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Lotus Child - Ne Zha - Conquest Jungle

1 0 29,906
by LinkNightblade updated March 28, 2017

Smite God: Ne Zha

Build Guide Discussion 2 More Guides
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Ne Zha Build

Final Build

Build Item Warrior Tabi Warrior Tabi
Build Item Jotunn's Wrath Jotunn's Wrath
Build Item Titan's Bane Titan's Bane
Build Item Deathbringer Deathbringer
Build Item Malice Malice
Build Item Spirit Robe Spirit Robe

Starter

Build Item Bumba's Mask Bumba's Mask
Build Item Bluestone Pendant Bluestone Pendant
Build Item Mana Potion Mana Potion
3
Build Item Healing Potion Healing Potion

Optional Items

Build Item Bloodforge Bloodforge
Build Item Transcendence Transcendence
Build Item Breastplate of Regrowth Breastplate of Regrowth
Build Item Mantle of Discord Mantle of Discord
Build Item Hide of the Urchin Hide of the Urchin
Build Item Shifter's Shield Shifter's Shield
Build Item Void Shield Void Shield
Build Item Poisoned Star Poisoned Star
Build Item Demon Blade Demon Blade
Build Item Ancile Ancile
Build Item Brawler's Beat Stick Brawler's Beat Stick
Build Item Heartseeker Heartseeker

Personal Preference

Build Item Warrior Tabi Warrior Tabi
Build Item Jotunn's Wrath Jotunn's Wrath
Build Item Transcendence Transcendence
Build Item Deathbringer Deathbringer
Build Item Titan's Bane Titan's Bane
Build Item Bloodforge Bloodforge

Relic Options

Build Item Aegis Amulet Aegis Amulet
Build Item Blink Rune Blink Rune
Build Item Bracer of Radiance Bracer of Radiance
Build Item Purification Beads Purification Beads
Build Item Heavenly Wings Heavenly Wings

Ne Zha's Skill Order

Universe Ring Toss

1 X Y
Universe Ring Toss
1 3 6 7

Flaming Spear

2 A B
Flaming Spear
2 15 16 18 19

Armillary Sash

3 B A
Armillary Sash
4 10 11 12 14

Wind Fire Wheels

4 Y X
Wind Fire Wheels
5 9 13 17 20
Universe Ring Toss
1 3 6 7

Universe Ring Toss

1 X
Ne Zha throws the Universe Ring, bouncing several times, dealing damage, applying a Physical Protection Debuff for 3s and Slowing by 12.5% for 1s. Each hit also stacks a movement speed buff on Ne Zha for 2s. Subsequent hits on the same target deal 35% less damage and double the Slow's effectiveness.

Ability Type: Line, Slow, Damage
Initial Damage: 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 / 200 (+40% of your Physical Power)
Damage: 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 / 175 (+20% of your Physical Power)
Bounces: 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8
Protections Debuff: 5 / 7 / 9 / 11 / 13 per hit
Movement Speed: 5% per hit
Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70
Cooldown: 14s
Flaming Spear
2 15 16 18 19

Flaming Spear

2 A
Ne Zha empowers himself with fighting spirit, igniting his spear for increased Attack Speed and Critical Strike Chance for a short duration. Upon activation, Ne Zha also heals himself based on each stack of his passive ability.

Ability Type: Buff
Attack Speed: 25 / 32.5 / 40 / 47.5 / 55%
Critical Strike Chance: 20%
Duration: 4 / 4.5 / 5 / 5.5 / 6s
Healing: 2 / 4.5 / 7 / 9.5 / 12
Cost: 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 / 75
Cooldown: 14s
Armillary Sash
4 10 11 12 14

Armillary Sash

3 B
Ne Zha throws out his Armillary Sash hitting the first enemy god in its path. The target is Stunned as Ne Zha yanks himself toward the target, dealing a powerful blow to all enemies in the area as he arrives.

Ability Type: Line, Stun, Damage
Damage: 90 / 140 / 190 / 240 / 290 (+150% of your Physical Power)
Stun: 1s
Range: 70
Radius: 10
Cost: 75
Cooldown: 12s
Wind Fire Wheels
5 9 13 17 20

Wind Fire Wheels

4 Y
Ne Zha dashes forward, gaining bonus Protections for 4s and becoming CC immune. If he hits an enemy god he lifts them into the sky for 4s, unleashing a 3-hit combo. Successfully timed attacks during the combo result in these hits dealing Critical Damage. They are then smashed back to Earth, slightly knocking up and damaging the target and enemies around the landing location. When Ne Zha lands he gains bonus Protections for 5s and dashes back to where he cast this ability.

