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A good Ahri who knows her kill threat is scary. However, there are not many . Usually you can beat her in lane wait for her to ult onto you and E her. She is also very Q dependent if she Qs the wave poke her out with your abilities.
Akali
Akali is gross. A good Akali who takes fleet + Doran's Shield is almost impossible to kill in lane. Build MR early and after 6 respect the hell out of her. Poke her out pre 6 and roam after she hits 6.
Anivia
Anivia lane is not too bad. Dodge her Q and use your range to your advantage. If she catches you with her wall/Q this lane sucks. Otherwise, later on in the game poking is the way to go.
Annie
Annie is quite annoying. Take cleanse if there is even a single bit of other CC on her team. Again use your range to your advantage.
Aurelion Sol
Not many ASol players out there. The one's who do play ASol are usually one tricks. Try to keep him pushed in and use your range to your advantage. Watch out for unexpected roams or Qs.
Azir
Azir will poke you in lane early on. Once you hit 6 his threat diminishes as long as you tether him correctly. Also watch out for his gank setup.
Cassiopeia
A good Cassio will punish you hard, even in lane. Your goal in this lane is to bait her mana pool early hit an E and she is guaranteed to die. Otherwise, keep her pushed in and play towards the first move to skirmishes. Late game use your range to your advantage.
Cho'Gath
Poke him out early, take aery, and you almost never lose this lane so long as you keep your distance.
Corki
Corki is pretty annoying. Early on if you can't hit E's he can manage to match your range and safely farm up. Late game he is a monster and can easily jump onto you with package. Punish his early as much as possible before he gets out of control, you win 2v2 scuttle skirmishes against him most of the time.
Diana
This is a funny matchup. She can E onto you early but if she has no ult she is usuless. Keep in mind the interaction between your ultis. If you time it right you can portal jump when she ultis down and you will dodge the damage and likely win the trade. She is suspiciously tanky as well so don't get baited most times she will take more than one combo to kill.
Ekko
Ekko is a tough lane. He will do 1 of 2 things early shove with Q or Q you. If he Qs the wave punish him he is incredibly dependent on his skills. Take E second and make sure to ignite him before he ultis to cut healing. Otherwise beware of his one-shot potential.
Fizz
Fizz is one of Zoe's main counters. One way to beat him is to punish him pre-6. Poke him under tower and get first move to skirmishes. Once he hits 6 respect the hell out of him, build MR and play towards your range.
Galio
Galio is not too bad. Much like Cho you can poke him out early and play towards first move. Take W second and try cheese kill him after poking him down lvl 1. Later on, play towards your range you might not be able to one shot him so just ignore him the ADC will deal with him.
Heimerdinger
Heimer is kind of weird. Usually, you can use your range to his advantage, however, a good heimer will place his turret in front after being slept to block Q. Beware of this interaction.
Irelia
Keep your distance this lane. ALWAYS keep and eye on your minions' health bars. She will likely try to Q to low one's this is where you E her. Similar to the LB matchup.
Kassadin
Perma ban this champ. Gross timebomb champ his level 6 is strong as his late game. The only counter is the solokill him 2+ times before 6 and play around your team, Otherwise 1 shutdown and he will carry his team. I almost forced myself to learn Talon for this champ but ended up giving up so for now he is my perma ban.
Katarina
Kat lane is interesting. Take E second and beware of her E location. Save E for when she jumps onto a dagger or onto you. if you play around this you can kill her.
Kayle
Kayle is quite annoying. A good kayle will minimise lane and carry the late game. Play around your range and her ult. You win early skirmishes in the jungle pre 6 so get leads off of that.
LeBlanc
This lane depends on one interaction: you hitting your E when she Ws forward. If you can land that E you win the lane. If you miss she will poke you out. Remember her W is a stright line so you can E her as she is jumping mid air.
Lucian
Lucian lane is terrible. He beats you early and later on depending on how you kite his range. Take heal or barrier this lane, build seeker's early, pray he doesn't take cleanse, take E second and play towards your range.
Lux
Lux is quite a difficult matchup. If you R forwards whe can Q your face and you will be stuck. Dont get baited into R-ing forward and only do so when she has no vision of you or you can one tap her.
Malzahar
Malz poses little to no threat. Try match his push and R forward to break his spell shield and he is incredibly squishy. Only threat is his ulti with a gank. Play with your range later on.
Neeko
If you can dodge her E in lane you're gold ponyboy. You outrange her later on and don't get baited by her clone.
Orianna
A good Ori will poke you out early with her low mana costs. Play towards early skirmishes in the jungle and range advantage and you should be fine. Also remeber you if you time your ulti right you can dodge her ulti.
Qiyana
A good Qiyana is scary. However most times you will be able to poke her down early and get the first move. Watch out for her mobility and fights around objectives.
Rumble
Rumble is not too bad so long as you stay out of his flamethrower range. This matchup is all about good micro and tethering his abilities.
