This is from the Warcraft universe.| “ | Da Amani been around forever. And we gonna stay around forever.
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Zul'jin is a Ranged Assassin Hero from the Warcraft universe.
Before the elves and their Alliance, the forests of Lordaeron belonged to the trolls of the Amani Empire. As their warlord, Zul'jin, has united the tribes into an army that stands ready to take back what is theirs and to slay the elves who stole it from them.
Background
Zul'jin is a warlord of the Amani forest trolls and has been chieftain of the Amani tribe since before the Second War. Zul'jin and the Amani tribe were allied with the orcish Horde for the duration of the Second War, but Zul'jin himself was captured near its end by the Alliance. Upon gaining his freedom he went into hiding to rebuild his army and plan an attack on the remnants of the high elves, now known as blood elves, only to find them allied with the Horde.[1]
Gameplay Summary
Zul'jin is a high-risk, high-reward Assassin who becomes stronger the lower his health is, thanks to his trait, Berserker. Under the right circumstances, Zul'jin can dish out an insane amount of damage in little time.
Overall, Zul'jin is flexible as he can fit either the role of a Sustained Basic Attacker, or a "Mage" with high Ability Damage, depending how he is talented. Because of this, he fits on most team compositions, although it is imperative to have a good frontline and healing so he can fight to his full potential.
Strengths
- Outstanding Basic Attack damage output when at low health thanks to Berserker.
- Can permanently increase his Basic Attack range and receive a buff to Twin Cleave by completing the passive quest, You Want Axe?
- Can be talented into either a Basic Attack Damage or Ability Damage.
- Very potent duelist.
- High area-of-effect burst damage through Twin Cleave and Guillotine.
- Can become quite efficient at waveclear if talented into either Grievous Throw or Twin Cleave.
- Can become temporarily unkillable with Taz'dingo!, which synergizes well with Berserker.
- Regeneration is invaluble in order to allow Zul'jin to recover quickly after having spent his health to increase his own damage or having taken large amounts of damage after a fight/encounter.
- Can dish out ludacris amounts of damage with a well placed Guillotine.
- Exellent at wearing down high health opponents.
- Can do very well against heroes with Taunt, such as Varian or Garrosh.
Weaknesses
- High learning curve.
- Is incredibly reliant on correct health-management because of Berserker, as too much health can risk weakening Zul'jin's damage output, where as too little health will risk getting the already squishy Hero killed very quickly, especially if Guillotine is picked.
- Twin Cleave is relatively easy to avoid.
- Guillotine is a predictable and difficult to land skillshot, which can be easily wasted if used at high health.
- Possesses little to no mobility, even with the Eye of Zul'jin talent.
- Completely shutdown by Blinds.
- Highly susceptible to crowd control, focus fire, diving and ganking.
Abilities
Mana: 50
Cooldown: 8 seconds
Zul'jin throws an axe forward, dealing 130 (+4% per level) damage to the first 2 enemies hit and marking them for 6 seconds. Marked enemies take 50% bonus damage from Zul'jin's next 3 Basic Attacks against them.
Mana: 60
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Throw 2 axes in a large, circular arc, dealing 116 (+4% per level) damage and slowing affected enemies by 15% per axe for 2 seconds.
Zul'jin channels to regenerate 30% of his maximum Health over 4 seconds. Moving while channeling or taking damage will interrupt this effect.
Trait
Heroic Abilities
Tier 4 (Hero Level 10)
Mana: 75
Cooldown: 90 seconds
For the next 4 seconds, Zul'jin is Unkillable, and cannot be reduced to less than 1 Health. Taz'dingo!
Tier 4 (Hero Level 10)
Mana: 70
Cooldown: 40 seconds
Zul'jin launches a massive axe into the air that drops on the targeted area, dealing 330 (+4% per level) damage plus 300% bonus damage the lower his Health is.
Talents
Tier 1, Hero Level 1
Tier 1 (Hero Level 1)
Grievous Throw now pierces through all enemies hit and restores 15 Mana per Hero hit. Additionally, Grievous Throw's mark is no longer removed by Basic Attacks.
