Fairly easy matchup 1v1. Te hardest part of this matchup is at level 6 she has really strong gank setup so you have to play carefully around the enemy jungle. Merc treads also gain some value especially if she has other CC on her team.
Akali
Early game is very easy for Zoe and you can often pick up a kill. After 6 however you can't harass her much more and it's difficult to side lane or teamfight against her. Getting a big lead pre 6 is crucial, I recommend taking electrocute and ignite.
Akshan
Akshan is very strong in early game but gets outscaled by most champions and won’t be useful if he doesn’t get random kills from lane or roaming. For the most part you should try avoid trades with him unless you can poke for free without taking damage. As long as you hold E defensively he should never be able to go on you, and if you do get a good trade with E make sure to play a bit safer while it's down.
Anivia
The main window to punish Anivia is pre 6, she has long cooldowns and doesn't have good ways to stop you from trading onto her. She is also very vulnerable to ganks, so try and get your jungler to come mid. Make sure you are ready to dodge her Q because if you do get hit you’ll take a lot of damage. Post 6 Anivia is too good at neutralizing the lane, and you will need to be careful of being too far up in the lane as she starts to do pretty meaningful damage at this point.
Annie
Annie can depend a lot on what rune page she takes. If she takes a scaling page like dark harvest or first strike, you will normally win pretty hard pre 6 and can try take advantage of her early game. If she has a strong laning page like aery resolve, she’ll be quite strong in lane so you will have to trade more carefully. Post 6 she has a lot of threat and will probably just drop her bear for a lot of poke. Once this bear is gone though she’s weak again. Merc treads and refillable can be quite useful to pick up early in this matchup, or if you don’t want the full mercs at least buy a null magic mantle.
Aurelion Sol
Aurelion Sol is very strong at level 1 with his Q poke so try and avoid this. After level 2 you can look to bubble him while he Qs the wave, or just save it for when he Ws forward. If you use E aggressively, make sure to play a bit safer while it's down.
Azir
Azir is very strong in lane and after level 6 also has absurd gank setup. Try and look to get aggressive whenever he moves his soldiers forward with Q as he will be very vulnerable with the soldiers far away from him. If you manage to stop him from getting merc treads on his first base you should be in a really good spot to start winning the lane. You also hard counter him in the mid game by poking him out before fights, so even without a lane lead you should be favored here.
Cassiopeia
Pretty easy matchup overall, you outrange her pretty significantly and can easily one shot her in lane or in teamfights. The only thing you need to be careful of is when you ult forward at 6 getting ultied or W'd and chased down. Avoid that and it's free.
Corki
Extremely easy matchup, you can pretty much just walk at him at enemy time and unless you miss literally everything you can't lose trades. Electrocute ignite and farm him.
Diana
Diana has strong skirmishing, teamfighting and sidelaning but lacks the tools to snowball herself and is very reliant on picking up random kills. In the early game try bait out her Q by moving back and forth into her range. Hold your E for when she dashes on you and look to trade defensively.
Ekko
This is pretty good for Zoe overall but you do need to be careful not to waste your E. If you hold your E for when he jumps on you he pretty much has no choice but to just get poked for free without giving him a window.
Fizz
One of Zoe's hardest matchups, try harass heavily levels 1 and 2 and avoid dying at his level 3 spike. Taking spellbook TP and swapping to barrier at 6 can help survive his all in. It's very hard to lane or teamfight vs this champ because you're so immobile but if you can get a zhonya second item for his ult it will make it a lot easier.
Galio
Galio is not very good in the laning phase but he’s still very strong in the early game with the ability to push or neutralize most matchups and easily move to other lanes or skirmishes. Against Galio your main goals are to keep him in lane, punish his Q cooldown when he uses it to clear the wave and try to keep track of the enemy jungler. You should build up a significant 1v1 lead as long as you don't die to any jungle ganks.
Hwei
Hwei is very strong in lane, but will struggle against you in the mid game. ry position behind creeps so that you can’t get hit by random QQ poke, but far enough away that you have time to dodge the QE + EE combo if he decides to try nuke the wave instead. Hwei is very gankable and can suffer in early skirmishes so if you can ever look for 2v2s or ganks mid it will definitely pay off.
