Zilean Build Guide

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Love

Zilean mid? A good idea.

written by fehCrebO

Zilean Build

Always use time warp at base!

Pros / Cons

Summary

Abilities

Introduction

Note: This is not a "in depth" guide or a beginners guide. Just an alternative to the mainstream solution.

I really felt like writing this guide, as I played Zilean a lot lately and claimed mid. A lot of times I heard:"Wasted Xp" or "you suck balls lategame". I diasgree with both. The one point nobody thinks about is that you can take their carry out of the game, which can predicide whole matches. The other is, that you can play him as a very strong caster, wholl make a hell of a lot dmg to their team if farmed right. His passive also gives him a level advantage over every hero, which he can use to shift the game.
There are times when you definitely should not take mid, but Ill discuss that in Pros and Cons.

Before you ask: Why don't you go for CDR? It is definitely not a bad choice to do CDR, but I don't see one that provides me AP which I want to have as a very offensive Zilean in lategame.

Edit: Of course the blue buff is very helpful, especially when you dont go for CDR items. With double bombing, you can get it quite easy and with my items you shouldnt run out of Mana any time soon, so go for the Golem... now.
Masteries + Runes

I copied this from keesvanschijndel cause I thought hes completly right with what hes doing Masteries:

Ofcourse 9/0/21! In the offence tree you aim for the magic damage penetration. In utility you can take whatever you like, but I prefer XP bonus (to max you already great passive), Mana Bonus for your Archangel's Staff and Mana Regeneration because Zilean is quite mana consuming.

Offence:

Archmages Savvy 3/3
Deadliness 1/3
Sorcery 4/4
Archaic Knowledge 1/1

Utility

Perseverence 3/3
Good Hands 1/3
Awareness 4/4
Expanded Mind 4/4
Meditate 3/3
Greed 1/1
Blink of an Eye 1/1
Intelligence 3/3
Prescence of the Master 1/1

Runes:

Greater Mark of Insight
Greater Seal of Force
Greater Glyph of Focus
Greater Quintessence of Focus
Items

I start of with Doran's Ring and a Health Potion.
Then Ill use the following:
Sorcerer's Shoes
Rod of Ages
Archangel's Staff
Then either Lich Bane or Void Staff or another Archangel's Staff
If you get that far (and a lot of you will at some point hope they do) you go for [item=Zhonya's Ring]

So, what do we have. We have an early rod, which gives u some survivability. The rest is more or less pure AP with some nice effects like your next hit is going to be 480 with Lichs bane or the Magic penetration provided by Void staff, choose depending on the opponents heros.
With those items, ull do a lot of dmg, of course using your Bomb, Rewind, Bomb tactic. It gets most not tank heros down to something over their half, and you can do that again in 6 seconds.
Skilling Order

Basicly go for Bombs and at Lv 2 you go for rewind to be able to double cast. Then I max bombs, then Time Warp, of course skilling your ulti whenever you can.

Note: You can use your Time Warp to move from base to everywhere else quickly. So it cuts down time for hasty ppl like me ;)
Farming

Farming is great with Zilean, after he reached lv 7. At 7 you can timb bomb the ranged minions and give em all 1 hit while it ticks down. You get all of em 24/7 and can maybe focus and getting another melee one in the meantime. At lv 9, they normally die right off, but youll need some AP to make that happen later in the game.
Attention: I normally do have trouble finding a stupid enough hero, to get a double bomb hit on creeps, but there are some out there. If you bomb the creep and he comes close to it --> rewind and another bomb on it to make him get the full 2 bomb aoe DMG that he deserves.
Summoner Abilities

I go with flash and ignite, as helps you killing their mid lane easier and earlier, which will be key to the whole game.
Exhaust works well aswell, as it give your bomb or rewind time to get just another hit.
Escaping

Some people say, hes easy to kill, but you should never forget the speed with time warp and to always have enough mana to cast your ulti. With Flash, you should be able to get away most times, not if they chase you with more then 2, but what are you doing there then anyways? ;).
Always use time warp at base!

Why? To get your used up ulti back up. Everytime you heal or you got enough mana and wont need a double bomb soon, just click it. Towards the end it might be very important to keep you or the carry of your team alive!
Pros / Cons

Zilean is very, VERY strong earlygame and there are not a lot who can match him. But there are some, so everytime you face a Sivir or a Morde, you might wanna swap because your whole double bomb tactic basicly goes to hell, because of their shields/energy.
But if there is twisted fate or as in my last game, a MF, you can normally nuke em hard and easy and then keep them away from getting gold and experience, by standing between them and THEIR creeps. Close the twr, you might still be able to hit a double bomb,with ur your ulti and Time Warp you can also Tower Dive killing them and then flashing out of the tower reach. 60% of the times, they wont get any strong until very late (most of the time too late), while you do quite some dmg in no time.
Summary

I hope youll have fun dominating mid and making your opponent go nuts.