Arena of Valor (AoV) - Zill Hero Guide

A guide to Arena of Valor's Zill, the Tempest. Zill blows through enemies with his high damage abilities, slaughtering the opposition before they have a chance to react.


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AoV WarriorWarrior AoV TankTank AoV AssassinAssassin
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Arena of Valor Zill

Overview

Zill is a mageassassin who harnesses the power of storms to fight his foes. He can quickly close gaps and burst enemies down for quick and decisive kills. His ultimate, Tornado, is his highlight, turning him into an untargetable tornado as he slices through foes.

Strengths

High Burst – Zill is capable of killing enemies very quickly with his abilities. Wind Blade and Tornado tear through squishy targets, making him a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.

Strong Ultimate – Zill is untargetable while casting Tornado. This allows him to deal heavy amounts of damage without taking any in return. This can be used a bit defensively as well by activating it when burst damage or a stun is about to land.

Very Mobile – Wind Shift allows Zill to jump from area to area very quickly. It also adds to his offensive arsenal, damaging nearby units when he arrives. He can quickly jump into fights to engage or escape whenever danger comes his way.

Weaknesses

No Hard Crowd Control – Zill doesn’t have any stuns or knock-ups to set up his ganks with. This, in turn, makes him very dependent on his teammates, as he needs their control abilities in order to secure kills when he ganks.

Vulnerable when Ultimate is Down – Tornado is a very strong ability that can kill multiple enemies and even act as an evasive tool when you want to deal damage while ignoring any abilities cast on you. The only problem is that he doesn’t have much to offer if the ability is down. Since he is also a very squishy hero, he will have a hard time against tanky or bursty opponents.

Hero Basic Strategy

Laning Strategy

  • Zill is best suited to the jungle, his kit well suited to ganking. He can also be used in the mid lane if needed, his ganking abilities useful in between minion waves.
  • If needed, he can start ganking at level two with Wind Blade and Wind Shift. Solo heroes are your best target. Try to get them to burn through their talent at the very least, but don’t over commit and die.
  • Hitting both Wind Shift and Wind Blade will automatically max your Dust Devil stacks. This will greatly slow down the enemy while also increasing Zill’s auto attack damage and refreshing Wind Blade’s cooldown.

Leveling Progression

  • As it is his main damage ability, max Wind Blade first. Each level also decreases the cooldown while also increasing the base and return damage.
  • Next, get Wind Shift whenever Wind Blade or Tornado isn’t available. Zill needs this to approach enemies, unable to contribute to fights otherwise.
  • Level Tornado whenever it is available. It is exceptionally powerful and allows Zill to very quickly finish off enemies.

Battle Strategy

Solo Fights – You want to go in with Wind Shift and follow up with Windblade. This will put three stacks of Dust Devil on your target. Auto attack to proc the magic damage and quickly use Tornado to bring them to max stacks again. Be sure to do this away from minions so that none of them can draw shots of Tornado. By this time, the enemy should have died or used their abilities to run away. Don’t forget to auto attack after bringing the target to max stacks of Dustdevil to increase your damage, slow your target, and refresh Wind Shift’s cooldown.

Team Fights – Jump on the enemy backlines and focus on their carries. Wait until the fight has started to avoid being immediately targeted.

Escaping Fights – The only escape ability he has is Wind Shift. Use it to create distance between you and your pursuer. This is especially effective if you can jump over a wall when moving.

Abilities

Arena of Valor Dustdevil Dustdevil – Passive – Zill’s abilities place Marks of the Wind of their targets when dealing damage. At 3 stacks, enemy movement speed is reduced by 80% for 0.5 seconds. Marks will last for 5 seconds.

When Zill’s normal attacks deal damage to targets with 3 marks, Wind Shift’s cooldown is immediately refreshed, and the targets take an additional 150 (+0.4 AP)ˀ magic damage.

Zill’s normal attacks deal additional40 magic damage, 65 (+10/level) magic damage when they hit a monster.

