Boards›Gameplay

How do I play high-cost mages like Ziggs competitively?

Dingding123··1 votes·434 views

Should I focus on having enough mana to spam at max range constantly? Is having that much mana even possible?

Should I go for a ton of regen or a ton of flat mana and summoner 13 ? Because what other summoners should I take if I'm trying not to be within sight range of anyone for most of the game anyway?

Should I just focus on trying to do as much damage as possible before I die to an assassin or good initiation? Don't most supports hard counter that strategy though?

Maybe I should focus on being tanky lategame? As Ziggs?

My only good thought regarding mages right now is that spamming abilities constantly might be possible if you invest in having a ton of mana. But you wouldn't do as much burst damage in teamfights and you wouldn't be able to take any hits well at all (unless you get tanky mana items and summoner 13). I see no other upsides to playing as one right now except maybe for their utility and waveclear. Success with sieging seems so little now, considering how many safe assassins and good initiators exist.

4 Comments

SmokingPuffin1 votes

item 3165 item 3165 is a really solid build. Generally very important to secure blue buffs on waveclear mages today.

item 3070 is a good alternative if you can survive the lane without much help. Works on the spammier mages like Ziggs, Cass, and Ori.

No clarity. Terrible spell. You can take barrier, but ignite is usually better.

Drunk Rummate1 votes

ziggs is a defensive stall mage. as with any mana hungry champ in the new meta, avoid using spells beyond your primary (in ziggs' case - Q). save your WER for emergency cases or all ins. this will allow you to conserve mana to farm for longer periods of time.

you don't need clarity on ziggs, or any mana champion for that matter. you just need to work on farming without spamming your abilities and you need to be conservative with your harass. never allow yourself to fall below the mana required to cast all 4 of your abilities at least once unless you can gain a huge advantage from it or you are preparing to recall.

i recommend you build ziggs like this: item 3174 item 3089 item 3135 item 3100 item 3102 item 3020

Items you can sub in effectively would be item 3165
Build this instead of Athenes if you want a stronger early game. Note that you'll deal more damage but you won't have the magic resist. Your mana regen in the later stages of the game will also be slightly worse, especially if you're building lich bane which has great synergy with Athenes

item 3157 Build this instead of Lich Bane if you're against very dangerous assassins or bruisers (Irelia, Zed, Pantheon, etc).

TehNACHO1 votes

I'm an AD Assassin player, so note that my post is largely from that perspective.

In my opinion, you should never spam your abilities. Any good mid laner, especially one with even the least bit of competency to dodge your spells, will abuse the hell out of your Cooldowns by timing their hard engage while all of your important abilities are still recharging. Especially against champions with high kill potential, a misused ability can easily lead to your immediate death, or at least the worst trade possible for yourself.

For example, I was able to turn around a losing lane as Talon vs Ziggs when I noticed that he kept trying to use his Satchel Charge to attack me. The next time I saw him use his Satchel Charge, I immediately used Cutthroat to both negate his Charge and get me on top of him, wailed away, and got myself a kill on him despite being two kills behind. From that point on, I snowballed hard because he insisted on spamming his abilities instead of saving them specifically for when I jumped on him.

Depending on how well you CS with auto attacks, you really shouldn't need to use your abilities, well, at all. Again, AD Assassin player here, last hitting is phenomenally easier for me than it is for an AP Champion if you ignore the part where I can get harassed, but my point still stands. Mana shouldn't be a concern unless you are doing something terribly dumb.

During Teamfights, ranged mages are basically a combination of Marksmen and Cleanup Crew. Your job is to stay as far away from the fight as possible while still remaining in range to use your own abilities. Personally, I suggest itemizing for tank busting if necessary because the squishiest targets are either too far away or stand behind a wall of meat shields. For Ziggs specifically, I'd save your ultimate until the fight is coming to a close and/or the enemy team groups up heavily. The latter is obvious, and the former can be used to pick off any survivors that try to run away.

Technically speaking, Ziggs' main strength is his wave clear, therefore you really only need enough AP that you can clear entire waves with only a single rotation of your abilities, or can blow up monster waves with only your Ultimate alone. If you feel that you are getting nuked too easily late game, I don't see what's wrong with itemizing somewhat tanky.

FHMarshy1 votes

Personally I love to rush item 3028 first :P Even tho it's costing 1000G now, I still find it very helpful against Ap laners as well as mana regen .

More from Gameplay

3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay764 comments
7,167
votes
3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay156 comments
3,510
votes
UPVOTE FOR URF
Gameplay606 comments
2,440
votes
Yes plz.
Gameplay456 comments
1,721
votes
3 Refunds per season, up vote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay114 comments
1,716
votes
When is ANYONE at riot going to address the awful new player experience?
Gameplay634 comments
1,383
votes

More by Dingding123

Lee Sin and Zed should keep their iconic damage
Gameplay54 comments
107
votes
@Riot: No keystone deserves to give 20% true damage.
Gameplay90 comments
54
votes
I get it, Vayne is really strong right now...
Gameplay25 comments
32
votes
Stop:
Gameplay17 comments
31
votes
Marksmen really deserve more disengage, even if it's at the cost of their damage.
Gameplay98 comments
19
votes
I'd prefer tanks/bruisers having more HP to literally everyone dying in sub-4 seconds in teamfights.
Gameplay30 comments
18
votes