ABOUT ME
Hello, i am Vytrexi. I come from New Zealand and have been playing league of legends for a few years now. I used to one trick pony Zoe for quite a while, however i dont think i am that good at her in comparison to some of the more awesome Zoe players. I have about ~500,000 Mastery Points on Zoe and im hoping to raise that further, as i still very much enjoy her.

In my time of playing Zoe, ive thought of quite a few builds that i think are very fun, however people don't usually try to deviate from just the classic Luden's Echo into Lich Bane/ Stormsurge rush. I want to help people experiment more with their builds!

TIDBITS FOR THE GUIDE
This guide was made not to entirely show you what the current meta for Zoe is. this guide is made purely for having fun, and just trying to mess around. Its for people who are already confident in their Zoe gameplay or want to learn a bit more about Zoe, that they might not know. I put plenty of good tidbits to know about Zoe's abilities in the 'Abilities' chapter, aswell as in the 'Items' and 'Laning Phase' chapters, for people that want to learn about some of the more niche things Zoe can do.

Even though Zoe isnt exactly the best choice when it comes to being able to deviate her build, there is still plenty of stuff to mess around on with her!

More Sparkles!

Your passive is so so so important. Alot of newer Zoe players dont realise just how strong it is, and its damage output is so good. You should be abusing its damage in the early game, by using Paddle Star! -> Auto attack -> Paddle Star! -> Auto attack to proc Electrocute and do a ton of earlygame damage. Your empowered Auto attacks are also point and click and NOT projectiles, so they can go through stuff like Yasuo Wind Wall, and Samira Blade Whirl, meaning it can be very useful in those situations to finish off people.

Paddle Star!

Paddle Star! is definitely one of Zoe's most skill expressive abilities, and there is alot to this ability. The one that i went through in the passive is that you get two empowered autos from one Paddle Star!. Its recast counts as using an ability which procs your Passive. In the early game, Paddle Star!'s damage does not grow by much with distance, so it is genuinely bettter to shoot it towards the opponent so its alot easier for you to hit it and they have less time to react. you can also shoot it around minions in the earlygame, to hit your opponent. Times you dont want to shoot it ahead of you are if you want to clear minions, or if you have slept the enemy, do as much as you can to get that Q as far as you can. If you are laning, you typically want to clear the minions while poking the enemy champion at the same time, you can do this by usually aiming for the caster minions with your Paddle Star! to splash the small AOE damage Zoe's Q has, to hit the opponent.

Spell Thief

Spell Thief is just so FUN. its the centrepoint of this entire build, and just so underrated in her kit. It doesnt reaaally fit the whole point of her build, i mean shes got high damage, shes got her cc/escape, the W is just kind of an extra little bit. but instead of focusing on her Paddle Star!, Sleepy Trouble Bubble and Portal Jump, we're putting everything into her W!
Her W has alot of little niche things. Did you know you can still get Teleport as Zoe? enemy champions that use it drop it when used, you just cant get it from minions and champs tend to use Teleport in their base. W also overwrites itself which is important to know, so if you use your Spell Thief and gain the 3 rocks and don't use them, and then use another Spell Thief proc, it will delete the current existing 3 rocks around you and replace them with 3 other rocks, which greatly lessens your damage output.

Zoe's W is super handy though, and extremely useful. at max level it gives you 90% movespeed for 3 seconds which is ALOT and i very often ignite the jungler while getting ganked just for the movespeed so i can crawl back to tower, even if they are full health and the ignite wont do anything. the movespeed is just so disgustingly handy, and specifically for support its just amazing. it lets you weave in between the minions, escape quickly, gank easier, and also push really fast and get in their face so you can Bubble them. People love to try and bait out your sleep but you can just use the movespeed from Hexflash into Spell Thief proc to get into their face and easily land the Bubble without any worry of missing it.

