While champions who are already semi-functional get reworks, Ziliean weeps.

SonicÐeHedgedawg·Nov 23, 2013·4 votes·901 views

A "support" champion with no hard CC, no hard engage, no peel or team disengage, no shields and only one heal, which is on a long-cooldown ultimate and is only a single-target conditional heal to boot, and fewer damaging spells than even Soraka. I mean it's bad. Really really bad.

The problem with Zilean is that, thematically, his entire kit works and makes sense. But in-game, the skills just don't translate to doing anything useful except when a champion (release vayne) is so broken, that his ultimate having the ability to extend their longevity in a team fight is reason enough to keep him around. Also, his character model is horrific and outdated.

I mean, granted, there are people with the reverse problem, which is absolutely no thematic unity at ALL (Sion, Irelia) who also desperately need looking at, but at least they can function to some degree, unlike Zilean.

8 Comments

Cameryn KyreNov 23, 20132 votes

I think if they changed his Ult so that if it wears off without the target dying, they return to the HP they were when he cast it + 1/3 of what resurrecting them would have done. Just because the enemy stops just in time to not kill the target doesn't mean it should do nothing and allow the enemies just follow them eagerly the second it drops.

All his other abilities are fine, I played a game of Yorick Zilean bot vs Janna Ez and stomped them. Was fun. I think he's a viable (albeit niche) AP support now.

His passive is outdated though, could use some love there.

bahamutkaiserNov 24, 20131 votes

That would be a better solution, or reverse any damage taken during the ult buff...

Alternately it could just heal for a set amount, or refund a large part of the cooldown so it can be used again.

StrayStateNov 23, 20131 votes

I've seen him do well, but he needs either more damage or cc. Even mid Zilian was kind of a thing with his range and (eventual) damage, but he has no follow up if the first two bombs can't kill someone. His kit is interesting, but I think he deserves a rework more than most right now. Irelia still seems some occasional play, though Sion not so much. I hardly ever see a Zilian though, and if I pick him someone usually immediately dodges, or you never hear the end of it from your adc.

The real question would be how to change his kit while still keeping the time altering theme, though I'm sure there are plenty of good ideas to be had.

SonicÐeHedgedawgNov 24, 20132 votes

Oh that's what I meant. Zilean PERFECTLY embodies time manipulation in his kit, it just isn't a very good kit, wheras Irelia an Sion have the opposite problem: their kits aren't terrible, but they don't really match their characters much at all.

Irelia telekinetically controls blades, and, rather than being a fragile zone-control mid-range AD duelist ala: V - 13, she's a generic, tanky, metagolem brawler.

Sion looks like a tanky, undead life-sapping zombie-tank, but builds like a kamikaze assassin-mage.

ModCaptainMårvelousNov 23, 20131 votes

Actually Zilean has one of the longest, strongest CCs/ally buffs in the game. If anything the one thing I'd want is for stronger ult "peel". By this I mean that if you proc the revive, well, people just camp you until you're back up and burst the hell out of you. It'd be nice if there was an explosion or a reason to get the hell away from the target.

Cameryn KyreNov 24, 20132 votes

I mean, slows are soft CC... It's a great ability, you're right, but we cannot honestly imply that Time Warp is anywhere near as game breaking as Terrify.

TerricusNov 25, 20131 votes

LOL, what if rewind were made targetable so you could lower the cooldowns on an ally by a percentage or, alternatively, make an enemy reverse his movement backwards for like a second?

Though, in my mind Zilean's still got an amazing ult and he's really hard to deal with if he's got cooldown reduction items.

SonicÐeHedgedawgNov 27, 20131 votes

I think a good option for Zil might be to shift "Rewind" onto his passive and give it a lissandra/Ziggs/Nunu treatment where after so many seconds/spellcasts, his next basic spell has no cooldown