Ziggs Build Guide by Agoney

Introduction

Greetings all, and thank you for coming to Agoney's Ziggs guide (edited by Irialis)! Ziggs is an incredible burst mage who does massive area damage. If you want a champ who can eat a whole team alive in 5 seconds, snipe people from across the map, or simplely create chaos and mayhem,then Ziggs is your man! Still not convinced? Watch this.


Now that you are rocking out and ecstatic about playing Ziggs, let's go over what runes, masteries, and items we need to PURIFIEY THE WO- I mean... play Ziggs.

The Top 10 List

Guys, thank you SO MUCH for getting me to the 4th best guide in the world. YOU ARE THE BEST!!!

This one is for you, courtesy of Plentakill! =D

Pros and Cons

WHY HE IS A BOSS Has a ton of AOE damage His ultimate is so devastating. There probably is no easier champion to CS (minion farm) on. A rather good chase/escape skill set If played right can farm with spells and not go OOM. (out of mana) Dude, he has EXPLOSIONS! In his free time, he makes fun of Jesus for takeing 3 whole days to come back from the dead.

SPACE

HOW HE IS BALANCED His ultimate has a long delay if shot from far away and it gives off a warning before it lands. Takes some time to learn his W Rather squishy All of your spells can be dodged if used poorly You have an ignited bomb strapped to your back...

Rune Explanation and Alternative Runeing Paths

MARKS
For my marks I pack Greater Mark of Magic Penetration. This is rather standard as all AP carries (which Ziggs is) need magic pen and I would not recommend using any other marks.

SEALS
These are much more versatile, fell free to mess around with them. My runes are set up to give you terminal damage not "you will never have to leave the lane!". Therefore, I picked Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power over others, but mana regeneration runes like Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration work well on Ziggs too. I would recomend geting Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration only if you have mana issue useing build 1.

GLYPHS
Again, rather standard here with the Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power, I would also not recommend changing this out. However, if you want to have more magic res. replace these with Greater Glyph of Magic Resist. These are good to take if you have to lane against a counter pick champion or someone who wants to fight ( A Le-Blank, Kassidin, Fizz, ETC).

QUINTESSENCE
My Greater Quintessence of Ability Power runes are also very streamline in their nature. All of my AP really starts to come after level 6, so this is a nice buffer until then. However, movement speed quints like Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed are very nice because you can chase/run away much more efficiently. Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp is good due to the fact that Hextech Revolver is in your starting pack. Also, Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration is now viable. The 2.2 magic pen, along with reds, will give you 15 magic pen flat. With sorc shoes thats 35 MP flat. Very nice against someone who is going to not have any MR, you will basically do true damage.


Random point, but for those of you who are wondering, enemy MR CAN go negitive. I know this because I play mid soraka a little bit, and I can say a few times in a duel I have gotten my enemys down to around -36 MR because of starcall.

Hey Agoney Why no Flat Seals/ Glyphs?

Good Question. I too once wondered what was better (flat or per level) but then i did the math...

FLAT RUNES
Greater Glyph of Ability Power Gives about 1.2 AP flat
Greater Seal of Ability Power Gives you .59 AP flat

PER LEVEL RUNES
Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power Gives you .17 AP per level
Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power Gives you .1 AP per level

So now that you are up to speed on what each rune gives you, let me show you some math here.



7 x .17 = 1.19<1.2!!!!!!!YEY MATH!!!!!6 x .1 > .59
What does this mean? If you don't understand what I did, I just showed that AP per level glyphs/seals become superior or equal to flat runes at level 6 and 7. Therefore, flat runes are only useful until level 7. You obviously are above level 7 more than you are below it, so these runes turn into "the gift that keeps on giving" after you hit 7. Also, you are in a solo lane, so your actually under level 7 even less than the other lanes.

Masteries; The Ins and the Outs

I go 21/0/9 for max damage and picking up some basic lane sustain. Here is a explanation on all my choices and why I picked up what I did.

Summoner Spells

Summoner spells are key to your success in the league. These guys are extremely versatile. Let's look at your potential choices in order to be victorious.
THE AWESOME (what I think you should take)

• Flash
  This spell is probably the best spell ever. If you watch my video, you will notice you can use flash in a massive amount of ways to help you kill people, save your ***, or jump in to save someone else's. Unless you are horrible at using flash always take it.
• Ignite
  In most cases, having one offensive spell minimum is ideal. Packing ignite can and will A. Shut down those annoying healers (ignite reduces heals received on that target by 50%) and B. Give you the extra dmg needed to get the kill early on. Early game if someone is hanging around with 2 bars mid, a flash right click with your passive will and ignite almost always kill them. This spell also does true damage, so tanks will drop just as fast with it on them.
• Ghost
  Another great escape/chance tool at your disposal. Frankly I feel that flash is better because you can do some wicked awesome stuff with it, but ghost is better in a few aspects, i.e., running to a lane or sprinting out of a gank. Use in place of flash if you want it.
• Clarity
  I don't like this spell, in fact I hate it, but it is very good on Ziggs. This allows you to spam your skills and even mana bait. I don't take it because it is not very good end game.
  SPACE
  THE AVERAGE SPELLS (what you CAN take, but not the best)
  • Teleport
    This spell is mainly used by solo tops as that is much less accessible to be covered by your jungler than mid is. However tele ganks are very nice =D. All preference, but I don't recommend this spell. Getting back to lane faster is also nice as it is a 1v1 and level leads are devastating in mid.
  • Exhaust
    An underrated spell for AP carrys, but its only extremely good use is against AD. Against AP, it's not as noticeable and it won't completely break their DPS. Only take if they have 4-5 AD champions.
  • Surge
    This spell doesn't really have as much bang as ignite or another offensive spell. It's better for AD carrys and hybrids like Jax.
  • Clense
    Only take this if 4-5 of the enemies have extremely hard CC. They will end up stacking it, and this will get rid of it all in one fell swoop.
  • Heal
    I know this got buffed, but it’s more of a support spell. However, you could possibly take this if you’re fighting a Le Blanc mid. If she does a full burst and you live, just pop heal, turn around to fight, and show her who is boss.
    
    SPACE THE OMGWHYDIDUTAKETHATONZIGS SPELLS
    (I will personally drive down to your house and RIP OUT ALL OF YOUR HEMOGLOBIN IN YOUR RED BLOOD CELLS IF YOU TAKE THIS ****)
    • Smite
      You're not jungling...
    • Promote
      FOR SUPPORTS ONLY
    • Clairvoyance
      FOR SUPPORTS ONLY (on a side note a very good spell but not for you)
    • Revive
      I heard that if you pack revive the Riot staff comes to your house and beats you with turkey legs. Just wanted to give you a heads up.

The Items Section (Main Build-More Advanced)

If you plan on using this build, i'm not going to hold your hand through explaining my choices like in build the old build. The old one is for the new guy, build 2 is for the Ziggs veterans. Well, not veterans. Those who are

So in a nutshell...

Starting off
Boots and pots is ALWAYS taken at mid at the start. If you don't you're foolish, because that puts a target on your back saying HAY GUYZ YO JANGLER SUXS SO MACH THAT ME NO NEED BOOTS 2 RUN, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Do you know what the "Jangler" is going to do? Kick your ***. We do not want this to happen. Buy boots and pots, stop a gank, save your life.