Ability Type: Dash, Crowd Control, Damage
Damage Per Hit: 23 / 40 / 57 / 74 / 91 (+45% of your Physical Power)
Damage (Initial/Landing): 50 / 105 / 160 / 215 / 270 (65% of your Physical Power)
Protections: 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50
Cost: 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 / 120
Cooldown: 90s

Introduction

VVGH and Welcome to my guide for Ne Zha, The Child Third Lotus Prince. In this, I go through my preferred build for the Boy Wonder. I'll give some of my tips, tricks and leveling idea's I've come across with my time playing as this headstrong child. I'll also go through some of the Pro's and Con's of using Ne Zha, and I'll touch on what to expect to encounter and what can happen if things go wrong for you.

Ne Zha is best used in the jungle however he can work in the solo lane depending on his match up.

Jungle Basics

In the Jungle there are are few things to keep in mind. Here are the top things you should keep in mind.

Bumba's Mask is an item that is required for any person taking on the jungle role. This item gives you extra damage against all jungle camps in the form of True Damage. Your basics will deal an extra 15 damage, and your abilities will deal an extra 15% in damage. Despite the gold sharing attributes of this item being removed for season 4, it still provides great sustain and damage against jungle camps and this is why you'll often see other roles besides Jungle taking up this item in addition to their other starter item since this is now only 500 gold instead of 800. Currently as of 4.3, only the person closest to the jungle camps minions when they die will get the benefit of this item. This benefit is some healing, some mana restoration (25 per camp monster) and a bit of extra gold (4 per camp monster).

Be aware of the map and player movements. Your eyes have to be constantly flickering between the map and the area around you. Since you can only see directly whats in front of you, map awareness is a very important aspect, especially for jungle players where sight is extremely limited. In Smite, you'll see enemies on the map who are close behind you even if you can't see them on your screen.

Jungle players are usually assassins. Keeping this in mind, you'll see most assassins thrive in the jungle as most have 1, and in some cases, even 2 moves that allow them to move with extreme haste. Ne Zha has two such abilities, one of them being his ultimate ability, Wind Fire Wheels. The other ability is Armillary Sash however this ability is reliant on hitting an enemy player. Awilix has a mount, Suko, that has no duration and gives her an extreme forward movement speed boost with an optional jump. Most other assassins will have a leap, like Bakasura, or a dash, like Ratatoskr. Loki has a vanish that increases his movement speed and makes him immune to slows.

Assassins are capable of extremely high single target player damage and can control fights in 1 vs 1 situations like no other gods in the game. This is because of abilities that root or stun, such as Serqet's Cobra's Kiss and Last Breath, or Awilix and her ultimate, Feather Step.

A few mages can act as a Jungle Player, such as Ao Kuang, who's ultimate, King of the Eastern Seas, gives him a good, nearly cross map, jump if he land's his execute, and his vanish, Water Illusion which gives him a small teleport.

Pros / Cons

Ne Zha has several pro's and con's. Figuring out how to play to his strengths and weaknesses is going to be key so you don't get annihilated for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ne Zha is probably one of the more flexible assassins for what he can build, and understanding how items interact with his abilities is also going to be key in making these choices and how you'll engage the enemy.

Like I stated before, our resident Lotus Prince has 2 mobility moves: Armillary Sash and Wind Fire Wheels. Both are considered a dash however Armillary Sash acts as a leap in other mechanics. You can use your sash to get over or out of minions, or to even get out of Odin's ultimate ability, Ring of Spears. You can use the sash to clear other player deployables such as Ymir's wall and Anhur's pillar. However you already have to have used the ability and be moving to clear those walls as the Sash will NOT go through walls (the one exception being Ring of Spears as that ability says attacks may go through the wall). You can use the sash to escape heavy hitting abilities like I'm a Monster or Release The Kraken! as it does pull your hit box off of the ground and into the air allowing you to escape damage.

His ultimate, Wind Fire Wheels, is a very powerful ability, good setup for teammates, and in a pinch, a good escape with CC immunity. However that being said, it also makes him extremely vulnerable. Both this ability and Armillary Sash are both easily telegraphed making him a prime target for heavy hitting abilities from the enemy team for when you land.

Ne Zha struggles from behind and is often used as a setup bot if he is. However when ahead, he often has the ability to carry a game.

