Zhong Kui - The Mage who is like a tank

hi there this will be my 4th guide and its about Zhong Kui this is also the first guide in which ill try to format things batter so if i mess up sorry learning how this stuff works but this guide should be of help any way

again in case you dont know:

AA - Auto Attacks

AD - Attack Damage

AP/MP - Ability/Magic power(smite uses magic power but i sometimes get mixed up)

AoE - Area of Effect(as the name would imply its the area in which your spells have any effect ect...)

FG - Fire Giant

GF - Gold Fury

Pros:

+ high self sustain with Exorcism
+ has a CC immune ult that heals and deals good damage and makes him more tanky
+ very tank with his passive Demon Bag
+ has a aoe stun
+ has a very strong slow

Cons:

- can have some mana issues early on
- has no natural escape mechanic
- is easy to gank if not well positioned
- somewhat slow at times
- can have some issues vs strong pushers(such as Ra early game)

Passive: Demon Bag you get more protections the more demons are in the bag you get the demons by using the Expose Evil and Exorcism combo thats also the combo for killing minion waves

spell 1: Expose Evil you place a talisman on all targets in the line like AoE for 5 sec doing damage every 1 sec and slowing the target by 20% if these are removed before 5 sec are up a % of the damage left is done right away
Cost: 60/65/70/75/80 mana.
Cooldown: 10 seconds.

in general: this is the spell i max last you only get it for its slow and thats pretty much that its not good till the late game since were going for the burst with his 2 and 3

spell 2: Exorcism you exorcise all targets in the wide cone AoE dealing damage and taking off the talismans along with evil demons and heal for each demon absorbed up to 3 demons all demons go into the Demon Bag up to a cap of 20 (which gives you bonus 60 protections and double that during the ultimate)
Cost: 20/40/60/80/100 mana.
Cooldown: 13 seconds.

in general: your main spell this spell will give you kills and sustain when used with Expose Evil max this first as the early sustain and somewhat poke is good

spell 3: Book of Demons when this spell is used you stun deal damage and remove talismans from the targets in the circle AoE around you the stun is strong if used on marked targets
Cost: 75/80/85/90/85 mana.
Cooldown: 10 seconds.

in general: this spell is our stun and best form of CC as well as a good source of burst we max this 2nd

spell 4: Recall Demons when this spell is used the demon bag starts to pulse 5 times and demons get out for each ally and enemy god every 1 sec for 5 sec the chase and accelerate over time doing damage to enemy gods(if it comes out it will follow that enemy god to the ends of the map ect...) and healing to ally gods your CC immune to those 5 sec
Cost: 100 mana.
Cooldown: 90 seconds.

in general: this is our teamfight ultimate that can really help our our team and hinder the enemy's with a Gem of Isolation this is a team wide slow max this when ever you can get a point into it

here i will explain why i picked which items and explain both builds:

Build 1:Tanky with max CDR and a lot of HP

1. Shoes of Focus these shoes are great give us cdr so we can spam more spells in a smaller period of time

2. Focused Void Stone this item gives us everything we need and combined with out passive Demon Bag makes it much more easy for us to fight in mid it also gives fair AP and Pen to boot

3. Breastplate of Valor with this item we hit max CDR gain a lot of mana and fine protections which makes us even more tanky

4. Gem of Isolation with this item our 20% 5 sec long slow turns into a pretty much 45% 5 sec long slow which sort of makes the enemy move at a pace were a god without boots can run around them really fast it also gives some HP and AP

5. Rod of Tahuti this gives us a lot of AP and its passive gives us even more

6. Ethereal Staff this item gives us a lot of HP some AP and its passive converts a % of our max HP into bonus AP thus this item late game gives a lot of AP

the 2nd and 3rd items can switch places in case your facing a AD early on in mid/solo instead of mage

Build 2:kinda Less tanky but more damage

1. same as above

2. same as above

3. same as above

4. Polynomicon this item gives us some AP some mana and its passive gives us a lot more damage this item takes the place of a etheral staff or gem of isolation in this build

5.same as above

6. either a Gem of Isolation or a Ethereal Staff depends on what you need more CC or HP in order 2 live through strong burst

other items that can be used:

Special Note: Telkhines Ring i a effective item on zhong as his Book of Demons triggers the effect TWICE i was informed of this by a friend who builds a AA based Zhong Kui and i will try and implement this style of play in this guide latter on

1. Spear of the Magus this item works well with our 1st spell/ability and is great if the team needs some one to shred the enemy's magic protections

