LoL champion Zoe is not only a favourite for many Pro players. She’s also a favourite to play in the solo queue. With this guide, you too can learn how to handle the mage.
Zoe is one of the mages in the mid-lane and is often chosen because of her high damage. Fnatics mid-laner Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer also loves to dominate the middle with Zoe. While the champion isn’t easy, our guide will help you master it.
Zoe is a Poke Champion
Poken means that a champion does so much damage over time with their abilities that opponents either don’t get to teamfight at all or start with little life already. Xerath is a good example here, as he does enormous damage to opponents with his range with multiple Qs and Ws. It’s much the same with Zoe.
Since she deals great damage with her Q ability “Wandering Star” in combination with her ultimate ability “Portal Adventure”, use it as often as possible. But even without the Ulti, Zoe can already bring the opponent to little life with level 1. So she does a lot of damage with her ability. Once it is used, however, it takes until she can strike again. Thus, the goal of the mage is not always to immediately eliminate an opponent, even if there is potential for this.
Abilities and combinations
Passive Ability – Spark!
After Zoe triggers any ability, her next normal attack does additional magic damage. This passive combines particularly well with the Q and is also useful on the lane as another poke means.
Q – Wandering Star
Zoe’s Q consists of a maximum of two instances. It casts a star in a straight line and can direct it in another direction in the second instance. It is important to note that the further the ability flies, the more damage it does. Therefore, the first instance is often thrown behind or next to Zoe, while the second is then meant to hit the opponent. This way, a lot of distance is covered by the ability and the damage is increased. This is often followed by an additional normal attack to use the passive “Spark!”
W – Spell Stealing
When an opponent triggers a summoner spell or an active item spell, a small bubble is left behind. If Zoe collects this, she receives this spell and can use it with W once. But she can also get these bubbles from minions. All that is needed is for Zoe to kill a minion with a balloon, which means that Last Hitten should also be practised. If this is triggered, three projectiles are created which are fired at the next enemy. These projectiles can also be compared well with Ahris W’s “Fox Fire”. However, the damage of these is not too high. The focus of the ability is therefore more on the spells received.
E – Sleep Bubble Alert
This ability shoots a projectile that puts enemies to sleep after a short time. The enemies can be hit directly or they run into the area that is created if the ability does not hit anyone directly. However, only one person can be put to sleep by the E at a time. After that, the opponent can either be awakened with any kind of damage or the Sleep simply runs out. However, the first damage the target that is put to sleep receives is doubled up to a cap. This means that the combination of “Sleep Bubble Alert” with “Wandering Star” can provide even greater damage and possibly even kill an ADC or two on its own.
R – Portal Adventure
Zoe teleports a short distance for one second and then returns to the starting point. Thus, this ability is not necessarily suitable for escaping, but can be combined excellently with the Q-ability. Because, as already mentioned, the damage increases the more distance the ability covers. So the first or second instance of the Q can be extended with the Ulti. Since “Portal Adventure” also has a very short cooldown of about six seconds, it can also be used frequently.
When looking at Zoe’s abilities, it is noticeable that she lives on combos. Her ultimate ability can be combined with all others. The most common is probably the combination with Q to increase damage and range. The “Sleep Bubble Alert” can also be combined with the Ulti to hit more easily. The Ult is also suitable for the W skill.
Most important for Zoe players, however, are all possible combinations with the Q, because the range of the ability can be increased not only with “Portal Adventure”. This is also possible with the summoner spell Flash. This can be worthwhile, especially when you consider that Zoe likes to get a second Flash through her W. The W can also increase the damage of the Q in other ways, for example when she collects spirit or hextech proto-belts.
Items
Zoe’s needed items again show that she is a mage. Especially important for her is a Ludens Storm, because this strengthens her Poke again by a lot. Otherwise, it is still important to build up a lot of ability strength to maximise her damage. That means, depending on the situation, items like Morellonomicon, Horizon Focus or Zhonya’s Hourglass are a good choice.
Runes
It is recommended to choose Dominance as the first rune path. There you should select Electrify to create additional poke. From there on it depends a lot on your play style. That is, depending on your goal or how you think the lane will go, you should decide. For example, it is possible to choose sudden impact, ghost poro and merciless hunter.
In the second lane, Inspiration, Biscuit Delivery and Tonic of Time Bending are often chosen, which ensures that you can stay longer on the mid-lane. However, everyone should decide for themselves and consider what they want to do in the game.
Zoe is a poke champion who can do a lot of damage and use many combos. Nevertheless, she also has weak points, such as team fights. However, these can be skilfully overplayed with skill.
