This guide is purely based on my opinion, this might not be the best way to play Zilean, this is how I would play Zilean.

Basic build guide to Zilean with some basic explantion on Skills and Items. Reading this guide should give you a good start when playing Zilean support, help you understand Zilean's skills better and learn how to itemize efficiently on Zilean support.

Guide was made during patch 6.4. Some information might not be correct/relevant anymore.

Summary
Use your Q to poke the enemy lane, use W to get out of sticky situations or double bombs, and save you E to escape ganks or secure kills.
If you do this successfully you will poke the enemies down while staying safe in lane. Forcing them to play safe or back early, this ensures your ADC can gain a CS lead.

Q - Time Bomb

In lane you use your Q to zone away the enemies, your goal is to do more damage to them then they do to you. Double bomb them only if they are in a bad location, don't waste your W on them otherwise.

W - Rewind

Use this spell smartly, use it to double bomb enemies or to get constant speed-boosts. If you use this spell also remember that you are very vulnerable, you won't be able to CC or speed up people in rapid succession.

E - Time Warp

In lane use your E only for escaping ganks, dodging important enemy skills (such as blitz hook, thresh), or if you are certain to get a kill. Your E is your only escape, if you use this carelessly in lane, the jungler or the enemy lane can see opportunities to kill you. While warding you can speed yourself up to get to the bushes faster, or to escape out of the enemy jungle. Later in the game it might be more beneficial to slow down enemies rather than speed up allies, slow down bruisers or assassins to reduce their damage as much as possible.

R - Chronoshift
Not much to say here other than ult your most fed carry on the team, this can be your mid, adc or jungler. I wouldn't use it on your frontline, tank and bruisers as their lives are not as important to the team as your carries, they can help push turrets and objectives better. Play around your ult cooldown, don't all in when it is down and stay safe. When it is available you can be more aggressive and go for all-ins, let your team know when you are 6 and when it is off cooldown. When your team knows about your cooldown they can also play around it, you can set up for easy tower dives or more risky plays around the mid-lane. Another thing to remember is that it is fine to ult yourself, because you are more useless dead than you are without ult.

I like to start with a Spellthief's Edge, it gives mana regen and great gold. The added AP is also really good on Zilean for maximum poke. I use it to later build into a Frost Queen's Claim

Build from the Spelltheif's Edge this item is great on Zilean. Use it to slow enemies while you speed up yourself, once the enemies are slowed you can easily land a stun.

These are great if you want to maximize your damage output, you could also go for something like Ionian Boots of Lucidity for some early CDR if you are behind.

Good, cheap item against AD's. Gives you all the stats you need except AP, but most important is the Aura it gives. It will reduce enemies attack speed by 15% and make you a whole lot tankier.

Much like the Frozen Heart this a good, cheap, item to build early. This item also gives AP, helping Zilean in the mid-game where his damage as a support falls off. Build the banner of command instead of a Frozen Heart if the enemy has many AP champs instead of AD. The active is also really good if they have an AP split pushing.

Zhonya's is great to boost your damage, I would only build it after completing one of the two items above, those are more supportive and help your team better. Zhonya's helps you to survive longer and allows you to always use your ult on allies, instead of yourself.

Build a Rabadon's later in the game to actually do damage in the late game. With a Rabadon's your Q's does substantial damage to enemies and become a threat to the enemies. Even if you have no other AP items, rabadon's is still a viable choice.

Really situational but still wanted to mention it as the abyssal scepter can be good in certain games. Build the abyssal scepter to when the enemies are stacking magic resist and your team has substantial magic damage. This does not occur often, most of the time other items such as rabadon's or zhonya's are a better choice.

Good item for a bit of AP, also really cheap compared to the other items. It is good to build to get your adc more ahead, not so good if the adc is already behind. Build it when you are playing with AD casters so it stacks quiker as you are not using your abilities as often in the late game.

05-03
- Guide started
- Added Introduction, Skill usage, Items and Cheat Sheet
- Added Zeke's Harbinger to items