Zac Build Guide by

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Zac Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (13) More Zac Guides

Runes: for tenacity

1 2

Resolve

Grasp of the Undying

Demolish

Second Wind

Revitalize

Precision

Legend: Tenacity

Last Stand

Bonus:

+8 Ability Haste
+10-180 Bonus Health
+65 Base Health

Spells:

Flash

Ignite

Items

start

CORE ITEMS

GOOD ITEMS

situationally good armor items in goodness order

situationally good magic resist items in goodness order

buildable too

Champion Build Guide

Table of contents

• Introduction
• About top zac
• Matchups
• Runes / Spells
• How to play
- Abilities
- Items / Build
- Laning
- After lane
• Good to know

Introduction

I've played zac top/mid for a few thousand games now (EUW) and have peaked around 800LP. When I was learning lane zac I never came across a good and in-depth lane zac guide so I made this for the beginner zac top players. Take everything with a grain of salt and feel free to ask questions and give feedback. This is just my way and preferences to play this pick even though everything might not be mathematically correct.

About top zac

Not a popular pick because it's boring and noob inflated champ, but if you like playing it, it can be a very strong and consistent pick. Very few undoable matchups and it's rly hard to turbo int with because of the sustain, cc and passive. Always easy to get kills from ganks. Zac scales rly well into midgame, fits into almost every teamcomp and gets totally countered (in teamfights) by only a few champions.

Matchups

Keep in mind: Some of them (, , , , , etc.) will still **** on you and/or counter you (, ...)in late game even if you win the lane.

Feel free to Ignore this part, but when I was stuck in gold playing zac top i was craving for more detailed tips for each champion

Tanks aren't that hard since they don't have enough damage to kill you if you play early safely.

Squishy champions are easy to oneshot with your combo if you buy even a little AP () or have and use and Ult (but only if you havent been poked to death 5 times so just survive to 6)

Bruisers with cc and/or dashes are a pain in the *** and the reason why mid might be more fun for you. Play safe, wait for the jungler or that they get bored and try to dive.

If you didn't ban her for some reason, just max W and don't get killed or poked too much during early levels. When you get some levels on your W it will be easier to trade and with you should even be able to out-trade and sustain her. If she wastes W you can jump on her. If she ults just jump away. Try to bait her W by holding Q and using S to fake autoattack. The reason why I ban her is because she outscales after first item and is a bit broken on mid/late, not because Zac loses lane to her.

This lane is really hard to win if you don't get a kill early from a gank or from punishing his Q cooldowns in early levels. Rush and . One way to try to win trades is E'ing into his 1st or 2nd Q and using your combo while trying to dodge the 3rd sweetspot.

Every akali player plays so differently, but just keep an eye on her energy levels and don't take unnecessary dmg. Akali can feel kinda hard bcs of her ult mobility and bigger range on poke and when you try to trade back she just goes invisible or dodges Q/E.

Hard because it's hard to win trades because of his longer range, cc and sustain. Post lvl 6 is hard because his ult is good aswell. Winnable, because Darius struggles to dive and poke Zac under turret - his passive bleeds for a long time so you can trap him under turret and he instantly takes aggro.

Don't get pushed into under your turret, because it's impossible to hide from her E and she won't have tentacles in the middle of the lane. If you manage to bait her ult without losing yours and E away she's easier to kill.

Don't waste your Q and E to his W if possible, just spam your W and autoattack. When he ults you over wall be careful with your E and ult bcs he will cancel them.

Don't die to his Q early. Freeze under tower as usual. He can't pick up Qs so you win all trades after lvl 4. Don't fight his ult except under turret.

Absolute coinflip fiesta every time. Every Singed is different. His kit counters Zac's but overall Singed isn't that broken on lane. If they go full full ap theyre easily killable.

Perma play under turret, try to bait him to take damage under turret. He can cancel your CC abilities. Don't fight him when he takes reduced damage with his E. If you see him ult you can try to time your ult to cancel it because Zac's ult has 0.25sec cast time and can't be cancelled. If they have ghost tp you should win the lane.

You have better sustain so try to make her low hp. Gwen is so ap heavy that she's not hard to oneshot with some ap and W max. Dodge ults bcs she will oneshot you too.

