Hey! My name is Kolashiu, i've been playing Zoe since season 9 and been one of the highest ranked Zoe mains in the world consistently for multiple seasons. My knowledge on the champion got me to challenger multiple times now, and rank 1 zoe otp world this season!



I made this guide for people to enjoy, learn and get better at one of the hardest but funniest and most unique champions in the game, who definitely deserves to be played way more !

This guide will be centered on the way I build and play zoe, but most of the informations shared are valid for most zoe playstyle unless specified otherwise. Zoe support is not covered at all in this guide as it is very different on every aspect, it deserves a whole guide by itself ( which I won't do as I only play support when autofill )

It will be updated on every major change or builds/zoe updates.

If you have any question, I'm often streaming on Twitch so don't hesitate to check in, I answer every question and try to explain my thought process as I play. Hope you enjoy if you pass by !

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Here is the build I got rank 1 Zoe with :3

Stormsurge passive does NOT break the sleep from Sleepy Trouble Bubble anymore! It's been the case for a few months now, that's what allow this build to exist.

This build is centered around dealing as much damage as you can at every timing of the game, you can pretty much always oneshot anyone except tanks in one combo, even bruisers if you are not behind.

It is pretty much a new version of the old Lich Bane + Shadowflame build, but this time much more viable as you have a very good build path and the items are cheaper. Also your two first items Stormsurge and Lich Bane have move speed on it, giving you 12%. Do you see how crazy of a difference it makes when an adc build a Phantom Dancer? You have even more!

Stormsurge gives you an absurd damage output with the flat Magic Penetration, and the passive don't risk being wasted on the wave before the trade like Luden's Echo passive.
While it's very popular on Aurora, people still overlook it on Zoe because the champ can juggle between carry and utility styles, utility requiring more Ability Haste & Mana.
For a carry style, where zoe is more of an assassin, Stormsurge is the perfect first item, as long as you run Manaflow Band rune.
Luden's Echo is not a bad item, but Stormsurge feels better and you will get used to the little less mana you have after a few games.

Sorcerer's Shoes make a crazy damage difference especially with this build as you stack flat Magic Penetration with Stormsurge.
Ionian Boots of Lucidity could theorically be an option as you are low on Ability Haste, but from experience the damage tradeoff break the purpose of the build. You don't want to throw more spells, you want to get 100% rewarded when the few you send get to hit.

Lich Bane is always my 2nd item as it is the best Zoe item by far. It gives everything you want : great Ability power, Movement Speed to play agressive, decent Ability Haste to fit in any build, good price for tempo, and its passive is almost the same as your passive More Sparkles! so you have incentive to use it, and it even make your passive faster to proc with the 50% bonus Attack Speed toward next attack!
Landing one autoattack which you always do with or without Lich Bane anyway will make this item your best burst option, but it's also your best dps option and give you a crazy consistency as missing a spell isn't as tragic, you can kill squishy targets even by missing one spell or two if you are fed. It's necessary whenever you want to be the carry.

Ideally, you want Rabadon's Deathcap and Cryptbloom to be the next two slot, or you will feel a lack in damage. But sometimes, you may be forced to build a Zhonya's Hourglass to play in some games, notably against Naafiri, Shaco or Zed.
A general rule is that from ahead you can build defensive if required ( but don't overdo it on zoe ), and from behind you build as offensive as you can except if it's mandatory to play the game.
Cryptbloom is almost always better than its counterpart Void Staff because it gives you the Ability Haste you are lacking in the build, which is extremely valuable if you are that late into the game.
You can build Cryptbloom before the Rabadon's Deathcap if some of your targets will have too much magic resistance by the time you complete it. But keep in mind that most of the time, you need both together to deal with those targets : you don't fully nullify the Magic Resistance, and they often build items with Health next to it, so you will only find back your damage after having Rabadon's Deathcap on top of the % magic penetration item.

