Zilean Let us discuss

BattleBrewmaster·3/31/2015, 4:42:49 AM·2 votes·571 views

Hello to all 3 of you that will read this, Does anyone feel that Zilean is a bit weak now? I used to play a LOT of zilean and I loved his kit. I loved the instant burst and I even set my mouse up for refresh and self cast the move speed so i could run at max move speed constantly. Anyways I have been playing him a bit recently as a support and I found his bombs seem to be easily dodged. His damage seems to have gone down significantly, and W not being able to reduce the CD of his ult feels weird. He is kind of underwhelming. I like the double bomb stun but would it be broken if it were a cast not a Skill shot? Am I just playing him wrong, or is he weak at the moment?

4 Comments

SpiritSpartan4/1/2015, 2:31:59 AM2 votes

Zilean is actually in a weird situation since on paper is he now close of being OP.

Things that make him great

No longer super mana dependent.
His Q can now aoe stun (while not nerfing his damage to much).
His new E (with that 99% ms) is an excellent tool for engage or peel for adc.
No longer need to spam W to get his ult back up (that save a lot of mana).

Things that make him not so great

Q is now a skill shot.

This single negative point make Zilean laning phase really hard. His poke is almost non existent since succeeding at double bombing is very hard.

Way to fix

Maybe his first bomb could have a larger "attach" range than his second one (improve poke reliability without making him a stun machine).
Stun duration 1.5s at all level (improve early game).
A bomb that explode in the range of an other bomb will automatically detonate the other one (improve burst potential).

Maximum Zilean3/31/2015, 4:56:22 AM1 votes

His solo laning took a huge hit with the rework, but the addition of his AoE stun and 99% speed boost at max rank far then make up for it in my opinion.

And the ultimate cooldown change i'm fine with. Its cooldown feels unchanged since early game you wouldn't be spamming rewind to get it down then due to mana costs. And late game you can get it down to a 40 second cooldown, which you used to be able to with spamming rewind (And you could late game since you usually get a good mana regen item on Zilean) The change overall feels a slight buff late game since you won't be spamming rewind and losing mana inbetween fights. And early game it feels like a buff to since it was put down to a normal 120 second cooldown like most ults.

The rework pretty much forced him into a support role though, gonna miss mid lane AP Zilean though.

Only thing I would like to see is something cool added to Time warp when double casting it, similar to how his bombs got the stun.

phirestarter3/31/2015, 5:13:27 AM1 votes

tl;dr you can no longer light up a blunt and play zilean like before

BattleBrewmaster3/31/2015, 5:38:03 AM1 votes

yeah, I wonder if the instant cast with a stun on it would be viable. I just feel he is really weak in lane, throwing bombs out, even if you hit one a good adc will use it to push the wave / deny your adc. he feels kinda clunky. They could also make the projectile move faster to give them less of a chance to avoid it, or if you land two they both explode instantly. Against a vayne she could reliably roll to dodge the bomb every time making double bombs / stuns hard. I dont know when zilean would be a better option than say a lulu, nami, or leona.