Zac - The Bounciest Boy From Zaun
MindsCaliber
- Rune Page
Spells
Skill Priority
E
W
Q
Best Overall Build
Hi I'm MindsCaliber and welcome to my Zac guide!
I'm a long time league of legends player with experience playing every champ in the game, and Zac has to be one of the most fun! With a huge gap closer-engage and lots of room for growth there's a ton to do on this champ. In game my name is MindsCaliber and I've played league for 3 or 4 years now and I play pretty much everything since I have so many hours. I've peaked plat on NA and mostly play supports like Nautilus, Thresh and Alistar, or Zac and Vi in the jungle. The reason I chose to pick Zac for my guide is because there are so many cool things that you can do playing him. I hope this can be the one stop shop for all Zac tips, tricks and builds!
Abilities and Combos
Zac has some of the most fun and exciting abilities in the game with a long range knockup that can span from raptors to baron pit, a two person knockup that pulls them together and a huge AOE knockup for an ultimate there's a lot to work with.
For Zac's full champion rundown and description of his abilities I recommend reading the official wiki. https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Zac/LoL
For a brief summary of his abilities, his q is a skillshot that fires in a straight line that attaches to an enemy, this can be a minion, monster or champion. The second part of the ability is that you can auto another object to pull them together. You can auto wards, towers and anything else. For Zac's W he explodes in a small circle around him doing a small amount of damage. Zac's E is a charged skillshot that grows larger the longer you hold it. You can fire yourself like a slingshot in a 90° fan in front of you. This skillshot gets larger the more points that are in it. Zac's R has him bounce 4 times knocking up champions that are near him. Enemy champions can only be knocked up once but are damaged by the successive bounces. Finally Zac's passives are that when he dies he splits into four blobs that take time to pull together and when the meet he is revived. In this time the enemy can destroy the blobs and if they kill all four he is killed for good. The second passive is that every ability costs health instead of mana and drops a piece of himself on the ground that he can pick up to refund the hp.
Now it's time for the fun part, the combos. Zac has a lot of skill expression and most of it revolves around his Q. Being able to figure out ways to pull people and stop them from escaping can be tricky and there isn't always something easy to auto like a minion or another enemy champion. Being able to adapt and find things to pull together and blow up is what gives you the edge over other players.
Zac Combo Showcase ~
Combo 1 (q + flash + auto) This combo is a go to when you latch onto an enemy or miss your q and hit a minion. You can guarantee a hit by hitting a minion and flashing to autoattack them.
Combo 2 (q + flash + auto + e + w) This is pretty much the same thing but you use your e and w for more guaranteed damage and knockups. You can also ult after this to continue the combo.
Combo 3 (e + w + q + auto + r + w) This should be your go to when it comes to engaging fights. Jump onto your targets and while they're knocked up q and auto another enemy to pull them together and then knock them up with your r to seal the deal. In teamfights landing this on 3 or more targets can be a very easy way to wipe the enemy team.
Combo 4 (r + flash) Your ult can be cast before flashing and used to suprise enemies and bump them into your team. This can also be used to catch up to people who are just barely out of your reach, just be careful because your ult will push them away from you.
Runes (Loadout)
These are the rune pages generally used in the jungle.
Aftershock is the go to when it comes to tank Zac. The extra residences go a long way in surviving dropping into the middle of the enemy team. Font of life is quite good since it helps your team sustain in fights and since he has so much CC (Crowd Control) it will always be active. Conditioning is good for mid late as it gives more armor and magic resist and just leads to a tankier boy. For second tree I recomend precision with triumph and tenacity because you should be looking for teamfight engages and side lane fights where some extra healing and tenacity really come in handy.
While AP (Ability Power) Zac is not always optimal it is extremely fun and can become a hard carry build. Instead of being tanky his playstyle becomes much closer to ap malphte's with a one shot knock-up that can really blow up squishies. The best runes to take for this playstyle would be Electrocute with cheap shot for more damage on cc'd enemies, eyeball collection for extra damage on takedowns and ravenous hunter for some healing during close fights. You may notice that for secondaries I recommend conditioning and revitalize again. That's because these runes have great synergy with Zac's passive. Since Zac heals a percentage of his health when he grabs his blobs revitalize will increase that amount healed.
Conqueror is best for his bruiser hybrid build and or tank. It gives a lot of healing and decent damage when stacked. This rune page works best into tankier matchups where fights last longer so that you have time to stack it fully. This rune also has a huge powerspike at level 6 since it allows you to access it very quickly and start healing a lot. The only new rune being used in this page is last stand since it allows you to do more damage when you're low and since you heal so much you can get pretty good value out of it in a pinch.
- Tank Rune Page
- AP Rune Page
- Bruiser/Conq Rune Page
Summoner Spells (Loadout)
The only summoner spells worth taking playing Zac jg are Smite and Flash. With tricks like (q + flash + auto) being used every game it's a very important summoner to keep up with enemies.
- Summoner Spells
Skill Path
When jungling on Zac taking W is almost mandatory, because his cooldown on E and Q are very, very long due to this I would not recommend invading since without E or Q he is almost useless. Q is generally the best second as it helps with larger camps and has a lower cooldown. R should always be leveled up when it's available as it increases it's damage and lowers it's cooldown. E should always be maxxed out first as points extend it's range and damage. W should be maxxed out second as it helps with jungle clear a lot. Q can be saved for last since it's pretty much just utility. No matter what playstyle you're playing skill order should always be the same on jungle Zac.
- Skill Path
Zac
Item Builds
Items are some of the most difficult parts about playing tank. Making sure you're itemizing correctly can be the difference between surviving a teamfight and getting wiped. As the front line it's important to look at the enemy teamcomp and what they're building. Frostfire is a very solid first item because of the passive and the slow from autos. This give extra sticking power to stay on backlines when you dive them. Thornmail is almost always necessary with the crazy amount of healing in the game right now, and spirit visage increases your healing from your passive. These three are almost always worth going every game as long as the enemy has balanced ap and ad damagers.
The second build is meant for times when you're getting blown up by the enemy team or for when the game goes very late. Sunfire is another very solid mythic, it's advantage over frostfire is that it has higher armor and magic resist and AOE damage from the cinder over extended fights. The downside is that you have to stay on the enemy for a while for it's damage to ramp up and you don't have a slow on your auto. I would recommend this item when the enemy is immobile or has multiple melee champs. One thing to note is that red smite is quite good into teams with lots of auto attackers i.e. (Master Yi, Jinx, Irelia etc.) because it works as a exhaust. I would generally only recommend it when you don't have a problem catching up to them though.
For AP Zac going for one shots is pretty much the only way, because your engage is your only form of mobility so if they're not dead by the time you land your combo you pop. Night harvester is the best single target one shot item that doesn't have mana since it would be wasted on Zac. Horizon focus is quite good on him because he has tons of cc so you're guaranteed to pop it on your enemies. The rest of the items are pretty situational and should be bought based on your situation, but deathcap is almost always a must since it increases your damage so much.
- Average Game
- Super Tanky
- AP Zac
Matchups and Synergies
For matchups it's important to figure out what your win condition is. Zac is a very, very strong team fighter and should play to his strengths. Look for engages for your team and focus the squishies and cause as much disruption as possible. Even when Zac is built like a tank he can do a lot of damage so if you find an E onto the back line take it! The main champions you should look out for are Master Yi and Vayne since they can take over the game so easily and there's not a whole lot you can do about it. While Zac can peel he is much better at finding fights.
- Good champs to have on your team.
- Champs to avoid on the enemy team