On last item, I always adapt on what I precisely need, because there is not many outstanding options remaining.
It can be:
- Mejai's Soulstealer, if you built it earlier you may aswell keep it, great stats and 10% Movement Speed is crazy good, making it both a good offensive and defensive option.
- Zhonya's Hourglass, gamechanging defensive item, if you are at risk of being an important target and your statis would truly save you from being dived in
- Banshee's Veil, to prevent some people to dive in without counterplay like Malzahar Flash Nether Grasp or Poppy Flash Heroic Charge, all those champs can technically break the Banshee's Veil shield first but you force them to delay it by a bit, which give you time to react, reposition or receive help. Even more effective if there is AP threats on top of it. I wouldn't build it only for the Magic Resistance.
- Shadowflame, as there is no other damage options remaining. Shadowflame's passive is very efficient in late game. I only build it if 1) There is no Magic Resistance in enemy team because then the flat Magic Penetration still has a decent value 2) The other options doesn't sound very helpful. It's quite rare to have the stars aligned, but when it happens, the damages are absurdly high

You want to play very agressive most of the time. You usually have 3 gameplans available :
- Push and bully under tower
- Play with wave and force mistakes for solokills
- Push and roam(or invade)
You are extremely strong in skirmishes as you are one of the best damage dealers in early/mid game, and your bubble usually secure one kill by itself if you are with your jungler.
Keeping the pressure mid is almost always the best option as you want to get opportunities to play agressively with your jungler or roam to other lanes and get yourself a lead.
You may invade, with or without your jungler, and countergank if you know where enemy jungler is through tracking.
Zoe offers a very wide amount of possibilities in early and midgame.
A good guideline is to make enemy jungler a living hell and make your team happy, while keeping enemy midlaner under pressure if you can, or ignoring him if you can't.

All matchups except some Extreme Threats are killable in lane 1v1 if you play better than the opponent, perhaps it can be risky/unecessary.

Midgame start around 15mn, when you will be asked to go on side and start having around 2 items or atleast 1 item+boots.

Zoe hate to side, but most of the times, its still better for the team that your botlane go mid to not get outnumbered on the center of the map, and most adcs struggle on side.

- If you are extremely fed with an independent build ( Lich Bane based build on decent matchup or Hextech Rocketbelt based builds ), you may be allowed to push side normally and collapse mid once its pushed far enough ( or push towers if it's better, sometimes very valuable with Lich Bane pushing power). Careful still, it can easily throw your lead if enemy have a lot of threats.

- If you are not that fed, you only want to depush the side to make it neutral ( middle of the map ), usually not more as it would expose you too much, and then look for plays on the map. You can play for catch, with team but can be done alone depending on your build and enemy team, siege enemy towers or ward/fight for objectives. If enemy push side, get back to side or force a fight mid depending on situation, but keep in mind you want to stay active and not let the game scale slowly.

The general idea with Zoe is to always stay proactive to close the game as soon as possible as you lose complete control of the game past 25 minutes.
It doesn't mean flipping constantly : you need to keep control of the game, never give any opportunity to comeback, just cleanly get a lead and push it fast enough to end the game before 25 minute.

Keep in mind it's just a general idea, it can change depending mostly on champions from both teams and your elo

Now, what if the game is still not over and you reach the late game? Time for the late game section (╥﹏╥)

You reached the late game, usually around 30mn, everyone have more than 4 completed items. Why does it sucks?
- From now, your damage will begin to be less relevant as enemy have a ton of Health and the Magic Resistance to give even more value to it. You still have decent damage, but you most likely need your full combo with both Sleepy Trouble Bubble, Paddle Star! for a singular target.
- People are packing up
- Enemy champions scaling kits will start being enabled and deal as much as you ( on top of all their other strenghts ), and everyone will get more mobility to punish you. It becomes especially very hard to handle sidelane, creating a massive weakness for your team if nobody can compensate it.

The only part of your champion that is still untouched at this point is your bubble, so you become a high range bubble bot which completely depend on your team ability to use those bubbles properly.
I like to compare Zoe to Pyke : an early/midgame agressive assassin, but a support in late game, that may still be a carry in the good spots.

Skill can compensate a lot of this weakness in most game, a smurfing challenger Zoe will still find ways to carry in late game, but there is still some games where your champ just cannot do anything anymore in late game no matter how much better you are than your opponents. That's why you want to end the game earlier, to avoid those very frustrating situations where you have much less control and agency, or even none at all!

Thanks for reading, I hope it helped you in any way. I will keep it updated regularly & improve it over time.

Don't pressure yourself too much, Zoe is a difficult champion so it may take some time to truly feel confident and perform with her, but you will have fun very fast and you perform your best when you're having fun !

If you are also looking for individual coaching, you can contact me on twitter or discord kolashiu

Have a very great day and good luck on your Zoe adventure :3