Just freeze. She can't dive or poke you under turret with her 0 range. Punish if she misses E or can't stack her passive. Don't waste dmg on her W. If she freezes just make her stack passive with minions.

Hit Q and trade. Try to deal your combo dmg into his ranged form. He's rly squishy without so you can oneshot with little ap or sunfire.

Kled is hard is because he can dive you with his Mount so easily and can pick ignite every time. Try to get him off of his mount and oneshot with your entire full combo before he gets it back.

He's weak without his W so trade with W and Q. Hold E to escape from his passive. Try to bait his ult without losing yours, because he's useless without it.

Whatever u do just don't let him kill you early and snowball. Renekton's kill power revolves a lot around his ult so be careful.

You don't win any trades or all ins before 6 if they aren't rly dumb. Easy to gank tho.

He can't freeze so you can just farm under tower. Wait until he wastes jump and then trade or trap him under tower. Your passive will save you from his ult but he will oneshot the bloblets. Try to abuse and trade his weak early.

Her only sustain is her W so just keep perma trading with grasp and W. Before you all in with ult make sure her E isn't up.

He's squishy with low sustain so trade as much as possible while taking as few dmg as possible. Post lvl 6 you should win at the latest. He outscales zac hard. Try to avoid his true damage passive.

Zac should win tanks with W+grasp spam bcs they have no oneshot power and usually way worse sustain.

Shen's QWE kit is stronger than other tanks' but you scale better so punish his mistakes and lane absence. Trade when he doesn't have shield and don't waste Q on his W block.

Some ap and they will get oneshot. Max W or E depending on how you feel. If you don't build any ap E max won't kill them. It's all about hitting your Q.

His early is way weaker than zac's, only becomes annoying later on. W+gasp spam. He can't cancel E if you Q first. Punish him every time he uses abilities or you'll get behind bcs he has low cooldowns.

Just keep poking bcs you sustain better. He can't come up to you or the wave if he wants to get his hp back.

Gnars are confident close to transforming so jump on them when they turn into the soyboy again. Gnar's jump has massive cooldown so putting levels to E to reduce the cooldown is not a bad idea.

Don't waste Q on his E. After W is lvl 2 or 3 your auto W trades better than his auto W if you get the blob. Jax has to ult at the start of the fight so try to bait it.

Make her push and then freeze. Your early is stronger but don't let her abuse lethal tempo.

Don't int before 6.

Perma trade when he doesn't have shield bcs he has no sustain apart from his grasp. Don't bother using E at all if he doesnt waste his W.

She has low sustain before lifesteal so just perma trade and hit Q when u see her dashing at you so you can grab her back when she tries to disengage. Oneshot before she oneshots you.

His shield has long cooldown so he's easy to kill without it. Has low sustain aswell.

Keep spamming your abilities every time they're up and kill his shield. Stop his knocks with Q and E. Just poke until he's low and all in when he has no shield. Really really easy early he is just a scaling monster. Don't be afraid of being low hp, you can't let him bully you under turret and take free plates. Know your waves.

Hope that RNG gods are on your side and he doesn't crit 9 times in row.

Don't waste E cos he'll trap you. If you don't snowball before 6 he will 1v9.

His early trading power on Zac is insane. Just try to abuse their mistakes. Best opportunity to kill him is after 6 but before first item.

If you can't freeze idk what to do.

Stay out of range and hit Q.

Trade when he doesn't have shield. NEVER let him sustain with W and just do short trades. He will oneshot you and ur passive with ult.

Make him push and perma freeze, then you can spam abilities on him and let the jungler farm him. You can easily get +30 grasp procs at the least even if you have no kill pressure.

Lvl 1 and maybe 2 too Zac is stronger with grasp and W spam. The only reason udyr is so tanky on lane is bcs of his shields. Every time you have your abilities up you should be using them on udyr and over time you outsustain or get his mana low. If they build AP, you can easily kill bcs theyre squishy. If they go tank and just clear waves you need to rush . It's really good against Udyr. You can also flash combo udyr under turret mid his ult so he takes aggro.

Spells / Runes

Spells

I don't use because:

1. In lane ignite gives strong early kill power. Zac's strong sustain and safeness under turret with passive allows you to stay on lane for a lot longer than usual. So for me, TP in lane is not needed.
2. Later in the game Zac has to hover adc and be the one making the plays and engages. Teleporting into the fight after it has already started makes Zac's biggest strengths useless.
3. Split pushing with ap tank's nonexistent dmg on turrets is useless even with . Most top champions outscale Zac anyways after a couple of items.

