Zilong is a pretty popular hero in Mobile Legends. Anyone who’s played the game can easily recognize this iconic fighter. While his efficiency has dwindled in recent years, he can still be a viable niche pick to counter certain heroes. Here’s everything you need to know to get you started playing the Spear of Dragon.

Overview

Everyone playing Mobile Legends owns the hero, Zilong since he is given away for free right after you finish the tutorial. So it’s pretty safe to say that everyone has had their chance to try this fighter on some of their games. Zilong is a very easy to use hero that rewards players for committing to all-ins and playing aggressively. He has excellent mobility, good crowd control, good sustain, and a buff that increases his damage output. He can be built as a burst damage dealer or a scaling DPS split pusher depending on what your team needs. 

Despite everything he has going for him, Zilong has quite a few weaknesses. Unlike most fighters, Zilong is very squishy and lacks a strong sustain that makes him durable. He is also vulnerable to crowd control and can easily be shut down by heroes with strong burst damage. Overall, Zilong can still be a good pick. If you can learn to play around his limitations, he can actually carry games and force a win under the right circumstances. 

Abilities

Zilong’s abilities are all about dealing damage. He works best as a secondary damage dealer that can follow up whenever a teammate initiates a fight. 

Passive – Dragon Flurry

After every 3 Basic Attacks, Zilong gains Dragon Flurry on his next Basic Attack, attacking the target [4] times, dealing 150% of Basic Attack Damage (37.5% Physical Damage each) and restoring Zilong’s HP according to 50% of his Physical Attack.

Zilong’s passive skill is actually pretty underrated. Dragon Flurry increases Zilong’s DPS and with enough items, you can constantly proc this passive. It can attack enemies hiding behind minions and it can also provide you with decent sustain. 

First Skill – Spear Flip

Zilong lifts an enemy over his back, dealing 250 / 270 / 290 / 310 / 330 / 350 (+80% Extra Physical Attack) Physical Damage.

Spear Flip is Zilong’s only form of hard crowd control. This is a very useful ability that makes him a deadly duelist especially when he is being shoved near his tower. This is a solid ability that can single out high priority targets from the enemy team. Try to combo this ability with crowd control from your teammates.

Second Skill – Spear Strike

Zilong dashes towards the target, dealing 250 / 290 / 330 / 370 / 410 / 450 (+60% Total Physical Attack) Physical Damage to the target, reducing the target’s Physical Defense by 15 / 18 / 21 / 24 / 27 / 30 for 2 seconds, and launching a Basic Attack immediately.

Spear Strike is Zilong’s gap closer. This allows him to quickly dash to an enemy target while also dealing damage. It also reduces the target’s Physical Defense for 2 seconds which opens up the opportunity for you to burst down the enemy with your basic attacks. This ability requires a target so you can use it creatively by flipping minions through a wall and dashing towards them to make a quick escape.

Ultimate – Supreme Warrior

Zilong gains 40% Movement Speed, Attack Speed by 45% / 60% / 75%, and slow immunity for 7.5 seconds. Slow effects are removed upon skill cast.

While Supreme Warrior is active, Dragon Flurry can be triggered after every 2 Basic Attacks instead of after every 3 Basic Attacks.

Supreme Warrior gives Zilong a massive buff to his movement speed and attack speed while also making him immune to slow effects. Try to use this ability at the start of a fight so you can dish out tons of damage. It’s on a relatively short cooldown as well so don’t hesitate to use this as an escape.

Builds

When it comes to builds, go for items that take advantage of Zilong’s attack speed buff. Items that increase his overall DPS are great. You could also go for a burst build where you would only go for items that increase his raw Physical Damage. But if you’re unsure or just new to playing the hero, you would fare better if you go with the Attack Speed DPS build. This allows you to be a great split pusher when your team is behind and losing fights. That being said, there are two items we consider important on a hero like Zilong. These core items are War Axe and Berserker’s Fury. 

• War Axe

+550 HP

+35 Physical ATK

+10% CD Reduction

Unique Passive – Fighting Spirit: Enter a battle stance upon dealing damage to any enemy unit. This increases the hero’s Physical Attack by 9 and Physical Penetration by 3 each second for 3s, to a max of 8 stacks (Marksmen/Mages/Supports only receive 33% of these stacked effects); also grants 15% Movement Speed at full stacks.

• Berserker’s Fury

+65 Physical ATK

+25% Crit Chance

Unique Passive: +40% Critical Damage

Unique Passive – Doom: Crit hit will increase the hero’s Physical Attack by 5% for 2s.

Try to incorporate these two items on whatever build path you decide to choose for Zilong. Both of them drastically increase his DPS and make him stronger as a duelist and a fighter.

Useful Tips

1. For your emblems, you can go with either the Assassin or Fighter set. If you’re playing more as a burst damage hero go with the Assassin set and take Killing Spree as your talent. This will restore your HP and give you a movement speed boost whenever you score a kill. If you’re leaning towards being a DPS hero, go with the Fighter set and take Unbending Will as your talent. This will increase your damage for every percent of your HP you lose, up to 12%.
2. For your battle spell, you can go with either Arrival or Retribution. If you’re playing as a jungler, go with Retribution as it allows you to clear jungle camps faster and lets you secure objectives like Baron or Turtle. Arrival, on the other hand, lets you teleport to a turret from any location. This is pretty handy when you’re playing in a side lane so you can effectively split push and apply lane pressure on different lanes.
3. Zilong can be countered by heroes that lock him in place with crowd control or have a high amount of burst damage. Heroes like Natalia, Freya, Vexana, and Saber are strong counters against him that can severely limit his effectiveness.

So there you have it! That’s everything you need to know on how to play Zilong in Mobile Legends. Be sure to check back with us again for more awesome guides on your favorite games. Have fun!