About Me

Hi all and welcome to my Zac Top guide :) Yup, you read that correctly Zac Top! I promise that I am not trolling and that Zac Top is actually great - especially for climbing Solo Q in low elo. I was hard stuck Bronze and Silver for many seasons and then got out with Zac Top. Now that Riot has reverted Zac's ultimate, Zac is a great choice for Top Lane that is useful in any literally any match-up (except Darius lanes but you get 1 ban! If you follow this guide, you will leave your opponents shocked and confused as they won't know how to play against you or what landed on them (literally).

If you are stuck in low elo and want to try something try Zac Top. I basically went through all champions and found Zac Top to be the best for getting out of elo hell.

Also check out my Twitch and Youtube streams where I will post helpful videos on how you can dominate as Zac Top. Hope this is helpful and good luck with climbing!
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/pats45
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqsLaU7BZ0WsEIaKJ-YqiAg

Early Game

The early game is what separates Zac Top players. In general Zac is a strong late game champion however with this build you should be able to win lane as well. When a Zac wins lane, you will be able to carry most games.

Level 1 you will normally want to start Q. When they are standing close to the minions (likely when they are about to farm), hit them with a Q then use the other half of your Q to strike a minion standing close to them. This will damage them twice (once when your Q hit them and then a second time on the splash from the collision they had with the minion). This will also proc your Aftershock - so run up to them and start auto attacking. Go Aftershock and not Conqueror. Aftershock Zac is so strong but more on that later! In low elo they will likely try to trade with you even though the Aftershoc proc makes you incredibly tanky and able to absorb their damage.

So the level 1 trade is Q the enemy, Q a minion and then stay near them and auto attacking until Aftershock ends (should be able to auto attack twice). Stay near them so that you also land your Aftershock blast. After Aftershocks ends make sure to run away from them as quickly as you can while also prioritizing picking up your blobs. You are weak without the tankiness of Aftershock. This whole level 1 trade might take some practice, but eventually you will be able to do it easily. When done correctly you can put them at half health while barely taking any damage. Your Second Wind and Dorans Shield will help you heal back up. Plus revitalize will make it so picking up blobs will give you even more health. Cheap shot should proc on your Q. Your runes and play style are really key here for crushing this trade. Note: only fight in your Aftershock level 1. If you missed your Q or Aftershock is on cool down then do not fight until you are ready again. You will lose the trade without Aftershock being up.

Levels 2-5 you might be able to get first blood since you took ignite. At the very least try to get them to low health or through all of their potions so you can kill them as soon as you hit 6. At level 2 you are going to do the same trade as described in level 1 except with your W mixed in. W is on a very short cooldown and the cooldown actually decreases every time you pick up a blob. So make sure to spam out your W on the enemy and keep picking up those blobs.

At level 3 you will have Elastic Slingshot. This now gives you more versatility. You can use Slingshot to engage with the enemy champion or get away from enemy jungle ganks. I will usually continue the standard trade I have been doing (engaging with Q) and using E after I land the second part of my Q. The CC from the Q will help me hit my E. Since I E'd onto them, my aftershock blast will likely hit them too. Now note that you can use your W while in your E and R. So right as you are landing on them with E, hit W too. Remember to keep only trading when you have Aftershock! Don't look to trade without it.

So the level three combo is Q enemy champion, Q near minion to enemy champion, E,W, auto, auto, W, after shock blast


In general, try not to push the wave. If your jungler ever ganks you, it should be an easy kill as long as the enemy isn't under their tower. You can E to them and then CC them with Q. This will make your lane an easy gank for your team. Zac is also one of the hardest champions in the game to tower dive because of his CC and passive. So as long as you are on your own side of the lane, your passive should be able to save you especially if you can get it to go off in your tower's range.

Level 6 is where Zac now does serious damage. If you haven't gotten a kill yet on the enemy, this is when it gets easier. In my opinion, Let's Bounce is not only strong, but one of the most fun ultimates in the game. It has a pretty low cooldown so don't be afraid to use it right when you get it and then look to use it again when it is ready. This will usually allow you to use it twice in a duration where your opponent only uses their ultimate once.

You have two ideal combos. One will be to engage with E. Engaging with E will put it on cooldown right away which is great since it has the longest cooldown of your non-ultimate abilities. To make sure you land your E, try to be as close as possible to the enemy champion. The other nice part of engaging with E is that your Aftershoc will proc right away when you land. Engaging with Q sometimes takes longer since you need to hit the second Q before Aftershoc procs. Right as your E lands, hit W as you can W in your E and R. After you landed, immediately Q the enemy to put your Q on cooldown. Then stand right next to them (ideally between them and their tower to cutoff their escape) and hit R. The first bounce deals the most damage and knocks them up and away from the direction you hit them in. That's why it is ideal to be behind them, knocking them away from their tower to make their escape more difficult. While you are in your R, try to land as many bounces on them as possible. Also as you land on them, hit W whenever it is ready as W has a very short cooldown and can proc during your R. Each R bounce does 50% less damage but even the later ones still do a lot of damage especially if you are good about hitting your Ws and you have Bami's Cinder or Sunfire Cape built.

