2781

Looking for Zilean advice…

Zilean experts:

  1. When do you get your boots?

  2. Do you focus on AP, or get some defense stuff? Aura stuff? As a support, is it my responsibility to buy wards?

  3. Do you ever use the speed boost offensively on an ally rather than to debuff your enemy’s speed? When? I understand its defensive uses.

  4. Should I always have a buddy with me, or can I lane solo?

I have maybe a dozen games under my belt total, so I am very very new. I am doing well so far, but I still need to know more. Thanks very much in advance!

2782

1/10/5 with mejai’s. No, not harsh at all.

2783

Hah he deserves to lose that much with the way he played but i dont think they take that into account… or do they? :p

2784

Your early games are weighted slightly more than twice as much as later games.

2785

@MarkL I’m not a Zilean expert, but I will answer anyway. My apologies. As you mentioned you’re new, let me know if this is too much jargon and I will elaborate.

  1. I start Doran’s Ring. Boots 1 on first trip back. CDR boots after finishing Morello’s.

  2. A mix of AP, CDR, aura and defense, generally. It really depends on how that particular game’s going and if the enemy team is trying to/able to focus me.

  3. If it’s a team fight where I don’t feel any particular enemy needs to be peeled before they can do damage I will speed boost our best AD carry to help them wreck face and to ensure that I get more assists. My rationale is that if an enemy player is debuffed and dies in 2.5 seconds, that’s great, but if they will die anyway and an ally can be buffed for 5.5 seconds, I get more mileage out of it. Realistically my initially flow in a team fight tends to be Q an enemy or a friendly initiator, E a friendly or enemy, then hit W and do it again, so sometimes two allies will be sped up, sometimes two enemies slowed, sometimes one of each. The target selection is something that will come with experience.

  4. I HAVE laned solo on zilean but I wasn’t a huge fan of it. You can surprise people that don’t know zil with your Q-W-Q burst, which at low level is probably almost all non-smurfs. However, if that’s not enough, you don’t have anyone to back you up and your autoattack is crap.

2786

The reason you don’t want to solo lane zil is because, compared to the alternatives, it doesn’t matter a damn whether he gets farmed or not. Would you rather give 150 creeps to Irelia or Zilean?

2787

A solo mid Zilean is not that bad if you don’t have any other choices, and the AP will improve his ult healing/mana, but he can’t carry a game on his own so its a bit pointless.

2788

Now, what is the rationale behind Doran’s Ring? I have been getting a mana crystal, ducking behind my lane partner, and bombing those who come in too close with the predictable q-w-q.

I see what you mean, Nathan, regarding it being better to speed up an ally who’s gonna fight than an enemy who’s gonna die. Making these split decisions is something I need to work on- it’s obvious when to use it on defense (run!) but offense is hard! (for me, anyway!)

Thanks for the lane comments everyone, makes obvious sense in retrospect!

2789

Doran’s items are the most efficient in the game (I think) in terms of the stats you get, but you get no upgrade paths.

They are sustainability/survivability items. Consider the Ring’s 5 mp/5, it will give you 200 mana back in 3.33 minutes. By getting a Sapphire Crystal, you’re essentially making the decision to go back as soon as possible in order to turn it into something else (+boots for the run back). This requires a bit more skill and forward thinking than just grabbing a Ring. However, a Ring is usually bought under the assumption that you’ll make up its price by getting a kill, or assist, or farming well.

2790

I think zil is damn squishy at level 1, as well as being mana hungry. Doran’s ring helps both of those issues while also giving your low level bombs a bit more punch. At my level, combined with some MP/5 runes, he is pretty sustainable for a long period with just the doran’s ring.

If I know I have a strong lane partner I may get a faerie charm, some pots and some wards, and plan on turning the charm into a philo stone, which can sustain you through the rest of laning while giving gold in the process.

2791

I like doing the oldskool ToG to eventual AA’s Staff on Zilean. What you should be doing as Zilean is bombing the enemy in lane forever. Teach them to fear you so that they flee in terror at your approach. If your lane partner is solid so they can’t harass him and run from you, they will tremble behind their creeps and let you zone them.

2792

1v1 lane Zilean is a scary prospect vs. an AD carry because he can speed himself up, come in and bomb you, and get out before you can really do anything to match his damage. (There’s your offensive usage.) So he can win his lane pretty hard. As mx said though, solo lanes get solo gold and XP, and you really want that to go to carries who will do work for you lategame, although there is some value in shutting down an AD carry in the laning phase.

2793

Stop writing so much in this thread. Everyone.
It’s really annoying to catch up 20 pages every few days…

2794

ahah, u need brain!

2795

this is so, so, so, funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwzsXR4sM_Y

2796

You can’t possibly be talking about me !

2797

Yes, it is. :-D

2798

Well, looks like Euro Gamer spilled the beans on the big thing coming.

2799

That looks very interesting, wonder how the creep waves factor into a king of the hill style map?

Edit: link to the story itself http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-04-league-of-legends-dominion-preview?page=1

2800

No dates given though were there?