Irelia
Irelia has so much sustain and mobility so as a poke champ you pretty much can't do anything. Play to keep the wave on your side and pray you get ganks. With electrocute and ignite you do have kill pressure on her if she makes a big mistake. Be very careful ulting forward at 6 because she can get a free stun off it.
Jayce
Jayce is relatively weak before first base so try and build an initial lead here. Hold your E defensively for when he goes to melee Q you. If you use bubble outside of this, play a bit further back while it's down. If he buys a dirk first base trades will start to become difficult, but if he buys any form of tear + whatever he will normally still be weaker than you.
Karma
Karma is very strong in lane but you should outscale her and generally be more useful as the game goes on. There’s no easy way to play against Karma but the best thing you can do is try avoid as many Qs and RQs as you can and if she uses too many cooldowns you may be able to chase her down the lane.
Kassadin
Kassadin is a very annoying champ because even if you kill him early he will still out trade you around level 7. Try keep the wave in a gankable position and snowball the game early. Electrocute ignite to pick up some random kills on the map is good here.
Katarina
Similar to Ekko you need to make sure not to waste your E. If you don't stand next to daggers and save your E for when she goes in you should mostly be fine, but if she picks up a random kill from a roam this lane can become very difficult.
LeBlanc
Holding your E is very important in this matchup. Make sure you hit it when she W's in and you can 100-0 her a lot of the time. Electrocute ignite if you're a chad alpha male. LeBlanc's main strength is gank setup so if you play well around their jungle it will be a lot easier. You can also consider rushing merc treads which will make a big difference.
Lissandra
Very easy matchup, you outpush and out trade her. You do need either cleanse or spellbook TP and swap to cleanse at 6. If you don't die to a level 6 gank it's a free win. Merc treads can be useful if she has other CC on her team too.
Lux
Very annoying matchup, she outpushes you and you can't really get any reliable poke on her. It's difficult to ever move or ult into her as you just take a free Lux Q. Spellbook TP is probably best and just match farm.
Malzahar
A lot of people think Malzahar is a counter to Zoe because Malzahar can ult her whenever she ults forward. This is true, but the lane is so easy and if you play well in teamfights you will have no problem. Make sure to use your Q in lane to kill his voidlings and he will never be able to push the lane. If you ever break his shield he can't do anything to you just running at him and killing him with electrocute ignite. In teamfights do be very careful of ulting forward next to Malzahar but otherwise you outrange him insanely hard.
Neeko
Neeko is one of the strongest laning champs in the game and also has immense teamfight and skirmishing power. In the lane phase it will all be about how many Qs and Es you can dodge so try and keep your movement very active. Merc treads rush can help a lot in this matchup too. If you ever hit a random bubble on her it can swing the lane around completely, so try catch her when she goes to CS or when she gets too aggressive.
Naafiri
Naafiri is a relatively weak laner but she snowballs extremely well so do your best to bully her in the 1v1 and prevent her from getting any roam opportunities. All her damage in lane comes from getting hit by 2 Qs in a row, so if you can dodge one you will normally win the trade. If you time your E correctly you can guarantee hit her when she Ws onto you and you'll hard win the trade.
Orianna
Against comet Orianna this is a very difficult matchup. You can sometimes with in early levels but the longer the lane goes on the more difficult it becomes. You can look to either cheese a kill in the early game with electrocute ignite, or take spellbook TP and try farm it out from your tower.
Pantheon
Pantheon has a fairly strong lane, but you can normally win by just bubbling him whenever he Es onto you. Try not to lose too much health at level 1 and you will generally win out from here. Make sure to keep eyes on him post 6 and if he ults to another lane you will most likely just want to punish by pushing the wave and hitting the mid tower, unless you think you can roam to the play in time.
Qiyana
Pre 6 is very easy for Zoe, you can bully her a lot and all in with electrocute ignite. Post 6 be very careful of standing too close to a wall as you will be killed very easily. It can be a good idea to buy a cloth armor in this matchup and go for Zhonya second.
Ryze
The 1v1 is very easy especially if you have ignite and electrocute, he cannot win trades against you. He does have a lot of waveclear and gank setup so make sure to play around their jungler and call missing especially after 6.
Seraphine
Seraphine scales and teamfights very well but she is weak in lane and lacks waveclear after the changes. She has long cooldowns so if she uses Q or E to farm or harass look to punish by forcing a trade on her or zoning her off the wave. Once you get some waveclear you should be able to push her in and prevent her from joining any fights. She also can’t really side lane so normally in the mid game you can build up a big CS lead over her.
