Zeus: For Intermediate to Advanced Players

Introduction

Zeus is a very strong mid lane hero with very strong skills, though he is a support hero, he can be played as a semi-carry if you can gank efficiently- or not...since he can finish off other ganks with his global ultimate. In my opinion, he is one of the most fun heroes to play as he is a hero who wins the lane easily.

This guide is meant to be an informative recount on how to play a hero like Zeus in an all-pick match.


This guide is created by me (obviously), at the time of publishing, I have 250 games of experience but I believe that this will help players with similar matchmaking dominate their games as Zeus.


Zeus' 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.

When to pick Zeus

Zeus is a hero that is a 'glass cannon', he is extremely squishy but is strong if played well.
However, you must learn when to play Zeus & when not to... it is wise to wait to see the other team's composition before you pick.

First of all, since you will be midding, the main hero that you need to look out for is their mid, & with a competent team, their mid should be fairly obvious- unlike one game of mine where they had QoP, Pudge, TA, Batrider.

It is not a good idea to play Zeus if their mid has these qualities:

Nukes that can burst you down in 1-2 combos
Health instead of armor so there is no armor for your spells to avoid
Skills that counter nukers (Silences, Magic Resistance)

However, if they try to pull a 5-man agility team with the aid of Drow's 6.76 rework, you should automatically pick a nuker such as Zeus to laugh at their measly agility.

Early Game: Laning

Zeus is reliant on his mana & is harassed often so it only makes sense that he should bottle up & have rune control in the mid lane. Most players understand this & so... it shouldn't be hard to convince your team to let you mid.

While laning, like all heroes, it is important to keep lane equilibrium, don't push the lane hard or pull it to your tower which will kill the creeps & make you lose your hard work maintaining the lane equilibrium. When I play Zeus, I usually spam my W quite a bit once I get Static Field + a Bottle (which shouldn't take too long since my build starts you off with 154 gold). Your Q is nice, but don't spam it too much as it pushes your lane a lot.

Your Lightning Bolt is one of the strongest non-ultimate nukes in the game- abuse it! I use it every time I level it up as it becomes amazingly strong relative to my level. 350 damage at level 7? That's pretty much a mini-ultimate right there- & I didn't even factor in Static Field. Make sure you have runes warded as soon as you get a Bottle so you can maintain rune control & continue to spam/ dive with little consequence.

Though harassing is important- Zeus' autoattacks are near useless against a smart player so you should save it for last hitting & harass with W.

Once you reach level 7 & have a level of ult & maxed Lightning Bolt, you should see if you can take out your lane opponent. With your W, you should have constantly harassed when you had the mana & your lane opponent should be at around 450-500 hp all the time with a bottle as their only source of regeneration.

With their crippled health, I usually just pop off a Q + ult & kill them (usually as first blood) before pushing the wave so I lose the minimum exp possible & heading to the runes to heal up & prepare for roaming once ult is off cooldown.

Mid Game: Roaming

Once you have spilt first blood, you can just take control of your lane & harass or push as needs be, but beware of ganks as you have no escape mechanism or stuns. I usually just heal+refill bottle with rune & then push as much as possible after first blood before the hero returns to lane.

From then on, Zeus can begin to roam. The best runes to have prepared for ganking is the haste rune for Zeus. The fact that they can't run from your ultra-low cooldown skills means that they are certain to die. However, it is still possible to gank without any runes. To start a gank, MAKE SURE YOU TELL YOUR ALLIES THAT YOU ARE COMING! I play with premade parties so it's not a problem but in a pub all-pick match, make sure you tell them. Then, when you are ready to gank, run in & start off with your Arc Lightning, then Lightning Bolt, then Arc Lightning again & ult if you have to. Never ult while the victim is still in range of your spells or autoattack as it wastes a split second during your casting time where you could have used a spell or autoattack. The beauty of playing Zeus as ganker is that you don't need a stunner to perform the gank, due to his nature, as a nuker, Zeus can solo kill pretty much anyone as long as they have to run past him from one end of Zeus' range to the other- so make sure you are BEHIND your victim.

Important Tip #1: Use your Q first so you make the most of your Static Field's damage as they will have more health after to be scaled from.

Important Tip #2: If your enemies aren't potatoes & carried TP scrolls- like real players do, remember that your W ministuns & cancels it, so don't be afraid to use it if you feel that you won't kill them with it.

Important Tip #3: Don't use your Ultimate to take kills from your carry or anyone who needs gold more than you do. Only use your ultimate if it is absolutely necessary to secure a kill or to kill straggling enemies from unsuccessful ganks (which weren't your fault obviously-because you are a good player)

Mid Game/ Late Game: Team Fighting

Once towers begin to fall, both teams will be looking to start pushing with team fights, as Zeus, your role is to SUPPORT your team during it, your skills are B-E-A-UTIFUL if you can find their entire team in one spot. With Static Field, initiating as Zeus means that they lose health quickly- however, it means your almost certain to die, so go in last with the other squishy heroes. Do not underestimate your ultimate in situations like these, your Thundergod's Wrath is used for 3 main jobs for teamfights, it all depends on when you would like to use it...

Before a team fight: Your ultimate provides sight over enemies hit for 3 seconds & can help your team get into a better position to prepare
During a team fight: A level 2 ultimate deals 1675 damage & can turn the tides of battle if used well.
After a team fight: Remember that your ultimate has global range & can pick off stragglers who escaped by a whisker.

Late Game: Pushing

While Zeus loses his strength as all nukers do, Zeus is still a valuable asset to the team as his passive scales with the health that enemies have. At this point in the game, it should be fairly obvious whether your team will win or not depending on your roaming & pushing. From now on, the game should be yours to win & so, you can just let your hard carry (who you did not steal kills from) finish the game for you.