This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page






Your votes and comments encourage our guide authors to continue
creating helpful guides for the League of Legends community.
Runes: The Boombastic Resolve
+8 ability haste
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor
Spells:
Flash
Teleport
Recommended Items
Items
Ability Order Boombastic Tower Wrecker
Short Fuse (PASSIVE)
Ziggs Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Bard
If he has meeps available (and he usually will), he will win basic attack trades. Be careful about positioning so you don't get stunned by Q. His W has good lane sustain. His E lets him match your roams easily. And his R can delay your tower sieging but it will be inevitable.
Tristana
Auto push on CS, W & R for self peel, plus the QE combo wreck towers. Everything you would want in a partner.
Tristana
Auto push on CS, W & R for self peel, plus the QE combo wreck towers. Everything you would want in a partner.
Champion Build Guide
This Ziggs Support guide is an updated version of my first written guide from Season 8. This new guide was written with a focus on primarily having Ziggs as a utility support with an extra emphasis on how I would play him as a low damage, macro player.
Just a bit of fair warning, there are a lot of pop-culture references here. Here's your first meme!
As the game is constantly changing, I will continue updating this guide with more information, statistical data, and other good stuff. Matchups will be updated more as I encounter more opponents. Some changes from my previous guide features upgrades with more stats, strategies, and more content as I continue with further experiments.
Shoutouts and Recommended Materials
I have to give big props to Aqua Dragon A.K.A. the wacky off-meta guy! This guide was heavily influenced by his Orianna Support & Vel'koz Bot guides. You can check them out for some good quality content. He streams regularly on Twitch at twitch.tv/aquadragon33
I also have to shout out to IcyPhoenix. He made a video on youtube a long time ago on what items are effective against towers as well as tower mechanics. Most of the important parts are still relevant in the current patch. A lot of what makes this build possible came from this video. Here is a link to the video.
Here is some bonus material to help understand how damage works in the game in this masterclass by BaLoRi, a Fnatic Content Creator. This video is helpful for any Ziggs player, regardless of lane position, and I encourage watching to have a better understanding of why magic penetration is very important. He streams regularly at twitch.tv/balori For more of his guides on Mobafire, click here.
This video also by BaLoRi is very informational about minion wave manipulation. This is a very important concept that shapes the basis of this intended style of play. Even if you play support and don't cs in lane, this video will help you understand what your lane partner is wanting to do with the wave. Check it out:
Now, this video provided by Skillcapped will go in-depth on some common mistakes the majority of the playerbase makes with taking towers. It was enlightening for me as it helped me improve in decision making in my games so I highly recommend watching this video if you are going to play Ziggs in any lane position.
And now we set sail on the BOOMBASTIC VOYAGE!
Rito Pls Make a Half-Court Ziggs Skin!
Before I get into what Ziggs Support is, I ask that you empty your cup. What does this mean? Let go of any pre-conceived ideas about what you think Ziggs can do or should do. Everything you see in this guide is contrary to what has been "standard" on Ziggs for the past 8 years. The runes, items, and even skill order is completely different. I can only describe it as playing almost a different champion.
Ziggs Support can be considered a ranged artillery utility support, one of the best in both classes due to his massive aoe on his spells as well as having the most versatile non-ult ability in the game that allows him to deal ridiculously high damage to towers via

With a low budget build that fits into the support style of play, you are able to have low cooldown hard CC, a fairly decent amount of damage for manipulating waves & poke damage for enemy champions, and the ultimate siege tool for taking towers.
Figuring out which items to place in that budget to maximize minion, champion, and tower damage is the tricky part. There are two foundational principles behind the choices.
NOTE: These principles are for my specific style of play. There are many ways to play Ziggs in the support role, but this is what I found the most successful after 2 years of experimentation.
First, Think utility over damage. Ziggs is not a mid-ranged burst mage, or at least shouldn't be played as one. There are a wealth of better mid-ranged burst mage supports (




This means that Ziggs is especially interested in maximizing Ability Haste as fast as possible, in order to deal more raw poke damage through more


