A Definitive League of Legends Zaahen Guide
The last champion release for this year in this famous MOBA title brings a really tempo-based duelist into the Rift. This League of Legends Zaahen Full Guide would break down his complex and craft some expert advice concerning his gameplay optimization. Zaahen is primarily a Top Lane fighter, although early tests prove that the jungle might be an option for him. The idea behind him is to be a slow-burn melee duelist, with his strength increasing tremendously the deeper he gets into the fight.
After spending time testing Zaahen's first interactions, I find his Revive mechanic attached to his Passive to be one of the most game-altering abilities to come along in quite a while. It's more than a mere safety net; it sets the entire tempo of his lane matchups. Fully stacked, he can take trades fatal to any other champion, coming back to the fight with a good chunk of his health. This dynamic forces opponents to change their normal burst rotations, and these changes often allow small windows for a counter-kill. The center point of mastering this champ lies in managing aggression around that Passive timer.
If you are intrigued by champions that dictate the flow of the fight, you may find similar high-tempo mechanics and strategies in other competitive titles. For an analysis of the evolving MOBA-inspired brawl genre, see our review: Marvel Rivals: A Fresh Take or Just Overwatch in Disguise?
Breakdown of Zaahen's Kit: Abilities and Interactions
Zaahen's abilities were designed to synergize by rapidly stacking his unique resource, and thus, his in-built base kit is highly interactive.
Power Cultivation: Passive and Revive
His Passive, Cultivation of War, defines his dueling capacity:
Stacks of Determination: Zaahen gains stacks of Determination from his basic attacks and abilities applied against enemy champions. Each stack provides bonus Attack Damage (AD) to him.
Max Determination: After achieving the maximum amount of stacks, Zaahen receives an enormous bonus in his base Attack Damage and is enabled to cast his throwback ability, Revival.
Revive Mechanic: If killed while his Passive is fully charged, Zaahen will resurrect with something near 70% of his max HP. Importantly, no phase of this reviving process can be interrupted.
Primary Dueling Tools (Q and W)
Q - Darkened Globe: The next attack made by Zaahen strikes twice, dealing extra damage while at the same time healing him. This can then be cast again, making the next attack deal bonus damage and knock up the target; from what I hear, both casts of his Q seem to reset the auto-attack timer, similar to Camille's Q.
W - Dreaded Return: Zaahen strikes in the given direction, expanding damage on the contact and pulling enemies with him. In this case, when an enemy champion is very close when the hit occurs, Zaahen will pull him behind himself, thus creating the condition for a good position. This dash also hurts the minions hit by the attack and damages them.
Using Zaahen's Ultimate along with Slicing Dash
The remaining abilities of Zaahen are built for closing the gap and performing his ultimate finisher.
E- Orient Rush: Zaahen quickly dashes at that position and then uses his sword around it. The distance for this dash is relatively short, but the area of effect for the slice is not bad. This ability damages both enemy champions and minions.
R - Grim Deliverance: Zaahen ascends briefly before stabbing downward, damaging enemies caught in the area and healing a portion of damage dealt. The heal is applied only if the ultimate actually damages a target. While casting the ultimate, Zaahen is unstoppable; however, he is not fully invulnerable, thus providing the indication of a damage reduction mechanic during the execution of this ultimate.
Advanced Gameplay Tips for the League of Legends Zaahen Full Guide
Riot Games share specific advice on enhancing the performance of Zaahen. The first lesson was about the good integration of Passive:
Mechanisms of Stacking: Zaahen's passive can stack if an ability hits multiple targets: for example, when his W (Dreaded Return), E (Orient Rush), or R (Grim Deliverance) hits more than one enemy champion or even a mixture of champions and minions, his Passive charges significantly faster than just by hitting one target.
Aggression Understanding: Players should be cautious when his Passive is near zero; that is primarily focusing on farming minions and placing distance between themselves and the enemy champions. In contrast, when Passive is maxed and Revive is up, it should be aggressive, using this temporary safety net to either win trades or kill people.
Playing Against Zaahen: Kiting the champion is a must, because he has opened up the floor for bigger, much longer sticking power that one would expect melee skirmishers to own. Especially, avoid full commitment or disengage when he is using the Revive. It is interesting to analyze how this action brings in a completely new, unpredictable tempo to the game.
Would you like a detailed breakdown on the best runic and item builds for Zaahen in the present meta?
