His wind wall will block almost all damage you do. He'll dash onto you and almost instantly kill you. Pretty much your only hope if he gets close to you is to hit an E and run.
Zed
Most burst champions are extremely dangerous to Zoe considering she is a squishy long range burst champion. Try to predict when he will switch to his shadow and hit your E accordingly.
Aurelion Sol
Just stay out of the way of his stars and dodge his Q with your R, hit an E and he's pretty much dead.
Ahri
Ahri can rush and charm you, try to dodge the charm then retaliate with your E. Use your R to maneuver around her skill shots.
Akali
You can hit Akali through your smoke with all your abilities, just wait until she shows herself through the smoke to land an AA. If she bursts on you, dodge her ult attacks with your R.
Heimerdinger
Heimerdinger is extremely annoying because he will literally just hide behind turrets to block all your shots. Try using your R to get behind turrets, hit an E, then Q around the turrets to hit him.
Cassiopeia
As long as you play safe, she can't do anything to you. Just buy boots and dodge her shots.
Fizz
Fizz is arguably one of the scariest burst champions, there's not much stopping him. Just throw your E and hopes he lands in it so you can escape.
Karthus
Karthus burns mana easily, and his Q wont do much damage early game, so just stop him from getting CS and hit your sleeps when you can.
Kassadin
As long as you can land an E on him before he gets too close, you'll be fine.
Veigar
If you're trapped in Veigar's stun circle try to get out with your R. If you can't get out before his attacks land, you're probably dead.
Galio
You can't do much against tanks, just try to poke him a ton but his attacks will do a lot of damage.
Lux
Buy boots and try your best to dodge her root, flash if you have to because if she roots you she will probably use her E then ult you and you will most likely be dead.
Orianna
You can probably dodge most of her shots if you buy boots, just move away from her ball and hit an E.
Swain
As long as you're not hit by his root, you should be fine. He doesn't do too much damage if he isn't fed so just dodge everything.
Ziggs
If he lands his E behind you, he will probably try to rush you, try to R away but if you can't you have a chance of hitting your E and getting away or killing him.
Ekko
Just poke him down a ton, while he does have good CC, his power spike is usually at level 6, so just stop him from getting CS and dodge his R with your R.
Jayce
Jayce's early game is extremely strong, stay behind minions and CS as much as you can. you can probably start destroying him really late game.
Azir
Might be a problem only if it's a skilled Azir, but usually you wont be in range for Azir to kill you with his soldiers.
Camille
Her stun will set you up to be able to sleep the enemy.
Hecarim
Can push enemies into you and set you up to sleep the enemy.
Lee Sin
Your sleep can set up Lee Sin to be able to his his dash.
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Camille
Her stun will set you up to be able to sleep the enemy.
Hecarim
Can push enemies into you and set you up to sleep the enemy.
Lee Sin
Your sleep can set up Lee Sin to be able to his his dash.
Hi, I'm clipbot, I've played Zoe for a while now, and she's super fun to play. She's a champion with great burst, and a great champion to make people angry with. She will be hard to master, but it will pay off in the end, I designed this guide to help out new players, as this is one of the easier ways to play Zoe.
Is Zoe a Good Choice?
Zoe is not the easiest champion, but she is definitely fun. Play Zoe if you want to play far back and oneshot their carry with a missle or pop over a wall to finish enemies who are 1 health with an auto. Zoe definitely has a lot of fun combos to learn that may take a long time to master, but will pay off when you know exactly what to do in every scenario.
Abilities
Abilities
More Sparkles!
More Sparkles, Zoe's passive is going to be key in dealing damage with your auto attack. Whenever you cast an ability, more sparkles will activate, it will deal bonus damage on your next auto attack. The next auto attack will also instantly hit, which helps out so because after you auto attack, they immediately receive damage and it wont allow them to heal or barricade. In combination with Lich Bane, your auto attacks after spells will deal up to 900 magic damage late game. Early game, use Paddle Star and auto attack your enemy, then recast your Paddle Star and auto attack your enemy again to get the most out of more sparkles. When you hit your sleep, you can auto attack them to deal extra true damage along with your auto attack damage.