Tier 1 (Hero Level 1)
While Zul'jin is below 75% Health, his Spell Power is increased by 10%. While he is below 50% Health, he gains 20% Attack Power.
Tier 1 (Hero Level 1)
Quest: Zul'jin's first Takedown against each enemy Hero permanently increases his damage dealt by 2%. Reward: After getting Takedowns on every enemy Hero, Basic Attack range is increased by 1.1.
Tier 2, Hero Level 4
Tier 2 (Hero Level 4)
Increase Regeneration's healing by 25%. If Regeneration fully finishes, restore 10% of Zul'jin's maximum Mana.
Tier 2 (Hero Level 4)
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Activate to remove Roots and Slows.
Passive: Lower the cooldown and Mana cost of Regeneration by 40%.
Tier 2 (Hero Level 4)
Cooldown: 20 seconds
Activate to cause Zul'jin to instantly lose 50% of his current Health and heal for that amount over 10 seconds. Zul'jin gains 5 Armor while regenerating health from Amani Rage.
Tier 3, Hero Level 7
Tier 3 (Hero Level 7)
Increase Grievous Throw's damage bonus by 35% and duration by 3 seconds.
Tier 3 (Hero Level 7)
Quest: Twin Cleave's damage is permanently increased by 0.75 every time it hits a Hero.
Tier 4, Hero Level 10
Tier 4 (Hero Level 10)
Mana: 75
Cooldown: 90 seconds
For the next 4 seconds, Zul'jin is Unkillable, and cannot be reduced to less than 1 Health. Taz'dingo!
Tier 4 (Hero Level 10)
Mana: 70
Cooldown: 40 seconds
Zul'jin launches a massive axe into the air that drops on the targeted area, dealing 330 (+4% per level) damage plus 300% bonus damage the lower his Health is.
Tier 5, Hero Level 13
Tier 5 (Hero Level 13)
Increases the slow amount of each Twin Cleave Axe by an additional 10%.
Tier 5 (Hero Level 13)
Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes grant Zul'jin 6% Movement Speed for 2 seconds, up to 30%.
Tier 6, Hero Level 16
Tier 6 (Hero Level 16)
Zul'jin's Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes marked with Grievous Throw ignore Armor.
Tier 6 (Hero Level 16)
If an enemy is hit by both Twin Cleave axes at the same time, they take an additional 100 (+4% per level) damage and count as 5 Hero hits for You Want Axe?.
Tier 6 (Hero Level 16)
When Zul'jin kills an enemy, his Attack Speed is increased by 5%, up to 40%, for 12 seconds. Basic Attacks refresh the duration.
Hero Takedowns instantly grant 40% Attack Speed.
Tier 7, Hero Level 20
Tier 7 (Hero Level 20)
Increase Taz'dingo's duration by 1 second. Upon expiring, Zul'jin heals for 50% of the damage he dealt during Taz'dingo.
Tier 7 (Hero Level 20)
After impact, Guillotine continues forward, dealing 75% damage to enemies hit. If a Hero is killed by Guillotine, Zul'jin is instantly healed to full.
Tier 7 (Hero Level 20)
Regeneration is no longer Channeled, and cannot be interrupted.
Talent Builds
- Basic Attack Build: focused on maximizing the high single target damage output of Zul'jin's basic attacks through Berserker combined with Taz'dingo! This build is recommended in most situations, except when facing compositions that feature many sources of Blind and/or physical armor.
- Grievous Throw Build: focused on improving Grievous Throw to maximize its power and utility, allowing it to pierce multiple opponents, thanks to Boneslicer, as well ignore armor through No Mercy!. This build is mostly recommended against multi-Warrior compositions, and/or when the team has ways to increase armor effects (such as Uther's Eternal Devotion).
- Twin Cleave Build: focused on improving Twin Cleave to maximize Zul'jin area-of-effect damage and poke potential. Because of this, the main focus of this build is to complete "You Want Axe?" as fast as possible, as it makes Twin Cleave revolve twice, which synergizes with the repeatable quest talent Arcanite Axes. This build is mostly recommended when facing various Ranged-based Heroes, as Twin Cleave is very powerful at harassing the backline.
