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Zeus: Overpower

25 1 258,195
by Gaarthar updated February 5, 2014

Smite God: Zeus

Build Guide Discussion 26 More Guides
Tap Mouse over an item or ability icon for detailed info

Zeus Build

Core :

Build Item Shoes of Focus Shoes of Focus
Build Item Demonic Grip Demonic Grip
Build Item Polynomicon Polynomicon
Build Item Rod of Tahuti Rod of Tahuti

Situational \ Preference :

Build Item Hastened Fatalis Hastened Fatalis
Build Item Obsidian Shard Obsidian Shard
Build Item Soul Reaver Soul Reaver
Build Item Book of Thoth Book of Thoth
Build Item Chronos' Pendant Chronos' Pendant
Build Item Ethereal Staff Ethereal Staff
Build Item Hide of the Urchin Hide of the Urchin
Build Item Magi's Cloak Magi's Cloak
Build Item Focused Void Stone Focused Void Stone

Actives :

Build Item Eye of Providence Eye of Providence
Build Item Purification Beads (Old) Purification Beads (Old)
Build Item Girdle of Inner Power Girdle of Inner Power
Build Item Aegis Pendant Aegis Pendant
Build Item Cloak of Meditation Cloak of Meditation

Alternative PO (very early agression) :

Build Item Shoes of Focus Shoes of Focus
Build Item Hastened Fatalis Hastened Fatalis
Build Item Polynomicon Polynomicon
Build Item Rod of Tahuti Rod of Tahuti
Build Item Demonic Grip Demonic Grip

Zeus's Skill Order

Chain Lightning

1 X Y
Chain Lightning
2 7 9 11 12

Aegis Assault

2 A B
Aegis Assault
3 13 14 15 16

Detonate Charge

3 B A
Detonate Charge
1 4 6 8 10

Lightning Storm

4 Y X
Lightning Storm
5 17 18 19 20
Chain Lightning
2 7 9 11 12

Chain Lightning

1 X
Zeus fires a bolt of lightning that arcs between enemies, doing damage and applying a charge on each hit.

Ability Type: Projectile
Damage: 40 / 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 (+50% of your Magical Power)
Arcs: 4
Slow: 20%
Slow Duration: 2s
Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70
Cooldown: 12s
Aegis Assault
3 13 14 15 16

Aegis Assault

2 A
Zeus throws his shield forward dealing damage to nearby enemies and apply a charge. The shield remains for 5s, and Zeus may target it with Basic Attacks or Chain Lightning. Each Basic Attack or first Chain Lightning arc that hits the shield will deal additional static damage and apply a charge in the area. While Zeus' shield is deployed, he gains Attack and Movement Speed. Zeus may refire the ability to recall the shield early.

Ability Type: Ground Target
Initial Damage: 60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240 (+50% of your Magical Power)
Static Damage: 55 / 65 / 75 / 85 / 95 (+30% of your Magical Power)
Attack Speed: 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35%
Movement Speed: 15 / 17.5 / 20 / 22.5 / 25%
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown: 12s
Detonate Charge
1 4 6 8 10

Detonate Charge

3 B
Zeus detonates any charges that have accumulated on enemies, doing damage, multiplied by 1/1.7/2.4 depending on the number of charges.

Ability Type: Instant
Damage: 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+25% of your Magical Power)
Cost: 60
Cooldown: 10s
Lightning Storm
5 17 18 19 20

Lightning Storm

4 Y
Zeus conjures a Lightning Storm, striking enemies in the area every second. Applies a charge with each hit.

Ability Type: Ground Target
Damage per Hit: 100 / 145 / 190 / 235 / 280 (+55% of your Magical Power)
Max Damage: 500 / 650 / 800 / 950 / 1100 (+275% of your Magical Power)
Lifetime: 5s
Radius: 30
Cost: 100
Cooldown: 90s

Introduction

Hey guys and welcome to my Zeus guide.

I often see people building and playing their Zeus as a nuker that hits really hard , but also has a pretty hard time setting up the stage, mainly relying on Chain Lightning and Lightning Storm to build up stacks , deal damage , etc. That is the kind of build that is usually played from afar , advances very carefully while covered by the teammates and turns around and runs to save himself from enemies with high single target DPS.

