:)

Good build would recommend, however the items you build only really support champs that rely on mana and a few champs that are played don't rely on mana or don't have mana problems at all, maybe consider adding in a few different aura items? Great guide by the way.

nice build helps in games

Thank you very much Wayne! I'll get to work on it as soon as I can through the holidays!

Hey there, you asked for a review so here it is. Sorry it took a while, I've been very busy during the last couple of days and have barely had time to review :|

Anyway, I'll just post some comments based on the different aspects GMD and I look at when reviewing a guide, hope it helps :)

• I believe this guide needs more info on why support Zilean is good. It's not really about whether he's able to support, because all champions can do that, but the question that needs answering is why someone would pick Zilean over others and why they'd pick this over playing him mid (which is really strong right now).
  You correctly point out the fact that Zilean is a different kind of support. Doing that should narrow the list of supports that Zilean has to 'compete' with significantly. Why, in your opinion, is he better than the others supports that are like him? Or is he completely unlike all the others?
• The current combo that you use to harass or secure a kill seems a bit weird. I don't think carries WANT to get into the range where your bombs can explode and deal damage to enemies as it leaves them vulnerable to the CC and damage of both enemies.
  Also, what happens if the enemy team has a great defensive support like Alistar with a lot of CC or what if their poke is really strong and you're forced to play defensively? What should Zilean do in those cases? Can he defend his teammates as well or is he only great in case you and your laning partner have the initiative (which means he should lane with strong early game AD carries)?
• Heal > Flash. You say you keep Flash as a default, wth? Supports without a heal have become much more viable since the Heal buff, as it will allow you to play aggressively even against other supports that have a heal of their own, trading damage and going for a kill with Heal as a 'backup'. Also, you have great mobility, you'll of course also be able to heal your team in teamfights etc.
  I see no reason not to pick it on Zilean tbh.
• Aegis es #1.
  I don't really agree with Aegis of the Legion falling off during the late game. For tanky teammates (usually your jungler and solo top) the armor and mres will not be as significant since they will (or at least should) get a lot of defensive items anyway, but for your AP and AD carry it is definitely a good boost since their own resistances won't generally be very high and they normally don't get much more than a Banshee's Veil (AD carry) or items like Abyssal Mask and Zhonya's Hourglass (AP carry) in terms of armor/mres.
  Also, I think Soul Shroud is not that great because AP carries that need mana regen will buy it or get blue and if they need CDR they'll buy it as well. Items like Deathfire Grasp and Morello's Evil Tome are often even good enough to solve both issues with at once. Tanks can also solve mana and CDR problems with items like Frozen Heart. In the end, who'll benefit from the aura?
• How do you make sure not to get lasthits in lane? His bombs deal a huge amount of damage early game so he can harass well, but he'll deny his carry farm by doing so.
• How are you 'not in range for the Abyssal Mask aura' if the range of that aura is 1000 while the range of both your bomb and time warp are 700? Do you never use abilities on enemies either? :S :P
• How does Zilean 'become very tanky' in mid game if he doesn't build resistances? Sure he has some health but without resistances you won't be tanky, let alone very tanky.

I've listed some mistakes you've made. Overall a good job though :)

• one of these will become a Philosopher's Stone, and the other into a Mana Manipulator --> and the other one will become a Mana Manipulator
• exponetially --> exponentially
• Seeing what champions are going into what lane at the start --> which champions, which lane
• on the other side of them map --> the map
• Exhaust annd Ignite --> and
• Grabbing a ward is necessity for most support characters --> a necessity or necessary
• so does is bomb --> his
• Banshee's Veil is the original defense item that is wonderful all around --> not a mistake, but what do you mean with 'original defense item'? :S
• to slow them enemy down if he needs to -->the enemy
• Throw a bomb and speed buff on ally, rewind bomb and speed debuff enemy --> Bad sentence, doesn't flow well.
• carrys --> carries
• your going to have to check --> you're
• your should most likely be bringing Clairvoyance --> you
• Cleaning the map of enemy wards and replacing them with your own can essentially win you the game(if your team is competent enough to do so) --> What does 'to do so' refer to you, your team winning? In that case I'd rephrase it since it sounds like it's referring to cleaning the map of wards and replacing them with your own atm (which is something you should do, of course).
• Zilean should be at every team fight your that your team is involved in --> remove the first your
• If you use it too early, it can time out, if you lose it too late(technically not using it), you just lost a teammate and now its a 4v5 --> lose it too late, wut?
• Keeping one of your carries from dieing --> dying

As always, I'll leave a link to jhoijhoi's guide to Making a Guide (it's clickable! ^^), because almost everything I'll mention in terms of visual appearance can be learned from her guide.
I think there's a lot you can improve in terms of how the guide currently looks:

• First of all, even though I'm not sure I should place this here, I'd suggest slightly changing the order of your current chapters and placing your change log at the end of the guide, near the section with updates that are coming soon. I'm also not sure about the 'Quick Reference' chapter, as it looks more like a summary to me which could be placed near the end of the guide to quickly sum everything up. On the other hand, I'd understand it if you want to keep it near the beginning so readers that don't want to read the entire guide can simply scan this chapter without having to look at the rest.
• Your Pros/Cons section has too much colour. Instead of colouring the text, try making the word Pros green and the word Cons red (<--- like this :P).
  Also, use lists instead of simply using Enter.
• Not all people like it, but you could use the following codes at the top of your runes and mastery sections:
  
  
  Code:

  [runes]
  Code:

  [masteries]
  
  
  This will display your rune/mastery choices in a visually appealing way :3
• The information about the different uses of Clairvoyance is really something that should be in a list.
  Also, centering the entire chapter (especially with a list like that) doesn't look good imo, especially since you do it with your 'Starting Items', 'Core Items' and 'Items to Avoid' sections as well. That's just too much. If you want to use centered text, I suggest combining it with columns, which actually does look good. Take this chapter from the #2 Cho'gath guide as an example.
  Alternatively, simply try something different and use less centered text.
• Your last sections (describing gameplay) suddenly become huge walls of text. Work on the amount of coding in these sections by using coding for things like Zilean, Sight Ward etc.
  You could also add some images or work on the amount of paragraphs.