Runes

I'll update the runes when I have time.

Conqueror

It's not that strong anymore

Triumph

Legend: Tenacity

Last Stand

For slow ap scaling

sustain
good aswell

Grasp of the undying and
Aftershock

- The best rune tree for Zac. and are all insanely useful.
- Is insanely good for winning small trades. The best option in almost every matchup.
- Spam together with W
- keeps active
- is a safe pick on any matchup, good in teamfights and alright at poking. Better than Grasp on most ranged matchups.
- Against enemies who poke a lot and are good

Demolish

Revitalize

Second Wind

For slow ap scaling

Phase Rush

- Good in mid and vs some champs in top
- Combo into collecting blobs
- Idk other poeple are better at phase rushing than me ask them
- Probaby should go aswell?

Nimbus Cloak

Transcendence

Gathering Storm

For sustain

How to play

Abilities

Includes good info for experienced Zac enjoyers as well.

- Even though you should never max Q, it's still just as good and important as the other abilities. I don't recommend engaging at all (in lane) before first hitting Q
- Q → () AA and you can jump on them for free as they can't dodge or cancel your E followed by R, this is the best zac combo there is and you should try to use it in every fight for example to cc chain the enemy adc. They can dodge E but not flash auto.
- Keep in mind that it often has the longest cd because you don't put levels on it
- Q gives vision so sometimes it's better to let it stay instead of knocking invisibility champions so your teammates can target them
- Deals the most damage in early and gives 2 blobs - good to start the lane with

- Always try to max this if possible, since it's most of your damage
- Try to use it every time enemies come in range to auto you or a minion in lane (good with )
- W → Q → E and you instantly get another W after collecting the blobs
- It's useful to know where the blobs will fly, it's not random. If an enemy champion is near (1000 range) the blobs will fall between you two a little to the side zac is facing at. So if you are out of the range and face away from the enemy while using W to minions, the blobs will drop behind you to be safely picked up to heal
- Maxing W deals more damage than E. Not just long auto attack fights, W deals more damage in a fast combo aswell which is the reason why "oneshotting" bruisers is possible aswell

- If you need to have a small E cooldown (vs for example), put levels on it. If you max W, E will have a 24 second cooldown
- Maxing E is a very good option aswell, since it gives range, reduces the cooldown and the damage is not bad either.
- The basic damage rule is: E max for oneshotting/burst, W for more damage
- With 3lvl E you can jump from behind a wall to chain someone under turret
- With 4lvl E you can jump from out of vision to chain a melee under turret (lvl 5 for ranged)

- Increases healing and range for collecting blobs.
- Always use R before Flashing instead of Flash ulting, because it reduces the time enemies have to react to it
- Also slows

Note for newbies: you don't have to spam all your abilities during the first second; if you hit your Q you can wait around for your jungler to come closer and then auto. Same with E and R - Let them take a step or two before bouncing them back under turret. Every second is crucial when they are taking turret damage. Some champions you can't do that with like or because they will use their E to cancel the rest of the CC.

Items/Build

- 110% gold value from stats alone is good
- 20 AH and 650hp are good on zac (Q dmg, passives)
- Good into mixed damage topside
- 30% damage reduction gives insane lane domination power, or surviving power when losing
- You normally finish it at 8-10 mins so you will already have other items when you join teamfights
- Insane into 4AD / 1AP and 4AP / 1AD enemy comps
- With W max you don't need bami items to waveclear

I go this every game except in these situations (or many of them together):
- i didn't recall for a long time and laning phase is already almost over
- Enemies have really well balanced comp ap/ad dmg wise and Anathema brings little value on lane anymore
- if I'm really really behind in gold and have to buy economy items like and

Core item for Zac. The stats on it are insanely good. Not as broken into tanky enemy teams that stack MR, because the magic pen is flat on Abyssal Mask.

Even though they got slightly nerfed, still the best boots for Zac in general. Summoner Spell Haste is rly good for Zac flash combos, they're cheap and give still ok amount of AH.

