Ziggs Build Guide : Ziggs Support & Bot - Shooting Guard on the Wreckers

Introduction

Yo what's good my dudes, bros & grills! I am Phil a.k.a. Rasta. I am what some people call an "Anti-Meta" player. I'm always finding new ways to make effective use of alternate tactics and methods to play the game. My main role is Support and I'm transitioning into Bot Lane Mages. Most of my picks are considered off-meta.

This Ziggs Support & Bot guide is my first written guide and is part of my "Wrecking Crew" guides. This guide was written with a focus on primarily having Ziggs as a support with an extra emphasis on how I would play him as a bot laner. There's a lot of basketball references here. I am going to write guides on other champions to fit the crew based on tower siege. I came up with a team name and called them "Wreckers" because that's pretty much what they do to towers.

The team consists of Tristana as the Point Guard, Ziggs as the Shooting Guard, Karma as the Small Forward, Rammus as the Power Forward, and Galio as the Center.

I will constantly continue updating this guide with more information, statistical data, and other good stuff. Matchups will be updated more as I encounter more opponents. This guide is up to date with the current patch right now. I will update the guide with more stats, strategies, and more as I continue with further experiments.

I have to give big props to Aqua Dragon A.K.A. the wacky off-meta guy! This guide was heavily influenced by his Orianna Support & Vel'koz Support guides. You can check them out for some good quality content.

I also have to shout out to IcyPhoenix. He made a video on youtube on what items are effective against towers as well as tower mechanics. A lot of what makes this build possible came from this video. Here is a link to the video.

This new video by Blitz eSports is very informational about minion wave manipulation. This is a very important concept that shapes the basis of this intended style of play.

Using a similar build to what I have, Youtube content creator Youmuu's has a video on just how strong a Tristana/Ziggs Bot lane can be and how devastating it can be to play against.

UPDATE LOG:

23 Feb 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.4 major changes to AP Items. Xayah moved to S-Tier.

1 Mar 2018: Due to some unexpected complications, the guide has been re-published with the correct information. More information on 8.4 will be added after additional testing.

7 Mar 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.5 minor changes. Nothing big like last time. Banner + Baron Siege minions are less OP but still very powerful. Keep getting Banner. I added a reasoning for why I don't get Lost Chapter & updated lots of stuff too.

14 Mar 2018: After testing some matches, I changed USB to the primary recommended keystone rune. Kleptomancy is still good to have in matchups where you can easily abuse range to get money. Glacial Augment is still acceptable as an alternative as well.

26 Mar 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.6 major changes. Shurelya's has replaced Twin Shadows in the item section. GLP-800 is now valid as a situational buy. Rakan has moved up higher in difficulty to play against. Kai'Sa added to the S-Tier group in the synergy & matchup sections.

5 Apr 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.7 minor changes. Lux moved up higher in difficulty to play against with her buffs. Changes to Manaflow Band actually gives a reason to go Sorcery primary. Siege minions (aka Cannons) got more HP scaling and are worth more gold.

25 Apr 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.8 major changes. Ziggs is unaffected by these changes. The nerfs to defensive supports like Braum & Tahm Kench have made utility supports come back into the meta. Ziggs can perform well against Janna, Lulu & Morgana. Rakan is still a high priority ban.

5 May 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.9 changes. For a "minor" patch, Riot has thrown in several adjustments!

Spoiler: Click to view

25 May 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.10 changes. Literally nothing new.

31 May 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.11 changes. Oh man I knew this day would come. There are lots of things to cover so check this out.

Spoiler: Click to view

13 June 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.12 major changes. Banner is gone & I'm sad about that. Shurelya's is back in the item build. I added a spoiler about and its upgrades in the item section. Draven & Lucian moved to difficulty 6. Pyke added to difficulty 8.

7 July 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.13 major changes and hotfixes. Oh man! The meta has changed! Mages & Fighters in the bot lane! ADC junglers like Graves, Kindred & Twitch are OP! Funneling/Boosting is popular! What a time to be alive! There's a lot to cover since it's been a while so I left it all in a spoiler.

Spoiler: Click to view

23 July 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.14 changes. Nothing has really changed for Ziggs or the items/runes/sums, etc. The nerf doesn't affect Ziggs because its a swap when using USB. I am brainstorming a possible new item build utilizing either Sorcery/Resolve or Inspiration/Resolve to revisit some based builds. I'm thinking a build with RotWatchers, Sorcs, LB, Shurelya, Morello, Void. Stay tuned for more updates.

1 August 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.15 changes. Since is now 400g, you can start a control ward if you don't want to buy 2 potions since you get free sustain from biscuit delivery. I have another alternate tactic in the item section. This is the only big change this patch.

16 August 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.16 changes. This is another patch with no major changes to Ziggs in general or runes / items he uses. Due to many nerfs to other runes, you could say he's slightly better.

11 September 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.17. I am doing something different this time. There are no major changes to Ziggs kit, but I will be changing the runes / items he uses. Due to many nerfs to damage runes and the changes that happened to Inspiration tree, I have changed the runes to Sorcery/Resolve (Ancient One) from Inspiration/Sorcery (Stargazer). The old Runes and Items are still good alternatives so I left them in a second build up top.

25 September 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.18. I have added into the build. Tristana is back into S-Tier as a lane partner while Brand drops to A-tier. I was playing a lot of Odyssey & so I changed the skin to Odyssey Ziggs. Youmuu's uploaded a game of Ziggs Support using a similar rune & item build. I added that video up top.

26 September 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.19. The only thing I need to mention is that Liandry is a better situational item with the increase in percent HP burn from 1% > 1.5% & 2% > 2.5% against CC'd targets.

11 October 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.20. With the nerf, MF is in the #5 spot on the S-Tier partner list. Other than that, this was a really small patch with no notable changes.

15 October 2018: After further testing, MF has traded places with Ezreal in the synergies. Ezreal is now S-Tier after his updated Essence Flux gives him more tower damage.

