Jungle Ne Zha

To start off, I'd like to address some questions you may have. These include: Why Ne Zha? Why Ne Zha over other junglers? How do I fit him into a team composition?

Why Ne Zha:
Ne Zha is an assassin who's main draw is that he deals tons of burst damage with his combos. His ultimate, the most notable part of his kit, has been known to one shot squishy gods flat out. The trade off for all this damage though, is that Ne Zha lacks a reliable escape. So if all-out damage is your play style, I'd recommend Ne Zha.

Why Ne Zha over other junglers:
Ne Zha maybe notable for all of the damage he can deal with only one move, but there's more to it than that. Ne Zha's ultimate also completely removes an enemy character from a potential team fight. This means in a fight you are aiming for the main damage dealer on an enemy team, usually either their carry or their mid laner. Without damage to follow up, their team pretty much falls apart.

How to fit Ne Zha into a team composition:
Ne Zha excels with mid laners who require set up for their own ultimates. This means Ne Zha pairs well with gods like Scylla, Ra, and Kukulkan. But he's not limited to just that, for Ne Zha can be a great asset by just building all damage and absolutely destroying one of the enemy gods. This means that Ne Zha himself is very versatile, but if you're into a more supportive jungler or even an extremely bursty jungler, then Ne Zha is one of the best picks you can have. He lacks, however, in early game clear, so be sure to pick up a mid laner with decent clear early.

When you first start out playing Ne Zha, the way you should play him is by using armillary sash into his ultimate in order to guarantee the damage of his ultimate goes off. There's no shame in doing it this way, however, the better you get with Ne Zha the more you should try to lead with your ultimate after you blink in. You would do this just in case the person you are ulting actually gets away. This means you save the sash in reserve for their getaway. For those who also don't know, in Ne Zha's ultimate what you need to do is time your button presses as close as the animation allows. As Ne Zha your main clear is the universe ring so you'd want to max that first, followed by single target damage that your sash provides, then Ne Zha's steroid last, while you of course want to put a point into your ultimate whenever possible. Your universe ring acts as a good finisher while sash is down. Also, make sure to build up your passive stacks, this is important for survival as Ne Zha. You gain passive stacks by auto attacking creeps and enemy gods. The more you have means that whenever you pop your two you gain that health back. Your two is also a helpful buff that provides critical strike chance and attack speed. Before I sash I use this to get the best possible chance of critting on the sash.

Tl;dr:
Max 4,1,3,2. Beginning Combo; 2,3,4,1 (If needed). Advanced Combo; Blink, 4,2,3,1 (If needed).

This build is for players who are more likely to throw caution to the wind and forgo Purification for different actives.

Starting off Ne Zha is pretty normal compared to all the other junglers. With the removal of early game power pots this means you now pick up boots instead. The point of contention now is whether you want to pick up Wrath or Blink. Blink allows an early pressure as soon as Ne Zha hits level 5. Wrath provides some really good early camp clear as well as a late game stun, neither are essential to Ne Zha who has decent camp clear and decent CC and blink itself is only really an after thought.

Core is what you're going to purchase on Ne Zha most often. These items provide a good foundation to build up from. Let's go over why these items are important. Warrior Tabi is pretty standard for most junglers at this point. That damage spike is almost always more important than the attack speed provided by Ninja Tabi. Jotunn's Wrath is dually important. It provides decent early game penetration and more importantly cool down reductions. The final item is Magi's Blessing. This is now important for this build because we forwent Purification in lieu of Wrath and Blink. This does provide Ne Zha with some decent padding as well so he can take a few more hits.

This is the offensive variation of the build. This is Ne Zha's burst damage defined. This will almost always destroy squishy gods. But why these items? Deathbringer is your bread and butter as Ne Zha, so much so to the point where it is actually considered as another core item for him. Deathbringer increases the crit damage you deal to enemy gods, this includes the ones you get inside your ultimate. Titan's Bane is pretty straight forward, allowing you to get through even squishies that have built protections. Malice procs on your crits, even in your ultimate this season, as well as providing an impressive 50 physical power.

This is for those Ne Zha's who want to be more team players. This set include a lot of CDR and defense for a more tanky Ne Zha. What you do need to know about this set, however, is that you do not forgo Deathbringer. Instead, forgo the Magi's Blessing, because the bulk should be able to get you out of any sticky situations. Spirit Robe is very good against burst comps that are so very popular right now, as well as providing decent CDR. Hide of the Urchin is your main form of defense that also provides a nice boost to health and mana. Mail of Renewal has been replaced in my build for the new and illustrious Ritual Dagger. Ritual dagger is a very good and cheap all around item much like the previous iteration of Winged Blade. It provides decent health, extra movement speed, and even some CDR.

These are items that can be used by Ne Zha for some good effect, but don't find their ways into mainstream builds. Breastplate of Valor is picked up normally instead of Magi's Blessing or as a last utility item instead of Malice in damage builds for ultimates that happen more often. Bulwark of Hope is a great defensive item on almost everyone with the shield being a very important part of this items rise to fame. Frostbound Hammer is an item picked up instead of Malice as well, allowing Ne Zha to stick to his target for extended periods of time. Mail of Renewal has been moved here after the introduction of Ritual Dagger. It's great for a more supportive build of Ne Zha with the CDR, Health, and it's nice passive. Void Shield is pretty straight forward and a really nice pick up if you have a great late game carry or 4 physicals on your team. And finally, Reinforced Greaves act a lot like Winged Blade, giving Ne Zha health, CCR, and movement speed.

This build is for the Ne Zha player who relies on Purification to get them out of sticky situations. With this you forgo Wrath this time in favor of everyone's favorite, reliable relic.

Starting off with this build the only difference is the active you pick up. This time we'll pick up Purification.

The only difference in this version of core is the inclusionRitual Dagger instead of Magi's Blessing. This gives Ne Zha some great utility as well as increasing his CDR.

This is the same as the other options for damage. Tried and true these items are and deviation from them would be sacrilege.

The only difference in this category is the Void Shield. This item is great for reducing enemy physical protections. However, my advice for when to use these items differs. You should still pick up all of your core items and Deathbringer but pick and choose your last items from this category.

These items are ones you might pick up in lieu of Malice or Ritual Dagger. Winged Blade while not as good as his brother Ritual Dagger is still a solid pick up and even one I'd recommend if the enemy has tons of slows on their side. Hydra's Lament may seem a bit out of place to you, but Ne Zha can make use of an advanced auto attack cancel with his 1 and deal an upwards of 1800+ damage on the last hit of his attack chain if performed properly. Mantle of Discord is another good replacement for Ritual Dagger but is viewed as more of a luxury item because of it's hefty cost.

To round this all up, I hope I enlightened you as to how to play one of my personal favorite gods. If there's anything you'd like to know or want to tell me something I left out please contact me. And I hope you like using Ne Zha, the Third Lotus Prince.