Hi there, I'm Break Fu. I've played Zilean in over 90% of my games from 2014 Bronze 5 to 2016 Gold 1. This is a simple guide for someone who's already experienced as a support and is looking to expand his championpool.


This guide focusses on Zilean's strengths:
1. Early game damage
2. Mid/late game utility

Early game your bombs (Q) will deal significant damage, but as a support your damage falls off quickly. For this reason it is better to focus on building utility and helping your teammates. Zilean's kit with high percent slows/movement speed (E), a AoE stun (Q-W-Q) and portable GA (R) makes him ideal for this.

Start

Standard start for ranged AP supports. Spellthief's empowers your long ranged basic attacks as well as give you a bit of AP and much needed mana regen.

TIP: When you land a double bomb, always follow up with a basic attack to trigger all three Spellthief's stacks and get a Thunderlord's proc. This makes a big difference in your damage output early.

Early to Midgame

Build Sightstone first, then finish your Frostqueen's and Lucidity Boots. Once you are level 11, make sure you have Forbidden Idol in your inventory to get the bonus 10% healing on your lvl 2 ult. At 850 (+2.0*AP) health this comes down to minimum bonus of 100 health back on revive. Note that even if you're ahead, it's still not worth buying Forbidden Idol before level 11. In that scenario, build Chalice of Harmony first instead.

TIP: Always build Fiendish Codex before Lucidity Boots. You have your E to escape, CDR and AP are much more valuable for the same amount of gold.

Mid to Lategame

Finish building Mikael's Crucible, then Ruby Sightstone. Your last item is Locket of the Iron Solari. Running Mikael's will give you another way of saving/enabling people, which is what Zilean is best at. Locket is just an all around great item that synergies well with Ruby Sightstone & Mikael's passives.

TIP: If you're facing a 5 AD team, buy Frozen Heart over Locket and swap to Mobility Boots instead.

To summarize, this is just one way of playing Zilean. The toolbox way is great for soloqueue as most teams there tend not to have much in the way of utility. However I would recommend finding your own playstyle, as he can be played efficiently a multitude of ways. I hope you enjoyed my guide. Good luck, have fun & hit those 5 man stuns!