LifeDrainer[RO]
28th June 2008, 05:55 PM
An apology
Greetings all, and thanks for reading this. Before you continue, I want to state clearly that due to my relative low age, my English is not the world's best and you may happen to find a lot of incorrect grammar. Furthermore I have never played a high competitive game, so I cannot assure that this guide will help you through a tougher match.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNAvatar.gif
Zeus the Lord of Olympia
Table of Contents
* Introduction
* Pros
* Cons
* Stats
* Abilities
* Skill order
* Item build
* How to play
* Heroes to watch out for
* Zeus' best friends
* Epilogue
* Replays
* FAQ
* Changelog
Introduction
Zeus is and has always been one of the favorit ban and pick heroes in high level games. I also tend to see a lot of public or public-like players get him too. Not only is he a rather easy hero to play compared to many other hero concepts, he is also incredibly strong. Being a nuker, however, he doesn't seem to lose much of his potential towards the end of his games. His nukes are insanely high during the early game thus being feared by most decent players and they even keep a lot of their potential late game. Not only is he an excellent nuker, he is also very flexible meaning he fits with almost any hero. He can solo heroes, work in double lanes and even has potential in some tri-lanes (though not seen very often). He is also one of the few heroes who can stand against tri-lanes by himself and still do an excellent job. However, in despite of his astounding potential I usually see a lot of new players mistreating him. With Zeus being one of my favorite nukers I've decided to write a "rather short" guide, atleast compared to some of my others, on how to handle Zeus perfectly so you will learn how to do all the above written things and become your enemies' worst nightmare.
I recommend you to play Zeus if you
* Enjoy playing nukers
* Want to play a simply yet very strong hero
* Want one of the strongest casters with one of the longest lasting potentials of the intilligence heroes
* Are looking for a flexible hero to fit in your strategy
I do not recommend you to play Zeus if you
* Find simple heroes boring
* Do not like to play casters or fragile heroes
* Prefer farming over supporting and ganking
If this sounds interesting, please continue reading.
Now let's have a closer look on Zeus' pros/cons, stats and abilities.
Pros
* Has very strong nukes with short cooldowns
* Has an excellent ultimate to finish off fleeing enemies around the map
* His nukes maintain most of their potential later in the game
* Stands excellent against dangerous double- and triple lanes
* Is a great harasser
* Most of his nukes have lots of extra features which will often help in many situations
* Very flexible hero who fits into most strategies, lanes, teams and against most enemies
Cons
* Very fragile
* Rather slow
* Has a rather terrible attack animation
* Very short range for physical last hitting for a ranged hero
* No natural stuns, slows or disables
* Runs easily out of mana during the early game
Stats
Description
Once a deity of unfathomable might, Zeus reluctantly sacrificed his much relished immortality in exchange for the chance to crush the sinister armies of the unholy undead. As his soul crossed into the mortal plane, his omnipotent powers withered greatly, yet not nearly enough to quell this destructive Thunder God's resolve for justice. With sheer precision, he cleanses through the enemy ranks with an impressive mastery of electrical discharge, smiting the fool hardy with formidable bolts of lightning from the heavens above. Ever vigilant in his relentless assault, the Scourge cowers in fear of incurring the fearsome wrath of the Lord of Olympia.
Strength - 19 + 1,8
Agility - 15 + 1,7
Intelligence - 20 + 2,7
Attack range of 350.
Movement speed of 295.
Level 1 information:
- Health: 511
- Mana: 260
- Damage: 41-49
- Armor: 2,1
- Attack Speed: 1,48 sec
Level 25 information (without any worn items):
- Health: 1708
- Mana: 1352
- Damage: 105-113 +20
- Armor: 7,8 +2,8
- Attack Speed: 0,97 sec.
Abilities
Arc Lightning
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNChainLightning.gif
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 11 times, deals 130 damage.
Cooldown: 2 seconds.
Mana cost: 65/72/79/86.
Comment: Notice the mana cost and the cooldown of this ability. Both are extremely low. The target bounces are also really high and the damage is decent. This ability is your early game ace. It will secure you almost every last hit in your lane, it has an incredible range, it will harass your enemis while you last hit and it is very spamable. Later it becomes excellent for farming and weak hero harassing too as well as last hitting very low healthed heroes and finally it's astounding to trigger Static Field which is probably your main damage source late game. Activating Static Field roughly every two seconds can be crucial if handled correctly and it will help you and your team weaken your enemies and especially the nifty tanks a lot.
Useful information: I'm afraid I cannot give you numbers but I can assure you that the cast range is great (800+). This mean you can stay miles away from the creep wave early game if you face a dangerous lane and still last hit, harass your enemies and gain experience. The bounce range is also excellent but is not quite as good as Tormented Soul's Lightning Storm. Taking these two things into account the Arc Lightning can go a long way.
Lightning Bolt
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNBlue_Lightning.gif
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.
Mana cost: 75/95/115/135.
Comment: Lightning Bolt will be your primary harassing and ganking ability after a few minutes of the game and then forward. Its cooldown and mana cost are low and its damage is incredible high. This is arguably the best all-around single-targetted nuke in the game. Not only is its mana cost, cooldown and damage completely astounding for a normal ability, it also contains a lot of many extra features and it obviously activates Static Field as well.
Useful information: First of all the ability has a mini bash that stuns for 0,01 second which means it cancels channeling effects. Boots of Travel, Scrolls of Town Portal, Freezing Field and Death Ward are good examples of channeling effects it will cancels. Furthermore it gives you a huge, incredible 900 aoe sight radius for a 3 seconds. This increased sight goes over trees and ramps thus helping you a lot against heroes who try to juke you. This 900 aoe sight radius also provides true sight around the target you used it on. That's right, true sight. If you use it you can see invisible units and wards for a few seconds. This is excellent for spotting wind walking units, wards, hawks, watchers and other neat stuff.
Static Field (Passive)
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/PASBTNZeusStatic.gif
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.
Cooldown: None.
Mana cost: None.
Comment: Static Field is the main source to your damage late in the game, especially against heroes and tanks with 3000+ health. Casting 1 ability around a 3k healthed guy will result in about 330 damage from Static Field itself - to only one hero. If you cast this in the middle of a combat, 1 Static Field can easily result in something between 500-1000 damage depending on your enemies' health. Add your spell's damage to this and you get a lot of damage, even during the late game.
