you no longer need to worry as much about incoming damage, and now can super buff your attack speed when you proc a crit.

I would suggest starting your game with watchers gift (800) and T1 boots (300) and then mana potions and multi potions (no health potions) you should be keeping your passive reasonably high and converting mana to health. then go to T2 boots and hide of the urchin and Hastened fatalis (19% movement speed). Then death bringer to benefit your ult, Wind demon to super your AA, Titans bane (If you are against a really tanky team get this before wind demon), and then sell your T2 boots and replace with Heart seeker (if you want your crits later than do this sooner. this will also bring in some WONDERFUL flat pen to help you take out squishy gods faster.

Finally: i would suggest prioritizing 1, then 2, then 3 with you Ult upgrades when you can. This is because your play style will depend on that Attack speed steroid a lot more and after you have clear you want to get that kill-ability as high as you can.

Good luck and happy hunting! hope this helps!