I , on the other hand prefer my Zeus agressive and In-Your-Face bursty with damage. The core of this build is extremly high speed of stacking 3 charges on a target , which allows you to stun it really quickly + huge damage from Polynomicon while doing so.

Hastened Fatalis , while listed as optional is almost always present in my BO , allowing me to chase my targets even more agressively and be more nimble mid-fight dodging lots of cc and\or ground based damage abilities.

This guide/build is intended for all game modes.


*note*
I continue to experiment with my PO , and Hastened Fatalis has been steadily moving from my 5th item to my 2nd item, and i really like the early-game chase potential and agility it gives, when purchased this early.

Pros / Cons

Pros: Cons:

  • Very high area and single target damage.
  • Has a stun.
  • Can deny an area mid-teamfight.
  • Has defense + movement skills.
  • Often only seen as a nuker , but not as a god that can brawl 1v1 with ADCs.
  • Can be very agressive.

  • Squishy as most mages are.
  • Doesn't have a reliable escape mechanism.
  • AoE is not spammable.
  • Is often focused by the enemy team.
  • Can easily die to CC, if played carelessly.

Skills

Overcharge is your passive. Each charge on the enemy adds 30% to your basic attack damage. Maximum is 3 charges per enemy , and you stack them by either auto-attacking , or by hitting with your spells.

Detonate Charge is your main "nuke" , your bread'n'butter ,your Alpha and Omega. Deals a lot of damage , stuns for 1 second, has a fairly short cooldown and doesnt need to be targeted.
Maxed first , because the damage increase it gets is a very good boost to your early game burst + this is the easiest spell to hit with out of your arsenal.

Chain Lightning is your secondary damage spell , which is more often used to get charges on your targets (more so if there are 2 targets singled out to bounce between) , even though it does a good amount of damage. Becomes really powerfull against pairs, but can be used on solo targets to activate the Polynomicon.
Maxed second(aside from taking 1 level in Aegis Shield and Lightning Storm) both because it also adds to your burst when leveled early and because the other spells dont contribute to your early game as much.

Aegis Shield is your defense and escape ability , which is also used to activate Polynomicon midfight when other spells are on CD.
For mid\late-game survival purpouses this is maxed 3rd - both increased chase\escape speed and additional protections help you secure the advantage you gained earlier in the game , when you leveled your damaging abilities first.Is also maxed before Lightning Storm to help you balance the overall agressive gameplay this PO\build offers.

Lightning Storm Huge AoE , lots of damaga and the most important part - charges for everyone. Is great for area denial , teamfight damage , and sometimes chasing runners due to its range+radius , which often allows you to get that 3rd charge on the running target.
Is used mainly to stack charges on several targets at once untill late-game. Chain Lightning and Detonate Charge suit early-mid game better for damage purpouses , because 5v5 teamfights with mass CC on your team's side (which is where Lightning Storm would shine the most) dont occur untill late game most often.

Items

Core :


Shoes of Focus :

You generally want CD reduction on your boots , since you both cover your penetration needs with Demonic Grip and with the optional Obsidian Shard , if enemy stacks m.def. Usually Demonic Grip is more then enough.

Demonic Grip :

The second item in your build order , gives a good mix of m.power, a.speed and m.pen , that stacks on your target, which is really good for other mages in your team.

Polynomicon :

One of the main sources of the damage you'll deal. Zeus has a very easy time spamming his skills , as he hardly needs to aim with them or place them on the ground like other gods , so after each skill you'll have a huge boost to your basic attack.

*note*
even after having its cd doubled (was 2 seconds , now its 4) still is a very potent item , though youll need a bit more timing practice to activate it several times during a fight

Rod of Tahuti :

Adds a ton of m.power. Simple as that. Makes your Polynomicon and Detonate Charge hit like a truck full of bricks.


Situational :



By the time your core items are ready you should have a good understanding of how the game has been progressing , what are the enemy team's heroes and items , etc , so here you have a few choices that might save your game or make an even faster push to victory.

Hastened Fatalis :

Fatalis is a good option when you have squishy opponents that either die fast to your skills+ Polynomicon burst combo , or kill you instead. Which is nearly every game, to be honest.

Getting 3 charges to allow you Detonate Charge to stun your opponent as fast as possible + not being an easy target mid-brawl + chasing those runners = Hastened Fatalis.

