Zinx Build Guide

Table of Contents

1. TL;DR
2. Overview
   1. Strengths
   2. Weaknesses
3. Abilities Analysis
4. Deck Considerations
5. Deck Build #1
6. Deck Build #2
7. Gameplay
   1. Early Game
   2. Mid Game
   3. Late Game
   4. Tips and Tricks
8. Zinx Updates

TL;DR on Zinx

After hundreds of failed attempts the 348th was a perfect success - Zinx was born. Zinx utilizes her mana to be extremely durable and deal deadly damage over time to her enemies.

Focus on building mana and durability.

Kitty Claws will augment Zinx’s basic attacks causing them to apply a damage over time effect. This Kitty can have multiple of these DoT effects going at a time as long as she keeps landing basic attacks. One stack isn't deadly, but keeping several stacks on a target can easily cause them to flatline.

Ricochet Stun is a skill-shot with unique properties. The projectile will stun whomever it hit then ricochet and find a new target within a small radius stunning that enemy. It will then bounce more times stunning each enemy longer than the last. the number of bounces is based on the level of the ability.

Bad Medicine allows Zinx to release a devastating wave of energy that deals damage over time to enemies caught in its path. The length of the wave increases the longer you charge the ability. This is Zinx’s primary tool of waveclear and the damage can add up if enemies stay in the area of effect too long.

And finally your ultimate is Dirty Healing which comes with an active and passive component. While active Zinx will consume mana to instantly heal herself for 50% of any damage taken, the passive component grants Zinx bonus mana regen based on a percent of her missing mana. Dirty Healing can make Zinx very durable allowing her to tank tons of damage as long as she has the mana to do so.

Zinx relies on mana to both take and deal out damage. When playing Zinx you must balance taking damage, casting abilities and utilizing your passive to regenerate mana. If you focus on casting your abilities you won't have Mana to tank damage, and if you take too much damage you won't have mana to cast abilities. It's important to maintain a perfect balance to surgically dismantle your enemies. Be careful when taking damage if you don't have mana to pay for the damage you'll pay with your life.

Claw your enemies to pieces as Zinx.

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Lore of Zinx

• Denies the rumor that she once had a tail.
• Believes that precision and process saves lives.
• Dislikes most people, but feels compelled to help them anyway.

Zinx Overview

Zinx's Strengths

1. High sustain potential
2. Deceptive damage with damage over time (DoT) abilities.

Zinx's Weaknesses

1. Zinx requires constant control over her Mana pool until the late game
2. No burst damage at all.

Zinx's Abilities Analysis

Pistol Shot

Ranged basic attack dealing Basic Damage.

Can be modified with Kitty Claws to apply DoT like the Orange Buff does.

Bad Medicine

Alternate Ability. Zinx charges her gun and fires downward. When the projectile hits the ground it creates a field of energy, deals Ability Damage on direct hit and leaves an AOE that deals DoT Ability Damage over a short period of time. Takes 0.75 seconds to reach maximum charge. Can be fired early to create a smaller field.

Bad Medicine is a cast ability with charging phase which does not limit your movement and can not be cancelled. Charge duration affects only the size of AoE but not its damage. Bad Medicine requires position mastery to properly place the ability and deal maximum damage. In other words, it is all about placing the ability in an area where your enemy will stay longer. When Zinx charges the ability it is indicated by a clear visual effect.

Using the ability. Bad Medicine is a primary wave clearing tool for Zinx. Make sure you adjust the way you cast the ability based on how the minions are lined. Besides laning Bad Medicine works well in narrow map areas (e.g. in the Jungle) and makes good combo with Crowd Control abilities like Root or Stun.

Kitty Claws

Primary Ability. Zinx toggles her pistol into an empowered state. While empowered her Pistol Shots cost Mana per shot and apply DoT Ability Damage over a short period of time to enemies.

Kitty Claws is a toggle for her Pistol Shots. This toggling mechanics works exactly like Suppression Mode of GRIM.exe. I.e. you hit the ability - you switch the mode. You can switch the ability as often as once a second. If there is no enough Mana then Kitty Claws will automatically switch off. This ability requires execution mastery and mastery of Mana Pool control.

Mana. Kitty Claws drain Mana very fast, especially during early game you can deplete your Mana Pool in just a few seconds.

Using the ability. Aim carefully. The ability works as a bonus to your basic attacks, so landing them is a key. For this reason hitting a target surrounded by friendly minions will be challenging.

Also remember that when Kitty Claws are enabled, your enemy clearly sees that and will be ready to show their bullet dodging skills.

Damage. Damage is applied over a period of time and therefore can be misleading to your enemy. If you successfully land a series of hits, then your opponent may just not notice in time that they are already seconds away from an inevitable death. It's like what happens with Hive or Morigesh.

Ricochet Stun

Secondary Ability. Medium range projectile that after hitting an enemy ricochets to the nearest enemy in a 650 unit radius. The first enemy hit is stunned briefly. Enemies hit by the ricochet are stunned for 0.25 seconds longer than the last enemy. Will not ricochet to previous targets.

Ricochet Stun is a cast with targeting phase which does not limit your movement and can be cancelled. If confirmed with your basic attack button, it will travel between your enemies (Heroes or minions) and stun them. If you hit the first target it then will not miss.

Remember, Ricochet Stun does not deal damage.

Similar abilities. Imagine Thunk but capable of ricocheting. It will be Ricochet Stun.

Using the ability. As any CC Ricochet Stun is a good tool

• to freeze a target and follow up with Kitty Claws
• to peel for yourself or your ally of you are pulling back, or
• to convince your enemies to stay longer in an AOE of your Bad Medicine.

