Bow down to the Thundergod - A Zeus mid guide (7.08)

Intro

Hello everyone,

in addition to my first guide I was asked to write it down in english. So – here it is. I hope there are not too much wrong expressions, but if you find some, tell me.

Zeus is an outstanding Hero! If you have fun to scare and frighten your enemies, you should pick the God of Thunder. So check out my guide, test it and feel with me when I write: Zeus rocks!

Zeus is an intelligence range Hero who has devastating Nukes. Most effectively you play him on mid-lane but he can sidestep on the other lanes too. Due to his first spell Arc Lightning Zeus can turn into a real flash farmer furthermore he is an excellent ganker especially against squishy and invisible heroes. With his abilities Lightning Bolt, Nimbus and Thundergod's Wrath, he can grant Vision and True Sight, what makes him the best mobile dewarder and detector in game. His Passive Static Field significantly increases the damage of Zeus and nobody can escape or hide from his global and disastrous Thundergod's Wrath.

With an Aghanim's Scepter you will benefit from an additional ability, the Nimbus-Cloud. This can be placed on a random point of the map, it grants True Sight in a radius of 500 and it attacks surrounded enemies and heroes with Lightning Bolts.

So devastating the magical damage of Zeus can be, without Mana Zeus act like a creep! Beside that, he is not the fastest and resistant hero why he has to look out for enemy ganks. In many ways it could be tricky, as soon as your opponents carry a BKB. With a good mana-management, the right items and a solid Team-communication the God of Thunder will be an easy playable hero, which makes a bunch full of fun.

Pros &Cons

Pros Hardest magical damage in the game Easy to handle: pick – cast – kill Grants Vision and True Sight A dream against invisible heroes Strong in offensive and defensive plays Good farmer / lane-clearer Good ganker Global terrifying ultimate ability Casts awesome looking lightnings

Cons Very mana dependent Low movement speed Attack animation like a snail Low base damage Vulnerable for ganks Useless against magic-immune heroes/items

Skills

A chain lightning, which can damage several enemies at once.

Ability - usable on units
Damage type - magical
Cast animation - 0.2 + 0.63
Range - 850 (Talent 1050)
Bounce-Range - 500
Bounce-amount - 5/7/9/15
Damage - 85/100/115/145 (Talent 255/270/285/315)
Cooldown - 1.6 (Talent 1.36)
Mana costs - 65/70/75/80

Infos:

• Good for farming and pushing
• Brilliant for defending Towers, because whole Creep-Wave is been attacked
• Arc Lightning doesn’t bounce on invisible units
• Will never hit the same unit twice
• Arc Lightning can’t be disspelled
• Bounces on Linken's Sphere Carrier, but will be deflected, if cast directly on the carrier.

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A lightning, which grants Vision and True Sight and causes damage and a mini-stun. Can be cast on units and areas.

Ability - usable on units and areas
Damage type - magical
Cast animation - 0.4 + 0.43
Range - 700 (Talent 900)
Hero-Search-Radius - 375
Vision/True-Sight - 750
Damage - 100/175/275/350
Stun duration - 0.2 (Talent 0.7)
Cooldown - 6 (Talent 5.1)
Mana costs - 75/95/115/135

Infos:

• Perfect to deward
• Perfect to detect invisible Enemies
• Even if there are no enemies in a radius of 375, True Sight will be still granted in a radius of 750
• Vision and True Sight stays for 4.5 seconds
• Lightning Bolt can interrupt channeling Abilities (f.e. Town Portal Scroll)
• Linken's Sphere does block Lightning Bolt, but not Nimbus

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Passive-spell of Zeus which releases additional damage after magic spells
Ability - Passive
Radius - 1200

Infos:

• Causes damage on base of current health (not on maximum health!)
• During teamfights Zeus should blow out all his spells fast so that Static Field is most effective

A closer look on Zeus passive shows, that the damage output vary, if you change the following order of casted spells. How is this possible?