Second, Think macro over micro. Focus on winning the game more than winning the lane. While this concept might seem a bit contradictory and puzzling to some, I want you to rethink what Ziggs is capable of.
Remember principle #1? There's a reason why you don't want to play like a typical AP support. Instead of thinking things like "How fast can I 100-0 the enemy carry?" this allows you the freedom of thinking thins like "How fast can I open the map by taking towers?"
This is why I ALWAYS take

While this makes your laning power less potent against duo lanes with combat sums (




Now you have a good idea what Ziggs Support is, let's find out the strengths & weaknesses in the next chapter.
Pros
- Having
gives you the best siege tool in the game. Taking towers is easy.
- Peel for your team with as low as 4.2s cd AoE airborne cc + dash ability.
- Strong undeniable 4s of vision with
& some sight on
&
.
- Clearing waves & CSing is easy. No difficult mechanics.
- Easily racks up assists; plentiful gold for items.
- Usefulness is relevant at all stages of game.
Cons
- Deals less damage to champions due to lacking early game AP.
- Has a 4 skill-shot kit unlike most duo lane champions who have 1 or 2.
- As an artillery, Ziggs is very frail and can be blown up.
- Can become mana hungry early-game if spamming too many spells.
- Only hard-CC is a skill shot and your mobility. Difficult to use both.
- No direct team utility. Only damage, CC, self mobility & tower bombing.
RAP GOD IS GOOD!
*To the tune of "Ultimate" by Denzel Curry*
I got the skills to seal the deals to pay the bills! Secure the kills and keep it real!
Auto fills don't give me the chills cause I got grills to spill some thrills and pop some pills!
I write with quills on windowsills that all my grills done painted teal with that Gold Seal!
I grill my veals on diamond grills with 20 grills while we still watch Netflix & chill!
Mad rhyming rap skills aside, there is a few things that Ziggs does and does not do that your typical champion in the bot lane (carry or support) would generally do or not do.
For some strengths, Ziggs has high damage potential. However, most of it is better used on wave clear than champion damage. Unlike most carry and support champions, Ziggs has an AoE displacement CC on a short cooldown (Think




He does have weaknesses too. No direct team utility in his kit means he isn't a healer like








The best utility spell in the game
Now I've shared his strengths & weaknesses, let me share with you 5 reasons on why Ziggs's







Because of Ziggs having these unique skills, he can be very valuable in a team composition that is based on [1]sieging towers and objectives with [2]long range poke and [3]benefiting from good disengage. Ziggs has all three of those qualities and it makes him arguably the best support to have in a siege comp.
Wanna Know How to Spell Boombastic?


These two are the standard summoner spells I take in my games. Here are some alternatives to consider:

As with most artillery champions, Ziggs is generally very far from fights. This makes close-range spells like



On the other hand,



If considering taking other sums, these are the other summoner spells you should consider:




These New Runes are the BOMB!
This section on Runes for Ziggs Support will cover the two distinct styles of play for the position: One style focuses on Ziggs as a utility focusing on disruption & CC. The other focuses on being a damaging carry with a focus on magic penetration & nuking towers. The following rune paths will provide descriptions for both of these styles.
These are the runes I recommend for Utility Support Ziggs:







These are the runes I recommend for Carry Support Ziggs:







Ever since Season 9 changed how runes give stats, there are no more awesome Trait names that are based on your rune choices for Primary/Secondary. Instead, you get to choose your stats in 3 areas: Offense, Flex, and Defense. For this Ziggs build, I put emphasis on mid and late game strength more so than early game dominance.
![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
The Offense spot will be Ability Haste to allow more frequent spell usage.
The Flex will be Adaptive so you can start with some AP.
The Defense will be Armor because physical damage is the most prevalent.
If you would like to try alternative options, these subsections will show you the benefits you can have for taking Inspiration/Sorcery or Inspiration/Resolve.


Now that we've covered the 2 main paths of Resolve & Sorcery as well as the alternative Inspiration, you might be wondering why I don't take runes from Domination nor Precision? I urge you to read the following subsections so that I can explain why they aren't as optimal as the other options. I also explain why I don't take Inspiration as a primary in most of my games.