Useful information: Don't believe everything you hear. The description says 5/7/9/11 %. The actual numbers are 6/8/10/12 %, however, the damage type of Static Field is magical which means it gets reduced by Hood of Defiance, some abilities and all heroes' initial magical resistance so I guess it evens it out to somewhat 5/7/9/11 % anyway. What is most important though is that the damage is calculated and dealt instantly which means it comes before the triggering spell's own damage. Uh, and of course items will not trigger Static Field so don't try to spam Arcane Ring for this reason.
Thundergod's Wrath (Ultimate)
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNSpell_Holy_SealOfMight.gif
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.
Level 4 (Scepter) - Deals 570 damage.
Cooldown: 120 seconds.
Mana cost: 225/325/450/450.
Comment: This spell is obviously mainly used to kill heroes whom you couldn't kill in the attempt. If someone is very low and they try to escape you can easily, easily kill them by simply clicking a key. Of course this ability is global so it works on all enemy heroes across the map. A few times though it can also be used to actually damage and not so much as a finish-off spell, however, you will find out that it's mostly for killing low healthed, fleeing heroes.
Useful information: The trigger coded unit that casts the spell on the targets is the exact same as Lightning Bolt's unit. This means you will also gain true sight and a great sight radius from using Thundergod's Wrath, however, it doesn't minibash like Lightning Bolt does so don't try to use it to stop channeling abilities. Also, Thundergod's Wrath doesn't hit invisible units whom you do not have true sight of. I bet you want to get this piece of information before you waste your ultimate on a thing as stupid as that.
Skill order
Fighting a solo hero
Level 1 - Arc Lightning
Level 2 - Lightning Bolt
Level 3 - Lightning Bolt
Level 4 - Arc Lightning
Level 5 - Lightning Bolt
Level 6 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 7 - Lightning Bolt
Level 8 - Arc Lightning
Level 9 - Arc Lightning
Level 10 - Static Field
Level 11 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 12 - Static Field
Level 13 - Static Field
Level 14 - Static Field
Level 15 - Stats
Level 16 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 17-25 - Stats
Skills explanation
Arc Lightning will be skilled from level 1 for the last hitting usage. Lightning Bolt will then be maxed over Arc Lightning in order to harass the single hero with the astounding damage once in a while. More bounces of Arc Lightning isn't really needed here seeing that you don't have to hit more heroes and will often hit your lane enemy with the bounce because there's usually max 5-6 creeps. If you are a new reader to this guide then don't worry. I will give an in-depth explanation of the Arch Lightning harass technique later in the guide. Thundergod's Wrath's level process should be obvious and Static Field will be taken when you've maxed all your other main nukes. Stats are good but not more important than any of your abilities seeing that you are a nuker and you need your nukes.
Fighting two heroes
Level 1 - Arc Lightning
Level 2 - Lightning Bolt
Level 3 - Arc Lightning
Level 4 - Lightning Bolt
Level 5 - Lightning Bolt
Level 6 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 7 - Lightning Bolt
Level 8 - Arc Lightning
Level 9 - Arc Lightning
Level 10 - Static Field
Level 11 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 12 - Static Field
Level 13 - Static Field
Level 14 - Static Field
Level 15 - Stats
Level 16 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 17-25 - Stats
Skills explanation
The justifications are essentially the same as the one above, however, fighting two heroes mean you fight more units overall in each wave. You will now fight something like 6-7 units max for each creep wave. This means you will need another level of Arc Lightning early on to harass both enemies in order to become the lane dorminator. The slightly extra damage also works fine against two heroes who will probably try to deny your creeps if you're fighting decent enemies. Two heroes deny better than one thus giving Arc Lightning bonus damage a good thing to last hit better. The essential thing though is that the Arc Lightning bounces more and thus hitting both heroes instead of one or neither of them.
Fighting three heroes
Level 1 - Arc Lightning
Level 2 - Lightning Bolt
Level 3 - Arc Lightning
Level 4 - Lightning Bolt
Level 5 - Arc Lightning
Level 6 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 7 - Lightning Bolt
Level 8 - Lightning Bolt
Level 9 - Arc Lightning
Level 10 - Static Field
Level 11 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 12 - Static Field
Level 13 - Static Field
Level 14 - Static Field
Level 15 - Stats
Level 16 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 17-25 - Stats
Skills explanation
Some few times, mostly against organized premade teams you will happen to fight triple lanes. A triple lane is a lane consisting of three heroes. With the same justification as before, the bounces of Arc Lightning is important and need to be increased in order to hit all heroes. Again, the damage is also nice to compete your last hitting process against not one or two but three heroes who will hardly try to outdeny you and kill you. Arc Lightning should easily take care of that if you stay cautious.
Item build
The starting items
Sobi Mask + Tangos + 2x Brances
The Sobi Mask will be bought to give you some cheap, constant mana regeneration. Why you need this should be self-explanatory. For the rest of the money you ought to buy a pair of Ancient Tangoes of the Essifation to help you cover harassers and a few Ironwood Branches to give you an extra tip on all stats, most importantly strength and intilligence (health and mana). The Sobi Mask can also serve for a lot of purposes later. It evolves into an Oblivion Staff which gives you a lot of item possibilities.
Core item build
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNBootsOfSpeed.gifhttp://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNArcaneRing.gifhttp://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNSobiMask.gifhttp://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNScrollUber.gif
The Arcane Ring will be your core item. It will help you spam your abilities so much better and early on it will often allow you to cast Thundergod's Wrath even though you're low on mana. Not only is its mana replenish excellent, it also passively gives you a bigger mana pool which means you have more mana to spam spells. A Scroll of Town Portal should be worn as often as portal so you can teleport back to the fountain or to other towers to aid.
Items afterwards
http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/4088/zeuseverythingwm1.jpg
On the first look this probably seems weird. What I mean by these strange item pictures is that Zeus can almost use any of the 9 chosen items just as good. Usually I purchase Aghanim's Scepter or Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse but it's fully up to yourself. You can buy Necronomicon for mana burning, true sight (a better one than your Lightning Bolt) and better pushing capabilities, Aghanim's Scepter for more health, mana and ultimate damage, Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse or Eul's Scepter of Divinity for disabling and etc. It's highly situational and you mostly need to judge it by the situation. It's not always you can farm the money for a Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse or an Aghanim's Scepter thus making Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Necronomicon, Linken's Sphere and/or Bloodstone good choices. Zeus is highly dependant on his spell casting though and not so much on his items so in fact it really doesn't matter much, however, I suggest you'd buy something with a little health on it. Again, I usually get Aghanim's Scepter mainly for the health/mana boost and/or Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse for the same reason + the disable.
