Zeri Build Guide by

[12.9] Challenger Zeri Build & Guide by CookieLoL

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Choose Champion Build:

Patch 12.5 Best Build (Bruiser)
Patch 12.5 Crit Build

Runes: Default Page (Check Runes Section in Guide for in-depth)

1 2

Precision

Lethal Tempo

Presence of Mind

Legend: Tenacity

Coup de Grace

Domination

Taste of Blood

Ingenious Hunter

Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor

Spells:

1 2 3

Default Setup

Flash

Heal

Items

Starting Items

VS Dive Support (Rell, Ali, etc)

VS 2x Ranged / Poke (Caitlyn & Karma, etc)

First Recall

Second Recall

First Item

It's a Sheen item and It gives a lot of good stats that Zeri likes

Second Item if you want waveclear(Sit on this for now)

It offers wave clear and It builds into Titanic Hydra

Build this after Tiamat

Good All Around

Good against HP Stackers

Enemy Large AP Threats

Third Item

Build After Tiamat

Fourth Item & Last Item

If the enemy only has 1 Threat, bind this to them

Wave clear, provides health, works well with completed items

If your team cannot / will not build anti healing and enemy has a lot of healing

If enemy has a lot of AD damage and also healing and you team cant/wont bu anti-healing

For AP Threats

Helpful against Crit

Ability Order

Zeri Passive Ability

Check out my latest YouTube video!

Hey there! I'm Cookie, the former ADC for the academy teams of Vitality and SK Gaming. I've played competitively for 2 years but now am committed to streaming and releasing educational content to help others reach their goals.

I have been Challenger on the EUW server since Season 6, playing with and against every European Pro, such as Rekkles, Perkz, Caps, Jankos and many others. I am accustomed to playing at the highest level.

I peaked rank 10 in S10 and maintain Challenger to this day. Currently, I focus on public coaching and educational content, such as these guides to help a broader audience.

I hope that you enjoy my Guide.

Huge thanks to bowkuto#4866 and valdezae#6654 for formatting and designing the guide!

WORK IN PROGRESS, SPAMMING ZERI AND UPDATING GUIDE CONSTANTLY ON STREAM.

is an unconventional, mid-late game focused, high mobility, mid-late game hyper carry, offering a unique kit that is both challenging and enjoyable. Straying away from the traditional right click auto-attacks, offers players a new way of dealing damage, with her Q .

As she is a new champion, many aspects of the champ have yet to be discovered, such as matchups, new itemizations, runes, and support synergies. I will constantly be updating this guide upon ’s release, so that you can have an easy time mastering her.

Passive: Living Battery		Zeri gains MS whenever she receives a shield. Additionally, Zeri can shield herself for the portion of the damage gained from attacking a shielded enemy.



Q: Burst Fire		An interesting 2 part ability, as this primarily replaces her method of auto-attacking. Passive: Zeri’s basic attacks (her right click) deal magic damage, scaling with AP. This has a 500 range that can never be changed (through Lethal Tempo or Rapid Firecannon) and is treated as an ability/spell (can stack Tear of the Goddess). This ability cannot crit or apply on-hit effects. Moving and casting charges up this ability, at which point it will deal max Health magic damage, slows enemies by 20-40% and consumes all charge. Without max charge, this ability deals absolutely no damage, and at times is helpful in last hitting minions. This ability will be most beneficial when used at full charge, for weaving in with Q Burst Fire - active, your auto attacks. Active: Zeri’s Q Burst Fire - Active is a burst of 7 rounds that deal physical damage to the first enemy hit. This will be her primary method of “auto-attacking”. Q Burst Fire has a range of 825 range if both players stand still, or an effective range of 700 for a moving enemy. This range can be increased by Lethal Tempo and Rapid Firecannon. The burst fire is treated like a basic attack that can critically strike and apply on-hit and on-attack effects once per target hit. The cooldown of this ability matches her attack speed, capped at a maximum of 1.5 AS. 50% of any bonus AS is converted into AD. Q Burst Fire has an interesting interaction with control wards and honey fruit, which it can hit without vision, and regular wards with vision. Additionally, Q Burst Fire passes through these wards, meaning that in addition to hitting the ward, it can also hit the enemies behind it. The Q Burst Fire is an interesting ability, as this will be your primary output of damage to trade or hit minions, like Ezreal; however, the Q Burst Fire will always hit the first target it encounters (without E Spark Surge, explained later). Note that these bullets, although counting as one instance of attack, can be dodged. Therefore, you may hit the initial bullet on the enemy, but can miss the remaining 6. Positioning will be crucial to effectively trade or poke with your Q Burst Fire - active.



