Hello guys! My name is Nick, but my league account names are thezacisback and lucario200151 (lost password to lucario200151 and unable to recover). I am a silver 3 player that mains jungle and mid. I have about 400k or so on zac so far, and plan to play him more so that I can update this guide to the next level. zac is a super fun champ that can be of help to the team if done right!

pros

Has a passive that can revive you
can heal from blobs
super tanky
lots of cc
effective jump in and cc for ganks

cons

passive is easy to kill
people can step on your blobs and they are gone
w is a low damage ability that doesn't really go well in teamfights
ult takes a long time to finish, but can be canceled
high cooldowns means you are useless mid fight for a second or two
high skill cap/learning curve
e has minimal range early

Passive: cell division

part 1(revive):

This ability is a very powerful ability if used right. It can make or break an engage in some cases, and can be a big resource to you. This ability can be teleported to, but that might not save you, as that does not secure you come back to life as your blob still has to go back to the source(you). This passive can also be destroyed really fast if you are not in a safe place to pop it.

part 2(heal):

This is an ability that will save you tons in the early game... seeing as you do no damage, you will probably get near to execution to jungle camps. That happened to me the first few games, and even still does from game to game. Just remember, always pick up a blob you create, and you will be fine. The blobs are not as good in teamfights, because enemies will often step on them. If they don't, take this to your advantage, and collect it.

Q: Stretching strike

This is an ability that I do not use to engage, but rather to keep a fight going. You ask them where they are going as you strike them with this an auto a minion. This also gives 2 blobs rather than every other ability that gives you 1.

w:unstable matter

This is an ability that I feel is one of the least helpful in teamfights of any champ. This is not that useful, because it does minimal damage, has no scaling, and all it does is drop a blob when used. This is more of an early game ability to get, and if you get it at level 1 and start raptors, then you will be able to take them very efficiently.

E:elastic slingshot

This is your main engage ability. If you miss this, some fights are no longer worth it, because this provides a good engage for your team and does decent damage. This ability does have a long cooldown, so that means that you should go to take a jungle camp if you miss it early on. Maxing this first is your best option, because it increases the range of it as the game goes on.

Ult: Let's Bounce!

This ability is a useful ability for teamfights, and will help your team out a lot! The main way to use this ability is if you are in it for a short fight where your carries do most of the damage. In long fights, it is more effective to be using zac's Elastic Slingshot over this, because you can go straight into Stretching Strikes rather than just bouncing around doing damage. A good combo is to Elastic Slingshot to get on the enemy, and then Stretching Strikes if there is anything near, and then you can Let's Bounce! , and you could cancel it once any of your abilities other than Unstable Matter comes up and is ready to use.

*no ult video since it has been updated... will find one soon :) *

Primary runes

Resolve

Aftershock

This is the rune I prefer to take on Zac, because you are in the enemies faces, so running this would mean that you just get that extra damage off when you engage with your e Elastic Slingshot. A very helpful resource, and it also increases defenses until it explodes by just a bit.

Guardian

I could see running this if you have a heavy front line team. This would shield your front line when they take damage as long as you are close to them. Other than that, I would not run this.

Secondary runes

Resolve

Font of life

With the newest rune changes, this is the mos effective rune to take in this category. Demolish is not a very good rune to take on someone like Zac, because you will not need it/you are not split pushing or sieging towers too often. You also have 0 shields, so shield bash is useless.

Bone plating

The second row could be used in any way you want, but bone plating provides the extra early damage reduction that could save you from a fight, as the other runes in this row are for later in the game

Conditioning

This is the best rune to take in this path, as you are going to want to be a TANK, meaning take as mush damage as possible and cc. You need to not be afraid to go into fights as Zac.

Second Wind

This rune is good for if you plan on early ganking a lots, in which you can, but it is not the way I play. You are giving up the extra tank stats later by being a more effective jungler earlier by being ready to fight easier.

Overgrowth

Honestly, it is between this and revitalize. Overgrowth can be taken, but revitalize provides Zac with more utility. Overgrowth is nice to have, because buying Warmog's Armor by level 11 will allow you to have the passive (which requires 3000 hp). The changes to runes like this honestly has nerfed [[zac[[ a bit, but he can still come back strong.

Revitalize

This rune provides with lots of utility, because you heal from your blobs. You heal even more, and this is especially seen later on in the game, when your blobs heal for more.

