I still remember my first Paladins game (Not the bot matches -_- ), where I was playing Vik and this guy with a flaming sword wrecked me hard. So, Zhin was one of the first champs that I bought and I've played with him for almost 200 hours. In this guide, I just wanted to share the things I have learnt - from the basics to advanced.

Let's start with the basics - his abilities and talents.

1. Main weapon: Deals 1500 dmg over 2 seconds (short range). 2 initial swings deal 400 damage each and the third swing is a heavy swing - which deals 700 damage. I feel his damage output is pretty good and I've had many games where I have dealt more damage with Zhin than my damage team mate. His shots are easy to aim due to the wide projectile (and Paladins hitboxes xD).

2. Counter: His strongest ability. Zhin can counter most of the ultimates in the game including Skye's bomb, Terminus ult, Bomb king's king bomb, Seris ult, Lian's kneel, Atlas' banish and so on. The counter was buffed a few patches back (Counter range was increased) which has made this ability even more strong. He can win most 1v1s if counter is used wisely (like if u can counter Cassie's impulse combo or Lian's presence).

3. Whirl: Whirl is an ability which gives Zhin mobility and it's often a great kill finisher. Being area damage, it's very effective against a grouped up team. After the nerf, whirl is his solo movement ability to escape after getting a kill.

4. Billow: Zhin turns into smoke, takes no damage and cleanses all effects. 1.5 second duration seems to harsh after the recent nerf and billow can no longer be used as an ability to escape. It's good to avoid Crowd contol abilities like Imani's frost bomb, Furia's beam etc.

5. Spite: His ultimate ability. Spite is not one of the most influential or powerful ultimates in the game but is great if used correctly. Never use spite against a champion if his/her teammates are around. I would suggest not to use spite as soon as it's up. It's best if used in the following scenarios:

5.1 A tank like Fernando or Khan has his shield up. Spite on them will force them to drop the shield and be a stationary target for your teammates to hit.

5.2 If u find the opposite healer alone, hit once with your left click and spite on them. This helps against healers like seris who can escape easily.

5.3 For vertical mobility - On maps like Serpant beach, spite is a great tool to reach high ground.

5.4 Escape - If whirl and billow both are down, shout(YAAA!) and escape.

5.5 Top Play - There's no logic here. As soon as I get a double, I look to spite and get a triple xD.

I feel all of Zhin's 3 talents are viable and allow him to alter his play-style. I'll elaborate on these:

1. Yomi: Probably the most used talent and my personal favourite. With this talent, heavy hits deal 150 more damage (850), have no range limit and passes through enemies. This talent allows for a poke-heavy playstyle. You can stay around your team and spam the heavy hits on the enemy from far away. This is what I do - I stand near a cover, hit the wall 2 times (for the two regular shots) and aim the third shot (Yomi hit) at the healer/dmg as per the situation. This style is very safe, avoids having to overextend and you take minimum damage. Just stand back and poke the damage and healer (or the tank as per situation) and dive deep when you are sure to get a kill. The shots passing through enemies helps you farm more damage and even finish someone who is being body-blocked. You have to get used to the projectile speed and guide your shot according to the enemies' movement.

Note: With this talent, the heavy hits are considered Area Damage (Mitigated by blast shield)

2. Guillotine: Spite now deals 25% damage of the opponent's health and Zhin becomes damage immune during spite. This talent provides the team with an execution ultimate (Like Drogoz's dragon punch). Thus, this talent is good on mid-fight heavy maps like Ice Mines. Also, this talent is good against triple tank compositions. Zhin's playstyle becomes more of a tank-melter with this talent. Rack up morale boost and keep shooting and ulting the tanks.

3. Smolder: This talent allows Zhin to heal during billow (About 1000 health). This is the talent to pick if you really want to go aggressive and be a nuisance in the enemy backline. With the right loadout cards, you can keep getting billow reset after getting a kill. This gives Zhin sustain and thus survive in the backline. The mentioned playstyle becomes very hard against a well coordinated team. If you want to stay back and play safe, Yomi is better. If you want to dive and distract the backline, smolder is better.