Your first Deviation
The chalice gives us MR, so we take less damage and are more efficient at trading. If we trade better, we can kill more. However, if you want to fight and farm more, you need more mana regen. I wish we OHMAHGAWD WE GET MANA REGEN AND MR!?!?! Yes my friends, this is very good.

We get tier two boots now for the same reason we got tier two boots in build one.

Damage Boost
Cheap AP, cheap health, for the cost it's a great item. In addition to this you also get a good amount of magic pen. The upgrade is fantastic, but we will go into that latter.

Ok, we all know you get Death Cap for lots of AP. You can afford to go right for it because you have that MR from chalice and health from guise. We all know that you get rylies for the utility and the HP. Moving on to the new stuff.

The New item!
I have experimented with this puppy a good amount, and have found it to be a very nice item for Ziggs Let's brake down the states for superior comprehension:

70 AP: Not a MASSIVE ammount, but i'm not complaining.

200 health: Sadly the health does not go up from the root of this item. The survival is still very nice to have

15 Magic Penetration: Interestingly enough, this is the most valuable stat that this item has to offer. Stick with me here. The more magic pen you have, the more damage you deal. This damage is reduced by magic resistance. However, magic resistance is actually very expensive to buy, and for many champions it pigeon holes them into a very narrow range of items. For those of you who don't know, if you're "Pigeon Holed", it means that you have little to no flexibility in your item choice. If you buy a Chalice of Harmony you're "Pigeon Holed" into Athene's Unholy Grail. Anyways, 20 magic resistance is 400 gold! That means by just buying this item, you are forcing your enemy to counter with MR, costing them 400 gold AND throwing them off their build. If they don't buy MR, you melt them! A win-win for Ziggs no matter how they go.

The Unique Passive: You burn people based on their current health. 2.5% if they are not slowed, 5% if they are. "Hey, if we have rylies, aren't they always slowed when we attack?" Yes. "So we always deal 5%?" Yes. "So Ziggs is now the biggest ****ing poke master to ever set foot into the league?" You bet your *** so.

With this bad boy, you actually have a bigger edge than you think. Not only are you doing more damage to their carry, but it's CURRENT HEALTH. Their tank will lost 5% of their current hp right off the start of the fight. And they will keep losing it. Obviously this passive becomes less effective the lower they are, but honestly an ADC can finish them at that point.

Our Infinite Manna Well!
Now we can get ourselves to the sustain item. I love it. I really do. Let's brake down the stats, shall we?

• 60 AP. Not a tremendous amount but a nice boost.
• 40 MR. Oh hey Karthus that's a nice requime you have there. OH WHAT I LIVED WITH 60 HP? GO DEAL MAN I HAVE MR.
• 15 Mana regen, restores 12% of your max mana on a kill or asist, increases your mana regeneration by 1% per 1% mana you are missing. When I saw the mana regen here was my reaction:
  Yes, the mana regen is insane. It's copious, it's endless, it's awesome. Finally we-
  Billy Mayes- BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! YOU WILL ALSO GET 15% CDR REDUCTION! MORE SPELLS, MORE SPAM, MORE FARM, MORE DAMAGE, FOR ONLY 2950 GOLD!
  
  ... Moving on...
  
  My last 2 items are self explanatory, but in case you are wondering, get a Chain Vest and go straight for a void, it's because you need to armor for the AD carry who will be hitting you (surprise surprise) and the magic pen that comes with void is very nice, because if you are doing well or even ok they will buy at least some MR, which needs to be eradicated.
  
  
  As a final note, I would like to address when you upgrade your boots. I honestly think this is a really stupid addition to the game, but when life gives you lemons you make lemon aid. I would have to say that you should get Enchantment: Distortion every time. When you choose to do so, that is up to you. If you awkwardly have 475 gold laying around after a B, upgrade it into this.

The Items Section (Recommended for the new Ziggs Players)

Now let's move on to Ziggs's items and why I buy them in the order that I do. Further down I will also explain counter items and how to use/get around them. Also, allow me to start my item choices with this; my opening build is very general and should not be used every game. In many cases this build would be great, but it may need the addition of more defense, and you also need to know how to counter with items.

• Starting Items
  Now the game can be started with boots and pots or a Doran's Ring. Boots should be taken against heavy harass champions like Cassiopeia, Ziggs, ETC. The boots will help you dodge their harass, and if you do get hit by them, your pots will heal through the damage until you get a gank or kill them 1v1. Dorans should be taken when you think you're not going to be harassed as much and don't wish to leave lane due to mana. Miding against a Nidalee and Morgana is a good choice of when to buy a Doran's Ring. This will allow you to farm mid and harass them to the bone. Please note that boots, a pot, and one ward is a nice pick if you think they will early gank you.
• On your first B you should buy 1-2 dorans (depending on what you started with) for more survival, mana regen, and damage. Start working on your Hextech Revolver. Do not build straight into wota. The money you have is better spent towards a deathcap at this point.
• On your third B go straight for your Sorcerer's Shoes. The magic pen is extremely strong, as when paired with runes you will be doing true damage to a squish without magic resistance items/runes.

END EARLY/END MID GAME

• Right now you should have 2 Dorans, a Hextech Revolver, and a pair of Sorcerer's Shoes.Now time to work on Rabadon's Deathcap. Try to buy the Needlessly Large Rod first if you can, but if you can't no big deal. Buy a Giant's Belt next. You need this for basic survival, without this you will be eaten alive in team battles.
• Next up: move onto Rylai's Crystal Scepter. Don't finish WOTA. SAY WHAT GIRL? That's right, you heard me, do not finish WOTA. Why? Because it got nerfed. One of the main reasons that you used to get WOTA on all casters was, well, you were cheating TBH. You were geting A LOT more stats than you were paying for. This aditonal cost balences WOTA out, and we want OP items, not balenced ones !-_-! However, the revolver is still really good, so just keep it and move straight to rylies. Finishing into WOTA would take too much time and hinder your build too much!
• Now, let's work on Rylai's Crystal Scepter, for real. It would be nice to hang onto a Doran's Ring, but this is not a requirement. This is great because of the CC it provides. 15% may not be much but it makes a diffrence for sure.
• You may get into some teamfights in this phase. Remember to stay in the back and just toss bombs. Do not roam alone in enemy jungle or go to a lane to farm a minon cloud unless your team is near.

END MID/LATE GAME

• Now move onto Zhonya's Hourglass. I cannot stress enough how awesome this item this. First off, 100 AP is just too strong. The armor is gona piss off that Graves, and the passive allows for some nice tricks. For instance, you're in a teamfight and the Shaco and Graves decide to focus you. Rather than blow everything and die, you can launch some mines and your ultimate to bring them extremely low. Now all that’s left to do is yell *****ES PLZ I HAVE ZHONYAS and become invincible! Your team will clean them up and you don’t even die =D.
• I fell it is rather obvious why you should pick up a Void Staff, but in case you are new to league this item will cut through their MR like butter. Who doesn't like that?