Paddle Star
Zoe's Q is Paddle Star, it is your key ability to deal damage. Paddle Star shoots a star that can then be recast anywhere. The ability does more damage the further it travels, so be sure to cast Paddle Star behind you, and recast it in front of you to deal the most damage. In combination with your R and your E, this ability is able to one shot squishy enemies.
Spell Thief
Zoe's W is spell thief, when an enemy champion uses a summoner spell or an active item spell, a spell shard drops containing whatever spell the enemy used. Zoe can pick up shards, but can only hold one at a time, they last for 40 seconds when you have them. When you use a spell shard, you gain 30% movement speed for a short amount of time, and 3 missiles that shoot at nearby enemies dealing some damage. Take advantage of the speed boost and missiles when you cast a spell, if you are chasing them down this will make it much easier to get some extra damage off and be able to finish them. Spell thief is extremely useful in team fights because if the other team uses a lot of spells, you can just pick up the shards and recast them to give your team an advantage. If an enemy ghosts or flashes away, you can pick the shard back up, activated it, chase them down and kill them, because you will have increased movement speed from spell thief, and the missiles will deal extra damage.
Sleepy Trouble Bubble
Zoe's E is Sleepy Trouble Bubble, when you hit an enemy with this, it does some daamge and after a small delay, the target falls asleep for 2 seconds. While the target is asleep, they can't move, cast abilities, or attack. Any damage the target takes is doubled as true damage to a certain limit. Use your E to disable enemies, then combo by casting your Q behind you and using your R to get closer, then recasting your Q at an enemy to deal the most damage.
Portal Jump
Zoe's R is Portal Jump, it allows her to warp a short distance for 1 second, then warp back to her original starting point. This can be used in combination with her Q to get more distance, and deal maximum damage with her Q. Her Portal Jump can also be used to activate her passive and the Lich Bane passive. Use your R to get closer to people and auto attack them, with your increased damage from your passive and Lich Bane, you can finish off low health enemies easily.
Runes
Runes
Domination
Dark Harvest
Dark Harvest will allow you to do extreme amounts of damage late game. It may be worse than Electrocute early game, however being able to completely erase enemies after 15 minutes makes this rune better than Electrocute in my opinion.
Sudden Impact
Your ultimate works extremely well with sudden impact, because when you warp, you will gain extra magic penetration and be able to deal more damage with your Q and auto attack. This rune along with Sorcerer's Shoes and Void Staff can cause some of your damage against squishy targets to be converted to true damage, and maybe even start dealing extra damage.
Relentless Hunter
The extra movement speed will allow you to respawn and quickly get to where you need to be, or when you're roaming you can help lanes easier. With this build, Zoe has great roam dominance, go to top or bot lane, hit an E through the wall, and combo them.
Sorcery
Absolute Focus
With Absolute Focus you gain more AP and can get more early game pokes. This will become more rewarding late game, when entering into team fights you should be above 70% health, so try to combo one person, or get them low before your team goes in. This is better than Transcendence because it will help much more early game, but if you do want extra power late game, Transcendence is also a good choice.
Gathering Storm
Early game, this will not seem like much, however late game, this will be extremely rewarding late game, giving a lot more AP and allowing you to deal more damage. This AP increase will begin to significantly boost your AP around 40 minutes, so be aware of the time in relation to how much extra damage you can do.
Luden's Companion This item is extremely similar to last season's Luden's Tempest, so building it first is a great option. After you get Luden's Companion, you are able to spam abilities to clear waves and roam more often due to the amount of mana and wave clearing power it gives you. The extra damage on isolated targets with its passive is also incredibly strong, and allows you to do insane amounts of damage.
Lich Bane
Lich Bane will be useful early and late game, because the damage scales with your ability power. Eventually you will be able to deal hundreds of damage to enemies who haven't built magic resistance. This is a good item to be built second because it makes Zoe less skill shot reliant, and makes playing her as a beginner easier.
Sorcerers Shoes
Your go to shoes, these provide extra damage with the magic penetration. You will absolutely need these if you are going to roam, they will provide you the extra speed to be able to gank, escape, and get back to lane.
