My Guide to Zeus

About Me

Hi guys my name is Felix. I have been playing Dota2 for 2.6 years (If I'm not wrong) and you can find me on Instagram or Twitter (@felix_denz).

This is my fifth guide here, so i expect my elders to give me comments and help me fix my mistakes. If there is a sameness with other's guide, it is a pure coincidental and don't sue me for it.

About Zeus

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Lore
Lord of Heaven, father of gods, Zeus treats all the Heroes as if they are his rambunctious, rebellious children. After being caught unnumbered times in the midst of trysts with countless mortal women, his divine wife finally gave him an ultimatum: 'If you love mortals so much, go and become one. If you can prove yourself faithful, then return to me as my immortal husband. Otherwise, go and die among your creatures.' Zeus found her logic (and her magic) irrefutable, and agreed to her plan. He has been on his best behavior ever since, being somewhat fonder of immortality than he is of mortals. But to prove himself worthy of his eternal spouse, he must continue to pursue victory on the field of battle.

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Zeus is the God of Sky and Thunder in Greek mythology, or at least that's how he works in Dota 2. Excels in bringing divine punishment and nuking, he is one of the fearest hero in Dota 2. With his Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath, he can quickly bring down most squishy heroes really fast. Static Field ensures him to stay on late-game, as a God must not fall from the heaven XD.

Often play in mid, most people play him on position 3, as gankers and nukers. Pretty high synergy with every heroes in Dota 2, especially Crystal Maiden, whom he thought is Aphrodite (really?).

So today I'm about to explain about this God from heaven. In this guide I will explain about:
(*)Pros and Cons
(*)When and When Not To
(*)Skill
(*)Items
(*)Skill Build
(*)Friends and Foes

Pros and Cons

Pros:
(*)One of the best mid hero in the game.
(*)High nuking capability
(*)Not so dependant on item
(*)High synergy with every heroes
(*)Coolest moustache in the game
(*)A God

Cons:
(*)Pretty squishy on Early Game
(*)Mana dependant if he is used incorrectly
(*)****ty attack animation
(*)Skill dependant

When and When Not To

Pick Zeus when:
- You need a mid hero
- You already have supports
- You need a burst of damage
- The enemy team is full of squishy heroes
- You have too many right clickers in your team
- Your enemy consists of tanky melee heroes and that's when Static Field kicks in
- You love Aghanim's Scepter and Refresher Orb
- You want to be a God

Don't pick Zeus when:
-You have no supports
- You already have a mid hero, like Puck or Pudge
- You need a strong offlaner
- Your enemy team consists of heroes with high burst damage like Purification, Nether Blast
- Your team needs one hard carry and you are the only one who haven't picked a hero
- You don't want to be a God
- You hate moustache

Skills

ARC LIGHTNING

Skill Type: Active
Cast Range: 850
Bounce Distance: 500
Number Of Bounces: 5 / 7 / 9 / 15
Damage: 85 / 100 / 115 / 145
Mana Cost: 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown Time: 2

- Blocked by magic immunity, if primary target has Linken's Sphere, it will be blocked.
- If primary target doesn't have Linken's Sphere but second target has, the second target will still get hit.

This is your 1st skill. Flash farming, last hits, and harrasing in one skill. Always take this skill first on level 1, but up this skill last. You only need this skill early game for the last hits, since Zeus has a ****ty attack animation. Also very good synergy with Static Field.

LIGHTNING BOLT

Skill Type: Active
Cast Range: 700
Damage: 100 / 175 / 275 / 350
Mana Cost: 75 / 95 / 115 / 135
Cooldown Time: 6

- Provides True Sight for 4.5 sec.
- Has a mini stun, which interrupts channeling skills like Town Portal Scroll.
- Blocked by magic immunity.
- Ground target, allowing Zeus to use this skill on the ground. Very effective when you want to deward, or searching for invisible enemy.

This is your main nuking skills. 350 burst damage, True Sight, and a mini stun. With a 6 sec CD, you can keep spamming this skill. Beware though, your mana pool isn't that impressive in early game. This skill cancels TP, much like Shuriken Toss.