As you may be reading this guide, you might have wondered at some point the reasoning why take Resolve as a primary/secondary on Ziggs? This subsection will explain in more detail the benefits of having Resolve on Ziggs.


Now let's look at the runes to use and the reasoning behind these choices.
The top rune is preferred. The lesser ones are optional
![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() Demolish has a condition that Ziggs easily meets. The others have worse payoffs. |
![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() This rune helps better than the other options. The alternatives have higher restrictions on their payoff (Unflinching) or isn't absolutely necessary (Revitalize). |
![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() For AC, Bouncing Bomb is a near-guaranteed hit. Even if it doesn't hit, adding ample harass damage with your Short Fuse passive is how you acquire some lane dominance over your lane opponents. For PR, one of the best benefits is using your ![]() SA is good for shielding allies when you apply CC to enemies & heal them with FoL. |
![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() I would consider MFB over NBC because you are always going to be spending mana and only occasionally using your R. MFB may seem like an excessive amount of mana, but since you only build mana from ![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() Gathering Storm for better mid/late game poke and siege. Scorch's damage gets split between both opponents, which creates underwhelming poke. Note: Op.gg shows Ziggs win rate falls to below 48% after 35 minutes. GS will get the most value at 30 minutes with 24 AP but if you get to 40 minutes with 48 AP, focus on ending the game fast or you will most likely be outscaled. |
I'll blow you away with these mad skills!
For Ziggs Support, the skill order is W max for tower damage & CC, then Q max for low cooldown damage, E max last for more damage & stronger slows, and finally R max when you get the points at 6/11/16.
This skill sequence is optimal in the early game for securing that first tower. By taking 3 points in W

Unlike the standard Q max order,




Shut Up And Take My Money!
After years of extensive scenario testing and number crunching, the results of hundreds of experiments have revealed an optimal utility build that is very cost-effective for taking over games... and the core item combo only costs 10k gold.
I have also included the optional, but optimal damage efficient build path. Demon King Teemo would be proud for the destruction you will bring to the enemies' structures.
First, here is the standard starting items for both the utility path and carry path for Ziggs Support.



If you want to go for a high risk high reward early game play, you can buy only the


Buying potions is up to your discretion. It's not mandatory to have, but can be useful in a hard lane.
↓



On your first back, always buy boots, regardless of path. Your support item auto upgrades as you play the game so look to finish the quest by the time you get your mythic item.
Now I'm going to split the rest of the item section into different subsections. The first is going to cover the utility path that is the most optimal way to play Ziggs Support. This works best with the






While it may be a controversial opinion, Ziggs does make good use of


This is the standard build I came up with. The reason why it's very gold efficient comes from the starting item choice.


After getting your second






In a majority of games, you will want to prioritize finishing





By the time you finish

Surely you can already understand why





This is the standard 5-item build I came up with. Getting all of these items costs exactly 10200g without accounting for any










Deciding when to buy


SitRep: Situational Representation
Here are some optional items to consider depending on the enemy composition:





"Redemption: It's the 'Redeeming' quality of the build!"
-Quote from Aqua Dragon on his Malzahar Jungle.



Having the right tools for the right job can be challenging to accomplish. But is worth it in your quest to ball so hard that

