This section will discuss each ability along with specific useful facts and tips for them.

For more information head to the Zac Wiki

Passive Abilities spawn blobs, blobs heals for a portion of Zac's MAXIMUM HEALTH increasing with ult Let's Bounce! rank. Blobs stay for 6 seconds and heal the same amount regardless (Blobs have a disappearing soon effect where they shrink). Blobs can be stepped on by enemies. Zac's other passive will split him into 4 Bloblets on death each with a portion of his max health. Teammates can Teleport to Blobets making them invincible. The time to reform decreases with Zac's level so early level's a full Teleport can be channeled before Zac revives leaving him vulnerable after the invincibility. This makes it beneficial to wait on Teleport in some situations in the early game. Zac revives with health based on the remaining health of surviving Bloblets. Bloblets will not go over walls, meaning Bloblets will be more grouped up in tight corridors and will spawn under you if you die mid E.

Q Zac throws out his arm, if it hits something he pulls it together with the next thing he autos. After Zac hits a unit with Q a circle will appear around the unit. This indicates the slam radius, if you auto something in this circle they will slam together and deal AOE damage at the point of collision equal to the Q damage. If you auto something outside of the circle the two things will be pulled together, but not all the way, and therefore no collision or collision damage. Your Q will stay on the target a little outside the white circle but has a max range where it will drop off. You can flash outside that range and quickly auto to bring together two things that are quite far apart. The Q, auto, and slam do the same damage. The auto after Q doesn't really count as an auto and won't proc Sunfire Aegis or Iceborn Gauntlet or hit Rift Herald Eye. And for some reason Gangplank barrels, Yorick cage, and Illaoi tentacles don't count for the slam, but towers, wards, minions, pets, all do. Also, remember to Q the easiest target to hit, ex Q the minions and auto the champion instead of vice versa if possible. And remember that you can Q camps over the wall while fighting enemies close by.

W Damage around Zac (flat + percent of enemy max health), cooldown reduced by 1 for each blob. Be careful picking up blobs too close to W coming up to not waste cooldown reduction. You can be in auto range for Zac, but not in W range, so I often move a little closer than I need to. Spam W as much as possible in the jungle.

E Zac charges and dashes. Probably the most important Zac ability. Gives a blob for each champion hit (1 given for just hitting something). Try to charge out of vision whenever possible. Knockup scales with charge time, but the damage is constant. Knockups knock you out of the air and stop your E. You can walk out of E to cancel and it refunds half the cooldown. Try to release E at people when they are doing something (ex stuck in place last hitting a minion). If you are worried about enemies getting away, favor the side of them closer to their nexus. You can E even further behind to predict dashes or flashes. If you E on top of yourself you can make the animation much faster. Almost all my Es are fully charged or near-instant.

R Bounce around, speed up, spawn blobs, spam W. Treat movement after ult similiar to Singed, don't click on people just run around past people to the center of mass and pick up blobs instead of clicking champs.

The only way you can mess this up is by putting Flash on F.

The most commonly used flashes are when I miss an Elastic Slingshot (which is never), to auto someone after Stretching Strikes, or to get behind someone and knock them back towards teammates or away from tower with Let's Bounce!

Ghost (6/10) In theory, I guess it is possible to maybe take Ghost on Zac. You already have good gap closer, but your main engage Elastic Slingshot and Flash don't make a good combo. It would allow you to get around fights easier, pick up blobs faster, and be more of a menace, but the fact that your ult gives you enough movement speed to get around well makes it fairly redundant. Needs more research.

Heal (6/10) You get things that synergize with healing like Spirit Visage and Revitalize for a bigger heal, good in 2 v 2 or 3 v 3 early, movement speed doesn't do much. Needs more research.

Ignite (6/10) Let's burn some ****. Shaco runs it since he has escapes and it is good for early ganks. This is somewhat true for Zac, but he doesn't want the kill and doesn't solo as much as Shaco or more recent newcomers to the summoner. Needs more research.

Exhaust (6/10) This is a pansy summoner, but it isn't bad for early ganks and scales into late by exhausting carries or stopping dive. Needs more research.

Barrier (3/10) Cause you heal like a lot so they might have Anti-Heal so with reduced healing barrier might be better, but just go Heal (often you are not the burstable focused target that barrier works well for and you have passive for that anyway)

Teleport (2/10) Ever wanna farm so much you are never with your team. You can even TP to you blobs for op combo (this is a joke, please don't)

Mosstomper Seedling The tenacity and shield work well on Zac as he often hard engages and this helps him survive the focus.

Gustwalker Hatchling The movespeed doesn't synergize super well with Zac. His primary engage isn't movespeed, but E.

