League of Legends Zilean Guide: Best Build, Runes, Combos

Zilean is a powerful utility mage in League of Legends who excels at controlling fights, speeding up allies, and reviving key teammates at crucial moments. Whether you’re playing him as a support or mid laner, Zilean brings game-changing impact through smart positioning, crowd control, and perfectly timed ultimates. In this guide, we’ll cover the best build, runes, items, and combos to help you make the most of Zilean’s time-bending abilities and carry games through clever plays and team-focused decision-making.

Zilean Abilities Overview In League of Legends

Zilean is a utility mage who specializes in crowd control, mobility, and one of the most powerful tools in the game—reviving allies. His kit revolves around smart positioning, precise timing, and setting up plays for his team. Here’s a full breakdown of his abilities and how they work:

Passive – Time in a Bottle
Zilean stores experience over time. He can right-click an ally to instantly grant them the stored XP and level them up (but not himself).
Why it matters: This passive helps your teammates hit key level spikes earlier, giving your team an edge in early skirmishes and objectives.

Q – Time Bomb
Zilean throws a bomb on a target location or enemy. After a short delay, it explodes and deals AoE magic damage. If two bombs are placed on the same target, the first detonates instantly and stuns all enemies in the area.
Pro tip: Double bomb (Q → Q) for a guaranteed AoE stun. It’s a powerful tool in both lane trades and team fights.

W – Rewind
Reduces the cooldown of Zilean’s other basic abilities by 10 seconds.
Use it for: Spamming bombs, setting up double bombs, or resetting E to speed up or slow enemies more often.

E – Time Warp
Zilean targets an ally or enemy, granting a burst of movement speed or applying a slow.
When to use it: Speed up allies to escape or engage, or slow enemies to lock them in place for your Q combo or to peel for your team.

R – Chronoshift
Zilean marks an ally (or himself) with a time rune. If they die within a few seconds, they’re revived after a delay with a large chunk of health.
Why it’s game-changing: A well-timed ult can completely flip a team fight. Use it on your carries or frontline just before they’re focused.

Zilean shines when played with patience and precision. Whether you’re stunning key targets, speeding up your jungler, or reviving your ADC in a clutch moment, mastering his abilities will make you a game-changing presence in every match.

How To Play Zilean In League of Legends

Best Runes for Zilean

Zilean thrives on utility, crowd control, and strong scaling. Whether you’re playing him mid or support, the best rune setup focuses on poking, mobility, and team utility. The most effective primary tree is Inspiration, with Sorcery as secondary.

Primary: Inspiration
• Glacial Augment – This is Zilean’s best keystone. It slows enemies massively when you hit them with your double bomb combo, making it easier for your team to follow up or for you to peel.
• Hextech Flashtraption – Gives you creative repositioning while in fog or behind walls when Flash is down. Great for catching enemies off guard or escaping tight spots.
• Minion Dematerializer (for mid lane) – Helps you manage waves and hit level spikes faster.
• Cosmic Insight – Reduces cooldowns on your Flash, items, and active effects—perfect for a cooldown-heavy utility mage like Zilean.

Secondary: Sorcery
• Manaflow Band – Helps with early mana sustain so you can poke and double-bomb more often without running dry.
• Transcendence – Grants Ability Haste and cooldown refunds on takedowns, letting you get your bombs and ultimate up more often.

Stat Shards
• • Ability Haste
• • Adaptive Force
• • Armor or Magic Resist (based on matchup)

This rune page gives Zilean everything he needs—better slows, lower cooldowns, more mana, and great scaling. Whether you’re zoning enemies or setting up game-changing ultimates, this setup lets you stay relevant and disruptive from early lane to late-game team fights.

Best Build for Zilean

Zilean’s best build in League of Legends focuses on utility, ability haste, mana sustain, and survivability so he can constantly cast bombs, speed up allies, and land clutch ultimates. Whether you’re playing him mid or support, the goal is to maximize cooldown reduction and stay alive to keep your team in the fight.

