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Consider the following scenarios:

Scenario 1: Zeus, level 11, level 4 Lightning Bolt, level 4 Arc Lightning, level 2 Thundergod's Wrath, level 1 Static Field.

Scenario 2: Zeus, level 11, level 4 Lightning Bolt, level 1 Arc Lightning, level 2 Thundergod's Wrath, level 4 Static Field.

In both scenarios, the only relevant item Zeus has is a Veil of Discord, so mana issues should not be considered.

Now mind the following case: A team fight is about to happen, there are 3 to 5 heroes of both teams that are going to participate in this teamfight, leaving the number of heroes of both teams participating even, which make us consider allied damage. Assuming that the enemy heroes are in the level range of 8 to 12, with an HP pool ranging from 850 to 1300, and that Zeus is always safe from disables, leaving him free to dish out his spells, which scenario does the most damage to the enemy heroes in the teamfight?

Things to consider: Your goal is to kill enemy heroes and deal heavy damage to every enemy hero present in the teamfight, so please assume Zeus initiates with Thundergod's Wrath, then proceeds to Lightning Bolt a target and spam Arc Lightning while Lightning Bolt is on cooldown. Also, the enemy heroes are always in range of Static Field and near each other to be hit by every Arc Lightning.

Answers with numerical explanations are preferred.

Note: The answer does not have to calculate Veil of Discord damage amplification. Nevertheless, answers with Veil of Discord damage amplification are welcome too.

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    I feel like this question has a lot of unknowns still. Your damage output is dependent on how many heroes are in range of static field/arc lightning, your mana pool, even how long a fight lasts since your skills may not cooldown fast enough to cast many times in a quick fight.
    – Csislander
    Commented May 20, 2014 at 13:55
  • I will try to edit the question to address this issue, but basically what I want is to know which skillbuild has the most teamfight potential damagewise, in terms of killing heroes as fast as possible. Since it is a teamfight, I would have allies dealing damage as well, but then it would add too many variables to the question, so I am also trying to keep it as simple as possible.
    – TonySniper
    Commented May 20, 2014 at 19:29

4 Answers 4

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I think people misunderstand how much 11% really is EVERY SINGLE time you cast a spell. I would personally recommend you max Static field second, because it is so good to get people to low hp. Even though arc Lightning does a definitive damage and is easier to track. I think you'll find that with them starting at max hp it is much quicker and more mana efficient to just use level 1 arc's and level 4 lighting bolt to nuke them down with the help of static field.

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  • Although the 11% of current HP pool is indeed good, if does not do much damage the lower the HP gets, which makes you unable to kill fleeing heroes with arc lightning. But as I said, I do not have the numbers to back up any skill build, so answers with mathematics are preferred. Refeer to my edit.
    – TonySniper
    Commented May 20, 2014 at 13:58
  • Yes, but if you have 6 seconds available to kill someone then that will allow you to open with lighting bolt and kill them with lightning bolt. Using maxed arc Lighting instead will not kill him faster than six second, you will still need the seconds cast of lightning bolt, except it will use more mana.
    – PinkMonkeyBird
    Commented May 20, 2014 at 14:00
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My favorite build is the second scenario (Static field lv 4 )

Here's a link of a spreadsheet with some numbers : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AiQVCF5pvZNFdDgzVFZvR3Q1ekdXcWtibGhEU19IV3c&usp=sharing

It assume there is only one ennemy with 1200 hp and 25% magic resistance, if your spot some error in the spreadsheet, i'll update it.

I'll add later more scenario if you want, but it depend on a lot of factor like :

  • Number of ennemy in 1000 range
  • Number of ennemy hit by arc lightning
  • Ennemy's current HP
  • Mana consumption

I think static field also hit invisible ennemy.

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  • Yes, static field does hit invisible units. Mana consumption is not a problem, since it is okay to have your mana depleted after a teamfight. Anyway, thanks for the spreadsheet. I will not mark your post as an answer because I want to hear more opinions from different people, but I already upvoted it.
    – TonySniper
    Commented May 21, 2014 at 12:43
  • Sometimes you need 30-60 more mana for another lightning bolt that you could get by spamming lv 1 arc lightning than lv4, that's why i wrote Mana consumption, it's just a minor factor. i could also add ennemy's mid hero, it's easier to last hit with a lv 4 arc lightning than a lv 1.
    – Namas
    Commented May 21, 2014 at 12:53
  • I do agree with you, but please see my edit.
    – TonySniper
    Commented May 21, 2014 at 13:19
  • You ignored that the first thing a Zeus does in basically every teamfight is ultimate, which is going to drastically reduce the amount of damage done by each Static Field.
    – Decency
    Commented May 22, 2014 at 2:30
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If you're not going to max Arc Lightning early (i.e. by level 10), it's usually advised to not level it more than once at all. Also worth noting is a new build that is emerging which maxes Chain Lightning at level 7 because of the incredible amount of damage it does on such a short cooldown. This is a very mana hungry build but it does insane amounts of damage in earlygame teamfights.

The answer to your question is highly dependent on the amount of health your opponents have. Against multiple heroes with high +strength/level gains, usually strength heroes, I'd probably prefer maxing static field. Against heroes with low health pools who won't impede your casts, such as against an enemy trilane that's not very stun heavy, I'd instead max Chain Lightning.

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  • I have stated an HP range in my question, although the range seems rather too large. Also, I didn't test maxing arc lightning by 7, but it seems a doable idea. Will test it out.
    – TonySniper
    Commented May 22, 2014 at 12:11
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Arc lightning is better in this case.

Method used: Two Zeus, one with each scenario skill build and a Veil of Discord.

The enemies: Centaur, Enigma, Dragon Knight, Tusk. All of these level 11 and with no items.

Bellow there are pictures with the damage log. Veil of Discord was used to amplify damage done, and all of Zeus's skills were used once its cooldown was reset. Both scenarios started with Thundergod's Wrath, then proceeded to Lightning Bolt Centaur, then Arc Lightning until Lightning Bolt could be used again.

Scenario 1 picures

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Scenario 2 pictures

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Arc Lightning Zeus was able to kill enemies faster than Static Field Zeus. Static Field Zeus had an advantage when it casted its Ultimate > Lightning Bolt, but then he falls off to Arc Lightning Zeus, which end up killing the four heroes with less casts of its spells.

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  • Answers with numerical explanations are still welcome and may be marked as an answer instead of this one.
    – TonySniper
    Commented May 23, 2014 at 0:04

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