Static Field causes proportional damage based on the current health of an enemy (regardless how much magic resistance the enemy has). Meaning that a hero with more health will get more damage from the spell. Therefore the combination from R-W-Q causes less overall damage than the combo of Q-W-R, because the enemy hero got less health in the first example so Static Field can reduce less health. The maximum damage, which Zeus can cause, depends on the current level of the ability.


To cut a long story short:

Ulti on Lvl 1 and Lightning Bolt not higher than Lvl 2 : Q-W-R
Ulti on Lvl 1 and Lightning Bolt higher as Lvl 2 : Q-R-W
Ulti on Lvl 2: Q-R-W oder Q-W-R
Ulti at Lvl 3: Q-W-R

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Ultimate ability, which hits every enemy hero. Additionally True sight will be granted and invisible heroes will be detected.

Ability - global
Damage type - magical
Cast animation - 0.4 + 0.43
Range - global
True-Sight-Radius - 900
Vision-Radius - 500
Damage - 225/325/425
True-Sight-duration - 3.0
Cooldown - 90 (Talent 76.5)
Mana costs - 225/325/450

Infos:

• Assists and kills are possible to get from anywhere. But be careful: this spell shouldn’t be used to kill-steal, since you’re getting unpopular because you refuse valuable gold and EXP
• Invisible heroes only get harmed, if another source of True Sight already reveal them
• Doesn’t hit illusions or Meepo clones

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Global usable, circular cloud, which auto-attacks with Lightning Bolts.

Ability - usable on units and areas
Damage type - magical
Cast animation - 0.2 + 0.64
Range - global
Radius - 500
Attack-Interval - 2.25
Duration - 35
True-Sight-duration - 3.0
Cooldown - 35 (Talent 29.75)
Mana costs - 275/450

Infos:

• Only available with the receipt of Aghanim's Scepter
• Attacks with Lightning Bolts that enemy unit first, which is located closest to the center
• Like Lightning Bolt Nimbus grant True Sight and cause mini-stun. Beside that channeling abilities can be cancelled.
• Cooldown-reductions have also an effect on Nimbus (f.e.. Octarine Core or Arcane Rune
• Can cast up to 16 Lightning Bolts
• Doesn’t attack buildings
• Usable for defensive and offensive plays
• Very effective to finish off battered enemies
  

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The way to success

Focus on the essentials: Mana, mobility and intelligence. Obviously it is nice to equip Zeus with a Shadow Blade, but you don’t need it. A Ghost Scepter would save your own butt often, but you don’t need it. A [Blink Dagger]] gives you a lot of mobility, but a Force Staff would make more sense on the running flashlight – that’s why you don’t need a Blink dagger. Focus on intelligence and mana-providing items.

Early Game

Start with a Clarity – nothing more! Save the rest of your gold and kindly ask your teammates that you need a Bounty Rune for your Bottle. Ifyou’re lucky and you have some pleasant teammates they will give you maybe 1-2 Tango. Get your bottle at the secret shop or take the courier to deliver and go to the mid lane. Make sure, that you have sight on a river rune, keep an eye on the clock and try to be punctual at the rune spot to refill your bottle regularly.

It’s not that easy to last hit with Zeus base attack – nevertheless you have your first spell Arc Lightning. Don’t spam it senseless, as soon it is ready, but rather use it, if you can kill a creep. If you’re sure, that your opponent is not on the lane, skip to your basic attacks, train last hitting and save mana.

And don’t forget to deny the creeps – that’s valuable EXP after all.

Invest your points in Arc Lightning and Static Field to farm more effective. Take as less hits as possible and keep looking for the runes. If an invisible hero is roaming around you or you got the feeling, that an Observer Ward or Sentry Ward could hide near you, invest a point in Lightning Bolt. As long as this spell is on Lvl 1, just use it to detect!

If you still lack mana get 1-2 Mango or 1-2 Clarity, you will get this gold again with one creep wave. If you’re too slow at the runes, get a Wind Lace for more movement speed.

