Overview
Zetian is a high-utility Control Mage with unique global presence. She is the Empress of Shendu and functions as a long-range poker and teamfight initiator. Her Ultimate is her signature move—it reveals all enemies on the map, damages them, and stuns them simultaneously, no matter where they are. Her passive grants her Spell Vamp when hitting skills, making her surprisingly durable for a mage.
Strengths
Her Ultimate (Fury of the Phoenix) is one of the best initiation and anti-ambush tools in the game. It provides vision, a stun, and a movement speed boost for allies. Skill 1 (Phoenix Strike) can be cast up to three times if it hits a target, allowing her to clear waves quickly and harass from a safe distance. Her Celestial Robe automatically knocks back and stuns enemies who get too close (on a cooldown), which is a huge counter to melee assassins like Saber or Helcurt. Her Skill 2 (Phoenix Descent) reduces enemy Magic Defense, making her excellent at melting tanks during teamfights.
Weaknesses
She is a "chip damage" hero. She needs to hit her full 3-hit combo on Skill 1 to deal significant damage, unlike burst mages like Kadita. Because her Global Stun is so powerful, the cooldown is very long. Using it at the wrong time leaves your team without vision or CC for a large window. Frequent use of Skill 1 and Skill 2 to maintain her Spell Vamp stacks will drain her mana quickly in the early game. While casting her Phoenix Waves, she can move, but she is still susceptible to being caught out if she overextends to land the third (strongest) wave.
Core Build
Zetian is a "Utility/Burn" mage rather than a "Burst" mage. Use these items to maximize her continuous damage.
The Spam
Inspire. Boosts your Cooldown Reduction even further. Bargain Hunter helps you get your core items faster since she needs a full build to be effective. Impure Rage. Provides extra poke damage and restores Mana upon hitting skill vital for Zetian high mana usage.
Battle Spell
Essential for safety. Since Zetian lacks a natural dash, Flicker helps her escape assassins or reposition to land the third "pull" effect of her Skill 1
Priorities Skills
Use Skill 1 to clear minion waves quickly and rotate immediately. Once you hit level 4, constantly watch the mini-map to use your Ultimate; you can win side-lane fights without being there just by providing that global stun and vision.
Best With Tigreal
100% co-op win rate
Zetian works perfectly with "clump" initiators. When Tigreal pulls multiple enemies together with his Ultimate, Zetian can follow up with her Skill 2 + Skill 1 combo to melt the entire group's Magic Defense and keep them stun-locked for the team to finish.
Watch Out For Martis
80% counter win rate
Martis is a major threat to Zetian because his Skill 2 grants him Control Immunity. He can dash through Zetian Phoenix waves and ignore her passive knockback, allowing him to close the gap and burst her down before she can escape.