Note by Drainer: I would recomand you to forget about Orchid
Optional items
http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/563/chickcrowvb4.jpg
Many teams (mostly organized) use/like to use chickens. Zeus is excellent for buying an Animal Courier without losing any benefits. All you have to do is delaying your Sobi Mask a minute and then send it with the chicken after you've bought it on it.
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/8981/sentriesobsfk9.jpg
Seeing as Zeus isn't really item dependant, he makes a good wards purchaser especially if your team knows how to benefit from them.
Items not to buy:
* Divine Rapier, Monkey King Bar, Stygian Desolator and Buriza-do Kyanon are not recommended. Hopefully it's obvious that Zeus shouldn't physical damage items because that is not how he deals his damage.
* Other items that intentionally increase your physical damage like Assault Cuirass, Mask of Madness etc. are not recommended. The same reason is given above.
How to play
Early game
First of all start buying your items and head to a lane. It doesn't really matter if you're with anyone, how many you're against or where you go. However, seeing that Zeus is just as excellent in a double lane as in a solo lane he can easily make room for heroes who benefit more from being alone. For example if you have a Priestess of the Moon on your team, letting space for her to solo will mostly be the right choice. Anyway, once you're in the lane you should count your opponents which shouldn't be rather difficult. If you're against one hero you want one level of Arc Lightning. If you're against two heroes you want two levels of Arc Lightning and if you're against three then... Well, yes - level three Arc Lightning. See the skill builds above as reference. Fighting double and triple lanes (two and three heroes) are approximately the same play styles to you except that you ought to show more caution against triple lanes. If you're against two or three heroes you want to use Arc Lightning as much as possible to last hit your creeps. What I mean by this is when one of the creeps are on low health you throw your Arc Lightning on it to kill it. Hopefully this'll get you the creep kill and the bounces from the lightning will strike either one or both enemies. This creates a minor but constant harass on all two or three lane opponents and after a short amount of time they will run low on health making them very vulnerable for an essential Lightning Bolt strike. Of course you will run out of mana by last hitting like this rather quick, but the Sobi Mask will allow you to last hit a new creep approximately every creep wave which is much better than trying to kill something by right-clicking on it and then getting disabled and killed. When fighting two or three heroes you shouldn't worry too much about spamming Lightning Bolts because harassing one hero means the other will be okay and fit for fight. Passively staying far back and last hitting with Arc Lightning on occasions which hopefully harasses all your opponents is the right and safe way to go. Just try to stay safe as much as possible and farm for your Arcane Ring. If you get a lot of last hits like this (which in fact isn't very hard) you should have the money for the mana ring rather quickly.
If you're fighting a solo hero though you ought to try and last hit the creeps in the wave like any other hero. However, still try to stay safe. Against few heroes who will kill you if you get too close (Viper and Lich for instance) you can essentially just last hit with Arc Lightning like if you were against two or three heroes. Anyway, let's say you're doing fine and don't feel too threatened. Try to get last hits by timing your physical right-click shots. From level 3 and above you should begin throwing Lightning Bolts on your target once in a while. Don't use all your mana in a second but try not to get full mana either. Once in a while when you think you have a fair amount of mana, throw a Lightning Bolt on your target to teach him who's the boss. Especially from level 5 and above your bolts will begin to hurt him badly.
The main goal of your very early game is trying to farm your Arcane Ring as fast as possible. However, it's still important that you try to get the upper hand in your lane yet still stay safe. Though your life is more important than throwing a spell, dominating your lane is an important part of your game. At the very least against very tough lanes you should atleast be able to stay way back and then last hit creeps with Arc Lightning. You will probably find that you will lose your mana rather quickly as mentioned earlier. However, Sobi Mask will take partly care of this and the Arcane Ring will back it up greatly. Once you have it you can spam abilities so much more. Some might say that it's important to have mana for your ultimate at level 6 and I don't disagree with them. However, I don't find it absolutely necessary to have the required mana at the exact time you hit level 6. If someone should happen to escape it's just too bad. It happens to all of us that targets escape once in a while and I find it better to swear and curse once and then farme your Arcane Ring than not casting spells at all to save mana and then getting owned.
Unlike many other casters you ought to stay in your lane a rather long time instead of starting to roam. I don't say ganking is forbidden but only do it once in a while and preferably with one or more teammates. Zeus is not extremely good as a lone ganker seeing that he has no disables so roaming on your own and losing a lot of experience and gold for no reason is a bad idea. Besides, you can also assist globaly in ganks with your ultimate given the fact that you have mana for it. Just try to find a good flow of farming in a lane, dominating with Arc Lightning and/or Lightning Bolt and then ganking on opportunities somewhere. Eventually have an allie disabler come to your lane for an easy kill.
Middle game
During the middle game you should try to stick to your allies as much as possible. Follow them around when they gank or push and assist them as much as possible. Try to deal as much damage on heroes with Lightning Bolt and Arc Lightning. Use your Thundergod's Wrath to kill low healthed heroes whom you cannot kill with anything else. If you're pushing and if you have the mana for it, you can help clearing creep waves faster by throwing Arc Lightnings. However, don't be silly and run low on mana just to kill a bunch of creeps. Make sure you have enough mana for juggling with your spells and essentially finish people off with your ultimate. Try to spam Arcane Ring as much as possible. Basically you want to use the ring for your own comfort but supplying your mates with mana too when you use it is a good thing. When you're fighting more heroes you should try to either focus the one your team picks out or focus the one who seems to be the weakest link. E.g. if you see a lot of nifty tanks and a silly support hero in the background, try to kill the support hero. If you can take a hero out rather quickly without causing too much damage to your own team by e.g. suiciding, it means you will gain +1 hero advantage in the matter of seconds.
When you're not fighting or ganking anyone you can stay in a lane and farm a little gold for the items you want to build. Having a lot of items isn't extremely important but having some doesn't hurt you anyway. So as I said if you can't find anything better to do than e.g. ganking or pushing, just find somewhere to farm. Use your Arc Lightning as much as possible to get the creep kills. The Arcane Ring should easily recover the Arc Lightnings you use to clear your creeps. However, try to always be ready to gank/push/defend/whatever somewhere. Try to always have a Scroll of Town Portal on you so you are ready to teleport to different places. By the very least try to always keep a look on the minimap to see if you need to throw your ultimate to kill someone.