25 October 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.21.

7 November 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.22.

20 November 2018: Guide is basically updated to Patch 8.23. I will be doing some additional changes in the upcoming days. This preseason patch is very favorable for Ziggs in general. I need to do a lot of testing in order to fully optimize for Season 9.

10 December 2018: Guide updated to Patch 8.24.

10 January 2019: Guide updated to Patch 9.1. After a looooong time off from this guide, I am coming back to do some more potential edits. The only Ziggs specific change in 9.1 is that you can ping whether the is within range or not. I am considering changing this guide to Bot Lane Ziggs or adding in an alternative build for Bot Lane. Thanks to all who supported me last year! And I hope this one will be great too!

17 January 2018: Guide rewritten to include an option for bot lane as an alternative. As far as the support side, I changed the runes to Resolve/Sorcery with Grasp as the Keystone. The Bot build uses the same old Sorcery/Resolve with Comet as the Keystone. Look for the updated runes and item sections. Just a reminder, the "Threats & Synergies" for both builds are on the Support tab.

On another note, Nautilus Mid has been iceboxed. MR Tank Galio Mid is the new "Center" and even if (or when) he gets nerfs he will still be more relevant than Nautilus atm.

1 February 2019: Guide updated to Patch 9.2. Nothing Ziggs specific like usual. Since my item builds prioritize getting lots of CDR, is Absolute Trash right now after the nerfs. I wouldn't recommend getting it on any champion if you know you are going to have 40% CDR from items and and scaling CDR. They used to equal each other's values but now you get more AP than Focus.

That's all. I won't be doing any testing on the support build for a few weeks since I will be experimenting with bot lane. Thanks for reading this guide as always!

6 February 2018: Guide updated to Patch 9.3. Other than crit changes, nothing new as usual.

14 February 2018: Guide updated to Patch 9.3 Hotfix. Because of the changes to the Spellthief line, we now full upgrade the Frostfang so you don't miss on gold generation when doing solo stuff like split pushing or warding.

14 March 2018: Guide updated to Patch 9.5. After a long hiatus from the game I'm back. No new changes as usual, just updating some things and cleaning up some fluff. On the next patch I will be archiving all of the Season 8 patch updates.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Maxing gives you the best siege tool in the game. Taking towers is easy.
Peel for your team with a 6.6s cd AoE displacement cc + self leap ability.
Strong undeniable 4s of vision with the satchel, plus some sight on E & R.
Moves quick; difficult to catch out while warding.
Easily racks up assists; plentiful gold for items.
Usefulness is relevant at all stages of game.

Cons

Deals less damage to champions due to lacking AP.
Has a 4 skill-shot kit unlinke most support champions who have 1 or 2.
As an artillery, Ziggs is very frail and can be blown up.
Can become mana hungry early-game if spamming spells.
Only hard-CC is a skill shot and your mobility. Difficult to use both.
No direct team utility. Only damage, CC, self mobility & tower bombing.

What is Ziggs Support?

Rito Pls Make a Half-Court Ziggs Skin!

Support Ziggs is a ranged artillery support, one of the best in class due to his massive aoe & tower damage that allows him to deal ridiculously high tower & objective damage on a budget.

Figuring out which items to place in that budget to maximize minion, champion, and tower damage is the tricky part. There's two foundational principles behind the choices.

First, Ziggs is not a mid-range burst mage, or at least shouldn't be played as one. There are a wealth of better mid-range burst supports if that's the intended pathway (Brand, Zyra, etc.). Ziggs excels best when poking at a massive distance, with only a secondary consideration on the burst and follow-up empowered basic attacks.

This means that Ziggs is especially interested in maximizing CDR as fast as possible, in order to deal more raw poke damage through more Bouncing Bombs as well as have more opportunities to make use of Satchel Charge. This philosophy of 40% CDR is reflected heavily in the runes.

Second, damage efficiency is the name of the game; not to be confused with gold efficiency.

Gold efficiency only tells you how much gold an item theoretically costs while ignoring AP scalings, true damage, and damage patterns. This makes it a decent tool, but we can do better.

In an example from the Vel'Koz Support guide, we have this calculator. By using a calculator Aqua Dragon created for Vel'koz, it is possible to find the total damage of any set of spell casts, which is divided from the gold spent. The Gold Spent For Each Point of Damage, also known as Gold/DMG, also known as damage efficiency.

This metric is significantly more useful; Rabadons may give the most raw damage, but it is also an insane amount of gold. What if Sorc Shoes provide half the damage at a third of the cost? Then Sorcs would be the better bang for buck.

This gold/dmg metric is what distinguishes his Vel'koz guide as well as my Ziggs guide from the others.

Here is a more in-depth description on the "Wreckers" team I mentioned earlier. When I announced the starting lineup, you might assume that the lane assignments from top to bottom were Galio > Rammus > Ziggs > Tristana > Karma based on standard expectations. However, my guides are not "standard" and so I switched the order around from top to bottom to be Rammus > Karma > Galio > Tristana > Ziggs.

Tristana Bot Lane is essentially the Point Guard. I had imagined that usually the ADC is generally a good shot caller.

Definition of PG

Ziggs Support would be the Shooting Guard on the starting lineup. The long range shots are what he's all about.

Definition of SG

Karma Jungle would be the Small Forward. Her versatile and adaptable team utility is the glue that keeps the crew together.

Definition of SF

Rammus Top would be the Power Forward. His strength is his ability to constantly split push and draw aggro.

Definition of PF

Galio Mid would be the Center. Being the big tank in the center of the map helps him wave clear and roam... plus he's huge!

Definition of C

As the Shooting Guard for whatever team you are on, your positioning tactics are key to your survival. Ball handling skills are essentially vision control skills. And you also have to assume some PG responsibilities too. Sometimes you have to be the "General" to guide the team. And also, it's very important you study the game to be able to recognize the weaknesses of the defense & strengths of your offense. And directing plays is also important as well. These basketball analogies are a great representation of what you should expect to be doing as not just Ziggs Support, but usually support in general.

