Hero
Zeus
    19 + 2.1
11 + 1.2
22 + 3.3
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| Strikes enemies near and far with lightning. | |
| None can hide from Zeus. Charged with godly might, whether he's calling down a Lightning Bolt to reveal the surroundings, sending an Arc Coursing through his nearest enemies, or summoning a terrifying Nimbus upon his enemies. Zeus points his arms skyward, bringing divine punishment down on each and every foe. Wherever they may be, none shall stand against the Thundergod's Wrath. | |
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| Roles: | Nuker Carry |
| Complexity: | ★☆☆ |
Contents
Bio[]
Zeus, the Lord of Heaven▶️ "Immortality was overrated. This is much more interesting."
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.
Voice:
Abilities[]
Hurls a bolt of lightning that leaps through nearby enemy units.
Cast Animation: 0.2+0.63
Cast Range: 850
Bounce Distance: 500
Number of Bounces: 5/7/9/15
Bounce Interval: 0.25
Damage: 90/120/150/180 (
190/220/250/280)
190/220/250/280)
1.6
80/
Modifiers [?]
modifier_zuus_arc_lightning
Undispellable
Arc Lightning is Zeus' favorite spell to use against puny mortals.
Notes:
- The lightning bounces in 0.25-second intervals, so hitting all targets takes 1/1.5/2/3.5 seconds.
- Does not bounce on invisible units or units in the Fog of War.
- Can never hit the same unit twice per cast.
- All bounces together can deal up to 450/840/1350/2700 ( 950/1540/2250/4200) damage (before reductions).
- The hidden buff is required for the lightning to jump.
Lightning Bolt
Calls down a bolt of lightning to strike an enemy unit, causing damage and a mini-stun. When cast, Lightning Bolt briefly provides unobstructed vision and True Sight around the target in a 750 radius. Can be cast on the ground, affecting the closest enemy hero in 325 range.
Cast Animation: 0.3+0.43
Cast Range: 700/750/800/850
Search Radius: 325
Vision & True Sight Radius: 750
Damage: 125/200/275/350
Stun Duration: 0.3 ( 0.7)
0.7)Vision & True Sight Duration: 5
True Sight Linger Duration: 0.5
6 120/
Spell Block / Reflection Notes:
Stun duration and damage are blocked upon impact.
Vision is blocked fully only when directly targeted.
Does not affect any Spell Block ability interactions.
Modifiers [?]
modifier_zuus_lightningbolt_vision_thinker
Undispellable
modifier_stunned
modifier_truesight
Undispellable
A shocking punishment for rebellious heathen.
Notes:
- Lightning Bolt first applies the damage, then the debuff.
- When unit-targeted, the 750 range flying vision and True Sight are provided at the target's position upon cast. The vision is stationary and does not follow the target.
- When ground-targeted, Lightning Bolt searches for any enemy unit within its area, prioritizing heroes (including illusions, clones, and creep-heroes). Chooses the closest target to the center.
- It does not require any vision or True Sight to hit invisible or enemies in the Fog of War.
- With the cast range and search radius, it can hit an enemy up to 1025/1075/1125/1175 range away.
- When cast this way, the vision and True Sight is always centered on the targeted point, regardless of hitting a unit.
- The flying vision and True Sight last for 5 seconds. The True Sight is provided by an aura, and its debuff lingers for 0.5 seconds.
- The lightning particles and sound effects during the cast time are visible and audible to everyone.
Zeus performs a Heavenly Jump, shocking the closest visible nearby enemy (prioritizing heroes). Reducing their movement, attack speed and increasing their cast time. If Zeus is moving forward, he will jump towards that direction. Zeus gets 900 unobstructed vision around him for 3 seconds.
Cast Animation: 0+0
Search Radius: 700/800/900/1000
Number of Targets: 1 ( 2)
2)Leap Distance: 500
Damage: 20/50/75/100
Move Speed Slow: 100%
Attack Speed Slow: 100
Enemy Cast Time Increase: 50%
Debuff Duration: 1/1.5/2/2.5
Vision Radius: 900
Vision Duration: 3
25/ 50/Notes:
- Interrupts Zeus' channeling abilities upon cast.