When you fight try to stay away from the "heat" or the center of the combats, but still not too far away. By this time of the game you've begun to skill Static Field and utilizing it is important. This means you need to position yourself in the back or to the sides of everything but not too far away. It's not important that you Static Field hits all your enemies, but atleast try to let it hit the frontiers and/or the tanks. Later the Static Field will especially hurt the tanks and it's not always easy to let the spell hit the supporters in the back. In other words, your main "object" is to stay alive by keeping yourself distanced, however, try to let the Static Field hurt as many tanks/other heroes in the front as possible but without endangering yourself. Try to spam your spells as much as possible with Lightning Bolt over Arc Lightning, but use Arc Lightning as long as your bolt is on cooldown.
Late game
Your late game is basically the same as your middle game. However, you're relying more on the Static Field damage now which should prolly damage the hostile tanks a lot. Like before try to position yourself safely but still try to let your Static Field hit as much as possible. Try to save your ultimate for "the end of the combat" when someone tries to escape, however, it can be used in few situations to "just" deal some extra damage but thats very situational and you ought to judge it by yourself. Like before try to stick to your teammates as much as possible. Try not to take chances and don't run around alone too far and too much. By the late game you're more of a tool on your team and you're highly depending on. You're not particular bad but you can't just run around and gank on your own anymore. Anyhow, when you're not ganking/pushing try to farm safely somewhere just like before. Again, try to always keep an eye on your minimap so you're always ready to use your ultimate if it's needed.
Various tips and strategies when playing Zeus
Use Arc Lightning to last hit creeps and harass heroes
I've mentioned this a few times earlier, but just to sum it up I'll mention it again. During the early game you want to use Arc Lightning to last hit creeps. This will keep you safe, harass the enemies and give you a lot of easy creep kills. The damage of Arc Lightning is rather high so last hitting with it should be fairly easy. However, it takes a split second before the actual damage takes place so you want to cast it very little earlier than you'd expect. Casting it too late can result in the effect and chain lightning appearing but you will miss the creep because it gets killed before the damage takes in.
Use Lightning Bolt to interrupt channeling effects
Your Lightning Bolt has a ministun because the ability itself is based on Warcraft III's Storm Bolt. This means the spell will cancel Town Portals, Freezing Shield, Death Ward and etc.
Use Lightning Bolt to give you extra sight
The dummy unit created from the Lightning Bolt gives you a high sight radius for a short amount of time (3 seconds). This is really good when someone tries to juke you (juking means an enemy running around cliffs, hills, trees etc. in order to make you lose sight of him) because you will have perfect vision of the entire situation a few seconds. You can also use the extra sight radius for other purposes like scouting uphills (e.g. in base pushes), getting a better view at the field around you, making sure noone are coming for Roshan when your team takes him and etc.
Use Lightning Bolt to check for invisible heroes
The dummy unit from Lightning Bolt gives you true sight around the target you used it on for a few seconds too. If you're suspecting someone (e.g. a Stealth Assassin or a Bounty Hunter) to sneak around near you, you can easily check this by throwing a Lightning Bolt on a creep. If you're right they will show themselves when you cast it and if you're wrong they won't.
Use Lightning Bolt to kill scout units and wards
This is easiest done with another partner, preferably a ranged one. If you know there's a scout unit (a watcher or a hawk) or a ward somewhere you can kill this by using Lightning Bolt on nearby creeps in order to gain true sight and kill it. For example, a popular ward spot is in the rivers at the rune locations. If you do it correctly you can easily take down wards/watchers/hawks etc. with a mate. Here's a good example of what I mean:
http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/7949/zeuswardsfy1.jpg
Don't gank alone
Even though your spells have insanely high damage and low cooldowns, ganking alone with Zeus is in 80 % of the cases not a smart idea. You are very fragile, slow and without disables so unless it's one with low health or your teammates are near you should try to not catch up a "fair" 1 vs 1 fight. Though in the early game you might out damage some heroes when you catch them damaged in their lanes, you will mostly get killed later if you just stay and take a lot of fire in a 1 vs 1 situation. Try to stick with your teammates and you'll find yourself to be much more useful.
Always keep an eye on the minimap
This is pretty much basic for any hero, however, it's pretty important for Zeus to be ready to finish off enemies with his ultimate. Try to always have a look after your allies' dots and your enemies' dots when they meet each other. This often means they're in a fight thus someone will go down. Anyway, you know what I mean. Just be aware of your enemies' health.
Trust your teammates
Usually if your allies try to kill someone who escapes with very low health they will call: "Zeus ulti". Trust their judgement and use your ultimate if you get such a call. Mostly it will result in you killing one or more heroes whom your allies couldn't finish. Though there are a few times where the hero(es) your allies wanted dead survive with 10 health which means you've just wasted your ultimate, it's better than using it and wasting it a single time than not using it at all and wasting a potential kill.
Heroes/Items to watch out for
Anti-Mage
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNHeroDemonHunter.gif
Magina is probably Zeus' most natural enemy. His 40 % Spell Shield makes it hard to deal any serious damage to him. During the late game he can be a serious problem to you and you ought to rely more on your team to kill him than yourself. However, during the early game where he probably hasn't skilled his Spell Shield he should be as easy as all other enemies. Even if he blinks away with low health you can always finish him off with your ultimate.
Hood of Defiance
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNHoodOfCunning.gif
just like above Hood of Defiance adds a whole lot of spell resistance to the bearer. Many heroes will probably buy this item when fighting Zeus, so you'll probably find a hard time killing those heroes. However, you can still deal fine damage to them in despite of the extra resistance. They're not impossible to damage or kill, just harder.
Zeus' best friends
Pugna
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNPugna.gif
Laneing with Pugna can cause an aweful lot of damage. When a Pugna player skills his Decrepify and use it adds 44 % damage to your spells' damage. By this, a level 4 Lightning Bolt will deal about 500 damage and that's without the Static Field effect.
Keeper of the Light
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNGhostMage.gif
Another good lane partner is Keeper of the Light because he can keep support you with mana. This means you can throw about as many Lightning Bolts and/or Arc Lightnings as you want because he keeps refilling you with Chakra Magic. One of Zeus' early game problems is his "low" mana pool and Ezalor takes good care of this.
Obsidian Destroyer
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNDestroyer.gif
Even from rather early and forward, you can cast almost an infinite amount of spells near an allied Harbringer. His Essence Aura will activate so much so your mana will keep replenishing itself. Near him you will never have to think about your mana pool. This helps so much in teamfights, pushes, ganks and etc.
Epilogue
We have reached the end. I hope you are still awake after reading my minor novel. Hopefully, you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Feel free to ask of what your heart desires and I will try to answer your questions as good as possible.
Again, thanks a lot for reading this.