It makes the dream work!
Some bot lane partners work well with your pushing & sieging style while others aren't as great. This list is subjective to my opinion based on game experience and compatibility with strengths, weaknesses, kit synergies, etc.
Usually the best partners I find to pair with are bot laners with decent early game laning power, wave clear built into their kit, and a tendency to build items that can increase damage to towers (penetration, spellblade, etc).
In this tiering list, I will list champions in a sequence of highest to lowest in the standard S,A,B,C,D rating. This list is a general compatibility rating to see which champions are good to work with:
S-Tier: Very easy to win lane with. You cover each other's strengths & weaknesses.
Tristana: Auto push on CS,
Rocket Jump &
Buster Shot for self peel, plus
Rapid Fire &
Explosive Charge wreck towers. Everything you would want in a partner.
Yasuo: In past seasons, this used to be seen as trolling. Now, you get a strong pushing lane with easy hard engage. His
Last Breath is very easy to setup with
Satchel Charge & follow up with
Mega Inferno Bomb.
Veigar: Ah, the 2 most cunning Yordles with a genius strategy called "Operation: Death Cage" that is sure to secure lane victory. If he traps an enemy in
Event Horizon, then you just toss a
Satchel Charge to knock them into the stun & both of you throw everything at the stunned target. Guaranteed kill at level 6!
Kai'Sa: She has really good synergy with
Second Skin, deals hybrid damage, and her item variations puts her in a good spot. You can provide her with easy backline access with your
Satchel Charge.
Swain: While this may seem a bit unorthodox, this combo covers each other's weaknesses of getting outranged (Swain) and CQC (Ziggs). As a bonus, Ziggs can setup a free
Ravenous Flock pull with a well-placed
Satchel Charge.
A-Tier: Great laning partners. They can help you access the tower by poking.
Miss Fortune: Her lethality items help wreck towers & her laning power is oppressive with
Double Up &
Make it Rain.
Jhin: Both of you have long range, good poke, & tower damage. Lethality &
Whisper are good for tower taking.
Senna: Start
Doran's Ring and rush
Liandry's Anguish after
Ionian Boots of Lucidity. This combo works well since you both have long range, CC & cross-map ults with
Dawning Shadow. Really fun to play!
Ashe: She has good wave management,
Hawkshot is amazing for getting vision in blind spots, her poke with basic attacks +
Volley are nice, &
Enchanted Crystal Arrow can setup your
Mega Inferno Bomb or stall out chasers.
Ezreal: His
Sheen upgrade as well as
Essence Flux are great for damaging towers. Plus he can be independent in lane while you roam.
B-Tier: Good to lane with. They can function well. Even with your zero utility.
Seraphine: What's better than one utility mage? TWO! There are some crazy combos! She can root/stun with her
Beat Drop on an enemy you hit with
Satchel Charge or
Hexplosive Minefield. Teamfights are the way to go!
Sivir: Really good wave clear, her
Spell Shield can block for you, &
On The Hunt has multiple purposes. Her item timings are long, but rewarding if they come through.
Heimerdinger: Ah, the 2 smartest Yordles with a genius strategy of endless wave pushing. With both of you pushing & zoning, getting 1st tower is very likely unless they send 4-5 bot. And his
UPGRADE!!! options can help any situation.
Jinx: She can
Get Excited! very frequently when the two of you take towers and make long range plays. And he can easily combo off of your spells with a
Deadly Flourish for more CC & damage.
Samira: She loves engaging on airborne carries with her
Daredevil Impulse. What better way to enable her by using your low cooldown CC multiple times to CC enemy carries?
C-Tier: Great laners, but not great partners. Synergy is not that good.
Draven: You don't have hard cc initiations or ally utility for him to take advantage of. But he is strong enough to win lane by himself if you assist him by poking down the enemy laners and zone away any divers. And his
Whirling Death can combo with your
Mega Inferno Bomb for long range snipes.
Lucian: His play style encourages up close fighting, which is something you shouldn't try for. At least
The Culling clears waves.
Kalista: Her
Fate's Call can be a life saver. But other than that, she can suffer from your lack of utility & hard engage.
Caitlyn: Great poke, her
Yordle Snap Trap makes a great sieging tool, & overall strong early game.
Varus: His lane power isn't bad. His
Piercing Arrow poke,
Blighted Quiver on-hit damage/execution power, &
Hail of Arrows heal reduction are nice for having a strong early game. Plus,
Chain of Corruption can setup your
Mega Inferno Bomb.
D-Tier: Typically weak laners. They tend to suffer from your lack of utility.
Xayah: She has a very well-rounded, balanced kit that is good at just about everything. Her self peel in
Featherstorm is nice to have, but she can function better with some utility.
Vayne: You can make up for her lack of wave clear & help her get cs. She is a decent partner for laning with, but it takes 2 items for her to start to become a threat. You can combo your spells with her
Condemn stun.
Twitch: His laning power is not that good and he'd rather roam for picks than siege towers. His monstrous late game is no joke though.
Spray and Pray gives him more AD & lets him outrange towers.
Kog'Maw: His on-hit items (
) &
Bio-Arcane Barrage do not affect towers, he has a heavy reliance on peel & enhancements, and he plays to not lose lane. Because of that, you will spend most of your time on your side of the river. Try to avoid this combo if possible.
Aphelios: Mr. 200 years needs 3 items to take over games & needs a LOT of peel to set him up to carry. One of the worst lanes to play since you can't effectively enable him. The root on
Binding Eclipse can set up CC chains & he can be a strong tower threat when he's holding
Crescendum, the Chakram.
The Solo Voyage of a Bombastic Yordle
Now, I know it may seem awkward to make a claim for split pushing on a Support, but there are a few qualities that Ziggs has to make him viable as a split pushing threat:
- Tower Damage: With a maxed
Satchel Charge, the enemy team cannot ignore you in a side lane since you will get a tower if it's low. Split pushers in general tend to have some tower threatening damage. Since you have built-in damage on
& can execute them without much effort, you become a threat they have to deal with.
- Vision Control: Since you have wards, you can set up vision where the enemy is likely to intercept you. Another thing to note is that your
Satchel Charge can give vision. Part of being a good split pusher is having knowledge of enemy positions.
- Escape Mechanisms: With a combination of bonus speed from items (
&
), mobility in you summoner spells (
&
), and your CC (
&
), running away from people becomes more reliable. Another part of being a good split pusher is knowing how to waste the enemy's time chasing you.
- Fighting Power: Even without a lot of AP, this Ziggs build has lots of Haste from the mythic passive on
Shurelya's Battlesong and the special passive on
Cosmic Drive. Extra Haste makes your damage more frequent against enemies challenging your split push. In the rare case you completed
Liandry's Anguish as your mythic, tanks and fighters are susceptible to your poke & burst as well. Having some kill pressure increases your threat as a split pusher.
- Wave Clear: All of Ziggs's spells are AoE. This makes it easy to push waves. And his
Mega Inferno Bomb can clear most waves with its really high base damage & AP scaling. Being able to shove waves into towers makes split pushing effective.
- Team Assistance: Since your
Mega Inferno Bomb has ridiculous range, you can contribute damage to a team fight or defend against a siege by not even being present. Or you can make sick objective steals on Dragon or Baron & make Thug Life highlights and say #DealWithIt in all chat. Being able to assist your team with long range spells and
Teleport is a traditional given for side laning.

