How To Play As Zeus In Smite 2

Going up against certain characters in Smite 2 can require a little bit of a feeling-out process. Some characters can be played very differently, depending on who’s playing them and how they’ve built the character to function. This can go so far as characters playing very different roles, depending on things like God Aspects.

While other characters, like Zeus, you know exactly what to expect. On the bright side for Zeus, he is so outrageously effective at what he does that, even if an enemy is perfectly aware of what he’s going to do throughout the match, stopping him from doing it can take real effort and coordination.

This game is in Early Access state, and as such, the content in this guide might change in the future.

How To Play As Zeus In Smite 2

Zeus generally fulfills the Middle or the Carry role in Smite 2, meaning he’s either going to be on his own for large portions of the match, in the middle lane, or he’ll have the help of a Support character for much of the match, in the left lane.

Either way, Zeus’ job remains similar: dealing extraordinary amounts of damage. His focus for this damage might be slightly different, depending on the role.

• In the Middle role, Zeus is going to be largely responsible for the lane on his own. He’ll need to be able to one-versus-one the opposing Middle regularly, keep aware of an enemy Jungler coming in for an ambush, and push/defend the lane as needed. Zeus has enough power to push the Middle considerably if he begins overpowering his opponent, which will make life very difficult for the opposing team.
• In the Carry role, Zeus is not going to be entirely responsible for the lane. He will, however, be responsible for a large portion of the damage that the team deals later on in the match. Supported well, Zeus is going to become a force of nature in the latter half and be able to wipe many enemies in a blink.

Overcharge

Overcharge is Zeus’ passive ability, and it contributes quite a bit to his overall damage output. Dealing damage with Zeus, including with his Basic Attack, applies Charges to enemies. An enemy can have a maximum of three Charges, and each Charge increases Basic Attack damage against them by 20 percent.

This means, that for enemies who have three Charges, Zeus’ Basic Attacks are going to deal 60 percent extra damage. Every enemy that isn’t a God also immediately gains three stacks, on being damaged by Zeus.

Chain Lightning

Zeus’ Chain Lightning will arc through nearby enemies, dealing damage and slowing them. When fully leveled, this ability can arc between six enemies altogether, though the range in which they arc to different enemies is not wide.

How To Use Chain Lightning

Chain Lightning is a great ability in pretty much all scenarios.

• It’s great to use against groups of enemies because it hits multiple targets and applies Charge to all of them.
• It’s great to use against single targets and enemy Gods, because of the slowing effect that it deals to them.

For the most part, it’s going to see maximum value in the first scenario, against multiple enemies. At higher levels, this can erase entire groups of enemy minions, giving your own minions a free path down the lane.

Thunderclap

Thunderclap fires lightning in a radius around Zeus, dealing damage to enemies inside the radius and increasing his attack and movement speed.

When To Use Thunderclap

Zeus has ranged Basic Attacks, but he’s perfectly capable of operating at close range, as well. This attack, much like Chain Lightning, is good in a multitude of scenarios.

• Thunderclap can make easy work of groups of enemies; while Chain Lightning might not arc to enemies that aren’t especially close, Zeus can position himself to get enemies that are 6.4 meters away from each other, with the 3.2-meter radius of this ability.
• The increased attack speed and movement speed are also a huge boon for this ability. The attack speed buff is a flat damage increase for the five-second duration, and the movement speed buff can be used to chase down enemies, or get away from them.

This ability should be a regular in your rotation whenever you can spare the mana, regardless of whether you’re always going to be hitting nearby enemies, simply because of the attack speed increase.

Detonate Charge

Detonate Charge does exactly what it sounds like, detonating the Charges that are currently applied to all enemies, wherever they are. That detonation causes damage, and enemies that are at maximum Charge are stunned.

The damage of this ability is increased by the number of Charges on an enemy, as well. At two Charges, the damage is increased by 1.7x, and at three Charges, enemies take 2.4x the damage.

When To Use Detonate Charge

Detonate Charge can wipe an entire screen full of enemies, provided you’ve been spreading out your Charges well.

• The stun effect of this ability can be nice, and when timed well, it can interrupt an enemy during a crucial moment. The stun effect is less important on NPC enemies, like minions, but it’s certainly not a drawback.
• But the real star of the show is the damage that this ability is capable of. Chain Lightning and Thunderclap are going to spread Charges to every enemy that they hit. In a team-fight scenario against multiple enemy Gods, applying three Charges to every enemy and then using Detonate Charge can massively swing the fight into your favor.

Lightning Storm

Lightning Storm is, essentially, Zeus’ ultimate ability, summoning a lightning storm that deals damage to enemies inside the storm. This will deal five ticks of damage over the course of 4.5 seconds, and the damage is considerable.

As an ultimate ability, Lightning Storm does have a particularly long cooldown, lasting 70 seconds at its quickest. Ensure you’re getting some good value out of it when you use it, because it’s too good of an ultimate to waste.

When To Use Lightning Storm

Lightning Storm can be finicky because it can be mostly avoided if an enemy simply gets out of the radius of the ability. Worst-case, an enemy still takes one or two ticks of damage before they can get away, chunking away a few hundred of their health.

• It will make quick work of enemy minions, but its value isn’t necessarily there. Zeus doesn’t need this ability to accomplish that, his other abilities are more than capable of it.
• This ability can often be used as a positioning tool. Against melee Gods, they simply will not be able to fight you inside that storm cloud, without taking an incredible amount of damage from it, combined with the other attacks you’re using at the same time.
• It can also force enemy ranged Gods out of an advantageous position. It can push them either forward or backward; either way, they’re outside a preferred position, allowing you to take your own advantageous spot.
• Lastly, this is a truly great ability when fighting an enemy Titan. The Titan is not smart enough to leave the damaging zone. If your team can manage to get the enemy Titan to stand still for a few seconds, combining this ability with the rest of Zeus’ repertoire can take that Titan down with haste, ending the match before the enemies have any hope of regrouping.