Zeus/Guide

Tips & Tactics

 * Zeus is a great hero. He can dominate lanes, take easy kills, deal massive damage and give vision to your team for easy ganks. He is not very item-dependent but can benefit greatly from them.
 * Lightning Bolt has a ministun which allows you to cancel channels.
 * If you ground target Lightning Bolt from fog, you won't reveal yourself to the enemy who gets hit by it. If you directly target them, they'll get vision of you.
 * If you think someone is just about to escape vision, you don't need to cast Lightning Bolt on the hero, just cast it on the ground right behind them.


 * In the laning phase Arc Lightning can substitute for your normal attack to get last hits due to its low cooldown and long range, helping you stay out of harm's way given that Zeus's own attack animation, damage and range is rather meager early on.
 * Arc Lightning is a great tool for tower defense, because it draws aggro from a safe range and deals damage over every unit.
 * Consider putting two points into Arc Lightning and then maxing your other abilities, as three hits of 85 damage leave the enemy ranged creep just one hero attack away from death, and you don't want to have to go forward to get that lasthit. With two ranks, your second cast will put the creep down to 100 hp, which only very few heroes can deny in a single attack.


 * Always use Lightning Bolt before Arc Lightning so you may not lose your opponent in the fog.
 * Always watch your positioning as Zeus and Arc Lightning have relatively long ranges, and Thundergod's Wrath has global range. Often, there is no reason to be up close in battle unless you are chasing down heroes; and Zeus' fragility compounds this.
 * Remember that Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath provide True Sight. Do not be afraid to use your ultimate or cast Lightning Bolt where you think they may be if you believe an invisible enemy may be sneaking up on you or attempting to escape; if an enemy is invisible in a team fight make sure to cast Lightning Bolt before casting Thundergod's Wrath so that the granted True Sight allows your ultimate to damage the invisible target.
 * Because Lightning Bolt offers 4.5 seconds of True Sight and flying vision, you can cast it on the ground near cliff-sides or other popular warding areas to check for wards or de-ward without actually purchasing sentry wards.


 * Leveling Static Field increases your damage output by a great deal and scales very well into the lategame.
 * During team fights, use all of Zeus's spells (including his ultimate) as soon as possible to make the best use of his passive, that it's based on the percentage of current health, not maximum health, so it will do more damage to heroes at full health. If you wait for the enemy team's health to go down before using Thundergod's Wrath, then Static Field will not do as much damage as it could have.


 * When trying to kill low hp heroes (low, but not low enough for Ultimate only) in hard to navigate areas use Thundergod's Wrath to gain vision of your enemy so you can Lightning Bolt them to death.
 * Considering the 25% magic resistance most heroes have by default, Thundergod's Wrath effectively deals 168.75/262.5/356.25 damage, provided they have no other source of magic damage reduction.
 * Thundergod's Wrath can have a good synergy with Bloodseeker's, since it reveals any heroes that are at low health, so Zeus can simply ulti them to get a kill(s).
 * Thundergod's Wrath should only be used to acquire a kill if your carry is unable to attain it himself. In most encounters, it should be used early in the fight to make things easier for one's team.
 * Since magic damage doesn't scale well into late game as physical damage, combining it with allied spells like, and  keeps him relevant for longer.

Items
Starting items:
 * and a are taken for the good HP regeneration.
 * Three will make your spells more spammable, since Zeus is very mana dependent.
 * An and a  will give you more attributes, helping you with survivability and mana management.

Early game:
 * will make you faster, allowing for easier escapes and a better time catching up to enemy heroes.
 * allows for lane control and sustainability through runes and crowing. Getting it early helps you to maintain your mana to get last hits consistently.
 * will give more intelligence, allowing for a larger mana pool and more damage, as well as bonus attributes to help with survivability.

Core:
 * are used to help sustain Zeus' high rate of spell casting and give him the mana pool necessary to remain relevant in longer engagements. It can also be later disassembled to use the energy booster in another item, and eventually upgraded into BoT.
 * provides a useful amplification of your magical damage dealt to any enemy caught in its blast. In addition to this, the 6 armor bonus helps mitigate the impact of Zeus' poor base armor, allowing him to survive longer against heavy physical damage lineups.
 * makes you better at your job by dealing lots of magical damage from as far back as possible.

Situational items:
 * will make your ultimate deal more damage and gives good bonuses to his attributes. If you need to be more tanky and durable Aghanim's Scepter is a better choice than Refresher Orb, since it gives both health and Strength, as well as a boost to other useful attributes.
 * is used to activate your Thundergod's Wrath twice if you have sufficient mana pool. In late game Refresher Orb is a better item than scepter as it will allow Zeus to use his spells more often, which owing to his scaling passive is more important than stronger ultimate damage. Using your three spells with a scepter in late game will deal less damage than using your three spells, then refreshing them and using them again. Using a Refresher Orb will drain a lot of mana, making you unable to cast your abilities if used carelessly.
 * helps in many situations, and can be used to make an enemy helpless; it also gives a nice boost to your mana pool.
 * grants more health and more mana, which are very needed for Zeus. The more kills you do, the more mana regeneration you get.
 * is a good utility item: it gives more mana regeneration, a bit more of speed and a good ability to incapacitate enemy Heroes.
 * is a nice addition to Zeus' inventory as most of his damage output will be from his spells, which means that he will be healed for 25% of all spell and item damage that he inflicts. The lower cooldown of his ultimate will also be appreciated by Zeus players, especially for global scouting. His DPS in teamfights will also raise dramatically, as the lower cooldown on his nukes allow him to trigger his passive more often.


 * can help with early mana issues, easing jungling and can be used to make a later.
 * is a good choice for mobility and utility, very useful for evading carries and kite magic immune targets. can also be picked up, Zeus benefiting a lot from mobility items.
 * can be a great choice if you find yourself getting blown up by physical damage. It can also be upgraded into an, which can be used to disable the enemy carry, save allies and deal massive amount of burst damage in combination with your spells.
 * increase your mana pool enough to cast your combo while offering good enemy control.
 * gives you a much needed health boost, catch-up and a possible escape mechanism. The intelligence stats are very cost effective as well.