Maybe you’re playing Zeus the wrong way in Dota 2 patch 7.27

The fact that carry agility has become more popular nowadays has caused high rank games to focus on picking magic damage heroes. Going against heroes with insanely high armor will be difficult if your squad is primarily physical damage, so many magic heroes return to the meta to make up for this shortcoming. One of those heroes is Zeus. In theory, the hero seems to have a simple and fixed gameplay, but how to skill in the professional arena is a completely different story.

NEW WAY TO UP

So what do most high ranked gamers have in common with professional players? That is, they prioritized Arc Lightning and maxed it out first.

Over the years, Arc Lightning has often only been buffed to one point, to ensure last hits in lane and increase Static Field recoil. Later on, with the value of last hitting range creeps increasing, players started giving two points into the Arc to ensure they had a better chance of getting range creeps. For now, it’s clearly the skill that has to be maxed first and this not only works in the professional arena, but it’s also a bit more successful in pubs.

FIND THE REASON

Looking at the changelog, there’s one thing that stands out more: Lightning Bolt’s mana cost in the early levels has increased significantly. Lightning Bolt’s level 1 cost an extra 35 mana, nearly 40% increase in mana cost. If before, most Zeus gamers raised this skill first to ensure last hit range creeps, now it is no longer an option worth doing.

We already see why the skill points in the early levels are raised for the current Arc Lightning, but why is it maxed out? Overall, Lightning Bolt’s level 4 has a rather small mana cost difference, compared to previous patches. Raising the Lightning Bolt to the maximum will let Zeus keep the old gameplay.

Notably, many gamers still use the old and still effective gameplay: Zeus is a pretty good hero in the current meta, especially against some typical heroes (Terrorblade for example), so it’s not too surprising when Zeus works well despite using many different builds.

The article believes that there are two main reasons players should change this habit. The new build will let you farm efficiently and still have teamfight. Both of these points help gamers play more stable, contribute more benefits to the team – a value that is highly appreciated by the pros. Maximizing Arc Lightning to farm well doesn’t need much explanation, but to prove that the new gameplay works in teamfight needs more analysis.

ONE YEAR AND ONE YEAR TO ACCEPT

Patch 7.21 came out in January 2019, a long time ago, and it was a patch that changed the way Static Field works. Instead of affecting everyone in AoE 1200 every time Zeus casts a skill, it now only affects targets hit by Zeus’s skill.

Initially, it didn’t change much about the hero: the main focus for Zeus players was to burst an object as quickly as possible and this change didn’t affect the gameplay significantly. Specifically, it is also supplemented by a percentage increase in the damage of Static Field.

It wasn’t until the meta changed towards constant teamfights that players had to adapt to new fighting styles. Currently, it is very difficult for cores without good teamfight to be used. In addition to quickly bursting an opponent’s hero, gamers now have to choose a better standing position, know how to choose items as well as wait for the right opportunity to use skills/items.

That’s why Arc Lightning can be at its best: with a mana cost of only 80, a low cooldown, and multi-target damage, it will be a tool that continuously pulls all of the opponent’s health, while himself Zeus was still in a pretty safe position.

DAMAGE EFFECTIVE MAXIMUM

Damage per mana is an interesting metric you should know, especially with a hero that only focuses on casting spells. Compared to the base specs, maxing Lightning Bolt is more profitable than maxing Arc Lightning, if we don’t take into account Static Field damage. With an entry point to Static Field, Arc Lighting can be terrifyingly effective on subjects that currently have over 2000 HP.

In some cases, the enemy chooses a formation with less Strength champions when their health is not too much, making Static Field less effective. While Lightning Bolt will deal more damage for the same amount of mana, Arc Lightning deals damage on multiple targets.

In short, maxing Arc Lightning is not necessarily inferior in mana optimization, at least at the beginning of combat and against opponents with a lot of health. But what about true damage per second?

There’s a way to deal damage everyone should take advantage of: you can cast more than three times Arc Lightning during the Lightning Bolt cooldown. This way you will deal maximum damage to an object you are focusing on as well as deal extra damage to enemies standing within the arc Lightning’s jumping radius.

One thing that few people will notice, is that when facing Zeus, the enemies are on Magic Stick and Magic Wand from the laning stage. Sometimes the total combat is at 30-40 minutes, but the supports still hold Sticks in their bodies to fight long-term combat. So if you just take an Arc Lightning point and only poke a few dozen damage on them, it’s no different than giving away free charge Sticks to the enemy. That’s it, the max Arc Lightning spreads out for them to run away to hate.

To sum it up: maxing Arc Lightning is only slightly less effective in terms of damage per mana on single targets. Skill that can hit multiple targets makes up for this and has higher DPS in teamfights. It also allows Zeus to farm more efficiently, push lanes faster, have more active movement, make better use of Static Fields and not to mention its lower cast points. Not only that, Arc Lightning also allows Zeus to have a lot of time to choose his position in the fight, because no matter where you stand, it will still spread to the entire enemy team, right?

EPILOGUE

Zeus is one of the oldest Dota 2 heroes and it’s exciting to see him change the way the game operates. This also shows that Dota 2 is a very deep game where a small change to heroes and items can lead to big changes in their gameplay.

Hopefully, through this article, you have learned something interesting and don’t be shy to share the new Zeus build and gameplay that you find suitable for the current meta.

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