Why isn't Ziggs played more?

Akesgeroth·Jun 10, 2015·1 votes·2,132 views

It just occurred to me that though I love Ziggs and don't play him as often as I should, I rarely actually see him played by anyone else. I went to LoLking to confirm my suspicion and yes, his popularity is only 3.94% (86th in popularity), which baffles me. I mean IMHO, Ziggs is almost never a bad choice for a mid lane. Everything about him is awesome, he has a safe laning phase and he scales really well into late game...

Personally, I don't play Ziggs more because Malz is my favorite mid champion so he gets a lot more play than Ziggs, but I'm just baffled by the fact that so few people enjoy the explodey yordle. I mean he's got great AoE damage, great poking, great range, nice escape, great area denial and he's just downright fun to play.

So, why do so few people play him?

21 Comments

ShuffledPancakeJun 10, 20151 votes

Tanks and assassins.

AkesgerothJun 10, 20151 votes

The same could be said of any mage, and not all of them can put a damage/slow zone between them and their attacker or jump away with one of their abilities, nor do they have Ziggs' range. Maybe I'm missing something, so what would make Ziggs more susceptible to them?

RPGZexionJun 10, 20153 votes

No, like literally ziggs is weak to assassins, and his kit does nothing to tanks. Whereas mages like Ahri/LeBlanc have some mix of burst and mobility to better kite and deal with tanks/assassins if they need to.

Very Hard EngageJun 10, 20151 votes

because hes all skill shots, why play an immobile "hit or miss" champion, when i can play leblanc?

AkesgerothJun 10, 20151 votes

Leblanc's damage is nowhere as high as Ziggs. She is much safer, but that's just Leblanc. Are other mages that much safer than Ziggs? I mean look at Annie, Malz, Orianna or Cass as examples. All of them are fairly immobile mages with skillshots, yet all of them are more popular. Is it because their kit is easier to use than Ziggs while remaining just as effective?

Very Hard EngageJun 10, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Leblanc's damage is nowhere as high as Ziggs. She is much safer, but that's just Leblanc. Are other mages that much safer than Ziggs? I mean look at Annie, Malz, Orianna or Cass as examples. All of them are fairly immobile mages with skillshots, yet all of them are more popular. Is it because their kit is easier to use than Ziggs while remaining just as effective?

his ultimate also has a huge area indicator and can be dodged with flash, whereas tibbers, stone, and targeted suppression are all instant and net results.

im not saying ziggs is bad, its just that "what do you want to accomplish for the team" and is your name bjergsen and you promise to hit every single bomb to net that strong damage he can dish out. or will you miss.

pE4CbxDPQOJun 10, 20151 votes

basically because asssassins assassinate him and other mages do his job better.

AkesgerothJun 10, 20151 votes

Well yeah, assassins assassinate all mages. But why do you think other mages do his job better? Is it because he lacks damage, he's not mana efficient enough, because his escape isn't efficient or because his skillshots are too hard to land?

Knight SoIaire Jun 10, 20151 votes

2 wayys to go on about this

either ziggs pays too much mana for insanely unreliable bombs (its possible to walk under them) or his bombs are too unreliable for his mana costs

depnding on which one you want to preserwe

but yeah in the end other mages do the same thing just easier and more effective

AkesgerothJun 10, 20151 votes

I gotta agree that his mana efficiency is atrocious. And since they nerfed the radius of his Q, his bombs are much harder to land.

SerevasJun 10, 20151 votes

I just can't see why if I'm going to pick a champion with all abilities being skillshots, I don't play Xerath instead of Ziggs. The only thing Ziggs has over Xerath is that his ultimate is a bit easier to hit, and his passive is better for chunking at turrets.

What Xerath has instead, are all reliable skillshots aside from his ultimate, abilities that together not only completely decimate the enemy, but also aid you in landing the rest of them. Not to mention mana sustain in lane. Xerath's ultimate if you hit 2/3 out damages Ziggs' ultimate. Xerath's stun is better for escaping than Ziggs' Satchel Charge. He's just all around more effective than Ziggs is.

