Hello all. I am Menso and I've been playing LoL since season 2. I got into playing Zilean support at the start of season 10 and I noticed he has always been a tier 2 support according to op.gg. What led me to start maining him was that everyone was playing tier 1 supports and so I would just ban them out and play a bunch of Zilean as he is hardly ever played. Without further ado, I hope this guide finds you much success in your future endeavors. :-)

Laning Phase
Level 1 Always start Time Bomb. You want to proc Manaflow Band so land a bomb on an enemy and while Manaflow Band is on cooldown just auto for now, ward, etc.
Level 2-5 Look to engage with double bombs or play it safe and farm up with your ADC. As support keep vision as much as possible.
Level 6 Timing (no pun intended) Chronoshift is key here. Don't ult allies too early or you will waste it.Play around Drake at this point in the game when your ult can bait easy kills for your team.

Mid game
At this point in the game just ward the map, keep allies alive, and take objectives around Rift Herald/Drake.

Late game
By now you should have plenty of CDR and mana due to Manaflow Band procs(like I mentioned earlier) so look for picks with your bombs and you should be able to ult multiple times in fights. Keep objectives warded as you're still the support kekw.

Here are some things to keep in mind when playing Zilean.

-Your passive grants a champ the exp they need for the next level. This passive also has a cooldown. You may want to consider throughout the game who to give exp to(Tristana scaling with bonus range per level, Ornn level 13, Kayle level 6, 11, 16)

-You are squishy so do not play in the front of team fights. You can however rely on your ult to save you so engaging a fight can work in your favor.

-If you miss a bomb, walk into it and into an enemy to "not" miss a bomb ;)

-Speed up your front line ally(ies) to catch enemies out of position.

-Do not ALWAYS ult your ADC. Sometimes the ally that is carrying(top, jungle) should take your ult.

Thank you for viewing this guide. I hope it has helped you in some way shape or form. If you want to play with me sometime my screenname is Zilean Gaymer. I'm currently G1. I have reached Diamond in a past season and have been in Platinum a few seasons as well. Good luck, have fun! :D