Ne Zha Ranked 3s Guide S7

Patch 7.1

As most who queue ranked joust know, Ne Zha is a top-tier pick and ban. With the influx of new rising gods and goddesses, he is becoming increasingly likely to slide through bans. Ne Zha is very flexible and can be played as a lone front-liner, one half of a double front-line comp, or even full-damage in rarer cases. I am by no means the best Ne Zha in the world of joust, but I have an in-depth understanding of his kit and potential and have succeeded at high levels through the use of The Third Lotus Prince.

Ne Zha - Still S Tier

Build Section

Notes

Full tank Ne Zha is highly effective when used with a mid-to-high CC mage and a more damaging assassin (Susano, Set, Da Ji, etc.). With the shift in meta during season 5 to a double front-line comp, Ne Zha finds it difficult to support a Mage/Hunter comp and I do not recommend it unless you are directly countering the enemy comp with a hunter pick. There are two core builds I find effective and they depend on what goal you are trying to accomplish.

Notes

This build offers 255 physical protections at max level (including base protections), 188 magical protections, a respectable 2650 health, a nice boost to HP5 thanks to sovereignty, 30% cooldown reduction, and a hefty amount of MP5. With 30% CDR, you will be casting your main 3 abilities at 10 seconds each (slightly longer on the 2 until max level), and your ultimate ability every 63 seconds. This does not take into account the passive CDR from Genji's guard. This build is great if you already have a high damage output from another physical. The slow on his 1 (as well as a movement speed buff to himself) combined with the stun/leap on his 3 are good crowd controls but you may want to strongly consider snagging another hard cc out of one of your other two picks. Ne Zha burns beads easier than most gods in the game. If you use his armillary sash you're almost guaranteed to take that person's beads unless they are a high level player. A high level player will have enough experience and quick enough reflexes to wait for the ult and then beads that. Always make sure that when you ult, you are not ulting in a situation where in your doing-so puts your carry at risk. Once you're up, you're up, so whatever goes on down there is no longer under your control until you land so make sure to ult the right target! The same ideas apply to the next build. The only thing that will change is the defensive items.

Notes

Bruiser Ne Zha is where Ne Zha really shines. I have quite a few builds that I use, and you'll have to learn which ones fit your play-style and comp. Bruiser Ne Zha works wonders when partnered with a good front-line guardian or warrior (Sobek, Cabrakan, Bacchus, Achilles, Horus, etc.). Each build brings different positives and negatives to the table and I will go into further depth in those subsections.

Notes

Blackthorn is STILL an essential item on Ne Zha. Although the balance brought it down to a manageable state, it is still a highly valued item and provides you with too much early pressure to pass up on. Always go straight into boots, the new joust map is too big to be slow. The next item varies depending on who you are going against. If there is a threat of the other team out-sustaining your damage then trade the Hydra's place with Brawler's. If not, go Hydra's third. Hydra's is an undervalued item on Ne Zha even amongst high-level players. I find I am one of the few Ne Zha players who realizes its potential and utilizes it. Sashing into a 40% damage increase basic attack into an ult deals respectable damage. The true value heightens when you have 20 stacks on your 2. You cast your 2, basic attack. There is a 15% chance that basic attack crits. With hydras if that basic crits then you will be dealing massive damage for such an easy combo. Then armillary sash. Another basic and another 15% chance at a crit + hydra's. Then an ult. Regardless of the two tank items you will be dealing insanely high amounts of damage. The 10% nerf to Hydra's hurt but it is still a top tier item on Ne Zha. This build overcaps CDR by 10% but if you get the chance in late game you should sell blackthorn for titan's bane or another physical defense item.