Inspiration

Magical footwear

This is a good rune to run on most any champ that takes inspiration, because it gives you 300 gold boots for free after 10 minutes(-30 seconds per takedown). This is good on Zac, because it allows you to buy your items faster. 300 gold is 1 cloth armor!

cosmic insight

This is a good rune to run on Zac, because the 5% CDR can really save you early from being executed, and you will not be punished as much for missing any ability as it is a 5% faster cooldown with this rune.

when to pick

High damage low mobility champs like marksman
other tanks on enemy team

when not to pick

champs with tons of aoe damage because of passive

*this section got shorter and im sorry... will work on updating*

There are only 2 spells you take on Zac(forever and ever the same)

Flash

Smite

None of the other summoner spells really go well with Zac, and flash smite is usually what you should bring on junglers by default.

there is a lot! So be prepared. For the quick explination, my main build is cinderhulk, warmogs, and then locket.

Hunter's talisman vs machete

vs
This is always a difficult one to choose, but Zac benefits more from Talisman, so that is what we will take. On your first clear, your w does aoe damage to damage all of the raptors, and that will make talisman heal you.

Winner!!

Stalker's blade- cinderhulk

This is a core item on Zac. You always want to try to build this ASAP, as it will provide you with the early tank you need to get through the mid game safe.

Warmog's armor

Another core item on Zac. I usually build this after Stalker's Blade - Cinderhulk, but there are some situations where I will build it later in my build. However, I will always build this item, as it allows for quick healing while out of combat that is a good alternative to having to back! If you run Overgrowth, you will have the amount of health needed for the passive by the time you buy the item. Otherwise, you might have to wait a bit but it is worth it.

Thornmail

This is an item against fast attacking champs that heal... the best champ to build this against I can think of is someone like a Lucian that builds Blade of the Ruined King or someone like an Ashe.

spirit visage

I build this in most of my games, because it allows your blobs to heal you for more. Do not build if all physical damage team, but otherwise, I would always look to build this somewhere in your build.

Randuin's Omen

This is not as good of an item to build in the current meta, but it is here just in case you are up against a crit ad. You can counter them because they have no mobility, and you slow their attack speed while their crits do less damage to you!

Dead man's plate

Take this as an offensive item for movement speed if needed. This should mainly only be built if the enemies do not have anyone that you need to build the more defensive items for.

Adaptive helm

Build this if there is a heavy magic damage enemy that is really fed that can use the same ability a lot in quick succession like a Karthus or Ryze. This item does not have much use other than that, and Spirit Visage should be a good item for magic damage.

Frozen heart

This is a terrific defensive item against heavy attack speed champs! This has an aura, making it a good choice with an item that has the cold steel passive( Thornmail Randuin's Omen).

Knight's vow

This is a good item that is used as defense if your carry is being hard targeted. Build this, and part of their damage will redirect to you, and you heal for part of what they deal! A very nice item to build. Not an item that I build too much, but it works when needed.

Locket of the iron solari

This is a fantastic defensive item that will allow you to shield your carries in times of need. About to get 1 shot? BOOM! Now they won't(hopefully), because you have given them a shield to protect them. This also goes with Gargoyle Stoneplate for those teams where they have even magic and physical damage threats. Recently, I have found that this is of big use in teams where there are lots of squishy allies.

Righteous glory

This is a rare build on Zac, but if someone pisses you off, and you see you have troubles catching up to them, build this. You need to engage on them when you use this most of the time, so look to use it aggressively if at all.

Boots

Ninja tabi

heavy physical damage teams

Mercury's treads

heavy magic damage and cc teams.

Early game

In the early game, you have to do one thing form level 1 to 3... take jungle camps! you go raptors -> red ->scuttle. That will get you level 3 where you then can either go back, go to crab, or gank someone. It is important to get q at level 2, because it has a lower cooldown than your e, making a higher chance that you will not get executed. When you gank someone, remember to e to start, and then q them and auto a minion if they try to escape! With the recent jungle item changes, you have become slightly stronger.

This is a video where I explain on a basic level how to gank with Zac.

Play Video

Mid game

This is the point where you have your ult. You want to gank someone the same way you did early, but instead, you have to ult either after e or q, and then if it is a low mobility champ, they will have to waste flash or die! Try to also use this when the eemy does not have escapes up for free kills.

Late game

This is where you can decide the outcome of the game. You want to e in there, and then either q to enemies in a fight, ult to knockup so your team can do damage, and then try to keep them in the same general area where your allies can target them as long as possible. Once you kill the person, you can then e to another person and then q them to get your team to target them.

8.13: guide created

8.14: added more to the cons based off of game knowledge

8.15: Changed gameplay a bit and added some matchups.

8.16: not a big patch for Zac. not much changed

8.17: Changed most common build(thornmail to stoneplate) and updated item section... also minor updates to every other section.

8.18 and 8.19: not too much added

So i this is the first patch I am continuing this guide again(9.1), and I changed a bunch of he runes section up to fit recent changes. Items as well. Also just overall changes

9.13: We are back once again! small changes to the guide are being made!