Interested in learning to support as Zilean? You've arrived at the right junction!

Zilean is in my opinion one of those most broken hidden champions you can play to advance in ranks quickly.

What makes Zilean unique is that his skill-set has a TREMENDOUS amount of synergy with a vast variety of team compositions.

This basic guide will explain a solid build and some tips to be an effective Zilean player.

Bot Zilean - OP.GG

Passive:
Time in a Bottle

I can't tell you how many times this passive was used to make plays.
Use it to give your ADC the extra level advantage.
Always give out experience whenever you can because your passive will become useless once everyone hits lvl 18.

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Time Bomb

Zilean's one and only damage output.
It's also his biggest play-making ability. Nothing is more satisfying than chain stunning 5 champions.

Always look to chain your Time Bomb with Rewind.

Use your bombs VERY sparingly and only use it when you see a window of opportunity.

Pro Tip: When the enemy is near a minion that is almost dead, toss two bombs at the minion. The two bombs will explode instantaneously, inflicting the entire combo damage while stunning them.

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Rewind

Unfortunately this ability DOES NOT affect the cooldown of your ultimate.
Combo this with your Time Bomb and Time Warp

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Time Warp

Most Zilean players I see boost themselves more than their teammates.

Speedboost champions on your team that need that extra bit of speed to engage a fight, always be aware of windows of opportunities for your team to go in. Communicate, communicate and communicate.

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Chronoshift

The Bread-and-Butter and essence of Zilean. Chronoshift.
When used properly, you essentially have a Guardians Angel for your entire team, well..Not at the same time but you get what I mean! At full

Don't just ult someone at full health because you see them getting dived.
Use it strategically at the last second before they die. Alternatively, you may choose to ult them earlier, as the enemy will likely stop hitting that champion allowing them to freely damage the enemy.

Try to ult other people over yourself. Don't be the selfish support, even if you end up dying, a ult on someone else might be more beneficial.


If you follow the item build and runes outlined in this guide, you will reach your max CDR of 45% by level 10. At lvl 16, your ult will have a 33 second cooldown, this is where your toolkit becomes VERY useful, as on average you will pop your ult twice in a teamfight.

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Summoner Spells

Flash


An extra factor to help you escape, or make that awesome play!

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Ignite


Just in-case your ticking time bomb doesn't finish them off, for good measure carry this around. It makes you incredibly strong.

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Exhaust


I've rarely ever picked up exhaust over ignite. It's your preference, however this guide highly favors aggressiveness, hence the ignite pick.

As you may have noticed by now, this guide is to build a glass-cannon max CDR support-carry Zilean.

You will need to learn to adapt to this build as you are literally a floating sack of moneybag.

Don't change anything on the runes, there's no need, it's all optimized for maximum damage, cooldown reduction, and a hint of "sustain".

Zilean is a very high-risk, high-reward champion, where in the right hands it can be a menace to deal with.

Spellthief's Edge


Classic start-item for Zilean. Try to reach your 500G reward as soon as possible. Also this is the LAST item you will upgrade. Do NOT waste gold on upgrading from Frostfang to Remnant of the Watchers unless you have purchased all of your other items.

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Ionian Boots of Lucidity


As this build favors heavily on reaching maximum cooldown reduction, ALWAYS take Lucidity boots.

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Twin Shadows


This will ALWAYS be the first item you complete after Frostfang and Boots. The versatility of this item is a must-have for Zilean. It provides movement speed, cooldown reduction, and a massive power-spike in AP.

Use this item to chase your enemies (or run away from), and to find where they're hiding.

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Morellonomicon


You should be looking to get this as your next item after building Twin Shadows. The extra magic penetration, health, AP and being able to apply Grevious Wounds will make you insanely strong.

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Liandry's Torment


Next item after Morellonomicon is to build out Liandry's Torment.
Additional heath, and ability to harass and melt tanks is quite useful.

Void Staff


Once you have built Liandry's Torment, look into building this next. If the enemy's team does not have a whole lot of Magic Resist. Look into building a Rabadon's Deathcap, Luden's Tempest, or if you're getting severely punished, Banshee's Veil, Zhonya's Hourglass.

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Items I Don't Build

Rod of Ages


Waiting for this item to build-up takes an incredibly long time and your damage output will take a toll.
Sure you increase your surviveability, but you're almost always going to be dead if you get caught out.

Go glass-cannon, and play positioning.

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Rylai's Crystal Scepter


Same concept as Luden's Echo, you only have one ability to proc the passive.
The extra health you get is a bonus, but the slow proc isn't worth building.

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Combo's

Your main bread and butter combo's will be:

1. Q W Q
Your stun will only go off IF your bomb sticks to a unit and you throw another bomb on top of it.

Your stun will NOT go off if...
a) You just throw 2 bombs on the ground where there is no unit.
b) You throw bombs at two different units, even if they intersect, the stun will not go off.
So make sure you land your bombs accordingly!

2. E Q W Q E

a) Speed yourself or someone else
b) Throw 1st bomb
c) Rewind to reset CD's
d) Throw 2nd bomb for the stun
e) Speed yourself or someone else (If you need to)

This combo is pretty taxing on your mana bar.
Spend your mana sparingly.

4. A little secret to Zilean is his Blood Moon skin. His ult animation/color is a lot more difficult to see than his default/other skins. It can be incredibly difficult to see Zilean's ult in teamfights if you use that skin.

Pro's:

- It's incredibly difficult to deal with Zilean's skill-sets when played correctly
- AOE Stuns
- 33 second ultimate at Lvl 16
- Great escape (if used correctly)

Con's:

- Very very very..squishy..
- Steep learning-curve to properly use his kit
- Difficult to play against champions that endlessly push because your only ability to defend is your bombs
- Very difficult to play against champions that have high movement speed and can dash around