League of Legends best Zoe build guide: Itemization, Counters, Strategy, and more

The best Zoe build makes the Aspect of Twilight one of the best burst mages in League of Legends 14.11. Once she gets a few items under her belt Zoe can instantly delete an enemy carry, or poke them down to low HP even before a fight begins.

However, Zoe is one of the harder Mid Lane champions to master. She is very skillshot reliant and the only way to get better with her is to keep practicing.

You will be losing a lot of matchups with her as you start out, but Zoe becomes a very fun and rewarding experience once you master her kit. 

Contents:

• Best Zoe build
• Pros and Cons of playing Zoe
• Zoe tips and tricks for Early Game, Mid Game, and Late Game
• Zoe counters, matchups, and Champion synergy

League of Legends 14.11 Best Zoe build

Runes 

Itemization

Spells

• Flash
• Ignite/Exhaust/Barrier

Skill Unlock Priority

Q: Paddle Star	1			4	5		7		9
W: Spell Thief			3											14	15		17	18
E: Sleepy Trouble Bubble		2						8		10		12	13
R: Portal Jump						6					11					16

Zoe Pros and Cons in League of Legends Season 14

Pros:

• Zoe is currently one of the best burst mages in Riot’s MOBA. She has an incredible amount of poke damage that chunks out the enemy backline if you can land her Paddle Star. Her R+Q combo keeps her relatively safe while maximizing the amount of damage that her Paddle Star can do. 
• Zoe has good kill pressure during the laning phase, especially if you are running Ignite and Electrocute. You can get early kills on your lane opponent or force them to take early backs. This will make them lose out on farm and XP allowing you to get an early advantage and snowball off of it.
• Depending on the spell she picks up with her W, Zoe can be hard to pin down. Using her W gives her a temporary movement speed boost from the get-go. However, if she picks up an additional Flash, Ghost, or Cleanse, it will be difficult to engage on her. She can skirt around a skirmish with ehr W, being extremely disruptive with her Sleepy Trouble Bubble.

Cons:

• Zoe does not do well from behind. While she has decent scaling, you will not be having the same impact in the game if her best build options are far from done. So you will have to keep generating gold advantages to stay relevant in skirmishes. 
• Zoe’s Portal Jump is like a double-edged sword. While it can keep her safe during a skirmish, it leaves her open to an engage on the jump back. Where she lands is telegraphed, and leaves her vulnerable to enemy CC.
• Zoe is one of the hardest Mid Lane champions to master in League of Legends. This is primarily because she has no point-and-click skills, as each of her abilities are skill-shots. You will need a fair bit of practice to get proficient with her and even then she will not be reliable in a teamfights if you are continually missing her Paddle Star.

How to play Zoe: Tips and Tricks for League of Legends Season 14

Early Game:

• Zoe has a relatively strong Early Game with a lot of kill presence. Much of your laning phase will go into creating gold advantages for you. You will need to poke with her Paddle Star and Passive, which will often either help you secure a kill if you land your E, or chunk out the enemy loaner forcing them to back.
• Place Wards around your lane to catch out the enemy Jungler pathing. Zoe is very squishy and has a telegraphed jump-back position with her portal. So if you are pushed up in lane it will be very easy to gank her. Hence, make sure you are pushing up in lane only when you know that the enemy Jungler is not around.
• Zoe is good as a roamer. Once you have a few items under your belt and have the lane pushed up, you can look for plays in other parts of the map. Her Sleepy Trouble Buble can set up plays and help her teammates get ahead with a successful roam. Just make sure you are not neglecting farming so that you can complete Zoe’s best build as soon as possible.

Mid Game:

• Zoe starts hitting her power spikes in the Mid Game. You will be able to melt the enemy carries with a single rotation of spells. So, try to skirmish with your team as much as possible. Set up for neutral objectives and make it harder for the enemy to contest it with your Sleepy Trouble Bubble.
• If nothing is happening on the map you can stick to the side lanes and keep threatening tower damage. Zoe has decent tower taking potential with her passive, which is why the enemy team will be forced to respond to your push. But don’t push up too far up, if you aren’t aware of the enemy team’s positioning.
• Don’t ignore farm even if are getting kills. Zoe needs to continue to push her early advantages and the best way of doing that is to keep farming every minion that comes your way. Your goal at this phase will be to complete Zoe’s best build as soon as possible.

Late Game:

• Zoe can be a bit hard to navigate in the later stages of the game. It’s mostly because of just how squishy she is, and her poke is not going to do much if the enemy team has built up lot of sustain items. While she continues to have incredible one-shot potential, she herself can be taken down immediately if she is hit by the enemy CC.
• Much of your Late Game will go behind using the terrain to find angles for her long-range Sleepy Trouble Bubble. Keep poking out the enemy team with your Paddle Star, but do so in a way that they can’t re-engage on you when Zoe jumps back to her portal.
• You will need to kite around the fight in a way that it’s hard for the enemy frontline to engage onto you. Keep creating angels with Zoe’s E if it’s unsafe for you to jump in with her R. Putting key targets to sleep is another great way of controlling the tempo of the fight.

Zoe counters, matchups, and Champion synergy

Countered by:

• Fizz
• Akali
• Irelia
• Orianna
• Zed
• LeBlanc
• Lux
• Syndra

Zoe has a much harder time generating early advantages if she is up against the above picks.

Favorable Matchups

• Ryze
• Ziggs
• Twisted Fate
• Galio
• Veigar
• Taliyah
• Ahri
• Cassiopeia
• Aurelion Sol

Zoe has a much easier time in lane when up against the above Mid Lane picks.

Champion Synergy:

• Rek’Sai
• Jhin
• Jayce
• Ezreal
• Ziggs
• Viego
• Lux
• Lee Sin
• Hecarim

Zoe’s kit synergizes very well with these champions.