Scorchclaw Pup The slow is often stacked with other Zac CC.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity Good in general. The ability haste is great for Zac and the summoner spell haste is good too. The boots are also cheap. If you want them, build them earlier than most boots to take advantage of the price and stats. I go them as a default and often, like 55% of games.

Plated Steelcaps Good against auto attacks. Good against Yone, Yasuo, Jax, most adcs. I generally build them against 3 strong auto attackers. A common mistake I find is building these regardless against AD teams. Instead, you can build Lucidy or Mercs (if they CC a lot) if they are ability-based and then stack armor with Legendary items (ex: Aatrox, Pyke, Kayn, Illaoi). Be mindful that they don't reduce on-hit effects. I probably build them 35% of games.

Mercury's Treads Good against crowd control. Good against champs like Leona, Morgana, Maokai. I generally build them into teams with lots of CC. Be mindful of what will be used on you, often champions like Pantheon and Renekton which have strong stuns will avoid hitting you as a tank. Be mindful that they don't reduce knock-ups or suppressions. I probably build them 15% of games.

Radiant Virtue Radiant Virtue gives Zac a mean teamfight. You can fish for your fight and when you find it use Ult for a big boost.

Jak'Sho, The Protean Jak'Sho gives more damage and works better in long fights against tankier team so you can get it online, but I personally prefer a more in and out style.

Heartsteel Heartsteel is a lot of health, but that is mostly it and with building Demonic early, you are healthy but take a lot of damage with low resistances.

Frostfire Gauntlet Gauntlet gives more pick, but the Gauntlet slow often gets stacked with general Zac CC. The slow field does not activate on the Q auto.

Anathema's Chains The raw health is great for your passive (passive gives you a percentage of your max HP) and general tankiness, especially given you have resistances from Sunfire or Gauntlet. The passive is pretty good, but does not reduce true damage so best against things like Divine Sunderer or Liandry's Torment which are health based non-true damage. The reverse tenacity isn't great for you as you knock up a lot, but smite slow, Q slow, and ult slow with teammate follow makes it okay. You can also use the activate on an AD target and build more MR or vice versa.

Warmogs Similar to Anathema's Chains, the raw health is great for your passive (passive gives you a percentage of your max HP) and general tankiness, especially given you have resistances from Sunfire or Gauntlet. The passive is okay, you heal great off anything so a random camp can have the same effect, but you can fade into fog and get your health back and E back in fairly quickly.

Gargoyle Stoneplate A great item as Zac often jumps in and becomes a clear focus for the enemies and Gargoyle prevents you from getting bursted after Aftershock or if you don't get Aftershock so you can get blobs and survive, but the components aren't great, the price is high, and it requires bonus health so I would go it a bit later (at earliest 3rd item not including boots, but generally 4th or 5th)

Spirit Visage The healing passive is great and historically this item has been Zac's go to, but I don't find too many enemy teams rolling in AP and Warmogs/Anathemas + Thormail generally feel better as a second and third item to me.

Abyssal Mask Strong item, you make good use of the passive as you often are going into the center of the enemies. MR and health are quite nice, and it is cheaper than Spirit Visage. Good if both teams have high magic damage.

Thornmail Everyone heals nowadays (well not everyone, but healing is quite common) making this item really good. And it hurts people focusing you, increasing your damage. The stats are quite bad, however.

Randuin's Omen Randuin's is just a strong item, the fact that Zac builds a lot of health works well with the passive. It gives a lot of armor with relatively low health so if that's what you need, it does a good job. Generally good a couple items in (3rd item or later not including boots)

Sunfire Aegis The burn and tankiness are super nice. With the buffs in 12.23, requires more testing, but I am not sure the item is good enough.

Demonic Embrace Health is great on Zac and AP is pretty good too. The passives synergize well with you too. You apply the damage portion well as you have great AOE and constantly a constantly hitting spell in W Unstable Matter. With Sunfire Aegis, Anathema's Chains you have 29 bonus ap from passive (32 with Warmog's Armor instead and more with Iceborn Gauntlet). Also I would avoid going Mejai's Soulstealer and this as the extra damage does not change much, but leaves you fairly squishy.

Dark Seal If you have a slot for it, the item is stellar. At a single stack it gives 1 under the AP of Amplifying Tome for 85 less gold while giving 40 HP and a strong potential upside. Build into Mejai's if things go well (7+ or so stacks), sell if you need the slot otherwise.

Mejai's Soulstealer Synergizes well with Zac since he dies much less than other champs especially with the passive. The flat AP gives plenty of benefit for Zac. The fact that it is a full item and gets Mythic stats for cheap is quite nice and the health is nice. Best if you want the game in your hands, unnecessary risk if your team is winning anyway. At 10+ stacks it is a good item and the movespeed is super nice. At 20 stacks it gives 120 AP, as much as the strongest AP items base with 10% bonus movespeed and 100 health. Also I would avoid going Demonic Embrace and this as the extra damage does not change much, but leaves you fairly squishy.

