When you're running out of time and need the general best runes/build:
Best Overall Runes
Spells
Skill Priority
Q
E
W
Best Overall Build
The TL;DR Flowchart
Got extra time? Here's a quick guide to what keystone and mythic you should take:
ZOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Rune Pages
Pick your poison.
Predator
Dark Harvest
Summon Aery
Skill Order
Standard
Zoe
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Intro
I am cinnamintRoll, I'm a Zoe main currently with 357k Mastery Points. I enjoy theorycrafting, optimizing builds, and off-meta picks. So here I am, presenting this abomination to you.
The Start of Zoe Support
Zoe Support is by no means a meta pick. I only started playing this for fun. So if you're a tryhard, I don't really recommend this pick... Unless you're really good at it.
Zoe was a "good support" back on her release date due to her low E cooldown which even refunds once you hit an enemy champion. But she quickly got nerfed, patch by patch. Until she is at her state today.
But on Patch V11.18, her E
Sleepy Trouble Bubble
's cooldown was lowered greatly. Making her have more utility in lane. It's not as good as it was before, (because let's be honest, she was only 'viable' on support because she was broken.) but there were also things changed that made this pick viable
>
Predator
buffs that basically made it an overpowered rune (unfortunately, not as OP pre-11.24 BUT still way better than before).
>
Ingenious Hunter
buffs that helped her spam Predator for roams.
> Alcoves in the botlane, that can help hit her E more accurately.
> Cheap Mythics such as
Everfrost
and
Crown of the Shattered Queen
.
Why play Zoe?
Zoe is personally one of the most fun and unique champions in League through
Spell Thief
generating multiple possible plays and her ability to delete an enemy from a range some might not expect. She was also created by the infamous 'CertainlyT' who have created other abominations that have pestered the rift like
Yasuo
and the
Akali
rework, though they are quite annoying-- I won't deny, their kits are fun and have a lot of outplay potential.
With her unique mechanics or just the pure satisfaction you get from killing an enemy champion from a long range, she's definitely one of the most fun and interesting champions in the game. Unless of 'course you enjoy playing champions like
Garen
, then sure. I'll respect you for that.
Strengths
High Skill Expression
Extremely Good Burst Damage
HUGE range
Good Scaling
Free summoner spells
Extremely good at creating picks
Safe Warding
FUN !!!
Weaknesses
High Skill Cap
Extremely Skill-Shot Reliant
Squishy and has no real escape tool
High mobility champions easily assasinate her.
No real utility to protect or buff her ADC.
Slightly weaker in terms of damage, when compared to Midlane counterpart.
Might get flamed by toxic players :<
Why Zoe Support and What Makes Her a Support..?
> Her E
Sleepy Trouble Bubble
is an ability that sleeps an enemy champion. Making the next attack deal up to 2x more damage. Extremely effective with another burst champion.
> There are two champions in the botlane. Meaning more spells for Zoe's [W]
Spell Thief
.
>
Ingenious Hunter
's buffs made Item Actives and Wards/Oracle Lens way more spammable. Giving her tons of roaming potential with
Predator
and additional CC from
Everfrost
. For more information, check the Runes Breakdown.
>
Predator
if chosen, can make her a good roaming support.
> Vision is extremely useful for Zoe, those long ranged E and Q snipes will be more effective when you have good vision and can deny enemies' vision. As a support who has access to a
Shard of True Ice
or
Bulwark of the Mountain
and an
Oracle Lens
. You can easily provide more vision for yourself and your team.
Runes Breakdown
Predator
Dark Harvest
Summon Aery
Predator
Dark Harvest
Summon Aery
Predator along with Ingenious Hunter buffs is a wonderful rune combination that lets you spam gank other lanes and help your jungler.
Taste of Blood
gives Zoe a bit of sustain, extremely important in the early game.
This is by far the best rune among all the options.
Cheap Shot
can only
be procced by your E or some other CC item you got from your W, which isn't
consistent. And
Sudden Impact
only gives you a small Magic Pen bonus from your Ult, which means you don't have any use of it until Level 6.
Ghost Poro
provides raw Ability Power for every ward that expires and turns into a Poro that provides vision in a small area. With
Ingenious Hunter
and your wards as a support, you can place wards more often—therefore letting you stack
Ghost Poro
quickly.
