How do you play Zilean

RookPusher·Jul 29, 2016·2 votes·732 views

I played him for awhile and i thought he was alright. Aside from his stun being far too vulnerable to lag, I thought he was a fun champ.

Then I read this guide that said start bomb, but then Max abilities in this order: R, W, E, Q. The slow is supposed to win trades according to the guide, and the cheap bombs are supposed to make for less mana-intensive bombs.

The short version is i'm not seeing this work out as well as going R, Q,W, E. And I'd love some feedback on:

Have you used either build with success?
Is there some nuance I'm missing?
match ups or pair ups you suggest not taking Zilean against?
Anything else? Life advice, stock picks, good puns.

9 Comments

Gimpy89Jul 29, 20163 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpe-JoGyPsY this guide has all you need to know

RookPusherJul 29, 20161 votes

That was effing hilarious

Juggernaut628Jul 29, 20161 votes

Max Q first because damage :P

TheHurricaneGamrJul 29, 20161 votes

Yo. Just reminded me that I need to play this guy more. Anyway. Your build should look something like this: item 3027 item 3158 item 3089 item 3285 item 3165 item 3135 Basically, you're trying to cash in on your burst. However, item 3092 still works as a pretty good item and if you need more utility, consider item 3030 . For skill order, I usually go Q then E then W. I don't play him enough to tell you what matchups he's good/bad in, but at the end of the day most matchups are skill based rather than champ based. Also, this is mandatory: Name your mastery page NOT IN A ZILEAN YEARS and be sure to spam your taunt in lane for max effectiveness.

RookPusherJul 29, 20161 votes

That mastery page is absolute genius. Thank you, you absolute saint.

AgentBlackJul 29, 20161 votes

Is this for support?

Max Q against low-mobility laners or in a lane where you and your adc can bully them hard. But then, there are better picks than Zilean for that.

Usually, max R-E-W-Q. By rank 3 of E, you can slow any bot laner enough for an easy, guaranteed stun (unless they dash or flash). Once it's maxed, you have a long, reliable, very powerful CC chain going into midgame. E, Q stun, E again for 1.1 seconds of stunning and 5 seconds of essentially rooting them. As you stack CDR, you'll also be able to spam E on yourself for lightning fast roaming, and your reliable CC chain lends itself well to catching people out and saving allies.

Max W next, after which you'll have about a 1 second window between the end of your basic CC chain and the start of your next one. You can even stun people twice with 3 bombs if you time your reset perfectly. Don't bother maxing Q if you started by maxing E - the damage is only relevant in lane, while the spammable reset on your Q and E makes your CC chain that much better. You can also permaspeed yourself for roaming once E and W are maxed, with about 25% CDR.

When you're finally starting to max Q, you'll have enough CC from your other abilities to safely buy a Mejai's and start stacking assists. With just Mejai's and the FQ line, your maxed bombs will be doing very respectable damage in endgame teamfights, while you benefited from your more reliable CC through the early and midgame.

RookPusherJul 29, 20161 votes

Sorry, yes this is for support.

Can I bother you for your core 4 item build on Zil?

CS3NarutoiAug 17, 20161 votes

I've been playing a lot of Zilean ranked a couple of months ago, and ended up with 42 wins and 28 losses. http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-history/NA/40144090?champion=26&matchType=2 I only managed to get to Gold V though, so not sure if how I play Zilean is actually that effective :P

But anyway, I think the most important thing to consider is whether you're going for Damage, or Tanky-utility. When I aim for damage, I will max R>Q>W>E When I aim tanky-utility, I will max R>E>W>Q

When I play mid, I will opt for the damage path 100% of the time. When I play support, it usually depends on what my team comp is and what team comp the enemy has.

Here are some self-made guidelines that helps me decide whether to go damage or not:

Damage:

Enemy team is squishy
Enemy team lacks abilities that can quickly blow me up
Our team is mostly tanky and lacks damage
We are a snowballing hard

Tanky-Utility:

Our team deals a lot of damage already, and my constant utility would benefit them more than my damage
Enemy has a lot of ways to blow me up if I go squishy (champs like Talon, Kat, MF ult, etc.)
Enemy team is really tanky, and as a support, I would rather keep my team alive because their dps is greater than mine even if I go damage

As for item builds:

Damage: AP, CDR, MANA

Mid: item 3003 item 3165 item 3158 item 3089 item 3135 item 3152 item 3157 item 3285

Support: item 2301 item 3158 item 3165 item 3116 item 3003 item 3089 item 3285 item 3060

Tanky-Utility: CDR, MANA, Resistances item 3069 item 2045 item 3110 item 3190 item 3047 item 3060 item 3111 item 3512

Cool facts and tips:

with 45% CDR, you can potentially stun them every 4.4s, and revive every 33s
you can QWQ a low hp minion that is near the enemy to stun them. If the minion dies, both bombs detonate to deal a lot of damage!
you can throw a Q onto the enemy when they try to last hit
E and then QWQ will make bombs easier to land
you can either use R as clutch saves, or R early to discourage enemies from attacking a teammate
right before a team revives, use QWQ to stun nearby enemies and then quickly E to speed the teammate away!
if an enemy has a revive or zhonyas, you can QWQ onto them to stun them right away when they become targetable again!
try to stay alive so your team can benefit from all your buffs and cc. You're not a true tank even if you go tanky!
thunderlords seems to be the best keystone for Zilean

GrandomGAug 28, 20161 votes

Max Q for the damage, stun duration and cooldown Regardless of your lane, this is your most important ability. It is your only source of damage, the stun duration going up while the cooldown goes down with every rank is just the iceing on the cake.

You can discuss what other ability you max next, but not maxing Q first is completely out of question, even as support