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The Unkillable Zhong Kui

4 1 90,321
7.4
by Shaveaux updated July 24, 2014

Smite God: Zhong Kui

Build Guide Discussion 6 More Guides
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Zhong Kui Build

Opening Purchase

Build Item Shoes Shoes
Build Item Vampiric Shroud Vampiric Shroud
Build Item Healing Potion Healing Potion
Build Item Mana Potion Mana Potion
Build Item Blink Rune Blink Rune

Completed Core Items

Build Item Ethereal Staff Ethereal Staff
Build Item Shoes of the Magi Shoes of the Magi
Build Item Book of Thoth Book of Thoth

Next Three Optimal Items

Build Item Warlock's Staff Warlock's Staff
Build Item Hide of the Urchin Hide of the Urchin
Build Item Rod of Tahuti Rod of Tahuti

Other options instead of Rod of Tahuti

Build Item Obsidian Shard Obsidian Shard
Build Item Gem of Isolation Gem of Isolation
Build Item Chronos' Pendant Chronos' Pendant
Build Item Doom Orb Doom Orb

Potentially viable actives (your preference ultimately)

Build Item Hand Of The Gods (Old) Hand Of The Gods (Old)
Build Item Teleport to Towers Teleport to Towers
Build Item Aegis Amulet (Old) Aegis Amulet (Old)
Build Item Heavenly Wings Heavenly Wings

Zhong Kui's Skill Order

Expose Evil

1 X Y
Expose Evil
1 4 6 7 10

Exorcism

2 A B
Exorcism
2 8 11 12 14

Book of Demons

3 B A
Book of Demons
3 9 15 16 18 19

Recall Demons

4 Y X
Recall Demons
5 13 17 20
Expose Evil
1 4 6 7 10

Expose Evil

1 X
Zhong Kui pastes a card on all enemies in front of him, marking them as a demon, Slowing and damaging them each second while they are marked. If the card is removed, 75% of the remaining damage is done instantly.

Ability Type: Line, Slow, Damage
Damage Per Tick: 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 (+20% of your Magical Power)
Slow: 20%
Card Lifetime: 5s
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown: 12s
Exorcism
2 8 11 12 14

Exorcism

2 A
Zhong Kui drives out the demons of his enemies, dealing damage as they leave the body. Demons exorcised from Enemies marked by Expose Evil will be absorbed by Zhong Kui, healing him per demon (up to 3), and will remove the card.

Ability Type: Cone
Damage: 75 / 125 / 175 / 225 / 275 (+50% of your Magical Power)
Heal: 15 / 40 / 65 / 90 / 115
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown: 10s
Book of Demons
3 9 15 16 18 19

Book of Demons

3 B
When fired, the Book of Demons deals damage and Stuns enemies, stunning marked enemies for 2x the duration and removing the card. Once this ability has been ranked, the Book of Demons flies nearby Zhong Kui, firing for 50% of Zhong Kui's basic damage.

Ability Type: Circle, Stun, Damage
Damage: 80 / 135 / 190 / 245 / 300 (+50% of your Magical Power)
Stun: 1s (2x for marked targets)
Radius: 20
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown: 13s
Recall Demons
5 13 17 20

Recall Demons

4 Y
Upon activation, demons pulse out from his bag at nearby players every second for 5s. They chase and accelerate over time, doing damage to enemies as they enter the body. Zhong Kui is immune to Knockback and Slows for the duration.

Ability Type: Circle, Buff, Damage
Damage: 80 / 95 / 110 / 125 / 140 (+25% of your Magical Power)
Radius: 40
Cost: 100
Cooldown: 90s

Introduction



Hello,

I am Shaveaux, and thank you for reading my Zhong Kui guide. I feel a little strange calling it a 'guide' as I am still technically new to the game. Still, I decided it might be cool to post how I play him. It's been working very well and most games my KDA is very positive, and team fights tend to go very well.

The goal of this particular build is a high defense and high damage Zhong Kui. The build order is somewhat flexible depending on whether you need defense of damage first. I believe this also makes Zhong Kui viable in any lane.