W: Ultrashock Laser		Zeri fires a linear laser that deals both AD and AP damage (40-180), while slowing the first enemy hit by 50-70% for 1-2 seconds based on level. If the trajectory of the laser collides with terrain, it expands into a laser that applies the stated effects within a larger area. The distance the W Ultrashock Laser travels upon hitting terrain is fixed, so it does not matter whether you are right in front of the wall, or are shooting your W Ultrashock Laser from max range. This ability is similar to Jinx W Zap! in functionality, however becomes unique when paired with the terrain of botlane. This ability will primarily be used to either poke or to follow up on enemies running away. Combined with the MS gained through abilities, this makes it hard for enemies to escape, or chase, and enables you to maintain a large movement speed advantage. In lane, W Ultrashock Laser can be a good tool to harass enemies when they least expect it. For enemies hiding behind the turret, W Ultrashock Laser can pass through it, while buffing its area of effect, providing great damage and poke when the waves are pushed in. Alternatively, this can be used to poke enemies looking to harass you under your own turret. [/list]



E: Spark Surge		Arguably one of her most fun abilities, Spark Surge allows you to dash in a short direction, vaulting over any terrain she touches. This functions similarly to a Bard E Magical Journey in terms of use, and thus can allow you to vault great distances. Like Ezreal E Arcane Shift, hitting enemy champions with an attack or ability, reduces the cooldown by 1.5 seconds. In lane, this will be your primary method of trading autos, or following up on engage. The piercing autos allow you to attack enemies through minions, like Twitch ult Spray and Pray providing 80-100% to enemies after the first. Playing around this ability’s cooldown will be critical for surviving the laning phase, as without it, trading with enemy champions will not be favourable. E Spark Surge has an additional interaction where certain abilities can be channelled while casting it. For example, when traversing terrain, you can cast your W Ultrashock Laser at any point, buffing it with the large area effect, and can create some unique combos. Alternatively, you can also channel teleport, or recall when vaulting through terrain.



Ultimate: Lightning Crash		Zeri’s ultimate Lightning Crash, casts an AOE nova of electricity, dealing magic damage scaling with both AP and bonus AD, granting her 3 stacks of Overcharge for each champion hit for 8 seconds. Each stack grants 2% movement speed, that can be stacked indefinitely, and attacking an enemy champion adds a stack of overcharge and refreshes its duration by 2 seconds. Overcharge - Zeri gains 30-40% attack speed, on-hit magic damage and burst fire becomes a faster triple shot, chains the bonus magic damage and physical damage to nearby enemies. This attack speed increases Zeri’s max AS and the physical component of the chain lightning (like Statikk Shiv) can critically strike. The ult Lightning Crash will be best used as the team fight breaks out to grant you a ** ton of movement speed and bonus AS. With the bonus AS, you can easily stack Overcharge**, and can reach godly amounts of movement speed within the teamfights. This truly unleashes Zeri’s potential as a high mobility hyper carry that can turn teamfights around. Be careful of how much movement speed you have, as you don't want to be charging headfirst into the enemy at 700 MS. Use this to navigate the teamfight, reposition, barrage them with your Q Burst Fire and chase any enemies trying to escape. Mobility holds a high level of skill expression and this ability allows you to showcase your mastery with Zeri.



		Great overall rune for helping extend Zeri’s Q Burst Fire range. During teamfights it is fairly easy to stack up with your long range Q Burst Fire. Zeri loves extended trades, especially with her ult Lightning Crash that grants her more MS based on the number of stacks. Lethal Tempo synergizes well with her ult Lightning Crash, helping chase down fleeing enemies, or to reach backlines with the extended Q Burst Fire range and the increased MS.

		This rune synergizes well with Zeri’s passive Living Battery, where she gets MS based on shielding, Immortal Shieldbow, and Ravenous Hydra. When combined with Bloodthirster for the crit build or a shielding support, you can easily maintain a movement speed advantage over your enemies, keeping you out of reach.

		As Zeri doesn’t often struggle with mana issues with Essence Reaver in the crit build, Triumph is a solid rune to take for those close teamfights, providing HP to keep you safe.

		If you’re not building Essence Reaver it’s ideal to go with Presence of Mind to ensure you don’t struggle with mana.

		This rune is great for providing a bit of sustain for Zeri’s early game. Required if you are not going Immortal Shieldbow or Ravenous Hydra.

		If you are building Immortal Shieldbow in the crit build, you may opt for Legend: Alacrity for bonus AS. Most likely, Legend: Bloodline will be optimal.

		I am personally not a fan of this rune for the Bruiser build. With correct fighting and champion positioning, you will not be low HP enough number of times to gain value from this rune. Coup de Grace remains the best choice.

		This rune is only worth taking if you will be building Crit. The Bruiser build is currently the best overall build, so this rune is not advised.

		Works well with the Bruiser build and it’s consistent damage, in comparison to Last Stand.



		Good rune for sustain, but may not be worth in comparison to Ingenious Hunter.

		Synergizes well with Immortal Shieldbow for the crit build to reduce its cooldown by 30 seconds, and more importantly, allows you to proc Sheen more items.