LATE LATE GAME

• So, the game has been going on 40+ minutes and there is no clear winner. Now is the time of Lich Bane! I will delve deeper into his passive later, but it goes very well with this item. With my full build and this, you will be right clicking for around 900 damage with your passive and lich up. However, you must sell WOTA for this item. Trust me on this, it is worth it.
• In this phase you should replace sorc shoes with merc treads. You will need the survival. Do not be afraid to trash a Lich Bane for a Thornmail or a Warmog's Armor.

To answer the question about when to sell your Doran's Ring's,the answer is as late as posible. Unless you don't have enough room to buy an item or you're 200 gold from a major item, hold on to them. They shall serve you well.


As a final note, I would like to address when you upgrade your boots. I honestly think this is a really stupid addition to the game, but when life gives you lemons you make lemon aid. I would have to say that you should get Enchantment: Distortion every time. When you choose to do so, that is up to you. If you awkwardly have 475 gold laying around after a B, upgrade it into this.

So... Champion X is Rather Strong and Building X... WTH do I do?

This section is dedicated on counter items. All games are going to have some aspect that is unique about them, and they may even be drastic enough to cause you to derive from your build. Here’s a list of some problems you will encounter and how to deal with them.

THEY ARE STACKING HP ITEMS!
Countering HP items is easy to do, buying Deathfire Grasp will take care of that issue. MAKE SURE TO USE IT!!!

THEY ALL HAVE MR
Fear not, Void Staff is here! This item will cut their MR by 40%. Only get this if they truly are stacking MR and have 100+ MR on 3 or more champs. (don't buy a void staff because one enemy bought a pair of merc treads) If they have no MR, buy Abyssal sceptor and laugh your *** off as you're doing true damage.

THE AD CARRY IS REALLY STRONG!
Stacking HP won't work, this calls for an early Zhonya's Hourglass and, if need be, a Thornmail. We want to avoid buying pure defense items, but if they are kicking your *** it's worth the 2k gold.

erm... I fed mid...
If this happens don't panic. You may get some **** but you can counter. Build an early Null-Magic Mantle if you have died 3-4 times and haven't killed them, or if it's 5+ then buy a Force of Nature or a Banshee's Veil. Go force if they are spam champions (like Ryze) or banshees if they are heavy nuke like AP Tristana or Veigar. If you are not feeding but they are eating you up, buy abyssal.

THE HYBREAD IS FED!
This one a bit tricky, as they deal both magic AND physical damage. These champions can actually be countered by stacking health, as no Akali in their right mind is going to buy a madreads... If they do bonus points for you as it's a horrible items for her =D.

I need to do more damage to the offtank
If you're are just destroying the squishes but can’t seem to kill the off tank like Riven, then they probably have a good amount of MR. If you are having trouble killing anyone with over 100 MR then buy a Void Staff. Still having trouble? Buy a DFG!

THEIR JUNGLER IS GANKING ME ALOT
Wards. Check this **** out if you are new to warding. Click me for warding info!Also make sure to hang back a bit more in lane. Don't over extend, and don't push your lane for the love of god.

Situational Picks

Obviously you may encounter some situations other than fed people in your games, ergo you need situational items! These items are not every game picks! Only grab them when they are called for!


Abyssal Scepter
This item should be taken if they don't have any MR but are doing some magic damage. Please note that you must be close for the MR reduction to happen, which is why i take Void Staff over this.


Banshee's Veil
This item is great when you are looking to counter combo based spell casters. Examples would be Brand, Xerath, and Morgana. Also, if they have an annoyingly large amount of CC this would be a good time to buy this item.

Mercury's Treads
If you are facing an AP heavy team with a lot of CC, it's not a bad idea to grab this.

Archangle's Staff
If you are having mana problems with Ziggs, this will solve them. Buy an early Tear of the Goddess and build this after your boots. You will want to build rylies next, then Rabadon's Deathcap.

Chalice of Harmony
For a rainy day when you need more survival and mana regen.

(sorry for no image, mobafire has not added this yet)
This item may actually be put into my permant core. I'm not even kiding, this item is AMAZING. First of all, 80 ap is as much as rylies, so tons of damage. The MR it gives is just great, it more than doulbes what you have at the start, makeing you much more tanky agianst that AP carry on the red team. 15 mana regen per 5 seconds is... redic. I mean come on, that's 3 mana every second. With this item, you basically get a mana free level 5 bounceing bomb every half a minute. The 15% CDR is nice to have, as with more mana regen you can cast more, and this sort of lets you use as much aditional mana as you get.

That's all fine and dandy, but what i'm really jazed about is the unique passive. 1% additonal mana regen for every 1% of mana that is missing. Riot, if you wanted more mana hungrey AP's to build this item, I think you did plenty for this to take place.

Moonfire Spellblade
When they have too much CC and you aren't hitting hard.

Quicksilver Sash
OMG THIS ITEM IS SO UNDERATED IF YOU'RE GETTING STUNNED DON'T SUCK IT UP BUY QSS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! When you're fighting Brand, Malzahar, or Morgana, this item will remove all stuns they lay out on you, effectively blocking their combos. Honestly morg mid can't kill you if you have QSS because her stun is negated. WO-HO-HO I JUST FOUND OUT HOW TO COUNTER AN AUTO BAN!!!! Also it costs less than a dead llama.

Rod of Ages
This will be taken when they have a lot of jumpy toons like Akali, Nocturne, Kassadin, and Jax. These champs will jump right on top of you, and you should buy this first to live through their burst. Only get this if they have something like an akili solo top, a nocture jungle, and a kassidin mid.



Well guys, bad news. This has kind of become an offencive support item (Que groans and upset noises). You could still use it, but with kages and more mana regen you can still get this, but again it's;
A headace to rember to use the active that won't make a huge diffrence in a fight a/w
A pain to remember to spam your spells 20% more (which means you have to keep track of a fight and a very low CD bomb)
So take it if you really want to be a boss, but personally I wouldn't trust myself to optimize it.

Kage's Lucky Pick
Take this item if your farm is not the best, which will happen. Also, do not be one of those people who trys to say an item will pay for itself in X ammount of time. View this as bonus gold, for like a blasting wand or something, not paying for itself.


Seekers is the anti-ad mid item. Ideally you will have an ap-armor page set up (If you don't I highly recommend it!) to go along with this item. Once you purchase it you automatically receive 30 armor and 20 ap. After killing 30 minions you will get 15 more ap and armor. This will give you 45 armor and 35 ap, giving you a really nice edge against that annoying tallon. I would always buy this item against any ad mid.


Deathfire Grasp
This item is cheap, and the mats give you gold per second. Besides, as far as price goes, spending 2.6k gold to be able to take out 30%+ of someone's health is worth it if you're not doing very well. Also, this stacks off AP, so it does get stronger as the game goes along. (For those who wonder it's 4% per 100 AP). In addition to this, CDR is nice =D. Grab this to counter HP or are not doing well.

On a side note, any item that is under 2650 is a good pick for when you are not doing well.

Other Viable Builds

Ziggs is a champion who can be built in a lot of different ways. I will point out some of them incase this build is not your style. I do not endorse them nor support them, but simply list them as not recommended options.

