Zilean General Guide by DeTTer

Introduction

Greetings summoners. This is my first ever league guide so errors are bound to crawl in. Try to bear with me.

About Guide
This is a short guide reflecting my playsytle.
I'll cover runes ,masteries ,items ,skills and bits of laning phase and team fighting.

About Me
I'm currenlty diamond 4 mid main. I mostly play 'support' mids like Zilean ,Morgana and Karma.
Zilean is my favorite mid pick.

Runes

Greater Mark of Ability Power I prefer AP over Greater Mark of Magic Penetration because you reach the point ,when you can Q-W-Q full wave, bit faster ,but both are viable.

Greater Seal of Scaling Health You can swap this with Greater Seal of Armor or even Greater Seal of Magic Resist but scaling hp is my goto.

6x Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction is a must have so you reach exact 45% CDR.
Other 3 you can take whatever you want. I take attack speed because I suck at last hitting.

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power Same as marks.

Masteries

Sorcery It's not worth taking this over Fury
If you deal 1000 damage per bomb ,2% of that is 20. Wich is less than 1AA.
Fury makes csing easier and will generate atleast 100-200 gold just from cs you would otherwise miss.

Feast Just for bit extra regen.


Meditation If you are efficient with your mana use and you can last hit, you might want to swap this for Merciless

Intelligence Is a must have! This build is based on on 45% CDR and this is the only way to get it.

Thunderlord's Decree Currently the strongest keystone so it's unavoidable.

Itemization

Zilean is one mana hungry time lord. With mana pots gone ,you really need to pay attention and use your skillset efficiently.

Starting items:
Doran's Ring 2x Health Potion
Your standard ap mid start.

At your first recall you should buy Chalice of Harmony.
If you can't afford it go for Spellthief's Edge + Boots of Speed

The first item you finish should be Athene's Unholy Grail.
It gives you great mana regen ,crucial 20%CDR and some extra protection.

Next go for Frost Queen's Claim and Mejai's Soulstealer.
Frost Queen's Claim is currently really strong and works well with Time Bomb.
Mejai's Soulstealer is a must have! Due to safe playstyle it shouldn't be hard to get this rolling pretty fast.
The Dark Seal is not worth buying separately! Try to save up 1400 for full item.

Your last to two core items are Rabadon's Deathcap and Sorcerer's Shoes.
Goto items for any middlaner.

The last item is situational.
Viable picks:
Zhonya's Hourglass vs assassins or when your adc is fed and can't position ,so you your ults go on them.
Luden's Echo It's decent if you are fed enough and have completed all your core items early.
Liandry's Torment or Rylai's Crystal Scepter good picks vs annoying bruisers.
Void Staff With current tank meta ,this is probably your safest bet.


So your final build should look something like this:

Skills

Skill Sequence:
Chronoshift> Time Bomb> Time Warp> Rewind

Only nuance is at level 3. If enemy jungler is one of those annoying early game aggressive beasts (Shaco ,Lee ,Elise etc.) you should level up Time Warp over upgrading Time Bomb.

Basic Combo:
It's pretty simple- you first slow them down with Frost Queen's Claim or Time Warp and then
Time Bomb -> Rewind -> Time Bomb

In teamfights try to avoid using Time Bomb with Rewind on cooldown.

Note:
"If the bomb lands directly on top of multiple units, it has the following priority system for whom to stick to:
Units already carrying a bomb.
Enemy champions.
Allied champions.
Enemy minions.
Allied minions" source: "http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Zilean"

Time Bomb scales with 90% of AP and has good base damage.
It extends bit outside of shown range but it does take some practice to land it perfectly.

Chronoshift
It's what makes Zilean. It can single-handedly win or lose a game.
You should always revive your biggest damage threat (probably ADC or yourself).
Don't revive supports unless you know it's clean zero for one (or more) fight.
You will often have a urge to revive someone who got caught ,but if teamfight is going to break you should really resist it and try to save it for adc.

Time in a Bottle
Usually you should level up your jungler so his smite has greater value.
But also keep in mind some like or . They will benefit greatly for ults upgrade before a fight.

Summoner Spells

I prefer Flash and Barrier

Barrier makes laning phase just bit safer and also helps you keep those Mejai's stacks.

Laning Phase

Zilean has tough early game.
Due to high mana costs and only one damaging ability ,it is really hard to cs.
You should avoid using Time Bomb on creeps and rather look for poke.
One good trick is to basic combo (q,w,q) a creep when your counterpart is close to it (usually caster minion). It pokes and clears a wave.

If you are against melee ,sometimes you want to bomb your own creep just before they kill it with auto attack.

Try to avoid trading and look for good opportunity to roam.
You can Time Warp + Rewind + Time Warp to quickly cover lot of ground.
With fast movement speed and stun combo it makes Zilean scary ganker.

Team Fighting

Play safe! You want those Mejai's stacks to keep rolling. Killing + dying is not a good trade for Zilean.

Zilean is really squishy which means you need to learn how to properly position.
You have to stay behind (or have someone protect you). Your Time Bomb has rather long range (900) so use it in your advantage.

He is not the biggest damage threat but the utility has huge potential. He thrives in extended teamfights.

You should always look first for your basic combo (and try to stun as many enemys as you can).
If you see that you are too far away try placing Time Bomb + Time Warp on your primary engager and let them do the business.

Always stay close to your adc so you don't have to flash to cast Chronoshift (but DO flash if needed ,even if it means you dying and adc living).

The End

If you have any questions or suggestion i'm happy to hear them.

Thank you for reading it and good luck in soloQ.