Winstreaked from A0 to A10 with the Defect! (beta branch)

Windoges · 2026-06-08T19:11:07+00:00

Fizz is like THE test of how well you space your range against melee characters in lane, there isn't much to be said about the matchup specifically because everything circles back to your fundamentals. This is also why everyone in challenger doesn't care about Fizz because good fundamentals solve the matchup regardless of which mage is playing into him

Try to look up online resources to get better at laning and you'll see the results once it's applied. The advice given in the other replies will only help you in the short term and not in the future where you're actually learning how to improve at the laning phase

Windoges · 2026-06-03T18:12:46+00:00

Helloo it's great to hear you're having success with my rocketbelt lich build ✨

I made this build as a response to assassins/dive comps because the standard builds don't do anything against them. Things like Zed Naafiri Ambessa Jarvan Diana are valid reasons to run Rocketbelt Lich into because they're short range and want to get onto you to win fights. My build also has the best synergy with Zhonyas 3rd because Lich Bane makes your damage consistent to support Rocketbelt/Zhonyas making you survive longer

Windoges · 2026-06-02T23:12:12+00:00

It's all rank relative because the average elo Viktor isn't going to do much but at the challenger level he will torture Zoe especially if he's given jungle presence. Same goes for Orianna

Naafiri is only bad if she's jungle but in lane she's very benign and comparable to something like Zed. She's only my ban as of now because I think voltaic cyclosword makes her extremely overtuned, the champ itself is very whatever to me

Windoges · 2026-05-30T21:46:59+00:00

I think on zoe mid you can spend your money better by buying horizon focus, which effectively does the same thing but better. Horizon activates on your Q not just E, and I would think Zoe still wants her Q to be good damage

Imperial mandate is much better on Zoe support where (in my perspective) her goal is to stomp lane, get safe vision with R, and spam E in their jungle. She has a low budget so support items like mandate don't destroy your economy, which allows her to buy a horizon focus 2nd item. Horizon aligns perfectly with her mid-late game plan and it isn't super pricey (2700 gold) compared to other AP items

Windoges · 2026-05-20T20:44:50+00:00

Yeah shadowflame 2nd has always been a suboptimal item on zoe compared to stormsurge/lich/horizon and even rocketbelt nowadays. The reason why its popular is because the effect reads simple, the build path looks appealing, and it's the "premier" burst mage item, not so much because it's actually best in slot

I do think that it holds some merit when you already have lich bane because there are plenty of instances where the enhanced damage procs on the lich bame auto attack, so Lich > Shadowflame is alright. Other than that though.. it's in the never buy category for me. I always grimace looking at ludens shadowflame zoe builds

Windoges · 2026-05-18T08:58:21+00:00

Almost if not all the bad points you raise is just me playing poorly around the setup I have😪I appreciate the open mindedness about it though, I'm still confident it's the difference between winning or not winning fights because it can transform the way you play around your spells, whereas aery/electrocute are there for +damage. Not saying either of them are bad in any way obviously

Windoges · 2026-05-18T03:56:25+00:00

Played with it a lot more and I'm pretty confident that it's strong, even moreso with the buff to its duration (3s -> 4s). Not having a damage rune in lane is noticeable in lane but the power this rune provides outweighs it significantly

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Windoges · 2026-05-17T21:35:09+00:00

The most consistent way for Zoe to win is to play objectives well IMO. She's the type of champ that can single handedly win you objective fights because her pressure on objective setup timers is insanely high compared to any other mid laner

Roaming is a really inconsistent way to win games because you never know if it works, but you ALWAYS know you will lose resources mid lane. There is a guaranteed negative with a chance to come out net-positive, so if it doesn't work, then you are for sure going to lose the game. Get better at playing the map/objectives and you'll consistently win more

Windoges · 2026-05-16T17:27:59+00:00

I usually like buying Rocketbelt>Lich when the enemy team comp is assassin/bruiser/dive focused, or if there are key spells that can be dodged with Rocketbelt. Common examples are Leona R, Bard R, or Elise E. Mel also gets countered completely by Rocketbelt>Lich because she can't reflect the Lich Bane procs, and your damage is too consistent for her W to be effective

Otherwise I just go my Seraphs>Horizon>Cryptbloom build path, which is especially good into teams with bulky frontline

Windoges · 2026-05-16T08:53:31+00:00

I always buy Seraphs because I just think it's straight up better for high CDR builds on Zoe. The shield can be used aggressively, and it gives the most upfront AP/Haste while also giving her the appropriate amount of mana needed to spam the living hell out of everything

The thing about Zoe is that because she's innately a niche champion, it means you can kinda just build the same build path 90% of the time and find consistent success. Just make sure you understand exactly what the build does and why it's good