It does take you over the maximum a.speed on your 3rd and 4th basic attack swings , since those have x2 speed by default , but the first 2 swings often decide the fight - you either make those 3 charges in time to stun or you dont. The midfight and chasing potential is also really great with this version of Fatalis.

Obsidian Shard :

If you need m.penetration - this is a great choice. Take it if enemy has lots of m.def items in their team , or if their tank has 3 m.def items.

Book of Thoth \ Soul Reaver :

Take these if you feel confident and\or have a good initiation+cc in your team to maximise your spell damage.

Ethereal Staff \ Hide of the Urchin :

Defensive items. Don't build Hide of the Urchin if enemy has penetration , just pick Ethereal Staff for the HP and m.power bonus.

Magi's Blessing
Magi's Blessing :

A great defensive option against gods like Artemis that can kill you during their CC , but die even faster to your burst.

Chronos' Pendant :

Can be used to shorten the CD on your Detonate Charge and thus cc to the absolute minimum, but this would lower your burst damage. Can be mostly replaced by the blue buff, which makes it optional.

Focused Void Stone :

Is good to have , when the enemy team has a lot of magic damage and have some m.def items to penetrate through. Being a balanced item it is often a safe bet for your last slot.


Actives :


Eye of Providence :

If you go mid in conquest - you might want to take Eye of Providence and ward both mid fury camps all the time. Place the wards in a way that will both show the camp and the jungle intersection that is closer to your tower. This way the ward will serve both defensive and offensive purpouses - you'll see ganks coming and the enemy jungler attacking the camps.

Purification beads :

Take these , if the enemy has Ares, Anubis and\or other hard CC in their team.
Enemy teams will often have a CC+AoE combo like Ares+ Ao Kuang or Anubis etc.

By using the beads right before Ares pulls you in with his ultimate you dodge that combo , make enemies potentialy waste their abilities on the area you are expected to be CCed at and can counterattack with your Lightning Storm , as the enemy will often not expect agressive actions in that situation , but will instead be gathered in an easy to AoE group while they prepare to spam your CCed self down with skills.

Meditation and Girdle of inner Power :

These are newb-friendly and are best for all the other cases, if you have just picked Zeus and don't have much expirience with him.
Meditation

Meditation serves several purpouses:
  • allows you to stay longer in lane at the early stages of the game by providing you with more mana to use skills;

  • potentially join teamfights when you'd not have enough mana after prolonged staying out of the base - literally serves as your emergency mana reserve mid-game;

  • and lastly when maxed allows you to juke out of combat on low hp , heal up and surprise the enemy with much more health then they expected\seen you to have.
Girdle of Inner Power is pretty simple - it boosts your damage output when you want to hurt the most - usually thats when you are either burning an opponent down , or generally right before a late-game teamfight. It becomes even more important in prolonged games , where you are at 6 items already and still need your character to be stronger , like when you picked defensive items in your 5 and 6 slots, and deal less damage then with full 6 damage items' set.

Purification Beads + Aegis Amulet \ Aegis Pendant :

This is an advanced combination of actives , that is built to improve your burst potential tremendously , without sacrificing utility. Purification Beads have an almost entirely different purpose here , thus they are listed again.The idea here is to use Purification Beads 3rd level passive to recharge Detonate Charge almost instantly.

Detonate Charge has a base cooldown of 10 seconds , -15% from Shoes of Focus that is rounded up , making it a 9 sec cooldown. By using fully upgraded Purification Beads after Detonate Charge we cut the cooldown to mere 4 seconds , which we use to stack 3 more charges and for Polynomicon damage. Make sure you use Chain Lightning and Aegis Shield before that as well , to make the maximum use out of the cooldown reduction. All this results in a huge explosion of damage , thanks to virtually non-stop skill spam.

It is a good idea to get the max level of Purification Beads early - either right after your 2nd item , or during your 3rd , because this is the part of the game , where your Chain Lightning and Detonate Charge damage has just skyrocketed (which is why you max them as early as possible) and being able to spam them more often is a really serious threat to the enemy.

Aegis Amulet and Aegis Pendant come to fill the anti-cc and anti-burst gap , that is left when we use Purification Beads agressively.