		These two runes are only good if you are certain that the games will go for longer than 30 minutes.

		Really good against enemy all-in supports like Pyke, Leona, and Rell.

		Synergizes well with a support that provides heals and or shields. Examples include Yuumi, Taric, Soraka, and Rakan.

		These are good if you are safe in lane, and able to survive without the power other rune pages offer you. You secure better scaling for maximal survivability mid-late game.

Flash		The most common and iconic summoner spell in League of Legends, it offers great versatility as it allows you to dodge deadly abilities, chase down enemies, reposition and make some insane animation cancels and flashy plays. It is necessary to have Flash every single game.

Heal		The most consistent summoner spell for ADCs besides Flash because its really nice for 2v2's as it heals both you and your teammate while also giving you an MS buff which can be very useful to chase enemies or to run away from them. Keep in mind that Heal will target the allied champion that your cursor is on, if no champion is under your cursor it will heal the most wounded ally in range.

Cleanse		If the enemy team has one or multiple of these characters then take Cleanse: Fiddlesticks , Morgana, Ashe, Varus, Amumu, Lissandra, Lillia, Lux, Maokai, Seraphine, Sona, Twisted Fate, Zoe, Sejuani, Leona, Galio and Rammus. Keep in mind that Cleanse removes any summoner spell debuff, such as Ignite and Exhaust.

Exhaust		Exhaust is good if enemy has a lot of dive champions such as Talon, Samira, Tristana, Zed, etc. But if you have a lot of CC in your team then enemy ADC might take Cleanse which removes Exhaust so keep that in mind.

’s early game is quite weak due to her low range Q -passive, and that your Q , auto attacks, can’t pass through minions without E . Together, this makes trading against enemy champions extremely difficult. Your primary goal will be to stay safe, farm up, and avoid deaths if possible. A safe laning phase will ensure a good transition into mid and late game, where you shine.

If you notice that the enemies tend to stay out in the open, feel free to harass with your long-range Q , to deal some damage. Level 2 and 3 can be a great power spike if you have an engage support like or . Pair their CC with your E empowered Q auto attacks, and W to slow anyone trying to run away. Do not try and force anything yourself, and let your support initiate.

With a few items underneath your belt, you now begin to deal quite a bit of damage. Although has a lot of mobility, you want to restrain yourself and analyze the teamfight prior to making your move. If the enemy composition is your traditional front-to-back, you will most likely need to melt the front line prior to focusing on the backline. Here, look to use your Ult to stack up Overcharge on the enemy frontlines. This will grant you bonus attack speed, Range, and most importantly, movement speed. The more stacks you get, the quicker you become, and the faster you can shred through enemies and reach the backline.

At the end of the day, remember that you are an ADC cursed with high mobility. So if you dive headfirst into the enemy team, there is a good chance you may not make it out.

Within teamfights, it is important to be conscious about a couple things. First, your Q range is quite large (approximately 700 effective range). It is important to maintain this range, as it prevents enemies from easily gap closing on you, and allows you to maintain distance to maximize dps. Secondly, make sure to constantly proc your R stacks so that they don't run out. Once players start understanding how Zeri works, they may look to disengage or deny you autos once you activate your Ult. Therefore, it becomes increasingly more important on how you manage your Overcharged Stacks, the longer the better.

Together, you want to navigate teamfights by running around, dodging skillshots and being as annoying as you can with your Q . Make sure to weave in your fully charged Q-passive (right click) for additional slows and damage. Without the fully charged Q-passive, it is only recommended for last hitting minions.

Figuring out how to play with your E and W will greatly improve your quality of life. Whether using E to use the piercing autos for trading, or to simple reposition, note that it does have a high cooldown. E can be helpful when running to or from lane, but more interestingly, it allows you to channel other abilities (excluding Q ) during its duration. For example, you may be looking to create distance between you and the enemies to recall. Here, you can actually use E to transverse terrain while initiating your Recall. Simply press E , followed by your Recall and you will not be interrupted, even if you stop traversing the terrain. , , , , and your W may also be used during this time, allowing for endless possibilities of how you want to combine these abilities.

Whether you are pushed in under a turret, or have pushed the enemy under their turret, remember that your W can actually pass through turrets. As it is considered terrain, your W will be buffed and receive the increased area of effect, dealing damage to those cowering behind turrets. It is important to note that your W follows a fixed distance once it collides with terrain, despite where you cast it from. Therefore, you can cast your W at max range into terrain, and it will travel right through to the other side.

Here are some simple combos that you can try out to maximize DPS, or add some spark to your gameplay.

Q + E + Q + AA + Q + Q

Q + E (wall) + Q + Q

E + W + Q + AA (W and Q are masked together)

E (terrain) + W

10/02/2022: Updated build sections for patch 12.4.
26/01/2022: Runnans-Ult interaction micropatch, itemization updated.
24/01/2022: Changed Runes and added teamfight section.
20/01/2022: Added changelog.