THE PATH OF SURIVAL
This build centers around not dying while still pumping out a good amount of damage. With this build you have great sustain, great survival, and decent damage.
Masteries: 9-0-21 Make sure to grab the spell vamp and mana regen in the utility tree, and the spell vamp and AP in the offensive tree.
Runes: Yellow mana regen, magic pen reds, AP per level blues, spell vamp quints.
Build: Normal start, Tear of the Goddess, Rod of Ages, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Rabadon's Deathcap, Will of the Ancients, Archangel's Staff.

PURE DAMAGE
This build is about (gasp) pure damage. No survival, just damage. You will destroy and die just as fast.
Masteries: Same as the ones we already have.
Runes: Same as the ones we already have.
Build: Normal start, Tear of the Goddess, Rabadon's Deathcap, Zhonya's Hourglass, Archangel's Staff X3 (the passive stacks)

Skill Explanation

Now to talk about his spells. They are all rather unique and it's rather important to understand thier function and why you max what first. Also, if you don't fell like reading all of this info just watch this:

Short Fuse (passive)
This passive is great, it scales off AP and it gives you your only "reliable" damage. Every 12 seconds Ziggs's hands will glow red. When this happens your right click will hit harder. The amount of time it takes to charge up can be cut by 4 seconds every time you cast a spell. With this your right click will hit for the enough damage for it to actually hurt when you hit the enemy with it. Also very nice for farming those high HP minons early on.
Bouncing Bomb (Q)
This spell is Ziggs bread and butter, thus it should be maxed first. It has A LOT of kick *** little bits to it.

• #1: It bounces 3 times before exploding, the distance getting cut by about 1/4 for each bounce, i.e. if it goes 10 yards, it will go 2.5 yards, then .625 yards.
• #2: It explodes when it comes in contact with any impassable object or enemy(minons, champion, walls, turrets, ETC)
• #3: Totally spammable, on a 3 second cool-down with relatively low mana cost.
• The hexexplosion is wider than the detination range, meaning that you can cast it at minons, walls, towers, and still have it explode to hit a champ.

Satchel Charge (W)
This spell gives Ziggs his epic ability to be completely unpredictable. If an enemy stands on it, it will knock them in a direction about a few paces. However, if you stand on it, it sends you around half the cast range of your q. This spell should be maxed last due to the fact it is for utility. A few things about your spell:

• Great cast range (the best you have besides your R)
• You can jump walls with it. Do note that it's harder to get over a pit then it is down it. (Ergo jumping the wall INTO the enemy base is a lot harder to do then jumping OUT of it.
• Reveals brush area.
• The direction you jump in is based on where you are standing on it, and it is rather sensitive on your position. Fail jumps will happen, so get ready to be mad.
  

  Offensive Satchel Charge

  
  
  You are able to use your satchel charge to pick up kills like this! Keeping this in mind can pay off like so.
  
• You can cast skills while mid flight! This means that you can pull some epic mid flight casts. Personally, I don't find this aspect of the spell to be overwhelmingly helpfull, but it still can be fun =D
• Channeling spells ( Nunu's ultimate for example) can be interupted with this spell. Make an enemy mad when you interupt that pant ult, the nunu ult, or the fiddlesticks casting crowstorm!

Hexplosive Minefield (E)
This spell is what(in my opinion) makes Ziggs as strong as he is. Even with the fact that the damage is cut in half for every extra mine they hit, it does insane damage. If some fool decides to charge you, you can drop mines in front of them and deal around 20% of their health or more. With this damage you can also use it as a zone controller. This means that you can actually seal off exits, forcing them to take one path. When they do this and are low, the only place they can go is the other path, meaning its relatively easy to land your R. You should max this second as it isn't your bread and butter but it's not utility. It's a lot of damage and some utility.
Mega Inferno Bomb (R)
This ulti....
dis...
ulti....
DIS ULTI is crazzzzzzzzzzzzy for so many reasons, let me list a few reasons why

• The AP ratio is .9
• Its range is insane, about the range of Pantheons ult or better.
• It has a pretty nice sized hit box.
• He screams something hilarious every time he uses it!

Now here is why his ulti is not the most OP thing since bread...

• It gives off a warning before it lands (about 1.5 seconds)
• To do full damage they have to stand in the center, which even the worst of players would try and move out of that
• It takes a while to land after it is shot, around 2 seconds if you cast it on yourself. (it's longer the farther you punt it)
• Enemies can dodge it if they are not slowed or stunned, meaning that long ranged snipes are rather difficult to land.
• Can be dodged or survived due to flash, ghost, jumps, heals, shields, passives, potions, Jesus, team mates pulling them out of your ult, endless rage, hourglassing, and Chuck Norris randomly eating it mid flight.

Wow, that's a lot of cons with only 3 pros, why is it so good?
Because its challenging and very rewarding.... and damn it I like a challenge.

By the way, here is a nice way to use your ultimate. Oh, did I mention this was me? (swaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag)

Using your Skills

So, you know Ziggs tool kit eh? Now let's look at see what you can do with it. We shall start with your basic combo i.e. any time you're in mid and you engage in a fight with them you should do this.

• First off throw down E on top of them. It may be hard at first to guess where they are going, but ideally they will be standing in the middle of the field.
• They should be slowed now, so cast Q at them. It will be easy to hit them.
• Check wards extremely fast to make sure the jungler is not near. If he is, back off as you're about to be ganked. If he isn't move on to step 3.
• Now this is the tricky part. You need to knock them back into one of your mines with your W, then cast an ultimate to where the center is right on them. Then ignite, right click (for your passive), and they should be dead. If not, pull off or spam more q's.
  
  It should look something like this:
  I slowed down what I was doing so you can see exactly what I do. Ideally you should be casting your spells faster than this, like, brakeing the keyboard, luticrise speed fast mashing.

Ganking and Battles in Other Lanes

One of the many qualities that separate the good from the bad is map awareness. To truly be helpful to the team, you must know how to gank and how to use your ulti to help bottom, top, and jungle.

M.I.B. TOP AND BOTTOM

• HERO MODE IS NOT ALLOWED. Don't try and snipe enemies at their turret when they get out with nothing. Kills are not everything, if you ult and it brings them low enough for Ashe to kill them, you did a good job.
• Predict travel times. You need to be at dragon to get a reasonably accurate shot with your ult. It will take around 2.5 seconds for the ult to land near the back end of enemy brush. Lead with it, as they will most likely run right back to their turret. Watch how this Ziggs does it when Phreak ganks bottom. (skip to 3:38 for gank)
  • As I said before, he had done everything correctly. He was at dragon and he shot his ult right where they were standing. This is because he knew Phreak would stun and snare the ganked. HE DID NOT HERO MODE. Point to you Dannamoth.
  • For those of you who are wondering about top, do the same but from Baron pit. However, solo top will be beefer and usually won't be caught in a 2v1 where your ultimate is needed.
    
    
    GANKING IN PERSON
  • First off, always let the lane know that you are ganking. Normally a ping or saying "ganking" is more than enough to alert them to your presence.
  • Unless the ganker has hard CC (which Ziggs doesn't) the lane should start up the fight if they can. Have a Sona ult them or Taric flash stun.
  • Start by dropping mines just behind them, but to where the mines in the back are touching them. This way they are slowed and will have to walk around the field.
  • Just do your standard burst from here on out.
  • Receive praise for being a boss!

