Zuka

Build and Guide Zuka

A guide to Arena of Valor's Zuka, the Pandharma Master. Zuka is able to jump into battle and strike enemies with his bamboo staff. His mobility is near unmatched, able to roll around the battle field to get close or evade enemy attacks
Hero Basic Strategy
Laning Strategy
Zuka can be used either in the jungle or in the Slayer lane. His abilities are both good for ganking or in dominating duels.
Use Zuka’s ganking potential to put pressure on the lanes as much as possible.
Leveling Progression
Max Pain on a Stick first. This will serve as his main damaging ability as well as his best means of movement.
Panda Chariot should only be focused first if the shield is assisting a lot in team fights. Take note that the shield’s scaling relies more on your attack damage than its level.
Level Skyfall whenever it’s available.

Battle Strategy
Solo Fights – Open up with Skyfall, or use Panda Chariot to enter the fight with a defensive edge. Alternate your abilities with basic attacks to take full advantage of the enhancement that each ability provides. Your abilities will make it very difficult for your target to escape, as the movement will let you stick close to them. Try only to engage when The Chi is available in order to maximize your damage output.

Team Fights – Don’t put yourself in positions where you will be taking a lot of damage. You want to be at the back of the fight, picking off the squishy damage dealers. Wait for your tanks and initiators to start the team fight and for the fight to pick up steam. Once their tanks and initiators are preoccupied, jump to the squishy targets with Skyfall before unleashing the rest of your abilities.

Escaping Fights – Zuka’s full set of movement abilities makes escaping very easy. Any one of them can be used to jump through walls, Pain on a Stick can even be used twice in succession.


Abilities


The Chi – Every 15 seconds, dealing damage to an enemy hero triggers Zuka’s Chi, increasing his attack damage by 30/35/40/45% of attack damage (increasing at level 5/9/13) for the next 5 seconds.
The Chi only activates when you have dealt damage to an enemy hero. Zuka will glow when the effect is active
This effect stacks with his abilities’ empowerment of auto attacks. Use this in unison with his abilities to deal the maximum damage possible.
The additional damage also affects towers when active.

Pain on a Stick – Zuka raises his staff and charges forward, dealing 135/160/185/210/235/260 (+0.9 AD)ˀ physical damage to nearby enemies. This ability can be used again within 5 seconds of the first use and each use enhances Zuka’s next normal attack, increasing its range and dealing an additional (+0.5 AD) physical damage.
It’s important that you auto attack after each cast of this ability. Casting the ability a second time before attacking will waste some of its damage potential.
The ability’s cooldown starts after the second use of the skill or five seconds after the first use

Panda Chariot – Zuka rolls forward, dealing 100/120/140/160/180/200 (+0.35 AD) physical damage to enemies in his path. On a successful hit, Zuka gains a shield that absorbs 150/180/210/240/270/300 (+1.5 AD) damage for 2.5 seconds and enhances his next normal attack to deal an additional (+0.5 AD) physical damage and knocking enemies into the air for 1 second.
Panda Chariot is best used near enemies, as the shield only activates when you hit one with the initial roll.
The shield will activate no matter what kind of unit Zuka strikes.
This is also a great ability to use against escaping enemies, the empowered auto attack gaining a knock up. When ganking enemies, you can use this after Skyfall to further suppress the target.

Skyfall – Zuka leaps up and crushes his enemies from above, dealing 500/650/800 (+1 AD) physical damage to enemies in the target area and stunning them for 1 second. His next normal attack will deal an additional (+0.5 AD)physical damage to nearby enemies.
Cast Skyfall from the brush to surprise your opponents.
As with all of Zuka’s abilities, do not forget to auto attack right afterwards.
When ganking, wait for your passive before using this ability in order to deal as much damage as possible.

How to Counter Zuka
Zuka has a ton of mobility to catch unsuspecting enemies from far away. Be sure to teleport back to base immediately when you are in critical health.
It’s best to kill Zuka immediately when he enters a team fight. He is a fairly squishy hero that can easily be killed with bursty abilities and crowd control.

Build item
.Spear of longinus
.Gilded Greaves
.Rankbreaker
.omni arms
.Shield of the lost
.Hercules Madnes

Hero Arcana
Zuka will benefit most from arcana that enhance his damage output. Taking Onslaught, Assassinate, and Skewer will make him more effective in skirmishes and teamfights.
Players can alternatively take defensive arcana in order to stay in fights longer. Indomitable, Benevolence, and Valiance are good choices in this regard.


Strengths
Very High Mobility – Zuka is very mobile, all of his abilities able to be used either to engage or escape from enemies. When comboed together, he can leap up to four times. These also allow him to pass through walls, making Zuka a very hard hero to outmaneuver.

High Damage Output – Zuka’s damage is nearly unmatched by other junglers within the game. In addition, his passive gives him a ton of damage after attacking enemy heroes every 20 seconds. All of his abilities also empower his auto attacks every time they are cast, making him one of the best warrior/assassin junglers in the game.

Cooldown Based Hero – None of Zuka’s abilities require mana, only limited by their cooldowns. This, in turn, lessens his burden when casting abilities, letting him spam them as much as he wants in team fights.

Weaknesses
Difficult – Despite his high damage output and no-cost abilities, Zuka can be hard to play. A character who moves with each ability cast can be difficult to control for new players. You need to know when to enter a team fight and when to exit, pacing your ability usage to fit these situations.

Squishy – Zuka can be easily burst down by mages and other carries. His kit also forces him to get into the middle of team fights to attack the team’s squishier heroes. As such, a single mistake can spell danger for him. Building tanky is also not recommended as your damage potential will fall off as a result.