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Hello everyone, I'm Xiaodi, your gaming host.

Lately in ranked games, have you observed that Zhu Bajie shows up a lot more often? I looked into the stats and found that his pick rate across all segments is now nearly 10%, compared to roughly 2% last season. What causes this sudden spike in usage for a tank hero?

Why did Zhu Bajie suddenly become so hot?

On one hand, it's mainly the new season's changes to Zhu Bajie. This update was straightforward: it raised the base values of his first and second skills and added a key mechanic called "Collision Damage." In simple terms, when his first or second skill hits an enemy hero, it deals bonus damage equal to 5% of the target's max HP, while hitting jungle monsters or minions deals extra damage equal to 5% of his own max HP.

How strong is that number? I'm sure you can already feel it. The most important part is the later adjustment that made jungling viable for Zhu Bajie by completely fixing his early game problems of slow jungle clear and wave clear. Additionally, the damage composition of his first and second skills changed from pure base damage to bonus AD scaling, so many players now run 100-penetration runes, boosting his level 1 burst damage significantly. If you still lane with last season's expectations, you might lose half your HP to a single combo from Zhu Bajie.

Also, we can't overlook the release of a new skin for Zhu Bajie—"Super Rescue." Although its sales weren't particularly high compared to others, even lower than a limited Brave skin that returned at the same time, it still drew more attention to the hero himself.

Zhu Bajie has become a ranking information gap.

Although his pick rate is rising, many players still don't know this creates a great info gap. The enemy team won't ban him or take him seriously in game, so you can leverage this to climb ranks. As for builds, there are generally two sets: one is Giant's Grip, Cooldown Boots, Black Cleaver, Dragon's Sword Shield, Red Lotus Cloak, and Undying Bird's Eye; the other is Greedy Devourer, Resist Boots, Dragon's Sword Shield, Red Lotus Cloak, Undying Bird's Eye, and Blood Demon's Fury.

The core idea is to keep Zhu Bajie tanky enough while adding some physical items to adapt to the damage calculation changes, making his damage output higher. Can you go full damage? Not really, because you still need high max HP for jungle clearing, and Zhu Bajie is a melee fighter—if his defenses are too weak, he'll get focused and won't survive, leaving no room for error.

Additionally, HP management is very important for Zhu Bajie. When you have gray health, dealing damage to enemies converts it into red health, but gray health only lasts a limited time, so you can't delay. This means during team fights, you should dive into the middle of enemies and rely on AOE damage to heal—that's the correct playstyle. That's why the build includes Red Lotus Cloak for AOE damage and Undying Bird's Eye to speed up healing. It also requires you not to run away when your HP drops; instead, stick close to enemies as much as possible.

That's all for today. If you found it helpful, feel free to give a like to support me. If you have anything to say, ask, or want to see, leave a comment below—I'll read them all!

No game unknown, no thing unlearned; I'm Xiaodi, let's chat freely!

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