If you don’t have any problems until then, you will have your Arcane Boots between 4-6 minute mark in any case and therefore another mana resource, which will secure you to midgame. Now it’s time to begin to annoy your enemies and for this you need more intelligence. If you have 270 purchase 2 Mantle of Intelligence, upgrade them to Null Talisman and aim for the Veil of Discord.

This item is an obligation for Zeus. Everything else is FAKE NEWS. It increases your intelligence, gives you additional armor and it boosts your magic; furthermore it’s relatively cheap. Try to hit as much heroes of the opposing team as possible to get the best benefit for your team.

You already have your ulti, try to have 2 points in Lightning Bolt, grab an enemy hero and fire all your spells. Veil of Discord – Arc Lightning – Ulti – Lightning Bolt – Arc Lightning and your counterpart is history especially because Lightning Bolt mini-stuns, so you’re able to pursue your nemesis.

Now you’re a fearsome mother…… and you get automatically in the focus of more enemies. That’s why you have to be vigilant, make sure that you always have a decent manapool and focus on farming and pushing. So stay mobile and either push with your teammates 2-3 towers in a row or, if it’s possible, go for 2-3 minutes in the jungle. By doing this you will earn experience and gold for your next mandatory item: Kaya!

Mid Game

Kaya is cheap, your intelligence increases and you will spend less mana. Once more: Don’t listen to FAKE NEWS and get this item!

And than go on as before: farm, push and gank.

Now the last absolute Must-Have-Item is your goal: Aghanim's Scepter

The first parts of the Scepter should either be the Point Booster for the mana and health gain or the Staff of Wizardry for additional intelligence. 4200 Gold will it cost you, but if you focus on farm, ganks and pushes, you will get it very fast. Besides the improvements of your overall stats you will gain a new spell called Nimbus.

With Nimbus the god of thunder turns in to the mighty “don't f*** with me or I'll shove a lightning bolt up your ***”-Zeus. Now you’re able to cast a cloud at any point of the map, which grants you Vision and True Sight in a radius of 500.Thereby everything what approaches to the cloud will be attacked by Lightning Bolt. Zeus can cast Nimbus away from his own position to stop an incoming creep wave, to pulverize fleeing escaping heroes or just to grant vision. Nimbus is suitable in offensive and defensive teamfights as a „safety island“ and additional damage deliverer.

Late Game

If your team and you worked out an advantage so far, you should use the momentum to push and attack. Since you are not always playing against 5 douchebags, be sure, that they will adapt to your magic damage output in form of a Pipe of Insight or the ultimate counter to Zeus: Black King Bar.

This Piece of **** reduces, while active, any magical damage whereby all of your spells are useless and you become a creep. In that case you have to eliminate the BKB-carrier together with multiple disables or you just reside away from him in safe distance.

As additional items there are different intelligence items worth considering, but they depend on the situation and the requirement. Most of the time I favor 2 of them, assumed that you upgrade the Wind Lace to an Eul's Scepter of Divinity and you maybe upgrade your Arcane Boots to Guardian Greeves. For an Octarine Core you need a lot of gold and some minutes of free farm. But it is worth, because it increases beneath your health and your manapool your manaregeneration. But the cherries on the cake are the magic-lifesteal and the reduced cooldown of all spells and items (even the passive), what makes you a more annoying son of a b….

Last but not least I can recommend you the Refresher Orb. This item has excellent mana- and health-regeneration and it allows you to set the cooldown of all your items and spells to 0. This means you can cast in a few moments 2 x Nimbus and 2 x ulti.

If you have space problems in your inventory, you could sell your Bottle or put it in your backpack.

Your 6 late game items should be: Guardian Greeves, Veil of Discord, Kaya, Aghanim's Scepter, Octarine Core

In your backpack you should carry a Town Portal Scroll and the Eul's Scepter of Divinity, which you can switch with the Orb Refresher as long the cooldown timer is active.