The other part to Zoe's W, the rocks, are automatic homing targeted damage that deal a pretty underrated amount of damage. It can deal around 300-500 damage lategame not factoring in your More Sparkles! auto's as extra damage as well. the rocks will automatically last hit minions for you if you havent hit anything, and will target the last champion or minion (prioritising champions) you hit, homing to them and dealing really nice poke damage. Unfortunately W cant singlehandedly proc Electrocute but it will count as one ability, so two autos will do the job perfect. This damage really shouldnt be slept on, and a simple ignite with you autoing them as they run away can kill alot of people that have 15% to 10% health or lower. W MAX IS ALSO JUST FUN!

Sleepy Trouble Bubble

Without Sleepy Trouble Bubble, Zoe just wouldnt be Zoe. It'd be like taking Senna from Lucian. Its just unfathomable. Its insanely vital to her kit, and 90% of her gameplay comes from just trying to hit Bubble as much as possible, if you want to mechanically improve, learning how to land Bubbles is genuinely one of the best things you can learn in the game to get better at Zoe. If you want to land sleeps more, I recommend typically playing behind walls in teamfights, or during ganks look for Bubbles before you go in. If there is no walls, thats why I like Hexflash so much. you can Hexflash out of a bush, get really close to someone and just get a free sleep. cant miss if you are next to them, right?

Zoe's Bubble does have a few good things to note outside of just how to land it. First of all, its decently easy to hit the true damage cap on it as support, especially because (at least in my guide (which is FOR FUN by the way)) we max it last, so often you don't want to be the one to wake them up. You wanna let others wake them up, as long as they are bursty such as Assasins, or Mages, but you wont want auto attacks to really awake them unless its with Heartsteel proc, or something like Jhin's Fourth Shot.

Another thing to note, is that Horizon Focus increases the damage of the E by 10%. And im not talking about the initial damage, I mean the TRUE damage. Your Bubble travels the same unit distance as it takes to proc the Horizon Focus, and so you can pretty reliably proc Horizon Focus with sleep, and this will increase all damage dealt by you by 10% for 6 seconds, which INCLUDES the true damage from your Wake Up being increased by 10%. this means that Horizon Focus is genuinely a really good item for dealing with tanks.

A BIG thing to note is that not everything will wake up Sleepy Trouble Bubble. Think about why Ignite doesnt wake people up. It's because it's Continuous damage over time. Things that deal continuous damage I.E. Poison, Burn and Bleed will not wake up, and this includes stuff like Miss Fortune Bullet Time, Garen Judgment, Brand Pyroclasm and Twitch Venom Cask. This is absolutely disgusting as Miss Fortune can just get the entirety of her ult damage off. this is a really good thing to know to get some amazing plays off.

Portal Jump!

Portal Jump is just amazing. when I first played Zoe I didnt get it. it seemed like such a useless ultimate, but man its ****ing amazing and I wouldnt want zoe with any other ultimate. There is a PLETHORA of things you can do with Portal Jump, but definitely the most are increasing the range of Paddle Star!, using it to get around minions and Sleepy Trouble Bubble people, and of course to then Ignite someone and auto them with your W rocks. You can also use this ability to Dodge Abilities pretty easily, as i did here with Nidalee. Ult can also be used for a few niche things. You can Flash during the ult, and although im sure we all know about that, it does also increase how long your Portal Jump lasts, and you can typically squeeze out just a little bit extra damage if you use Flash right before your Portal Jump ends, which has saved my *** a few times. Portal Jump is insanely versatile and just works with literally everything in your kit. using it to dodge abilities is something I do extremely regularly, and also a few niche things to note about it:
You can zhonyas during the Portal Jump
You can get eaten by Tahm Kench during Portal Jump and you will not return to your location.
You can use Sleepy Trouble Bubble right as ult ends to do the Bubble tech, which will greatly increase the range the Bubble travels, and can let you sleep around other champions.
Generally Portal Jump is just so useful, versatile, and you can also just steal drakes so ****ing easily with it.

Items for Support and Midlane


[*] Imperial Mandate

Imperial Mandate has always been pretty decent on Zoe already, as her Sleep's Drowsy slow procs the Imperial Mandate effect, and is a TON of burst damage paired with Kai'Sa Void Seeker or Jhin 4th shot waking them up.

[*] Shurelya's Battlesong

Shurelya's Battlesong is the next item I build, and thats because it gives a ton of free utility for the team with an AOE movespeed buff, plus it gives ability haste and AP for extra damage and cooldowns.

