Zeus Conquest Mid (Incon inspired)

Hello again smitefire, its season 4 now and the meta has changed! It now takes two waves to hit level 2, which really favors early game midlaners. Ill be going over zeus abilities, why you get which items on him, when you should pick him in ranked, common things I see that should be avoided on him, as well as a summary.

This guide was originally inspired by Incon back in season 3 when he saw the value of having winged blade, when everyone was building mages pure dps at the time.

Chain Lightning

This is the ability that you max 2nd. Its the second ability you use to clear minions if needed, the slow doesnt change on it, and its the best thing to use right before Detonate Charge.

Remember if you are being chased, this ability will help to put distance between you and them, as well as poking them making them think twice about continuing chasing. Also a good ability to slow enemies in your ult too.

Aegis Assault

This ability is okay at rank 1, but doesnt do much mid game or late game. Max this ability LAST, you will rarely use it except to clear lane.

Detonate Charge

This is Zeus' nuking ability! This is what takes their midlaner down to half health at level 3. Definitely max this 1st and remember to use your Chain Lightning and auto attack combos to get the max potential out of this ability.

Lightning Storm

This ability is okay, definitely better than his Aegis Assault, but his detonate and chain lightning are so much better, so I'd say after maxing Detonate Charge level this skill periodically afterwards.

You will find that these four items will allow you to one shot even the tankiest of players. The reason you dont build Soul Reaver or even Spear of Desolation would be that it hurts your survivability. There is such a thing as too much damage, and without the health, cooldown, movement speed, anti slow, and protections these next items give you, youd be focused instantly.

I wish I could make a video showing how fast you can kill jungle practice ra. Or even how you can solo fire giant at max rank and survive with over 50% health with no lifesteal. Dont have a way of recording it ATM sadly.


Winged Blade gives you 300 health, 10% movement speed, 20% cc reduction, and 10% attack speed that works with his passive all for a cheap price of 1850 gold. This item will save you time and time again. It gives you survivability and increases damage output slightly and is overall very good on zeus. This item is a MUST HAVE!

Spirit Robe is better than chronos pendant or warlocks sash. Like I've said earlier, you have more than enough damage with those 4 items ^^^^ with zeus, this rules out the need for chronos pendant and welcomes spirit robe instead. Chronos pendant is interesting this season, as its more expensive, but with its passive considered gives you around 30% cdr alone. However, Zeus is a burst mage meaning the little damage you get out of chronos in return for cooldown is not as good as the health, protections and movement speed you get out of the other two items. Since we are also starting with Sands of Time as our starting item, this means you will maintain your 10% cdr until the point you replace it with spirit robe, which is all the cdr zeus needs in my opinion.


These items are greedy because you are trading off mobility for pen and early game damage. Warlocks works well when your ahead, because late game the damage difference between thoth and warlocks is minimal. However you have to get to that fully stacked late game, and getting warlocks while behind is terible, since you wont be able to get stacks, and your damage will suffer greatly. Ive learend this first hand experience. If you are behind, its better to go thoth and still be somewhat relevant if your team sets you up.

Dynasty Helm is a really good mid game damage item, with nearly the same dps as Spear of Desolation just without the cooldown, while costing a lot less. However, zeus doesnt exactly need more damage, and the lack of mobility really hurts him there.

Zeus is a high tier mage at the moment, with strong early lane aggression and great clear. Zeus has a great teamfight, with tons of range, and is relevant all game long. These are his lane matchups and how he handles them:

These gods you wont have a hard time against. Ah puch, hel, he bo, janus, nox, and scylla you will outclear and bully them all game long with superior range and damage. Even if they escape over a wall like in scylla's and janus's case, you will still detonate them. Aphro doesnt do enough damage to really warrant mid, shes just bad all around, and picking up a divine really shuts her down hard. Raijin, if he ults you ult, and he kills himself. The morrigan is fine, just use your 2-1 combo to reveal her and kill her.






Vulcan has good lane pressure and poke that makes him slightly annoying to lane against. Ra can heal some of your poke, but overall not a big issue. Thoth has poke of his own, but terrible early clear, just shut him down early and win game. Nu wa has very safe clear and self peel, still not a big deal. Anubis is very good a 1v1ing, but loses game because his teamfight sucks; just farm all game and build divine somewhere. Like anubis, isis also likes to contest the early game, however she has low base hp, and if she missed a spirit ball she dies. Kuku not that big of a deal, good early clear, solid ult, but acts more as a zoner with his tornadoes more than anything.







This is where things start to get hard. Agni, like zeus has lots of damage and range on his abilities. Difference is he has a stun and an escape. Most agnis arent too hard to deal with, but an experienced one can make your life hard. Pos with gem of iso is broken as **** and Im tired of seeing him ever ranged game. Isotalis makes it hard to get your combo on him, and he can 100 to 0 you if your actives are down. Hades has a lot off cc, better base protection than most mages, can dash your combo, better sustain because lane healing, and you cant do anything about his ult. He was buffed recently, and Id suggest to start taking him seriously now.




But thats pretty much it. Anything thats not listed is either irrelevant, or so easy you should 100% **** on them. Like neith mid or any other casuals. Really the only thing you need to worry about are enemy assassins and warding yourself. Zeus is a great god, and even though i dont play ranked anymore, Ive reached diamond 5 because of him.

Same DPS as dynasty helm roughly, but 1100 gold more expensive. Zeus doesnt need the cooldown, and is more early game focused then late.


Does the same thing as spirit robe but worse, zeus doesnt need that much cooldown, and chronos is not much of a damage boost either.


HUGE nerfs this season. Its basically as bad soul reaver that gives you +200 health.


Zeus is a team fight god, this would hurt his potential, and would mean giving up survivability or worse, Book of Thoth. Like Ive said before, zeus has enough damage. Stick with other items that'll help keep you alive.

I still want to add more to the guide, but dont have the passion I used to. Hopefully this explains things well, and if you have any comments feel free to leave them.

Its been so long since I wanted to update this, that I forgot who I wanted to thank. Oh well, you know who you are...