Stats for mythic rank, last 7 days — third-party aggregation, not an official Moonton figure.
Written by EllieAnth — playing MLBB since 2017 (9+ years), peak rank Mythical Immortal, 1126 stars.
How to itemise Zilong and, more importantly, why each item earns its slot.
Overview
Zilong is a fragile Fighter and Assassin who relies heavily on rapid Basic Attacks to trigger his passive, Dragon Flurry, which deals extra damage and restores his health. Because his base durability is low, he cannot survive long trades without high attack speed and on-hit damage. This build solves his vulnerability by maximizing his attack frequency during Supreme Warrior, transforming him into a rapid single-target melt machine and split-pusher. By combining attack speed items with percent health damage and physical power, Zilong can quickly shred targets after catching them with Spear Strike and flipping them with Spear Flip, while maintaining self-sustain through passive healing.
Early
Swift Boots grant crucial early attack speed and movement speed to help Zilong clear lane waves and reposition. Early on, Zilong lacks mobility outside of Supreme Warrior, so faster movement allows him to safely position for Spear Flip or close gaps with Spear Strike. Extra attack speed accelerates how quickly he triggers Dragon Flurry, improving his laning trades and early healing sustain before major items are completed.
Core
Corrosion Scythe builds up extra physical damage on Basic Attacks while slowing targets on hit. This slow effect is vital for Zilong because enemies often attempt to run once flipped by Spear Flip. When combined with Supreme Warrior, the massive attack speed boost allows him to rapidly max out slow stacks and bonus attack damage, preventing targets from escaping his relentless spear strikes during ambushes.
In-game passive Unique Passive - Corrosion: Basic Attacks gain 80 extra Physical Damage and slow the target by 8% (halved for ranged Basic Attacks) for 1.5s. Stacks up to 5 times.
Core
Demon Hunter Sword adds current health percentage damage to every Basic Attack, giving Zilong the firepower needed to take down tanky EXP laners. Since Supreme Warrior lowers the attacks required to trigger Dragon Flurry, Zilong hits multiple times in rapid succession, applying Devour continuously. This turns Spear Strike into a deadly engage tool that quickly chunks high health heroes and secures early Turtle objectives.
In-game passive Unique Passive - Devour: Basic Attacks deal 8% of the target's current HP as extra Physical Damage (capped at 60 against minions).
Core
Golden Staff converts critical chance into attack speed and enhances on-hit effect frequency. For Zilong, this seamlessly synergizes with Corrosion Scythe and Demon Hunter Sword, triggering their passive effects much faster. During Supreme Warrior, his attack speed hits extreme levels, allowing Dragon Flurry to trigger constantly. This gives Zilong massive life-sustaining heal procs and overwhelming single-target damage for split-pushing towers or melting carry heroes.
In-game passive Unique Passive - Swift: Every 1% extra Crit Chance gained is converted into 1% extra Attack Speed.
Late
Blade of Despair drastically amplifies Zilong's physical attack, granting bonus damage against enemies low on health. Once enemies are weakened by Spear Strike and continuous Dragon Flurry hits, Despair ensures immediate execution. The extra physical power boosts both the damage and healing scaling of Dragon Flurry, making Zilong far more lethal in late-game skirmishes and allowing him to eliminate high-value targets instantly.
In-game passive Unique Passive - Despair: Dealing damage to non-Minion enemies below 50% HP increases Physical Attack by 25% for 2s (takes effect before the damage is dealt).
Late
Malefic Roar scales physical penetration against enemies with high physical defense, working alongside the physical defense reduction from Spear Strike. Late in the game, enemy tanks and fighters stack armor to survive Zilong's assault. Armor Buster breaks through those defenses, allowing Demon Hunter Sword and Dragon Flurry to deal high damage, ensuring Zilong remains a severe threat against frontliners and split-push defenders alike.
In-game passive Unique Passive - Armor Buster: When attacking an enemy, gains 0.125% extra Physical Penetration for each point of the enemy's Physical Defense, capped at 40%.
No build survives every draft. These are the situations where the order above should change.
Prioritise completing Demon Hunter Sword right after Swift Boots before finishing Corrosion Scythe. The extra percent health damage on every Basic Attack allows Zilong to poke down tanky EXP lane opponents, ensuring his Spear Strike engages yield kills rather than leaving him stuck in extended, unfavorable trades.
Prioritise Malefic Roar earlier, right after Golden Staff, before investing in Blade of Despair. Combining Armor Buster with the armor reduction from Spear Strike allows Zilong to bypass high physical defense quickly during Supreme Warrior, ensuring his burst damage remains effective against armored frontliners and defensive carries.
Rush Corrosion Scythe and Golden Staff as early core items after boots to maximize attack speed output. The rapid attack speed enhances tower destruction speed and triggers Dragon Flurry constantly during Supreme Warrior, allowing Zilong to take down objectives fast and quickly heal off minion waves before escaping.
Item recommendations come from the game's own hero data. The explanations are AI-generated from Zilong's ability kit and the items' in-game passives, and are checked automatically against the item list — they never introduce an item the game does not recommend for this hero.