Peeling with Ricochet Stun is very effective since it's the only ability that can stun an entire enemy team if grouped. For the same reason it's very dangerous if you are having a fight in the Jungle.

Interaction with other abilities. Ricochet Stun is a projectile that can be stopped by walls and force shields (see Bulwark or Containment Fence), can be halted by Quelling Gale, or denied by Backlash.

Dirty Healing

Ultimate Ability with active and passive components:

• [Active]: Zinx toggles a defensive barrier around her body. While in this state Zinx heals 50% of all damage dealt to her and removes Mana based on the damage received.
• [Passive]: Zinx gains Mana Regen proportional to her missing Mana.

Dirty Healing is a toggle ability that activates or deactivates her barrier. This barrier is automatically deactivated when Zinx dies, but it does not deactivate if her Mana hits 0 mark.

Keep in mind. When Zinx dies, her barrier is automatically deactivated.

How it works. Dirty Healing is what makes Zinx unique. When the ability is active her total health pool is basically doubled until she has Mana. Every hit she takes is split between her HP and Mana making her capable of sustaining a lot of damage. However if her HP is low even full Mana Pool will not save her.

For the same reason Health Regen works very well on Zinx.

Mana management. Zinx is all about how you manage your Mana. If your blue bar is full then you are basically not using Dirty Healing's passive component. If it is close to zero, then you are in danger of loosing your barrier very fast. So the optimal way is to try keeping your Mana Pool at 50%-70% and use any of your abilities when you reach 100% mark.

Why do I need a toggle? Let me just keep barrier always on.

That is true. In almost all situations Zinx shall have her barrier activated. But let's imagine you are the one trying to get away from a fight. You have some HP but your Mana pool is low. You are being focused and therefore your Mana is kept around zero. There are two options:

1. you can keep running hoping to reach a tower or waiting for your allies to peel for you.
2. or you can turn the barrier off, wait a couple of seconds and use your Ricochet Stun.

Keep that in mind.

Zinx's Deck Considerations

As already mentioned Zinx is all about Mana and controlling its level. Her ultimate, Dirty Healing, allows her to share damage between Health and Mana pools but her abilities are expensive. This unique design helps her to mitigate a lot of punishment but as soon as her Mana is depleted she is a sitting duck with no protection and no abilities to cast.

While building a deck for Zinx keep in mind her Ultimate. It doubles any effect of HP and HP Regen since a half of damage goes into Mana.

Core Cards for Zinx

Zinx Deck Build #1

Explore Deck

Zinx Deck Build #2

Explore Deck

Gameplay with Zinx

Zinx is an Offlane Hero. Of course like nearly any Hero in Paragon she can work on other lanes but the left lane is the one for her kit. She has decent wave clear and has tools to both peel for herself with Ricochet Stun, and deal significant focused damage with her Kitty Claws.

Zinx is all about managing your Mana pool. If you have Lt. Belica in your enemy team you will definitely want to pay a lot of attention to her Void Drone and her Neural Disruptor.

Early Game

Until you reach level 5 you will have to lane carefully and use your Mana wisely as Zinx can drain it very rapidly. Save your Ricochet Stun to peel for yourself in case your opposing Carry and Support duo will try to kill you. Remember that Zinx has no escape abilities to re-position herself to a safer place, only that Ricochet Stun. When you see an attempt to attack you use the ability and try to land it when your opponents are close to their minion wave. This way you can make Stun longer.

Lane safely and land last-hits with your basic attacks.

Read more about laning

Try not to use Bad Medicine often unless there is a big wave of minions coming otherwise you will just deplete your Mana with no big impact to wave clear.

Mid Game

As soon as you get your ultimate you can be more aggressive while still keeping your Mana Pool in check. Remember that your Mana regeneration depend on how much Mana you miss. Try to keep your pool at about 40 to 50% in order to have decent regen while using your abilities frequent enough.

During team fights star away from the front line. Zinx can take a lot of damage and survive. The thing is that she can't deal damage and take it simultaneously. Both will hit her Mana Pool and end up in death. Pick the most squishy target and apply your DoT abilities. Use your Ricochet Stun to disrupt channel abilities, prevent enemy from backing up or peeling for your allies. This ability is very powerful against grouped enemy.

Late Game

Late game you will have Mana pool high enough to try doing both: tanking damage and casting abilities. You can try being on the front line, however still keep an eye on your Mana Pool. And do not expose Zinx for a focused fire of all your opponents.

Tips and Tricks with Zinx

• Do not forget to activate your ultimate after you die.

Zinx Updates

V42.3 (Aug-29 2017)

Kitty Claws were rebalanced. Starting from the .42.3 they will cost significantly less and scale much better with Power stat. Base damage was slightly reduced though.

Kitty Claws

• Mana cost (60/70/80/90 → 35/41/47/53)
• Power scaling (.21 → .75)
• Base dmg (41/64/88/111 → 35/56/77/98)

V41.4 (Jul-25 2017)

We are making a few balance adjustments to Zinx. These changes will improve her overall health as we approach the new gameplay experience in V42. Zinx was intentionally designed for the new item system, and we feel like she needs some help over the next two weeks.

• Base mana increased (240 → 260)
• Mana per level increased (53 → 58)
• Kitty Claws mana cost decreased (60/80/100/120 → 24/32/40/48)
• Dirty Healing mana regen increased (2/4/6% → 4/6/8%) of missing mana
• Attack speed per level increased (0 → 1.2)