You can also use
Eyeball Collection
if you want to stack the Hunter rune
faster (assuming you get a lot of takedowns). But I generally find the small
area of vision the
Ghost Poro
provides quite useful.
Zombie Ward
requires
Oracle Lens
which are more useful for high-mobility roaming champions that needs less of the safety
Stealth Ward
provides.
Zoe
has little to no mobility and utilizes vision very well, due to her long-ranged playstyle-- making
Stealth Ward
irreplaceable in the early game.
Ingenious Hunter
is especially useful on items/runes with actives like
Predator
and
Everfrost
. It also reduces the cooldown on item passives like
Luden's Tempest
and
Banshee's Veil
. On top of that, it also reduces ward/lens cooldown which gives you more access to vision allowing you to get more picks and snipes.
Relentless Hunter
allows you to roam and getting back to lane quicker after recalling if you'd like more of a roaming playstyle.
Treasure Hunter
is another good option for snowballing into the mid-game.
And
Ultimate Hunter
doesn't do much as
Zoe
's
Portal Jump
isn't exactly an impactful ultimate ability. You may use it if you're comfortable with a shorter
Portal Jump
cooldown. But I don't recommend it.
It allows you to consistently use item actives/passives and trinkets.
At max stacks, it reduces:
>
Predator
, from 90 - 60 Seconds to 60 - 40 Seconds.
>
Everfrost
, from 30 Seconds to 20 Seconds.
>
Luden's Tempest
, from 10 Seconds to 6.7 Seconds.
>
Crown of the Shattered Queen
, from 40 Seconds to 27 Seconds.
>
Zhonya's Hourglass
, from 120 Seconds to 80 Seconds.
>
Banshee's Veil
, from 40 Seconds to 27 Seconds.
>
Oracle Lens
, from 90 - 60 Seconds to 60 - 40 Seconds.
>
Stealth Ward
, from 240 - 120 Seconds to 160 - 80 Seconds.
>
Farsight Alteration
, from 198 - 99 Seconds to 132 - 66 Seconds.
Provides sustain for
Zoe
in the early game. It also provides up to 150 mana to your mana pool, which is always beneficial to spellcasters.
Future's Market
is also a great alternative if you don't need the extra sustain like when your opponents are scaling picks that don't try to poke in lane. It will help you reach your powerspikes faster, which is important since you aren't getting as much gold compared to
Zoe
Mid.
Cosmic Insight
gives you more access to your summoner spells, which can be extremely useful especially in the early game. It also synergizes well with your
Ingenious Hunter
rune, letting you spam item actives/passives more often.
If you feel like you're going to dominate lane and/or are not comfortable with Predator, Dark Harvest is a good alternative.
It may be quite underwhelming early game, but once you collect souls-- you'll just deal massive damage.
Taste of Blood
gives Zoe a bit of sustain, extremely important in the early game.
This is by far the best rune among all the options.
Cheap Shot
can only
be procced by your E or some other CC item you got from your W, which isn't
consistent. And
Sudden Impact
only gives you a small Magic Pen bonus from your Ult, which means you don't have any use of it until Level 6.
Ghost Poro
provides raw Ability Power for every ward that expires and turns into a Poro that provides vision in a small area. With
Ingenious Hunter
and your wards as a support, you can place wards more often—therefore letting you stack
Ghost Poro
quickly.
You can also use
Eyeball Collection
if you want to stack the Hunter rune
faster (assuming you get a lot of takedowns). But I generally find the small
area of vision the
Ghost Poro
provides quite useful.
Zombie Ward
requires
Oracle Lens
which are more useful for high-mobility roaming champions that needs less of the safety
Stealth Ward
provides.
Zoe
has little to no mobility and utilizes vision very well, due to her long-ranged playstyle-- making
Stealth Ward
irreplaceable in the early game.
To compensate for the lack of roaming potential from
Predator
, you will be using
Relentless Hunter
. You may use it not only for roaming, but backing and getting back to where you're supposed to be quickly.
If you took this page because you're looking to dominate lane, then Manaflow Band allows you to spam your spells even more.
Using this page is often best paired with Magic Penetration items like
Sorcerer's Shoes
instead of
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
.
Transcendence
allows you to have a bit more Ability Haste even if you build
Sorcerer's Shoes
.