!IMPORTANT: HOW TO NOT FAIL AT M.I.B. SNIPES :IMPORTANT!

Your ultimate is a very devastating move, and it sucks when you use it and you hit nothing. First off lets get a few things straight about sniping.

• If you are trying to snipe a player with it when they are low, the longer you wait the more likely they have juked you out.
• You should use it when you have a good chance of landing it. Use it after that Jarvan IV Cataclysm's or after Taric stuns someone who is low
• This spell can steal dragon and Baron.
• Most importantly of all, do not be afraid of using it pre-maturely in a fight. I mean, don't open with the thing, but going back to rule one, using it early with a guaranteed hit will be more likely to kill someone then trying to pick them off as they run.

The key to sniping is predicting movement and knowing your enemy.

• If you're playing a spaz who (when low) loses it and runs in a straight line mashing the move click and sweating bullets, don't be afraid to shot it just in front of him.
• If you are playing someone who has a shield or heal and knows how to use it, try and remember if they have used it recently. These things usually are on a longer cool down. The best guess is that if it hasn't been used in around 7 seconds, don't snipe. 1-5 is ideal as it is most likely on CD.
• Magic resist is key! This chart will help you know if you can kill someone with an ult.
  0-20= 20% reduced damage
  20-50= 30% reduced damage
  50-100= 50% reduced damage
  over 150 MR= 70% reduced damage
• Don't try and snipe people who are any good at dodging. They will dodge you if they are not in a choke point.
• Last but not least, a good leading shot is key. Judge by how fast they are going, are they going to be CC'd, and are they trying to dodge. If someone is moving in random directions, don't try and lead, just cast M.I.B. on top of them. They will be spending so much time looking for it in front of them, they will be unpleasantly surprised that it is on top of them!

MIB Choke Point Explanation

Using choke points (CP's) to your advantage takes skill, timing, and quick thinking. Lets watch this video of me using choke point to my advantage:

So, what is there to learn? Let's look at the Warwick's and Kogmaw's situation:

They were in a CP! A CP is any time you or an enemy is in a position to where they have a very limited list of places to run. A CP is based on angles. Not to get into math but...
If you stand in an open the field, you can freely move in any of the 360* at your disposal. You could potentially go in any direction.
Now you are in a long, narrow, tunnel. You want to go forward. You could move in a range of 45* in front of you.
So, knowing this, you know understand what a CP is. The less of a range of movements you can use, the more of a CP you are in. Being stunned, ergo, is 100% CP. Being in midlane, not stunned, with no enemies near is 0% CP.
Now it is time to ask an important question: Where could those poor two souls have gone in the CP they were in?

• Forward? No. My team was in front of them.
• Run left? Possibly. However if they did they would be running into yet another CP. They only had 2 places to run from that point, which is the fork at the brush. This means if I cast my ultimate into the cross roads they would be unable to juke it.
• Run right? No. I would be able to kill them without my ultimate if they ran right due to my positioning.
• Run back to your base? Maybe. That is kind of predictable though. However, you have about 180* to juke with. That would be your best bet.

Wow Agoney, that is a lot to think about in the split second you have to snipe. Is there any sort of rule that will tell you where people will usually go?

There certtainly is! Read this to understand what would cause your enemy to move in the direction they would logically move to. Remember, people will generally:

• Move in the direction of a turret.
• Move away from you.
• Move to places where they have multiple places to go, like a brush or a fork in the road.
• Move towards allies.
• Move toward walls to flash or jump over.
• Move to warded areas if they have a "friendly" jump spell.
• Move to enemy mininons or champs if they have a "harmful" jump spell.

I hope this helps, and remember, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. Please do not be afraid to fail snipe. You will learn more as you go along. Obviously I cannot teach you everything, a lot of skill comes from experience. So, go out and play!

P.S. This is a list of what the average player will do. I have failed at some snipes because they preform none logical actions (like, run toward my 4 allies while low -_-) or they will do something smart like move in a different direction that you would expect them to (move into a brush, then when you get close run straight at you, effectively jukeing your MIB). Sometimes it is hard to tell if they are good or just really... really stupid.

How to farm on Ziggs

Farming on Ziggs is incredibly easy. Your passive lets you secure minion kills when they have higher health, and Q lets you pick off minions in the back that are low. Don't spam E while farming, you will go oom very easily! However, using Q to farm is a good idea, and should not only be used to farm but harass. I have hit CS equal to professional gamers many times as Ziggs just because he is so easy to farm on.

So, how do I know if i'm doing ok on CS?
Good question, here is some time frames for you to see if your keeping up on CS.

• 10 minutes
  You should have 50-75 CS by now
• 15
  You should have 100-125 (if you're just farming like a boss you can hit 150, but this is rather unlikely as you will miss some while harassing/running from a gank/ganking)
• 20
  By now you can be around 175 CS, and at 25 if you stayed in lane long enough hiting 200+CS will be no big deal.
  
  Please remember that this CS is only obtainable if the enemy mid isn't letting you kill them all game or you aren't being ganked. In a lot of ranked games you will end just farming by your side of the lane, as all mids are fearful of ganks. In a lot of normal games you may end up having 3 or so kills but being behind around 50 CS. Just add 15 CS for every kill you have. That is your total CS.

Your Place on the Team and Participating in Teamfights

As Ziggs your job in team fights to lay down a lot of damage early on and drive the knife home with an ultimate. You're also rather good at kiting, so keeping that Sion chasing you around during a TF would really help. Ziggs is rather good at saving people's lives with charges and mine fields. Due to the fact you have extremely high burst, you should be focusing a squishier guy like Ashe, Caitlyn, LeBlanc, and Veigar. Your ultimate can be used early on to force them to retreat, thus giving you an easy win. You can save it for when things are not looking up to turn the tide in your favor. It all depends on how well you and your team are doing in the game thus far.

Good= Most dragons are yours, and your team has a positive KDR overall with nice farm
Ok= Even dragons and team KDR/farm
Bad= You are outfarmed, little dragons and a negative team KDR

If you are just stomping, save it for later to give them a false sense of security and cause them to commit. When they do, take out a carry and MIB when they are all around 40%.

If you are doing normal, then use it earlier on to make sure your strong guy can wipe out your enemies when they have low health.

If you are not doing well, then use your ulti right away with mines to bring them rather low and cause them to act irrationally.

REMEMBER THAT POSITIONING IS KEY
You must be near enough to the team fight to deal damage but far back enough to not be focused. Remember to stay in the back and FLING MORE BOMBZ.

You may not always be able to pull off full damage on only one carry, so don't be afraid to try and hurt a support or someone squisher at the front. The carries may be in the back doing what you are doing (i.e. playing it safe and not over extending). In that case just focus an off tank or support.

Save your satchel to escape. Someone is bound to jump on you, and you shouldn't stick around to see just how badly they can mash your face in.


DON'T CHASE. If you are chasing after someone mid teamfight, then your team is as behind as they are! Let them go, your team fight is more important than the life of one dude.

