Zilean Support: Counters, Runes, And Gameplay

Hey guys! Let's dive deep into the world of Zilean support, the Chronokeeper! He's a unique and often underestimated pick in the bot lane. Zilean offers a distinct blend of utility, crowd control, and even a touch of damage, making him a fascinating and potent support champion. If you're looking to climb the ranked ladder or simply want to spice up your support gameplay, Zilean could be your ticket. We'll cover everything you need to know, from understanding his counters to the best runes and strategies to dominate the game. This guide will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of Zilean support, so you'll be well-equipped to make the most of his abilities, and outplay your opponents in the process.

Why Play Zilean Support?

So, why should you consider playing Zilean? Well, he brings a lot to the table. His main strengths lie in his ability to disrupt enemy engages, peel for your carries, and provide game-changing resurrection. His kit is designed to control the flow of a fight and turn the tides in your favor. If you enjoy playing a supportive role with a high skill ceiling and the potential for big plays, Zilean is your guy. He can be incredibly frustrating to play against, especially when you master his ability to predict enemy movements and capitalize on their mistakes. Zilean's Time Bomb (Q) allows you to zone enemies, apply pressure, and even set up kills. Landing a double bomb on an enemy is incredibly satisfying. His Rewind (W) lets him reduce his ability cooldowns, allowing for more frequent spell casting and making him highly versatile. His Time Warp (E) can speed up allies or slow enemies, providing great utility in both offense and defense, and helping you control the tempo of a fight. And finally, his ultimate, Chronoshift (R), can completely negate enemy burst or save your carry from certain death, turning fights around at the most critical moments.

Moreover, Zilean's kit has very low mana costs, allowing him to stay in lane longer than other enchanters. With a good understanding of wave management and vision control, Zilean can significantly impact the game. Zilean is also a great pick into heavy engage compositions. By mastering his kit and understanding his role in team fights, you can climb the ranks. The Chronokeeper's toolkit is a mix of crowd control, utility, and a game-changing ultimate that makes him a formidable support champion. Zilean's ability to manipulate time is what makes him so unique. He can speed up allies, slow enemies, and even rewind time for a second chance! This makes him a valuable asset in team fights and a constant threat to the enemy team. Mastering Zilean requires understanding his strengths and weaknesses, learning how to effectively use his abilities, and knowing how to position yourself in team fights. With the right strategy and practice, you can climb the ranked ladder and become a true Chronokeeper.

Zilean Support Counters: Champions to Watch Out For

Alright, let's talk about the tough matchups. Knowing your counters is key to success, so you can adapt your gameplay. While Zilean can be effective against a wide variety of supports, there are some champions that can make your life difficult. These are champions that can either out-trade you in lane, negate your utility, or simply outscale you in the late game. It's important to understand these counters so that you can play accordingly, whether that means adjusting your itemization, playing more cautiously in lane, or relying on your team to carry you through the difficult matchups. This section will delve into specific champions and explain why they pose a threat to Zilean.

Here are some of the key counters you should be aware of when playing Zilean support:

• Blitzcrank: The classic hook champion. If Blitzcrank lands his Rocket Grab, it can instantly change the course of a fight. He can be very oppressive in the lane, as he can constantly threaten to pull your team into a disadvantageous position, and he can quickly punish your positioning. Zilean's squishiness makes him an easy target, and Blitzcrank's ability to disrupt your team's positioning makes it difficult for you to apply your utility effectively. Play cautiously in lane and try to maintain distance.
• Leona: Another highly aggressive support. Leona can dive onto your carries and lock them down, and it's tough for Zilean to peel effectively against Leona. Her engage potential is much stronger, and she can easily force fights that you are not prepared for. Her tankiness and crowd control make her a formidable threat in the lane and in team fights. It's difficult to outplay Leona, so you might need to rely on your team to provide peel and counter-engage.
• Thresh: A versatile hook champion with a lot of utility. He can hook, peel, and even provide a shield to his allies. Thresh has good lane presence, and he can outmaneuver you in the bot lane. His kit offers a lot of versatility and can be difficult to deal with, especially if Thresh is skilled. If you're against Thresh, focus on out-farming him and controlling the vision.
• Sustain Supports: Champions like Sona, Soraka, and Nami can be difficult to deal with in lane due to their healing and poke capabilities. These champions can sustain through your poke and out-trade you in the long run. They can also outscale you in the late game. Your poke will be negated by their healing. Try to look for opportunities to engage and punish their mistakes. However, you'll need to coordinate with your ADC to take advantage of them.