[*] Rylai's Crystal Scepter

Rylai's Crystal Scepter is the next item I build, and is mostly novelty and can be swapped out; however I find it fun and I value utility for this build. We arent gonna be doing much damage anyways. Because you will be proccing Spell Thief so often, your little Spell Thief rocks do proc Rylai's Crystal Scepter and the slow is just so useful, plus Rylais gives extra Health and AP so you can survive longer and get more Sleeps off, and AP for more damage.

[*] Zhonya's Hourglass

Zhonya's Hourglass is a no brainer. its just one of the best Mage items in the game, even non-mages build this item. its still typically a lategame item and if you don't build it second, you'll have to wait to build it as your fouth item as Rabadon's Deathcap is more important as a third item.

[*] Luden's Companion

Zoe wouldnt be Zoe without Luden's Companion. its just her single best rush item, and will probably stay that way unless Malignance gets changed, or Tank Zoe Archangel's Staff becomes meta. It just provides plenty of Ability Power, Ability Haste, extra damage, and TONS of Mana. its always and probably will always be a rush item for zoe.

[*] Stormsurge

So I actually was not and still am kinda not a fan of Stormsurge. The reason is because if you get ahead enough, this item is actually a detriment, and can wake people up. The threshold to proc Stormsurge is pretty low and can proc on your Sleepy Trouble Bubble and takes long enough to deal the damage it will actually wake people up as they get slept. However it is definitely a really good item for Zoe at the moment, after recieving so many buffs it just gives tons of free Ability Power, and also gives extra gold which I think is defo underrated. I still prefer Lich Bane but i have been playing with Stormsurge and yeah ive been liking it more.

[*] Rabadon's Deathcap

Rabadon's Deathcap is just a staple item of Zoe. When i think of Zoe's items, I think Luden's Companion, Lich Bane and Rabadon's Deathcap. This is the item that typically helps Zoe keep relevance later into the game when she has stated falling off. you typically will always build this third item (unless playing the silly support build in this guide.) This item is just so staple to Zoe, and is NEVER a bad item to pick up. its definitely a little weaker than it used to be but its still lovely to have.

[*] Lich Bane

Lich Bane is genuinely, unironically, my favourite item on Zoe of all time. I used to not like it, it was odd to play with. but I started playing Detentions' Hedge Zoe and its actually disgustingly fun. i prefer Hedge Zoe over normal Zoe and this item is just a ton of fun to use on her. its NEVER a bad pickup, and I prefer to use it when fighting tanks, as its way more consistent damage and less bursty. Its so nice against tanks.

[*] Horizon Focus

Horizon Focus is just awesome on zoe. its insanely easy to proc as it procs on your Sleepy Trouble Bubble when you fire your Sleepy Trouble Bubble at max range, and it also easily procs on your Paddle Star!. Horizon Focus actually does something really sneaky that i didnt know until recently, but it increases the damage you deal by 10% for 6 seconds. this INCLUDES the TRUE DAMAGE from your Wake Up on the Sleepy Trouble Bubble, and actually makes this item GREAT into tanks as it increases the true damage you deal against tanks by 10%, so you can shred them faster. This item is pretty slept on on zoe and is never a bad pickup. I tend to build it pretty lategame though.

[*] Banshee's Veil

Banshee's Veil is similar to Zhonya's Hourglass. it completely depends on the opponents you are fighting. if you are fighting more pokey champs like Teemo, Banshee's Veil is a great pickup. You can never go wrong with it, and its a really nice item. Its not worth building if you don't have a use for it, as Stormsurge, Rabadon's Deathcap and Lich Bane will provide more usefulness but if you are already ahead and dont need the extra damage, its worth taking for the extra survivability.