Crit also plays an essential role in his kit and how he works. 2 of his abilities can crit and his passive & another ability provides crit chance. When his passive is fully stacked, when he activates Flaming Spear, he gains a natural 25% crit chance (and this is without any items). This is why the various crit items in the game are all viable options for him (except maybe Rage since that item is still useless). Each passive of the items that provide crit can be triggered by his ultimate and sash making him an ideal setup assassin and team player.

Skills

Passive: Righteous Spirit


Ne Zha's spirit is strengthened as he successfully hits enemies with abilities and basic attacks. Each hit provides 1 stack and each Critical Hit provides 2 stacks. Stacks remain until Ne Zha is out of combat for 5s. This passive provides 0.5% crit chance per stack for an available max of 10% crit chance at max stacks. Max 20 stacks.

Skill 1: Universe Ring Toss


Ne Zha throws the Universe Ring, bouncing several times, dealing damage, applying a physical protection debuff for 3s and slowing for 1s. Each hit also stacks a movement speed buff on Ne Zha for 2s. Subsequent hits on the same target deal 25% less damage. At each rank of this ability, you can get a max movement bonus of 15/20/25/30/25%. It can potentially reduce the protections on a single enemy by 30/30/45/45/60 provided they get hit by every other bounce. The slow does not stack on this ability and remains at 25% no matter how many times an enemy is hit, however the duration of the slow will reset with each hit.

Skill 2: Flaming Spear


Ne Zha empowers himself with fighting spirit, igniting his spear for increased Attack Speed and Critical Strike Chance for a short duration. Upon activation, Ne Zha is healed depending on how many stacks he currently has from his passive ability, Righteous Spirit. When activated this ability provides a 15% crit chance at all ranks. The heal provided by this ability is 0.75% per stack of his passive; This heal is maxed out at 15% of Ne Zha's total health.

Skill 3: Armillary Sash


Ne Zha throws out his Armillary Sash hitting the first enemy god in its path. The target is stunned as Ne Zha yanks himself toward the target, dealing a powerful blow to all enemies in the area when he arrives. This ability can critically hit. This ability is affected by Deathbringer, Malice, Poisoned Star and Wind Demon. This ability also acts like a leap in that it pulls your hit box off of the ground making you immune to damage while being pulled towards your target. This ability is also a projectile and has to travel to its target so its a good idea to lead your target a bit when aiming this. Each enemy at the Area of Effect hit at the end of the pull is hit separately and each affected by the crit chance of Ne Zha (meaning that even if you crit one enemy, you may not crit anyone else in the area).

Ultimate Skill: Wind Fire Wheels


Ne Zha dashes forward. If he hits an enemy god, he knocks them skyward for 4s, unleashing a 3 hit combo (successfully timed attacks during the combo result in critical strikes), then smashing them back to Earth in his starting location. This ability hits one initial time upon knockup, the three-hit combo, a fifth time while in air (this hit cannot crit), and then again dealing additional damage to enemies in the radius as he lands for a total of 6 times. This ability is affected by Deathbringer, Malice, Poisoned Star and Wind Demon. The damage for the crits in the air are based on the ability stats itself and not your basic attack damage. You are CC immune for the entire duration of this ability including while you land and return to your starting position. You will return to where you activated your ult from no matter what gets put in your way as you are immune to everything during this small period of time.

Using Ne Zha's Skills to your Advantage


Ne Zha is a lot of fun to use and play as. He has a great early game in the jungle and an amazing late game in fights. Learning when to engage and when to back off is going to be key in playing the Third Lotus Prince well.

Ne Zha excels at taking down a single target and not the best at team fights. So make sure to plan accordingly when you engage the enemy. Depending on your build and luck, you may or may not have the potential to combo someone and kill them. More often then not, with the most common build (that I have displayed at the top of this guide), the only way you'll be able to 100 to 0 someone is if they haven't built any protections or health items. If an enemy builds any of that, it will be much more difficult to actually take them down.

Level your skills like this with a point skip at level 8 so you can max out Universe Ring Toss at level 9 while still putting a point into your ult at the same time.
For levels 1 - 5, level like this:
  1. Universe Ring Toss
  2. Flaming Spear
  3. Universe Ring Toss
  4. Armillary Sash
  5. Wind Fire Wheels
After that focus your skills like this with the aforementioned point skip at level 8.