This rune is very effective against short ranged matchups wherein you can consistently poke and bully them out of lane, like Vayne paired with an support like Alistar.
Always a useful rune for spellcasters, providing good mana sustain though all stages of the game.
Nimbus Cloak
can be a good alternative since
Zoe
's [W]
Spell Thief
procs out of stolen summoner spells. But I personally find it overkill to have
Spell Thief
's additional movement speed along with
Nimbus Cloak
.
Overall good rune that provides free Ability Haste for
Zoe
.
Since you're playing a poke playstyle with
Summon Aery
, it's only logical to have
Scorch
for additional poke damage.
Besides, the other option
Gathering Storm
is hard to get value out of because games usually last 30 minutes even in low elo.
You may use
Waterwalking
if you'd prefer a roaming playstyle, but that would be contradicting considering you are using
Summon Aery
for the poke playstyle. A better alternative if you want a roaming playstyle is the
Predator
runepage.
As a support who has access to a warding item, you can easily stack this rune while having that small area of vision provided by Ghost Poro. It gives you flat stats, which is extremely valuable as a support. I highly recommend this rune to Supports and/or when you use Ingenious Hunter.
Relentless Hunter
can be used not only for roaming, but backing and getting back to where you're supposed to be quickly,
Considering you won't be able to get maximum value out of
Ingenious Hunter
, this is the best in-slot option for the Hunter slot.
Summoner Spells
Spells Breakdown
It's standard to have
Flash
in every game. It is valuable as a tool to make plays, chase down, kite away, escape, ruin a gank, etc...
Ignite
is a good aggressive tool to use in lane. Its damage over time means life and death for your opponents. It also applies Grievous Wounds, which in cases the enemy has a healer support like
Nami
and
Soraka
will be of much value. The Grievous Wounds from Ignite also has value even against enemies without a healer support. The enemy will most likely bring
Heal
, as it is a popular spell to be bring in the Bottom Lane.
Doran's Blade
provides even a slight bit of healing, especially for champions like
Samira
and
Miss Fortune
. And enemies using potions mid-fight can cut down their healing from 150 HP to 75 HP over 15 seconds.
Exhaust
is a good defensive tool to use in lane, and even at the later stages of the game when champions start getting their damages. Especially useful against burst champions like
Zed
and
Katarina
and Hypercarries like
Yone
,
Vayne
,
Kog'Maw
, and
Master Yi
as it can reduce their damage dealt by 40% for 3 seconds. In lane, this is useful against all-in champions like a
Samira
/
Leona
or
Kai'Sa
/
Alistar
Duo or ganks from champions like
Kha'Zix
and
Rengar
which can mean life and death for you and your ADC.
Item Choices
Mythics
Boot Choices
Legendary Items
Everfrost
is a significantly cheaper item than the standard
Zoe
Mid Mythic
Luden's Tempest
allowing you to powerspike faster, especially as a support with less access to gold. It is also extremely cost-efficient item at 127.7% Gold Efficiency.
It is also good against close-ranged enemies, wherein you can root/slow them whenever they get close. This is also my go-to item on
Zoe
even on the mid lane vs. lots of close-ranged enemies.
Everfrost
also synergizes with
Ingenious Hunter
and
Predator
.
Ingenious Hunter
allows you to spam
Everfrost
more often, granting you more utility.
A little trick when using
Predator
and
Everfrost
on
Zoe
, is to activate
Predator
granting you lots of movement speed, walking up to an enemy rooting/slowing them and quickly following it up with
Sleepy Trouble Bubble
for a quick engage.
The standard
Zoe
item, granting her burst and a more consistent ability to one-shot enemies. However,
Zoe
Support has less access to gold... which may make it slower for her to reach her powerspikes. And
Everfrost
is a key item to make her more 'supportive.'
On special cases wherein you're snowballing, taking
Luden's Tempest
is very useuful to extend that lead.
Crown of the Shattered Queen
is another significantly cheap item for
Zoe
Support that lets her reach powerspikes quickly even with less access to gold. It is also cost-efficient at 119.46% Gold Efficiency.
This is a great item to survive bursts. If you feel like that 3/0 enemy
Zed
will just consistently murder you into a grey screen, then this item is for you! It might not give you utility like
Everfrost
gives or the burst
Luden's Tempest
gives. But more often than not, it's more useful to survive in fights.