Ingolf
Replays
All credits to Ingolf from dota-allstars.com forum
Greetings all, and thanks for reading this. Before you continue, I want to state clearly that due to my relative low age, my English is not the world's best and you may happen to find a lot of incorrect grammar. Furthermore I have never played a high competitive game, so I cannot assure that this guide will help you through a tougher match.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNAvatar.gif
Zeus the Lord of Olympia
Table of Contents
* Introduction
* Pros
* Cons
* Stats
* Abilities
* Skill order
* Item build
* How to play
* Heroes to watch out for
* Zeus' best friends
* Epilogue
* Replays
* FAQ
* Changelog
Introduction
Zeus is and has always been one of the favorit ban and pick heroes in high level games. I also tend to see a lot of public or public-like players get him too. Not only is he a rather easy hero to play compared to many other hero concepts, he is also incredibly strong. Being a nuker, however, he doesn't seem to lose much of his potential towards the end of his games. His nukes are insanely high during the early game thus being feared by most decent players and they even keep a lot of their potential late game. Not only is he an excellent nuker, he is also very flexible meaning he fits with almost any hero. He can solo heroes, work in double lanes and even has potential in some tri-lanes (though not seen very often). He is also one of the few heroes who can stand against tri-lanes by himself and still do an excellent job. However, in despite of his astounding potential I usually see a lot of new players mistreating him. With Zeus being one of my favorite nukers I've decided to write a "rather short" guide, atleast compared to some of my others, on how to handle Zeus perfectly so you will learn how to do all the above written things and become your enemies' worst nightmare.
I recommend you to play Zeus if you
* Enjoy playing nukers
* Want to play a simply yet very strong hero
* Want one of the strongest casters with one of the longest lasting potentials of the intilligence heroes
* Are looking for a flexible hero to fit in your strategy
I do not recommend you to play Zeus if you
* Find simple heroes boring
* Do not like to play casters or fragile heroes
* Prefer farming over supporting and ganking
If this sounds interesting, please continue reading.
Now let's have a closer look on Zeus' pros/cons, stats and abilities.
Pros
* Has very strong nukes with short cooldowns
* Has an excellent ultimate to finish off fleeing enemies around the map
* His nukes maintain most of their potential later in the game
* Stands excellent against dangerous double- and triple lanes
* Is a great harasser
* Most of his nukes have lots of extra features which will often help in many situations
* Very flexible hero who fits into most strategies, lanes, teams and against most enemies
Cons
* Very fragile
* Rather slow
* Has a rather terrible attack animation
* Very short range for physical last hitting for a ranged hero
* No natural stuns, slows or disables
* Runs easily out of mana during the early game
Stats
Description
Once a deity of unfathomable might, Zeus reluctantly sacrificed his much relished immortality in exchange for the chance to crush the sinister armies of the unholy undead. As his soul crossed into the mortal plane, his omnipotent powers withered greatly, yet not nearly enough to quell this destructive Thunder God's resolve for justice. With sheer precision, he cleanses through the enemy ranks with an impressive mastery of electrical discharge, smiting the fool hardy with formidable bolts of lightning from the heavens above. Ever vigilant in his relentless assault, the Scourge cowers in fear of incurring the fearsome wrath of the Lord of Olympia.
Strength - 19 + 1,8
Agility - 15 + 1,7
Intelligence - 20 + 2,7
Attack range of 350.
Movement speed of 295.
Level 1 information:
- Health: 511
- Mana: 260
- Damage: 41-49
- Armor: 2,1
- Attack Speed: 1,48 sec
Level 25 information (without any worn items):
- Health: 1708
- Mana: 1352
- Damage: 105-113 +20
- Armor: 7,8 +2,8
- Attack Speed: 0,97 sec.
Abilities
Arc Lightning
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNChainLightning.gif
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 11 times, deals 130 damage.
Cooldown: 2 seconds.
Mana cost: 65/72/79/86.
Comment: Notice the mana cost and the cooldown of this ability. Both are extremely low. The target bounces are also really high and the damage is decent. This ability is your early game ace. It will secure you almost every last hit in your lane, it has an incredible range, it will harass your enemis while you last hit and it is very spamable. Later it becomes excellent for farming and weak hero harassing too as well as last hitting very low healthed heroes and finally it's astounding to trigger Static Field which is probably your main damage source late game. Activating Static Field roughly every two seconds can be crucial if handled correctly and it will help you and your team weaken your enemies and especially the nifty tanks a lot.
Useful information: I'm afraid I cannot give you numbers but I can assure you that the cast range is great (800+). This mean you can stay miles away from the creep wave early game if you face a dangerous lane and still last hit, harass your enemies and gain experience. The bounce range is also excellent but is not quite as good as Tormented Soul's Lightning Storm. Taking these two things into account the Arc Lightning can go a long way.
Lightning Bolt
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNBlue_Lightning.gif
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.
Mana cost: 75/95/115/135.
Comment: Lightning Bolt will be your primary harassing and ganking ability after a few minutes of the game and then forward. Its cooldown and mana cost are low and its damage is incredible high. This is arguably the best all-around single-targetted nuke in the game. Not only is its mana cost, cooldown and damage completely astounding for a normal ability, it also contains a lot of many extra features and it obviously activates Static Field as well.
Useful information: First of all the ability has a mini bash that stuns for 0,01 second which means it cancels channeling effects. Boots of Travel, Scrolls of Town Portal, Freezing Field and Death Ward are good examples of channeling effects it will cancels. Furthermore it gives you a huge, incredible 900 aoe sight radius for a 3 seconds. This increased sight goes over trees and ramps thus helping you a lot against heroes who try to juke you. This 900 aoe sight radius also provides true sight around the target you used it on. That's right, true sight. If you use it you can see invisible units and wards for a few seconds. This is excellent for spotting wind walking units, wards, hawks, watchers and other neat stuff.
Static Field (Passive)
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/PASBTNZeusStatic.gif
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.
Cooldown: None.
Mana cost: None.
Comment: Static Field is the main source to your damage late in the game, especially against heroes and tanks with 3000+ health. Casting 1 ability around a 3k healthed guy will result in about 330 damage from Static Field itself - to only one hero. If you cast this in the middle of a combat, 1 Static Field can easily result in something between 500-1000 damage depending on your enemies' health. Add your spell's damage to this and you get a lot of damage, even during the late game.
