Hello folks, please listen dearly to my old words of wisdom.

I tried making a zilean build playing many normal games and made a guide in season 2 that was not so top notch. Now this build is for people who are skilled players. So read next chapter to get some skill!!!

I played 100+ ranked games and also lots normal with zilean. I win lots of games. Zilean is more viable then people would expect.

Zilean is also very funny to play. And this build with its cd-reduction its even funnier. To be realy fast and anoying for the enemy is so fuuny to me. i could play zilean all day long.

yes zilean needs skills, without fast, quick use of your ability you are not good zilean. learn these tricks now to be a better zilean.

KEYBINDINGS.
you must change one key in option menu.
autosmartcast summoner spell 1 = A (so the button A below q is q with a click onn that target)

this makes planting bombs allot faster. it is very much needed to be faster and flee faster to.

alt+E : speed up yourself to plant your bomb onn a target that is just out of your reach. you need to speed yourself up and make the target

alt+r : ult yourself. often you cannot find time to click onn yourslef. with this key combination you quickly ult yourself and you comeback to life tanked allot of damage. now flash away or you probably die again if the enemy is onn top of you! also speeding yourself can get yourself away safely aswell.



The more games i played the more i came to realize that what hapens anywhere onn the map concerns zilean. You can teleport there or you are fast enough with movementspeed boosts to meddle in nearly any battle.
Learn to watch minimap and wonder. Where is the enemy jungler? Or where is the missing mid-laner? What allie does the enemy see at that momment when they look onn the minimap? Maybe they go there! As it is you task as a scout, to put a ward and figure it out!

at champion select i decide if i pick alfa build or beta build for zilean.
mostly i pick build A becouse running back to lane is more funny and you can reduce cd of zileans ult by it. instead of teleporting. and exsoust is just perfect to weaken lots of enemy damage.

homeguard enchantment is ALWAYS better if your team is some-what lozing.

i pick build B is i am scared of an enemy like blitzcrank. i must be full hp if i even dare harrassing him safely. and yes you can out-sustain him. leona also outsustainable. sometimes this Beta build is just better for that situation.

build A:

*Can fight onn for an exchange. like zileans life forr an enemy.
*start off with an extra ward to ward a bush where enemy is hiding.
*in midgame zilean goes back, fills mana, spams spells and goes back again. realy fast.

BUILD B:

*to have a great lane sustain.
*also if you start blue you can start minigolems. (coz with the flask zilean can tank that.)
*teleport fills your mana and health and also fills your flask! very great sustain
*superfast flash. very fast off cooldown

So you ward and scoot around the map freely late and midgame, like a free running zilean that you are. Then all of the sudden you see an enemy. You chase them, bomb them, and oh **** 5 of them were in that bush and they instantly kill you! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!.

Well no problem zilean is just a support. But you need to lead your team into a good batle. And fooling around turns a bad eye from your team towards you. Your job is to speed up yourself and team-mates into great engages. And those enemies fleeing will not get away with your speed-ups and slow-downs. It is just realy hard to escape from a team if they are fast and you are slow.

You do not watch the red bars above minions, they are for your ad-carry. You should watch the green ones. The enemy will try to last hit these minions for precious 20 gold. It is the perfect moment for them to catch a bomb. that damagage will cancel out the 20 gold value.

Zilean can couse allot of fear like this. becouse they are not safe to farm at all. making your lanepartner winn in creap score is one weaker way to win. but it can be enough if your team-mates are doing alright.

potions:

yep zilean is very mana hungry i need to start off with mana potions. exspecialy if enemy support is a healer! you need to keep the presure on them healthy basterds! you can't stop bombing becouse they heal! forget that. i won't even allow an adc to get away with one minion without recieving my terrible bomb!

"total gangstar"


please use the free ward to not face-dive the first bush you walk into. i died this way so many times. so just use that free ward and put it!


wards: ward the bush if you can't see em you can't bomb em! and lev 4 ward river or you'll get ganked so bad your team lozes lives and moral, and MORAL lozes allot of games.
also i buy them with gold NOT from the items untill late game becouse you need gold earlygame. earlygame zilean shines the most!



