Hello, welcome ladies and gentlemen to my first guide ever on Ziggs, The Hexplosive Expert. Ziggs's burst is incredible, early and late game. If bombs are left undodged, tons of damage(TM) will be done to your enemy. Now, lets get done with intros and get ready to light up the land.

Please note: This is not your religious text or school text book, please feel free to alter some things, don't always follow what I do.

AoE: Area of Effect

CC: Crowd Control: slows, stuns, snares

CS: Creep score

OOM: Out of Mana

AP: Ability Power

CDR: Cooldown Reduction

AD: Attack Damage

ADC: Attack Damage Carry

Pros:

Tons of Damage(TM)
Anyone order up a can of AoE?
Up in the top for CS, next to Morgana.
His Ultimate can DEVASTATE an unsuspecting enemy.
He has bombs. And his ultimate is a nuke.
If played well, will OOM very rarely.
A second blink in the form of a satchel charge. (Unreliable if used at last second)
Ultimate can secure a kill from a running enemy.


Cons:

Long time for Ultimate to get to destination, large warning on ground.
His Satchel Charge is unreliable in the hands of an unskilled player.
Squishy.
Every ability can be dodged.
Mana Hungry

Marks:
I normally use 9 Greater Marks of Insight, the extra spell penetration will do wonders if the enemy begins stacking Magic Resistance, granted you'll still have to worry about Force of Nature, but nine times outta ten, the magic resistance is rendered null.

Glyphs:
Greater Glyph of Force is the only way to go here, well... not really, but the extra AP helps in the long run when you hit 18.

Seals:
For Seals, you're squishy, right? So, I normally get Greater Seals of Vitality and Resilience. The extra health and armor will go a long way in the long run. This counters the squishy con, right?

Quintessences:
Greater Quintessence of Potency. Just don't question it. The extra 15 AP will bring you up more than you think just due to Ziggs's scaling of abilities.

For Masteries, I usually go 21/0/9.

Offense:
Mental Force; 3/4: +3 AP may not seem much, but it will help beginning of the match. And hey, free AP!
Summoner's Wrath; 1/1: This makes the difference between a kill and an enemy escape while ignite is down early game.
Sorcery; 4/4: The CDR for the ultimate and other bombs helps, but this on it's own is not the greatest.
Arcane Knowledge; 1/1: Magic Penetration. Remember what I said about making Magic Resist Null and void?
Havoc; 3/3: +1.5% damage, I mean really, why WOULDN'T you take this!
Blast; 4/4: It's more AP per level, because those glyphs of force aren't enough.
Archmage; 4/4: If you ignore this mastery as AP, just uninstall. *shuns*
Executioner; 1/1: This makes your ult up to the killing potential it should be on everyone low health. This can make a difference between no kill and pentakill.

Support:
Summoner's Insight; 1/1: The shorter Flash Cooldown helps entire game. 15 seconds is enough to save your furry little yordle hide.
Expansive Mind; 3/3: You're Ziggs. You're a mana-hungry pyrotechnic badger with enough explosives to destroy the world ten times over. You need this.
Meditation; 3/3: The mana regen on this may be minimal, but it can be really helpful if you're about to die, they have low health, you have almost no mana and then, BAM! Bomb to the face, they're dead, you're alive. All is well, pints on the house.
Swiftness; 1/4: You're slow in the beginning. If you don't have this, you may get ganked and die, even though you have wards and saw it coming.
Scout: 1/1; You're AP mid. You have wards up. BUT the wards don't see far enough so you don't see a gank coming and then your face is ripped off... this fixes that scenario a bit more.

Main Spells:
Flash and Ignite. Just take flash and ignite.

Flash: Satchel Charge isn't always going to save your hide, and if it does, the double flash, just like Ezreal's is annoying to the enemy.

Ignite: They're low hp? Pop ignite and unless they have heal potions, they're dead, kill for you +300 or so gold on your next item.

Other Possibilities!
Ghost: Ok, so, you don't have flash yet. Ghost will work just as well to get some run speed in and get away from a gank.

Clarity: For those annoying moments when you go OOM, this'll give you back some to keep throwing bombs.

Teleport: If you need to get someplace fast, this is how. It's a nice spell if you need to get a team fight fast.

Heal: This spell is becoming more and more popular... and more and more annoying. It'll keep you from dying and might just get you the kill.

Exhaust: As Ziggs, this'll help because they won't dodge bombs as much because they're slower. Even though you have your minefield, this'll still help.

Surge: Ok, if you're playing troll AD Ziggs, go ahead, take surge... otherwise, it's more for hybrid.

Cleanse: What CC? Oh! That CC you just got out of! Escape time!

WHY DID YOU TAKE THESE SPELLS! UNINSTALL!
If you take any of these, I will just find you and personally throw your computer out the window and salvage the spare parts.

Smite: Tell me, why are you jungling as Ziggs?
Promote: You aren't Support.
Clairvoyance: Good spell, yes. But you are not support.
Revive: Are you trying to be AD Rally Revive Jungle Soraka?

Start items:

Boots of Speed and Doran's Rings. More speed, more health, more mana per sec, more AP. These two items have it all! Get the Boots first if against heavy harass champions where you need to dodge EVERYTHING. Otherwise, take 2 Doran's Rings first. If you take boots, grab a health potion and mana potion or two with it. Depending how much Cash you have, start on Catalyst

Early Game:
The Unholy Grail. This item is amazing. Free mana on kill, CDR, AP and Magic resist. I found myself using this item a lot more often than not now. If you don't like it, take Rod of Ages for more health and mana instead.

Rabadon's Deathcap, if you don't get this, something is wrong with you. The 30% more AP and the 140+ AP can shoot you up from 180 to nearly 400 with one item. Just buy it and don't ask questions.