Unique Skills

RAP GOD IS GOOD!

I got the skills to seal the deals to pay the bills! Secure the kills and keep it real!
Auto fills don't give me the chills cause I got grills to spill some thrills and pop some pills!
I write with quills on windowsills that all my grills done painted teal with that Gold Seal!
I grill my veals on diamond grills with 20 grills while we still watch Netflix & chill!

Mad rhyming rap skills aside, there is a few things that Ziggs does and does not do that your typical champion in a support position would generally do or not do.

For some strengths, Ziggs has high damage potential. However, most of it is better used on wave clear than champion damage. Unlike most support champions, Ziggs has an AoE displacement CC on a short cooldown (Think Alistar Q but with range and more frequent). He also has some mobility with a self leap.

He does have weaknesses too. No direct team utility in his kit means he isn't a healer, shielder, buffer, etc. None of his spells interact with ally champions in any way. Also, he is very weak defensively and he can't tank hits and live to tell about it in most scenarios.

However, his tower execution is the unique skill he has that no other champion in the game has. And here is a secret technique you may not find on some other Ziggs guides on Mobafire, Proguides, etc. Ziggs can execute towers without the need for minion waves. This is very important information because some people did not already know that towers take reduced damage when there are no enemy minions in it's range to prevent backdoor attempts.

Ziggs does not need to wait on a minion wave to secure a tower take down. Whenever you see the bomb icon over the tower, throw your satchel and walk away like a boss as the announcer says "Your team has destroyed a turret!"

Because of Ziggs having these unique skills, he can be very valuable in a team composition that is based on sieging towers and objectives with long range poke and benefitting from good disengage. Ziggs has all three of those qualities.

Summoner Spells

Gotta go fast to juke on the court!

is a standard that is usually mandatory for most champions. I take flash when I'm the bot lane carry.

seems like an odd choice to have on Ziggs Support, but makes more sense when you consider the previous analysis.

As with most artillery champions, Ziggs is generally very far from fights. This makes close-range spells like and fairly ineffective. As the game goes on, Ziggs begins having trouble being close enough to use the summoner spells optimally.

would seem like the next best choice for support, but it suffers in utility from Ziggs's fragility. Because Ziggs dies in a very all-or-nothing way (usually on a suicide kamikaze mission like a true bomber), Heal becomes useless for surviving against bursty gap-closers. This means Heal would be mostly for teammates, but that forces Ziggs into suboptimal positioning to stay in range to actually use Heal at all. Ziggs is an extremely selfish support. Heal is better used when you are the carry.

On the other hand, amplifies Ziggs's kiting power to absurd levels and provides indirect utility by being able to reach teamfights or teammates more quickly. Ghost doesn't have as much utility during the laning phase, but this is made up by his safety-by-distance approach to harass, which requires no trading. It does make the laning phase more unforgiving, but Ziggs can be an unforgiving champion in the first place.

is a summoner spell I don't usually take when I play artillery style supports like Vel'Koz, Lux, & Xerath. However, since I've changed to using Grasp as a keystone, the shorter range needed to proc the HP gain has altered how I play the laning phase. Use your Exhaust only when you need to try and prevent

If considering taking other sums, these are the other summoner spells you should consider:

is usually not recommended, but should only be considered if the enemy team sees you as more of a threat than your carries and they are trying to commit everything to burst you.

is something to consider starting in a 2v2 matchup or having later in the game where one crucial CC could mean losing a lot of hp, lane pressure, or just dying.

is not an important one to take, but it can be helpful if you need it to help secure objectives. Also, it's an amazing start to super leash your jungler and smite cannons. With the increasing popularity of Rift Scuttler skirmishes, Smite is good for executing those crabs for gold, experience, & team vision/speed.

is one you could take to use after your first or second back. Usually you will want TP to get back into lane or to go top or mid if their enemy outer towers are low.

is one I highly recommend you take in ARAM. If you don't need to go all out aggressive & threaten with exhaust or ignite, getting more mana is amazing! If it was available outside of ARAM I would always take this.

Runes

These New Runes are the BOMB!

Support Ziggs Resolve/Sorcery Explanation

Bot Lane Ziggs Sorcery/Resolve Explanation

Season 9 changed how runes give stats. There are no more awesome Trait names that are based on your rune choices for Primary/Secondary. Instead, you get to choose your stats in 3 areas: Offense, Flex, and Defense. For this Ziggs build, I put emphasis on mid and late game strength more so than early game dominance.

Scaling CDR, Flat AP, and Armor

A standard package that also uses to turn scaling CDR into scaling AP.

The Offense spot will be scaling CDR because of the synergy with . The Flex will be Adaptive so you can start with some AP. And Defense will be scaling HP because uses your health total to deal damage.

This paragraph explained my reasoning for taking Inspiration/Sorcery.

The Old Rune Setup

Why No Domination?

Why No Inspiration?

Why No Precision?

Why I Take Resolve for Primary on Support?

Why I Take Resolve for Secondary on Bot?

The big rune is preferred. The lesser ones are optional

Rito PLZ Make Arcane Comet Look Like a Basketball! (Bot Lane)

For AC, Bouncing Bomb is a near-guaranteed hit. Even if it doesn't hit, adding ample harass damage with your Short Fuse passive is how you acquire some lane dominance over your lane opponents.

For PR, one of the best benefits is using your in a 3-hit combo to make it out of most bad situations. With a WEQ combo mid air, you can put some distance between your pursuer.

SA is good for shielding allies when you apply CC to enemies & heal them with FoL.

The Alternative Band

I would consider MFB over NBC because you are always going to be spending mana and only occasionally using your R. MFB may seem like an excessive amount of mana, but since you only build mana from Sheen & LB it becomes mandatory. Orb is too situation specific to be considered. Even then it gets very little use unlike the others.

