Zilean
Matchup Summary
Zilean is a pretty easy and simple match up to play around in the early game, however his potentially unkillable and boring playstyle can result in a minor stonewall. As Renekton, try to use your CS lead as your main advantage, use your wave clear to easily crash waves and force proxy attemps, allowing you to amass an even bigger advantage against Zilean as well as being able to potentially kill his top laner. Early on, Renekton can force freezes to force Zilean to move up, however Zilean's negative playstyle may prevent Renekton from obtaining the kill windows. Renekton should really have no problem being automatically fed with his gold lead, however try to avoid being baited into Zilean's R, or trying to over use your damage on a Zilean ulted target.
Detailed Tips
- 01
Level 1 E Start - Try to cheese PTA proc or Conq with E1 > 3 auto's > disengage with E2.
- 02
Play For Level 2/3 Kill Angle - Once you chunk out Zilean you're most likely able to kill him with your W, Dash or Flash up. Look to shove the wave around your kill timer, so you're able to make Zilean lose a lot more.
- 03
Abuse Renekton's Early Game - In this match up Renekton is essentially able to do whatever he simply wants. With that said, really hone into your strong early to mid game strengths to help you dominate and win the game. Play to deny your enemy of gold and xp, play to proxy and generally lead any top side skirmishes with your insane lane advantage.
- 04
Play For Mana Burn - Zilean's abilities cost a lot of mana early, Renekton can abuse this either forcing him to use his abilities to burn his mana or simply shoving the wave permanently, forcing Zilean to potentially expend mana using abilities. The more mana he burns, the less he is able to do, which is already nothing except trying to be annoying.
- 05
Play Waves Accordingly - Simply assess whether or not you want to play for freeze, to help you deny XP and CS, while presenting yourself more opportunities to create fights. Or, play to shove waves to create proxy angles, tempo resets or create a dive opportunity. Renekton has all the cards to do whatever he wants with wave management. Also respect that if your laner tries to proxy, simply proxy back or coordinate a kill on them with your jungler.
- 06
Respect Zilean E - His E slow is actually really annoying and can help him land his Q Q combo, use your E to avoid potential Q's onto you, and try to respect his slow for his potential gank setup.
- 07
Heavy Trades - Being that Renekton carries a lot of high damage, Renekton is able to just jump on his target nearly at will. Whenever your laners present you with the abiltiy to jump on them, simply take the opportunity to burst them as much as you can. If you didn't kill them already from that, use your options of freezing or your tower diving ability to help you finish off your opponent.
- 08
Respect Zilean R - His R is a big tool in being able to survive burst, as most of the time Zilean will force R if you're close to bursting him. To counter his R revive, instead of killing him you can simply wait it out until his R times out. This allows you to then secure the kill without him or his teammate being able to be revived. Sometimes it's better to kill the Zilean R target due to the fact it could help the trajectory of the fight, as it could either provide more time to get abilities off CD, allow your team to follow up or denying a potential kill from the Zilean R target.
- 09
Build Eclipse, Stridebreaker or Profane - Go Eclipse for consistent power through mid game and damage mitigation with the shield. / Go Stridebreaker to cripple Zilean's mobility and provide teammates with additional utility. / Go Profane for full damage focused playstyles.
- 10
Mid Game + Teamfighting Tips - In the fights Zilean will most likely always R the main carry rather than himself. If you're able to catch him before the fight, you can make him burn it on himself. This is a giant tool in being able to win the game, if the enemy has less peel opportunities for their carry then the better your win condition is overall. Just note that Zilean R late game can be around 30 seconds with Haste, so make sure you're able to separate him from the fights by killing him first, or try to burn his R before a major fight so he is unable to use it directly within that time frame.