Zeus remains one of the most popular heroes in DotA. Not only is he incredibly fun to play in public games, but he is considered so powerful that he is either a ban or first pick in organized games. Although he does not have an escape mechanism (more recently with the Dagger nerf), he is one of the few non-stun Intelligence heroes to see competitive play. Zeus is not too complex of a hero: He has insane burst damage early game, with great scaling lategame thanks to Static Field, and a global nuke that is perhaps one of the most annoying skills in all of DotA.

Hero Abilities

Arc Lightning

Hurls a bolt of arcing energy that laces through many nearby enemy units

Level 1 – Arcs 5 times, deals 85 damage.
Level 2 – Arcs 7 times, deals 100 damage.
Level 3 – Arcs 9 times, deals 115 damage.
Level 4 – Arcs 15 times, deals 130 damage.

Cooldown: 2 seconds.

Level 1: 65 mana, 2 sec cooldown.
Level 2: 72 mana, 2 sec cooldown.
Level 3: 79 mana, 2 sec cooldown.
Level 4: 86 mana, 2 sec cooldown.

A great skill for finishing off creeps, harassing and controlling a lane. With static field the damage it does is highly significant.

Lightning Bolt

Summons a bolt of lightning from the heavens to strike a target enemy

Level 1 – Deals 100 damage.
Level 2 – Deals 175 damage.
Level 3 – Deals 275 damage.
Level 4 – Deals 350 damage.

Cooldown: 7 seconds.

Level 1: 75 mana, 7 sec cooldown.
Level 2: 95 mana, 7 sec cooldown.
Level 3: 115 mana, 7 sec cooldown.
Level 4: 135 mana, 7 sec cooldown.

A very powerful single-target nuke that not only does 350 damage at level 4, but also gives true sight.

Static Field

Whenever Zeus casts a spell, he shocks all nearby enemy heroes for a percentage of their current hit points as damage.
Affects an area of effect of 800.

Level 1 – Shocks for 5% of current hit points.
Level 2 – Shocks for 7% of current hit points.
Level 3 – Shocks for 9% of current hit points.
Level 4 – Shocks for 11% of current hit points.

Passive

This skill enables Zeus’s spells to effectively scale lategame since it does a percentage of HP.

Thundergod’s Wrath

Strikes down all enemy heroes with a bolt of lightning.

Level 1 – Deals 210 damage.
Level 2 – Deals 335 damage.
Level 3 – Deals 460 damage.

Cooldown: 120 seconds.

Level 1: 225 mana, 120 sec cooldown.
Level 2: 325 mana, 120 sec cooldown.
Level 3: 450 mana, 120 sec cooldown.

A global nuke that is extremely useful for comboing, finishing off heroes, granting vision, and in team battles, it adds effective “AoE”.

For a more precise description of skills, please visit:Lord of Olympia – DotA Allstars Wiki

Skill Build

Level 1 – Arc Lightning
Level 2 – Static Field
Level 3-5 – Lightning Bolt
Level 6 – Thundergod’s Wrath
Level 7 – Lightning Bolt
Level 8-10 – Static Field
Level 11 – Thundergod’s Wrath
Level 12-15 – Attribute Bonuses
Level 16 – Thundergod’s Wrath

Justification: Bolt and Wrath are maxed as soon as possible since they are his most powerful spells, and static is gotten afterwards to add multiple-target damage during team fights. Some people max Arc before 23-25 but it is actually not always good to max arc because you can only re-cast arc lightning when the first one is done ‘bouncing’ and since level 4 hits 15 targets, the cooldown is often over before the lightning finishes bouncing. In rare occasions sometimes you might want to go Stats/Bolt/Bolt/Stats/Bolt/Ult/Bolt/static/arc/static/etc – I’ll explain that more later in soloing.

Core Items

Nulls/Bracers: I started getting 3 nulls instead of arcane ring when Nerubian Assassin was popular. I feel that maximum hp / mana is very important on fragile int heroes: Feel free to make bracers instead.

Point Booster: Since a lot of battles are 2v2 3v3 or whatever from full health to death, mass hp is the most important factor for survival. Point Booster provides great hp/mana for its cost.

Bottle: Enables you to control the lane, have regen, and if you are soloing mid, collecting runes is very essential to your game.

Luxury Items

Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse: Lategame, having a guinsoo will work wonders for your team – great stats, imba range, and mana regen, and of course hex is a priceless ability.

Boots of Travel: It is a standard choice on Zeus for mobility and movespeed.

Other Items

Arcane Ring: You dont see many people going for mana regen or arcane because those only help with the laning phase and since zeus is such a glass cannon, he is often focused first.

Other Lategame Items: If you farm more than a guinsoo etc., you are probably farming too much (taking away from carries) or not fighting enough, or both. Zeus is still very potent late game, but reserve the farm for heroes on your team who are more item dependent.

Playing Zeus

Early Game: For starters, its 4 branches + 3 clarities + eaters (tangoes). Since I tend to solo middle when I play Zeus, I rush bottle to get the quick lane advantage. Usually my build is 3 nulls, boots, tp scrolls, and bottle.

Attack Animation: His ‘wind-up’ (frontswing) is very long, but you can use that to your advantage to ’s- cancel your attack and out-lasthit your opponent. Many players rely on Arc Lightning too much.

Lane Control: Arc pushes the lane and is also dependent on clarity potions, but pushing the lane also gives you free time to check the runes, so you have to weigh both choices. Both Arc and Bolt have a range of 700, enabling you to stay out of danger when casting

Strong Enemies: Against a good laner, Bolt/Stats build is needed sometimes against Shadow Fiend or Silencer. It’s important to get early last hits against SF, and stats helps with both allied/denied units (obviously, Arc only works for offensive purposes). When dealing with a really problematic hero like Broodmother, make sure you keep a tp scroll on you at level 6 and definitely go Arc. Try to rune whore it with bottle while keeping sentries up (from teammates) and you should do ok. Go gank the side lanes “>

Oh, maybe try out the stats/bolt build a few times so you can work on last hitting with zeus

The 5 MYM|Merlini Golden Rules

1. Always Lightning Bolt before Arc
It may seem better to arc before lightning to get maximum effect from static field but if you arc first you may lose your opponent in the fog

2. Always ALWAYS watch your positioning
Lightning bolt has a hell of a long range, Thundergod’s Wrath has infinite range, and Arc has pretty damn long range too, so there is almost no reason to be ‘up close and personal’ in battle unless you are chasing down heroes

3. Wrath for Vision
When trying to kill low hp heroes (low, but not low enough for wrath only) in hard to navigate areas (e.g. below sentinel bottom right tower), use wrath to gain vision of your enemy so you can bolt them to death.

4. Share control with your allies
Communicating to a teammate to do something is always much slower than doing it yourself
5. Abuse Bolt Range
Try to ninja that extra bolt in before team fights actually start – it has ridiculous range and helps in battles way more than you think.

Replays

Replay Download

Sentinel:
Scourge:
Description: This is a friendly game played recently where I solo mid against QoP.