Something I need to point out is just because you have the ability to split push doesn't necessarily mean you should do it. There will come times when you need to stay grouped with your team or with a few members.
You get more value out of split pushing when you can occupy attention of a key member of the enemy team. Your team doesn't need you to team fight. But if their top laner is their main front line, they would need him/her.
1st Quarter: Laning Phase (Game Start to ~10 mins)
In the laning phase, your goals are to
- Ball on enemies and minions with
.
- Stack
with
.
- Avoid spamming other spells unless necessary.
- Keep the area thoroughly warded.
By starting with

On that note, keep an eye on your


You absolutely should not be getting hit. Ziggs has that 3-point range while other standard supports can only dunk or layup or shoot free throws. That means damage is very likely to be avoidable. Be aggressive with pushing and poking. The idea here is to never take a hit to get off a hit. Make the lane as one-sided as possible.
Remember that if you press Q, sometimes it will bounce over a small area while it's in mid-air flight.
Your kill potential pre-6 isn't terribly massive. Don't be too aggressive until then. That means in some matchups, saving


Avoid using


Once you have your


2nd Quarter: Early Game (10 to ~20 mins)
In the early game, your goals are to
- Look to group in other lanes with low towers for 1st tower gold.
- Make aggressive TPs if the opportunities are there.
- Set up vision near big neutral objectives like Dragon & Rift Herald.
- Roam around and look for picks.
With



Try to call for ganks from the jungler or even roams from mid/top. With some coordination, getting that first tower should be fairly easy. You can also

