The Zeus game plan proposed by Malrin in his guide fits into a single line: finish off other people's kills with the ultimate, level up in the standard order, sit in the jungle until you have six slots, and only then come out onto the map. The build is: Kaya, Shard, Aghanim's, Refresher, Octarine. The recipe looks almost lazy, but it has a rigid internal logic, and it is worth understanding even if you don't plan to copy it one to one.
Why this purchase order
Zeus is a mage who is empowered by everything that raises spell damage and everything that shortens the pauses between spells. Kaya provides spell amplification: every lightning bolt, arc and ultimate hit becomes stronger without any extra buttons. Shard and Aghanim's expand the hero's set of capabilities. Then come the two main items of the plan.
Refresher lets you reuse abilities and items, so the global ultimate Thundergod's Wrath, which hits every enemy hero on the map, goes off twice in a row. Octarine reduces ability cooldowns and returns health from spell damage. This covers the hero's weak spot: he fires often, but he himself is fragile.
Notice that there is not a single pure survivability item in the list. The idea is that by the time Zeus leaves the jungle, he should be killing enemies faster than they can reach him.
Kill stealing: when the ultimate is worth it
The first thing the guide names is "stealing kills with the ultimate." The point is as follows: allies have knocked an enemy's health down to a few percent, and the finishing blow goes to whoever pressed the global ability from any point on the map. Zeus takes the kill and the gold for it, even though he wasn't in the fight.
Three things are needed for such a steal:
- Know the threshold. Before pressing, you need to understand how much damage the ultimate deals right now, taking into account the items already bought. An error on the low side leaves the enemy with a sliver of health and costs you spent mana.
- Watch other people's health bars. A hero who is farming in the jungle at the moment must also pay attention to himself: if a fight is going on in the neighboring square, you need to manage to notice the moment.
- Conserve mana. The ultimate is expensive, and a pointless click wipes out your reserve for the next fight.
A side effect: the ultimate across the whole map shows where the enemies currently are and what condition they're in, that is, it also works as scouting.
The price of the jungle
The main feature of the plan is farming in the jungle until all six slots are filled. The upside is obvious: neutrals don't fight back, don't push and don't run away, and the gold flows in steadily. The downside is that the hero is not where fights are decided, and the lanes are left without support. If the team is losing towers, the jungle turns into a trap: the items are there, but there is nothing left to defend.
That is why the plan is designed for games where allies hold on their own. If the early stage turns into a series of defeats in the lanes, prolonged farming won't save you: the earlier Zeus comes out, the better the chances of stopping the push.
Ranked play and talk of a "sweaty" Zeus
Malrin allows that you can climb the ranking with such a Zeus, but with a caveat: this applies to someone who plays the hero a lot and plays him well. Such a caveat is honest. In ranked games a clear plan works best at a steady tempo and without early chaos, and any deviation from the plan demands the ability to change roles quickly. The ultimate from a distance has to be managed as attentively as your hand in a fight: you can't waste it on an enemy who still has healing in their path, and you can't fail to press it in time when Refresher is already ready.
The five-item build and the "farm until six slots" mode are the skeleton. The flesh grows out of specific decisions on the map: how many camps are still left, where your allies are right now, whether Refresher is ready for a repeat volley. If you don't ask yourself these questions every few minutes, the hero turns into an expensive set of items standing in an empty place.