If you really need the Tenacity
If they're situationally good

Is a strong item later into the game when it scales with your max hp. It's kinda bad on sidelane, but good in teamfights when you can proc it to multiple people. A lot better in general than into ranged enemy comps.

Good into long fights in sidelane, but in general it's a bit weak on Zac. It takes a long time to stack and actually deal useful amounts of damage in teamfights into most comps. Would be good if it gave Ability Haste, but it doesn't.

Good with Grasp. Good stats and cc. Many people rush it on lane, but I don't personally see its appeal after I've already rushed Anathema's Chains. It lacks damage and is awkward to use or make useful in fights when you already have a lot of ability haste.

Rly good gold value and cheap. Really really good buy in almost every game when you have someone fed and other armor items below don't fit absolutely perfectly.

Good situationally only.
Only build it for damage, not antiheal.
Good if enemy low on oneshot power. Expensive af.
Good if you're low on gold and game is teamfight focused.

Good when allies have other shields and heals.
Into ap poke or if other ap items are situationally bad.
Into long ap fights with Udyr, Morde, etc.
Bad. **** gold value, useless passive.

Almost always a solid buy, but stats from it are not that insane.
Good if enemy isn't full of oneshotters.
Rly good stats. MS good for collecting blobs.
Should always be your go to antiheal item. Insane value for the price.
Good stats. If you need the passive.
Good if you're A LOT ahead in gold.

100% Health regen = 300 gold
150% Health regen = 450 gold
200% Health regen = 600 gold
Wasted for nothing just like on mana items. You can heal to full from one jungle camp. Try to avoid these scam items.

Example of one my most usual build paths.

Example of a build against AD heavy enemies (E.g. 3AD 1AP and AP-supp)

Example of a build against AP heavy enemies (E.g. 3AP 1AD and 1 mixed dmg)

If enemies have 4AD/1AP or 4AP/1AD just go Anathema on the 1 and full resist on rest.

If enemies have 3/2 or 2/3 just build good items according to who is fed in enemy team, and swap Anathema's Chains to those who you have low resists against.

If enemies have 5AD or 5AP I'd rush resists, but build AP for the 3rd or 4th item, because the items start to get worse and worse (for zac. bcs they give 0AH) and tankiness is useless if you deal 0 dmg. (for example )

If I go 0/10 on lane

Laning

Levels 1-2

- Dont immediately level up an ability
Q best most of the time, gives 2 blobs and most dmg
W is good if you don't have access to a wave
E only when you need it for invade or escaping cheese

- Zac lvl 1 isn't as weak as it used to be. Often it's good to trade hard lvl 1 because you're safe with your passive and enemies will most likely have a lot worse sustain

- Still weaker than most champs at lvl 2 so play carefully

Levels 3-5

- After lvl 3 and 4 you can start winning trades more easily. It's good to perma trade bcs Zac's sustain is good and enemies often have mana and you don't

- Almost always best to perma freeze by any means and fight close to your tower
•Makes trading really dangerous for enemy
•You can tank minions rly long bcs of ur sustain
•If enemies have DoT damage, they will take turret aggro if you cc them under it
•Hard for enemy jungler to gank
•Don't do this against and

Levels 6+

- Zac is strong before 6 too, but most of the damage is in the ult

- Abuse and cc them under turret

- Don't ult too early, because it's hard to catch and kill them if they don't die on your ult

After laning

- In general try to make sure that sidelanes are pushed, but if enemy top isn't already pushing sidelane fast, you should go look for teamfights and picks and hover your carries constantly. Even if it seems there is no objectives or aything going on.

- Zac starts to fall off slowly into lategame, so it's better to give your adc all the farm and just play for them.

Good to know

- Some champions are better at oneshotting your passive than others so you can't always trust it. You shouldn't just die next to a volibear bcs he will oneshot your passive. Camille most likely cant.
- Don't be afraid to roam especially vs counter matchups. Max E vs Sett or Darius and jump on enemy Viktor in mid when they freeze in top and jungler isn't there to help you.
- Champions like and will ruin your life so don't even try to jump on them, focus on other enemies or use Q flash AA E R on them.
- Take a look into Q interaction with low hp minions and monster, easy to secure cannons with it under turret
- Wait out proc before using health potion, because that way you get more hp back bcs of the missing health thingy on it. Not a lot, but small things add up.