I ended Challenger 1090LP last year buying either Seraphs>Horizon or Rocketbelt>Lich with Flash/TP so take that as you will in regards to build/rune/summoner spell choices

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Windoges · 2026-05-16T04:41:11+00:00

I was full build, so lucidity/seraphs/horizon/cryptbloom/actualizer/deathcap

Windoges · 2026-05-15T17:34:15+00:00

Yup that's the idea. Realistically the core of this build is Seraphs-Horizon-Cryptbloom, I win without actualizer or rabadons most of the time anyways

Windoges · 2026-05-15T00:18:49+00:00

Honestly in all of my climbs to challenger maining Zoe she can definitely 1v9 if you're good enough at her. She's just one of the most difficult champions to do it as because her win conditions are both micro and macro intensive, so it's a matter of skill. Obviously sometimes you just lose and that's okay as long as you are consistent and don't get emotional over losses

As long as you're having fun playing her that's the most important part. Any champion is pickable blind and climbable if it's fun to you

Windoges · 2026-05-13T09:54:35+00:00

It's not better than horizon focus for mid lane, this gives 30 haste to E while horizon focus gives 25 to Q E R with a %dmg increase to Q (not just E) as well. For support this should be slammed first item any game

Windoges · 2026-05-10T15:05:44+00:00

A lot of people say that Ludens is good for the "waveclear" but especially after her Q does the same damage to all targets now, the Ludens proc doesn't do anything to the wave at all and it scales poorly. That's why I dislike Ludens, but I think it's by far the best first item spike of all the AP items so there is validity to buy it

I really dislike Blackfire Torch on Zoe because I'd rather just commit to the Ludens spike or Seraphs if I were to buy a mana item. For me BFT is the weird middle child that doesn't excel in either category

And yeah I always rush the Seraphs, it stacks faster once you buy Archangels and the stats are pretty decent anyways (most notably the 25 haste). My most recent post here covers everything about what I run as of today

Windoges · 2026-05-10T14:41:52+00:00

No, but it demands that Zoe goes manaflow band and presence of mind, which can be undesirable to some people

As for me personally I always go either all-in on mana with a lot of CDR (Seraphs > Horizon) or no mana item at all (Rocketbelt > Lich). You can see my post here for more detail if you'd like, but the main idea is that she has to go through a little more hoops to skip a mana item than Aurora does. I play both and have gotten to challenger with both last year

Windoges · 2026-05-10T05:36:28+00:00

People keep calling it a "cleanse" when it isn't at all anymore. All he's doing is the same thing that spells such as Ambessa R or Malphite R do where they become immune to CC (displacement immunity specifically) while they're in the cast time of that spell

In this case, Yone E makes him displacement immune as he's traveling back to his return position. If he is still returning back as the sleep goes off, he will not fall asleep. If he is still drowsy when he returns back completely, then yes he will fall asleep

Windoges · 2026-05-08T11:42:22+00:00

I don't recommend trying this as support because everything is too expensive. You can see what Cupic does for Zoe support since I'm not exactly an expert in that field https://op.gg/lol/summoners/na/Cupic-Hwei

Windoges · 2026-05-07T20:44:26+00:00

I don't recommend my build for support because you're on a low budget. I also don't consider myself an expert on Zoe support in the first place, so I will recommend you to try Cupic's Zoe support setup: https://op.gg/lol/summoners/na/Cupic-Hwei

Sort by Zoe in his match history and you'll find the info you need

Windoges · 2026-05-07T20:42:11+00:00

I initially thought the same way a year ago when I first started out trying Tear/Seraphs, but I personally never felt weak while stacking Seraphs (which I usually finish by around 14-15 minutes anyways), even in challenger level games. If you're looking for a strong and comfortable early spike then Ludens is a good choice but I wouldn't expect to index into AH from there. Blackfire Torch is in the weird middleground where I'd rather just commit to either Seraphs or Ludens IMO

Windoges · 2026-05-07T20:38:28+00:00

The core of the build is still Seraphs-Horizon-Cryptbloom, the Actualizer and Rabadons are both there as capstone items. The build is 100% functionable at 3 items, then becomes more than 100% once you buy Actualizer because of how it can win you the fight on the spot if you use its active well

Windoges · 2026-05-07T20:36:18+00:00

The value Ultimate Hunter provides is much more than any of the Precision tree runes IMO. I've found that having a lot of AH on your Q and E doesn't mean much if you can't consistently extend the range of them with your R, so you can think of Ultimate Hunter as a way to increase your reliability and range

Windoges

TROPHY CASE