This also more often than not, eliminates the need to buy a defensive Legendary like
Zhonya's Hourglass
and
Banshee's Veil
. So you can buy something more aggressive like
Shadowflame
which can compensate for your lack of damage.
As a support that should provide more utility rather than burst damage,
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
gives you a decent amount of Ability Haste to utilize your abilities more, especially in the earlier stages of the game.
This item along with your mythic should give you 40 Ability Haste or around 32% Cooldown Reduction. Your lack of Magic Penetration will be compensated via
Void Staff
as your 3rd item.
Standard option for Zoe as a burst champion, however due to the lack of Ability Haste options from Legendary Items, I recommend
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
for Zoe Support.
Provides 45% Magic Penetration providing you with the burst you need. Generally a good option, especially late game when champions start to scale MR via levels and items.
Void Staff
effectively increases your magic damage output by:
- 11.59% at 30 magic resistance;
- 29.03% at 100 magic resistance;
- 42.86% at 200 magic resistance
A good alternative to
Void Staff
rush when you’re snowballing, especially
against a squishy team. Highly recommended to be built alongside
Sorcerer's Shoes
.
A cheap support item that provides 12% of all bonus stats. Attack damage, Health, Ability Haste, and Ability Power. A good efficient stat stick for supports. This alone can provide you around 200 HP, 20 Ability Haste, and 25 Ability Power for just 1100 gold. It also allows you to place more wards and control wards. You can replace this item once you have enough money for another Legendary item in the late game.
Rabadon's Deathcap
is essential for any champion with ability
power ratios who wants to deal more magic damage. that will carry into late game.
A good item for surviving burst, especially effective against abilities that have downtimes before their burst of damage such as
Death Mark
,
Chum the Waters
; and against AD champions as it provides armor.
A good item to buy when you are being focused with crowd control and strong engage abilities like
Frozen Tomb
,
Enchanted Crystal Arrow
, and
Rocket Grab
. It is also effective against AP champions as it provides Magic Resist.
Abilities
Breakdown
More Sparkles!
is Zoe’s passive. Your next auto attack after a spell is
empowered with additional magic damage. It is basically a built-in
Sheen
for
Zoe. You can weave in these empowered autos in the middle of spell casts to
deal more damage.
Your Q also counts per cast, so Q > AA > Q > AA gives you two
passive procs. You can learn more about that below in the Basic Combos Section.
Paddle Star!
is Zoe’s main source of damage. The father it travels, the
stronger it gets. You can cast this twice, which may be used in three main
different ways:
> To deal more damage by making the ability travel farther
> To redirect and avoid collision with targets you don’t want to hit
(i.e. Minions and Tanks)
> To proc
More Sparkles!
since Q can count as two passive procs.
Spell Thief
allows Zoe to pick up any spell/item active that are recently
used by enemies or by killing minions that have balloons on them.
It also gives you additional movement speed, and summons three bubbles
that deal magic damage around her whenever you cast your own Summoner Spell or any stolen Spell/Item. This can be used as an escape tool for outrunning
enemies, who knew
Ignite
can save your life? (besides ‘of course killing your
enemies before they can even kill you)
There isn’t an exact way to use this considering there are lots of spells that you can pick up with it. You can pick up something basic like
Ignite
to deal more damage but also something weird like
Prowler's Claw
wherein you have to get uncomfortably close to proc it.
Get creative, make sick outplays, and experiment! The creativity of a
Zoe player is tested in how they use
Spell Thief
.
Sleepy Trouble Bubble
is Zoe’s CC Ability. Zoe kicks a bubble that deals magic damage, makes them drowsy (slows them), until they fall asleep (immobilized, similar to stun but after getting hit, they can “wake up” and move). Which allows the next instance of damage to deal double true damage with a cap. So, make sure to use a high damaging ability like for follow-up instead of an Auto Attack, or maybe an empowered auto will do, if
Paddle Star!
is not available. Your allies can also proc the sleep debuff, so make sure to communicate with your teammates to not proc it with an auto attack.
Sleepy Trouble Bubble
also travels through terrain indefinitely, which can allow for long-range picks. I recommend using Normal Cast on this ability if you’re a
beginner to get used with the range through terrain.
