Hi again guys, Wietlol here with another guide out of the meta.

I main ziggs atm, he is getting nerfs all over the time so he is not viable any more... 0.o viable???

Annie-way as I played with him as noone else does, I started to make this guide to explain what I do and why.

BOMBS AWAY!!!

Pros

- Hard to counter if you practise alot.
- Very strong early game and if you played well, even stronger at late game.
- High Effective Combos with most Crowd Control (CC) champions.
- Badass funny to play.
- Long ranged abilities.
- Very effective nukes.
- Easiest champion to farm and counterfarm.
- Can make good ganks.
- Huge damage in teamfights.


Cons

- Hard to learn. (Ziggs is hard for you need to plan, time and place your abilities well. not even mentioned his W)
- Huge mana consumpsion.
- Only skillshots... woops this is a Pro
- Can hit himself with abilities.
- Squishy champion with only one escape-ability.

Ziggs is a very unpopular champion at the moment and I understand why.
The point is that those who know what to do can be getting free wins.

Ziggs can be played effectively on 2 ways (,as mentioned at the top,) and can de-counter most other champions. Another thing that I like Ziggs for is that he has only skillshots, so its power is completely depending on the player and not the champion itself.

Though some people say that Katarina, Fizz, LeBlanc and Akali are good counters to have versus Ziggs, In My Opinion (IMO) those champions are easy if you know what to do.

Katarina must be continously be under pressure because she can Shunpo to evade your abilities, but it has a terrible cooldown on early levels. Having Chalice of Harmony is a good choise to keep spamming your abilities. Her Death Lotus can be countered by your Satchel Charge, the faster you react, the less damage she deals with her ult.

Fizz is "annoying" because he can use his E ( Playful / Trickster) to evade your ultimate. But that's why you only use it when you know he has it on cooldown.
Fizz can easily destroy you on early levels (3-7) and if he did, you will have a hard late game. So focus on counter-farm, HUGE pokes and ganks too be able to face him in a 1 versus 1.


LeBlanc can evade your abilities with her W ( Distortion) unless you place your mines on the place were she was before she used it. This will force her to remain on her current position and you can use your Short Fuse and Bouncing Bomb to poke her down.
LeBlanc can engage on you and kill you if you won't react with your Satchel Charge quickly enough. But if you do, she can't win her lane and will fall behind in late game.


Akali has a great benefit from being in stealth. Ziggs though can use his W ( Satchel Charge) and E ( Hexplosive Minefield) to keep her under the effect of Liandry's Torment. That's why she has nothing to win in lane.
The second reason is that she can't deal damage from a distance. This means that you should be spamming your abilities to keep her low on health and maybe kill her.
Always be care of where she is. A good Akali can easily gank your teammates.


Counters where I care for are Talon, Diana, Kassadin and Zed.
Those can be very annoying because they can engage and kill you or get away without being hit too hard.

In case of facing these champions, you should be focussing on counter farm. Using Satchel Charge and Hexplosive Minefield to block your opponents path is a good way to reduce farm and the enemy turret will do the rest.
From level 6 you will need some help to keep ahead of them. Especially Talon and Kassadin might be a hard game if they didn't fell behind.

Flash might be the most wanted spell for you need a stronger engage, escape, evade, and whatever more. The cooldown is hugely reduced by your masteries so don't be afraid to use it.

Having an Ignite is IMO the best secondary spell for you can have a nice burst damage on early levels and reduce healing effects of the target. When facing an Akali, LeBlanc, Swain, Nidalee, etc. you have a huge advantage.

Barrier can also be a nice choice if you know you won't be able to get an early kill Annie-way. In that case you have a larger shield to completely ignore enemy bursts... bye bye LeBlanc, Veigar and Brand.

Starting the game to rush Tear of the Goddess is my favorite start, because I won't run out of mana any more, and I can have an early Shield Active and Ability Power Bonus.

Sorcerer's Shoes are probably the best shoes to buy for their magic tenetration. You should buy it as long as you are not in need for other boots like the Mercury's Threads or the Boots of Swiftness because you need the Tenacity or Movement Speed.

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Who doesn't like items that refer to death?