Transcending Practicality

Transcendence helping you reach 40% CDR is too important for poking and sieging to pass up. Celerity & Focus delay reaching it by pushing CDR further down the build, which ironically hurts poking and sieging.

It's Always Calm Before the Storm (Bot Lane)

Gathering Storm for better mid/late game poke and siege. Scorch's damage gets split between both opponents, which creates underwhelming poke.

Dying to Catch These Hands! (Support)

This is the rune to take to help you win lane better than the other options. Both alternatives have issues with proper utilization and jeopardize positioniong.

Demolition Derby

Demolish has a condition that Ziggs easily meets. The others have worse payoffs.

Assessing your Win Conditioning (Support)

This rune compliments all of the bonus HP you want to stack. The alternatives have problems with staying relevant after lane phase (Bone Plating) or is impractical in situations where you don't take a lot of damage (Second Wind).

Getting Over Growing Pains

This rune helps better than the other options. The alternatives have higher restrictions on their payoff (Unflinching) or isn't absolutely necessary (Revitalize).

Skill Sequence

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

I'll blow you away with these mad skills!

This skill sequence is optimal in the early game for securing that first tower. By taking 3 points in W , you can execute the first tower (which has 3500 HP) if it is at or below 1050 HP (30% max HP) in one hit. At level 5. With very little or even no AD or AP required. Q increases in mana cost per rank so it is better used for pushing and poking for gold in the early game. Around the mid game is when the poke becomes more prevalent. E is useful as a one-point wonder since you only really need it for more wave clear and slowing enemies.

I will follow up on the previous paragraph with an example. To give you a good comparison of doing 1050 damage to a tower in one hit, let's assume you are a level 13 Ziggs with doing 100 + 50% AP on-hit damage. And since it is doubled against structures, it would be 200 + 100% AP. Add for an extra 50% AP. Along with base AD added that is 200 + 150% AP magic damage to structures. In this specific scenario, to do 1050 damage in one attack to a tower with both Short Fuse & Lich Bane, you would need about 567 AP at level 13... which is usually about 20 minutes into the game. This is not accounting for penetration & resistances either. To pull that off, you need to be uber fed!

And I could use other examples like a Nasus with 500 stacks + + + . That's about as much damage you can do to a tower with just W and no AP required.

You could consider taking an extra point in at level 4, but mana can be problematic. The benefit of not maxing Q first is that you are less likely to run out of mana. Most other Ziggs players who complain about mana issues early game do so because they max Q & E which have increasing costs per rank. Because you don't have this issue, managing mana is easier. Thus, this makes certain mana options excessive, redundant, and unnecessary. (Like )

Items

Does he ball so hard with a Wilson? Or a Spalding?

Extensive scenario testing and number crunching has revealed this to be the optimal damage efficient build path. Allah would be proud for the destruction you will bring to the enemies' structures.

Health potions are for people who get into range to be hit. By not buying potions, you essentially give yourself a 25-100g lead against the enemy support. This allows you to upgrade with less gold. You can start with a control ward and/or red trinket for more vision control.

If you want to go for a high risk high reward early game play, you can buy only the and try to invade the enemy bot side buff. Your goal is to throw Qs into the buff bushes or river bushes near max range and get some tribute gold. If you are able to proc all of your tribute stacks and/or clear a ward and get the gold, you can back and buy the charm.

You know you can back for the if you have 130g before minions spawn. Buying potions is up to your discretion. It's not mandatory to have, but can be useful in a
hard lane.

↓

→→→→→→→

While a controversial opinion, Ziggs doesn't necessarily need to upgrade to , but only if ample control wards are being bought. I personally don't build it and almost always prefer →, but I also buy an enormous amount of control wards that make up for it, while also liberally using totem ward charges. Unless you are particularly adept with warding and scouting with Q/W/E, you should build Eye of the Watchers. Especially since the 200 HP lets you deal more damage with .

This is the standard build I came up with. Getting all of the necessities costs a little over 9000g. With Void as a last item, full build only costs about 12k gold. Add a Sorcery Elixir or 2 plus some wards, it will be about 13k gold or a little more.

Why I used to wave the Banner of Command

Before the infamous patch of 8.12, I considered Banner a mandatory item for Ziggs to assist with wave manipulation & tower sieging. Riot could bring back the banner in the future, but it would probably be different from what it's purpose was.

Now to address the elephant on the page... or flag on the field. Why did I get Banner? Why not another AP item? Why not buy an item that builds out of ? These are some FAQ's I would get a lot in games and after games. The issue I had with Codex & Kindle before & were reintroduced was the upgrades that followed. For , other options don't work well with Zigg's kit... except maybe but it's use isn't a necessity. And with the Codex options, is not getting purchased (for obvious reasons). And since is no longer an alternative choice to be considered based on game state, that leaves us with the only other three options. The couple that costs 3000g & the other one with a 2900g cost. Even though they all offer nice AP stats, the completions delay other important items... especially .

Of the remaining Codex upgrades, may seem likely to be optimal. It is very cost efficient when completed. However, Ziggs is an artillery mage that is not reliant on attack speed. Also the on-hit damage doesn't affect towers. It does get value when used with , but that's another 500g. It is a good investment of 3500g to be a huge tower threat, but on a support budget it seems unlikely unless you're super fed.

may seem to be a good upgrade from Codex since your range guarantees the enemy has to commit hard to popping it. But for the purposes of tower taking, the stats it offers aren't very efficient in relation to the cost. Sure the AP is nice, but the item as a whole isn't very efficient. Most of the money on this item goes to the spell shield. And finally, it is only really relevant if your team is really far ahead and the shield helps prevent throwing. Even though it's nice to have when it could save you from one crucial ability, the spell shield doesn't increase your tower damage.