Try not to fight when they have baron! The buff is really powerful and only unless you have to or are in a 5v2 situation, DO NOT ENGAGE.

You are not the tank! Do not engage! Too many times I have seen people wandering in the front of their team, only to be jumped. A good rule of thumb is to stay a little behind the tank. Then you won't get caught and can get right into the upcoming fight.

Team Fight Videos and Explanations

Here I will post some teamfights and explain what the ziggs player did right and wrong. Here is case 1.
Lets look at a few things this player did well in a teamfight.
1- He kept the correct distance from the enemy team. This way he would not be eaten in a second.
2- He used his MIB when he KNEW it would hit. This is because of galio's ultimate, which is an area of effect taunt. Know what your allies can and can't do in a TF.
3- He used his satchel charge offensively! Remember that this skill is versatile. He saw that his team was obviously winning a TF so he could use his W to disrupt enemy positioning.

Skip to the 1:39 mark for another example: it's me on the top 5 plays with a sick turnaround team fight. More of an entertainment video than an educational one. Enjoy!

Stealing Baron and Dragon

Many times you will notice that the enemy will be trying to take dragon, and your team just is not near by. This is when you must steal it! Remember; Steal are almost imposible and very hard to do. Follow these tips in order to steal these big dudes for your own.

HOW TO STEAL BARON AND DRAGON

• You must use your ult when the monster has around 30% health! This is key due to travel time, and the fact that they will try to burst Baron/dragon before your ulti lands. If you launch it 30%, by the time it lands it will be around 5%. So it will be a battle of their junglers reactions with smite and your damage.
• Be as close as possible in order to be the most accurate.
• Most of all, don't be afraid to try! You will never get better if you don't!
  
  Timing is everything...

Countering Champions mid (A-F)

This section is all about your other not-so-friendly mids you may encounter in your quest for domination! I will discuss how to counter them and give a threat level. Anyone with a threat level 8 or up should be avoided. (btw it's on a 1-10 scale)
On a side note, I will only be covering main stream mids. Yes I know that you "can" build AP chogath but you 1.) never see it 2.) it's just not viable.

Power level: ????
Ahri is a 100% skill based champion. She is all about landing her charm and then rapeing you while you are cc'd. Her ulti is annoying, as in a TF she can dodge all of your spells. However, a bad Ahri is easy to deal with. A good one... let's not go there. Generally you want hide behind minions, as you outrange her and Charm is a single target skill shot. Fox-Fire will also fly at minions. Again, minions are your best buddies here!

Power level: 6
Akali isn't horrible to deal with, but can really mess you up if she is good. A lot of Akalis will simply dive onto you thinking that she can eat you. However, in this case you will be able to burst her down easily. In lane deny her early on and you won't have any problems end game. If she goes into Twilight Shroud punish her for it. Drop your minefield into it for some nasty damage. NEVER GO INTO THE BUBBLE! That is a big no-no. Last of all, try to hit and run. She has a lot more sustained damage than you do!

Power level: 5
Anivia's one weakness is that she has to slow you before doing any real damage. Before she hits 6 her ability to combo is horrible. Punish her for this, but don't try to kill her. Unless she is asking for it passively farm. However, keeping her semi low is not a bad idea, as she will stay because she knows she can revive, but she won't try to poke you if you have high HP. This will hurt her farm and you will win the lane via higher CS. Due to her passive killing her is a real pain in the ***, as you have to do it twice. Try to always be in lane after 6 as she can push it really hard. AVOID THE ICEBLOCK, IT'S EASY BUT IT HURTS WHEN SHE HITS YOU!

Power level: 4
Some people may disagree with me on this, but Annie is really weak against Ziggs. Ziggs doesn't just have range on her, he has vastly superior farming and escape kit. Her range is really bad; all you have to do is not get very close. Annie tends to try and bully you out of the lane, so just "let" her do it for now. However, every time she gets close, Q her then run back. Eventually she will have to stop doing this because she is simply loseing these trades. Now all that is left to do is out farm her and not over extend.This will be easy because, again, you just naturally are superior at this. If you do get stunned by her, don't panic. Again, her range is so bad that if you flash she won't be able to hit you again.

Power level: 4
Brand is rather easy to beat out. Again, all skill shots so you can dodge. The key thing to beating him is to harass him after he W E's the minion wave (this is his farm combo). After he does this, he can't really fight back why you go after him. Also, if you are always moving while fighting him he will have a higher chance of missing. Remember, most ap's mid have to stop for a split second to cast, so cast when he casts at you. Runing side to side instead of up and down will throw him off as well.

Power level: 7
Cassiopeia is a force to be reckoned with. She is one of the few champions who has better CSing and spamming than you do. Her Twin Fang spam is devastating and Petrifying Gaze gives her a guaranteed kill if she lands it. Her Noxious Blast gives her a speed up, so she can use this to run right at you to slow and kill you. My best advice is to avoid being hit by her Q at all costs, and let her push the minions to your tower so you can CS safely. If you two do get into a fight, turn around about 1.5 second into it. She will probably miss her stun because of this, and now she is in trouble. Remember, dodge Q and R and you're golden.

Power Level: 4 pre 6: Power level raises to 5 post 6

Diana pre six is super easy to deal with. First of all, unless she gets close to you, all she can hit you with is crescent slice... bagel... french... spell... ANYWAYS, her only form of defense is her shield-bubble spell. The ideal time to attack her is when she doesn't have a bubble shield up, meaning you can max out your damage. Pre 6 she also doesn't have any escapes, so ganking is ALSO very easy. Keeping this in mind, you should try to take advantge of this and crush her in lane pre six with ganks and harass. Don't get too cocky and get ganked! However, once she gets moon-leap-jump-attack-gosquirtleusemoonjumpattackonziggs spell, she becomes much more... interesting to deal with. Now she can actually jump on you when you get close and unleash the full fury of the moon on you. This is bad, but preventable. I do not know EXACTLY how her skill set works, but most Diana's do back off if they miss their crescent strike. So, if you can dodge crescent strike you can stop her combo. Ergo the best suggestion I have for you is to AVOID ALL CRESCENT STRIKES AT ALL COSTS. First of all, you need to know how crescent strike moves. This spell moves in an odd crescent sort of shape(orly?), so just moving to the side won't help. To be more exact, it curves to the left first, then makes a curve right, like the curve of your left parentheses key. However the main flaw in the spell is it's range and a "null zone" in the center where the crescent doesn't actually touch. Going in the center is normally a bad idea, so backing up (despite what your instincts say) is actually the best plan here. More precisely, move at an angle where you go to your back right, because this means it will take slightly longer for the crescent to curve in your direction and and hit you. So in conclusion: Early preasure, early ganks, always dodge cresent strikes, get money, get deathy-hats, get ELO

Power level: 2
You eat his soul. He just can't deal as much damage as you, like, not even close. It's kind of sad.... The only reason he even has a power level is his Arcane Shift. This can be used to jump over all of your abilities. Just try and make him use it to dodge a Q, then drop your E. Don't try and snipe him. If he is trying to snipe you run to the jungle and run in front of a buff. Usually people don't fire it off that way. Fair warning, it could be warded =D.