Skill Tactics


Your ultimate combo is very quite simple and is the most common way to engage someone. Using Armillary Sash, you'll latch onto them and immediately use Wind Fire Wheels. This usually gets them low enough that a single basic will finish them off if they didn't die. If you manage to get a lucky crit on the use of your sash, your ultimate WILL kill the enemy you've engaged, once again provided they don't have high protections or health. For this combo, for max chance of getting a crit on the use of your sash, make sure to have all 20 stacks in your passive up and pop Flaming Spear before hand as this will raise Ne Zha's crit chance to 25% without any assistance from items.

Your second ultimate combo is starting with the ult. This one is far harder to do cause the area of effect on your ult is a very small, very skinny line. If you can get one of your front line players to stun, root or otherwise hold down someone for you, this combo becomes much easier to land. After you finish using your ult on them, they should be low enough that an Armillary Sash should finish them off, especially if you get a lucky crit on it.

Ideally for both of these combo's you'll have want to hit your target with Universe Ring Toss as this has a protection shred on it and a very potent one at that (it can nullify any natural protections someone has provided they haven't built extra).

For any other type of engagement, you'll want to keep your targets to low health enemies as your engage tool, Armillary Sash, and Universe Ring Toss will be your only form of ability damage coming from you (enemies under 500 health have the best chance of being killed outright by your sash). Flaming Spear will help a little bit by increasing your attack speed and crit chance if you misjudge your target and need to get a few basics off. As always use Flaming Spear before you use your sash to increase your crit chance.

Early on in the game you'll be focusing on farming the jungle and setting up your teammates to get kills. This is easily done with Scylla, Nox, Janus, Kukulkan, and Zeus as they have abilities that are persistent and can be timed to do damage exactly as the enemy comes down.

Items

Ne Zha is one of the lucky few that has abilities that can crit. Luckily, unlike Mercury or Serqet who need items to have a chance at getting a crit, Ne Zha has innate crit chance in his passive (10% at full stacks) and an extra 15% when he activates Flaming Spear making him a danger no matter if he builds crit or not. However due to the way crit items interact with his abilities, any of the crit items available are viable and work wonders. You'll always want to build Deathbringer on him at some point, preferably as his 4th or 5th item. After he builds that he becomes a very large and very potent threat.

As with most junglers, you'll want Warrior Tabi as your first item when you have the gold to buy it. Your second item, depending on who your enemies are, you'll want to consider 1 of 3 items currently. Jotunn's Wrath being the most common second item, Titan's Bane or Brawler's Beat Stick are also both viable second items depending if the enemy team is tanky or has lots of healing type abilities.

Your third item is where things will become a bit more flexible. You have several options available to you here. Most commonly built is Heartseeker, however since that item does not work well with Ne Zha's kit (it only procs on the Ring Toss and Sash, it does NOT proc on his ult, I've tested this extensively for several hours), I prefer not to build it. Instead I have experimented with items such as Transcendence, Bloodforge, Void Shield, and Poisoned Star. I prefer to go for high power and as such I'll choose Transcendence. This item provides Ne Zha with a large mana pool giving him the ability to stay out in the field longer and it gives him a large enough power spike that, when you crit with Armillary Sash, you'll be dropping crits upwards of 1300 at full build ( Bloodforge also provides this type of crit ability however I prefer not to build this until late game when my position is secure). Other options for this point in the game are Titan's Bane or a crit item such as Poisoned Star or Deathbringer. All 3 of those options all have merits at being built at this point. Choose which ever you think will work for you.

Your 4th item must be Deathbringer if you haven't already built it. This is usually the best point to build it anyways.

Your 5th item should be a penetration item. If you haven't built Titan's Bane or Jotunn's Wrath, do so now.

Your last item is your situational item and should be built when you need it and not necessarily as your last item. Brawler's Beat Stick is always a safe and good option. More exotic choices include Shield of Regrowth (for the health, cool down and passive), Bloodforge (again for its passive and very large power spike; Its passive helps immensely after getting a kill with your ult and having a waiting enemy team below), or Poisoned Star (for its passive specifically; In team fighting that damage reduction helps immensely). If you are struggling with the enemy jungler, Void Shield is a good option, or if you are struggling with enemies that are wielding magic, Ancile is a viable item to help control how and when they sling abilities. Shifter's Shield or Spectral Armor are also both options that have their own merits. Take what you need in order to be effective here while staying alive.

