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How to play against Zoe, for all the whiners out there.

Niyumi·11/25/2017, 8:14:19 AM·19 votes·14,587 views

So, just like I did for Illaoi and Camille, I'm goinna write a guide on how to play against Zoe. I know no one is goinna listen, and you'll just ignore everything I say and bleat whatever the flock says, but I don't want another enjoyable champ to be gutted because of assholes that refuse to learn how to play the game, so I'm going to at least try.

She's really not broken at all. I don't ever see anyone complaining about Cait doing 1k on a headshot when you step on a trap, I don't see people complaining about Xerath doing damage if he stuns you, I don't see people complaining about Urgot's ult if you're low health... Zoe has one damaging ability in her kit, and her E CD is long, so of course the combo is going to hurt a bit when you let her land an E -- plus, she's squishy and entirely immobile and has no way to get out of a fight, so she's easy to just jump on.

Anyway...

#Passive

When Zoe casts an ability, she basically gets a Sheen proc and does more damage on her next auto.

So, this one you really can't do much about, since it's an auto. Just be smart about where you are, and watch her right hand (it glows a yellow-gold color while her passive is up).

#Q

Zoe shoots a star in a direction, and can recast once to change the direction the star travels.

  • This is ALWAYS a straight line.

  • The damage gets higher the farther the star travels.

  • Stops upon hitting an enemy, doing damage in a tiny area.

So, I assume you've at least heard about Vel'koz, right? His Q splits at a right angle, and you gotta look where it can go instead of where it is, right? Same thing for Zoe. Look where she shoots the ball to, and then use your minions / tanky people on your team as shields, and make sure she doesn't have a straight line to aim at you with.

The second thing about her Q, it works like Azir's soldiers / Ori's ball in the way that, while she can recast her Q no matter how far away it is, she can only send it a certain range around her (which isn't very huge). So, if you have no minions, remember that she can only throw it so far at you, and stay out of that range.

The third thing... it goes in a STRAIGHT LINE, so just, you know, sidestep. It's a small hitbox.

You can also be a good teammate and block long range Qs, since it'll do less damage to you than it would do to someone sleeping way away from the cast location. :P

#W

Passive: Zoe can collect summoner spells and item actives used by enemies around her (and minions sometimes drop them, as shown by a little balloon over them).

Passive 2: After using a summoner or item active, Zoe gains three bolts that are basically Ahri's W and focuses targets she damaged recently.

Active: Uses whatever spell she picks up (she can only hold one at a time, and it expires after a while).

Really the only thing I can say about this one: Try and zone her away from the minions with balloons. ZOE has to get the last hit to get the summoner / item active (it's random) to drop. If it dies to minions, towers, or her allies, it just goes away. So try and zone her from it if you can.

#E

Zoe kicks a bubble a direction, and makes the first target hit fall asleep after a delay

  • Range carries over through walls.

  • If nothing is hit, it makes a puddle on the ground for a few seconds that applies the effects to the first target to walk into it.

  • Sleeping targets take double damage from the first attack to hit them (UP TO A LIMIT THAT IS LIKE 300-500 LATE GAME) and wake up.

So, this one is annoying, but remember it stops whenever it hits something. You don't freak out about Xerath being broken if you walk into his face and he stuns you then combos and kills you, right? So don't let Zoe get a clear shot. It's VERY telegraphed, and goes in a straight line. So just stand behind minions, or use a dash of some sort to just sidestep it.

Now, Zoe doesn't one shot people. She is a burst mage though, and combos them to like 20% health in one go (she only has one damaging ability though). Late game you don't walk up to a Syndra and expect to just never die, do you? What about Veigar? Respect her damage, and remember how her kit works, and she won't burst you.

#R

Zoe teleports a short distance, then teleports back to where she started like a second later.

It does no damage, she goes back to where she started, and she can't move while doing it (even if she flashes or something), bu she can still use attacks and whatnot. So just wait at her entry portal and one shot her after she gets back. Save your CC for when she's done teleporting, because she breaks pulls and whatnot, and will always return to her starting portal.

So, notice the common theme in Zoe's kit? Lots of telegraphing and lots of straight lines. Her E is annoying, sure, but if she lands it through a wall, she's not goinna be in range to abuse it unless she flashes, so she can only burst one person and then be out of the next fight since she blew her summs. And a tank on your team could always just block it, you know.

Plus, she has no real way to get out of a fight without summoners, so if you play an assassin or someone tanky and just jump on her, well, she's done.

And now, I know I can't explain every situation away, so ask me questions and how to play against her. I'll tell you how to win in those situations.

102 Comments

Legendinabox11/25/2017, 9:28:36 AM8 votes

Not sure what games you guys lay or watch, but I have yet to see one "OP" Zoe game. Honestly Id say 99% of the games she is on my team, or I play against her, she feeds hard and gets deleted as anyone with hard engage ruins her life, which is about 100% of the meta champs right now (Assassins OP). She is a decent support, but any other lane she is easy to smash and offers nothing besides her E, which is very easy to dodge.

Honestly I am disappointed in her. Every other burst mage out there beats her in spades.

SEKAI11/25/2017, 6:40:02 PM5 votes

she's (Zoe's) squishy and entirely immobile and has no way to get out of a fight, so she's easy to just jump on

Wat.

If she's "entirely immobile", what do you call champs like Morde, or Kog?

