Zilean can be an effective champion in any lane, though, from my experience it is best he works alone for his first 6 levels. Your goal is to power-level and grind out those first six levels as fast as possible. I usually do not visit the shop until my opponents first tower in my lane is destroyed. Once you have your ULT, you can then proceed to maneuver from lane to lane to assist your team in pushing lanes - which is why I typically play Zilean in the mid lane.

I'm not ready to share all of my secrets about how to play Zilean, but I will give you a few principles.

I. Promote a Zilean-centered team. If your team rallies behind your calls (if you make good calls), you have an almost assured victory. You need a team who can play according to Zileans needs.

II. Play aggressively, but smartly. Always posture and attempt to intimidate your opponent in lane, but never let yourself get caught out of position. Zilean is HIGHLY squishy, and is an easy gank opportunity for any jungler. Never hold back because of mana restrictions; I've built Zilean so that you do not have to focus on his mana-hunger. Just attack, attack, attack and use your auto-attacks range to pick at minions when your mana IS low (or if you opponent can close the distance between the two of you).

III. Keep a cool head and have fun. Zilean is a challenging champion to master, but one of the funnest, in my opinion. Think of every match as a problem-solving challenge. You just have to figure out the puzzle. If you don't, there is always next game.

IV. Never try to play full SUP. Zilean is a hybrid champion. You need to play him as an AP first, and wait for the mid-late game to round him out as a SUP. Always, ALWAYS try to use your ultimate on allies, rather than yourself. They have a better opportunity to do heavy damage. Never lane with an ADC, either. You'll just get in their way and likely fall behind from a lack of opportunity to be the aggressor.

V. Time your ULT, but beware of stuns, silences and despelling. They'll screw you.


Caution:

Beware of Lulu, Heimerdinger (yes, really), Syndra, Xin Zhao, Fizz or Jarvan IV. If any of these champions are laning against you, be sure to communicate with your team the need for a routine sweep into your lane to keep them at bay and prevent the loss of towers. These guys are horrible, horrible counters to you.

The game is simple with Zilean.

Put bombs on OPPs who look like they'll run away from the teamfight with low HP.

Sit in the back and oversee the fight, so you can assist your team with escapes, revivals and large amounts of instant damage (Q, W, Q, E Combo).

Never, ever get out of position in a team fight. Stay out of harms way and ping the battlefield with opportunities for your team to get kills. Try to keep your teams focus on the right OPP Champ to kill, so you can win the team fight. (if you're an advanced player, you can use Zilean as bait


I'll conclude there and let you have teh fun of figuring out some of his niches and tricks. Again, "be creative".