Pros and Cons

PROS


+ Lots of damage.
+ Lots of defense.
+ Super high sustain.
+ Versatile as far as roles.

CONS


- Low mobility.
- Short range spells.
- Size seems to attract damage.

Zhong Kui's Skills

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Demon Bag is Zhong Kui's passive, and it's awesome. After using Expose Evil followed by an Exorcism, the removed demons fly from your enemy into Zhong Kui's bag. This not only heals Zhong Kui, but it stacks his passive which adds +2 protections per captured demon. Since the stacks max at 20, that's a total of +40 magic and physical protection!

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Zhong Kui's first skill is Expose Evil. It has a damage over time effect and is very helpful early game. Take this first, and max it first because its damage also effects Zhong Kui's Exorcism.

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The second skill in our Chinese friend's arsenal is Exorcism. I take this second and max it second. While it does decent damage on its own, casting Expose Evil on a target immediately before casting Exorcism can do some head spinning damage, since the damage from Expose Evil will apply instantly, rather than over 5 seconds. Of course, it is also extremely crucial to stacking Demon Bag, and helping you sustain in lane through its heals.

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Book of Demons is Zhong Kui's third skill. On top of his tanky passive, and on top of his big damage, Zhong Kui gets an AOE stun. If you've got a card on an enemy this will remove the card, finishing out the DOT. However, no demons are recieved. Regardless, this skill is crucial in team fighting, dueling, and escaping alike. Pair this skill with BLINK and Zhong Kui has a beastly engage.

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Zhong Kui's ultimate, Recall Demons, is just wonderful. AOE damage that follows your enemies is absolutely invaluable in teamfights. If you're casting your normal skills accurately while the demons fly out of your bag, there's a good chance you'll pick up a double or more. It can also help finish of enemies with low health since the demons will follow them once they decide to fly towards them until they do their damage. Unfortunately this resets Demon Bag, but not before doubling the protections until the ult is over. Re-stacking Demon Bag is pretty quick and easy - and totally worth it.

Items

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OPENING PURCHASE


BLINK


So let's go through these:

This item is simply amazing on mages early game. And to be honest, I like to pretend it was made just for Zhong Kui since it provides defense and mana regen. The sustain you get from this item while farming minions is invaluable.


Shoes, in my opinion, are a given here. You can afford it in the beginning, and when you consider the importance of Vampiric Shroud, it's hard to justify not grabbing these with your active, and pots. You're also that much closer to another damage item later, i.e, Shoes of the Magi. And hey, movement speed early game? Sure.


BLINK I wouldn't say this should strictly be your first active. In fact, I used to grab Hand of the Gods first, but when I realized the potential for early kills that Zhong Kui has once he hits level 3, this can mean the difference between killing a level 2 Agni and letting him get away with 14 HP.


When you have purchased your first three items, you are left with 100 gold. Sustain!

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CORE ITEMS




Ideally, you are going to want these three items before anything else. That being said, there are situations that may warrant a Hide of the Urchin before Book of Thoth. We will discuss that later.

The foundation of most defensive mages, Ethereal Staff is a great item. Huge health advantage, great for mana sustain, and its passive, by the time you would be able to finish the item, will likely provide you with another 40 Magic Power or so. Your first back should get you a GOLDEN SASH and you'll be well on your way.

I get these because you eventually get tanky enough to not need Midas Boots (M). The extra magic pen from Shoes of the Magi is awesome, but if you really want some CDR, which I don't think Zhong Kui necessarily needs, you can totally use Shoes of Focus instead.

Assuming everything is going according to plan and you aren't getting completely decimated in fights, this should be your next item. It's passive will already proc off your first two items, and you'll never have any more mana issues. Oh, and 100 MAGIC POWER plus its passive?? Yes please. And stacking is no problem because you have to stack your passive anyway. Get ready to kill people.

At this point, you are pretty well defended, and capable of unleashing serious pain. Farming Demon Bag is no problem, as you can clear waves with your 1>2 combo.

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IDEAL FINISHING ITEMS


WARLOCK'S SASH

The three items discussed before this section set you up for adding big damage, and big defense for the rest of the game.