Talent Tree recommendation

+6 Armor is a tremendous help for Zeus to stay alive as long as possible so he can cast his spells. The EXP Growth of 25% is a great boost, but in this pushing and ganking build less necessary. Zeus is a lame duck and that’s why I always chose the +40 Movement Speed. Static Field does already enough damage, so I ignore the additional 1% mostly. 15% Cooldown or 0.5s Lightning Bolt Stun? If your team lacks stuns it would be a decision to think of picking the longer stun. However, 15% Cooldown + an Octarine Core in Late Game will turn Zeus to an aggressive, flashfarming and enervating troublemaker. +200 Cast Range in combination with an Aether Lens can be very helpful against range heroes( Viper, Drow Ranger, Sniper,… ), but if I have the opportunity to boost the damage of every Arc Lightning from 145 damage to 315 damage I chose the second option. Furthermore I can hit all enemies with my spell. Check out the current winrates of Zeus Talents in comparison (08.02.2018) +25 EXP 57.9% +1% Static Field damage 57.7% -15% Cooldown 63.3% +200 Cast Range 66.8% +6 Armor 58.5% +40 Movement Speed 60.7% +0.5s Lightning Bolt Stun 64.9% +170 Arc Lightning damage 69.9%

Situational items

Aether Lens

Mana and cast range are usually quite good, especially if you’re focusing range heroes like Sniper, Viper, Drow Ranger or others. A good mid game item and it gets useful, if you’re lacking Mana permanently.

Bloodstone

A Bloodstone on Zeus make sense, if he is played as main Carry. The Bloodstone is the best mana resource if he has to cast very frequent. Since Zeus can cast global and get kills from far behind he can collect charges easily, what speeds up his manaregeneration. Therefore the Point Booster can be extracted from the Arcane Boots to build the Bloodstone.

Force Staff

If you keep in mind the price and the performance the Force Staff will be the best escape item for Zeus. More intelligence, more armor, more magic resistance and thereto relatively cheap. In addition, you can not only push yourself out of dangerous situations, but also nudge enemies into fights.

Orchid Malevolence

A solid team always have sources of stuns and silences. With an Orchid Malevolence an enemy can be prevented to cast up to 5 seconds long. To that you will get more attack speed, more mana and more magical damage. If there is no other possible carrier for this item, Zeus can fill in for.

Rod of Atos

In every Team there should be a Rod of Atos. For any intelligence hero it holds advantages: it is cheap, it increase your intelligence and it has an awesome range. But Zeus should only consider this item, if nobody else in the team will invest in a Rod.

Scythe of Vyse

A powerful item, which boosts a lot of attributes: Health, manaregeneration, attack speed, armor and magical damage – and it transforms enemy heroes into helpless piglets. Especially the armor and intelligence gain are good for Zeus, however the price for a free slot in your inventory is particularly too high.

Shiva's Guard

Increased armor, mana, manaregeneration, more intelligence, more magical damage and of course the strong slow are reasonable mentions to get Shiva's Guard. But the high price speaks against it and in my opinion on a Zeus only necessary, if he needs more armor.

Soul Ring

A Soul Ring for Zeus is considerable until the midgame. 150 health points more and the ability to cast your spells in precarious situations are mentionable. But without a Bottle, which can compensate the health loss, I don’t recommend the Soul Ring.

Offerings for the God of Thunder

Invisible Heroes, heroes with little or average health ( Troll Warlord, Terrorblade…), Juker, like Monkey King, Tinker or Batrider and heroes like Phantom Assassin or Windranger, which rely on their evasive abilities are in general case feed for Zeus. Besides that Zeus spells are exceedingly useful against heroes, which try to farm up expensive items.


Bounty Hunter

Easy to detect and provided with little health. If Zeus discover him early, there will follow 2-3 attacks and Bounty Hunter will depart this life.


Enchantress

Also a hero with low health. Zeus spells hurt Enchantress enormously, and also because Zeus is not affected by Untouchable.