Tips
- Learning when to activate and deactivate Berserker is key to play Zul'jin; it is important to not tunnel vision and forget to turn it off at critical moments, which can lead into Zul'jin being at very low health and compromising a team fight.
- Positioning is very important when using Grievous Throw, as it will mark only the first two targets hit (including structures). So avoid using it to hit a Hero if there are too many minions in the way.
- Don't be afraid to use Taz'dingo! preemptively if the enemy team features too many stuns and/or silences that can prevent its cast at low health.
- Guillotine has a small delay after cast, so make sure to pay attention to the opponents' path to avoid missing.
Matchups
Pairings
Zul'jin is best paired with a strong frontline capable of providing peeling and crowd control, as well Support Heroes that can enable him during critical moments. Since Zul'jin deals more damage the lower his health is, he performs better with Heroes that can provide Shielding and/or damage reduction buffs.
Effective against
Zul'jin is a very potent duelist, being able to win most 1v1 situations. Regardless of how he is built, he can destroy squishy opponents at ease, especially those with poor mobility.
Effective foes
Zul'jin is very susceptible to dives and ganks, as well crowd control such as stuns and silences, which can prevent him to use Taz'dingo! at critical moments. Heroes that can inflict blind also heavily hinder his damage output.
Skins
- Warlord of the Amani (base)
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| Warlord of the Amani | Bloodscalp | Classic |
- Warbringer Zul'jin
100
- Prior to the Troll Wars, the Amani Empire was a great and powerful civilization. Zul'jin has rekindled the flames of its former warlords, and has donned their ceremonial battle armor as a sign of respect.
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| Warbringer | Venom | Jungle |
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Desert  150
| Coral 150
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- Emberlord 400
- The Emberlords seldom leave their molten domains, choosing to emerge only when the earth's rage demands retribution. Once they are on the warpath, nothing can withstand their fury.
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| Emberlord | Frost | Toxic | Amberlord 600
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| Arcane 600
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- Lunar 150
- For Azeroth's trolls, the loa are a central part of the Lunar Festival. Shadow hunters celebrate the powerful spirits by crafting elaborate masks in their likeness.
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| Lunar | Ancestral | Cruel | Jade |
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| Ornamented |
Development
Zul'jin was showcased as a character in BlizzCon 2013.[2] He was conceived within the first two years of the game's development.[3] As of December 2014, he was still intended for inclusion, but his release date was unknown.[4] At BlizzCon 2016, he was accidentally listed as a completed hero, but no release date was given for him.[3] He was revealed as an upcoming hero in December, 2016.[5]
Patch changes
- (Patch March 21, 2018) Note: Basic Attack damage increased from 90 to 94.
- (Patch February 6, 2018) Note: Lunar skins added.
- (Patch November 22, 2017) Note: Buff icons in Zul'jin’s Buff Bar will now match the order in which their associated Talents were selected.
- (Patch October 17, 2017) Note: Basic Attack Damage reduced from 106 to 90.
- (Patch September 5, 2017) Note: Coral Warbringer and Desert Warbringer skins added.
- (Patch August 8, 2017) Note: Arcane Emberlord Zul'jin skin added.
- (Patch May 10, 2017) Note: Basic Attack damage reduced from 110 to 106.
- (Patch February 14, 2017) Note: Fixed an issue causing Zul’jin to have a slightly higher Health Regeneration rate than intended.
- (Patch January 4, 2017) Note: Added.
(References
- ↑ From WoWWiki
- ↑ 2013-11-09, Heroes Skin Showcase - Heroes of the Storm - Blizzcon 2013. YouTube, accessed on 2014-03-09
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 2016-11-21, BlizzCon 2016 Heroes of the Storm Deep Dive Panel Transcript. Blizzplanet, accessed on 2016-11-21
- ↑ 2014-12-05, HEROES OF THE STORM AMA TRANSCRIPT. Blizzpro, accessed on 2014-12-07
- ↑ 2016-12-27, In Development: Zul’jin, New Skins, and More!. YouTube, accessed on 2016-12-28