EXPERIMENTAL SECTION: please let me know if it makes sense to you and/or if it is helpful at all and/or any suggestions. I still don't know how I want to format it, but it will change a lot as I try new ways.


Statistical analysis of items with help of the League of Legends Wiki.

	Value Per Point
Health	2.94
Armor	18
Magic Resist	18
Ability Haste	26.67
Base Health Regen	1*

Note: Health Regen should be 3, but boy is it not worth that on Zac. Armor should be 20, I don't think it is worth more than MR from a benefit to Zac perspective so it is 18. Health should be 2.67, I think it should be more due to how well it works on Zac, moved up to 2.94 or +10% and I think I could have moved it up more, but wanted to be conservative in moving amounts.

Thornmail Stat Amount Value Health 350 1029 Armor 60 1080 Magic Resist 0 0 Ability Haste 0 0 Base Health Regen 0 0 Stat Value 2109 Cost 2700 Net w/o passive -591

Stat Value 2109 Passive Value 700 Net Value 109 My Rating 7.5

Welcome to Preseason.

Zac isn't in a great spot currently. Tanks as a group are a little weak with mythic changes and I feel the jungle changes were relatively better for single target and damage junglers.

The meta is not the best for him in terms his class (tank) and the meta champs. Zac likes tanky and squishy enemies most.

For tanks:
They aren't doing so hot often being replaced by sustain bruisers that build things like Goredrinker or Riftmaker like Sett and Mordekaiser. And they heal off Zac about as much as he hurts them. The tanks that do get played are largely supports ( Nautilus/ Leona) or Sion who you don't often fight as he often plays his own turret minigame.

For squishies:
Mobility is kind of high in League at the moment.

Hey, my name is Sam. I like Zac.







Rank

A jungler helps your team consume the most possible resources. Without a jungler, your team still gets 3 lanes of CS, but with them, they also get half of the jungle camps for more total gold and experience.

In general, if you want to climb play something fun as boredom is the biggest threat. Any jungler played well can be very effective except maybe Yuumi, but feel free to prove me wrong.





Some possible suggestions based on what you like

Ganks: Vi, Zac, J4, Twitch, Gragas, Elise
Early Damage: Elise, Xin
Late Damage: Kha, Rengar, Yi, Noc
Micro Easy: Xin, Amumu, Rammus
Micro Difficult: Lee, Rengar
Teamfight: Zac, Amumu, Fiddle
Everything: Hec, WW

Also, I would also advise you to face your fears. You are allowed to have preferences in champion (mine, uh, is Zac), but not knowing how to do something and masking it instead of addressing it limits your ceiling for any champ.

Not being able to invade and playing a champion that doesn't often do it like Zac, or not knowing how to gank and playing Shyvana or Master Yi, or always being late to fights and playing Warwick for the blood won't help you improve in the long term. So play Zac if you enjoy Zac, but also if you feel like you are weaker at ganking and play Nunu & Willump if you feel like you are weaker at objectives and play Shaco if you feel weaker at invading.

(You can choose any champ strong in these areas, these are just examples)


Champs with low mobility and limited CC are easiest to gank

Easiest to Hardest to gank
Kog'Maw, Jhin, Yorick, Lucian, Fizz, Riven, LeBlanc


Champs who have hard CC, high mobility, high damage are easiest to gank for

Easiest to Hardest to gank for (post 6)
Teemo, Kog'Maw, Jhin, Maokai, Fizz, Nautilus, Malzahar

It also depends on the matchup. Maokai is incredibly helpful when ganking allusive squishes like Riven, Wukong, Vayne as his W Twisted Advance is not a skillshot and allows for a 100 to death, but against tanks like Sion, Tahm Kench, Ornn together you lack the damage to kill.

Similarly, Kog'Maw has almost no helpful CC or mobility himself, but if you have the CC to allow him to do damage, he certainly does a lot, making him better against the immobile tanks that Maokai and Zac have trouble with. And Malzahar is great if you can get him in R range, but often lacks the mobility in certain matchups to get in range without help.




Most junglers have the right to invade you early, you can switch up your pathing to avoid them, like starting the same side as them or invading them when they invade you. Learn as best you can what champs invade you (for example Kindred loves to invade early at Gromp)

I like to hold Stealth Ward in the early game and switch to Oracle Lens on my 2nd or 3rd back with Stealth Ward on a long cooldown. Stealth Ward allows me to ward up my jungle to watch for invades. While Oracle Lens is often less useful on Zac as he often takes strange gank paths.