Runes for Zilean Support

Now, let's talk about runes. Your rune choices can have a massive impact on your performance. You have to tailor your runes to your play style and the matchup. The right rune page can optimize your damage output, survivability, and utility in lane and team fights. Here's a breakdown of the best rune options for Zilean support, allowing you to maximize his potential and provide a significant advantage to your team. Remember, experimenting with different rune pages is always encouraged to find the best fit for your playstyle.

Primary Rune Options

• Summon Aery: This is the most common choice, as it enhances both your poke and shielding capabilities. Aery works well with all of Zilean's abilities. With every cast, your shield and damage are boosted. It provides extra poke damage, making it easy to harass opponents in lane, and it also boosts the shields from items, making your allies more resistant. This rune synergizes well with Zilean's play style, as you'll be constantly using your abilities. It's reliable and provides consistent value in all stages of the game. This rune is a solid choice for most games.
• Arcane Comet: This rune is for players who want to maximize their damage output. Comet is especially effective if the enemy team has many squishy champions. It can be a very impactful rune choice for Zilean support. If you want to increase your damage, this rune is a solid option. It is great for poking down the enemy and can be very punishing if combined with your bombs and slows.

Secondary Rune Options

• Sorcery Tree: This tree is a good choice for enhancing your ability to poke and harass the enemy in lane, and it also provides some mana regeneration.
  • Manaflow Band: Essential for mana sustain in lane. Manaflow Band helps you manage your mana pool, especially if you're frequently casting abilities to poke or peel. This rune will provide you with extra mana and make sure that you're not running out of mana. Manaflow Band is a great choice for Zilean because of his low mana cost and frequent spell casts.
  • Transcendence: Provides ability haste, which reduces your cooldowns, and it can also give you a percentage of your ability haste converted into damage. It allows you to cast your abilities more frequently, increasing your utility and damage output. Reduced cooldowns mean more bombs, more slows, and more ultimates. Transcendence is a solid choice because it gives you increased utility.
  • Gathering Storm: Provides scaling AP over time, making you more effective in the late game. Gathering Storm helps you scale into the late game. It is a fantastic option if you think the game will last longer.
• Inspiration Tree: This tree focuses on providing you with utility and sustain.
  • Biscuit Delivery: Provides mana sustain and helps you stay in lane longer. Biscuit Delivery offers extra sustain in the early game. It provides health and mana regeneration, allowing you to stay in lane longer and harass your opponents more frequently.
  • Cosmic Insight: Provides ability haste and item haste. This rune is essential because it lowers the cooldown on your summoner spells and items, increasing your ability to make plays and provide utility to your team. The item haste is great. You can use your items more often.

Itemization for Zilean Support

Itemization is another crucial aspect of playing Zilean effectively. The items you choose can significantly impact your ability to provide utility, protect your team, and contribute to team fights. Item choices can be dynamic and should be adapted based on the game and your team's needs. Zilean can build many support items, but most of them focus on utility and support. This section provides insights into the most effective items to build on Zilean.

Starting Items

• Spellthief's Edge: This is the standard starting item. This item is for gold generation. It provides AP and mana regen, and it helps you generate gold by harassing the enemy champions. Spellthief's Edge allows you to generate gold by poking the enemy champions. This item provides you with AP, mana regeneration, and an on-hit effect that deals damage and grants you gold when you hit an enemy champion with a basic attack or ability.
• Health Potion: Provides sustain in the early game. This item is very important for early game sustain. Health Potions help you recover health, which enables you to stay in the lane longer and survive poke.

