About OCM:

I'm a 2x Rank 1 and Master+ player specializing in high MMR Assassin & "flex" play, and have played HotS since first wave technical alpha testing. I now stream and youtube more casually.

My guides are like notebooks. I update them progressively based on what I learn and theorycraft. As such, this guide is a culmination of my experience, successes, and feedback.

Twitch: OfClanMurray
Twitter: OCM_Heroes
YouTube: OCM

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UPDATE 1.9.17: Level 10 reached!





LARGE UPDATE 1.7.17: Complete overhaul of main build in this guide, now featured as "Axe Man". A lengthy explanation for this build can be found in it's guide section below, along with alternates and so on.

The "Taz'dingo!" build can still be found in full explanation below.

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Zul'jin is a potent ranged assassin that focuses on the importance of two things: positioning and health mitigation. Blizzard isn't lying when they say that this hero is easy to play, hard to master. Running in face first and expecting results won't get anything done.

The "flashy" plays you may be looking for will come from knowing when and how to use your critical cooldowns, and keeping positioning in mind that will allow you to deal out the most damage from the safest point of control.

UPDATE JUNKRAT PATCH REWORK:

This build has been updated to reflect what I believe to be the "meta-abiding" way to play Zul'jin. The thoughts from the previous iteration of this build are below.


UPDATE GENJI PATCH

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The more and more that I play Zul'jin, the more and more I keep questioning what value there is in the "apparent" choices for his auto attacks. I had a build listed here prior that made use of every one of his Q talents, but after a bunch of experimenting, I've come to conclude to some extent that Zul'jin is actually decently viable when using the following build that I've dubbed "Axe Man".

This build replaces a noteable pick at 7 for the Q talent. Ironically, this provides insane early game potency for Zul'jin while allowing him to do something that seems uncharacteristic: it means you don't HAVE to use Berserking.

Berserking is a great ability and should be used appropriately to allow for increased burst output, but every time I found myself using the "Taz'dingo!" build, it was all too suicidal to an extent.

What this "Axe Man" build encourages is timed usage of Berserking to micro manage output, rather than just putting a lead foot to the gas pedal. At levels 4 and 16, you still hit the unique power spikes of increased attack speed that allow for insane auto attack damage and increased critical hits onto whoever you manage to Q.

This is obviously good in team fights, but also deceptively good for lane clear. Zul'jin is inexplicably mana hungry, and being able to Q a full wave to maximize damage to it allows you to minimize mana usage and still clear lanes efficiently with or without your team.

A final note is the choice of Guillotine. I've noticed that, even while accompanied by a conscious support player, Taz'dingo is more often "miss" than "hit" after the 30 second increase to its cooldown. Developers claim this was a pre-launch intention and wanted to implement it fast, but I find this made a fairly weak hero a lot weaker in a specific regard, being low-health output. Guillotine allows a degree of safety to your playmaking potential that still works off of the low health mechanic, but doesn't necessarily mean offing yourself to make use of it. The short cooldown is also astronomically more favorable than 90 seconds, and means more frequent availability in skirmishes or team fights. It should be noted however that Guillotine functions much better when there is stable peel and support present on your team.

Last but not least, note that level 20 is fairly flexible. You only have two choices to go with, so determine what you need more: a root, or the increased ult damage potential. You can't necessarily make a wrong choice, just pick the one that works in the given situation.

UPDATE: Ironically, the Taz'dingo nerf to a 90 second cooldown has dramatically changed the way this build is played. Descriptively, nothing has changed, but the impact of Taz'dingo is now much more survival over output until level 20.

The strengths of this build are the fact that it's strong throughout every phase of the game, provided it's used by someone with the right understanding of how to manage cooldowns, and mitigate health trade with Berserking.

Make sure to still combo off your W and E for maximum damage output and unleash as much hell as possible. Backing your opponent off and establishing the upper hand in a fight is half of the battle. If you can bully your way into baiting a low health fight, that's where Zul'jin thrives.

Make sure to not get trigger happy on Taz'dingo. It's incredibly utility and survival. Don't throw it away over nothing.

An alternate version of this build that steps away from Zul'jin's E talents is featured below. It's great for maximum damage output, but keep in mind that this is a build you'll only want to use in the presence of dedicated and powerful healing supports on your team.

I actually do really like this build. The strength of Zul'jin and this build is that you can pick talents in response to the enemy team. If you end up against a team or in a draft where Auto Attacks aren't necessarily the best idea, this is a great AP alternative that revolves around a great combo.

The potency of this build revolves around the "Dunk" combo. The combo is simple in concept. Land ensnare on your main target, then line up your W straight into Guillotine. Make sure you do this below 50% health to benefit from the all-around 25% AP increase and bonus damage onto Guillotine for the awesome one-shot potential that this build has.

Using Headhunter in this build is also a fun way to get vision on further out targets to ensure a Guillotine hit. Thus I've included that alteration below.