You'll have to decide which version to take depending on enemy team composition :
  • Aegis Amulet - this version makes you immune to croud controll and damage , but you can't move while it's effect is active. If the enemy has lots of croud controll that makes you move , like Fenrir's ultimate , for example , you'll most likely want to chose the Aegis Amulet and use it exactly the same way as you would use Purification Beads defensively.

  • Aegis Pendant - this version allows you to move during the immunity period , but you still can be croud controlled. If enemy team has lots of burst damage and\or setup that you can't afford to stand still waiting for during Aegis Amulet , then you can take Aegis Pendant. A good example would be Nu Wa's ultimate , that you can pass through without taking any damage under Aegis Pendant. You will have to be slightly more carefull with Purification Beads though , because you might have to use it for the ocasional croud controll.

Buy one level either during your 3rd item, or right after it , then finish it by the time you finish your 4th - just spend any 300g you have leftover when you come to the base to heal.

Gameplay Tips

Situations and general moments to keep in mind:


  • Lightning Storm has a very wide area + a good cast range, which makes it the skill with the best reach in your arsenal to stack charges. It can also be used through terrain, walls, etc, where the enemy would otherwise have escaped. You can also use it to finish off people, that hide under their tower on low hp.

  • In early- and mid-game it still takes you a lot of effort to stack 3 charges with basic attacks and the opponent often runs away with 2 , not allowing you to stun him. You can wait for melee creeps to get dealt with , then use the ranged ones to start a Chain Lightning , use your Aegis Shield to boost your speed and help to better tank the remaining creeps' damage and rush at your enemy. You will often have a much easier time stacking the remaining 2 charges and thus secure a stun for a good harass , or potentially a kill.

  • When you know you are about to be CCed and have little to no chances of dodging - use your Lightning Storm around yourself - this will at least stack 3 charges and allow you to stun much faster , potentially as soon as the CC ends.

  • You prefer Orange buff in the early-mid stages of the game for the additional speed of stacking charges. After buying Fatalis your priority switches towards Blue or Red, depending on your needs - more damage with Red , less cooldown on your Detonate Charge for stuns with Blue.

  • Don't forget , that Aegis Shield has two aspects to it - aside from speed boost it does give you a good increase to your defenses , which you can and should use to mitigate incoming harass in lane or any damage mid-fight. Don't wait and keep Aegis shield just for when you need to escape - you might not even need to , if you win the fight in the first place , due to receiving less damage.

  • Early stages of the game might be hard for Zeus , if he is laning against a hard pusher , that also has potential to harass. Usually due to poor early wave clear youll be swinging your auto-attacks as often as possible to spread and stack charges on as many minions as you can. This allows enemies like Eset or Ao Kuang to aim their harass with less effort , because you'll be often moving slow thanks to those auto-attacks that youll need to keep up. Make sure you buy Mana Potion and Vampiric Shroud to allow yourself to use your skills more often. You also need to lasthit as many minions as you can for Vampiric Shroud to work. The main idea here is to survive untill level 6-8ish (depending on how good your opponent is) without getting yourself harassed out of the lane or killed.

Friends and Foes

Foes:
Most of your foes have either a really nasty spammable CC, or a set of skills that can kill you in 1 combo. Good examples would be Ymir, Chronos and He Bo.
Also Odin can ruin your day - his ult simply blocks a major part of your damage potential , since you can't get in or out of his ult , and thus all your basic attacks are blocked.

Friends:
Most of your best friends have an area CC. Good examples would be Hun Batz , Guan Yu, Hades , Ares and Chang'e.

Have great games as Zeus!

Hope this guide was of any help and will allow people to see Zeus in a different light!

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Collapse All Comments

1
WhyDoYouCare | April 5, 2016 2:44am
Hmmmm, thinking about what to swap for the void gem on him...any suggestions?
1
Devampi (105) | October 7, 2015 8:11am
Secreal wrote:

Zeus has absolutely no Stun whatsoever. He has slow, but thats it.


Go back to the date when this guide was updated last time. that's 1.5 years ago.

search a video around that time (or just look at the launch tournament or how they called it) Zeus was top tier (he was first pick in the first round of the finals) because of that Stun that's why it's a slow nowadays (it got nerfed pretty soon after the launch tournament)
1
Secreal | October 7, 2015 7:43am
Zeus has absolutely no Stun whatsoever. He has slow, but thats it.
1
rilazari | May 19, 2015 4:20pm
Bro, I really liked your guide! I made some adjustments to make it fit in my Zeus gameplay and it was awesome. Thanks!
1
Gaarthar (1) | March 19, 2014 10:24am
Thanks for the comments , guys!
Sadly im a bit busy lately and don't have time to update the guide according to the latest patches , but ill definately make it up to date as soon as i have some time.