Power level: 5
Fiddle is kind of anoying mid. His silence is killer, and God forbid you get caught in his crowstrom. Your best defense is your range. Most fiddles max their drain and fear first, so the silence doesn't last long. Just let him fear drain and silence you, but after the fear is off drop mines and a satchel under him. This will break the cast of drain, and at this point you can just eat him. Don't try and out DPS his drain, you won't win. If you see him casting Crowstorm you can interrupt it. Toss satchel under it and it will interrupt the ult and put it on cool down. A real pisser if you are fiddlestick =D

Power level: OVER 9000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fizz will dodge all of your spells at an annoying extent. Beating him is almost impossible unless you are an extremely better player. There really isn't much you can do against him, ask for a lane change. However, if you must lane against fizz you have to rember that he is an assasin. Therefore he is very weak at pushing a lane. Ziggs can mega-farm a lane NP, so what I would recomend is warding both sides of your river and keeping fizz pushed as much as posible. Try to do this from afar, so for runes (if you can) grab mana regen yellows, MR blues, and spell vamp quints. Your damage won't be the best but you can atleast lane against the dude.



If you disagree with any of my power levels, fell free to PM me. If you present a legitmate arguement I will change it! Don't PM me this...

lawl baddie i never lose mid as annie kbyenow.
WHY U NO HAVE HOW TO COUNTER JARVIN MID U NUB I WIN MID AS JARVIN ALL DAY EDREY DAY

Countering Champions mid (G-K)

Power level: 6.5
Gragas can be a real pain to deal with. The best thing to do is stay as far away as possible. Doing this will make it easy mode to dodge his Q. If he does use it run at him as he will expect you to run back. He can deal some nasty burst with his Body Slam and knock you into a turret with his explosive casket. Again, range is your friend here. He will be really beffy so harass will be less efective. He can also jump walls with his Body Slam. Due to this, snipeing will be hard, so you may want to avoid it all together. Gragas also has much better lane sustain and tankyness. You may really need some mana regen and spell vamp to keep up with this hunck of fat. If the gragus is really good he will try and combo you. This means he will cast the barrel infront of you, ultimate you INTO the barrel, bodyslam and kill you. Just farm and stay away from his fat ***...

Power level: 4
Honestly just stay near your minons and away from his turrets. He is squishy, does a bit of burst here and there, and can infrequently stun. Heimerdinger really stinks, should be rather easy to beat him mid.

Power level: 4
"Karma does not mid often but she can be an annoying one to face. I play Karma as support but I have midded with her before. Her Q can do decent damage. With Mantra activated it will do damage AND heal her. Because of this you might want to take Clarity or get blue buff so her sustain does not outdo your mana pool. She does need to get kind of close to poke you so you should be able to win with no problem but like I said her heal can be ridiculous so do not underestimate it."
-BlackIceT, Link to his page




Power level: 3
He is easy to beat in the same way that Ezreal is easy to kill. His damage really isn't impresive and is easy to dodge. If he Wall of Pains behind you, just use your satchel chrage to jump over it =D. If you have around 300-400 hp in lane B back so he doesn't land his req. YOU CAN INTERUPT HIS R! If he is dumb enough to cast it not behind his turret, drop satchel under him and save your teamates *** ftw. Tell your allies when he hits 6.

Power level: OVER 9000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He is the purple man of death. You will die. Don't lane against him as Ziggs. Suicide may be your best choice in this senario. Send your AD mid. Sell your soul to saitan. DO SOMETHING BESIDES GO MID!!!!!!

Power level: 6
She shouldn't be horrible. You can interupt Death Lotus with your satchel, so that kind of stunts off a lot of her damage. However, shung-po will make it imposible to snipe her and land skill shots. Her daggers hurt, and she has not mana so she can spam all day every day. Try and bait her into fighitng you. If she does use her jump on you, you will win. If she walks up to you, then don't full combo her. Fight her when the jump is down!

Power level: 5
Her heal is annoying as it bosts her speed and gives her health back, makeing harass harder. I have found that you can out damage her, but be carefull when fighitng her when she has ult up. Don't blow your load all at once, watch her for an ultimate and back off. Only engage when you at least 30% more HP.

Power Level: 7
Kennen can be really tricky to deal with because he has a lot of stuns and speed. Both of these are pretty much the bane of our existence as Ziggs. However for him to combo he has to get close to you, which means that he has to come over our Hexplosive Minefield. When he does this satchel charge or flash away from him if he ultis and beat him up from a distance. DO NOT STAND IN HIS THUNDERSTORM! Hide behind your minions so his Q can't hit you. A lot of his damage comes from you being hit by his Q, but that can only happen if you are in the open. Avoid getting a Q, kill his damage. If he does rush up to you, try and kite him. Distrance is your friend, slows and stuns are your... supah best friends!

Countering Champions mid (L-R)

Power Level:10
Her burst is really stupid, but she is beatable (unlike fizz and kassadin) if you can live through her burst she is dead in the water. I would recommend taking Heal and trying at all costs to dodge her W and her E. If you don't get snared and can live through her silence you can eat her alive. Be careful when she gets low, as her passive will momentarily make her invincible. Don't try and snipe her. Although many people do not know this, QSS brakes silences. MR+ a silence braker, not half bad against her.

Power Level: 4.5
Not exactly a tough champion to deal with. Her burst is nasty, but if you can dodge her snare that burst goes down the toilet. Snipping could go wrong as she has a shield, so don't try to if the snipe will kill her with a margin of 80-100 HP. Her AOE ball is extremely hard to dodge, so you may just have to take it. As with Gragas, run at her when she uses this skill.

Power Level: 6
This guy can deal some serious burst damage with his ulti, and his visions are just too strong for farming and harass. Never get close to a minion with visions, as if it dies you will get it. Visions will also spread between champions if one dies. Never stand in his circle as it deals percentage damage. Stay far away and wear him down gradually, and try not to engage in a 1v1. You will most likely lose.

Power Level: 6.5
He has a short range but his shield can actually block a ton of damage with his passive. Your best bet is to only hit him when his shield is down, and be careful when he has his ult. He will steal a lot of your HP with it. Be aware if he is ulti baiting you. Try to kite him if you can, which is easier said than done. He gets shield based on how much damage he does, ergo if he hits a whole minon wave he will get a lot more shield than if he hits one wraith. Therefore harass him before he can use his skills on the wave, not after.

Power Level: 9
Her farm... The Black Shield makes her immune to her slows, stuns, and knock ups. Which is a pain. Her ulti will stun you hard and most likely kill you. You need to buy a QSS to break that slow and her Q, which in turn will break her damage. QSS is the key to victory! I have found it more than doable to keep up on farm with her, you just need to get a lot of mana regen and spell vamp to keep up with her staying power. Morgs tend to not want to fight until they have one quintillion CS (in all seriousness morg is only that much better than you if her farm is that much better) and pre-6 her full combo can only deal 30-50% of your HP without her ulti. Your early is a lot stronger. Again, QSS will brake her. Try to farm and don't go too crazy on the harass. Spell vamp OP I guese.