If the bubble doesn’t hit anyone, it leaves it on the floor, and if an enemy
steps on it, they are rendered drowsy, and will fall asleep. With this in mind,
Sleepy Trouble Bubble
can be used as a zoning tool as well.
Portal Jump
lets Zoe blink in a direction for a few seconds, and returns
her to her initial destination. Though, that sounds pretty lackluster for an
Ultimate Ability, it has a low cooldown and has many uses for Zoe’s kit. It can
be used for:
> Increasing distance and damage for Zoe’s
Paddle Star!
> Redirection of abilities like Q or E.
> Dodging enemy skillshots and engages
> R > AA poke..
> Safe Warding with R > Ward.
To learn more about this, there’s a section below that covers the uses of
Portal Jump
and some combos you can execute with it.
Useful Basic Combos
Some essential combos that you can use almost in any game, not some weird complex 10-button combo that you can only use in Practice Tool.
Basic Q > Q Combo
Pretty obvious, I know. But for the beginners out there who’s never seen footage of Zoe
in action before, this is how you use the Q Ability. Not like throwing a rock or a Lux Q, it’s redirectable. The more distance it travels, the stronger it is.
You can also use it to poke in short range, get it between minions or anywhere near your
enemy, it still deals damage. Q has Area on Effect damage.
Basic Q > R > Q Combo
As I mentioned on the last section, the more distance it travels, the stronger it
is. R allows your Q to deal more damage and increase its range. This is the
basic Q > R combination. But there’s a better alternative...
Basic Q > Q > R Combo
The Better Alternative to Q > R > Q is Q > Q > R. It essentially does the same thing but your Q travels faster and is more unexpected to dodge. Your Q has a range indicator, which makes it easier to dodge when seen even in a split second. Q > Q > R Alternative lessens the possibility that they react.
Q > AA > Q > AA
You can easily trade and proc Electrocute with Q > AA > Q > AA. This combo is especially useful in the laning phase.
Q > Q > E
If you’re going to hit your Q > Q, you can add in an E for extra damage and CC. If you have a teammate nearby, they can proc the double damage from your bubble. Or you can proc it using your empowered auto attack.
R > AA
R > AA is another useful combo that can be used in multiple situations. You can use it to poke your enemy, especially if you have
Summon Aery
. You can use it to execute enemies who is barely surviving with a sliver of health. And if you’re using
Dark Harvest
, you can easily proc it with this combo.
R > E
R > E is a useful combo with many uses.
You can position yourself to release your E closer to a wall, enhancing its range.
You can redirect your E with it.
And against divers, you can use R > E to dodge their attacks, CC them, and potentially
getting a kill if paired with Q > Q. This isn’t just exclusive under tower. You can use it any wall and even if there isn’t any.
It has many uses, experiment with it, get creative. Especially if you have a stolen
spell with your W.
R > Ward
Not flashy, and doesn’t deal any damage (sadly). But R > Ward. Allows you to peek an area and place a ward safely through a wall.
Q > Q > Flash
As I mentioned, (hopefully you read through all that) the more distance your Q travels, the stronger it gets.
Flash
allows you not only connect your Q with your victim, but also deal more damage. (Also It 'kinda looks flashy *pun intended*)
Q > Q > R > Flash
A variation of the Q > Q > Flash Combo, except you return to your original spot via R. Allows you to hit your combos without getting up close and intimate with the enemy team. (Unless, they’re already right in front of you…)
Quick Combos
Combos with more required buttons to press and two more braincells to use. But still ez. Also, it deals more damage.
Q > Q > E > AA
An extension to the Q > Q > E Combo that allows you to proc Electrocute and still keep the Sleepy Debuff from your E.
Q > Q > R > E
You can extend your Q > Q > R Combo with an E for extra damage and CC. If you have a teammate nearby, they can proc the double damage from your bubble. And if you have enough Ability Haste, you can even follow it up with another Q.
E > R > Q > Q > AA
Hit a bubble that’s kind of close? You can R backwards to increase the distance of your Q, redirect it back. And finish it off with a passive AA proc since you’re in range anyway.
Q > Q > E > AA > R > AA
A somewhat lengthy combo that dishes out lots of damage. Start with a basic Q > Q > E Combo, then follow it up with an empowered Auto Attack, coming from your E. Then extend the combo with an R > Auto to finish off the combo.