Core Items

• Shurelya's Battlesong: This item is perfect for engaging fights or disengaging, which can change the outcome of a team fight. Active ability that grants a burst of movement speed to you and nearby allies, allowing you to catch enemies or escape from a bad situation. Shurelya's Battlesong provides movement speed, which is great for engaging or disengaging fights.
• Zeke's Convergence: Great item for the team's AD carry. When you use your ultimate on the enemy, it slows them. This item is excellent for team fighting and allows your ADC to deal more damage. It can provide a significant advantage in fights. The passive applies a burn on-hit, helping you control the team fight.
• Locket of the Iron Solari: This is a great item for team fights. It provides a shield for your allies. It is one of the most reliable items for team fighting, as it provides a shield for all nearby allies. Locket of the Iron Solari is perfect if the enemy team has a lot of burst damage.

Situational Items

• Ardent Censer: Provides attack speed and on-hit damage. This item is great if your team has attack speed-focused champions. Ardent Censer buffs the attack speed and on-hit damage of your allies.
• Staff of Flowing Water: Provides ability haste and AP to allies. This item is great for your allies. Staff of Flowing Water increases your allies' ability haste and AP, further amplifying your team's potential.
• Morellonomicon: Provides grievous wounds. This item is for dealing with healing champions. If the enemy team has healing champions, it can prevent them from healing. Morellonomicon is essential if the enemy team has healing champions.

Gameplay Strategy and Tips

Alright, let's talk about how to actually play Zilean support in the game. Mastering Zilean requires more than just understanding his abilities and items. You have to focus on strategic gameplay. His skill cap is high, and your decisions can have a big impact on your team's success. This section will delve into the critical aspects of his gameplay, from laning phase to team fights.

Laning Phase

• Early Game: During the early game, you want to focus on farming and harassing the enemy. Early game focus should be on farming, harassing, and controlling the lane. Use your Time Bombs (Q) to zone enemies and control the minion wave. Your Time Warp (E) is excellent for speeding up your ADC to get kills, or slowing enemy laners. Look for opportunities to poke the enemy with your Time Bombs, but be mindful of your mana and cooldowns. Early warding can help you prevent ganks, and it gives you vision.
• Mid Game: Your primary focus should be on assisting your team, protecting your carries, and setting up plays. In the mid-game, you should move around the map with your team. Make use of your Chronoshift (R) to protect teammates from burst damage. Use your Time Warp (E) to help your team secure objectives, and use your Time Bombs to set up picks. During this phase, you are looking to help the team and impact fights around objectives.

Team Fights

• Positioning: Good positioning is vital for Zilean. You need to position yourself in the backline, and protect your team. Stay away from the enemy. Zilean is squishy, so you must position carefully. Be aware of where the enemy champions are. Focus on staying alive, and your ultimate is invaluable in team fights.
• Ability Usage: Use your abilities to control the fight. Use your Time Bombs (Q) to zone the enemy. Use your Time Warp (E) to assist your allies or to slow enemies. Using your Chronoshift (R) at the right moment can change the outcome of a fight. This ability is used to save allies from death. Good ability usage can decide fights. Use your abilities wisely to maximize their impact.
• Peeling: Peel for your carries. Your Time Warp (E) is great for slowing enemies, and it will assist your carries to survive the fight. Protect your carry from harm. You can turn the tide of a fight by slowing down the enemy. Your primary goal is to protect your carry. Stay focused, and protect the team.

Conclusion: Becoming the Ultimate Chronokeeper

So, there you have it, guys! We've covered the ins and outs of playing Zilean support. If you've been searching for a support champion who combines utility, crowd control, and the ability to make game-changing plays, Zilean is the champion for you. Mastering Zilean takes time and practice, but the rewards are well worth it. By understanding his counters, choosing the right runes and items, and implementing smart gameplay strategies, you can climb the ranks and become a true Chronokeeper. So get out there, start experimenting, and have fun mastering Zilean! Good luck, and happy climbing! With practice, you'll be able to master Zilean and make clutch plays. Remember to be patient, and keep practicing to perfect your skills. Go out there, and win games.