Overview
Feeling groovy? Or nostalgic for the LCS in the late 2010s? One of the oldest champions in the game (both lore wise and gameplay wise), Zilean is a master at making the enemy team rage. He’ll keep your allies alive and also provide a ton of zone control if not outright CC and kill potential with his lordage over time itself. He’s a great pick for anyone who wants to play a more supportive style of mid lane. Click here for the latest data on his best builds, including Runes, Items, Summoner Spells, and more.
Keys to Remember About Zilean
The worst thing that could happen to you is that you get caught alongside your ally and both of you are in range to be killed together. As long as you stay behind your carry, there's always a chance to turn the fight around. This becomes even more important late game -- enemies often only have one guaranteed manner of killing someone, and your ultimate can completely negate that.
Even more impactful than landing a well-timed ultimate would be catching multiple enemies with your Q W Q combo to land an AoE stun -- knowing when to fall back to prepare for an ultimate vs. moving forward to look for a stun is the key to a good Zilean player.
Strengths
Zilean’s kit is all about timing (literally) as when you decide to press your buttons and who you press those buttons on the essentials to him. He doesn’t have crazy mechanics or tons of skill shots you need to hit. It’s all pretty straightforward, and that begins with his Chronoshift [R], which will bring an ally (or himself) back to life if they die with it cast on them. This can be huge against teams that have single target abilities or rely on picks to get kills, as he can give your team another life or completely negate one of their engage cycles. In general, he’s great at countering engages thanks to his Q W Q combo allowing him to stun enemies (sometimes multiple enemies) quickly.
Weaknesses
Once you use your Time Bomb [Q], it’ll become immediately safe for enemies as they know they can’t be stunned by you unless they randomly walk into that first Q. This means you need to use them in succession every time you want a stun, and if you miss, you’ll be vulnerable to enemies jumping on you. You’ll also need to manage your mana properly, so you unfortunately cannot just throw out your abilities willy nilly. Teams that learn to bait out and wait out your ultimate will also be difficult to deal with.
Game Plan
Early Game: Any time your Q W Q combo is up, you should look to land it on the enemy carry. If you’re able to stun them, it can often lead to kills for your carry.
Mid Game: Rewind [W] lets you speed around the map as necessary to support your team, which you should do -- you have a lot of strength against clumped up opponents and a well-timed roam can instantly turn around an enemy gank.
Late Game: Play back and be ready to ult at all times. You need to remember that sometimes you should let a less useful member die to keep your ultimate up for your carries.
