Zilean is a support based character who is incredibly fun to play, he also has considerable early-mid game damage. His main form of support comes from his ability to revive fallen allies but he also packs a powerful slow or speed up ability.
This Zilean guide aims to be a basic and simple introduction on basic strategy that should be adopted when playing Zilean, it is recommended for people just starting to use Zilean.
This Zilean guide aims to be a basic and simple introduction on basic strategy that should be adopted when playing Zilean, it is recommended for people just starting to use Zilean.
Abilities
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Heightened Learning (Passive) Zilean's passive is helpful and effects all allied champions on the map. It is great for countering any deaths and recalls that your team makes. -
Time Bomb Zilean's only damage ability, which can be placed on any target (ally, enemy and minion). It hurts alot early game and has nice scaling. This is an incredible lane harassment ability and great for finishing off flee-ing enemies. The damage does drop off a little late game. -
Rewind Reduced cooldowns at the push of a button, this allows Zilean to pull off a painful double Time Bomb combo and also helps to keep his ultimate off cooldown. -
Time Warp Gives Zilean and his team a strong speed advantage over the enemy. Don't forget that this ability can either speed up an ally or slow down an enemy, different situations will call for a different use of this ability. -
Chrono Shift (Ultimate) The ability that your team loves you for, revived allies spawn with HP based on your Ability Power making some Ability Power very important on Zilean. Selection and timing of this ability will separate the good Zileans from the great.
Ability Order
Ult > Time Bomb > Rewind > Time Warp
Time Bomb is maxed first to capitalize on its amazing early-mid game damage, allowing you to pick up kills early. One point in Rewind should be taken early to allow Time Bomb combos and to generally allow you to double cast all your abilities and to bring your ultimate off cooldown quicker. As a default you should max Rewind second to give you great cooldown reduction capabilities, allowing you to harass heavily and constantly speed up allies or slow down enemies. Time Warp is also a strong choice to max 2nd if your team lacks crowd control and you need the increased duration it offers.
Runes
Best Rune Choices For Zilean
Yellow (Seals) - Mana Regeneration
Blue (Glyphs) - Cooldown Reduction
Purple (Quintessences) - Health // Movement Speed
Standard support rune book for Zilean is best. Magic penetration Marks to hit harder, mana regeneration on Seals to cover his hefty mana costs early game, cooldown to keep his abilities up and Flat Health on Quintessences for added lane survivability. You can also use Movement Speed Quintessences, to allow for easier harassment early game.
Summoner Spells
Best Summoner Spells:
-Flash
-Clairvoyance
Flash gives you an escaping mechanism to get out of immediate danger and combined with your Time Warp will make sure you can always get away from enemies or get into a fight to help your allies. Clairvoyance is another strong summoner spell for Zilean as it gives your team greater map control.
Other Good Summoner Spells:
-Teleport
-Clarity
Teleport is another option for Zilean as it allows you to reach your team quickly and allows you to control the map. Clarity is another option for low level summoners that lack the runes and masteries to meet Zilean's mana needs.
-Flash
-Clairvoyance
Flash gives you an escaping mechanism to get out of immediate danger and combined with your Time Warp will make sure you can always get away from enemies or get into a fight to help your allies. Clairvoyance is another strong summoner spell for Zilean as it gives your team greater map control.
Other Good Summoner Spells:
-Teleport
-Clarity
Teleport is another option for Zilean as it allows you to reach your team quickly and allows you to control the map. Clarity is another option for low level summoners that lack the runes and masteries to meet Zilean's mana needs.
Masteries
The offensive tree offers the important spell penetration mastery along with ability power and some cooldown reduction.
The utility tree offers reduced death timers, increased experience (works great with your passive), increased mana regeneration, increased gold generation, movement speed, cooldown reduction and improved summoner spells.
Item Build
Final Item Build:
-Mercury's Treads
-Archangel's Staff
-Rod of Ages
-Banshee's Veil
-Morello's Evil Tome
-Rabadon's Deathcap
Steps/Reasoning:
-Start with a Doran's Ring, this improves your survivability and damage while also offering you some mana regeneration for harassment.
-Your first build priority is Mercury's Treads to reduce any crowd control that you get targeted with, if in the rare case that the enemy has no crowd control spells you can build Sorcerer's Shoes or Ionian Boots of Lucidity depending on the role you want to take.
-Next you want to build your Tear of Goddess to start building mana pool stacks, you can turn this into an Archangel's Staff later on to boost your Ability Power.
-By this stage of the game you are going to need some survivability, making Rod of Ages a perfect choice. This gives you a nice amount of Health, Ability Power and Mana.
-Your final three items are Banshee's Veil (defensive choice), Morello's Evil Tome (mana regeneration and cooldown reduction), Rabadon's Deathcap (a powerful ability power boost).
Alternatives:
-Aegis of the Legion (A strong team item offering defences and damage)
-Will Of The Ancients (Good if you have a mage heavy team)
-Void Staff (If your fulfilling a damage role)
General Zilean Tips
- Your damage combo involves placing a Time Bomb on an enemy, using Rewind and then placing another Time Bomb on the same enemy, this triggers the first bomb to explode.
- It is important to consider the situation you are in before casting Time Warp, is the speed or slow up effect more useful. This will generally depend on the number of allies and enemies around you.
- Activate Rewind whenever possible to bring your ultimate off cooldown quickly.
- Some teams will ignore the person you cast your ultimate on and some will target them, use this to your advantage.
- Don't forget you can Time Bomb minions and your allies, these can be very effective to zone the enemy during laning phase or deal damage in team fights while staying out of range.
- Watch for enemy runners in team fights and place a Time Bomb before they can get away.
Early Game (Level 1-6)
- You are at your strongest (damage-wise) now, try gain early kills to transition you and your laning partner into a strong mid game.
- You are also very effective at zoning the enemy, stopping them from last hitting and gaining experience. This also lets your lane partner farm minions safely.
- Be aware of the massive mana costs of your spells early game, use your mana wisely.
- If you push your lane back, you can cast your Time Bomb on allied melee minions, as they reach the tower they will be destroyed by the tower and blow up, forcing the enemy back away from their tower, this is a powerful zoning technique.
Mid Game (Level 7-12)
- Always have mana in reserve for your ultimate, there is nothing worse then having an ally die simply because you didn't have enough mana.
- You can start to 1 hit entire minion waves at this stage, farm up as much as possible while you can (this should also be appropriate, do not leave your team when you may be needed).
- Push and support your allies in the various lanes, you are a powerful pushing force with good escaping abilities.
Late Game (Level 13-18)
- Your role late game switches to more of a support character. Concentrate on speeding up allies/slowing down enemies and reviving your team-mates.
- Only use your Time Bomb on squishy characters, your role is not to destroy the tanks, you want to harass the squishy mages and carries at the back.
- Your ultimate should always be off cooldown, use Rewind whenever you can.