I like to ward while doing my 2nd buff in the location I think is most likely to catch an invade, usually the bush you pass going between raptors and river or the bush you pass going between blue and river. If they do invade, ideally you invade them. You will rarely be able to 1 v 1, but if your lanes collapse you may be able to kill or force them out. Try to waste their time and steal with smite. Hold Elastic Slingshot to engage on them if they run and you can kill or to get out yourself. If you cannot stop them simply do something else (back, head to another camp, invade, take an objective, gank a lane).

If the enemy jungle ganks and you are nearby: consider counter ganking

If the enemy jungle ganks and you are not nearby: consider ganking near you with no fear of a jungle counter (nearby lanes can still rotate or tp), invading, or taking an objective like Dragon or Rift Herald.

• Hit the healthiest part of the camp to clear faster (your AOE hits more things), but you often take more damage as a trade-off (the small parts of the camp hit you for longer), this is fine for the most part as Zac has great sustain

• Let camps bleed out from Emberknife or Hailblade bleed passive and Red Buff. Ex one W Unstable Matter kills all the smallest Krugs while you walk away (if they don't reset super quick).

• Picking up blobs later, smiting later, and potting later means abilities hurt you less in the jungle (ability's cost based on CURRENT health), I try to get two w’s off before picking up blobs early

• Stay out of vision as much as possible, late-game most champs hover with the team, Zac stays anywhere that is in range of E and out of vision so you can keep waiting for an E and then pull the trigger when they show you something good. (See Late Game for tips on places to sit)

• Take Blue Sentinel and Gromp together whenever possible

• Q before ulting for the most part unless you get a super good ult now and enemies will move soon. It allows you to wait out the cooldown on Q while you ult and if they flash you keep ult (I see this a lot in people I coach)

• When ganking try to use people autoing minions to gank them, it freezes them in place and you know where they will be to hit the minion

• Learn to time your CC so enemies can never play and avoid stacking CC.

• You can solo drakes and most people don't check. I tend to solo when I get Bami's Cinder. Soloing is best to do if scuttle is down and I don't think the enemy bot or mid will roam or jungle will enter river to invade, gank, or take dragon themselves. Often I pink the drake, sweep it, or Scryer's Bloom (the blue plant) (this gives away your position, however so be aware). If there is a ward just clear it or leave it and don't take dragon.

The name of the game is ganking from unwarded areas, charging E out of vision, and traveling as little as possible to set up the gank.

Start with a full clear, either way, but think about if you would prefer to gank top or bot and start on the opposite side. Once you become level 3 I would be looking to gank either nearby lane (mid and top if you started bot, or bot and top otherwise). After the clear, I would check scuttle, if they are on it, they can have it unless your team has great pressure or they are low (Zac isn't good in the early 1 v 1). Then back if you find yourself with nothing to do and start the second camp so krugs or grump, and you can play for the scuttle if it is up on that side.

The rest of the early game you work your way back and forth with camps, while looking for ganks, if you see one close, gank, if you don't see one close, go to the next camp.

Watch me spectate one of my games and walk through my thought process Gameplay Commentary

The name of the game is staying out of vision. If you are out of vision the enemies have to be ready for you to gank at any time, and you could be doing anything and anywhere. You can threaten multiple lanes at once and take camps between the fights, all while threatening the engage. When you E in, either you force a fight or get out and hide out of vision again.

The following are places I like to sit while my team pushes 2nd tier mid. The name of the game is being in E range and as close as possible while out of vision. Blue J represents Zac, Blue S represents your team, Red S represents their team, Green Dot represents ward.

General idea

Zac Likes

• Champs that can't dash ( Malzahar, Xerath)
• Squishy champs that can be bursted ( Elise, Aphelios, Twisted Fate)

Zac Dislikes

• Champs that can stop his jump ( Poppy, Gragas, Janna, Thresh, Alistar)
• Champs that protect others ( Ivern, Taric, Lulu)
• Bruisers that Zac cannot get through but sustain off him ( Mordekaiser, Olaf, Darius)

1 to 10 relative to other junglers

Zac's early game leaves something to be desired. The clear and ganks are good, but he is fairly vulnerable to invades as his champion dueling is weak. He prefers fights with more people in them as every ability is AOE and the Q even does better against multiple enemies. He lacks the survivability to sustain well and due to less ability casts and heals less with fewer points in his ult.


Mid-game to me is when people start leaving lane. And Zac's mid-game is probably the strongest of his kit. You love a more teamfight centered game as you are great engage and great AOE. You make good use of your levels and the mythic adds a lot. You are hard to kill with good damage and have a maxed-out E for range.


Late game to me is roughly 30+ when people start really getting late in builds and around 16. Late game Zac falls off a bit, he hasn't added too much to his kit and with the damage of carries at this point and you can get bursted even with your tank items. If you hit good E's you are still a top-tier champ, but if you miss them and don't get Aftershock bad things can happen. Flash is super important at this stage.

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Friend me on League if you would like to ask questions as well sammystinky