- Upon cast, provides 900 radius flying vision for 3 seconds.
- Heavenly Jump first applies the damage, then the debuff.
- Upon cast, Heavenly Jump immediately applies the movement speed and attack speed slow debuff on the closest enemy within 700/800/900/1000 radius.
- Can target any enemy units, but prioritizes heroes. Treats creep-heroes as heroes.
- Affects Roshan, but it only applies the movement speed slow on him.
- While not moving, Zeus jumps 250 range upwards upon cast.
- While moving or being moved, he leaps in an arc towards his facing direction with a length of 500 and height of 250 upon cast.
- Zeus is not disabled during the jump/leap and can still turn, attack, and cast abilities and items during it. While in the air, other units can pass below him.
| Nimbus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Creates a storm cloud anywhere on the map that automatically casts Lightning Bolt on nearby enemies.
Cast Animation: 0.2+0.64
Cast Range: Global
Radius: 450
Melee Hero Attacks to Destroy: 4
Ranged Hero Attacks to Destroy: 8
Non-Hero Attacks to Destroy: 16
Lightning Bolt Interval: 2.5
Duration: 30
45 325
Modifiers [?]
modifier_zuus_cloud
Death
modifier_kill
Death
modifier_zuus_lightningbolt_vision_thinker
Undispellable
modifier_stunned
modifier_truesight
Undispellable
Ability Draft Notes:
Lightning Bolt must be drafted as well for it to get applied.
Requires drafting Thundergod's Wrath to be unlocked.
Where the thunder god's ire grows, storm clouds quickly gather.
Notes:
- Requires Aghanim's Scepter to be unlocked.
- Casts regular Lightning Bolt based on its current level on the closest valid enemy target.
- This means it also applies the mini-stun and provides vision and True Sight around the target.
- Lightning Bolt notes fully apply. If it is not learned, nothing happens.
- The area of effect talent does not upgrade Nimbus' Lightning Bolt.
- The damage source is the Nimbus itself, meaning certain on-damage effects react on the Nimbus rather than on Zeus (e.g. Blade Mail).
- This also means that any outgoing damage amplification or damage reduction do not affect the Nimbus' bolt damage either.
- With Aghanim's Shard, the bolts still trigger Static Field on their targets regardless, which the damage source is being sourced to Zeus, and thus it is affected by outgoing damage manipulation.
- Starts striking immediately upon cast if an enemy is within the radius.
- Also strikes immediately when the last strike was longer than an interval ago and an enemy enters the area.
- Always strikes the closest valid target. There are no priorities. Cannot target wards or buildings.
- The Nimbus can strike invisible units and units inside the Fog of War.
- Can strike up to 12 times over its full duration, considering the default 2.5 strike interval.
- The strike interval is not affected by any cooldown reduction and cooldown resets sources.
- The visual effects on the ground which mark the Nimbus' radius are visible to everyone.
Current Health as Damage: 9%
Modifiers [?]
modifier_zuus_heavenly_jump
Death
modifier_zuus_lightningbolt_vision_thinker
Undispellable
modifier_zuus_static_field_slow
Ability Draft Notes:
This ability is currently inaccessible in Ability Draft.
The air crackles with static when the Thundergod walks the world.
Notes:
- Requires Aghanim's Shard to be unlocked.
- Static Field only works with Zeus' abilities. It does not react on items or other abilities.
- Static Field always applies its damage before the triggering ability applies any of its effects.
- Arc Lightning applies Static Field's damage on each enemy units it bounces on.
- Manually casting Lightning Bolt (and from Nimbus) applies Static Field's damage on whoever it hits, regardless of whether they were unit-targeted or ground-targeted.
- Thundergod's Wrath applies Static Field's damage on all hit enemies, except invisible enemies.
- Neither works on Roshan, nor apply its damage if the ability is blocked by Spell Block sources.
Strikes all enemy heroes with a bolt of lightning, no matter where they may be. Thundergod's Wrath also provides True Sight around each hero struck. If an enemy hero is invisible, it takes no damage, but the True Sight is still created at that hero's location.