Swain
Swain can depend a lot on the rune page he is running and what he builds. If Swain goes for an aery/scorch/chapter build he will be a lot stronger in lane than normal, but he will lack the scaling he normally has. Against this page you should expect to go even or slightly ahead. If you’re against any other setup you should be able to build a pretty big lead in lane by abusing his long cooldowns and dodging his E. Post level 6 if he ults just hit him with a bubble and run away, once his ult times out he will be back to being very weak.
Sylas
Sylas lane is all about dodging his E2. If you get hit by his chain you will almost certainly lose the trade, but if he misses it you can punish him heavily. Stay close enough to the creeps that he can’t easily E you, but far enough away that he can’t just hit both you and the creeps with his Q. With electrocute ignite you should be able to easily kill him unless he picks up some random kills.
Syndra
Syndra favored but definitely not unwinnable for Zoe. Take spellbook TP and look to dodge as many skillshots as possible. You should normally rush merc treads in this matchup which makes surviving a lot easier. If you're ahead, you can sometimes greed and buy chapter first but you will always want mercs eventually.
Taliyah
Taliyah has to use her cooldowns on the wave to push, if she wastes E you can just run at her and all in with electrocute ignite.
Talon
Quite easy for you 1-6, can definitely pick up a kill with electrocute ignite just don't get hit by both parts of his W. Post 6 you will have to be careful of his all in so you will want to buy early game strength (refillable, dark seal, 1 cloth armor etc)
Tristana
In this matchup Tristana cannot jump on you while you still have E, so be very careful not to waste it. You can take electrocute ignite and kill her if she jumps forward at the wrong time.
Twisted Fate
Zoe is very good against TF but he will look to roam or jungle gank you. If he has a strong ganking jungler I'd recommend taking spellbook TP and swapping to cleanse at 6. If you aren't scared of being ganked you can take electrocute and ignite.
Veigar
Veigar has very weak waveclear so it's really easy for you to poke him heavily under his tower or look for roams/kills in the river. Electrocute ignite, just be careful of getting cage ganked.
Vel'Koz
Vel’Koz has a lot of poke and waveclear but if he uses these cooldowns aggressively he will be vulnerable to being traded on.. Trying to keep the wave in a gankable position or looking to press forward onto him if he wastes his cooldowns is very important. Positioning in the creep wave can make dodging Qs easier and make sure to not get hit by Es as that’s Vel’Koz’s best way of trading. Post 6 if you decide to R forward, make sure he isn't in range to E the other end of your portal or you will take a lot of damage on the way out.
Vex
Vex isn’t the strongest laner pre 6 but has very good all in at level 6 onwards. Pre 6 try very hard to look to punish her cooldowns especially if she wastes her fear or W. After level 6 she has a guaranteed ult on you if you R forward, so you may want to buy some magic resist or hold your bubble defensively so she can't go onto you.
Viktor
Difficult matchup overall but Zoe is a lot stronger than Viktor in solo queue. He has a lot of harass so it's tempting to take spellbook TP but I think you can get away with electrocute ignite if you avoid some of his harass.
Vladimir
Very easy most of the time. Play for all ins rather than poke and you can normally 100-0 him. If you make a big mistake or fall behind this matchup can get very hard so it's important to get ahead and stay ahead. Take electrocute ignite.
Xerath
Xerath is a fairly strong 1v1 laner but is vulnerable to getting ganked or all-ined. His cooldowns are fairly long and can definitely be dodged so try keep your movement active and punish when they are down. Make sure you don’t stack with the wave so he has to choose between hitting you or pushing the wave. Make sure to rush tier 2 boots in this matchup for the extra movement speed. At level 6 be careful of ulting forward and getting stunned by his E, as he will probably ult you on the way out.
Yasuo
Honestly it's a pretty good 1v1 matchup with electrocute ignite as long as you make sure to get rid of his passive shield before you fight, and don't get your E wind walled. The main reason this is hard is because Yasuo will normally be paired with Diana or Gragas which makes teamfights absolute hell for you. Definitely pick up a zhonya second item.
Yone
Take electrocute ignite and you can easily kill bad Yone players. In the early game you are very favored, he can cancel your E sleep with his E2 so be a bit careful of that. After 6 this matchup becomes hard because you're a free gank with his ult. Try avoid this and you should be fine.
