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Zoe Build Guide by

Complete Zoe In Depth Guide [UPDATED ITEMS!]

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11 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Aukaren

Zoe Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (11) Reviewed (1) More Zoe Guides

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(101) |

Hey there,

You asked for a review in the Discord, so here it is!

Click for review

Cheatsheet

I’d like to see some notes in the cheatsheet that explain when to go what. A few examples: Doran's Ring vs Corrupting Potion start, different boot choices, etc
I am not sure what the point is of the Early Back block as it consists of two blocks that are almost identical. I think that it is not necessary to use set groups for the starting items & early base, it takes up a lot of space, but it doesn’t really give new information. You used it well for the example builds though, I’d keep that one.
It might be worth to note that if you have 1300g on your first base, Lost Chapter should be the go-to item.
Void Staff and Mejai's Soulstealer do not appear in any block despite being featured in example builds.
It might be a good idea to put Elixir of Sorcery above the example builds as it is very easy to skip over it in its current spot.
I am a bit surprised as to why Lux is listed as a minor thread, since Lux is regarded as a soft counter to Zoe. This is because if Zoe ults, Lux can easily throw her full combo at Zoe's arrival point ( Zoe ultimate returns her to a certain spot), which either chunks or kills Zoe.

Pros and Cons

One extra con worth noting is that Zoe is very telegraphed because of her ultimate and the way her Q works (e.g. she has to walk/ult in range to hit it, which is usually in a straight line).

Abilities

Keep in mind that copy pasting text from the league of legends fandom wiki isn’t perfect. Besides the description you also get some nice additions like “Summoner spell icon”, “Active ability icon” and “Drowsy icon”. I’d carefully reread the descriptions and make sure to delete the weird pieces.
It might be a good idea to insert a line break between the ability description and what you tell about it. This would make the section a bit easier to read.
The Sleepy Trouble Bubble explanation is not entirely correct. You imply that it deals true damage when it hits something, but it deals true damage once you hit a person that is asleep.
At Spell Thief you should just mention a few examples of possible actives/summoner spells you can get. Then you could (in a separate section) talk about how to play around these, like what you say about Redemption.
I’d mention the dangers of using Portal Jump as well. When you use it you enemies can easily aim skillshots/CC abilities at the spot where you’ll reappear.
The Hextech ultimatum code is broken, it should be Hextech Ultimatum.

Summoner spells

I am promised more details about Flash in the combo section, however I cannot find such details.

Runes

I think something weird happened at the Taste of Blood description as the last part doesn’t make any sense.
I’ve seen some Zoe gameplay and Summon Aery seems to be taken into melee matchups. These are arguably the easiest matchups to proc Electrocute, so your argument for taking Summon Aery (e.g. can't proc Electrocute) doesn’t seem logical to me.
The Minion Dematerializer and Time Warp Tonic explanations are almost entirely copies of their descriptions. I’d avoid copying descriptions like this and focus on why/when the rune should be taken. Anyone can hover over Minion Dematerializer (or hop into league client) and read what it does, not everyone (including me) can guess why Minion Dematerializer is useful on Zoe.
I am quite sure that when you have Time Warp Tonic, you always start Corrupting Potion. This is just an inherent synergy between the two runes. Since twt is part of the Summon Aery page it makes even more sense to start Corrupting Potion as it is also focused around poking/trading early.
Are there any alternatives to the runes you listed? (as in, swapping Transcendence for Scorch or something like that).

Items

It is not clear from your explanation when you should start Doran's Ring and nor is it clear if you still go Dark Seal when you go Doran's Ring.
I’d refrain from talking about where/when/why to place vision in the items section. You have a specific section about warding and that’s the place where you should talk about how to use it.
Avoid listing stats from items, everyone can hover over the image/check the client/wiki if they want to know specifics. It is better to just explain when items should be bought. For example, the Lost Chapter description essentially lists what the item does, rather than saying you should rush it because it basically gives infinite mana.
Add Void Staff and Mejai's Soulstealer to the items section
I am confused by the presence of Lich Bane. It is built after Rabadon's Deathcap (where you correctly state that you will be able to 1shot most squishies), so why build lich after? It only gives extra damage (your auto’s go BONK), but you oneshot already!
Oblivion Orb is most gold-efficient when enemies do not build MR. Once they start getting MR, Void Staff is actually better. Because of this Oblivion Orb is usually build early on in the game as people do not have (a lot of) MR at that point. I wouldn’t build it as a 4th item…
I think Banshee's Veil should be a bit higher priority as it covers a part of the weakness caused by your ultimate.

Combo’s

Looks alright howeverrr, where is the - - - -AA combo?

Tips & Tricks - Beyond

”Zoe is really strong early game” piques my interest. Why? My guess is because of her passive + Spell Thief RNG, as her cooldowns are way too high for a strong early game champ. I think just telling people she’s strong won’t do, if you tell her WHY she is strong they can use that so they can actually play around that! (Remember the saying: “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach a man how to fish and he’ll eat for the rest of his life.”!)
If you’re looking for more topics to talk about, here are some ideas: (From earlier) You can talk about how to utilize the stuff you get from Spell Thief. You can talk about how to angle Paddle Star and you can talk about what you should look to do as Zoe later in the game.

