Ziggs/Strategy

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Gameplay

By NeeksNaman

Greetings Summoners!

Sometimes, you want to go a little crazy. Sometimes, you want to throw caution to the wind. And sometimes, you want to blow stuff up just to watch it explode. If you agree with any of the previous statements, we should have a conversation about Ziggs, the Hexplosives Expert.

The first thing you'll notice about Ziggs is that he doesn't get anything for free - it requires a strong throwing arm and keen aim to get the most out of him, trading safety and caution for massive damage opportunities and insane poke. Ziggs bounces - a new skill shot paradigm - bombs along the ground at his foes and blasts them to smithereens, providing he can predict his enemy's movements effectively.

In addition to a barrage of explosives, Ziggs has some madcap tricks up his tiny sleeves. Ziggs' Satchel Charge can control an area and knock back enemies a short distance when he detonates it, and he can also send himself flying away from the blast by using the ability to launch himself. If Ziggs is too hasty, however, he'll find the long cooldown can punish misuse and leave him vulnerable in a tight spot.

Ziggs espouses our new champion design direction to make champions deep and provide a unique gameplay experience. His strengths and weaknesses really shine (for example, his lack of a reliable targeted nuke allows us to give him greater damage potential and range), and mastering his abilities will challenge seasoned summoners.

Give Ziggs a spin and tell us what you think - your feedback has helped us move in this direction, and we're constantly working to make the game a more fun and engaging experience.

Champion Spotlight

Recommended Items

Tips

Playing As Ziggs

• Even if you're far from a fight you can still help from afar with Mega Inferno Bomb.
• Slowing your enemies with Hexplosive Minefield makes it easier to land other abilities.
• Knocking yourself over walls with Satchel Charge can be great when chasing after or escaping from enemies.

Playing Against Ziggs

• Don't step on Ziggs's mines! They'll slow you and make it much easier for him to hit you with his other abilities.
• Many of Ziggs's abilities have long cooldowns. Try catching him just after he's used his abilities.
• Ziggs's ultimate, Mega Inferno Bomb, deals more damage in the center of the explosion.

Tricks

Ability Usage

• The increased damage from Short Fuse can be used to better last hit minions or harass an enemy champion.
• Mega Inferno Bomb can be used on enemies near a turret to force them to back off.
  • It is also a very effective means of lane control, especially when your jungler is pre-occupied elsewhere or too low to gank a lane.
  • Also extremely efficient at objective stealing, but requires vision and good timing due to delay.
• Place your Mega Inferno Bomb where it will hit most of the enemy team.
• Mega Inferno Bomb is excellent to ruin an enemy push: it can wipe out an army of minions and heavily damage several enemy champions, brutally ending any attempt to push and also giving you lots of gold. Wait for the enemy team to be as close as possible without risking to damage allied turret for maximum efficiency.
• Mega Inferno Bomb works well with a strong allied AoE crowd control, like Amumu's Curse of the Sad Mummy or Sona's Crescendo.
• Satchel Charge, Hexplosive Minefield (when placed/detonated by enemies), and Mega Inferno Bomb will grant vision inside brush and in the Fog of War.
• You can use Mega Inferno Bomb's great range to gank other lanes efficiently.
• You can use Satchel Charge to throw an enemy into a Hexplosive Minefield and quickly you can use the slow to land a perfect Mega Inferno Bomb.
• If your passive is up, or an enemy is escaping, you can use  Satchel Charge to bounce the enemy towards you to put them into autoattack/skill range.
• It's recommended to save  Satchel Charge in teamfights to make a quick escape for or to interrupt channeled spells such as Katarina's Death Lotus, and Karthus' Requiem.
• Bouncing Bomb has a fast travel time meaning it is a strong tool for harass especially when combined with Short Fuse to play the hit and run game.
• Satchel Charge can be used offensively too. Placing it in the middle of your lane and walking around it will make your lane opponents scared of getting too close, as you can activate it for a huge leap. Satchel Charge combined with Hexplosive Minefield is a very powerful zoning tool, and can force your enemy to walk in the direction you choose, making it easy to land a Bouncing Bomb or a Mega Inferno Bomb.
• Hexplosive Minefield can choke off large portions of jungle routes which effectively deters chasing enemy champions.
• Bouncing Bomb's range is greater than the enemy's vision range when thrown at maximum range with three bounces. Enemies won't be able to see the bombs until the last second, so use this to effectively land Bouncing Bomb harass at a safe distance.
• Using Ignite on a fleeing foe allows you to land Mega Inferno Bomb and pick up a kill.

Mastery Usage

Item Usage

• Ziggs naturally suffers from long cooldowns and the high mana costs. Itemize to counteract these deficiencies.
• Morellonomicon is a strong item on Ziggs, providing AP, cooldown reduction, and mana regeneration.
• Sheen works well with Short Fuse. It can be later turned into Lich Bane.
• Athene's Unholy Grail gives Ziggs everything he needs, intense mana regeneration, cooldown reduction, and of course ability power.
• Grabbing an early Chalice of Harmony is good laning choice because of its high Mana regeneration and magic resistance, allowing you to harass constantly and take less damage from your opponent.
  • Additionally, consider building Tear of the Goddess, as his Bouncing Bomb is spammable in high ranks and cooldown reduction. This can later be built into an Archangel's Staff and later Seraph's Embrace which will grant Ziggs more protection for some mana cost.

Countering

• Getting early Boots of Speed will allow you to better avoid Bouncing Bomb.
  • Later in the game, it can be upgraded into Boots of Swiftness giving you an easier time avoiding all of his spells.
• With proper timing, Ziggs' Bouncing Bomb can be dodged by running underneath it in between bounces.
• Try to avoid fighting Ziggs in the jungle, as Hexplosive Minefield can block off potential escape routes and the narrow pathways make it easier for him to land all his abilities, including Mega Inferno Bomb.
• Ziggs deals mostly magic damage. Building magic resistance items will reduce your damage taken.
• All of Ziggs' spells except Bouncing Bomb have a very long cooldown at early levels; engage him after he finishes casting his abilities.
• Stay away from the center of his Mega Inferno Bomb, as the spell will deal less damage if you are outside the center. You can tell when where it will land by the circle it creates before it lands.
• Stay away from his Hexplosive Minefield to avoid the slow.
  • Keep in mind that spell shields will only allow you to avoid a single Minefield. All other will still detonate. Don't use spellshields to block that ability; instead save them for Satchel Charge or Mega Inferno Bomb
• Ziggs main champion counterpicks tend to be assassins with strong gap closers. Ziggs is not very mobile, is squishy, and is reliant on abilities that are rather easy to dodge. For those reasons, champions like Zed, LeBlanc, and Katarina. They all have means of avoiding Hexplosive Minefield and killing Ziggs.
  • Other assassin worthy of mention is Master Yi. He has difficulties dodging Hexplosive Minefield, but that is not a problem since he can't be slowed, and as long as he avoids Satchel Charge, he can stick very well to Ziggs, as well as being able to dodge all of Ziggs' abilities (including Mega Inferno Bomb) with a single Alpha Strike.
• Apart from assassins, champions such as Vladimir and Nidalee have the sustain needed to shrug off Ziggs' poke. Nidalee also has the mobility needed to dodge Ziggs' abilities, while Vladimir scales extremely well into late game.
• Other options to deal with Ziggs include: champions that can rival his range ( Xerath, Syndra) or very mobile mages ( Ahri, Kennen)
• Ziggs excels at countering short ranged or melee champions that have weak sustain and no gap closers, including but not limited to Cho'Gath, Ryze, Swain, and Orianna. Avoid playing them against Ziggs.

References

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