TEAR of the goddes: yep you need fuel allot like any expensive sports-car does


boots and echantment

after mana you need cd reduction so bad!. why not buy boots now for the speed to get away fast enough and to spam spells faster. zilean wastes that mana. the faster he does the better too

HOMEGUARD:

zilean can speed himself up and with this homeguard its like he's onn a speedway back into action. around lev 12 you nearly have perma-speed. and i can get the speed-up buff from this enchantment up to the second tower from your side of the field. so that is nearly half the map!
also instant-full hp and mana is perfect for a champion who needs enormous amounths of mana.




fiendisch codex: the last 10% cooldown you need. you can also pick it from the health and cooldown item. buy i know zilean needs ability power more. to have a stronger ult and bomb. it is worth building less healthy.



zilean now has:
*40% cd reduction cap to permanently speed yourself
*over 2000 mana so you can spam your spells
*some AP to bring people back to life with bit more hp
*enchantement for refilling mana and health at base and get back into action way faster!

realy this is all you need as a basic

Archangel staff: buy it only if you are still able to safely plant bombs at this stage of the game. if you are very underfed you are simply a guardian angel onn a stick with speedbufs

Banshee's veil: this item makes it safer to get near the fight and cast your ult before you get nuked to death.

giants belt: Sometimes zilean is to much in danger of being nuked out of a fight before zilean can save people. giants belt helps allot to get more time

further items i have put in the guide is what i usualy buy. the game is at this momment already won or lost. usualy. so buy what you think is best. ap from archangels. health from giantsbelt. armor or magic resist wards. you name it. all is good. banshee veil is often perfect to finish this build. so you won't get bursted down so fast when the first stun hits you.

Zilean usualy don't need armor items. becouse:

We have armor runes we use earlygame. and we stay out or basic attack range most of the time. only jump in cast your spells and leave. Unless you are with all your team tap-dancing up-on one enemy


*A variation build is to pick summoner spells flash and teleport. when you combine this with distortion enchantment. instead of homeguard you get supergreat cooldowns onn teleport and flash.

armor seels: for early harras, safely.

magic penetration marks for more damage onn bombs

abilitypower glyf: for early damage onn bombs.

quintesence of gold: your goldflow needs to stay enough to buy wards and items during game otherwise you will fall back to much and the enemy can feed uppon you.

scaling magic ressist glyfs: are a good alternative glyfs to have some extra defence throughout the game.

Siple explained:
Other options i tried and were not good enough for zilean. If you think you found better way please tell me.

Complexer explained:
This set runes and masteries makes sure we have a strong early game. It is needed to be extra strong early, becouse then zilean shines. Potions are used to help with the expensive manacosts instead of mana runes we rather have a few more AP for more damage.

In masteries you can pick offensive defensive or utility

offensive: it is very risky to put all points into more damage. it is great to deal some good damage. but not for later in the game you'll fall behind badly unless you make allot of kills. but that often means you steal these kills from you carry. so this is not what we want.

defensive: zilean does not need much defence, zilean is a thin guy. squishy. defensive masteries wont help him much.

utility: we need extra ward, gold. movement speed. faster sumoner spell use. all this is realy nice.



these masteries are very focussed onn:

moving around.
gaining gold.
and small extra's that matter


sumoners insight: if we want our flash to be 15 second sooner available, flash saves zilean life very often. especialy when he reviving and you need to flash away under the enemy noses.

improved recal: with the homeguard enchantment it is very rewarding to recall allot!

mastermind: a faster flash. also if you picked teleport and flash. you can buy distortion enchantment for and epic 188sec cooldown onn flash. and teleport is also very fast cooldown then.

greed: gold is needed for wards and items.

buisciteer, explorer and wealth: these masteries get you a jumpstart in potions and wards.
this is needed becouse you need a strong start consuming these.

inteligence: this makes sure you reach 41% cooldown reduction when you bought items. 40% is maximum. but there is no other way.

pickpocket: a very very needed skill to poke some enemies with basic attack early onn and gain few golds. early in game your basic attack is strong enough to hurt a bit. some champions are easily poked.

nimble: we need speed becouse this build we speed up ourselves all the time

hardiness: armor for early-game survival we need to harras safely

veterans scars: health is also good early-game.

know your enemy. that is what this chapter is about. know what to do against them andwhat not and then you'll win.

strong enemy

Taric: i don't like him. he has more sustain and can stunn you when you try bomb the enemies carry. he is very dangerous for a zilean. if this taric has enough brain to protect the carry otherwise you just bomb the carry and winn lane.