Presentation

I like the purple/blue/pink/white theme you set at the start of the guide and I think you should stick to that. My fav is the summoner spell section.
The colors of the runes & items section are not coherent with theme of the guide. This is caused by the fact that you try to match the runes/items color with the text color. It is manageable for the runes section, but it feels like too much in the items section.
Some of the runes/items images are shifted towards the right, since some of the runes/items names are very long. I’d decrease the amount of padding to the left of the names, so those images are all lined up.
Put the items section in a single chapter & make sure all of the headers (of the different kinds of items) have the same size. I’d go with the size of the situational items header.
The titles of the combo’s are smaller than the combo’s themselves. This makes the section a bit hard to read (I feel like the sizes should be swapped). If you are ever feeling like it you can also add some video’s/gifs showcasing the combo’s.
The images of your profile & of the combo’s are wider than the guide width, which results in the table becoming larger than the guide width.
Everything past the combo section is written in bold. Avoid excessive use of bold text as it is tiring to read & it doesn’t add anything.
Something about writing in general: When you try to explain something, make sure that the sentences are not too long. Because if the sentences are too long the reader might not get the point, or become confused about what you are trying to say. There are several sentences that were on the very long side, you might want to rewrite them/split them into shorter sentences. Here are some I found:
- 1st sentence of Q explanation
- Ignite and Flash descriptions
- 2nd sentence of Nimbus Cloak
- Summon Aery description
- Doran's Ring description
- Zhonya's Hourglass description
Avoid capitalizing random words in sentences. Only capitalize words at the start of sentences & capitalize names. This isn’t German. If you want to accentuate something you can bold/color the text (hence why you shouldn’t bold entire paragraphs!)

That's it for now. I didn't go into spelling/grammar mistakes as the review got a tad long already. You can either throw it in a Microsoft Word/Google Docs & run a spelling/grammar check or ask a friend to check. I can also go over it (not a native speaker, no promises that I'll get everything!). Ask when you're done changing as correcting stuff that's going to be changed is pointless.

I think the main point of improvement is writing in general. At some places in your guide I struggled to understand what you were trying to say or which part of the information was actually (most) important. Considering that the main purpose of a guide is to provide information & explain things, it's... ehh.

I hope you can do something with the feedback, feel free to reply or ping me in Discord if you have any questions/remarks.
Anyways, good luck with updating & upgrading your guide and have a nice day!

(3) |

Thanks a lot for taking time and writing a detailed review, as you pointed out I kinda struggled with the writing stuff as I had so much in my mind while I was writing the guide, i have still yet to update the threats and synergies section as to why each champion is positioned in the specific section of the list. The item section is actually not placed in order and as I feared, would cause misconception so i would be updating that, I though the color given to the text was actually quite good but i guess it was just my personal preference so i would just be sticking with a single color. The random capitalization is actually my fault as I tend to write each and every words first letter in capital so it kinda looks good.... xD. Thanks again for such a detailed review and I would be taking each and every pointer into consideration and keep on improving it so on.

(101) |

The color of the text in the items section actually matches the images perfectly! If you'd look at the section by itself it looks great. It's just that it doesn't really match with the purple/blue/pink/white theme you set at the start of the guide.
As you said, it's personal preference and it's ultimately up to you to decide what you do!

(6) |

I like your guide, as someone else said before, it's a good start for learning the basics of Zoe. However, it's still just a start. You could add:

xMaybe an introduction about yourself
xTips and tricks on how to play her
xA table of contents and "back to top" buttons for navigating the guide
xLaning strategies against certain champions or in general: What to do, what to expect, how to set up ganks, when to roam, get objectives, how to manage the wave.
xTalking about champions, the matchups you have explained are really good, maybe explain the others you haven't.
xRoaming paths maybe? Explaining the places where your can be the most efective.
xWhere to place deep wards.

Visually, your guide is perfect, I have nothing to complain, I like a lot what you did with the neon and colors. The sections are super well organized too.

Content-wise, I have a few comments.

xIn spells, at the start of the guide, its "Assasins" not "Assasin's".
xTip: Exhaust is pretty good against assasins too.
xYour first back item section is super expensive (2025 gold). Maybe separate it into 2 sections explaining which one is more important in which situation, in case you have to back early.
xExplain when to take the start
xI feel like the detailed item section is a little bit too short, and it lacks situational items like , , etc. Try expanding it more

As I said, is a pretty good guide, you just need to expand it a little more, great work <3

(3) |

Thanks a ton man for reviewing this, this is exactly what I needed, as you advised, ill be adding the matchups section laning strategies etc asap. Thanks Again for the honest feedback!.

(6) |

I love what you did! You added a lot of sections and extra info, I feel like the guide is 90%-ish complete. I also like your guide because it gives me tips on how to play against zoe >:D
Keep improving it, I know this can be a top tier guide once your perfect it. My last suggestion is to go and look at other Zoe guides, to see what you could have missed.
Good luck :D

PS: I forgot to mention, doesn't work against suppresions, so it's useless against 's R. You should remove it from the matchup explanation :3

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(3) |

Thank for reviewing this again, Really Glad you actually learned something from my guide ;D and I totally forgot that 's ult is a suppression type and wont work with , will change it to . Thanks for reminding me that...would probably have messed up someone else's game...

(22) |

This is a really good start to a guide! However, it feels like just that--a start. I love what you've already given me, it's well organized and easy to read (which are HUGE in my book), but I'd really, really love to see more! Tips, tricks, little things you love about Zoe, more than just the basics. Add those in, and I think you'll find yourself with a really robust guide. Good luck, great work, and keep going!

(3) |

Yes, your absolutely right, this guide actually lacks additional information and rest assured ill be adding that as soon as I get some time off. Thanks for the advice!

(8) |

I think your guide is very good for anyone wanting to learn . It's short, sweet, and to the point.

Are you sure this is your first guide? It's really well done. :)