Useful information: Don't believe everything you hear. The description says 5/7/9/11 %. The actual numbers are 6/8/10/12 %, however, the damage type of Static Field is magical which means it gets reduced by Hood of Defiance, some abilities and all heroes' initial magical resistance so I guess it evens it out to somewhat 5/7/9/11 % anyway. What is most important though is that the damage is calculated and dealt instantly which means it comes before the triggering spell's own damage. Uh, and of course items will not trigger Static Field so don't try to spam Arcane Ring for this reason.
Thundergod's Wrath (Ultimate)
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNSpell_Holy_SealOfMight.gif
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.
Level 4 (Scepter) - Deals 570 damage.
Cooldown: 120 seconds.
Mana cost: 225/325/450/450.
Comment: This spell is obviously mainly used to kill heroes whom you couldn't kill in the attempt. If someone is very low and they try to escape you can easily, easily kill them by simply clicking a key. Of course this ability is global so it works on all enemy heroes across the map. A few times though it can also be used to actually damage and not so much as a finish-off spell, however, you will find out that it's mostly for killing low healthed, fleeing heroes.
Useful information: The trigger coded unit that casts the spell on the targets is the exact same as Lightning Bolt's unit. This means you will also gain true sight and a great sight radius from using Thundergod's Wrath, however, it doesn't minibash like Lightning Bolt does so don't try to use it to stop channeling abilities. Also, Thundergod's Wrath doesn't hit invisible units whom you do not have true sight of. I bet you want to get this piece of information before you waste your ultimate on a thing as stupid as that.
Skill order
Fighting a solo hero
Level 1 - Arc Lightning
Level 2 - Lightning Bolt
Level 3 - Lightning Bolt
Level 4 - Arc Lightning
Level 5 - Lightning Bolt
Level 6 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 7 - Lightning Bolt
Level 8 - Arc Lightning
Level 9 - Arc Lightning
Level 10 - Static Field
Level 11 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 12 - Static Field
Level 13 - Static Field
Level 14 - Static Field
Level 15 - Stats
Level 16 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 17-25 - Stats
Skills explanation
Arc Lightning will be skilled from level 1 for the last hitting usage. Lightning Bolt will then be maxed over Arc Lightning in order to harass the single hero with the astounding damage once in a while. More bounces of Arc Lightning isn't really needed here seeing that you don't have to hit more heroes and will often hit your lane enemy with the bounce because there's usually max 5-6 creeps. If you are a new reader to this guide then don't worry. I will give an in-depth explanation of the Arch Lightning harass technique later in the guide. Thundergod's Wrath's level process should be obvious and Static Field will be taken when you've maxed all your other main nukes. Stats are good but not more important than any of your abilities seeing that you are a nuker and you need your nukes.
Fighting two heroes
Level 1 - Arc Lightning
Level 2 - Lightning Bolt
Level 3 - Arc Lightning
Level 4 - Lightning Bolt
Level 5 - Lightning Bolt
Level 6 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 7 - Lightning Bolt
Level 8 - Arc Lightning
Level 9 - Arc Lightning
Level 10 - Static Field
Level 11 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 12 - Static Field
Level 13 - Static Field
Level 14 - Static Field
Level 15 - Stats
Level 16 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 17-25 - Stats
Skills explanation
The justifications are essentially the same as the one above, however, fighting two heroes mean you fight more units overall in each wave. You will now fight something like 6-7 units max for each creep wave. This means you will need another level of Arc Lightning early on to harass both enemies in order to become the lane dorminator. The slightly extra damage also works fine against two heroes who will probably try to deny your creeps if you're fighting decent enemies. Two heroes deny better than one thus giving Arc Lightning bonus damage a good thing to last hit better. The essential thing though is that the Arc Lightning bounces more and thus hitting both heroes instead of one or neither of them.
Fighting three heroes
Level 1 - Arc Lightning
Level 2 - Lightning Bolt
Level 3 - Arc Lightning
Level 4 - Lightning Bolt
Level 5 - Arc Lightning
Level 6 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 7 - Lightning Bolt
Level 8 - Lightning Bolt
Level 9 - Arc Lightning
Level 10 - Static Field
Level 11 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 12 - Static Field
Level 13 - Static Field
Level 14 - Static Field
Level 15 - Stats
Level 16 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 17-25 - Stats
Skills explanation
Some few times, mostly against organized premade teams you will happen to fight triple lanes. A triple lane is a lane consisting of three heroes. With the same justification as before, the bounces of Arc Lightning is important and need to be increased in order to hit all heroes. Again, the damage is also nice to compete your last hitting process against not one or two but three heroes who will hardly try to outdeny you and kill you. Arc Lightning should easily take care of that if you stay cautious.
Item build
The starting items
Sobi Mask + Tangos + 2x Brances
The Sobi Mask will be bought to give you some cheap, constant mana regeneration. Why you need this should be self-explanatory. For the rest of the money you ought to buy a pair of Ancient Tangoes of the Essifation to help you cover harassers and a few Ironwood Branches to give you an extra tip on all stats, most importantly strength and intilligence (health and mana). The Sobi Mask can also serve for a lot of purposes later. It evolves into an Oblivion Staff which gives you a lot of item possibilities.
Core item build
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNBootsOfSpeed.gifhttp://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNArcaneRing.gifhttp://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNSobiMask.gifhttp://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNScrollUber.gif
The Arcane Ring will be your core item. It will help you spam your abilities so much better and early on it will often allow you to cast Thundergod's Wrath even though you're low on mana. Not only is its mana replenish excellent, it also passively gives you a bigger mana pool which means you have more mana to spam spells. A Scroll of Town Portal should be worn as often as portal so you can teleport back to the fountain or to other towers to aid.
Items afterwards
http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/4088/zeuseverythingwm1.jpg
On the first look this probably seems weird. What I mean by these strange item pictures is that Zeus can almost use any of the 9 chosen items just as good. Usually I purchase Aghanim's Scepter or Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse but it's fully up to yourself. You can buy Necronomicon for mana burning, true sight (a better one than your Lightning Bolt) and better pushing capabilities, Aghanim's Scepter for more health, mana and ultimate damage, Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse or Eul's Scepter of Divinity for disabling and etc. It's highly situational and you mostly need to judge it by the situation. It's not always you can farm the money for a Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse or an Aghanim's Scepter thus making Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Necronomicon, Linken's Sphere and/or Bloodstone good choices. Zeus is highly dependant on his spell casting though and not so much on his items so in fact it really doesn't matter much, however, I suggest you'd buy something with a little health on it. Again, I usually get Aghanim's Scepter mainly for the health/mana boost and/or Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse for the same reason + the disable.