Q > AA > Q > AA > R > AA > E
Another lengthy combo that dishes out lots of damage. Start with a basic Q > AA > Q > AA Combo, then follow it up with an R > Auto. Finally, while in range— drop an E to leave your target CC’ed.
Everfrost Combos
Some useful combos for when you build Everfrost or when you pick up Everfrost for your
Spell Thief
.
Everfrost > E
Hit your E more reliably and deal more damage by starting it off with an
Everfrost
Slow/Root. Useful especially when your enemy is engaging/already near you.
Everfrost > E > Q > Q
Follow up your
Everfrost
> E Combo with Q to deal even more damage.
Everfrost > E > R > Q > Q > AA
Extend your Everfrost > E Combo with R > Q > Q to deal more damage. Then top it all off with an empowered Auto Attack for more damage.
R > Everfrost > E > Q > Q > AA
Everfrost Combo for when you are trying to pick an enemy who’s far away. Start with Everfrost to slow/root your enemy to hit your E more reliably, and follow it up with a Q > Q > AA for more damage.
Predator > Everfrost > E
An easy engage combo for when you run
Predator
and
Everfrost
, which I recommend if you’re using her as a support.
Predator > Everfrost Basic Combo
An easy follow-up combo for
Predator
>
Everfrost
Combo to deal additional damage.
"Useless" Combos
Combos for tilting the enemy
Yasuo
that keeps flashing his Mastery 7, and then absolutely getting obliterated by you. Or when you're waiting for the minions to spawn and you have absolutely nothing to do. Beginner-friendly and no Mastery 7 required.
Matchups
Catchers and Vanguards
Against Catcher and Vanguard Supports, or simply put, support with great engage tools like
Blitzcrank
,
Nautilus
,
Thresh
, and
Leona
. Your laning phase revolves around avoiding their engages and trading when you can. Land a bubble with a good follow-up you win a trade. You can trade more confidently when their key abilities are down.
Enchanters
Enchanters like
Janna
,
Soraka
, and
Yuumi
are pretty neutral in the early game, they negate your poke as much as possible through heals and shields. Pretty standard gameplay, try to trade whenever their shields are down, but be careful when trading against oppressive enchanters like
Lulu
and
Karma
.
Poke Mages
Poke Mages like
Zyra
,
Brand
, and
Xerath
are quite annoying early game. Especially when paired with a champion with a strong early game. But they are also often the easiest to burst down since they don’t have much defensive utility. My general tip to give is to just dodge skillshots as much as possible, and play around cooldowns.
Biscuit Delivery
can aid against their oppressive poke.
Wardens
Wardens like
Braum
,
Taric
, and
Tahm Kench
are pretty hard to deal with, but it’s manageable especially against wardens with weak early games. They can body block and protect their ADC’s reliably whenever you land a successful bubble. And their usually too tanky to burst down. Luckily, they're not as popular as other classes. General gameplan is just to aim for the ADC, and play around their cooldowns.
Morgana
Please ban her at all costs. Her E is extremely frustrating to deal with. She disables your bubble completely whenever she’s around. It’s almost as if you’re playing Zoe with only one ability.
Laning Phase
Laning Phase on
Zoe
Support is obviously different to how she is played on the midlane, because there are 4 champions with 12 different abilities (excluding
Ultimate Abilities) in the botlane with differing synergies and combos.
You’d want to play safe against champions with hard engage like
Blitzcrank
. As getting hooked can result in you losing most of your health bar or worst case scenario, you might burn a
Flash
or handing over first blood to the enemy team. You can trade against them when their key abilities like
Rocket Grab
is on cooldown. Zoe does not have any shields, heals, or CC to survive or directly help her ADC, with the exception of getting spells from
Spell Thief
.
Against Enchanters like
Lulu
, they try to mitigate as much damage by their heals and shield while trying to poke you consistently. Try to trade whenever their shields are down.
Against Poke Mages like
Brand
, they can be quite annoying in the laning phase but their downside is how squishy they are. The only tip I can give against these types of champion is to “just dodge” and then murder them afterwards. Early boots can help against their poke.
And lastly, against Wardens or “Protective Tanks” like
Braum
they can usually block out your damage and protect their ADC’s against poke and burst damages. So, try to play around their cooldowns as well.
When there is a balloon, you should communicate to your ADC that you have to kill it for a free spell. Taking
Relic Shield
can also be useful in taking minions with balloons on them.