2. Book of Thoth this item can replace the gem in both builds if you want much great damage and healing and are fine with less CC

3. Hide of the Urchin this item gives us a lot of protections of both types AD and AP and this is great for us though we may lose some damage

4. Hide of the Nemean Lion this item is a counter to AD gods and is good vs heavy AD or AA gods

5. Bulwark of Hope this item is when the enemy team is High on AP and Burst

here i will explains what actives you can use:

1.Sprint since you lack a proper escape this can help a lot you can also get its team fight version Heavenly Agility

2.Meditation this is rather good on you since you sometimes have mana issues this will fix that also since your rather tanky and already have a self heal the additional healing from this at rank 3 can drive some guys insane

3. Creeping Curse you can get this early if you need it to run or to make sure a enemy does not run out of your ultimate's range both of its tier 3 ranks are good for teamfights Weakening Curse for stopping healers or heavy life steal or Enfeebling Curse for countering AA based gods

4. Eye of Providence this item gives free wards every 60 sec whats not to like in case you need vision on mid or are in solo lane get this to stay safe from the junglers

5. Combat Blink this can save you a lot in bad situations and if needed can be used to blink through a wall and into a teamfight were you use your ultimate and turn it all around ect... the other tier 3 rank can also be used for that purpose though and on a smaller cooldown

1.your role as Zhong Kui is that of a tanky burst mage or tanky initiation mage in other words your not as far away from the action as other mages but should not be in melee fighting range either

2.in general when in lane you want 2 hit 6 minions with Expose Evil and then hit Exorcism to fill up the Demon Bag

3.save your Book of Demons for its CC if you think your gonna need it only used it if your 100% sure its a kill otherwise you could be in a bit of trouble

4. your Book of Demons can counter channeled spells ect...

5. late game dont be afraid to drop your ultimate Recall Demons when running away as with this build it can slow down the chasers while healing you and your retreating team mates sometimes it can even turn the situation around

6. If your in mid lane pick up the enemy jungler's mid neutral camps when they spawn

1.your spells in a team fight work best when combined with the spells of your ally gods use expose evil to let the tanks get batter initiation and after there CC end follow up with your own Book of Demons for powerful chain stuns

2.always think of the team if your doing awesome you may want to consider letting other members of the team get the kills and finish there builds faster

3.since most of your skills are not skill shots you can in general also start fights in specific conditions such as having a good advantage in the in game god LVL and batter damage output and ect but this is rare ect...

4.in case your team is going for a fast GF/FG it is possible for you 2 tank it if the tank is dead or 2 far away for you guys 2 make it on time

dont forget to add a AA in your burst combo and wait 2 sec for it to come up again which means that from the standard combo you add 2 sec gaps and AA into the mix to form this sort of attack pattern:

Expose Evil hit with Polynomicon wait 2 sec or AA for those 2 sec then cast Book of Demons then hit with Polynomicon again then wait 2 sec or AA for those 2 sec then cast Exorcism then hit a Polynomicon again the target should be dead by this point if you hit everything if not chase and ult then hit another Polynomicon

for this you need the Telkhines Ring it triggers on both your AA and the AA from your book of demonos and is the sole reason why AA style/Poke Zhong Kui can work early game this is a great advantage as it adds a whioping 60 - 80 damage on your AA that already hit 40 - 60 already almost 100 with the book's AA and with the ring it goes up to 200 per AA so its really strong

as far as the items go im not 100% sure of them but i will explain it here on what i think so far:

1 - Shoes of Focus for the CDR and speed

2 - Telkhines Ring its the whole reason of this build get it as fast as you can

3 - Demonic Grip AA speed magic power and magic pen

4 - Rod of Tahuti for its massive magic power

5 - Gem of Binding for its slows

6 - Hastened Fatalis for its removal of the AA slow penalty if the AA hits

this here is a experimental type of build and is not recommended to players new to zhong kui or landing AA this build in general has a lot of flaws and its strong points are not many in general this is a fun build for casual games and is good vs goods that dont have amazing sustain and or need to get close to you to deal damage such as He Bo while gods with heavy sustain and damage output like Tyr will kill you or at the very least draw with you

in general Zhong Kui is a good fair pick that can bring a lot to the teamfight and is good in lane as well i hope my guide helps you and that i did not mess up the formating i tried to use here if i did sorry ill work on fixing it

since i will be making a lot more guides ill make links 2 them here when im done with a few more otherwise i have 2 edit all of them after every guide