Bow before Zeus.

April 7, 2016
1)I've updated a alternative item on the build based on preference.
2)Added 2 additional relics which can be of use.
3)Additional gods that can go along with Zeus for a team.
April 11, 2016
1)Changed a few items

Alrighty! Hello everyone, this will be my first time ever making a guide for this game and obviously my first guide will be on Zeus! I've played Zeus for quite a while now and I can't remember when I even started anymore. He's my favorite greek pantheon and the best god(in my opinion) for playing as a mage. I personally build this build from scratch and put a lot of time into it along with my friend.

Many countless sleepless nights on smite testing builds after builds to see which one is the most effective for Zeus. Though some people will disagree with my build, I personally will say that it's the best build you'll find for Zeus for a while.

If any of you are going to criticize my build, then please do in a well mannered fashion. No one enjoys being yelled at after all.

I will update the guide later but this is pretty much it. I'll explain why I chose each item and how it affects the skills on a later date. For now, go ahead and try the build out and you'll be surprised.

It's essential that you play with a friend when playing Zeus especially if your friend can play Odin! Odin's ultimate will assist you in all your kills most of the time because Odin can lock most gods in his ultimate and allows you to use your ultimate freely for a while which means certain death for the other team if Odin locks all the other team in. Hence why this build is based on magical power with a good start to get kills fast for that edge against the other team.

Pros:
-Huge AOE Damage
-Chaining skills
-Clear minion waves quick
-Amazing passive(dmg increased per charge on enemies by 30% each charge(3))

Cons:
-Bad sustain if being pushed
-Without a support, will die quickly
-Health is pretty low.

It's the best passive for a mage especially for Zeus because his basic attack does additional 30% damage per charge applied for a max charge of 3 per god/minion. It's a great passive to lower the health of enemy gods so that you can use the Detonate Charge more effectively to secure a kill.

This is your first ability for Zeus and it basically chains 4 minions or enemy gods and applies a charge on each one it hits. It's a great skill to level up early but I prioritize Detonate Charge over this just because Detonate has good kill potential early game along with this build.

2nd ability for Zeus which throws his shield out in front of him and does damage when the shield lands and will last for 5 seconds in which Zeus can hit it with his basic attack to apply a charge in its radius and does additional damage whenever you hit the shield with basic attack. Great skill but I choose to ignore it as well because I wanted Detonate Charge over all other skils.

3nd ability for Zeus and by far the best ability in my opinion. Not only does it slow enemy gods but it also detonates the charges applied to each god which damage is multiplied by 1/2/3 varying on how many charge the god has on the time of activating this skill. It's one of the skills that I leveled up on quickly for that increased damage in early and mid game for easy kills.

This is the ultimate for Zeus and is one of the best abilities Zeus has that can literally take out an entire god's health with this build set up. By using Odin's ultimate to lock gods in place, this ultimate will literally make the other team wish they had never pushed you. It basically summons a lightning storm in a ground area and will last for 5 seconds doing damage every 1 second and while it applies a charge for each second as well. It's a good way stack up on charges for your Detonate Charge skill. I only left this skill for late game to level up because this build can make this Ultimate pretty strong even in early and mid game. It's prefered to level up Detonate Charge first because it's 1 one skill that can save your life or kill other gods.

This is a good start for Zeus because he'll have 70 magical power at the beginning which will help him clear up minions so he can get those level up fast.

Though at times, I'd prefer it if I just bought the Shoes of Focus right off the bat because it gives me that 18% movement speed, 10% cdr, 250 mana, and 30 magical power. It's a good start for Zeus if you would prefer movement speed but in terms of damage for starting off, it's not as good as the Vampiric Shroud and POtion of Magical Might.

Me and my friend decided that it would be best to get this book right off after the Shoes of Focus because you can build up stacks early and get that extra mana and magical power early game so you can get an edge on all other gods. This extra mana is essential for Zeus and this build.

By building this item early, though its usually a late game item, will boost your damage over 500 even before you reach level 10 if you get a good start against the other team. I managed to do this every game because of my friend who plays as support with Odin.

With this item, it offers you that magical power and penetration needed to go up against anyone who tries to build magicla protection against you, even if they do, your damage by now is over 600 which will kill most gods already and this isn't even the end yet!

I got this item a bit later in the game because by now, your damage is very good and you can basically kill supports however if you can't manage to do so, this item will increase the next ability you use against a god with the highest health within the vacinity of your ability, it would best to not attack with your abilities when you have this active, wait for Odin to lock those gods in place before you use up Soul Reaver because you'll see a big difference in killing enemies right away. It's prefered if you use your ultimate first then Aegis Assault, chain lightning, and Detonate if the God(s) aren't dead yet, but usually are dead by then haha.

