Matchup

Heavy CCCountered by spell shieldHeavy AP damage

You are stronger late game — farm safe and avoid early trades.

Build vs Zilean

Build adapted to this matchup

Starting items

Doran's Blade
Health Potion

Core build

Kraken Slayer
1DPS
The Collector
2vs Tank
Stormrazor
3DPS

Standard

Boots of Swiftness
4vs Slow
Profane Hydra
5vs Tank

Summoner spells

414100%

Anti AD

Plated Steelcaps
4vs AD
Guardian Angel
5vs AD

Anti CC

Mercury's Treads
4vs CC

Anti Tank

Profane Hydra
5vs Tank
Lord Dominik's Regards
vs Tank
Edge of Night
vs Tank
Youmuu's Ghostblade
vs Tank

DPS

Infinity Edge
DPS
100.0% WR1 games
DominationDomination
ElectrocuteElectrocute
Sudden ImpactSudden Impact
Grisly MementosGrisly Mementos
Treasure HunterTreasure Hunter
SorcerySorcery
Absolute FocusAbsolute Focus
Gathering StormGathering Storm
Attack SpeedAdaptive ForceHealth Scaling

Power Spikes

Strength by game phase

Early (0-15)
Mid (15-30)
Late (30+)
QuinnQuinn
ZileanZilean
Aggressive
Careful
Careful

Zilean's abilities

Passive, spells and ultimate

Time In A Bottle (P)

Zilean stores time as Experience and can grant it to his allies. When he has enough Experience to finish an ally's level up, he can right-click them to impart it. Zilean receives as much Experience as he gives.

Cooldowns

Cooldowns by spell rank

LevelQWER
310s14s15s
69s14s15s2m
98s12s15s2m
118s10s15s1m30
168s6s15s1m
188s6s15s1m

Playing against Zilean

How to counter and exploit weaknesses

1

Track his R (revive): it has a long cooldown (120-60s). Engage when it's on CD.

2

If an enemy has Zilean's R (golden aura), don't burst that target — focus someone else and come back after.

3

Double bombs are his only CC: if he misses, he has nothing impactful left.

4

Focus Zilean first in fights to prevent him from R'ing his carry.

Source: op.gg + LTL Engine · Patch 16.9.1 · May 9, 2026