Lich

The next hero with a small health pool, which should keep out of Zeus’ way. Ice-Shield is not triggered by Zeus‘ lightnings and the fact that Zeus generally stays in the backline in teamfights makes it difficult for his ulti Chain-Frost to bounce on Zeus.


Necrophos

Necrophos is vulnerable to nukes and if he wants to protect himself with Ghost Shroud he will suffer from additional magical damage. Combined with a Veil of Discord Zeus attacks will really shred him. Nevertheless in the early game Zeus should be aware: A Necrophos equipped with a Magic Wand and his healing spells can be a tough opponent who should not be underestimated.


Phantom Assassin

PA can deal the most critical damage in game indeed, but she is very fragile to nukes – and Zeus got a full range of that. Especially in the early and mid game you can enervate her and really hunt her. Only with a BKB she can turn the tide.


Riki

Similar to Bounty Hunter Riki is vulnerable to nukes and provided with little health. Only with a Diffusal Blade and Smoke Screen Riki can get uncomfortable. However, with additional Sentry Ward Riki should not be a problem at all.


Slardar

If Slardar activates Guardian Sprint he will take more magical damage. Besides that he will intent to build a Blink Dagger rather to invest his gold in armor-items.


Techies

Lightning Bolt grants True Sight in a radius of 750, what allows Zeus to detect and defuse Remote Mines.


Templar Assassin

With Lightning Bolt Meld of Templar Assassin gets ineffective. Furthermore, the created shields of Refraction are quickly removed with magic attacks.


Timbersaw

Reactive Armor doesn’t trigger to Zeus’ spells and the nukes in combination with Static Field damage Timbersaw enormously. Timbersaw usually build Health-items which triggers Zeus passive spell even more.


Tinker

Often equipped with a Blink Dagger Tinker hides in the forest and casts his March of the Machines multiple times. With a Zeus in the opposing team he can forget that. One Lightning Bolt or Nimbus in the expected region and Tinker is visible, attackable and, if he doesn’t teleport away fast enough, destroyed.


Weaver

The next hero that thinks nothing can harm him, because he is invisible. Like Riki and Bounty Hunter he also has not the biggest healthpool and with a few hits this insect will be squished. Detect, cast, trample.


Winter Wyvern

Cold Embrace does not protect Winter Wyvern’s teammates against the spells of Zeus. Also an escape above the cliffs or woods is not easy against Zeus, because Lightning Bolt and Nimbus grants vision on areas. Furthermore, Zeus can profit from his Quarterback positioning in teamfights. Winter's Curse will reach him rarely and if he has to beat up one of your teammates, it is not serious, because of his low base damage.

Friends

One for all and all for one – If we would consider this before every game… alas… how nice and polite the DOTA-World could be? But seriously, if you adjust and balance the picks in that way, that they will complement each other, this would be already the half way for a good game. How wonderful that Uncle Zeus has many friends, who support him well in combats.

Generally Zeus get along with everybody, who boost magical damage or reduce the magical resistence on the enemies. Also Tanks, who don’t let anybody come near the moustached lightning launcher, fit greatly on your squad. And last but not least all heroes that also produce massive magical damage are welcomed.

Ancient Apparition

Ice Blast prevents the regeneration und damages over time. Like Zeus’ ulti AA’s ulti is global applicable, therefore the enemies struggle even more to stay on the lanes. Ice Vortex enhance the magical damage while it reduces the magic resistance.

Axe

Axe is an excellent shield for Zeus.

Bloodseeker

Zeus as well as Bloodseeker prefer to finish off battered heroes. Due to Thirst Zeus get vision on the fleeing victim. Ideal for Nimbus!

Bristleback

Bristleback is also an outstanding Tank for Zeus.

Centaur Warrunner

Another Bodyguard for the Thundergod.

Crystal Maiden

Crystal Maiden function due to her Arcane Aura like a mana battery for Zeus what gives him especially in early and mid game a big advantage.

Dazzle

By Shallow Grave and Shadow Wave Zeus can stay longer in fights and cast his spells.