[*] Hextech Rocketbelt

Hextech Rocketbelt used to actually be a staple for Zoe, because you could use it during her Portal Jump to increase the range of it for your Paddle Star!, however fairly recently they lessened the amount of AP that it had and put 300 HP on it, making it more of a AP Bruiser item than a burst mage item. However, i think this item is a bit underrated on Zoe right now but thats exclusively because there is just so many AP items to build at the moment that we simply don't have space. this item isnt BAD to build, I actually like it, but there is just stronger AP items to build at the moment. Also, Hextech Rocketbelt has a weird bug here if you use it RIGHT as your Portal Jump ends, and you have a Paddle Star! travelling, it will cause the Paddle Star! to change direction! its very very hard to use and inconsistent though, so it's not really exploitable.

Zoe Support is SHOCKINGLY oppressive. People don't realise just how disgusting she is in botlane. her amount of damage is comparable to Lux, however she has constant burst and her Bubble sets up ganks ALOT better than Lux can.

As an earlygame high burst champ, you want to be as agressive as possible, constantly looking to poke the enemy. NEVER bother last hitting minions for your support item, unless there is no one to poke. Taking minions with the support item gives less gold comparitively than poking an enemy champion, and zoe wants to be poking anyways. Using Hexflash, or any kind of agressive summoner is always great on zoe. You want to constantly be looking for Bubbles so you can get free trades on their adc, or make them miss minions by falling asleep.

Once you have boots fully built, you typically want to start roaming midlane ALOT. Stay botlane for gold and poking enemy champions, but anytime the enemy ADC recalls, or your ADC isnt in lane, look for some agressive dives on the enemy midlaner. you are one of the best roaming champs in the game! Zoe ult and sleep are disgusting at tower diving and poking, sleeping through walls is the same as kayn ganking through walls, its very tough to see in time, and zoe doesnt even have indicators.

Make sure you go to Objectives, Objectives win games!

SUPPORT

You want Flash no matter what, its just way too versatile on Zoe, and to be able to pair it with the movespeed from your Spell Thief, as well as flashing during your Portal Jump to increase the length and range of the portal is just crucial to a good zoe player.

Support is one of zoes best roles because of how oppressive she is in laning phase, and her CC is just insanely useful for how long it is. You can bring Exhaust instead of Ignite if you want to pin them down and you know your adc does plenty enough damage, or you can take Ignite for kill confirming. its mostly preference, but i like to take Ignite most of the time.

You can also take Ghost on Zoe, and its not BAD. i did this a bit when the Flash bug on Zoe was at it's peak, and its a decent Summoner Spell for her, but Flash is just stronger.

Teleport is quite nice on Zoe and i do like taking it, but she just doesn't really need it, she doesnt NEED to be at every teamfight, drake and objective in the world. and the Ignite and Exhaust is just nicer for securing kills instead. Still though, Teleport is not a bad option.

Heal is also another not-bad choice, and if your ADC is bringing Flash and Ghost this will be nice, but typically champs that bring those two summoners are quite agressive such as Ashe and Draven, and therefore you'd want to be agressive with them, and bring Exhaust or Ignite to secure kills.

FINAL WORDS

Well thats most of everything I wanted to say. A few things to note
this is an off meta build. You might not have success with it, however I have had pretty nice success with it myself.

HOWEVER THIS IS ALSO A GUIDE FOR NEWBIES WHO WANT TO LEARN MORE NICHE THINGS ABOUT ZOE!

This build is ENTIRELY utility focused and to synergise with your Spell Thief and with roaming as much as possible, and the aim of the game is just to get as many Sleepy Trouble Bubbles off as possible, and pressure the midlane and botlane an extreme amount.
Although Zoe might be pretty strong damage wise, you gotta remember you have 4 others on your team who are also (usually) building damage, and so all you need is to Sleepy Trouble Bubble as much as possible. But instead of going for a full ability haste build which is BOOOORRRIIINNGGG, this one is EXTREMELY fun. I play with it almost EVERY SINGLE support game i play, apart from the occasional full ap zoe support of course.
Please give it a go, and I am making a MobaFire guide on zoe focusing around making really stupid builds for her to try out if you guys are interested.

ZOE. IS. FUN.
(also the movespeed you get from maxing Spell Thief, having Ghost from Unsealed Spellbook, and Shurelya's Battlesong is really really fun and you'll love it.)
Have an AMAZING day and i HOPE you enjoyed reading my first big guide!