Don't buy . I explained in the runes section why stopwatch is not good for Ziggs. The gold efficiency is so bad on this item that it only becomes efficient if it prevented a death.

was chosen as a sieging item because it is very gold efficient, especially near towers which is where you will spend most of your time. Also it is cheap to finish and helps with manipulating side waves. Plus, anything your promoted minion kills will give you gold and credit for. And to use it effectively requires good game knowledge on how minion waves freeze, bounce, spawn cannons, etc. And with a Baron Banner Cannon, sieging is godlike! It will be very difficult for your opponents to deal with a long range siege minion doing huge tower damage while being heavily resistant to champions with high damage wave clear.

Why Point Runner & its upgrades run with the situationals

For a fairly long time, I have had people ask me questions about the possibility of using Point Runner items for Ziggs. After I have considered the opportunity costs of both Ohm & ZZP, I think their respective worth in occupying an item slot is too dependent on their situational utilites.

costs 2650g & is an item I actually have mixed opinions about. Especially since it goes along with the theme of my fantasy team. The active can be very useful for taking down towers or diving on champions. However, both of these reasons contradict what Ziggs is usually trying to do. Because you want space away from other enemy champions, diving towers is not something you would expect out of Ziggs. That is for Leona, Alistar, Pyke, etc. And getting in range to disable towers can sometimes be dangerous if the enemy can catch you in the act. Trans will give you the 20 AP though. The other stats offered are just a niche to have and aren't very helpful offensively. And finally, Ohm falls off late game. If your team has destroyed all 11 towers, then you won't need this item.

costs 2700g & is another item I have mixed opinions about. Back in previous seasons when Banner had as a component instead of , I would build both Banner & ZZP. This was also at a time where it had an actual hp bar rather than die in 5 hits. Nowadays this item does not have too much use for Ziggs. That is because it gives no offensive stats, the defensive stats aren't of good use by themselves, and the damage it deals to towers scales with champion max health. And that is something which Ziggs does not have a lot of without Resolve runes.

And so we have both of these items with the description of "They could possibly work in a very specific low probability situation." I don't consider them mandatory on Ziggs because that item slot could be used on an AP item that could be used for more damage or wards for more vision. And other more useful alternatives crowd out these options. Ziggs just does more damage to towers by playing offensive than if he would trying to build for defense.

The Lost Lost Chapter

Okay, so got some cool new upgrades and build paths when 8.4 changed most of the AP items. Unfortunately for this specific Ziggs Support, Lost Chapter and its upgrades are not easy buys... mainly because of the costs. The component by itself is very cost efficient, gold efficient, and damage efficient for what it offers, but upgrading it at the expense of delaying cheaper useful items is an issue. GLP is good enough, but I will explain why the other two upgrades should not be considered mandatory. Though, possible for alternatives if fed enough gold.

costs 2800g and gives some amazing stats. If you took then you get even more use out of it's active... which has a shorter downtime compared to ! This item is more gold efficient than Twins. For 400 more gold you get 600 more mana, 10 more AP and 10% more CDR (Trans adds another 20 AP). And the trade-off being the loss of the extra movement speed. The main issue comes with when you would buy it. By rushing this as a first item, you delay LB. This is not a big issue since LB scales well mid game. It is really great in the early game with it's fairly decent base damage, slowing utility and short cooldown.

costs 3200g and it's upgrade to has the complication of "Spending too much gold on too much mana" that becomes excessive. You would need the early tear which delays the cores. I think the only saving grace on this item would be the extra AP you get from Lich Bane... if you ever got around to completing it. And since the nerf to the shield, this has become even less appealing.

is the other big gold sink of 3200g. But as for assisting with your potent poking power, it does work its wonders. Due to the lack of additional items with spell effects (Liandry, Morello, Rylai, etc) the Echoes effect is less potent. I explain reasonings later in this section.

The main themes that all 3 upgrades have are an abundance of superfluous mana, opportunity costs outweighing potential gains, and effects that don't contribute to taking towers. (Mana Shield, Icy Bolts, & Echo procs all deal no damage to towers). Because there are cost effective alternatives that increase both poke and tower damage, most of these items will stay "lost" without a proper function for most of the game until super late game where everyone has lots of gold.

is the most efficient item in the game for damaging towers... and
dealing poke damage too. Comparing it to , you get 150% more AP for only spending about 15% more gold as well as having mana regen & bonus true damage.

Deciding when to buy Sorc Pot depends on the state of the game. I would recommend purchasing one after you finish LB. If your team is snowballing in the mid game, this is definitely a good way to get an even bigger gold lead & close out a game early.

↓

Here are some alternative options for 5th or 6th item selections:

Zz'Rot Portal can auto push a lane & set you up for an easy hexplosion on a tower. It is especially useful when you want to control a lane while your team groups to fight a 5v5.
Shurelya's Battlesong is good as a CDR option and has other benefits like the passive & active speed boosts. Plus you can get more AP with the Transcendence rune. Along with the 200 HP it offers, your Demolish will deal more damage.
Twin Shadows will also get the Transcendence boost if you get it's Codex component. It's good for scouting & setting up picks. The passive speed boost can be helpful for dodging skillshots as well as moving around the map.
Morellonomicon offers flat penetration that is good at dealing more damage to towers, champions without much MR, and minions... plus the Grievous Wounds is nice to have against multiple champions who can sustain through poke or heal their allies.
Banshee's Veil should only be considered if you or your team is ahead and you can afford to buy the spell shield to make sure you don't throw the game because you got picked off. Or if for whatever reason the enemy sees you as the biggest threat & you need to protect yourself from a crucial CC or damaging ability.