After you finish your ultimate there will be blobs all over the map for you to pick up. Depending on your health and the enemy's health decide on picking up your blobs or continuing to fight. Unless they are extremely low, you should prioritize picking up the blobs so you can heal a ridiculous amount. Q should be back up and E should almost be as well. Also if you have Spirit Visage built, along with Revitalize, the blobs will heal you for just insane amounts.

So to summarize your level 6 trade can be E,W,Q,Q,R,W

Now you have another level 6 trade as well Q,Q,E,W,R,W. Use this one when you are closer to the enemy champion or if you are fighting two or more champions. I am able to win 1 vs. 2 using this combo since you can Q the two enemy champions together and then be guaranteed to land E on both of them. This is the combo in general that I do most often. Remember all of Zac's abilities are AOE. So if you start off by Qing two enemy champions together, you might be able to get this whole combo off on both of them. Aftershock will remain strong here even in the late game because as you are fighting multiple champions, Aftershock will make it so they can't fight back as you will just be too tanky. You will be able to carry most fights as a result and even win some early 1 v 2s.

Mid Game

Usually I define the mid game for me as after the first tower on top side goes down. Since you have Demolish, this build is great at taking that first tower and tower plates. Once it is mid game, Zac has so much versatility. He is a great split pusher. Your abilities are aoe and if you have Sunfire built you will be able to clear waves even faster and take towers with Demolish. Zac also has really good CC which makes him an effective team fighter and he can provide good peel for carries. However in the mid game, I usually don't focus on either of those two roles because Zac is even better at something else: Zac is probably the best engage teamfight champion in the game.

So in the mid game I look to group and roam with my team. I buy blue trinket and keep as much of the jungle warded as possible. If I ever see an enemy champion caught out, I E onto them and then start my CC chain. If I can't get the kill on my own, the CC will allow my teammates to come help. Trust me, in low Elo it is very possible that you will be able to catch people out with your E.

However sometimes the play isn't there and the enemy isn't out of position. Or maybe there is an enemy out of position, but you don't have vision in that area to capitalize. Your other option is hanging with your team where you can wait until you have numbers and then E in to start a team fight. So if you are in the mid lane and you have three teammates with you and you see that the enemy has two champions in the side lanes, then you know the fight would be in your advantage (4 on 3) and you E in and start that fight. Y (remember to pay attention to the teleport situations though). The Zac E has an absurd amount of range once it has some levels in it. Another trick is to E in from the jungle or brush so the enemy doesn't even see it coming. This can really catch them off guard. Make sure to ping to your teammates before you E in so your team is ready too. If your team doesn't engage with you, you'll find yourself in a 1 vs. 3 situation instead of that 4 vs. 3.

Even if the numbers are even, you can still look for an engage with your E in the following two situations. The first is if the enemy is grouped together. All your abilities deal AOE damage so if the enemy is grouped you'll be knocking them up and dealing damage to them like crazy. And for the beginning of the fight you'll likely be in Aftershock which scales on all the Armor, MR and health you have built plus you are healing so much from your blobs. When the enemy team finally does kill you, you might not even die due to your passive and by this time, your teammates should be finishing the enemies off. The other situation is if you think you can land on the enemy ADC or fed carry and you think you would be able to take them out before their team can peel. In most fights I target the most fed squishy on the enemy team.

Overall, Zac has a lot of options in the mid game. Usually Zac is JG or Support so mid game is good but not ridiculous. However if you follow this guide, you will likely find yourself ahead in the mid game which does make mid game Zac outrageous. You can split push or peel with Zac, but I suggest trying to be your team's engage. You just have to know the right fights to pick (ie when you have numbers) and execute your combo which usually means doing the right E.

Late Game

I play late game Zac pretty similar to how I approach the mid game. You are going to continue to want to be your team's engage and look for team fights. Make sure to keep vision of Baron and Dragon Pit and to play around objectives. Zac late game is a monster and can completely carry a fight even when your team is behind. In late game it is now really important to prioritize carries since this is when they are dealing a ton of damage. In fights try to E onto the enemy carry and use your combo to 100 to 0 them. This will turn the fight into a 5 on 4 and if you have your passive then you will really have two lives. Since your W deals max HP damage and your Q is so much CC, after the enemy carry is dead, you will be effective at helping your team deal with any champion. If a lot of the enemy team is grouped, you can also E into all of them and deal your AOE to them. Aftershoc will make you so tanky that they will waist so much on you, also likely leading to your team winning the fight. Zac's team fighting is just so OP, especially late game!

Thanks for reading, I hope this helps and for more help, watch me on Twitch or YouTube!
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/pats45
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqsLaU7BZ0WsEIaKJ-YqiAg