By this time you should have

Remember that your tower execution power increases with each W rank.
By the time you hit level 9, you should typically have






3rd Quarter: Mid Game (20 to ~30 mins)
As all of the laning phases & early games end, you will start roaming more and helping around the map. Objectives include:
- Continue maintaining strong vision control of the map.
- Try to be near areas of potential conflict to
enemies from downtown!
- Use
to kite and chase better during teamfights or escape pursuers.
- Chase down lone, low health opponents and kill them.
Your role before fights remains straightforward. Your mana regen is also now sufficient to spam wildly. Don't intentionally miss. We don't like air balls! Usually it's often sufficient to just present the threat of Bombs even if you don't hit it. By the time you hit level 13, each spell cast will take 6s off of your passive cool down. Watch the timings of

When enemies get closer, get yourself farther. Try to stay close to the tip of your spell's range and make sure the areas around you are warded well.
Don't be afraid to use

Keep an eye on your carries and see if you can help them out against melee enemies by using

Your ult is on a relatively short cool down. You can probably get the best use out of it for clearing waves in side lanes by killing caster minions to build up slow pushing waves. It's also good at defending against pushes since destroying minion waves helps stall their siege.
By the time you hit level 13, you should typically have completed




4th Quarter: Late Game (30 to ~40 mins & higher)
This is usually where the game is looking to be over soon... for better or for worse. The role remains largely similar
- Less vision makes warding tough. Be cautious and use Farsight Trinket to scout.
- With its low cooldown, you should have
ready for every teamfight.
- Prioritize protecting the caries over throwing out damage.
- Look to sneak through enemy jungles to execute low HP turrets.
Though you do impressive damage to objectives, so do your carries. The difference is that they are just as fragile and usually have more gold. If they need some protection, give them some peel while throwing the longer-range spells into team fights.
Try to save your ult until the enemies have gotten busy with the rest of your team. Using it much earlier will almost certainly be a wasted opportunity.
In some niche scenarios, when time is absolutely critical, consider using your ult on barons/dragons as you're taking them so you can get out as quickly as possible.
By the time you hit level 16, you should typically have completed your full build with an upgraded


A typical full build should look something like:






If you hae it, at 30 minutes

Overtime: Super Late Game (50 mins & higher)
Okay, so someone threw a lead, a big come back happened, the game got stalled out, etc. Something happened (or didn't happen) 15 minutes ago, and the game is still going, what now? Here's some things to take note of:
- Don't get caught out & don't go warding alone. Death Timers are really long. (70+ seconds)
- Buy less elixirs & stockpile money to buy AP items
- Keep prioritizing protecting the carries over throwing out damage.
- Only look to split if you have vision control & and objective is up.
At this stage of the game, gold leads & deficits have less meaning as everyone approaches full builds & max levels. This is usually when

If you happen to have a ridiculous amount of gold (over 10k), a new full build should look something like:






With this new build, you are no longer a "Support" since you got rid of your vision tool. You have the damage output of a mid lane Ziggs and should be feared as one. This should only be treated as a Thanos moment where you can only see victory if you take matters into your own Yordle hands & say, "Fine. I'll do it myself."
Becoming more of an offensive damage threat can help close out the game. If the enemy has towers still, focus on getting them. But try not to suicide for them. Your biggest priority is staying alive. Taking towers, peeling for the team, pushing waves, throwing out poke, etc. isn't as important when it comes to just surviving.
Similar to basketball games, that "Sudden Death" feeling starts to happen. Anxiety might build up & it could affect your performance positively or negatively. Try to keep a calm head and consider your win conditions as well as your loss conditions. One team will win because they played better than the other team... or one team will win because mistakes were made on the other team.
Use your game knowledge wisely and have good decision making. Smart decision making skills as well as vast game knowledge are requirements to make this work. Use these tactics with your item selections to make them work for your intentions and you can figure out what steps to take to get that win!
That's all I have for now!
Thank you for reading & stay tuned for updates!
Rasta La Vista Baby!
You must be logged in to comment. Please login or register.