NOTE - I AM NOT PEKINWOOF, THIS IS A GUIDE BASED ON WHAT INFORMATION HE GIVES ON HIS YOUTUBE/TWITCH CHANNEL. PLEASE WATCH HIS VIDEOS AS THEY ARE HIGH QUALITY AND INFORMATIONAL.

Zeri's W, Ultrashock Laser is the main reason why you would want to play AP Zeri. Zeri also has burst damage when she has 2-3 items and can has high mobility with Spark Surge. Assuming that you were level 9 with her 3 core items, Muramana, Sorcerer's Shoes, and Luden's Tempest, you would deal 795 damage to a Yone who is also level 9 using Ultrashock Laser on a wall (with the runes). Mixing in Lightning Crash and a fully charged Basic Attack, you would deal 1413 damage. The only trade off of AP Zeri is that her early game is extremely poor. However, once she reaches late game, her Ultrashock Laser becomes "Lux R but on a low CD." - Pekinwoof

After four items in game, AP Zeri can do something like this Play Video

Zeri early game is not great as she does not have that much presence in lane as her damage is below average. Try to scale and do not die. If you see a skirmish, you can use your Spark Surge to get over and help your allies. Against melee champions who have used their dash, such as Yone's Mortal Steel or Irelia's Bladesurge (and she messes it up), use your fully charged Basic Attack and weave in some Burst Fire to proc First Strike and deal tons of damage. Be careful of ganks if the enemy laner or enemy jungler has heavy CC, like Nunu & Willump's Biggest Snowball Ever! or Sylas's Abduct. Save Spark Surge when against these types of matchups and use it over the wall to retreat to safety. Your goal is to farm out until you get Manamune and stand at the two walls near your tower with the torches on them and throw out Ultrashock Laser to poke out the enemy.

Zeri's W deals much damage when having 2-3 items, especially when you max W first. Try poking out enemies with Ultrashock Laser on the wall due to its high range and high damage. You can use Ultrashock Laser during Spark Surge to catch enemies off guard. Use Lightning Crash and Ultrashock Laser while dashing to burst enemies down. Use Spark Surge to join in on teamfights and Lightning Crash to deal tons of damage to a large group of enemies. Remember to use your Basic Attack if an enemy gets too close for comfort.

Remember that Zeri is still squishy and can be instantly killed. Continue poking with W and try to stay safe, especially if an assassin like Zed or Qiyana are fed. Play like a control mage and if anyone comes too close, use Spark Surge over walls and Ultrashock Laser to deal some damage while retreating. During teamfights, stay along the back lines and spam Ultrashock Laser. Zeri is vulnerable to long ranged CC that can catch her off guard, such as Sleepy Trouble Bubble or Dark Binding. Try to dodge these potent abilities that can easily make Zeri vanish.

Manamune Manamune or Muramana is a core item on AP Zeri. Due to Zeri's Ultrashock Laser having a 130% AD ratio, it deals a lot of damage even only with Manamune. The item's passive grants bonus attack damage equal to 2.5%Maximum Mana. That means that if you were at level 8 and just bought Manamune, you would have around 118 Attack Damage. Your Ultrashock Laser (upon critially striking) would deal 511 damage. That's quite a lot with a Manamune with no stacks. You would've already bought Tear of the Goddess and have had stacks in advance already. When fulling stacking Manamune, it turns into Muramana which allows for your Burst Fire to deal some damage with its passive, Shock. It allows your Burst Fire 1.5% Maximum Mana bonus physical damage. Additionally, when dealing Ability Power is dealt to champions, you deal a bonus of 2.7% of your maximum mana as bonus physical damage again. This allows for stronger poke and burst while also slightly increasing your Burst Fire damage.