I do not always use my Deathfire Grasp active, but when I do, I make sure I get kills. You can use a deathcap in case you want some CDR and you have to burst a champion down that is not squishy enough for your abilities on their own. (lately i prefer Rylais instead)

This is a more late game item, but it is very essential IMO. Once you have a proper Seraph's Embrace, Zhonya's Hourglass, Lich Bane and Deathfire Grasp, you can buy the Rabadon's Deathcap to make your burst complete.

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As if a burst couldn't get any better.

Seraph's Embrace is able to grant you more than 130 AP, a huge mana pool and a nice shield. That's why I love this item too much and rush it some games, which is not the best to do probably, cause you might love the armor from the Seeker's Armguard or get a Lich Bane up and running ASAP. To make sure to survive during you land your combo, you can make good use of the active.

As you won't have any problems placing one basic attack, you have OP AP and you already have your Short Fuse, you might love to have the Lich Bane pretty early and make short work of turrets, inhibitors and also squishy champions. Both Short Fuse and Lich Bane are very effectively and should be ready when you start your burst.

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Final Items

The Void Staff makes easy work of tanks and bruisers for its nice passive. Having it early game is almost useless and should only be considered as final item. Even though I have this one in most of my builds, it is very game related. To be exact, I only buy it when I definitely see that my burst is not doing a lot and when the enemy champions all have 100+ MR.

Zhonya's Hourglass is one of my favorite items on APC's for many reasons. Most of all I like it for its huge AP bonus and Stasis.

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MOAR Final Items

The Spirit of the Spectral Wraith, as some of you already have seen, is a very good item to be able to get a lot of gold and stay in lane forever. As Ziggs can push hard at mid-game, you can try to push your wave under their turret and start killing wraiths and wolves. Always keep an eye open for your gold stacks and the minion wave that is coming after the current wave. Also keep in mind that your opponent can also be missing from lane. And of course you don't NEED this item to be able to kill some wraiths.:)

The Rylai's Crystal Scepter is a very good item for Ziggs in many games. In case you want to survive the bursts of the enemy bruisers, you get a nice HP bonus. In case you want to keep the enemy champions in range or be able to escape from them, a better and more slows are always welcome. And of course it also boosts your AP.

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Trinkets

I can tell you, you want that ward. Not only is it giving you that little boost in safe area but it can also help your team by warding dragon, buffs, baron etc. DONNOT EVER BUY SCRYING ORB!!! You don't use your ultimate on a long range until you know you can hit them and wether it is worth the try. By the time you do know that, you are able to land it without the use of this useless trinket.

As you want to have huge mana regeneration, you should be rushing the Chalice of Harmony by starting with 2 Faerie Charms. You also have enough money left to buy potions and a ward. The 25 magic resist blocks a lot of damage and may be enough to stay in lane for a long time.

Catalyst the Protector

Alternatively you can buy the Catalyst the Protector to have good health and mana regain on level up and early stacks on Rod of Ages. This is very helpfull if you can force your opponent to base all the time and regain health and mana to stay in lane yourself.

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Most essential items

Rylai's Crystal Scepter allows you to slow your opponents with every ability and has huge effect if combined with the Hexplosive Minefield. Having this allows you to escape from almost every engage and save your teammates a lot.

Liandry's Torment is your main damage source. It will deal 11,5% of targets current hp over 3 seconds. Dealing MUCH damage in teamfights and slowing your opponents at the same time is the way to victory. (This is made against tanks so you should only build it in case you face a lot of tanky champions. Lets say facing Swain, Shen top, Thesh support, etc.)

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Sustainability

The Rod of Ages is a good item to have early game because it stacks your health, mana and AP. With this, you are way harder to kill and wont fall out of mana any more. A second Rod of Ages might be good if you have no other item to take.

As the perfect build from the Chalice of Harmony, Athene's Unholy Grail will give you even better mana regeneration, magic resist, CDR and AP and will be the best way to keep your mana up. The magic resist is good in early game but rushing it might give you the lack of the essential items in mid game.

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Final Items

The Void Staff is just amazing... you are fighting tanks aren't you?