Power Level: 5
"For ziggs it's really important to punish Nidalee from levels 1-5. Throw bombs constantly, your passive, anything you have that will deal damage to her. Try and use your auto attacks to last hit. It's also important to push up the lane a lot, this will leave you susceptible to ganks, but there's nothing a Nidalee can do really do aid a jungler gank pre-6. So you should be fairly safe. Nidalee isn't good at last hitting at the tower, unless it's an exceptional player, in that case they'll still miss a few last hits. After level 6 you need to play extremely cautiously because she can punish you with cougar, maybe even kill you with 1 burst and a spear. Additionally, I don't think his satchel charge really boosts him enough to keep him out of danger. A good Nidalee player will most likely take advantage of his satchel charge and throw a spear when he uses it because it's pretty much a guaranteed hit. So that's why I think Ziggs can kind of lose control of lane post-6. I suppose the most important thing is to make her feel uncomfortable and force a lot of her mana to go to spamming heals. For team fights you'll need double shurelyia's or atleast a really good initiation. Nidalee is very weak in combat so killing her probably won't be a problem if you can rush her and catch her team off guard. Another way to do this would be to force baron, you lack fight control with Nidalee so Ziggs would be very strong because his total damage output over time is more than Nidalees."
-MoonInite, look up her guide on nid here!


Power Level: 5
She is nerfed pretty hard, but can still be a problem. Don't get to close to her, and remember that the ball can deal damage when it passes through you, so don't stand in her general direction with the ball behind you. Her ulti will mess up your positioning. All of her damage comes from the ball, so don't get near the ball. Not extremely hard.

Power Level: 4-6
He is a spam champion, so you can really hurt his damage with a bit of MR. His ultimate gives him a lot of lane sustain and burst, so be cautious about that. A lot of ryzes will cage you, then just sit and mash buttons. You will out DPS him, so just beat him this way. Watch out for when he buys a banshies!

Countering Champions (S-Z)

Power Level: 6
A few swains are really good, but most are not the best. His lane sustain is killer at level 6, so burst is your best friend. Don't get snared and don't let him heal back up the damage you have delt! He is also dot-tastic, so again a bit of MR goes a long way.

Power Level: 5
His Q is extremely easy to dodge, and until he gets lichbain and some attack speed his damage is not very good. If he has his yellow card primed be ready for a flash stun gank. Call when he hits 6 so no one gets a surprise visit from him =)

Power Level: 7
Talon can be rather hard to lane against. His silence jump, slow, and ultimate means he deals and CC's almost as much as you do. However, his silence lasts less than internet fame, so all you have to do is let you jump on him and UNLEASH HELL! If he does go invis stand on your minefield if you can or run away to your tower. He is very fast while invis, so in a lot of cases runing is futile.

Power Level: 3
His early game is just terrible, and until 6 he deals little damage and will go oom if he tries to fight you. Honest just kill him and suppress his farm so he can't snowball, then he will literally be useless. If he does stun you're screwed if he has DFG, so yah... don't get stuned =D

Power Level: 6.5
Viktor is different depending on what kind of aug he grabs. He can be supporty, a heavy burst champ, or a CC support guy. If he is heavy burst (death aug) dodge his deathray at all costs. Most likely he wont do this but go for the supporty burst kind due to the fact that if he gets this he will get a speed buff after he Q's. Watch out for his ultimate as it will silence you for a brief second and hurts a lot. He has no real burst without it, so if it's down he is yours. Harass early and often, as you outrange him. Try to move in unpredictable ways so he misses with his deathray.

Power Level: 8.5
He can heal through a lot of your harass and dodge your spells with his pool. Don't try and snipe and use caution when engaging. Ignite and range are your best friends, use both of them to your advantage. He is one of the few that can move and cast with 2 of his spells (hemoplauge and tides of blood) This means he can dodge your spells even more easily. Try to not fight him. If you have to I would recommend taking heal and ignite as your spells.

Power Level: 6
At 6 his combo is much stronger than yours, but he does have a lot of burst (to a fault). Once he does his full burst turn around and do yours. If he does land his E you can't dodge his ult, but you may be able to dodge 1 or even 2 if you are lucky. He is 100% skillshots so if you are good at dodge (or, most likely, he is a bad shot) the lane is yours. He has range on you, so you might as well poke him and try to dodge his stuff.

Power Level: OVER 90000000000000000000000000000000000000
If they have read this guide, you're done. Its GG man, they are an unstoppable killing machine whose power is like the kind we have never seen. Truly a monstrous creation that enjoys eating the souls of children and drinking the blood of OP champions. Your one advantage: you have also read this guide. Use what I have taught you well, my apprentice, and all shall be clear in time...

"but I lost the lane..."

YOU DISGRACE WTF WERE U DOING!?!?!?

Power level: 7
Zyra is an extreamly powerfull mid, even after the nerf. However, we outrange her and have another trick up our sleves: insane burst. Zyra has to get close to you to really do her full damage. If she does get close, you WILL be able to out damage, her, no questions asked. Try to avoid geting rooted, but if you do (assumeing you have equal gold and hp) you should win the engagement. Poke with a lot of bombs, out damage her, watch for roots. They are very slow, so it's really easy to dodge them. Finally, don't fight near her plants. That's 50% of her damage. IF you get caught in her R, simpley hop out of it. She won't be able to keep up with her megar range.


Welp, that's all the champions that are designed to go mid. Again, If you don't agree with my powerlevel or think I am missing a champion PM me plox.

Le Scores

If you have a fantastic game/games as Ziggs let me know so I can post it, let's start with:
Snowflaxe who just went absolutely balls to the wall crazy as Ziggs and went 7-0 as him, carrying most, if not all, of those games! Oh, and did I mention these were his first few Ziggs games?



FreddyKrugersmum who had one of the best perfect Ziggs games I have yet to see!
OppaGangamStyle decimated his foes using one of my favorite builds!:
(Sorry mobafire won't post this T_T, he went 30-9-24!)

Porkgorkmork completely dominated his first game as Ziggs with yet another classic build!:

GermanB showed no mercy these 4 games as Ziggs ending his destructive rampage of 4-0 with an astounding 17-1 KDR! To sumise: DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYMMMMNNNN
Toader63 "blew" away the competition in these games as our explosive yordaler! (he-he... get it... blew away, as in blew up? Because he... never mind..)

Summary

Ziggs is one of the better champions in the league, and his ability to kite, burst, snipe, and save people is unprecedented. I hope you enjoyed my guide, and if you have any suggestions or have found some cool things about Ziggs I didn't mention leave me a comment.



Thanks for reading, and don't forget to vote!

Thanks to:

CasterMaster for the positive remarks and sugestions. Having a totale boss say that about my guide feels pretty good =D. Look up his review shop, again he helped me make dramatic improvemnts to this guide and he can do the same for yours! Caster Master's Review Shop link

jhoijhoi for her Guide on How to Make a Guide. Carried my *** through the coding and how to actually make this thing xD.

My friends for getting me started. Tanks!

Sadly I can not find his guide, but "Ezreal, Pub Stompin and Bar Hopin" gave me the idea for the MR calculations. If you're reading this, thanks a ton bro!


AChubbyBaby for the great advice about WOTA! (pre nerf of course)

Irialis for her grammar and spell checks. I needed them... so.... badly....

Special thanks to all of the votes I have received. Couldn't have done it without you!