Zhong - The OP Bruiser Damage-Tank [S3]

Hello, FalseShepherd3 here. This is my first legit SMITEFire guide. Mostly I am a casual player but I do some competitive on the side. Anywho, I took a week to make this very informative guide on how to build Zhong Kui for you to experience.

I feel like Zhong Kui fits great in the bruiser role, because his moves are very close-range so he needs defense, but can also do amazing damage to the enemy team. Not only this but he is excellent at teamfighting. With this build he does A LOT of damage while having high Defense.

Please enjoy and remember, this is my first guide.

Pros: High damage High defense Built-in self-healing and protections Ultimate can turn tide of teamfight Ultimate synergizes greatly with things like Sanctuary, other abilities, Mantle of Discord, etc. While third ability is on cooldown, basic attack does 50% more damage

Cons: No immediate escape Early-game kind of squishy Mana-hungry until early-mid game Core of this build is not cost-effecient (but powerful nonetheless) . . . .

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Mark of the Vanguard This is my recommended starter for Zhong but really you can switch it with any starter item and benefit. I recommend this item because this reduces all damage taken by 5 and you will take a lot of damage early-game since your abilities are close-range.

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Reinforced Shoes Why did I choose this over the purple or blue boots? Because Zhong Kui's abilities are very close range, and that will mean you will take early game damage a lot if you don't have some early-game health or protection, so I get these boots.

warlock's sash This gives a mess ton of health, power and mana early game. Also it is a stacking item so you want to buy this after boots to begin stacking as soon as possible.

Breastplate of Valor Provides protections, mana, and cooldown. An essential for all magical gods. I mainly chose this for the protection and to help lower mana-hunger. This has all of Zhong's early-mid game needs.

Ethereal Staff Simple; converts your health to power. Yeah, remember all that health from Reinforced Shoes and Warlock's Sash?

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Spear of the Magus Gives you power and penetration to pierce that armor. Also, it reduces their magical protection for a little so you do even more damage.

Rod of Tahuti Gives you a quarter more magical power, which is a huge chunk. If you want a giant power boost, get this, but it is expensive and it isn't mandatory either.

Void Stone This gives you power and penetration so generally more damage. Not only this but every enemy nearby gets their magical protection reduced, so if you have any magical allies this will give you and them more damage.



Soul Reaver This gives you 10% of the enemies' health to additional damage. This will help against people with high health.

Obsidian Shard This gives you some power and pen so more damage, but more importantly it bypasses 33% of enemy defenses. This item will help you hurt tanks and structures a lot more.

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Hide of the Urchin This item is a great defensive item. It is a stacking item so if you think you really are gonna need it get it earlier. Although this can be replaced with other defensive items.

Mantle of Discord This item is synergetic with your ultimate. When you reach low health, you let out a shockwave that stuns enemies around you. This also gives good protections.



Hide of the Nemean Lion This reduces damage from all basic Attacks.

Witchblade This will decrease physical power and attack speed from all enemies nearby.

Midgardian Mail This helps slow down people that hit you with a basic attack.



Spirit Robe This reduces damage taken when hit with a hard CC. (Aka Mitigation)

Magi's blessing This cancels any hard CC that hits you (A built-in purification!!). But once it happens it can't do it again for 90 seconds.

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Sanctuary Makes you invincible for a few seconds, but you can't attack during invincibility. This synergizes with your ultimate. If you activate your ultimate then sanctuary, you'll be an invincible killing machine. You can also use this to escape a pinch.

Curse Everyone in the threshold get slowed down when activated. This synergizes with your ultimate, slowing them down while the demons attack.

Thorns When activated, this reduces your damage taken and converts it to power. This synergizes with your ultimate, decreasing what you take in and increasing what you dish out.

Purification This frees you from any CC, definitely get it when facing Ares, Fenrir, Ymir, Cupid, etc.

Phantom This allows you to bypass enemy-made walls. I recommend this mostly for Odin to get out of his ultimate. Get this relic or death will be imminent.

Every demon captured from Exorcism gives Zhong protections. If Recall Demons is activated, then the protections are doubled.

Demon Bag Video:

• This pastes a card in everyone hit for 5s.
• This will damage and slow enemies.
• If enemies get hit with Exorcism while pasted with a card give Zhong Kui health.
• If enemies get hit with Book of Demons while pasted with a card, the stun lasts 2x longer.
• This removes the card if there was one.
• You can paste cards on creeps.

Expose Evil Video:

• This is a cone attack, anyone hit takes damage and sucks their demon into Zhong's bag, activating his passive. His strongest move excluding his ultimate.
• If an enemy was pasted with a card, Zhong Kui gets healed.

Exorcism Video:

• Everyone around Zhong gets damaged and stunned.
• If the people attacked have a card pasted on them, the stun lasts 2x longer.
• When this ability is on cooldown, the book of demons come out and attack with you on your basic attack, increasing your basic attack damage by 50%.
• This ability synergizes well with your Ultimate.

Book of Demons Video:

• For about 5s, demons pulse out of your bag and attack all enemies around you.
• This synergizes well with relics, primarily sanctuary. Activating Recall Demons then sanctuary turns you into an invincible killing machine. You can jump into battle and destroy.

Recall Demons Video:

Going into a teamfight is going in guns-a-blazing. Of course you need to notify your team mates your ultimate is ready and you are about to engage demonic assault.

• So now everyone knows, go in and pop your ultimate, Recall Demons.
• Second, Stun as many as you can with Book of Demons.
• After this, tag anyone stunned with Expose Evil.
• Exorcize the tagged with Exorcism.
• Rinse and repeat.

If your buddies are helping you in this teamfight, you are guarunteed enemy death and loss. The damage output of this combo is insane.

USE sanctuary WHEN YOU FEEL YOU NEED IT. STAY A LIVE.
USE sanctuary WHEN YOU FEEL YOU NEED IT. STAY A LIVE.
USE sanctuary WHEN YOU FEEL YOU NEED IT. STAY A LIVE.
USE sanctuary WHEN YOU FEEL YOU NEED IT. STAY A LIVE.



Need some health?

• To creeps or enemies, paste a card on them with Expose Evil.
• Use Exorcize to the pasted enemies or creeps. This will heal you and do good damage.
• Lastly use Book of Demons to finish off the wave, buff, or stun enemy gods as you escape for them delicious stacks.

This was my first legit guide on SMITEFire. It took about a week; I enjoy teaching and helping people learn how to play smite and be good at it.

Please give me some constructive criticism, but go easy because this is my first.

Please tell me how it works out for you!!

Also, special thanks to Zilby for the big BBcoding help.