Once you get boots with
Predator
you can roam to mid if your ADC is not yet on lane or is on a safe spot. You can ward areas on your way back to help your Midlaner, Jungler, and ADC.
a standard lane combo is Q (First Cast) > AA (Empowered) > Q (Second Cast) > AA (Empowered) Even if you don’t hit your
Paddle Star!
Your two empowered autos allows you to get good trades. Hitting
Sleepy Trouble Bubble
, and following it up with a long-range
Paddle Star!
can usually reduce your enemies health bar to half. You can hit your
Sleepy Trouble Bubble
by fishing for them before a minion is about to die. You can also fish for a kill when given a good summoner spell from
Spell Thief
and running them down.If you manage to outpush your enemy laners, you can take turret plates faster using your empowered auto attacks. Q > AA > Q > AA, R > AA, and E > AA, are all useful combos against the tower. Although, I recommend saving your E for a possible gank, considering it has a long cooldown in the early game.
Midgame
In the midgame, you’d like group with your teammates and constantly creating picks. Use
Predator
to quickly join team fights and skirmishes.
Hitting a
Paddle Star!
and
Sleepy Trouble Bubble
against a priority target can create huge advantages for your team. Since you’re a support with less damage than the midlane counterpart, you’ll have to slightly rely more on your teammates for more follow-up damage.
Late Game + Teamfighting
Zoe
excels in poking and creating pick before the team fight even starts. So, setting up vision before a teamfight for an objective starts allows you to have a huge advantage over the enemy team.
You’d want to position behind walls to extend your
Sleepy Trouble Bubble
range, and grouped up with your teammates as
Zoe
is very vulnerable against divers. Avoid
getting engaged on and try to poke as much as you can. You’d want to target carries
instead of poking down their frontline as much as you can.
Portal Jump
combos can be very useful but leaves you the most vulnerable during its duration, so be careful and watch where you’re jumping.
In the middle of teamfights, summoner spells and item actives will be used. Leaving
Spell Thief
with many options on the ground. Spells like
Locket of the Iron Solari
can save your team’s lives. A simple
Exhaust
to the enemy assassin or ADC can be gamechanging. Spells like
Hextech Rocketbelt
,
Galeforce
, and
Everfrost
can help you tons of additional damage. The possibilities are endless for
Spell Thief
! Get creative, make sick outplays, and experiment! The creativity of a
Zoe
player is tested in how they use
Spell Thief
.
Just remember to pick and use them wisely; and DO NOT greed over spells. Going for the
Flash
or
Ignite
or
Prowler's Claw
in the middle of the enemy team is going to be worth it, you’re more often than not— wrong.
Zoe
is a squishy champion that can easily be blown up in seconds. Reassess the situation and stay safe as much as possible!
Tips and Tricks for Using Spell Thief!
ALL Item Actives and Summoner Spells
Spell Thief
can steal and how to use them effectively!
Item Actives
Summoner Spells
Everfrost
roots the enemies on its center, and slows enemies around its
center. This can be useful to disengage, setup skillshots, extend CC, or simply
deal additional damage.
Galeforce
is simply a dash with additional magic damage. You can use it
like how you use
Flash
. However, do note that you cannot pass through
terrain with
Galeforce
.
Goredrinker
slashes in a small area around you, deals physical damage,
and heals you based on the amount of enemies around you. This is one of the
more useless spells on
Zoe
. You can use it to deal additional damage and
heal up a bit when the enemy is already on top of you, or you can R >
Goredrinker to deal additional damage, or you can simply just use it to proc
Spell Thief
movement speed and damage.
Hextech Rocketbelt
allows you to dash a short distance, deal AOE damage,
and increase your movement speed for a short duration of time. You can chain
this with combos, gain extra distance, chase enemies down, or simply deal
additional damage.
Locket of the Iron Solari
provides you and the allies around you with a
shield. This can be used as a barrier to protect you and and your allies.
Predator
grants you movement speed toward enemy champions within a
certain range and empowers your next damage. You can use this to respond to a
fight, chase down enemies, or simply deal more damage.