Note: The Personal Preference build I have listed above is what works for me specifically. Its high power, high pen build allows me to drop a crit upwards of 1500 on unprotected enemies, and crits upwards of 700 - 800 on warriors, and crits around 200 - 400 on guardians depending on their build. The crits dropped while using Wind Fire Wheels are also very large and work wonders in deleting squishy targets from the field. Occasionally I'll drop Bloodforge for Poisoned Star or Malice (with the power provided by the first 5 items in that build, Malice is extremely potent and viable).

Your relics will usually always be Purification Beads and Aegis Amulet. Other options that work well with Ne Zha are Bracer of Undoing, Heavenly Wings and Blink Rune. All 3 of these have their merits and are all viable on Ne Zha as a jungler.

Starting the Game

Currently, as of 4.3, there is one viable item start to jungling for items on ability based gods like Serqet. You will be starting Bumba's Mask and Bluestone Pendant. These two items together provide amazing early clear on what is generally considered a mid to late game goddess. It also provides great early poke and very easily turns around a pre level 5 fight. Along with these two items, generally speaking, if you lack a heal in your kit, you'll take 2 Mana Potions and 2 Health Potions. If you have a heal, like Kali or Bakasura, generally speaking, you can get away with 3 Mana Potions and 1 Health Potion. However if you take the latter option, I suggest you avoid being overly aggressive early game.

Now you have a few options on WHERE to start your game. In season 3 it was usually required to start in Solo. While you can still do that, you now have more options open to you due to how the jungle now spawns (at 30 seconds when lane minions meet). Currently, the most popular way to start is in Mid. Less common starts, involve starting in the jungle at buff camps or in Solo lane.

First 5 Minutes

The first 5 minutes of any game played is the KEY point for any jungler. This is where you make it or break it for the rest of the game. During this time, if you can get a kill on the enemy jungler, you'll have an easier time all game. This is also the best opportunity to do early ganks invade the enemy jungle. Here I'll go over the Mid and Solo starts as those are the 2 most common and most viable starts.

Mid Lane Start



Starting in mid is currently the most common start for junglers. Here you'll quickly help clear lane with your mage. Early clear is absolutely key here. Ne Zha is best paired up with mages who have good early clear, such as Ra, Chang'e (Yes I'm serious, she has great clear on low CD), Anubis, Poseidon, Kukulkan, Zeus, and if they have Soul Stone, Scylla and Thoth have decent early clear as well.

There are 2 possible outcomes for this start. Either you win your lane clear or you don't. If you Win the clear with decent room to spare (IE they still have 3 or more minions to kill), then feel free to invade the enemy Red or Yellow buff. This will put their Mid or Jungle behind significantly and give you a major advantage. Rinse and repeat for another wave, possibly 2 if you feel like you need to, going after buffs between each wave or Mid Harpies. If you Lose the clear, DO NOT follow them into the jungle. By the time you get to the buff they are invading (if they do that), there is a good chance they will be level 2 before you are and have more options available to them and they most likely will get a kill off you and your teammate.

Solo Lane Start



Starting in Solo is basically the same as it was in Season 3. You clear wave, go for Fire Elementals, back to lane for a wave, go for Blue Buff with your Solo Laner, then go for your Yellow Buff alone. Beware going into the jungle after the first wave, especially if the enemy mid/jungle managed to invade your Yellow. I have seen many cases where the mid and jungle pay a visit to the solo area of the jungle to try and snag the blue or even an early gank on solo.

Mid to Late Game

During the Mid to Late game is where you will generally shine, especially once you get your full build online. You should dominate in most, if not all, 1 vs 1 situations and come out on top.

In a team fight your best option would be to go after the enemy mage or enemy jungle. Both of those players often bring high burst to the fight and are immediate targets. Usually a lucky crit with your sash is enough to get them to back off.

When starting a team fight, engage with your Universe Ring Toss to start buffing your own movement speed while debuffing their movement speed and shredding their protections at the same time. This gives your ADC (provided they took a hunter) an easier time of picking off the enemy team.

If you chose to take Poisoned Star in your build, your best bet is to take quick stock of who is doing the most damage (or who has the most potential to do that) and ult them. Effects from Malice, Deathbringer, Poisoned Star and Wind Demon all proc when you crit with your sash AND your ult.

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1
DetectiveSKT | April 24, 2017 8:09am
do you Recommend all of your builds also for ranked ?
1
LinkNightblade (1) | May 15, 2017 6:32pm
They should work in gold or lower. Anything higher and you might get bm'd a bit since some of my suggestions are unconventional.
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