Choosing whether to get ZZP, SR, TS or MNC depends on if you really need that penetration & GW or the movement speed modifiers for your allies or enemies. When considering these for a 5th or 6th item, expect them to usually be unlikely to be completed unless you happen to be sitting on a lot of gold. If going for this route, only finish the component for speed (), for CDR ( or ), or penetrations () for the stats and passives. DO NOT BUY EXTRA COMPONENTS! That 6th slot is reserved for control wards. Situational items can be very expensive but can be very beneficial for poke damage & other utilities. In addition to that, you can get even more AP from . Whatever item you pick is a high risk, high reward payoff. So if you go for it, commit to it!

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These are all suggestions to forego buying wards to fill the 6th item slot:

Void Staff increases all of your magic damage from spells, basic attacks, on-hit effects & items. The penetration hits towers but not inhibitors/nexus.
Rabadon's Deathcap will give you an increase in AP for your damaging attacks, spells, runes, and items that scale with AP. This will also let you get more value out of the Sorcery runes Transcendence and the Gathering Storm rune post 40 mins.
Luden's Tempest will give you more mana, CDR, AP & bonus AP from Trans. The Echo effect can also be applied from your Protobelt bolts.
Banshee's Veil can be a situational if you didn't choose it as your 5th.
Liandry's Torment can do some good damage to high HP enemies as well as amplify your damage output. Also the 300 HP is good for procs.

95% of the time you should get . I recommend only buying it as a completed item since 20 or 40 AP is not worth giving up vision on demand. Because of issues with item slots, you can only pick one of these. And usually the decision will be Void. And that is because it will always outperform in damage due to percent penetration. If you absolutely need the utility more than damage, you can buy a ZZP for a portal placement before selling it if you haven't aready bought one. Else, default to Void.

For poking & tower damage, Void has the best damage efficiency, then Luden's & Cap.

For burst damage, Void, Luden's, & Rabadon's all have roughly equal damage efficiency.

However, offers more mana & CDR. Consider buying only if you have the gold to cover the sale of an item & pickup. offers more raw damage, but is more expensive. should be considered if you are relegated to a poking role and need to deal with tanks. If you happen to have an abundance of gold just lying around, sell Shurelya (if bought) and buy only if you could get the complete item. And after that, sell EoF/RotW and choose or . Choose the item based on the necessary immediacy of speed or power.

Having the right tools for the right job can be challenging to accomplish. But is worth it in your quest to ball so hard that a MF has to fine you for a bounty.

Team Work

It makes the dream work!

Some bot lane partners work well with your pushing & sieging style while others aren't as great. This list is subjective to my opinion based on game experience and compatibility with strengths, weaknesses, kit synergies, etc.

Usually the best partners I find to pair with are bot laners with decent early game laning power, wave clear built into their kit, and a tendency to build items that can increase damage to towers (penetration, spellblade, etc).

In this tiering list, I will list champions in a sequence of highest to lowest in the standard S,A,B,C,D rating. This list is a general compatibility rating to see which champions are good to work with:

S-Tier: Very easy to win lane with. You cover each other's strengths & weaknesses.

Tristana: Auto push on CS, Rocket Jump & Buster Shot for self peel, plus Rapid Fire & Explosive Charge wreck towers. Everything you would want in a partner.
Yasuo: In past seasons, this used to be seen as trolling. Now, you get a strong pushing lane with easy hard engage. His Last Breath is very easy to setup with W & follow up with R.
Veigar: Ah, the 2 most cunning Yordles with a genius strategy called "Operation: Death Cage" that is sure to secure lane victory. If he traps an enemy in Event Horizon, then you just toss a Satchel Charge them on the wall & both of you throw everything at the stunned target.
Heimerdinger: Ah, the 2 smartest Yordles with a genius strategy of endless wave pushing. With both of you pushing & zoning, getting 1st tower is very likely unless they send 4-5 bot. And his UPGRADE!!! options can help any situation.
Ezreal: His or as well as Essence Fluxare great for damaging towers. Plus he can be independent in lane while you roam.

A-Tier: Great laning partners. They can help you access the tower by poking.

Miss Fortune: Her lethality items help wreck towers & her laning power is oppressive with Double Up & Make it Rain.
Jhin: Both of you have long range, good poke, & tower damage. Lethality & Whisper are good for tower taking.
Brand: Brand had very good mana sustain and absurdly high burst damage. If his Sear gets a stun, look to blow up that target. With him with you, people won't mess with you.
Ashe: She has good wave management, Hawkshot is amazing for getting vision in blind spots, her poke with basic attacks + Volley are nice, & Enchanted Crystal Arrow can setup your Mega Inferno Bomb or stall out chasers.

B-Tier: Good to lane with. They can function well. Even with your zero utility.

Draven: You don't have hard cc initiations or ally utility for him to take advantage of. But he is strong enough to win lane by himself if you assist him by poking down the enemy laners and zone away any divers. And his Whirling Death can combo with your Mega Inferno Bomb for long range snipes.
Sivir: Really good wave clear, her Spell Shield can block for you, & has multiple purposes. Her item timings are long, but rewarding if they come through.
Kai'Sa: She has really good synergy with , deals hybrid damage, and her item variations puts her in a good spot. You can provide her with easy backline access with your Satchel Charge.
Jinx: She can Get Excited! very frequently when the two of you take towers and make long range plays.

C-Tier: Great laners, but not great partners. Synergy is not that good.

Lucian: His play style encourages up close fighting, which is something you shouldn't try for. At least The Culling clears waves.
Kalista: Her Fate's Call can be a life saver. But other than that, she can suffer from your lack of utility & hard engage.
Caitlyn: Great poke, her Yordle Snap Trap makes a great sieging tool, & overall strong early game.
Xayah: She has a very well-rounded, balanced kit that is good at just about everything. Her self peel ultimate is nice to have, but she can function better with some utility.

D-Tier: Typically weak laners. They tend to suffer from your lack of utility.