Zed
Very difficult matchup, he has sustain with dshield second wind and he can also easily farm from range in early game with Q. Take spellbook TP and post 6 be careful not to waste your E and save it for when he goes on you. Swap to barrier/exhaust at level 6.
Ziggs
Very free matchup, he can poke you out but unless you get hit by everything you can just run at him with electrocute ignite when he uses his cooldowns. It's very important to rush T2 boots in this matchup to avoid his skillshots and force trades.
Zilean
Zilean waveclear sucks early so it's very easy to push him in and harass. He only has one damage spell which is easy to dodge and when it's down you can walk at him with electrocute ignite and all in. The main way to lose this matchup is being too telegraphed when you cast Q and then walk forward and he gets a free bomb on you so try avoid that. Sometimes at 6 you can even force his ult without actually killing him, then he's left to lane on very low hp.
Hey guys I'm Shok, multi Rank 1 Challenger mid laner and content creator! I played league professionally from 2017-2021 and have been rank 1 in multiple seasons, as well as rank 13 on the NA ladder in season 9.
I upload regularly on YouTube, and stream everyday on Twitch so feel free to follow me on either of those platforms :)
Season 10Season 9 Season 9 NA
Combos + Tips
Combos on Zoe are fairly simple but there are a few combos and tricks that you may find useful so I made a quick 3 minute video below:
If you're interested in seeing them in actual games, I made a montage of some of my best Zoe plays from competitive games below:
Laning Phase
Zoe with Electrocute and Ignite has plenty of ways to pick up solokills in the lane phase. Simply hitting a Sleepy Trouble Bubble and going forward with Paddle Star and Ignite will often allow you to pick up a solokill. Your basic trade combo will come with using the Paddle Star, passive auto and then hitting them with the Paddle Star to proc electrocute. Even if you don't hit the Paddle Star just hitting them with your empowered autos normally allows you to get good trades. Pre 6 you can hit Sleepy Trouble Bubble by fishing for them as a creep is about to die, or if you pick up a good item with your Spell Thief sometimes you can just run them down.
After level 6 Zoe's lane gets even better when you can reliably one shot the backwave with your Paddle Star. This allows you to hit Sleepy Trouble Bubbles on them really easily since they will have no creeps to hide behind, and even if they do you can often Portal Jump forward and look for a Sleepy Trouble Bubble on them. One thing to be careful of is your mana usage, before you have Lost Chapter and blue you will need to use your abilities carefully so it's important not just to waste them on cooldown.
Laning with Unsealed Spellbook and Teleport is a bit different. With this you can afford to be much greedier with your health and man, you will want to trade your HP for theirs and TP back. If you can force them out of lane and TP back often you can make them miss a lot of CS. You can also use them setup to rush a specific item such as Lost Chapter.
Mid Game
Generally in the mid game you want to be able to pick up as much farm as possible. Normally, the mid laner does this by pushing the side waves in mid game but it's a bit harder to do on Zoe since she's quite weak at side laning.
On Zoe I would recommend just trying to pick up side waves when they hit your towers and try push them just to the river, don't worry about pushing them all the way. Zoe excels in the solo queue ARAM but the most important thing is that you are at the important objectives fights like dragon or rift herald so pay attention to these timers.
To become really good you need to balance this with farming which will take some practice. If you are near the objective first and get a good chunk with Sleepy Trouble Bubble or Paddle Star onto an important enemy target you can often secure it without even having to fight for it.
Teamfighting and Skirmishing
In teamfights and skirmishes you want to be looking to Sleepy Trouble Bubble the enemy team through walls and getting some Paddle Star poke onto them. To avoid getting engaged on finding a wall to poke from can be quite useful. If you can, try get poke and bubbles on the enemy teams carries as opposed to just poking their tanks, but if you can't then just poke their frontline down. Zoe's main weakness is getting hard engaged on so be careful where you Portal Jump forward from.
More Zoe Content
That's pretty much it. Thank you for reading my Zoe guide and I hope you guys learned something from it. If you have any questions you can ask here or message me directly.
I upload regularly on YouTube, and stream occasionally on Twitch so feel free to follow me on either of those platforms :)
If you're interested in individual coaching contact me on discord shokoce.
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[14.8] Shok's Rank 1 Challenger Zoe Guide
Build Guide By ShokLoL
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