* you can lure a bad taric into stunning you when you are safe to be stunned. just so he has his stun onn a cooldown and you can bomb freely. just throw your basic attack peble at him, he wont like that.



he means death for zilean

blitzcrank: oh man that arm. you must be a master of dodging to win against him in lane
but when he misses. you have 15 free seconds to plant bombs. so a dumb robot wastes his arm and you still win lane again!

*if youdodge you win


very dangerous

leona is like blitzcranks arm instead she dives in and oh boy!. zilean does not survive that very often.

funny
nunu: nunu heals himself, like allistar does. but does not heal the carry. he has only one dangerous attack. the frostball. you can just poke him with basic attac you get 3 gold!. take the iceball damage. and runn with it. you can bomb his carry back. gues who likes this the least, they will!

allistar:

funny

they tought sustain/tank works agains zilean? yes zilean is squishy. but allistar cant keep his carry safe when zilean is around!.

*you can poke allistar with basic attack for fun. and 3 gold reward. keep him zoned or he can jump on your head

*just spare your bombs for the enemies carry and they loze.

avarage enemy

sona:

sona can heal herself and the carry. you need to presure them. she will poke you and damage you so poke them back.

*best situation is when your jungler comes ganking you can slow her. and she has not much escapes.

*also great when they stand close you canbomb both of them to deal lots damage. and when they dont stand close you can double-team sona. coz sona is often even squishier then the carry.

*when she pokes her real powerfull attack is over for little while. so long harrasses can win. zilean does not shine onn that but someone else does. and your slow onn sona can beat her.

anoying!!

jenna: oh boy its jenna. ive seen a genius jenna with lev 1 casting shield onn the carry. you realy need help from your carry to realy break throught the shield. then jenna is not so usefull. herr cc from the whirlwind is painfull.

*you can easily break the jenna shield and doublebomb them.

*but if this jenna is realy good. prepare to see allot of bombs wasted and suck it up.

*wait until you have your ult and start saving people. when she ults you just bomb all the enemies that try to heal.

LULU:

anoying

omg lulu. she is a pocket-knife from switserland. it has all you need. shiels slows stuns, she can do everything!

but they probebly picked lulu to shield the carry again. only good thing is that she can't heal.

dodging her glitterlance and expecting her polymorph.is needed so you have enough time to ult yourself or get away safely.

lulu is the suport champion who might be better then zilean. however zilean's can escape's are better then lulu. zilean's slow. and ult are just faster off cooldown then her giant groth.

"zilean hates bears" thats great:P!

storyline technical zilean hates bears. and in gameplay we can see why:
we can again freely bomb the enemy and poke the bear with basic attack.

however we need a hawk-ayes reflexes for when the bear comes charging inn. we need to slow him and then he will never reach anyone to be thrown by this bear!
this is all how you beat this bear that zilean hates.




weakling

soraka: soraka does low damage to players. and big heals over long time. she has only one target that she heals. so we dont need focus just bomb anyone! soraka or the adc.

eventualy soraka can fully heal you bombs if she is good and you wait to long before planting the next pair of bombs onn their face, so be very very agresive vs her.

*your bombs are planted before she silences you.

* with sorakas heals and your bombs their healthbars go up and down. who is mostly in danger?. yes the enemy. this makes the ad-carry loze farm if he fears another bomb.

this lanepartner is the guy who needs your help. some are nice to play with and some are not so nice. here is the idea to what we like and what we don't like.

ashe: ashe is a bit weak onn her own without any dodging skills or sustain. she however deals good damage to enemies

ezreal:

to be paired with ezreal is bad. ezreal can jump away with your ult onn him. and he has low sustain otherwise. so it is not the best carry for us.


vayne: very strong. she can run fast and deals high damage so we can be agresive. and vayne can chase them for the kill.

well goodluck playing zilean. i hope this helps you. please tell me what happened when you played my build. becouse i will be impoving this zilean skills. becouse its my favorite champion.

thanks for reading

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change made:
i changed my build with cooldown runes. becouse it saves up so much gold that it made building a sightstone viable! instead of the items i needed before this update.