Core Items
• Shurelya’s Battlesong (Mythic)
Best all-around Mythic for Zilean. It boosts your team’s movement speed when you shield, heal, or empower them—perfect when combined with your E (Time Warp). Great for engages, disengages, and kiting.
• Cosmic Drive
Gives Ability Haste, movement speed, and AP. Works well with Zilean’s constant spell usage and helps you stay mobile in fights while dishing out more utility.
• Zhonya’s Hourglass
A must for survivability, especially against assassins or dive comps. You can bait abilities, dodge burst, and still revive allies with your ult after stasis.

Situational / Utility Items
• Redemption – Adds AoE healing and can save teammates from across the map. Works well with your supportive playstyle.
• Ardent Censer – If you’re casting E mostly on your ADC, this adds bonus attack speed and on-hit damage to them.
• Mikael’s Blessing – Great against heavy CC comps. It lets you cleanse crowd control from key allies.
• Morellonomicon – If the enemy has tons of healing, this adds Grievous Wounds while keeping your poke meaningful.

Boots
• Ionian Boots of Lucidity – Best-in-slot for Zilean. The ability haste helps you spam Q, E, and lower your ultimate cooldown significantly.
• Boots of Swiftness – A good alternative for more consistent movement speed and better chasing/peeling.

Example Full Build (Support or Mid)
• Shurelya’s Battlesong
• Ionian Boots of Lucidity
• Cosmic Drive
• Zhonya’s Hourglass
• Redemption or Ardent Censer
• Morellonomicon or Mikael’s Blessing (situational)

This build gives Zilean everything he needs to be a high-impact enchanter—low cooldowns, strong utility, and the ability to save teammates in clutch moments. Whether you’re slowing enemies, reviving carries, or controlling the pace of team fights, this setup keeps you useful from start to finish.

Best Combos to Learn for Zilean

Zilean is all about timing, spacing, and quick decision-making. His combos are simple in execution but incredibly impactful when used at the right moment. Whether you’re setting up stuns or saving allies, mastering these core combos will make you a serious playmaker.

1. Double Bomb Stun

Q → W → Q (on the same target or area)
This is Zilean’s signature combo. Cast Q, instantly use W to reset the cooldown, then drop a second Q on the same target or location to trigger an instant stun and AoE damage.
Use it for: Lane trades, zone control, or starting fights.

2. Engage Setup Combo

E (Speed up ally) → Q → W → Q on enemy
Use E to speed up an ally engaging the fight, then double-bomb the enemy they dive onto for a fast AoE stun.
Perfect with: Champs like Hecarim, Rakan, or Jarvan who benefit from movement speed boosts.

3. Peel and Escape Combo

E (Slow enemy) → Q → W → Q
If an enemy is diving your carry or chasing you, slow them with E, then land the double bomb to stun and disengage.
Pro tip: This combo gives your team time to reposition or turn the fight.

4. Quick Poke Combo

Q → Auto → W → Q → Auto
Mix your passive-enhanced auto attacks in between bombs for extra damage during trades.
Why it works: Zilean’s passive boosts his basic attack damage after using an ability—great for consistent poke.

5. Clutch Ult Save Combo

R (on ally about to die) → W → E (Speed them up or slow enemies)
Use R just before your teammate dies, then use W to reset E and either peel for them or help them escape after the revive.
Tip: Don’t panic cast your ult—wait until they’re actually about to die for max value.

Zilean’s strength lies in his ability to control fights with just a few well-timed spells. Land your double bombs, manage your cooldowns smartly with W, and save key allies with your ult—and you’ll carry games without ever needing to dive into danger.

Conclusion

Zilean is one of the most underrated utility champions in League of Legends, offering insane value through his crowd control, movement speed buffs, and game-changing ultimate. With the right build, runes, and combos, you can control the flow of fights, set up clutch plays, and keep your carries alive when it matters most. Whether you’re double bombing enemies to lock them down or reviving your teammate just before they fall, mastering Zilean will turn you into the kind of support or mid laner that wins games with smart decisions and perfect timing.