Morellonomicon
This provides a ton of ability power and utility for a cheap price. If you are building to try to poke enemies, you might want to have this in addition to Luden's Companion. The grievous wounds passive will deny extra health from Heal in team fights, so be sure to attack different enemy champions often, and focus down high life steal targets.
Zhonya's Hourglass
Zhonya's Hourglass is an extremely helpful item if you want to survive assassination attempts from enemy assassins, allowing you to freeze yourself for a couple seconds so your team and kill or get the assassin off you. It's also useful in many other situations where you need to buy time for your team to come help you so you can stay in a team fight.
Horizon Focus
Because none of your abilities are targeted, are all long range, and her Sleepy Trouble Bubble can all proc Horizon Focus's passive, building this item on Zoe can be extremely beneficial for dealing more damage and knowing where your target is. Due to the new changes in season 14, you are granted vision of all enemies around a target when you activaste the item's passive. This is especially useful on Zoe, allowing her to set up for multiple kills or allowing her to escape a fight easily.
Stormsurge
Stormsurge is a new item in season 14 that has a good amount of synergy with Zoe. Its passive strikes an enemy for a significant amount of damage 2 seconds after you deal 35% of their max health damage to them. This synergizes well with zoe because of her high damage single spells that will almost always allow her to proc the item's passive. The movement speed it gives from the item and passive is also useful in some situations, allowing you to escape more easily
Shadowflame
The new changes to Shadowflame work extremely well for Zoe due to her one-shotting playstyle. This item will allow you to do extreme amounts of damage to low health enemies. It also synergizes well with storm surge, being able to finish off low health enemies with its delayed lightning strike.
How to play Zoe
Zoe Playstyle
Laning Phase
Zoe's early game is fairly weak if you are not able to hit your skill shots. I would recommend to start by placing your ward in the river brush opposite of where your jungler is starting. Your main starting damage will be from the occasional Paddle Star you hit on the enemy, and your auto attacks. Your auto attacks will matter, when trying to poke, cast your Q, then auto attack to hit them with your passive, then Q again and try to hit them, then auto attack them again. If this is done successfully, it will proc electrocute (If it's up), dealing extra damage. Zoe burns mana EXTREMELY fast early game, don't waste your E without knowing you will be able to hit them. Make sure you are last hitting minions, and try to deny your opponent CS by auto attacking them when they come in to take a minion. At level 6, you can start finishing people with your auto attacks. If they get low, use your R to proc your passive and later, your Lich Bane passive, which can also proc electrocute. Your E can set up your jungler very well, as most junglers have a dash or warp. When you are setting up your jungler, move to the opposite side of your jungler, so in turn, your opponent moves closer to your jungler. Once you or your jungler initiate the fight, make sure you can hit your E, otherwise your enemy could be able to escape. Make sure you are placing wards around you to make sure their jungler doesn't unexpectedly gank you.
Roaming
There is generally one big rule to roaming with Zoe, do not roam if your enemy has more wave clear than you. If you roam and your enemy has more wave clear than you, they will push the wave before you get back, and you will be at a major EXP disadvantage. If you can push faster than your enemy, wait until level 4 at least before roaming. A big part of roaming is locating the enemy jungler. If you are level 4, you will most likely have level advantage over the enemy jungler, so you need to be prepared if you find them in river. You will need to buy control wards, so make sure you always have at least 1 control ward when you begin to roam. Begin by pushing your wave towards the tower, but stop right before your minions get in tower range, then go either ward raptors or blue buff depending on which lane you are going to gank. When roaming always pay attention to the mini map. Watch where the jungler is if you can see them, and gank lanes opposite to where he is. Locating the enemy jungler will benefit your whole team so they can know whether to push or not. Sorcerer's Shoes and Relentless Hunter can help with roaming a lot, being able to respond to threats faster, and get back to your lane faster.
Team Fights
Because you wont be building health on Zoe most of the time, in team fights try to hit your sleeps on people you know you can kill in one combo, usually the adc and support. If you can't, still try to deal lots of damage to enemies before starting the team fight. The damage you do before the team fight starts can decide the outcome of it, you are more likely to win a team fight where the enemies have lower average health than your team. Once your team begins to fight, chip off the enemy's health to support your team, and sleep escaping enemies to ensure the kill.
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