Note by Drainer: I would recomand you to forget about Orchid
Optional items
http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/563/chickcrowvb4.jpg
Many teams (mostly organized) use/like to use chickens. Zeus is excellent for buying an Animal Courier without losing any benefits. All you have to do is delaying your Sobi Mask a minute and then send it with the chicken after you've bought it on it.
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/8981/sentriesobsfk9.jpg
Seeing as Zeus isn't really item dependant, he makes a good wards purchaser especially if your team knows how to benefit from them.
Items not to buy:
* Divine Rapier, Monkey King Bar, Stygian Desolator and Buriza-do Kyanon are not recommended. Hopefully it's obvious that Zeus shouldn't physical damage items because that is not how he deals his damage.
* Other items that intentionally increase your physical damage like Assault Cuirass, Mask of Madness etc. are not recommended. The same reason is given above.
How to play
Early game
First of all start buying your items and head to a lane. It doesn't really matter if you're with anyone, how many you're against or where you go. However, seeing that Zeus is just as excellent in a double lane as in a solo lane he can easily make room for heroes who benefit more from being alone. For example if you have a Priestess of the Moon on your team, letting space for her to solo will mostly be the right choice. Anyway, once you're in the lane you should count your opponents which shouldn't be rather difficult. If you're against one hero you want one level of Arc Lightning. If you're against two heroes you want two levels of Arc Lightning and if you're against three then... Well, yes - level three Arc Lightning. See the skill builds above as reference. Fighting double and triple lanes (two and three heroes) are approximately the same play styles to you except that you ought to show more caution against triple lanes. If you're against two or three heroes you want to use Arc Lightning as much as possible to last hit your creeps. What I mean by this is when one of the creeps are on low health you throw your Arc Lightning on it to kill it. Hopefully this'll get you the creep kill and the bounces from the lightning will strike either one or both enemies. This creates a minor but constant harass on all two or three lane opponents and after a short amount of time they will run low on health making them very vulnerable for an essential Lightning Bolt strike. Of course you will run out of mana by last hitting like this rather quick, but the Sobi Mask will allow you to last hit a new creep approximately every creep wave which is much better than trying to kill something by right-clicking on it and then getting disabled and killed. When fighting two or three heroes you shouldn't worry too much about spamming Lightning Bolts because harassing one hero means the other will be okay and fit for fight. Passively staying far back and last hitting with Arc Lightning on occasions which hopefully harasses all your opponents is the right and safe way to go. Just try to stay safe as much as possible and farm for your Arcane Ring. If you get a lot of last hits like this (which in fact isn't very hard) you should have the money for the mana ring rather quickly.
If you're fighting a solo hero though you ought to try and last hit the creeps in the wave like any other hero. However, still try to stay safe. Against few heroes who will kill you if you get too close (Viper and Lich for instance) you can essentially just last hit with Arc Lightning like if you were against two or three heroes. Anyway, let's say you're doing fine and don't feel too threatened. Try to get last hits by timing your physical right-click shots. From level 3 and above you should begin throwing Lightning Bolts on your target once in a while. Don't use all your mana in a second but try not to get full mana either. Once in a while when you think you have a fair amount of mana, throw a Lightning Bolt on your target to teach him who's the boss. Especially from level 5 and above your bolts will begin to hurt him badly.
The main goal of your very early game is trying to farm your Arcane Ring as fast as possible. However, it's still important that you try to get the upper hand in your lane yet still stay safe. Though your life is more important than throwing a spell, dominating your lane is an important part of your game. At the very least against very tough lanes you should atleast be able to stay way back and then last hit creeps with Arc Lightning. You will probably find that you will lose your mana rather quickly as mentioned earlier. However, Sobi Mask will take partly care of this and the Arcane Ring will back it up greatly. Once you have it you can spam abilities so much more. Some might say that it's important to have mana for your ultimate at level 6 and I don't disagree with them. However, I don't find it absolutely necessary to have the required mana at the exact time you hit level 6. If someone should happen to escape it's just too bad. It happens to all of us that targets escape once in a while and I find it better to swear and curse once and then farme your Arcane Ring than not casting spells at all to save mana and then getting owned.
Unlike many other casters you ought to stay in your lane a rather long time instead of starting to roam. I don't say ganking is forbidden but only do it once in a while and preferably with one or more teammates. Zeus is not extremely good as a lone ganker seeing that he has no disables so roaming on your own and losing a lot of experience and gold for no reason is a bad idea. Besides, you can also assist globaly in ganks with your ultimate given the fact that you have mana for it. Just try to find a good flow of farming in a lane, dominating with Arc Lightning and/or Lightning Bolt and then ganking on opportunities somewhere. Eventually have an allie disabler come to your lane for an easy kill.
Middle game
During the middle game you should try to stick to your allies as much as possible. Follow them around when they gank or push and assist them as much as possible. Try to deal as much damage on heroes with Lightning Bolt and Arc Lightning. Use your Thundergod's Wrath to kill low healthed heroes whom you cannot kill with anything else. If you're pushing and if you have the mana for it, you can help clearing creep waves faster by throwing Arc Lightnings. However, don't be silly and run low on mana just to kill a bunch of creeps. Make sure you have enough mana for juggling with your spells and essentially finish people off with your ultimate. Try to spam Arcane Ring as much as possible. Basically you want to use the ring for your own comfort but supplying your mates with mana too when you use it is a good thing. When you're fighting more heroes you should try to either focus the one your team picks out or focus the one who seems to be the weakest link. E.g. if you see a lot of nifty tanks and a silly support hero in the background, try to kill the support hero. If you can take a hero out rather quickly without causing too much damage to your own team by e.g. suiciding, it means you will gain +1 hero advantage in the matter of seconds.
When you're not fighting or ganking anyone you can stay in a lane and farm a little gold for the items you want to build. Having a lot of items isn't extremely important but having some doesn't hurt you anyway. So as I said if you can't find anything better to do than e.g. ganking or pushing, just find somewhere to farm. Use your Arc Lightning as much as possible to get the creep kills. The Arcane Ring should easily recover the Arc Lightnings you use to clear your creeps. However, try to always be ready to gank/push/defend/whatever somewhere. Try to always have a Scroll of Town Portal on you so you are ready to teleport to different places. By the very least try to always keep a look on the minimap to see if you need to throw your ultimate to kill someone.