One thing iv noticed with the attack progression removed and Polynomicon being further nerfed , is that the faster you build Hastened Fatalis and Demonic Grip the better.

So for the next update ill be cleaning the item secotion from the removed items and will make some changes to the alternative buy order. Might also add some more to the friends\foes and how to deal with them as you suggested.
1
Raventhor (158) | March 18, 2014 1:14pm
Your core build is very solid, and has what every Zeus needs whether he's mage zeus or autoattack zeus. I like this.

I don't like people saying Fatalis is a first-buy core item on him when it's situational. Sometimes you need to play back and safe away from them, so you only move in for spells and let THOSE wreck them, instead of just holding down your left mouse button and hoping you hit them enough before they eat you alive.

I'm sad that they removed Gem of Binding from the game, but I'd add Gem of Isolation as a possible alternative to a mage-type Zeus. His ult hits will slow them, making it harder to get out of your ult, meaning more stacks on everyone.

Overall, I love the guide, it's got a simple template (Which I personally love. Some people are like Michelangelo with their guides, and I like mine simple and straightforward.) and is easy to read, with sections it needs and a decent skill/build order. I expect you to expand on it every now and then - a Laning phase section maybe, more gameplay tips, expanded friends and foes (Like how you counter Chronos, how to fight spell-based melee that don't auto attack into your shield like Fenrir or Tyr, etc)

Still a +1 from me.
1
nall44 | March 18, 2014 11:35am
Subzero008 wrote:

I do disagree with one part; Hastened Fatalis doesn't give a drop of magical power, and I find that Gem of Binding can be used for the same purpose without compromising damage.


When you say Gem of Binding I assume you either mean Demonic Grip which actually has the atk speed bonus replacement but he mentioned already so I think you actually mean Gem of Isolation, which I find to be a good Zeus item that should be under the situational section because it contributes to both power and sustain but it's best quality is that it essentially gives Zeus a slow for retreats.

The reason why Gem of Iso doesn't replace the Fatalis is because Zeus benefits more than the average mage from attack speed and the move speed isn't bad either. Since his core mechanic is based on stacking charges as fast as possible getting him a quicker attack (over 1s speed at least IMO), regardless of how you achieve it, makes using his skills much more efficient and harassing other heroes much easier. Essentially you can't live off your skills with his CDs and his basic attack is more important than many other mages so sacrificing some power for the speed is more than worth it.

Edit: Apologies to OP, just realized there actually used to be a Gem of Binding. Now the best we have is Gem of Iso. Binding would've been better for Zeus but still not a replacement for Fatalis.
1
Gaarthar (1) | February 11, 2014 3:22pm
AkatoshFury wrote:

Thanks for the guide dude, having a blast with build ;)


Glad you like it, mate =)
1
AkatoshFury | February 11, 2014 11:02am
Thanks for the guide dude, having a blast with build ;)
1
Gaarthar (1) | February 5, 2014 12:06am
Added Focused Void Stone to situational items.
1
Gaarthar (1) | December 28, 2013 3:52pm
Staudi wrote:

The guide seems pretty solid overall, really helped me getting into zeus since I didn't played him before.

Just wondering why Warlock's Sash is not under situational items, personally find it more suitable then Book of Thoth for example but that may just be me^^ (new to smite afterall)

If u plan on expanding the guide a short note on how about to lane against casual lane enemies may also be pretty helpfull.

+1


thanks for the feedback , mate!

as for Warlock's Sash - you shouldn't compare it with Book of Thoth , since they serve different purposes and are suited for different situations. Warlock's Sash is more of a parallel item to Ethereal Staff , which you take when you need more power , but still would like to get some sort of defence (in this case in the form of more health), while Book of Thoth gives much more m.power , and you take it to capitalize on your dominance.

the only difference between Ethereal Staff and Warlock's Sash - you wouldn't want to get the later , if you dont have enough time to farm those stacks.

and lastly can you please define a casual lane ? =)
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