Earth Spirit

Distributes with all his spells piles of magic damage, so he is also a buddy of Zeus.

Elder Titan

Natural Order maxed out reduces 100% of the magical resistance (in a radius of 350 from Elder Titan). Zeus likes that!

Jakiro

Jakiro is also a magic-damage dealing hero, which complements great with Zeus. Equipped with a Kaya and Veil of Discord they are already in mid game a scary duo.

Keeper of the Light

Like Crystal Maiden Ezalor can regenerate Mana for Zeus with his Chakra Magic.

Omniknight

Can defend Zeus against hard nukes in teamfights with Repel.

Pugna

Pugnas Decrepify increase the magical damage, if casted on enemies.

Skywrath Mage

Ancient Seal of Dragonus reduces the magic resistance of the affected hero.

Tidehunter

One of the best tanks in game – he can protect Zeus very well.

Venomancer

Another high-quality magic-damage dealer. All spells of Venomancer complement greatly with Zeus spells.

Counters

Zeus had to take care against manaburns, silences, long range attacks ( Tusk, Clockwerk, Puck, Spirit Breaker…), heroes with high magical resistance and blinking heroes. Following the heroes, who (partially) counter Zeus:


Anti-Mage

Anti-Mage is one of the hardest counters to Zeus. The dangerous AM can close the gap to Zeus with his Blink and he can destroy his manapool swiftly, so Zeus become use- and helpless. Spell Shield reduces the magical damage of Zeus and due to his big manapool and the high intelligence he is an ideal target for Mana Void. If there is an Anti-Mage in the enemy Team, Zeus would be a very bad pick for your squad.


Chaos Knight

Chaos Knight Has a huge healthpool, with which he can maintain for a long time against Zeus‘ attacks – too long, because CK’s Illusions are too strong as Zeus can eliminate them fast enough. The heavy damage paired with the armor-reduction is too much for our moustached Lightning God. If CK catches Zeus, he will die for sure, except he gets help. Even if Zeus hits CK with Veil of Discord, he can revoke the effect with Phantasm.


Doom

Doom’s ultimate Doom curses the poor Zeus for 16 seconds, so that he is silenced and take damage during this period.


Faceless Void

Faceless Void is a hard and stubborn target for Zeus. Time Dilation conducts almost like a silence, because Zeus can use his spells only once for some seconds. With Time Walk Faceless Void can simply escape attacks and refill his health again. And for Chronosphere Zeus represent himself as optimal target, because of his snail pace and his vulnerability for physical damage.


Huskar

The next real hard counter zo Zeus. Burning Spear harms Zeus extremely, too many of them and Zeus burns in seconds. If Huskar is about to jump with his Life Break Zeus needs immediate help or he can already write down his last will.


Invoker

Invokers EMP burns a huge amount of mana and besides that he is a hard enemy with his disables and strong spells.


Juggernaut

With Blade Fury Juggernaut can dodge all spells of Zeus and a follwing Omnislash will be without an escape-mechanism a certain death.


Keeper of the Light

Mana Leak destroys Zeus‘ mana with every step he takes.


Lifestealer

Besides his ability Infest, with which he can escape from Thundergod's Wrath and Lightning Bolt, Lifestealer can deal a lot of damage and take a lot of hits. Rage function like a built-in BKB und prevent any magical damage.


Lycan

Lycan can close the gap to Zeus easily with his high movement speed and he can deal intense damage.


Meepo

A single Meepo wouldn’t be that severe, but a lot of Meepos are. Earthbinds and a following Poof cause extremely much damage on a Zeus.


Night Stalker

A very awkward hero this Night Stalker, Zeus can’t stand a chance in a close combat. Crippling Fear silences Zeus, Void causes mini-stuns and slows. And if you face that motherf….. at night time, his effects are even strengthened.


Nyx Assassin

Mana Burn cause damage and burn up to 40% of your manapool.


Omniknight

Repel create a shield, which negates every magical damage.