When you fight try to stay away from the "heat" or the center of the combats, but still not too far away. By this time of the game you've begun to skill Static Field and utilizing it is important. This means you need to position yourself in the back or to the sides of everything but not too far away. It's not important that you Static Field hits all your enemies, but atleast try to let it hit the frontiers and/or the tanks. Later the Static Field will especially hurt the tanks and it's not always easy to let the spell hit the supporters in the back. In other words, your main "object" is to stay alive by keeping yourself distanced, however, try to let the Static Field hurt as many tanks/other heroes in the front as possible but without endangering yourself. Try to spam your spells as much as possible with Lightning Bolt over Arc Lightning, but use Arc Lightning as long as your bolt is on cooldown.
Late game
Your late game is basically the same as your middle game. However, you're relying more on the Static Field damage now which should prolly damage the hostile tanks a lot. Like before try to position yourself safely but still try to let your Static Field hit as much as possible. Try to save your ultimate for "the end of the combat" when someone tries to escape, however, it can be used in few situations to "just" deal some extra damage but thats very situational and you ought to judge it by yourself. Like before try to stick to your teammates as much as possible. Try not to take chances and don't run around alone too far and too much. By the late game you're more of a tool on your team and you're highly depending on. You're not particular bad but you can't just run around and gank on your own anymore. Anyhow, when you're not ganking/pushing try to farm safely somewhere just like before. Again, try to always keep an eye on your minimap so you're always ready to use your ultimate if it's needed.
Various tips and strategies when playing Zeus
Use Arc Lightning to last hit creeps and harass heroes
I've mentioned this a few times earlier, but just to sum it up I'll mention it again. During the early game you want to use Arc Lightning to last hit creeps. This will keep you safe, harass the enemies and give you a lot of easy creep kills. The damage of Arc Lightning is rather high so last hitting with it should be fairly easy. However, it takes a split second before the actual damage takes place so you want to cast it very little earlier than you'd expect. Casting it too late can result in the effect and chain lightning appearing but you will miss the creep because it gets killed before the damage takes in.
Use Lightning Bolt to interrupt channeling effects
Your Lightning Bolt has a ministun because the ability itself is based on Warcraft III's Storm Bolt. This means the spell will cancel Town Portals, Freezing Shield, Death Ward and etc.
Use Lightning Bolt to give you extra sight
The dummy unit created from the Lightning Bolt gives you a high sight radius for a short amount of time (3 seconds). This is really good when someone tries to juke you (juking means an enemy running around cliffs, hills, trees etc. in order to make you lose sight of him) because you will have perfect vision of the entire situation a few seconds. You can also use the extra sight radius for other purposes like scouting uphills (e.g. in base pushes), getting a better view at the field around you, making sure noone are coming for Roshan when your team takes him and etc.
Use Lightning Bolt to check for invisible heroes
The dummy unit from Lightning Bolt gives you true sight around the target you used it on for a few seconds too. If you're suspecting someone (e.g. a Stealth Assassin or a Bounty Hunter) to sneak around near you, you can easily check this by throwing a Lightning Bolt on a creep. If you're right they will show themselves when you cast it and if you're wrong they won't.
Use Lightning Bolt to kill scout units and wards
This is easiest done with another partner, preferably a ranged one. If you know there's a scout unit (a watcher or a hawk) or a ward somewhere you can kill this by using Lightning Bolt on nearby creeps in order to gain true sight and kill it. For example, a popular ward spot is in the rivers at the rune locations. If you do it correctly you can easily take down wards/watchers/hawks etc. with a mate. Here's a good example of what I mean:
http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/7949/zeuswardsfy1.jpg
Don't gank alone
Even though your spells have insanely high damage and low cooldowns, ganking alone with Zeus is in 80 % of the cases not a smart idea. You are very fragile, slow and without disables so unless it's one with low health or your teammates are near you should try to not catch up a "fair" 1 vs 1 fight. Though in the early game you might out damage some heroes when you catch them damaged in their lanes, you will mostly get killed later if you just stay and take a lot of fire in a 1 vs 1 situation. Try to stick with your teammates and you'll find yourself to be much more useful.
Always keep an eye on the minimap
This is pretty much basic for any hero, however, it's pretty important for Zeus to be ready to finish off enemies with his ultimate. Try to always have a look after your allies' dots and your enemies' dots when they meet each other. This often means they're in a fight thus someone will go down. Anyway, you know what I mean. Just be aware of your enemies' health.
Trust your teammates
Usually if your allies try to kill someone who escapes with very low health they will call: "Zeus ulti". Trust their judgement and use your ultimate if you get such a call. Mostly it will result in you killing one or more heroes whom your allies couldn't finish. Though there are a few times where the hero(es) your allies wanted dead survive with 10 health which means you've just wasted your ultimate, it's better than using it and wasting it a single time than not using it at all and wasting a potential kill.
Heroes/Items to watch out for
Anti-Mage
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNHeroDemonHunter.gif
Magina is probably Zeus' most natural enemy. His 40 % Spell Shield makes it hard to deal any serious damage to him. During the late game he can be a serious problem to you and you ought to rely more on your team to kill him than yourself. However, during the early game where he probably hasn't skilled his Spell Shield he should be as easy as all other enemies. Even if he blinks away with low health you can always finish him off with your ultimate.
Hood of Defiance
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNHoodOfCunning.gif
just like above Hood of Defiance adds a whole lot of spell resistance to the bearer. Many heroes will probably buy this item when fighting Zeus, so you'll probably find a hard time killing those heroes. However, you can still deal fine damage to them in despite of the extra resistance. They're not impossible to damage or kill, just harder.
Zeus' best friends
Pugna
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNPugna.gif
Laneing with Pugna can cause an aweful lot of damage. When a Pugna player skills his Decrepify and use it adds 44 % damage to your spells' damage. By this, a level 4 Lightning Bolt will deal about 500 damage and that's without the Static Field effect.
Keeper of the Light
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNGhostMage.gif
Another good lane partner is Keeper of the Light because he can keep support you with mana. This means you can throw about as many Lightning Bolts and/or Arc Lightnings as you want because he keeps refilling you with Chakra Magic. One of Zeus' early game problems is his "low" mana pool and Ezalor takes good care of this.
Obsidian Destroyer
http://www.dota-allstars.com/images/lists/BTNDestroyer.gif
Even from rather early and forward, you can cast almost an infinite amount of spells near an allied Harbringer. His Essence Aura will activate so much so your mana will keep replenishing itself. Near him you will never have to think about your mana pool. This helps so much in teamfights, pushes, ganks and etc.
Epilogue
We have reached the end. I hope you are still awake after reading my minor novel. Hopefully, you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Feel free to ask of what your heart desires and I will try to answer your questions as good as possible.
Again, thanks a lot for reading this.
Ingolf
Replays
All credits to Ingolf from dota-allstars.com forum