Ryze
Ryze is easy. You outrange him, he is squishy and his damage is consistent. In other words he needs you locked down to do damage. As such, utilize the jump in jump out poke style and you should be fine.
Sylas
Sylas lane is usually tame as long as you play towards your own minions. Do not walk up if you don't have minions. Sylas has a hard time hitting his CC in the wave so if he tries to E in stand in the wave and he can't CC you.
Syndra
Syndra is weird. A good one who hits all her Qs is scary however, if you can tether the Q range you outrange her and win. Early skirmishes you win.
Talon
This matchup depends on you not getting hit by his second W. If you dodge that and play towards your range you can beat him. Watch out for his cheese in bushes and don't get baited by his fake roams.
Twisted Fate
Take cleanse and keep him pushed in. The lane depends on those two things. If you can keep him under tower and ping the **** out of him when you don't know where he is you win later on.
Veigar
You outrange his most of the time. If he doesnt get into your range you are fine. Also remember you can ulti out of his cage to E him to delay his combo.
Vel'Koz
Velkoz isn't too bad. incredibly squishy so make sure you hit E's.
Viktor
Viktor is quite a hard lane. He can outtrade you early on especially if he take phase rush. play towards your range in this matchup.
Vladimir
Vlad in not that scary. Build Oblivion orb early on dont try to poke him down as he will win the war of attrition. The way to win is keep him pushed in and roam or skirmish in the JG. He is incrdibly weak early on.
Xerath
Xerath poke can be quite frustrating. Consider taking Corrupting/Biscuits this lane. Later on he is squishy so play around the terrain to hit Es while he Ultis.
Yasuo
If you can land an E on yasuo he is pretty useless. Play mind games with your E hold it or sometimes even unexpectedly use it. If you hit it you win if you don't he kills you. Make sure play away from the wave.
Yone
Yone was the worst introduction to Zoe mains. His E can cancel your E. Your E now becomes a tool to only stop his damage. when he E's forward most time he will return. The thing is he can repeat this process and you will lose out through mana. Either ban this champ or tank one of his Es and then you can poke him out. Taking Corrupting + Biscuits may be smart here.
Zed
Zed lane is quite stressful. Build Seeker's first item and try poke him out early. His CDs are incredibly long so if he uses it to poke go ham.
Ziggs
Ziggs is easy. Play towards your range and poke him out.
Zilean
Zilean much like other mages is pretty easy. Don't get hit by his double bomb and you should be fine.
I have been playing League since Season 5 and have been a Midlane main ever since. I used to main TF but switched to Zoe in Season 9. I now have over 600K mastery over 3 accounts on the OCE Server. I hit Plat in Season 9 and have onetricked Zoe to Diamond this season. I thought I would share some information I have learned over the climb.
I have managed to maintain a 53%+ WR on my climb over 500+ games of zoe on one account and in this preseason have managed to maintain a 60%+ WR in Diamond over 120 games.
Champion Identity is on the most important concepts when playing Zoe. An analogy Coach Curtis (OCE Coach) used to describe Zoe is thinking of her as boxer. When playing Zoe you are a Boxer. In other words use your punches sparingly and when it counts most. Punches in this case is another word for range. Zoe is all about range. Maintaining your range through "punches" is where this champion excells. If you miss your puch and overextend, chances are, you are screwed. It is important to understand this concept as it impacts you gameplay heavily. If you can walk this tightrope of "punching" to the max you will climb in no time.
Adapting
Adapting is also another concept integral to Zoe. Not all games you will be the carry. You have to understand this when playing Zoe some games you will have to be a sleep/pick bot. This is fine as long as you understand your identity through adapting. Be like water.
Early Game
Early game is where Zoe shines the most. I can confidently say a large majority of my wins on Zoe this season came through proper early game execution. Scuttle fights are Zoe's best friend. Make sure to expect a scuttle fight early on around 3 mins, keep an eye on the yellow timers in the jungle for scuttle it will be around your lvl 3-4. If you have the push and/or first move in lane you almost always win the fight 2v2. Make sure to keep an eye on the side lane wave states too sometimes these fights can turn bad quickly if side lanes don't have prio. Also don't be afraid to flash in, they will likely flash as well. In this situation you have multiple flashes, the ideal Zoe situation.
Mid - Late Game
Try not to sidelane mid-late game. Zoe in my eyes is an ARAM champ. Try to stay mid as long as possible. Somtimes you may have to pickup a side lane wave every now and then but always steer back to mid lane. Your identity as Zoe in Mid to late game is to hit Es reliably. Whether it be catching champs on rotation, sieging or at objectives, Zoe's job is to pick and one shot. Most fights can be started/won with a good bubble. Keep an eye on objective timers later on in the game to make sure you have adequate vision control to pick before a major teamfight. Be careful of not overstepping for a pick, remember the boxer analogy.
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