Varus: His lane power isn't bad. His Q poke, W on-hits, & E heal reduction are nice for having a strong early game. Plus, Chain of Corruption can setup your Mega Inferno Bomb.
Vayne: You can make up for her lack of wave clear & help her get cs. She is a decent partner for laning with, but it takes 2 items for her to start to become a threat.
Twitch: His laning power is not that good and he'd rather roam for picks than siege towers. His monstrous late game is no joke though. Spray and Pray gives him more AD & lets him outrange towers.
Kog'Maw: His on-hit items ( ) & bio arcane barrage do not affect towers, he has a heavy reliance on peel & enhancements, and he plays to not lose lane. Because of that, you will spend most of your time on your side of the river. Try to avoid this combo if possible.

Split Pushing

When you run suicide drills without the squad!

Now, I know it may seem awkward to make a claim for split pushing, but there are a few qualities that Ziggs has to make him viable as a split pushing threat:

Tower Damage: With a maxed , the enemey team cannot ignore you in a side lane since you will get a tower if it's low. Split pushers in general tend to have some tower threatening damage. Since you can execute them without much effort, you become a threat they have to deal with.
Vision Control: Since you have wards, you can set up vision where the enemy is likely to intercept you. Another thing to note is that your can give vision. Part of being a good split pusher is having knowledge of enemy positions.
Escape Mechanisms: With a combination of Point Runner bonus speed, & , and your & CC, running away from people becomes more reliable. Another part of being a good split pusher is knowing how to waste the enemy's time chasing you.
Fighting Power: Even without a lot of AP, this Ziggs build has magic penetration from Sorcerer's Shoes and the occasional Oblivion Orb. Penetration makes your damage strong against carries without magic resistance. If you completed Morellonomicon or Liandry's Torment, tanks and fighters are susceptible to your poke & burst as well. Having some kill pressure increases your threat as a split pusher.
Wave Clear: All of Zigg's spells are AoE. This makes it easy to push waves. And his can clear most waves with its really high base damage & AP scaling. Plus, with , you can clear waves without spending mana. Being able to shove waves into towers makes split pushing effective.
Team Assistance: Since your has ridiculous range, you can contribute damage to a team fight or defend against a siege by not even being present. Or you can make sick objective steals on Dragon or Baron & make Thug Life highlights and say #DealWithIt in all chat.

Something I need to point out is just because you have the ability to split push doesn't necessarily mean you should do it. There will come times when you need to stay grouped with your team or with a few members.

You get more value out of split pushing when you can occupy attention of a key member of the enemy team. Your team doesn't need you to team fight. But if their top laner is their main front line, they would need him/her.

Phases of the Game

1st Quarter: Laning Phase (Game Start to ~10 mins)

In the laning phase, your goals are to

Ball on enemies and minions with .
Avoid spamming other spells unless necessary.
Keep the area thoroughly warded.

By starting with + , you're all set to spam some Qs. However, don't just shoot air balls and bricks. Aim with purpose. Square up little yordle! Every time you shoot, think to yourself: did I hit their wave and their laner? Did I force another potion? Did I push away their support?

On that note, keep an eye on your cool down. If it's 4 seconds or less away from recharging, you may want to hold the trigger finger until you use that empowered attack. You can use that attack on a minion if hitting a champion is too risky.

You absolutely should not be getting hit. Ziggs has that 3-point range while other standard supports can only dunk or layup or shoot free throws. That means damage is very likely to be avoidable. Be aggressive with pushing and poking. The idea here is to never take a hit to get off a hit. Make the lane as one-sided as possible.

Remember that if you press Q, sometimes it will bounce over a small area while it's in mid-air flight.

Your kill potential pre-6 isn't terribly massive. Don't be too aggressive until then. That means saving instead of trying to hit the enemies with it. Your job is to push the wave under the enemy tower, poke them with spells and your passive on-hit, and try to chip down the tower. Saving your W and knowing when to use it is very important since it has a very long cool down until level 10 and 40% CDR.

Avoid using Hexplosive Mine Field for poke! Your mana regeneration can only barely regenerate the mana drain of your bombs, so adding E on top of that will get you oom quickly. You should largely use it only when helping clear waves or when the enemies have committed to a fight.

Once you have your ult, you can almost one-shot squishy laners. This is the time when you can be very forward about landing your Satchels & pulling off some combos with your other spells for an easy kill. If you notice incoming help, use the speed from to setup an opportunity for , though watch out for any incoming CC.

2nd Quarter: Early Game (10 to ~20 mins)

In the early game, your goals are to

Look to group in other lanes with low towers for 1st tower gold.
Set up vision near big neutral objectives like Dragon & Rift Herald.
Roam around and look for picks.

With an early Frostfang + Sheen, you're able to almost indefinitely spam Bombs. Pushing should be a bit easier with more mana & regen & AP. And with the Spellblade passive as well as your passive, you can chunk towers down easier.

Try to call for ganks from the jungler, roams from mid, or TP's from top. With some coordination, getting that first tower should be fairly easy.

By this time you should have stacked up. Ziggs can walk in the river and press R to get that half-court shot on the enemy mid laner and/or their wave. You can get assists mid & pressure bot lane at the same time.

Remember that your tower execution power increases with each W rank.

By the time you hit level 9, you should typically have , , and completed. Also, is an optional condition depending on how much gold you have. This is usually around 13-15 minutes. When you have these items, you have completed your early game power spike. At level 10, you get the extra CDR from to bump it up to 40%. Your peeling power is stronger with that 7.2s W cooldown. Also, gives you 8 AP at 10 minutes.

3rd Quarter: Mid Game (20 to ~30 mins)

As all of the laning phases & early games end, you will start roaming more and helping around the map. Objectives include:

Continue maintaining strong vision control of the map.
Try to be near areas of potential conflict to ult enemies from downtown!
Use Ghost to kite and chase better during teamfights or escape chasers.
Chase down lonely opponents and kill them.

