Why is Zilean unpopular?

Worst Kench NA·Apr 18, 2016·1 votes·2,279 views

As a Nami main, one of the scariest things for me to lane against is because of his amazing ability to harass me out of lane with his Q, and the fact that chances are, if you're laning against one then they probably know what they're doing (no offense to Lux support mains, but I find that she's one of the most common "I picked fill to make queue time go faster, I have no idea how to support" picks)

It might just be because he counters underplayed supports like Nami well, but why doesn't Zilean see more play compared to her, or Sona? I played him in some bot games which, to be fair, isn't an actual representation of PVP 5v5, but the Q spam and the damage they output seem insane to the point where I was getting TK-support levels of kills with him. Is it just because most people know how to shut him down easily? AP support in a meta?

18 Comments

Zeal SeekerApr 18, 20162 votes

He is strong only when his ult is used right. Most people aren't coordinated enough for zilean to outperform the other supports

Unfortunate GameApr 18, 20161 votes

I personally think zilean is broken. His ult is one of the most broken things on a low cd, his speed up is ridiculous, his slow is even more ridiculous, but the damage he puts out is pretty scary too.

I never played him, but from what Ive seen against him (or on my team, or videos, etc.) hes just really good, and im glad not too many people play him, because hes really annoying.

p.s. I bought him, and later this week going to be playing him so I hope hes decent mid lane, and if not, support zilean is where ill be taking him. C:

Worst Kench NAApr 18, 20163 votes

{quoted}

I personally think zilean is broken. His ult is one of the most broken things on a low cd, his speed up is ridiculous, his slow is even more ridiculous, but the damage he puts out is pretty scary too.

I never played him, but from what Ive seen against him (or on my team, or videos, etc.) hes just really good, and im glad not too many people play him, because hes really annoying.

p.s. I bought him, and later this week going to be playing him so I hope hes decent mid lane, and if not, support zilean is where ill be taking him. C:

He actually has two recommended pages for if you're going either mid or support, which I wish was something Morgana had since I play her pretty much exclusively mid.

But yeah, he seems pretty insane from what I've seen.

JafarThePandaApr 18, 20161 votes

Zilean on ARAM with Veigar made me go to chemo.

A Basic IslandApr 18, 20161 votes

been playing poro king alot and every game there's a zilean ;/

op af

PhantomGGApr 18, 20161 votes

For you are in low elo to be frank.

In low elo people don't think about "oh this guy chose a squishy support, maybe I should be a tanky top laner or jungler" They simply auto lock carries and you are left with a squishy team with no real hard engage.

Thus support mains have to do the noble sacrifice and be forced forever to play nothing but braum and alistar.

I7A6X2v2Apr 18, 20161 votes

He is unpopular because of his outdated ingame model... It is known that nobody enjoy to play visually outdated champions even if they are op.

Leon4167Apr 18, 20161 votes

{quoted}

He is unpopular because of his outdated ingame model... It is known that nobody enjoy to play visually outdated champions even if they are op.

Then why am I seeing an enormous amount of Taric s before his update, which THANK YOU RITO I never liked that splash art, is even released?

MilfHuntUnitXJ9Apr 18, 20162 votes

Because hes spreading around naive and misleading information.

NiyumiApr 18, 20161 votes

Despite how simplistic his kit looks, it's actually pretty hard to make Zilean really shine. Gotta either be really coordinated, or know what your team is doing, what the enemy team is doing, and prioritize speed ups / slows, where to throw bombs, who to ult, all that.

So, while he's not a hard champion, it's hard to make him work -- and that's why you never see anything but really good Zileans.

MorgManBasherApr 18, 20161 votes

Ziliean's laning phase is actually very weak. His Q early ranks are very low damage and high cooldown. At rank 5 Q he does start doing actually good damage, but before that his damage is actually very bad. The best way to do damage on support ziliean is auto, Q, auto for the thunderlords proc.

A lot of ADC's though make ziliean's life hell trying to Q them with well timed dashes since his Q has a travel time when thrown. Also things like nami, soraka, sona or anything healing with good early games will make laning phase extremely hard... or a janna that just shield's ziliean's bombs because her shield shields more than ziliean's bomb does damage unless he double bombs which costs a ton of mana.

He is definitely a mid to late game support, but my favorite support by far.