WARLOCK'S SASH Again, if you're in a good spot - your passive is providing enough protection, you feel confident in fights - get a freakin' WARLOCK'S SASH and watch your Magic Power spike, as well as gaining even more sustain. As previously mentioned, a stacking item here is fine since farming your Demon Bag is an ongoing activity, and you are definitely killing entire waves every time you do that.

So I mentioned this item earlier without much explanation. To be honest, this is sort of what I based this build on. With this item, and a full Demon Bag you are insanely hard to kill. Therefore, you can absolutely grab this after you've picked up an Ethereal Staff and Shoes of the Magi if needed. Basically, get this whenever you think you need to. It will benefit you at any point, and it will even give you Magic Power because of Ethereal Staff and Book of Thoth. And as long as you are getting assists or kills, once you hit ten stacks on this item, you have +20 more protections.

So let's do some math:

Full Demon Bag: +40 to BOTH protections.
Hide of the Urchin: +45 to BOTH protections.
Fully stacked Hide of the Urchin: +20 more to BOTH protections.

40+45+20 = 105 to each protection, plus your base protections. Yeah.

For a final damage item, I think Rod of Tahuti is great. This will bump you above 600 Magic Power, no problem. And you will already have over 3000 HP alongside the aforementioned protection bonuses. There are, however, other options to consider depending on the situation, which I will discuss next.

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SITUATIONAL SUGGESTIONS




These items are all items that I would not consider ideal, but can be helpful given the enemy team comp.

Basically, if you are up against a lot of tanks who are building against Magic Power, this can replace Rod of Tahuti really well. You still get a lot of raw Magic Power, but you might be able to cut through defenses better.

If you keep dying, or need to be THE TANK, this item will help. It synergizes perfectly well with Ethereal Staff and Book of Thoth, and the passive, while great offensively, will help you escape from situations with Book of Demons.

I honestly don't think I'd ever build it with this build's theory in mind, but if you want CDR instead of extra damage, go for it. Mostly a play-style thing I suppose.


Another stacking item that can simply work here, but really has no reason to be here. It will help your mana sustain, but the original build should already handle that. If you stack it, you get +100 Magic Power though.

Playing Your Match

EARLY GAME



Poke and farm. Vampiric Shroud provides great sustain, and once you are level 2, just farm Demon Bag. At levels 3/4, you can try to make plays if the opportunity presents itself. Especially if you are on voice chat with a lane partner. Remember, BLINK is a great engage active. Farm Demon Bag.


MID GAME



You can probably do damage at this point. If you are doing well in your lane, you can totally roam and drop some Book of Demons on unsuspecting opponents and help feed your team, or yourself. Farm Demon Bag.


LATE GAME/TEAM FIGHTS



Assuming team fights are frequent, make sure you have a good support system via your teammates, and try to just be there when the fights break out. Again, since you aren't the main tank, I wouldn't initiate a 5v5. That being said, however it ends up starting, once **** hits the fan, just try to stun as many people with Book of Demons and drop Recall Demons. After that, try to gain your bearings (because you are probably running around like a crazy person with demons flying out of your bag) and aim your Expose Evil and Exorcism. Any time your team outnumbers the other team on the map, just jump in try to kill them, assuming your team will follow.

Also, if they are pushing your titan. Stand at the titan and cast Recall Demons and stun them. Between you, your team, and the titan, they will have a tougher time winning.

Farm Demon Bag.


GENERAL THOUGHTS



Just to recap, this build will allow you to be tanky and deal damage at the same time. I think this is what Zhong Kui is meant to be doing.

It's important to note that you aren't supposed to be the main tank with this build. The defense it provides is enough so that you can be in range with your attacks, and not die right away.

Zhong Kui's moves are all pretty much close to mid-range, so it's important to be able to land them without stressing about your health.

As mentioned earlier, if you do need to tank because the rest of your team are building mostly damage, get the Gem of Isolation, or even try another defense item in its place. But I think a true tank Zhong Kui may require a different build.

Thank You



Thanks for reading this guide! Hopefully you'll try the build and let me know your thoughts.

My name is Shaveaux in-game. Feel free to friend me.