Luden's Tempest Luden's Tempest is the core mythic item for Zeri and is a huge powerspike for her. Her burst on her Ultrashock Laser and Lightning Crash is extremely strong and has the ability to one shot squishies, especially enchanter supports or ADCs, such as Seraphine. Additionally, Lost Chapter is a great item to build into as it gives AP and Ability Haste. Luden's Tempest grants movement speed upon hitting abilities, so it procs on your empowered auto attack. You gain 80 AP, 6 magic pen, 20 ability haste, and 200 mana. The 200 mana also stacks the passive on Manamune, so it makes for an excellent pick rather than Night Harvester or Hextech Rocketbelt. What makes this item so good against squishy targets is that it gives 5 flat magic penetration for every legendary item you gain. Zeri cannot kill tanky targets, so Luden's Tempest is the way to go (unless there are 3 or more tanks). Luden's Tempest has a passive, called ECHO. Dealing ability damage to an enemy deals 100 (+ 10% AP) additional magic damage to them and launches orbs at up to 3 other enemies within Range center.png 600 units around them, impacting after 0.528 seconds to deal the same damage to each, and grants you 15% bonus movement speed for 2 seconds. Dealing ability damage against champions reduces the cooldown of Echo by 0.5s per champion, up to a maximum of three seconds per cast (courtesy of the LoL Wiki). In summary, Luden's Tempest just gives more burst damage and magic pen so that you can one shot squishy targets. Additionally with the bonus of extra mana for Manamune.

Liandry's Anguish Rarely used as an item. Only used if they have three tanks or more. For example, if their team composition was Ornn, Olaf, Galio, Samira, and Rell, you might want to take Liandry's Torment. This item grants 80 AP, 20 AH, and 600 Mana, kind of like Luden's Tempest without the Magic Pen. However, what makes it extremely good to build (VS Tanks) is its passive, TORMENT. Upon dealing Ability Damage, it burns enemies, causing them to take 50 (+6% AP) (+4% target's MAX HP) total magic damage over 4 seconds. Also, the passive AGONY makes you deal 0%-12% (Based on target's bonus HP) bonus magic damage against enemy champions. This makes it especially good versus champions who have a lot of bonus health or just tanky in general, such as Cho'Gath or (Tank) Shen. The ability haste that Liandry's Torment gives is a ton. Instead of having magic penetration to one shot/burst squishy enemies, you can poke a ton with the ability haste you have because of the item giving 5 Ability Haste for each legendary item you get. Your Ultrashock Laser will be on a shorter cooldown so you have the ability to deal a ton of damage consistently (if you can land them) against tanky team compositions.

Shadowflame The perfect stat stick for burst champions like AP Zeri. It gives 200 HP for survivability. Something AP Zeri needs as she is extremely squishy and can be bursted down quite quickly. Shadowflame offers 100 AP and 10-20 Magic Penetration which is perfect for bursting down squishy champions, especially champions with shields. Dealing magic damage to champions ignores 10−20 of their magic resistance (depending on the target's current health), increased to maximum value if the they were affected by a shield within the last 5 seconds. This makes this item especially good versus champions with shields as its value of its passive increases. Squishy enchanter supports, like Lulu and Seraphine are in trouble if you land a single Ultrashock Laser on them. Shadowflame is just a essential item if you are going burst Zeri because it grants magic penetration and additionally gives a huge amount of ability power. Some people may be wondering why choose this item over an item like Horizon Focus. This is because of the magic penetration that Shadowflame grants, but not Horizon Focus, therefore it's just better versus low MR targets like enchanter supports or ADCs. With the addition of Luden's Tempest passive granting 5 Magic Pen per legendary item + 6 magic pen from the mythic, you would have 21-31 magic pen with these two items. Adding on Sorcerer's Shoes, you would have around 39-49 magic pen (my calculations may be wrong, I failed math.) [WIP]

Play Zeri like a control mage with your Ultrashock Laser. Think of it as a Final Spark but deals a little bit less damage but a shorter cooldown. You do not always have to go in and use Burst Fire or your Basic Attack. Your playstyle revolves poking and bursting enemies down with Spark Surge > Ultrashock Laser > Lightning Crash. Have fun!
NOTE: I am not Pekinwoof, but looked at his playstyle in his Youtube videos and looking at his builds on OP.GG
If you want to look at his channel, check him out
https://www.youtube.com/c/PekinWoof
https://www.twitch.tv/pekinwoof
The Videos Used Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video

v1.0
- Created Guide
v1.1
- Properly added stages of game
v1.2
- Added multiple chapters
- Changed the build by removing Nashor's Tooth and added Zhonya's Hourglass as a situational item
v1.3
- Added Teleport and Flash summoner spells
- Removed Nashor's Tooth from "Why AP Zeri" chapter and subbed it for Sorcerer's Shoes
v1.4
- Added "Items" chapter
- Added Manamune
v1.5
- Changed damage calculations to suit 12.12 updates
- Added Luden's Tempest
- Changed runes from AS + AP + ARMOR/MR to AP + AP + ARMOR/MR
- Added Liandry's Torment
- Added new rune page, "Stronger Scaling"