Worst Kench NAApr 18, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Ziliean's laning phase is actually very weak. His Q early ranks are very low damage and high cooldown. At rank 5 Q he does start doing actually good damage, but before that his damage is actually very bad. The best way to do damage on support ziliean is auto, Q, auto for the thunderlords proc.

A lot of ADC's though make ziliean's life hell trying to Q them with well timed dashes since his Q has a travel time when thrown. Also things like nami, soraka, sona or anything healing with good early games will make laning phase extremely hard... or a janna that just shield's ziliean's bombs because her shield shields more than ziliean's bomb does damage unless he double bombs which costs a ton of mana.

He is definitely a mid to late game support, but my favorite support by far.

I've played Nami a couple times into Zilean and one of the biggest problems I've had with him is that I feel that he zones me out of lane a lot, moreso than Blitz because all I have to do for him is not be in a position where he could grab me, but Zilean can just chuck his bombs to wherever he wants in his radius. Me, naturally wanting to avoid as much incoming damage as I can, tend to try to get out of the bomb's radius because I feel that they take away too much of the lesser amounts of HP that I already have. Should I just not be bothered by them early on and focus mostly on what the enemy ADC is doing?

I figure it would just be best to pick something like Taric or Kench into a Zilean instead, but in the case that I am a utility support like Nami or Soraka, would the above work?

AmelieApr 18, 20161 votes

Zilean only offers poke in lane; as long as you position well he can never get his stun off. Sustain champions like Nami/Soraka should do fine against him. If you take item 3301 , you won't even feel his harass. Zilean himself is also weak to poke or all-in before level 6. If he puts 1-2 bombs down, it's time to go harass him because he can't do anything significant to you.

But to answer your main question, Zilean is unpopular because he requires coordination. He works best in a duo/premade lane. Otherwise you never know how your ADC/teammate is gonna react to being ulted. Lots of people just run away with 10 hp instead of dying to get half+ their health back. Or they simply shy away from fights rather than stay to the death, where they can just be ulted and continue.

MorgManBasherApr 19, 20161 votes

{quoted}

I've played Nami a couple times into Zilean and one of the biggest problems I've had with him is that I feel that he zones me out of lane a lot, moreso than Blitz because all I have to do for him is not be in a position where he could grab me, but Zilean can just chuck his bombs to wherever he wants in his radius. Me, naturally wanting to avoid as much incoming damage as I can, tend to try to get out of the bomb's radius because I feel that they take away too much of the lesser amounts of HP that I already have. Should I just not be bothered by them early on and focus mostly on what the enemy ADC is doing?

I figure it would just be best to pick something like Taric or Kench into a Zilean instead, but in the case that I am a utility support like Nami or Soraka, would the above work?

Yes, just ignore him. As nami you want to walk up, auto, w, auto and you win the trade extremely easy. Even if he hits you with his bomb, and you don't get to w him back, his damage is pretty lack luster early. Just harass the shit out of his ADC with auto attacks and W spam with the ocassional bubble when you think you can land it for the kill. Ziliean's early game is extremely weak till he gets a few level, do your best to abuse him. Nami is extremely strong in the laning phase and goes great with champs like Cait to make Ziliean's life a living Hell.

Champions like taric and Tahm I would actually not suggest going into ziliean because he can get a lot of free gold off you auto attacking you and qing you for free. If you want a tank, go leona or blitz if you are good at him. As leona you want to hit level 2 first and try to all in either him or his ADC, doesn't matter which since both are squishy. Leona can be the hugest pain when played well.

GGX MilliaApr 18, 20161 votes

Cause at the end of the day, no one is willing to play a tank. Ever. Tanks are about as rare as supports if not more. Moreover, Zilean's lane is pretty bad if enemy knows how to avoid bombs. He crushes lane against weaker opponents, but sucks against good ones.

Also, as you said, every time you try to have fun you'll get matched against Ali, Thresh, Leona, Braum, Poppy, Blitz etc who are tanky, can just walk up and dickslap you level 2.

Very Hard EngageApr 18, 20161 votes

hes squishy, no sustain/bulk, his casting animations are long, and hes super easy to abuse especially with no escape (targeted speed up or targeted slow isn't that great when people can still land skill shots or use instant CC against you)

its amazing when you ult your ADC, its terrible when you stick him mid and expect him to deal damage. (except wave clear, thats ok)