---

Hi, I'm Yuzon and this is my first guide. At first i was very sceptical about Zilean support, but after trying him I changed my mind: he is not the perfect or the support, but if played correctly he is very strong and hard to play against. In this guide I will show you how to master the chronokeeper.

- Advices, corrections and opinions are very appreciated.
- Be sure to check out my Soraka Support guide too.

STRENGHTS

---

+ Nice passive, allows you to outlevel the enemy botlane.
+ Ult is a free Guardian Angel on a short cooldown.
+ With bombs having very high base damage and awesome AP scaling, Zilean is one of the highest damage dealing supports.
+ Great peeling, both with ult, E and Q.
+ Awesome in fights and skirmishes.

WEAKNESSES

---

- Very squishy.
- Weak in early fights bot.
- Great part of his peeling comes at level 6.

FLASH

---

Best summoner spell in the game, always pick this. Use it when Time Warp is not enough for escaping or to ult/bomb far targets

IGNITE

---

Gives you more kill pressure in lane. A must-have against Soraka and Nami, in order to deny part of their peeling. With this first blood is assured.

EXHAUST

---

Pick this instead of Ignite if they have an assassin or you prefer having more peeling.

HEIGHTENED LEARNING

---

Heightened Learning is your passive. Al your allies within 1500 range gain 8% more experience

TIME BOMB

---

Time Bomb is your Q. It is Zilean's signature move. It has very high base damage end scales well with AP, making it one of the strongest poke moves in the game. It is an hard ti land skillshot, but very rewarding if you manage to hit tour target. If you hit with Time Bomb a target with a bomb already on his head, the bomb will explode instantly, stunning the target. A reliable way to hit Time Bomb is placing it on your enemies' path.

REWIND

---

Rewind is your W. When used, it lowers your other moves cooldown by 10 seconds. It is mainly used to use two Time Bombs at the same time.

TIME WARP

---

Time Warp is your E. It is a very strong, long lasting speed-up/slow. During ganks use this on the jungler to speed him up or on the target enemy to slow him down. With Rewind maxed, you can have this move up all time, making you able to travel around the map very fast to make plays in other lanes.

CHRONO SHIFT

---

Chronoshift is your ultimate. It is one of the strongest moves in your game. It is an almost full health revive (if you are not building much AP) on a very low cooldown.

---

The early points in Time Bomb allow your poke to be more effective and thus having a stronger lane presence, which is all Zilean is about in early game. Two, max three, early points are taken in Time Warp for the utility it gives and then my advice maxing Rewind to have less cooldown on your Chronoshift.

---

Assassins: Time Warp is extremely useful for them, as they can engage more easily. Also, Chronoshift allows them to go ham without taking any risk. Also, use Time Bomb in them when they are going in for a little surprise for your enemies.

---

Poke ADCs: duoing with those champions results in an extremely easy laning phase and complete zoning of your opponents, as your and your ADC poke will be very high.

---

Melee Junglers: speed them up when they gank bot and a kill is assured. Also, your Chronoshift allows them to build less tanky with more damage.

---

Assassins: Chronoshift highly counters them, as they focus only one target in teamfights. Have your ult always up and they will be useless.

---

Haste Champions: since their only way of engaging is walking up to an enemy, a Time Warp should be enough to stop them.

SIGHTSTONE Sightstone is the most important item for every support. Map awareness is just too much importantto be given up to take other items.

TEAR OF THE GODDESS This item gives enough mana sustain to let you spam Time Bomb all day. Consider upgrading this to Archangel's Staff upon reaching full stacks.

IONIAN BOOTS OF LUCIDITY Zilean needs CDR early to spam Time Bomb and have Chronoshift always avaiable, and this item is all he needs early in the game.

MORELLONOMICON Giving AP, CDR and mana regen this item is perfect if you want to deal tons of damage at the cost of giving up some utility.

MIKAEL'S CRUCIBLE Buy this item if your teammates get constantly picked off or if the enemy team has a comp that focuses one target.

LOCKET OF THE IRON SOLARI Extremely powerful defensive item for supports. Pick this if they have a lot of AOE magic damage. It also gives some CDR.

---

RANDUIN'S OMEN To take only if you really need to be tanky and you are behind.

ZHONYA'S HOURGLASS Gives AP and some armor. Its active gives you more survivability if you get caught often.

FROST QUEEN'S CLAIM Consider upgrading your Spellthief's Edge only if you need 10% more CDR.

During laning phase you should focus on constantly harrassing your opponents, both with Time Bomb and autoattacks, keeping an eye on your mana to avoid draining it too quickly. Avoid double-bombing your opponents early game, because doing so you will waste half of your mana pool. Upon reaching around 800 gold go back and buy some wards and Tear of the Goddess. This item has to be rushed in almost all situations, as it will allow you to harrass constantly your opponents without worrying about mana and to spam Rewind to lower Chronoshift's cooldown. Upon reaching level 6, Chronoshift makes you one of the best tower-diving champions. Abuse this strenght coordinating with your jungler to pull off aggressive ganks, as, using your ulti, you can easily tank the tower and then revive. During ganks stun the enemy ADC and use Time Warp to speed up allies/ slow down enemies based on the situation. When you get ganked, stun the enemy jungler and speed up your ADC.

The stun on Time Bomb, combined with the slow on Time Warp, gives you great pick potential. Time Warp is a great engage and disengage tool: cast it on your allies when you want to initiate or chase enemies out of position or get out fast from a sticky situation, or cast it on tour enemies if you don't want them to run away from you. During teamfights spam your Time Bomb on the squishyest targets or use its stun for peeling.
Managing your Chronoshift in teamfight divides good Zileans from great Zileans. There are two ways of using your ultimate: casting it on the first ally who is about to die or keeping it for your ADC/MID. Also, avoid using Chronoshift if your target will die right after the revive, for example when he is catched out of position.
In extreme situations, Chronoshift can also be used to tank towers if you can't afford waiting for minions to come.