Cast Animation: 0.4+0.43
Effect Radius: Global
Vision Radius: 500
True Sight Radius: 900
Damage: 300/425/550 ( 400/525/650)
400/525/650)Vision/True Sight Duration: 3
True Sight Aura Linger Duration: 0.5
130/ 300/
Spell Immunity Notes:
Provides vision and True Sight over spell immune enemies.
Does not attempt to damage spell immune enemies.
Modifiers [?]
modifier_zuus_thundergodswrath_vision_thinker
Undispellable
modifier_truesight
Death
The Lord of Heaven smites all who oppose him, near or far.
Notes:
- Only hits enemy heroes, including the Tempest Double, but excluding Meepo Clones, illusions and creep-heroes.
- Does not hit invulnerable or hidden enemies.
- Thundergod's Wrath first applies its damage, then provides its vision and True Sight.
- This means if an invisible enemy is not revealed beforehand, it only applies the vision and True Sight around them, but not the damage.
- Thundergod's Wrath provides 500 radius flying vision and 900 radius True Sight around each struck hero.
- The vision and True Sight last for 3 seconds.
- The True Sight is provided by an aura, its debuff lingers for 0.5 seconds.
- Hitting all 5 enemy heroes collectively deals 1500/2125/2750 ( 2000/2625/3250) damage (before reductions).
- The visual and sound effects during the cast time are visible and audible to everyone.
- The sound effects upon cast is global. Enemies can hear it when they have vision over Zeus, else they can only hear the local hit sound.
- Shifts the lighting of the whole map for a split second, which is also visible to everyone.
Talents[]
| Hero Talents | ||
|---|---|---|
| +100 Arc Lightning Damage | 25 | 325 AOE Lightning Bolt |
| +0.4s Lightning Bolt Ministun | 20 | +100 Thundergod's Wrath Damage |
| +1 Heavenly Jump Target | 15 | +350 Health |
| +20 Movement Speed | 10 | +1.25 Mana Regen |
Notes:
- The health talent increases maximum health capacity, and keeps the current health percentage.
Recent Changes[]
Main Article: Zeus/Changelogs
Version
Description
- Increased Arc Lightning damage from 80/110/140/170 to 90/120/150/180.
- Reduced Lightning Bolt cast point from 0.4 to 0.3.
- Increased Heavenly Jump leap distance from 450 to 500.
- Heavenly Jump
- Now deals 20/50/75/100 damage.
- Now grants vision before applying the slow and damage.
- Arc Lightning
- Increased damage from 75/100/125/150 to 80/110/140/170.
- Increased mana cost from 80 on each level to 80/85/90/95.
- Replaced Static Field with Heavenly Jump.
- New Heavenly Jump
- Zeus performs a Heavenly Jump, shocking the closest visible nearby enemy (prioritizing heroes) within search radius, reducing their movement speed, attack speed, and increasing their cast time. Zeus gets unobstructed vision around him for 3 seconds. Can't be cast while leashed.
- Search radius: 700/800/900/1000
- Movement speed slow: 100%
- Attack speed slow: 100
- Enemy cast time increase: 50%
- Debuff duration: 1/1.5/2/2.5
- Vision range bonus: 900
- Buff duration: 3
- Cooldown: 25/20/15/10
- Mana cost: 50/60/70/80
- Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
- Nimbus
- Changed attack class from Pierce to Default. [1] [2]
- Changed defense class from Basic to Default. [1]
- Nimbus
- Reworked Aghanim's Shard upgrade:
- Old: Static Field can be cast to perform a Heavenly Jump, shocking the closest visible enemy (prioritizing heroes) within its search radius, dealing Static Field damage and reducing their movement speed. If Zeus was moving forward, he will jump towards that direction. Zeus gets 900 unobstructed vision.
- New: Grants Zeus the Static Field ability.
- Static Field
- Zeus shocks any enemy hit by his abilities, causing damage proportional to their current health.
- Current health as damage: 9%
- Level 15 left talent changed: +1.2% Static Field current health as damage ➜ +1 Heavenly Jump target.
Recommended Items[]
Starting items:
- Tango regenerates HP for Zeus to stay in lane.
- Healing Salve also restores health.
- Enchanted Mango gives burst mana for Zeus to use abilities.