STATIC FIELD

Skill type: Passive
Radius: 1200
Percentage Of Current HP Dealt As Damage: 5% / 7% / 9% / 11%

- Damage is dealt before the used skill damage.
- Doesn't require visibility, which means Riki can skill get hit when you are spamming your Arc Lightning near him.

This is what makes you still strong in late game. 11% damage is SUPER HUGE! Imagine. A Pudge with 5.122 health got hit by your Lightning Bolt (Magic Resistance is ignored). Which means the total damage he got is approximately 914 DMG! Well, this is still ignoring the magic resistance. Actual damage is probably about 500/600 DMG. But the point is, this skill deals more damage on tanky heroes. That's why Zeus scales well in late game.

THUNDERGOD'S WRATH

Radius: Global
Damage: 225 / 350 / 475 (440 / 540 / 640*)
Sight Radius: 1000
True Sight Radius: 900
Sight/True Sight Duration: 3
Mana Cost: 225 / 325 / 450
Cooldown Time: 90

- Hits everyone on the map
- Invisible units doesn't get the damage, only the True Sight for 900 radius
- Any wards near the hero will also be revealed
- Max damage dealt is 356.5 / 480 counting base magic resistance

Zeus' ultimate skill, befitting of a God. This is one of a few Global Skills, including Haunt, Wrath of Nature, Global Silence, Stampede, Sun Strike, Moonlight Shadow, Guardian Angel with Aghs, and Battle Trance. Use this skill to scout, start and end a teamfight, but please don't KS with this skill if your team still can kill the enemy.


Play Video

Items

BUILD 1

Basic regeneration items.
Basic stats item. Upgradable to Magic Wand.
One package stats item. +6 INT and +3 each STR and AGI. Upgradable to either dagon or Veil of Discord.
Your basic item. You are playing mid Zeus, of course you want access to that runes. And also, since you will keep on spamming that Arc Lightning, you will be out of mana soon, which is why Bottle is a core on him.
This item provides extra mana if needed. 150 mana for 150 health is pretty fair, but use it carefully, as Zeus' health pool is not that high. Upgradable to Bloodstone

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Zeus' boots of choice. Provides mana and 135 mana per minute. Some players go Phase Boots for the movement speed, which is not bad. But it's better to go direct Boots of Travel if you want the speed. Arcane Boots is later dissassembled into Boots of Speed and Energy Booster. Upgrade Boots of Speed to BoT and Energy Booster to Bloodstone.
I still find this item second best on Zeus, after Aghanim's Scepter. This item already provides movement speed, which is why Phase Boots is ignored in my build. Mana regeneration is also important on him, but what's best is that Cyclone. Being able to lock your enemy in a place means buying time for your team to come, or for you to escape. This item is ALMOST a must on Zeus, I wonder why some people still ignore this item.
Now this is what I'm talking about. Extra HP, MP, and stats. But what's really noticable is that upgraded ultimate. 620 DMG max is devastating in teamfights. It will bring down half of most squishy supports' HP without magic immunity items / skills [A.K.A Lion, Shadow Shaman, Shadow Demon, you name it].
High synergy with your ultimate and Aghanim's Scepter, it's like they are inseperable. 2x ults with Aghs is pretty devastating. It's advisable to build Aghanim's Scepter first.

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Mobility is always the question for Zeus. Blink Dagger provides direct positioning, and Force Staff provides clear positioning. But Blink Dagger has a 3 sec CD when hit, and Force Staff's positioning is unreliable. See? Everything has Pros and Cons. My opinion is, buy what you like the most. Both are viable. There is no 1 choice here.

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Well, this item provides almost everything. Health, mana, HP and mana regeneration. Reduces 25 gold lost and 4 sec of respawn time for each charge. Gains EXP and vision around the location of death, and restore HP for allies around when the bearer died. Provides Suicide, which can be used to deny yourself. See? Almost everything right? You really want to have this item on Zeus, especially if you already buy Soul Ring in the early games.
Very good synergy with Zeus. Locking your enemy while you throw all your skills on to him. This item functions almost like Eul's Scepter of Divinity, except better. Also provides stats and mana regeneration, this is an item you wouldn't want to miss on Zeus.
Zeus lack movement speed, and this item provides it. And teleportation is very useful in case you want to split push, since Zeus' split-pushing power is so high.