Prowler's Claw
allows you to dash through a target, deal physical damage,
and amplifies your next damages against them. This is one of the more useless
spells for Zoe as you need to get uncomfortably close to your enemies to proc
it. And unlike
Goredrinker
and
Stridebreaker
, you can’t just use it without a target. You can use this when enemies are already on top of you or in some cases, R > Prowler's Claw can work.
Randuin's Omen
slows an area around you and reduces their attack damage and critical strike damage for 4 seconds. You can make full use of this by using it
against AD Champions or simply using the slow to chase down and setup for your team and your skillshots.
Shurelya's Battlesong
gives you and your allies around you additional movement speed for a few seconds. This can be useful to engage a fight, chase down enemies, or escape sticky situations.
Stridebreaker
slashes in a small area around you, deal physical damage, and
slows enemies. This is one of the more useless spells for
Zoe
as it
requires you to get uncomfortably close to get full value. Just like
Goredrinker
You can use it to deal additional damage when the enemy is already on top of you, use R > Stridebreaker, or simply use it to proc
Spell Thief
‘s movement
speed and damage.
Turbo Chemtank
acts similar to
Predator
, it grants additional movement speed when moving towards enemies (and turrets.) After the duration or when collide against an enemy, it will slow the area around you. You can use this to chase down enemies with the movement speed, but the slow is less practical as it requires you to collide with an enemy, which might make a squishy
Zoe
blow up in seconds (unless you blow them up first.)
Youmuu's Ghostblade
is pretty straightforward. It grants you movement speed and ghosting (can pass through units) for 6 seconds. You can use this to catch up to a fight, engage, disengage, or simply proc it to deal additional damage with
Spell Thief
.
Zhonya's Hourglass
makes you untargetable and invulnerable for 2.5 seconds,
however you cannot attack or move. You can use
Zhonya's Hourglass
to avoid burst or wait for your cooldowns to come back.
Heal
heals and grants you and a nearby ally additional movement speed.
This can be useful to help you and allies survive damage and chase down
enemies.
Ghost
grants you movement speed for 10 seconds. The duration increases
for every takedown. You can use this spell to engage and disengage. This is also
powerful in team fights as the duration extends whenever you get a takedown.
Barrier
grants you a shield. This can be useful to survive damage.
Exhaust
slows a target and reduces the damage they deal by 40% for 3
seconds. This is especially useful against assassins and carries to reduce
their DPS and burst.
Flash
is an extremely versatile spell that allows you to blink a certain
distance. You can use this to engage, disengage, and deal additional damage with
Paddle Star!
and a
Spell Thief
proc.
Teleport
allows you to teleport to a nearby structure. Whereas Unleashed
Teleport
allows you to teleport to minions, wards, and traps whilst granting
you movement speed. This is a spell you rarely see since teleport users usually
use it from base or the opposite side of where you are to follow up in a team fight.
But when you do, you can use this to catch minion waves, go for a quick back,
or respond to a teamfight immediately.
Smite
deals true damage to an enemy minion or monster. You can use
this on a minion with a balloon attached to them for a
Spell Thief
proc and
a new spell. You can also use this against jungle monster to refund some health.
You can usually take Scuttle Crab with
Smite
. Or a Blue Buff if your
jungler offers it to you. You may also use it to try and steal objectives.
There are two additional variations of smite that does nearly the same
thing but with additional effect and damage,
Chilling Smite steals your target’s movement speed and deal damage that
can allow you to chase enemies down or disengage.
Whilst Challenging Smite reduces their incoming damage against you by 20% and empowers your next attacks against them with a burn.
Cleanse
removes crowd control casted on you, with the exception of
suppression. This can be useful especially against hard CC abilities like
Enchanted Crystal Arrow
and
Frozen Tomb
.
Ignite
burns your target with true damage and reduces their healing
by 40%. This can be useful to deal additional damage and securing kills.
Thank you for reading!
That’s all! Have a great day, and I hope you enjoy the chaos you’ll bring upon the Summoner’s Rift! >:D
(Oh, and make sure to /mute all when they start flaming in Champ Select. Focus on playing and prove them wrong !!!)
Sleepy Trouble Bubble
Spell Thief
Yasuo
Akali
Garen
Blitzcrank
Nautilus
Thresh
Leona
Janna
Soraka
Yuumi
Lulu
Karma
Zyra
Brand
Xerath
Braum
Taric
Tahm Kench
Rocket Grab
Paddle Star!
Portal Jump