Pudge

Already in early game a real threat for Zeus. If he lands his Meat Hook, you will either need help, disables or an escape mechanism. Because usually it will follow either Rot, which the slow-moving Zeus can barely escape or a long and painful disable with Dismember. The passive spell of Pudge Flesh Heap gives him additional health and protects him with magical resistance. That’s why he doesn’t mind Zeus‘ spells like others.


Pugna

When good friends turn into enemies: Decrepify casted on Zeus increases the magical damage, which harms Zeus a lot. And a well placed Nether Ward can get Zeus also in trouble.


Rubick

Rubick can increase the magical resistance of the whole enemy Team with Null Field (in a radius of 1200). With Spell Steal he can assimilate the powerful spells of Zeus.


Skywrath Mage

Ancient Seal let Zeus become silent and the nukes of Skywrath harms Zeus a lot. Skywrath Mage becomes a real threat if he receives a Rod of Atos: Due to his long range he can be set up to focus and kill Zeus in team fights.


Slark

Similar to Lycan Slark can close the gap to Zeus and harm him with heavy damage.


Silencer

The name speaks for itself and Zeus doesn’t like silences. Not at all. With a Silencer in the opposing team you shouldn’t went to the battlefield with Zeus.


Spectre

With his global ulti Haunt Spectre can approach very near to Zeus. Especially in the late game and equipped with a lot of damage and harmful weapons even the casted illusions can kill Zeus easily.


Storm Spirit

Another nasty hero especially when he reached high intelligence and a decent mana pool. Storm Spirit can suddenly appear and start attacking with a full arsenal of magic al charges. Since it is difficult to escape those attacks, especially when Storm Spirit received an Orchid Malevolence, Zeus is feed for him.


Ursa

If the wild Ursa jumps on you with a Blink Dagger, only a miracle can save you – or disables. Enrage let him take less damage and generally speaking, Zeus is helpless against the hard hits of an Ursa.


Viper

Against a Viper Zeus will have big problem in early game already. Viper deals out tons of damage, he has a big range and he can take a lot of magical damage due to Corrosive Skin.

Counter Items

Not only heroes can counter Zeus but also some items can cause problems for the Thundergod.

Magic Wand

Very popular and effective against Zeus. Since his spell Arc Lightning has a short cooldown a Magic Wand will get a lot of charges fast.



The magic resistance of Cloak, Hood of Defiance and lastly Pipe of Insight reduce the damage of Zeus spells significantly. If you want to play it safe against a strong Zeus, get an additional Hood of Defiance to you Pipe of Insight to get the best magic reduction.

Black King Bar

The worst enemy of Zeus is an item. The Black King Bar on enemy carries is a real nightmare. In that case your teammates have to focus the carrier, because of your spell dependence you can’t do nothing until the magical shield of the BKB expires.



An Orchid Malevolence will increase the magical damage Zeus suffers from attacks and he will be silenced for 5 seconds. Beyond that the extension to a Bloodthorn grants critical strike.

BlademailBlademail

Particularly popular for tanks a Blademail reflects the damage back to Zeus.

Diffsual Blade

Very mean item against Zeus: Diffusal Blade destroys the manapool and slows the already slow Zeus dramatically, so he nearly become a defenceless target.

Heart of Tarrasque

Against tanks with a Heart of Tarrasque Zeus has a hard time, because his spells possibly do too little damage. Zeus should never confront a Heart-carrier alone.

Conclusion

Enough so far.

If you focus with Zeus on mana, intelligence and movement speed you will have fun even in late game. Get Veil of Discord, Kaya and Aghanim's Scepter and communicate with your teammates.

If this guide could help you, let me know. If you discovered some mistakes, tell me. And if you mean that this guide is ********, write me why.
Thanks for reading.

P.S.: If anybody can tell me what the correct picture codes for the Hero Doom, instead of his spell "Doom" and for Anti Mage's Blink (instead of QOP's Blink) is, i would appreciate it =)

See you in DOTA 2

Karoshi san