Mid Game:
Rylai's Crystal Scepter: This will give that slow so bombs hit more often, and a nice chunk of health. This with Rod of Ages kills the squishy aspect of Ziggss. That and with the nice bit of AP, hey, more damage.

Void Staff: More Spell Penetration and AP, say good bye to that magic resistance.

LATE GAME:
Lich Bane: Your passive with this will hurt more than anything. The extra AP and damage on passive will give a little 900 damage basic attack every twelve seconds. And in the words of Jock in Deus Ex: OH MY GOD! JC A BOMB!

Other Item to replace Rod of Ages:
Rod of Ages. This item will give you enough health, early game AP, and mana to last you for quite some time, at the cost of getting no mana increase until you buy the blasting wand or the item itself second.

Their team is tanky! HP everywhere!
Deathfire grasp, deathfire grasp and deathfire grasp. Chunks of health, gone, just like that.

MAGIC RESIST EVERYWHERE!
THIS is why there is Voidstaff and those runes and masteries were taken. You'll still hit them just as hard.

AD Hard Hitter!
Zhonya's Hourglass, get this after Rabadon's if the ADC is getting fed. OR if it's Caitlyn. If it's really getting bad, Thornmail.

I MIGHT have fed mid. Play Video Well, everyone on your team, but no biggy. Buy a MR item and keep on going, if you get ****, deal with it. You're not going to do perfect first time Ziggs.
They're all fed!
Well, that's GG, nothing you can do about it, sorry. Just try your best, you're Ziggs. You do tons of damage at level one, Fight them head on with your team and don't wander.

Ganks everywhere!
Ward, that's why you got the Scout Mastery!

Short Fuse:
This, is your passive. This is what'll do 900 damage with Lich Bane. It'll refresh every 12 seconds for extra damage based on your AP. But with enough spell spam, it can be every 4 seconds instead. 900 damage every 4 seconds with Lich Bane. Tons of Damage(TM)

Q) Bouncing Bomb:
This is the cheese on the Cheeseburger. The Fried in the fried chicken. The... well.. you get the point. This is your main ability. And there's 4 things to know.

1: It bounces (uh duh) three times, each bounce is shorter than the last. The farther you aim, the farther it bounces. Pure logic there.
2: If it hits something, ka-boom. A turret, wall or anything, there will be explosion.
3: And remember kids, Play Video 4: IT'S AOE! Thats right, use it to farm, to hit unsuspecting champions while farming! Farming while hitting champions! You name it folks!

W) Satchel Charge:
This is your second blink and utility. It's unreliable if in the hands of those who don't know how to use it, but it's one of those things you can't pass up. Here's what you should know.

1) Awesome range, 2nd to his ult in non-bounce related range.
2) Use it to jump over walls... but apparently going into pits is harder? League of Legends logic there.
3) Farther from charge you are while staying in radius, farther you're knocked away.
4) It can knock back and stun enemies.
5) Not the best offense skill due to low scaling.
6) SORRY! No Air-shots. It's like Tristana's Rocket Jump. No casting spells or attacks while in air.
7) Anything channeled can be interrupted by it.

E) Hexplosive Minefield:
This places a large circle of bombs on the ground and slows those who step on them dealing damage for each mine. Though damage is reduced after first blast. Things you should know about this are simple:
1) It does damage, use it for damage, not utility alone.
2) It does more damage if the field is on top of the enemy champion.

R) MEGA INFERNO BOMB!
This is your ultimate. Love it. Care for it. Use it to scorch the earth of the impure! Show it to your friends, your family and your enemy's smoldering corpses. This ability opens up on a large circle area, about the same range of Twisted Fate's Gate or Pantheon's Grand Skyfall. The closer the enemy is to the center, the more damage it'll do, anyone else on the rim will take 80% of the damage. Oh yes. This will get you a baron steal, ace and that would be GG in a single ability if timed well. It will nuke (literally) all of the enemy health due to the scaling of 90% of AP is counted as extra damage.

Though, to keep it from being the most OP thing on earth since Mother Nature, it takes time for the bomb to reach the location, and it can be dodged unless the enemy is stunned. And timing is everything with this if you're going to an escape kill. You have to predict the enemy's movements and timing. Not easy to land, but when it does. Buh-bye.

Counters to Ziggs aren't that many, but there are a few.

Fizz: This man's trident will annoy you to no end, dodging bombs is cake to him, tip against him? Just don't play Ziggs. If it's a blind match, don't go mid, switch with someone.

Ahri: The reverse-furry is annoying as her dash can dodge all your bombs as soon as she hits level 6. She's quick and able to keep anything of yours other than short fuse from hitting, tips? Aim to the direction she's going and turret hug.

Katarina: She will eat you whole with her shunpo. It's not as predictable as Ezreal's blink. Just turret hug and aim for minions instead of her when she gets shunpo.

Kassadin: This Anti-mage will eat you. Just leave, give mid to an ADC and go bot or top.

Morgana: Her black shield, her minion farm, everything about her is evil. Having played Morgana for a year now, I know her tricks and how to not die to her, and it's simple as dodging her Q and not wasting mana on bombs with Black Shield, she'll be a challenge and if it's first time Ziggs against her, just turret hug. Otherwise, stay out of the black stuff on the ground, avoid the orb of death and blink-satchel out of her ultimate which will be beams heading to you.

For those lazy and didn't read, Ziggs deals tons of damage. Though, in the end he's one of the best AP mids in game to date, seconded only by Fizz and his trident. Thank you for reading, this is a work in progress and please comment on how I can make it better. Thank you.

And... have a *Sunglasses on* Blast. Play Video