The thing is that Ziggs isn't meant to fight and kill his opponent in the early game. He can when played well, but his main objective in lane is to farm and harass his opponents with his Q (typically by hitting nearby minions and using the explosion radius) and passive.
Ziggs might not have the best damage to champions compared to other mages (especially because it isn't exactly reliable), however:
- All of his damage is AoE, so it can be deceptively high during teamfights.
- He can easily zone enemies from areas or paths using W and E due to their long duration and CC
- He can use his abilities from a safe distance without having to expose himself to danger
- He can escape/peel for himself and allies
- He is a monster when it comes to sieging and countering sieges either around towers of objectives due to his range, safety, and how spammable his Q is.
4, ziggs NEEDS items to be good. This doesn't even make since, no champion should be bad, damage wise, bad in lane, below other champs in many aspects, and need 3 items to play any sort of role in the game.
This actually describes a lot of champions. Have you every tried to play Talon, Vayne, Kayle, Poppy, Taric, Twitch, or Warwick before you get items? Have you tried playing Riven, Rengar, Hecarim, or Udyr when you have fallen behind? It can be quite painful at times.
i think its stupid how boots make his q's useless and he has no quick escape or quick slow.
Ziggs actually has a good escape and slow between his W and E. W can be used pretty much immediately (it's great for knocking away Zed or Katarina when they try to ult you) and his E is a great slow (though it takes a second to setup). Combined with his range, you shouldn't really have to worry about getting caught out unless you mis-position or face-check without wards.
Also, you shouldn't be trying to land your Qs on the enemy champions, especially early. You should use your Q to hit enemy minions when your opponent approaches them to try and farm, so that you get the guaranteed explosion when they are in the blast radius.
doesn't have much cc without it being completely obvious where he is going to place the skill (long range q or e in general is like a 1-2 sec delay before it activates).
He actually has pretty good CC. W can be detonated pretty much instantly when thrown down to knock them back/up and his E can cover a large area. However, they aren't typically used in the same way as a spell like Ahri's Charm or Xerath's Shocking Orb; instead of using them for CC, they work far better as zoning tools. They have a long duration and cover a large area (they can entirely block off a lot of jungle paths when placed well), which mean that enemies can't pass through those areas without suffering from their damage and CC. They are well suited to splitting the enemy team apart and protecting your allies.
Looking at your ranked history, you seem to play Annie, Malzahar, Jarvan, Katarina, and Nocturne quite a bit so you might be unintentionally letting that influence your playstyle. They are all fairly bursty champions who can fight many opponents straight-up and murder them, Ziggs isn't like that. Ziggs has to play more safely and focus on harass and farming more than fighting his lane opponents. He wants to keep enemies at a distance and stay in the backline, poking and disengaging/peeling with his team as opposed to diving or dueling his opponents.
It's possible that Ziggs doesn't really fit your playstyle or you just need to practice for a bit and adjust. I spent the longest time playing bruisers and tanks, which meant that I had to readjust whenever I played assassins or squishy supports, since I couldn't just dive into the enemy team anymore. You might be having a similar issue.
In short, he fills his niche as a long-range zoning/sieging mage very well.