  • Use this whenever it is available to ensure that Zill has an escape method ready and to maximise his damage.
  • Wind Blade gives its target a stack each time the blade hits while Wind Shift only gives a single stack. His ultimate will max out stacks when targeting a single foe.
Arena of Valor Wind Blade Wind Blade – Zill tosses his scythes forward, dealing 200/240/280/320/360/400 (+0.4 AP) magic damage to all enemies in their paths and reducing their movement speed by 50% for 1.5 seconds. The scythes then fly back to Zill and deal 300/360/420/480/540/600 (+0.6 AP) magic damage to all enemies in their path.
  • Try as much as possible to hit your target with both waves of Wind Blade, as the second strike deals more damage. Use this in tight spots where the enemy can’t escape from the blades.
  • The blades travel to Zill’s present location when returning. Make sure to keep your opponent between you and the blades if they try to move.
Arena of Valor Wind Shift Wind Shift – Zill blinks to the target location and deals 260/300/340/380/420/460 (+0.45 AP) magic damage to nearby enemies.
  • This is Zill’s gap closer, used to jump onto enemies or escape team fights. Take note that this ability can damage multiple enemies, so using this is team fights is crucial if you want to have the upper hand in the team fight.
  • Be careful with using this offensively in team fights, as you may need it to make a quick escape.
Arena of Valor Tornado Tornado – Zill turns into a tornado for 1.5 seconds and attacks nearby enemies 5 times, dealing 300/550/800 (+0.5 AP) magic damage each hit. Once a target is hit, subsequent hits only deal 40% damage. Zill cannot be targeted or attacked while in tornado form.
  • This ability is best used when there is only one enemy hero nearby. Zill randomly attacks nearby enemies, so a single target will be hit by all five strikes.
  • Use this to dodge abilities or to draw attention away from yourself over its duration.
  • This ability can be used to safely engage players under towers. Jump at them with Wind Shift and quickly cast Wind Blade before activating Tornado. Dust Devil will cause Zill to have Wind Shift again once Tornado has ended and the target has (hopefully) died.

How to Counter Zill

  • Be aware of the Dust Devil passive and try to stay away as much as possible if you get three stacks.
  • Focus Zill down first when he enters a team fight. He is a fairly squishy hero and can be brought down easily, especially when his ultimate is on cooldown.

Hero Item Build

SG Recommended Build
Arena of Valor LOKI’S-CURSELoki’s Curse Arena of Valor ENCHANTED-KICKSEnchanted Kicks Arena of Valor APOCALYPSE
Apocalypse
Arena of Valor HECATE’S DIADEMHecate’s Diadem Arena of Valor RHEA’S BLESSING
Rhea’s Blessing
Arena of Valor Holy of Holies
Holy of Holies
SG Recommended Build
Arena of Valor LOKI’S CURSELoki’s Curse Arena of Valor ENCHANTED KICKSEnchanted Kicks Arena of Valor APOCALYPSE
Apocalypse
Arena of Valor Hecate’s Diadem
Hecate’s Diadem
Arena of Valor RHEA’S BLESSING
Rhea’s Blessing
Arena of Valor HOLY-OF-HOLIES
Holy of Holies

More Zill Item Builds

Hero Arcana

  • Zill is best suited for arcana that give additional magic damage. Taking Violate, Devour, and Hex allows Zill to be much more effective in combat.
  • Zill’s reliance on both his normal attacks and abilities make arcana like Conjure, Guerrilla, and Flurry good choices for him as well.

Hero Counters

Arena of Valor Tank Tank

Unless Zill has a huge lead, he should not engage a tank in one on one fights. Tanks can absorb most of his damage and some can even stop you from landing your abilities with their crowd control. Only attack if they are the only one alive on the enemy team or you have an ample amount of magic piercing to tear through their defenses.

Arena of Valor Warrior Warrior

Warriors are exceptional fighters that have a balance of durability and damage. Always take caution and keep your distance when fighting a warrior. Make use of Dustdevil and Wind Blade to slow their movement speed and try to burst them down. Use your ultimate to either finish them off or escape their damaging abilities. Don’t use it until you are sure of earning a kill.

Arena of Valor Assassin Assassin

Assassins are formidable foes against Zill, since they too have high amounts of burst damage. Keep track of the opposing assassin’s items and level. One wrong calculation can lead to your demise.

Arena of Valor Mage Mage

Mages have strong burst damage that can quickly eliminate Zill. On the other hand, Zill has the abilities needed to outsmart and even kill them while avoiding their damage. This can be done through Tornado’s invulnerability period. Mages are generally weak to heroes who have managed to get up close, so Zill’s mobility can give him a nice advantage against them.

Arena of Valor Marksman Marksman

Zill, like all assassins, can easily kill marksmen with a single combo. He can get close with Wind Shift and slow them with both his passive and Wind Blade. Additionally, marksmen won’t have any means to fight back when Zill uses Tornado. Like mages, marksmen are high priority targets and should be targeted first in team fights.

Arena of Valor Support Support

Supports are very squishy heroes whose main role is applying buffs and helping their teammates survive team fights. As such, they can’t do much once Zill gets close to them. Quickly kill them whenever you can. In team fights, however, it’s wise not to prioritize supports. Instead, you should be focusing all of your power on high priority targets like marksmen and mages.

“Learn from the Pros”

Source: Arena of Valor

▼ Hero Class Guides
List of Item Builds
AoV WarriorWarrior AoV TankTank AoV AssassinAssassin
AoV MageMage AoV MarksmanMarksman AoV SupportSupport

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