As final item you should take an item that will give you the thing you need. So you should consider the Morellonomicon, Zhonya's Hourglass, Abyssal Mask and Seraph's Embrace good alternative items to have, but only if you need those. If not you should be buying a second Rod of Ages or the Rabadon's Deathcap.

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Trinkets

I can tell you, you want that ward. Not only is it giving you that little boost in safe area but it can also help your team by warding dragon, buffs, baron etc. DONNOT EVER BUY SCRYING ORB!!! You don't use your ultimate on a long range until you know you can hit them and wether it is worth the try. By the time you do know that, you are able to land it without the use of this useless trinket.

Your passive Short Fuse is an effective ability in teamfights or nukes for it will deal insane damage in late games and makes easy work of turrets and inhibitors.
You can farm easily with this one and still not wasting mana. Once you combine it with the Lich Bane, you might be loving to land one basic attack in a while.

Your primary damage source next to your basic attacks is your Bouncing Bomb. This ability deals massive AOE Magic damage at a long range. Using it perfectly is just all about practising.
First of all, the bomb will be dropped at the target location and bounces two more times for half of that distance (might be wrong about this one, but it is about half).
When the bomb hits enemy/neutral units, the bomb will explode, if not then it will make another bounce.
Casting it outside of the range circle casts it in that direction at the longest range.

Though your Q is your primary damage source, your Hexplosive Minefield deals more damage if used well. Next to the higher damage, it also slows the target, remains on the ground, has a wider area and a longer basic range.
The point is that it has a longer cooldown and a higher mana cost.
You should be using this ability well to slow your target to make it easier for your jungler (or yourself) by making more time.
It is extremely helpfull to keep your farm ahead and make a fast clear of jungle creeps in your spare time.
This ability deals more damage the more bombs hit your enemy. Placing this ability at the middle of the enemies makes it too overpowered and it will deal up to 700 + (150% AP) damage... 0.o viable???
You can also use this to block your enemies path. So you can zone your enemies easily, or you devide their team to be able to make a 5vs3 battle.

Another ability that can do that is your Satchel Charge.
Equal as your E, this one remains on the ground, but doesn't react on collision with enemy units. Instead you can activate it by re-using your W.
The differences are that this one deals way less damage and has a higher cooldown, so using it to poke your opponent down is only good if you have infinite mana.
You can use it to zone your opponent just like your E and these two together make the best combo, but I always use it effectively because of its knockback.
Satchel Charge has a knockback on both your opponents and you. This can knock you back into your turret to escape from ganks, (even without wards,) or you use it to knock enemies to you to kill them, or you knock them away to get a safe escape. The knockback is long enough to jump over most walls and is almost equal to a free flash.
You can also use it to stop channeling abilities like Katarina's Death Lotus or Caitlyn's Ace in the Hole.
This is a terrible ability for your opponents if you can use it well.

Last but not least, you have another ability that makes you the terror of the game, gave me too much kills and honors and will give you a lot of nice opportunities. What else could it possibly be? !!! Mega Inferno Bomb!!!
I like this one for its huge AOE and massive range. In teamfights you can deal extremely much damage if you can trap them in the middle (,for it deals more damage in the center).
In lane, your opponent might be able to escape with only 100 hp left... just a waste of time to let them live isn't it?
I use this one often when the enemy team is walking towards us and I will use it between them to let half of their team walk back and the other walk to the front. Enabling 5vs3 and 5vs2 battles for us.
You should be having a lot of practise about when to use it, missile speed (in combination with distance), where to place your ult and how to time it perfectly. (don't worry, it took me a long time as well to find out what possibilities there are in one ability ZiXD

Runes

The runes for Ziggs may vary for each player: Some players might love the Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed while others prefer the Greater Quintessence of Mana.
As I have only 2 pages and have not much IP to spent, I will just be playing with the Greater Quintessence of Ability Power.
I think that there are some who use the Movement Speed Quits a lot and I will probably be buying them soon too, but as a start you should have flat AP.

As you try to take no damage in late game, you just don't need so much Magic Resist and Armor and have some place for more AP or Magic Penetration.
You should be having the resist to your lane opponent if you can, for it will make the early game much easier.

