Thank you! Ziggs unfortunately does have weak escaping capabilities which are growing more and more of a problem as each new champion these days or rework seems to have some way of gap-closing which heavily threatens old-school mages like Ziggs, Viktor, and these other squishy champions who can burst from afar but die up close.

I have been testing Protobelt as per Balori's, a Cho'Gath main, suggestion and build for his AP Penetration Cho'Gath and I have to say I have been enjoying it there given that it is a great gap-closer though I must admit this is the opposite of the suggestion you are making for using it as an escape tool. It will take some testing, but I am willing to do so when I get more into testing this build all out in the coming weeks (Runes Reforged is only about 2 weeks away now!). When I have playtested it and how it feels on Ziggs with the rest of the build I will certainly let you know.

As a hypothetical, I am a bit worried that Hextech would slow down Ziggs' power-spike as he is kind of item-reliant (given that AP boosts not only his abilities but his empowered auto-attacks) and it gives fairly low stats overall. In thinking about it all though I am contemplating trying Balori's full Cho'Gath build for Ziggs which is Hextech/Luden's Echo into the opposite one and Sorcerer's Shoes, then Haunting Guise (to later build into Liandry's Torment), Void Staff, Liandry's, and then finally ending with a situational item. It works wonders on the AP Cho'Gath and also on Galio, but Ziggs is a different champion so it might take some tweaking to optimize for him. What Balori does is take Hextech first if he's used his flash and Luden's first if he hasn't, just so he has a flash as needed.

Hope that answers your question for now, and I'll let you know when I eventually get to fully feel-out the addition of Hextech if you're still curious!

Not at all. The only Rune to have been altered among those I have listed is Gathering Storm, which had its AD scaling lowered, which has no bearing on this guide. Until they start changing the Runes involved in this guide there is nothing wrong with analyzing and showing how effective a certain build of Ziggs might be using them. League changes almost week to week with patches and sometimes changing things only a couple days after a patch if it is needed, like Singed after his minor rework recently, so if we are not free to write about anything that may at some point in the future change then we are not free to write about anything at all in League of Legends since it is far from a static game.

So no, I wouldn't say it is too early, as while the build I suggest needs testing and to have trials done for its viability, in its present form it is using all the information we presently have available to put forth a specific idea of how to use the new Runes as they currently are.