You're also ignoring that she also shares many elements with old Nid's spear spamming problem and its immense damage, that well sure it was a somewhat slow spear that can be blocked by minions and will only ever travel in a straight line, but what do you suppose how almost the entire playerbase had serious trouble with it? That's right, because Nid had next to no risk to just spam the spear, as such despite the spears being very dodgeable on paper, it would almost always become so mentally taxing on the receivers especially when the actions get more complicated as the match progresses into mid-late game, and that tossing it virtually cost nothing for the Nidalee players themselves beyond a meager resource cost and a short CD, it simply becomes an inevitability that the spear would at some point land; and when it did land it screwed you over 12 times in an instant. Zoe is similar to that, almost exactly like all of the problems old Nid has with how the old spear used to work, with her Q and E.

MysterQ11/25/2017, 8:39:18 AM4 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9O4j8-kgKg

Poop Jelly11/25/2017, 6:43:20 PM3 votes

Definitely treats her like a skillshot champion and try to parallel with minions while laning against her. When she hits 6, be aware of her ult and if you happen to be a champion with CC, either trade with her when she pops ult near you, or lock her down when she goes back after ult. She's EXTREMELY weak when you can get close to her due to no escape abilities, low damage on short range and longer cooldowns.

The thing you need to watch out the most is the sleep bubble. I find that even when I play as, with or against a Zoe, it's extremely unpredictable what this thing can do.

Overall, nice guide. I thought poke champs like her don't get released anymore due to the demands of fighting nowadays. Good to see she has clear strengths and weaknesses.

Evolved Ape11/26/2017, 10:36:54 PM3 votes

You guys do realize that there is this summoner spell summoner 1 and this itemitem 3140. Zoe will bring these guys back in play, and basically these counter her, really effectively.

Demon King Maou11/30/2017, 12:03:49 AM3 votes

Step 1: go to any hentai site Step 2: Download some Zoe hentai Step 3: ... What were we doing again?..

PrismalDawn11/25/2017, 8:47:52 AM3 votes

Only 2 things bother me about her.

  1. Her Q is way too fast to move after the first cast. There should be a bigger delay.
  2. Her numbers are way too high. I see an incoming nerf on that.
MrHaZeYo11/25/2017, 9:06:49 AM3 votes

That's pretty much how I feel about her lol. I played her and I don't think she's broken. Ya she hits hard but have you taken a QEWQ from Syndra late game as a squishie and lived to talk about it? Honestly she really just needs a E (Q already on the ground, we'll say it missed just short of infront of you) WQ to delete you.

Zoe has to get her one little tiny skill shot back a good distance and then redirect it to you. You know shes trying cause you can see her cast it lol. Zoe plays like a poor man's season 3 Nid. All Nid had to do was be in the FoW and throw spears, she also had a heal and low cd get away spell. Zoe takes a bit of skill to actually consistently hit Qs for big chunks of damage.

Malix Farwin11/29/2017, 3:11:42 AM2 votes

It's just people not used to fighting her. I could imagine if Annie or Syndra were not in the game and released today, they would be stomping a whole lot harder then Zoe. The only reasonable complain i seen was the short cd on E when you didnt hit your target and they are changing that to champions only.

Uwhtazn11/29/2017, 4:31:03 AM2 votes

Honestly I don't find Zoe OP when my team is facing her (I'm not mid main). When she's fed, she is scary but my team was able to shut her down. Zoe-Support, I find her as another Brand that is super easy to dodge her skillshots, but she's not annoying, unless you have an adc that doesn't know how to dodge.

Ravenea11/27/2017, 10:10:18 PM1 votes

Oooh lord, I just can't take this serious. First of all you telling us that her skillshot Q is hard to hit and easy to dodge is just a flat lie. That thing goes faster then almost any skillshot wich is dumb and you comparing it with a vel'koz Q is even dumber. Most of the time you know were Vel'koz Q will go and it doesn't even do that much damage, but Zoe's Q on the other hand does more damage then any basic ability in the game right now, don't forget the low mana cost on it (late game 70, dafuc why is that even a thing) and a CD of 6 sec (late game and without any CDR items). I am a NIDALEE main I have played her alot of times and I have excepted the fact that her Q is small and not as fast as it should be the mana cost is high wich doesn't let her use her Q that many times (you will only use it if you know that you can hit your target). But you know thats fine because her Q does alot of damage, and it wouldn't be fair if it had a big hitbox and was as fast as a Ezreal Q. Now back to Zoe her Q is kinda similar to Nidalees, but the big difference between the two is that Zoe can throw her Q behind her, most of the time she will throw it in the fogg of war, that doesn't give the enemy team the change to DODGE THAT FUCKIGN THING, the next thing she does is jump right in your face and hit the Q. Thats just stupid don't you think? Being able to deal 1000 damage with a "skillshot" while you are in melee. I personaly think they should lower the BASE DAMAGE on the Q because having a base damage of 400/500 is overpowerd and the scaling of her ap should be lower. They should make her W her ult and just remove that stupid spellthief thingy. Lower the extra damage on her e and make her ult a healing or damaging tool. This way her combo will stil be there but she would have to put more effort in killing somebody. [sg-zephyr]

xPhantomDancerX11/25/2017, 8:43:19 AM1 votes

Honestly take away her sleep spell, take away minions dropping spell bubbles for her, put a one or two second delay on champions dropping spell bubbles for her, and she'll be just fine to deal with.