Notes

The idea here is very simple. Rush blackthorn, grab boots. Void shield is an essential item when you're 1 of 4 physical gods/goddesses in the game. If your partner picks it up then grab a sovereignty. Both items should be grabbed 3rd, just communicate which of you will buy which item. Shield of regrowth is very situational here, but the last item in this build will always be situational no matter the comp. I like to go regrowth because typically when you're going against a double physical front-line they will not have a strong method of eating through health. Regrowth provides a hefty 300 health and finished the 10% CDR to reach the cap. The passive also coincides PERFECTLY with ne zha's 2 as the max cooldown on the 2 is right around 8 seconds so you should never miss a proc. This means if you cast your 2 as soon as it comes off cooldown every chance you get, you will be moving 40% faster for 4 of the next 10 seconds EVERY 10 seconds. With the increase in the size of the joust map this 40% movement speed with the addition of the 45% max movement speed from your ring toss will be an immense advantage over everyone else in the game.

Notes

There isn't much room for alteration in this build. You're most likely going to want your guardian to build the sovereignty and you the heartward. The reason for this is that you will be diving the back-line a lot. A back-line that will consist of the mage and the support that should retreat to help said mage. That is two magical presences. Meanwhile the opponent's physical will be diving your mage and your support should be helping peel for that mage. Sov's physical prots will be vital in your mage's survival early on. Brawler's is a must build item. When you're with another physical front-liner you can usually rely on them to build brawler's but here you're with two magicals. Double front-line comps usually consist of a meditation and 1 or 2 in-kit heals. Finish up with two items that need no introduction and you're good to go.

Notes

Same start as you expected. If the other front-liner on your team decides to build sovereignty then you should opt for a heartward and vice versa. If you build sovereignty then build pestilence after jotunn's. If you built heartward then build contagion after jotunn's. Cap it off with Hydra's and you're good to go. The idea here is that you'll be double diving the mage and killing them before the support can save them, then turning on the other two. A mobile mage that can escape the wrath of the physical front-line makes this work most efficiently.

Notes

I do not recommend building full damage ne zha unless the enemy team is composed of two squishy gods/goddesses. Although, if you have a bruiser mage (zhong, hel, etc) then this can work relatively well.

Notes

This build takes some time to come online but the end game does enough damage to realistically one-combo any squishy god (save for maybe Kuku and Nox, who i'd never build full damage ne zha into). The bloodforge is nice because typically you're going to be the first to engage with this build and you're almost always coming away with a kill in the ult if you dont ult a CC immune target (or the wrong one) and allows you to stay in the fight that follows.

Notes

Building deathbringer makes me cringe but if you make good use of your 2 then you can always be attacking with 45% crit chance and a hydra's proc which is very scary. I switched Brawler's and Jotunn's just to show that you can buy them interchangeably. It all depends on the comp you are facing. This applies to both builds.

Ne Zha - Still S Tier Build Section
Leveling Progression Skills Section
- Universal Progression

Ne Zha Build Guide

One Power - NA

Warrior's Blessing

Sovereignty

Warrior Tabi

Heartward Amulet

Genji's Guard

Breastplate of Valor

Warrior's Blessing

Heartward Amulet

Warrior Tabi

Sovereignty

Pestilence (old)

Breastplate of Valor

Genji's Guard

Warrior's Blessing

Blackthorn Hammer

Warrior Tabi

Hydra's Lament

Breastplate of Valor

Spirit Robe

Warrior's Blessing

Blackthorn Hammer

Warrior Tabi

Void Shield

Hydra's Lament

Pestilence (old)

Shield of Regrowth (Deprecated)

Warrior's Blessing

Blackthorn Hammer

Warrior Tabi

Heartward Amulet

Breastplate of Valor

Hydra's Lament

Warrior's Blessing

Blackthorn Hammer

Warrior Tabi

Sovereignty

Jotunn's Wrath

Pestilence (old)

Hydra's Lament

Warrior's Blessing

Blackthorn Hammer

Warrior Tabi

Jotunn's Wrath

Hydra's Lament

Y10 Bloodforge

Warrior's Blessing

Blackthorn Hammer

Warrior Tabi

Jotunn's Wrath

Hydra's Lament

Deathbringer

Ne Zha Ranked 3s Guide S7