That's my opinion of why Ziggs isn't played very much. Don't get me wrong, I love Ziggs, he was the first champion that I ever considered my favorite, but to me Xerath is just a better choice.

pE4CbxDPQOJun 11, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Well yeah, assassins assassinate all mages. But why do you think other mages do his job better? Is it because he lacks damage, he's not mana efficient enough, because his escape isn't efficient or because his skillshots are too hard to land?

Because other mages can catch a squishee, hard cc them and combo them down. Which is huge. Ziggs usually just hits them down to 20% before they have to back. Not like Ziggs is bad, but take someone similar like Vel'Koz, accidentally finds someone then combos them down. Then in the 5v4 push to win they have really similar kits.

Mister LasagnaJun 10, 20151 votes

Tanks are the New Meta, I can't even play the champs I like anymore in Ranked SoloQ, do to the fact I was literally 11/0/x With Yi and had the most CS in the game as the jungler, and lost too A varus, Hec, Thresh, Yasuo, and Gnar.

Three Tanks beat about anything. Thorws are too real in this game.

straight4freeJun 10, 20151 votes

I think it's because he doesn't feel like he has as much of an impact on how the game progresses. Sure he can push and siege and wave clear, but he isn't able to make good picks to start teamfights like most other long range mages are, and he also doesn't have the AoE CC to turn a bad teamfight around.

DanofDemaciaJun 10, 20151 votes

Because u touch yourself.

Drunk RummateJun 10, 20151 votes

It's because all the fun champions are mid champions. I have this problem all the time, I finally get mid and I ask myself "what do I want to play?"

I could play X, that's fun. I could play Y, that's fun. I could play Z, that's fun. Or I could play ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP who are all really strong and fun but I have less experience on.

So I end up defaulting to X, Y, or Z because I have experience on them and I like to win. And I never get to play ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO or P because even though they're really fun and I'd like to play them, you can't play them in any role except for mid.

s33sJun 10, 20151 votes

Ziggs is my favorite champion but I actually don't play him often at all either. Mostly for the already listed reasons. He has a hard time with most matchups in mid right now, and his transition into the tanky, cc lock-down late-game meta doesn't work out for him too well.

Zorae42Jun 10, 20151 votes

I love him. I'm pretty terrible at assassins (haven't played long enough to judge when to all in). He was my first midlaner and still my fav (although I haven't gone through too many of them).

Xerath is nice because of his passive, but he is super immobile since almost all of his abilities have a cast time. Ziggs may be less reliable, but he has better mobility and the unreliability can make his abilities weird to dodge (lucky Qs are the best feeling). Unlike the super telegraphed Xerath...

Plus it's hilarious when you desperately put your minefield on LeBlanc's W pad just before she kills you and get a kill post death because she returned to it.

insaiyanbaccaJun 11, 20151 votes

because other mages can do his job better and deal with tanks better, he is a poke mage so for example Velkoz has slightly less poke power but has more hard cc and can deal with tanks thanks to his passive, or xerath who has a bit more range then ziggs i think and his poke isnt completely blocked by tanks in the way. so pretty much ziggs is good and all he is just outclassed

ErockandrollJun 11, 20151 votes

Hey, I actually think ziggs is good. But I don't play mid often. He's good at wave clear And that all you really need to use him.

His Bombs may be a little unreliable for hitting champions. But it works just fine on the minions. and works perfectly when enemy moves in to get a CS, or try to engage.

He may have lost some of his favorability because of the lack of hyper farming in the midlane anymore. But you would still play him Just the same. Take the minion waves, push the enemy Assassin into the tower with your superior wave clear. If the Assassin tries to roam. Still push the wave into tower, denying them CS while damaging their tower.

And he still has plenty of staling power, which make him Great in a late game comp.