Masteries

The new Masteries are pretty awesome for some roles, like the mid APC.
These Masteries show the best way to deal massive damage and highest profit from other things.
Since CDR had some hard nerfs lately, I think it is better to have CDR masteries again.

Now you know what Ziggs is about, we can move the discussion to the laning.

In lane, there are a few champions that own their lane without any threat: LeBlanc, Fizz, Kassadin (from lvl 6) and Ziggs. There may be some more to add to this list, but at least these are too strong in lane.

For Ziggs, you just keep poking your opponent with your Bouncing Bomb as long as you have more than 50% Mana. Short Fuse can be used effectively to poke your opponent as well, but has a shorter range.

Ofcourse you try to get as much farm as you can get and focus primarily on the minions and poke at the same time.
Farming as Ziggs is very easy for you can time your pokes to take farm with the AOE damage. Next to that you are able to take almost every minion if you don't get pushed under your turret at low levels and you have increased damage on your basic attacks once in a while.

You can be able to block your opponent's path to prevent him of farming and even of gaining exp.
You can do this by using your Satchel Charge and Hexplosive Minefield next to each other and make a wall.
(((picture soon)))


When you get ganked, you use your Satchel Charge to knock yourself into your turret to prevent kills, and vice versa, you use it to knock your opponent towards your ganking jungler.
Timing this when playing against a Master Yi, Maokai, Lee Sin, etc. may even give you some kills and a jungle buff for free!

As Ziggs, you shouldn't be greedy and try to make a kill whenever you see an enemy. In early game, you can start poking your opponent down and force him to base or finish him off with one combo. This will keep you ahead with gold and experience and you might be on a killing spree when you go to base for the first time.
Equal as in early game, in late game you can poke your opponents down in no time and when fed you can deal 80-100% of their HP in one full combo: ( Bouncing Bomb -> Deathfire Grasp -> Short Fuse + Lich Bane -> Satchel Charge -> Hexplosive Minefield -> Bouncing Bomb -> Lich Bane -> Mega Inferno Bomb -> Zhonya's Hourglass... oops misclick)

When you get low on hp and you don't want to go base, you can keep distance and continously throw a Bouncing Bomb to keep your opponent away and your other abilities can take out a full minion wave pretty easy.

One thing I can't stop is ganking.
As I was an active jungler, I like to gank people as much as possible and wont show any mercy for those who stay under their turrets.

With Ziggs, you can gank enemy lanes easily for you have pretty strong slows and knockback, while also deal insane damage. Having your other laners have a reliable stun/snare makes it much easier to land your spells well and secure kills even better.

Always keep in mind that you still have to keep an eye open for yout opponent for any pings/ss's.

Ziggs can counter-gank most champions and will be fed if you shadow the enemies jungler.
(((picture soon)))

In teamfights, Ziggs is the most lovely champion to deal the damage you need.

As you have to spamm your abilities in the fights, you must make sure that you won't get focussed and if you get anyway, you just activate your Zhonya's Hourglass once you have landed your Satchel Charge and pop your W to activate it again once the Stasis is over. This will allow you to escape the terror of most perfect timed abilities and make your enemies rage quit.
(((picture soon)))

In teamfights you just spamm your Bouncing Bomb and use Hexplosive Minefield and Mega Inferno Bomb when the enemy engages. In almost every other situation, it is better to keep them for the final kills.

As mentioned before, you can avoid teamfights and create 5vs3 fights all the time. By scaring half of the team back and block their path.
(once I make replays, I will show you what I exacly do)

When building Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Liandry's Torment, you wont be able to nuke someone down, but you are able to keep the enemies slowed and deal insane damage to tanks.
You just have to use one ability every 2 seconds so the effect remains.

<26/11/2013>
I will be watching the patches as long as I play League of Legends and will update the guides if nessecary.

I will be updating this guide soon with more information about lane opponents.
Feel free to give me feedback in the comments (I like to hear what other people think about what I do.)
I am still searching for a nice screen recording system to make movies. So if anyone knows of a good one than im glad to hear it... Yes I'm too lazy to find one myself. (trying BB FlashBack atm)

Bye guys.

WOOOOOOT!!! Snowday Ziggs Avaiable soon!!!