Leave a Comment

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Collapse All Comments

1
Shaveaux | July 25, 2014 4:43pm
Zodack wrote:

Thanks. I mostly play Zhong Kui in Joust, so my opinions are probably a tad biased towards that type of gameplay (i.e. using Gem of Isolation earlier in a game for the synergy with Recall Demons). The past few games I've been experimenting with some of the items you use and it's been going pretty well. It's hard to hit that perfect spot of defense and power, but once you get there Zhong Kui is the most fun mage in Smite.


Thanks for giving the build a try. Like I mention in the guide, I'm fairly new to the game, but I've had the most success so far with Zhong Kui. And I generally run him in conquest - he's also a ton of fun in arena. I'll have to try out Gem of Isolation more in game. I can see how it'd help.

Thanks again for your input.
1
Zodack (1) | July 25, 2014 10:32am
Thanks. I mostly play Zhong Kui in Joust, so my opinions are probably a tad biased towards that type of gameplay (i.e. using Gem of Isolation earlier in a game for the synergy with Recall Demons). The past few games I've been experimenting with some of the items you use and it's been going pretty well. It's hard to hit that perfect spot of defense and power, but once you get there Zhong Kui is the most fun mage in Smite.
1
Shaveaux | July 24, 2014 11:48pm
Thank you for the input guys. I will definitely take your comments into consideration.
1
Minscinno (9) | July 24, 2014 7:43pm
Zodack wrote:

Oh, and as Minscinno said, really consider buying beads in most games. Aegis can kind of cover that depending on your playstyle, but like all mages getting cc'd usually means getting killed.

BEADS, 99,9% you bead, beads are life!! Do you even beads bro!!?
Jokes a part that's so true, now, I've remembered what more you could do for this, matchup sections, they are so sweet and helpful, matchups plea :c
1
Zodack (1) | July 24, 2014 7:31pm
I think you have some misconceptions about how Zhong Kui's card works. You choose to level it first - which is fine - but keep in mind that removing the card with either of your abilities doesn't cause "the damage from Expose Evil [to] apply instantly, rather than over 5 seconds", as you have posted, but only applies 40% of the remaining damage instantly. So if you do a quick 1->2 you're not dealing as much damage as possible (but still a nice amount).

Leveling Expose Evil first will of course give you more damage from removing the card, but not as much as your guide suggests. If you're planning on playing him as a sustain mage I'd suggest leveling Exorcism first for the higher heal. It's a trade-off in damage, but you're still dealing that 40% from Expose Evil every time you heal.

I would not really suggest Blink on Zhong Kui unless you are very confident in your abilities. You don't really post a coordinated "combo" to go with Blink, but I assume the ideal situation is Blink -> Expose Evil -> Book of Demons (bonus on the stun duration) -> Recall Demons -> Exorcism. I find Zhong Kui benefits from either Aegis, as you can activate his ultimate in the middle of the enemy team and then use Aegis (his ultimate will continue to run while you are immune to damage). Both Aegis have their own niche when combined with how you're playing Zhong Kui and how you want to use his ultimate.

Also, Gem of Isolation has really good synergy with "trapping" people within your Recall Demons range.

Oh, and as Minscinno said, really consider buying beads in most games. Aegis can kind of cover that depending on your playstyle, but like all mages getting cc'd usually means getting killed.
1
Minscinno (9) | July 24, 2014 7:10pm
Hello, your guide looks good so far.
You have some flexibility in your build and some good explanations concerning items and skills.
You have gameplay section and etc.
Now, i suggest:
Combos sections; Some gameplay videos; Consider buying more tanky items when needed and definitely, DEFINITELY consider buying beads in, dunno, almost every game? seriously, too much cc is too much and will probably get you killed since Zhong Kui is a sort of close combat mage (i guess? correct me please, if i'm wrong).
About bb coding, take out those "SPACE", they are visible... a lot visible. Pressing enter works, i guess. (though the code to do that in html is
, but i think it don't work here, pressing enter will do the work perfectly or actually using letter in full black, which the code i am not sure about).
Keep improving aaand, i guess thats a +1

Ps.: I was unsure about many things concerning my grammar while writing this since i am not a native English speaker, just ignore any kind of mistake, please.
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