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Zeus is pretty squishy, so other nukers will also focus on him. Deny their existence with this! And extra STR is also welcomed on him.
Works kinda like BKB, focusing on disabling skills that pierce BKB [A.K.A Culling Blade, Doom, Song of the Siren, you name it].
Cripple slows your enemy, delaying their escape. You can spam your skills on them now. Also provides extra HP and INT.
This item amplifies every magic damage within it's activation radius for 25%. So every skills that is used on heroes with amplified status will increase. Also provides +6 HP regeneration, Armor, STR, AGI, INT, and damage. Basically "The 6 Family" XD.
This item is more to a defensive item in late game, and the active skill is also pretty good in teamfights. Provides INT, armor, and slow AS aura.
dagon Pretty good item on Zeus, high nuking capability. Burst your enemy to death in less than 5 sec! Not advisable when you are not winning the lane, since dagon is pretty useless when your enemy is far stronger than you.
Boosting your magic damage, while disabling the enemy, ethereal units take more damage from spells. Well, you don't benefit from the AGI, so it's a pretty situational item on him.
I don't know, this is more to a trolling item. The stats are always welcome, but you are not really a right-click type, so this is super luxurious situational item.

Skill Build

My build is practically the same with others, focusing on nuking ability. Which means, focus on Lightning Bolt. I say that, but always, ALWAYS take that Arc Lightning at level 1 and use it only to last hit creeps. You have a super bad attack animation (which is ironic for a God), and you will most likely lose in a contest of creepings in the mid lane. So spam that lightning.

Take that Static Field on level 2. This increases your capability of last hitting with Arc Lightning, as well as harrasing your enemy. Most RANGE mid heroes are pretty squishy, and if they are hit by Arc Lightning + Static Field lets say, 6 times, they will need to go back to replenish their health. And this is even better if you are fighting high HP heroes, as Static Field responds according to your enemy's health.

Level 3 to 5 straight is the time for Lightning Bolt to kicks in. You already got your farming skills and harrasing skills. It's time to take that Lightning Bolt. Focus on it first. At level 7 you will have a 1-4-1-1 build. Now you can roam around, start ganking, and search for low HP heroes in the jungle.

Second, max that Static Field. You want that 11% bonus damage. Maxing Arc Lightning first is viable, but you won't really benefit from the 145 damage and 80 mana. You might be able to deal more damage, but spamming too much Arc Lightning will deplet your mana, and this is what most newbies do and this is why Zeus is labbeled as a "Mana Starving" hero. He is not, if used correctly. Static Field potential is high with Lightning Bolt, so at level 11 you will have a 1-4-4-2 build.

Lastly, max that Arc Lightning to take low HP heroes who are pretty far from you. This is also useful for clearing creeps, especially that big wave. Well, most Zeus will have at least Blink Dagger or Force Staff this late. Or not!

NEVER FORGET TO TAKE YOUR ULTIMATE SKILL EVERY POSSIBLE TIME.

Friends and Foes

FOES

Every INT heroes' nightmare. Of course you know what they have in common SILENCE!

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These heroes burn your mana, especially Anti-Mage will burn them really fast with his Manta Style combo. Watch out for Naga Siren, as Diffusal Blade is his core.

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These heroes slows your already low movement speed. This will delay your escape, and mostly lead to death. Force Staff kinda delay your death. Lol.

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null field spell shield

These skills and items provides magic resistance, thus lowering your skill effectiveness. BKB provides immunity which renders you useless.

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FRIENDS

These heroes lock your enemies in a place. Unleash your fury while they beg for mercy! These are just a few from many heroes with locking skills.

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Amplifying magic damage on your enemy, making your already hard skills even harder.

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Who doesn't like mana? Everyone loves mana.

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Ending

Thanks for reading my guide. I hope it helps you guys. Elders and critics are always welcome. Don't use Thundergod's Wrath to KS, some crazy player might end up reporting you ==a Learn from this guy in the pic XD