- Clarity gives constant supply of mana for Zeus to farm with Arc Lightning.
- Iron Branch gives attributes, and Zeus can combine it with Tango for more heal.
Early game:
- Boots of Speed will make you faster, allowing for easier escapes and a better time catching up to enemy heroes.
- Bottle allows for lane control and sustainability through runes and crowing. Getting it early helps you to maintain your mana to get last hits consistently.
- Null Talisman gives more intelligence, allowing for a larger mana pool whilst reducing his mana cost to spam his spells.
Mid game:
- Arcane Boots 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 like Aether Lens, and eventually upgrades into Boots of Travel.
- Aether Lens makes you better at your job by dealing lots of magical damage from as far back as possible.
- Blink Dagger can also be picked up, as Zeus benefits a lot from mobility items.
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity gives mana regeneration, a bit more of speed and a good ability to incapacitate enemy heroes.
- Veil of Discord provides a useful amplification of your magical damage dealt to any enemy caught in its blast. In addition to this, the armor bonus helps mitigate the impact of Zeus' poor base armor, allowing him to survive longer against physical damage.
- Bloodstone grants more health and more mana, which are very needed for Zeus. The more kills you score, the more mana regeneration you get.
Late game:
- Aghanim's Scepter unlocks Nimbus, giving Zeus extra nuking power and global influence.
- Octarine Core increases Zeus's damage output with its cooldown reduction and increased cast range, after upgrading from Aether Lens.
Situational items:
- Soul Ring can help with early mana issues.
- Force Staff is a good choice for mobility and utility, very useful for evading carries and kiting spell immune targets.
- Ghost Scepter can be a great choice if you find yourself getting blown up by physical damage. It can also be upgraded into an Ethereal Blade, which can be used to disable the enemy carry, save allies and deal a massive amount of burst damage in combination with your spells.
- Bloodstone grants more health and more mana, which are very needed for Zeus. Though it does not provide needed mana regeneration, but it provides him an active that regenerates mana based on the damage he dealt, an area which he excels in.
- Kaya increases spell damage and decreases mana cost, making Zeus a better caster in the mid game as he can use more abilities and deal more damage.
- Refresher Orb allows Zeus to use Thundergod's Wrath and Nimbus twice in quick succession given sufficient mana, increasing his damage output in fights.
- Scythe of Vyse gives a much-needed boost to Zeus's mana and grants a hard disable to deal with troublesome enemies.
- Shiva's Guard increase your mana pool enough to cast your combo while offering good enemy control.
Gameplay[]
Audio[]
History[]
Equipment[]
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Trivia[]
- Zeus was the first hero to be implemented in Dota 2.
- Zeus is based on the Greek mythological god of the same name.
- As suggested by the game's files, Zeus's name was, at one time, Zuus. The possible reason being that 'Zuus' is the correct pronunciation of his name 'Zeus'.
- Zeus' alternate/fun name in DotA was "Merlini", a tribute to a professional DotA player.
- Zeus' title in DotA was "Lord of Olympus".
- Static Field is most likely a reference to the Sorceress' skill of the same name in Diablo II. In Diablo II, the spell also reduced enemies' HP by a percentage within a short radius.
- Zeus' respawn line ▶️ "To err is human. To respawn, divine." is a reference to Alexander Pope, whose quote is "To err is human; to forgive, divine."
- Zeus' rival line towards Chen, ▶️ "Keep in mind, Chen, Godliness is next to deadliness." is a reference to an old and well-known saying "Cleanliness is next to godliness."
- Zeus' rare response line, ▶️ "In Me I Trust.", refers to the national motto of the United States – "In God We Trust".
- Zeus' rare response line, ▶️ "If I didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent me.", is a reference to a similar quote by french philosopher Voltaire: "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."
- Zeus' bottling line, ▶️ "Nature abhors an empty bottle.", is a reference to the Plenism postulate attributed to Aristotle, which states that nature contains no vacuums because the denser surrounding material continuum would immediately fill the rarity of an incipient void – "Nature abhors a vacuum."
Gallery[]
Model and icons before December 16, 2015 Patch
Ability icon progress [?]
Hero icon progress