Now this is the alternative for Soul Reaver mainly because Soul Reaver takes 60 seconds for an additional 15% of enemy god's hp with the damage dealt already with just a single ability. Polynomicon makes use of Zeus' basic attack tremendouly by increasing it by 75% of basic attack damage within the 8 sec it allows you and this item refreshes itself everyone 3 second. In other words, people are going to run away after you hit them with your Aegis Shield and then basic attack on the enemy god, not on the shield. This is a instant kill build as long as you land 1 of your skills, primarily your Aegis Shield.

So finally, the most costly item you can get for magical power that will cost you 3800 gold but oh the damage you get is so worth it. It's 120 magical power and 20 magical penetration, but wait there's more! Its passive allows you to get a instant 8 second cooldown on all your skills if you kill a enemy god and refreshes every 30 seconds which is very good for whenever your team pushes, your Chain Lightning, Aegis Assault, and Detonate Charge will basically refresh itself after you get a kill which means you can push them even more!

By now after buying all 6 items, your damage should roughly be over 750 meaning you will most likely kill ANY god on the other side who doesn't have a way to escape your skills. Your 2(Aegis Assault) should roughly take about 30-50% of their hp away if you hit them with it.

Relics
Meditation Mages usually use this relic and I perosnally love it because I can heal and get mana back whenever I need to. It has helped me a lot to get outta tight places or to heal a friend whose trying to run away from a enemy god. Great for early game so you can stay in lane longer to rack up minion kills for those levels.

Great for burse damage potential for mid game whenever going up against a support/tank with a lot of health. This is going to help you attack the enemy's titan as well because of that increase in your basic attack damage.

Sprint Because Zeus has terrible movement speed and dies easily from ganks because of this build, it'd be nice for him to get a instant increase in movement speed to run away from enemy gods who are planning to gank.

Sanctuary Due to Zeus having no escape kits, I'd recommend getting Sanctuary. I think it's pretty self explanatory from here on.

I can't stress the important of teamwork with Zeus and Odin here. It's essential for you to play alongside a support like Odin so you can secure kills and get a huge advantage over the other team. I personally don't see many people play Zeus and Odin as a combination but I soon hope to see this in matches.

If you can't manage to find someone to play Odin for you, at least get a Ymir so he can stun the enemy gods for you. However, I would recommend Odin for Zeus ALL the time. They're the best team.

Updated 4/7/16
So before, we've discussed about Zeus and Odin potential as a team, but now as I'm staring to find out more combinations for Zeus, I've considered using Zeus+Ares and Zeus+Bacchus.

Ares has great potential to be played with Zeus mainly because of Ares' ultimate skill which pulls all surrounding enemy gods to his location.

Bacchus is another great god to play with Zeus because Bacchus has stun potential on most of his skills, it's good enough that you don't even need to use your ultimate because if you exchange Soul Reaver out and use Polynomicon instead, the damage is a lot more higher and DPS is increases tremedously.

So why did I build such late game items in the early games?
It gives you a huge advantage over damage against supports and junglers. However though, you will die easily if you aren't careful. Place wards around jungles to make sure no one is going to gank you. Work alongside your support(Odin) to secure kills. Zeus and Odin is probably the best combo in my opinion. There are other builds out there, but this one is unique to the rest. It doesn't focus too much on CDR or basic attacks, its generally abitlity based item builds so you can get the best out of your Detonate Charge because it's going to kill any god whose low on health and is debuffed with a Charge or 2. This isn't the only reason why I build Book of Thoth and Rod of Tahuti so early, but also because it's the core of your build. You need items that will increase your damage drastically in the beginning so you can wipe out minions and gods that have potential 1 hit kills against your team. this build is going to help clear out any god who gets stuck in Odin's ultimate or ones who tries to push you and think they can tank your lightning!
This build is based on Zeus' Ultimate and Detonate Chargee because those are his 2 best damage abilities that can secure you kills.
If you have a friend who can play Odin, then you're pretty much safe as long as you watch your back and jungles. This build as it seems is a Joust build but also can be used in Conquest. You can use Zeus as an adc and get Odin for your support on duo lane. You don't have to play Zeus in mid at all, I've tested both lanes and duo lane is always better for Zeus if you use Odin and Zeus combination. I've also ask random players to play Odin for me and advise them to only use their ultimate whenever my ultimate is up as well. Usually works out and they love it. :)


*I hope you guys found my guide to be somewhat okay/decent. It was my first time making a guide and I wanted to make one for my favorite god of all time. I've had scores of 15-1, 22-3, 28-4, and 26-6 in joust mostly and a few in Conquest(not a huge conquest fan). It's not hard at all to play Zeus, you just have to know when to use each skill.*
This is it for now, I'll try updating everything as new patches comes out.