Your role before fights remains straightforward. Your mana regen is also now sufficient to spam wildly. Don't intentionally miss. We don't like air balls! Usually it's often sufficient to just present the threat of Bombs even if you don't hit it. By the time you hit level 13, each spell cast will take 6s off of your passive cool down. Watch the timings of the & passives so you can use them optimally... especially when hitting towers.

When enemies get closer, get yourself farther. Try to stay close to the tip of your spell's range and make sure the areas around you are warded well.

Don't be afraid to use Ghost to arrive to fights several seconds earlier. It's on an impressively short cool down, especially if you have . So try to get creative with its various uses.

Keep an eye on your carries and see if you can help them out against melee enemies by using Satchel Charge. It can interrupt most leaps & dashes with it's knock back. Be careful when using it. Depending on how you angle it, you can use it to knock people away from your team and/or use it to knock people towards your team.

Your ult is on a relatively short cool down. You can probably get the best use out of it for clearing waves in side lanes to build up waves. It's also good at defending against pushes since destroying minion waves helps stall their siege.

By the time you hit level 13, you should typically have completed and maybe a . Also, you might have finished an optional component like maybe or maybe even if fed enough gold. Situational items are also good based on circumstances. These item completions usually happen around 23-27 minutes. This is generally your mid game power spike. At 20 minutes, will give you 24 AP. Really good value. That's about 450g worth of free AP.

4th Quarter: Late Game (30 to ~40 mins & higher)

This is usually where the game is looking to be over soon... for better or for worse. The role remains largely similar

Less vision at this stage makes warding tough. Be cautious.
With its low cooldown, you should have Ghost ready for every teamfight.
Prioritize protecting the caries over throwing out damage.

Though you do impressive damage, so do your carries. The difference is that they are just as fragile and usually have more gold. If they need some protection, give them some peel while throwing the longer-range spells into team fights.

Try to save your ult until the enemies have gotten busy with the rest of your team. Using it much earlier will almost certainly be a wasted opportunity.

In some niche scenarios, when time is absolutely critical, consider using your ult on barons/dragons as you're taking them so you can get out as quickly as possible.

By the time you hit level 16, you should typically have completed either or . And that happens around 33-47 minutes. This is usually your late game game power spike.

A typical full build should look something like .

At 30 minutes, will give you 48 AP. 80 AP at 40 mins, 120 at 50, and 168 at 60. If for whatever reason you couldn't end the game, you should be able to at this point with your power.

Overtime: Super Late Game (50 mins & higher)

Okay, so someone threw a lead, a big come back happened, the game got stalled out, etc. Something happened (or didn't happen) 15 minutes ago, and the game is still going, what now? Here's some things to take note of:

Don't get caught out & don't go warding alone. Death Timers are really long.
Buy less elixirs & stockpile money to buy AP items
Keep prioritizing protecting the carries over throwing out damage.

At this stage of the game, gold leads & deficits have less meaning as everyone approaches full builds & max levels. This is usually when really kicks in. As gold becomes more abundant, You should look to sell your gold generating items. If selling your vision tools can win you a fight with more damage, the trade off is worth it.

A new full build should look something like . With this new build, you are no longer a "Support" since you got rid of your vision tool. You have the damage output of a mid lane Ziggs and should be feared as one. With all of that AP as well as bonuses from other sources like , Blue buffs, Dragon buffs, Baron buffs, , etc. getting over 1000 AP becomes easier as the game gets longer.

Becoming more of an offensive damage threat can help close out the game. If the enemy has towers still, focus on getting them. But try not to suicide for them. Your biggest priority is staying alive. Taking towers, peeling for the team, pushing waves, throwing out poke, etc. isn't as important when it comes to just surviving.

Similar to basketball games, that "Sudden Death" feeling starts to happen. Anxiety might build up & it could affect your performance positively or negatively. Try to keep a calm head and consider your win conditions as well as your loss conditions. One team will win because they played better than the other team... or one team will win because mistakes were made on the other team.

Use your infinite scaling wisely and have good decision making. Smart decision making skills as well as vast game knowledge are requirements to make this work. Use these tactics with your item selections to make them work for your intentions and you can figure out what steps to take to get that win!

Summary

That's all I have for now! I will be updating every patch I see major changes. In 8.4, the AP items changed the build. In 8.6, Shurelya's made it cheaper & more workable. 8.9 gave us more mana options. 8.12 changed the build around due to Banner being removed. I will be ready when more changes come around. 8.13 reinvented the bot lane with a variety of fighters and mages. In 8.18 I changed a lot of things. Runes & Items got switched to a more defensive offense by utilizing DM procs on towers.

Thank you for reading & stay tuned for updates!

Rasta La Vista Baby!

Ziggs Support & Bot - Shooting Guard on the Wreckers

Ziggs Support & Bot - Shooting Guard on the Wreckers

Choose Champion Build:

Recommended Items

Runes: Arcane Colossus

Spells:

Exhaust

Ghost

Items

Ability Order Support Tower Wrecker

Short Fuse (PASSIVE)

Bouncing Bomb (Q)

Satchel Charge (W)

Hexplosive Minefield (E)

Mega Inferno Bomb (R)

Threats & Synergies

Alistar

Ashe

Bard

Blitzcrank

Brand

Braum

Caitlyn

Draven

Ezreal

Janna

Jhin

Jinx

Kalista

Karma

Kog'Maw

Leona

Lucian

Lulu

Lux

Miss Fortune

Morgana

Nami

Rakan

Sivir

Sona

Soraka

Tahm Kench

Taric

Thresh

Tristana

Twitch

Varus

Vayne

Vel'Koz

Xayah

Zilean

Zyra

Quinn

Kai'Sa

Pyke

Irelia

Yasuo

Mordekaiser

Swain

Heimerdinger

Fiddlesticks

Shen

Gragas

Vladimir

Kayle

Nautilus

Karthus

Viktor

Veigar

Graves

Ezreal

Heimerdinger

Tristana

Veigar

Yasuo

Ashe

Brand

Jhin

Miss Fortune