Overall your guide has a good amount of depth in terms of items and gameplay, but I would suggest adding more alternatives in terms of runes and masteries. You can also go more in-depth on why someone would choose support Zilean like I mentioned earlier.

There are also some things that can actually be removed from the guide. Explaining why people shouldn't buy certain items that you often see Zilean buy is good, but explaining why they shouldn't use summoner spells like Revive is simply a bit unnecessary.

Finally, if you really want to go the extra mile you could also add information on how to play with certain carries that you'll often lane with (some are more aggressive and can harass actively, some need you to harass more) or how to counter carries/supports you often face and what to watch out for.

---

Hope that helps :)

Good luck on further improving the guide ^^

Well when trying to escape a Renekton, you should easily be able to get away. He should not be able to get near you. You should see him coming a mile away if you ward well, and if you stay completely in the open away from minions, you should be fine. He can "Slice" forward, but he can only "Dice" if he hits something. Using Mobility Boots, he shouldn't be able to hurt you.

Thank you Rick, i agree on the most part, maybe except the manipulator and philo :). But that's just a preference thing. I will try boots of mobility sometimes and see how it works out. Overall, your build allows you to get some gold and decent items and be supportive, which is all it takes to be a good support. So you have a +1 from me; just give me a tip if you know how to stay in battle and throw a good ult when you deal with a pesky Renekton, that devoted his life to hunt you and kill you during every teamfight. Cause that's one of the thing that make my zilean's life bad.. and short.

Thank you for the comment, and I'd be happy to answer your questions, so here we go:
1) Phil Stone vs. Mana Manipulator
Personally, its just a habit that i've gotten into with all my supports, I usually end up rushing a Phil Stone. It gives more mana regen than the MM, and it helps you start to make money as a support, and since you won't be getting cs, I feel its important to start making money as soon as possible. If they aren't happy with that, then tell them to quit *****ing and go in, because I just put a bomb on your head.
2) Kage's Lucky Pick
I'd say this item is decent at best. Yeah, it gives a tad of AP, but I feel that the Heart of Gold's bonus HP is much more worth while, especially if you are going to be investing your time in some early team fights. Like you say, nobody like da Zilean(:
3) Boots of Mobility
I really feel like this is a clutch item for Zilean. I feel the main thing he brings to the team is his mobility, among other things. So, grabbing some mobile boots, and in conjunction with his Time Warp, he should NEVER miss out on a team fight, even if he's a lane away. He will always stay with this team, and this keeps him close to the speed others will be moving when throwing off Time Warps on all your nearby allies over and over again, so he will never fall behind. Giving the master of mobility...more mobility. And if you have a problem with being killed, Boots of Mobility will get you out. Invite them to try to catch you. Tryndamere, Teemo, Blitzcrank, a Zilean without BoM, etc. etc. will never catch you. You should be able to EASILY stay out of death's range.
4) BV vs. GA
I really don't have a major problem with either item. To be completely honest, the last items in the build beyond the core are up for grabs, depending on the situation. If the situation would call for a GA, go for it, even though you can just spam Rewind until your ult is back up again. That saves an ult cast that you don't have to cast on yourself.

Hello Rick,

I like that you play zilean as a support char, i try to do that too nowdays, but i have a different item approach which i would like to discuss :)

1st of all:
You build Philosopher's stone -> Boots -> Heart of Gold -> Mana Manipulator. Have you ever tryed switching it up, and rushing Mana Manipulator -> philosopher' stone -> Heart of Gold -> Boots? My reasoning here is that the earlier you get mana manipulator, the more useful it will be to your carry. Yes, philo stone gives health regen and gold, but since zilean a support wihtout healing, i generally like to make my carry happy by other means.

2nd of all:
Kage's lucky pick. I understand that you had this item in your build, but decided to remove it. Why? I really think this item is good on zilean early on (or relatively early on) and you can always sell it when you no longer need it, because after 8 minutes it pays for itself. But zilean doesn't really need that pick, i'm only curious on why you decided to remove it, that's all.

3rd of all:
Why boots of mobility? In late game, the enemy usually devotes one offtank to hunt me down and kill me before i can use my ultimate. I tend to get mercury's threads for this reason, but if you have a way to avoid this alltogether, i would like to hear about it.

4rd and last:
Banshee's Veil. Just a tip, what about Guardian Angel instead? Just a tip, tell me what you think, but BV is cool.

Thank you very much for the upvote MouseKime! Zilean has to be my favorite support, even though "no heal or shield" *deerrrp*
I don't see him as one of the babysitter, though, he's the aggressive form of support. I want to see them come out with more aggressive supports.

Like I said before this is a great guide, was actually tempted to downvote it to avoid more zileans actually being smart enough to counter my ganks but that'd just be silly :P Regardless of what build people use, his ult is my personal bane.

This guy is full ******.

Anyway, I like to jungle and/or roam around during the turn phase. A support is an assasins worst nightmare, and honestly I like my chances of a succesful gank better against a sona, janna or karma. Ganking an enemy with an ally zilean around is stupid, warp>timebomb>rewind>timebomb>warp, you are in pain, your target has reached his turret and you're moving at a crawl to get away. Anyway, this is a good guide ^.^