r/ZaahenMains

I'm a Diamond/Masters top lane player, it's the only lane I've played since season 6 and whenever there's a new champion or a rework for top lane, I try to play at least a couple dozen games on them.

I've never played a more awkward melee top laner than Zaahen.

He is the only melee top laner who feels shit in a 1v1. This is a lane that focuses on duels so being a bad duelist+good teamfighter can only work if you're ranged and can poke the enemy down or just survive the lane, like Kennen.

But even in a teamfight, Zaahen is not that great. Top laners with much, much better 1v1s also feel much better in a skirmish or a teamfight (Gwen, Illaoi, Sett for example).

Also, Zaahen lacks a lot of QoL changes. The awkward delay before Q1 and Q2, the ridiculously long cool down of his Q early, the Q2 timer running out during his revive...

Statistics don't show he's particularly weak which means he only FEELS bad. Imo the gap between his early game dueling potential and his teamfight potency should be lowered. Make his Q cooldown start after using Q1, not Q2. Make his E outer edge apply 2 passive stacks, in return make it not apply multiple stacks vs multiple opponents.

I love this champion thematically but he needs work.

i played with him on released but stopped after a while and now i want to return, is trinity rush still the best option atleast as the first item? the spellblade passive and the attack speed from the item gave you so much power that you could burst a lot of people while remaining tank but that was before the ad ratio nerf from his passive but now i am not even sure about that

its shit.

I would rather unironically go ravenous hydra, in fact idk why people think that item is bad, is underrated as fuck.

Why people even go this item is beyond me, it does not give you anything useful, it does not give you good damage nor survivability, it doesnt stack with your champion, you dont need the attack speed.

Plat Zaahen. Anybody have any clue how to even begin to play into Varus? Most other ranged champs I can at least play safe but varus just blows me up no matter what. Any build or rune tech somebody came up with? I’m drowning here lost close to 70 lp the last couple days to it alone.

Does he even have those after all the nerfs? / s

I'm gold rank, I beat Ambessa's, Gwen's, overconfident Renekton's ( his lvl 1 is kinda weak, while we have 2 AA resets )

I'm pretty sure that a good Ambessa and Renekton will actually beat Zaahen tho.

How do ya all see it, which champs does he beat in lane?

So I was thinking about zaahen and ive been naturally gravitating towards lifesteal more because I realized that with the meta rn, at least what im fighting, I don't have enough sustain to properly 1v9 in my current mmr. And I was thinking about a full lifesteal build

Sundred sky
Gluttonous greaves
Ravenous hydra
Blade of the ruined king
Spirit visage
Bloodthirster

How here's where it gets a bit interesting, I main jungle but I was thinking of immortal path and how blatantly braindead it looks. Should zaahen mid be considered? And should I use BT at all? I think maybe I could trade it out for eclipse or something, any suggestions would be nice

You guys HAVE to give HoB a try. At first, I thought Zaahen felt awkward in the time between his Qs, then I saw Shihan’s post about hail blades and it made him feel infinitely times better in trading.

What's up guys? I've been finding a lot of success with Lethal Tempo on Zaahen over Conqueror, I think stacking your passive faster through attacks rather than abilities is more aligned with my playstyle. I'd definitely recommend giving it a try.

However, there seems to be an issue. Lethal Tempo only gets 1 stack from Q1's double hit, which seems like an oversight. Maybe it's a technically correct interaction, but I feel like he should get 2 stacks from it, as he does with Conqueror.

I used to be an old Aatrox main and it's been kind of a learning curve not immediately diving the backline, rather cutting everyone down near me, stacking passive and THEN ulting the backline. But yeah let me know your thoughts. Thinking LT could be a very viable rune if this interaction gets fixed.

I need advice;

Recently faced a Dorans ring start; Lethal tempo Volibear

I went Grasp + Dorans shield and thought I could poke him down.

Volibear proceeds to perma shove, and without Conq I can't all in him.

Later he does so much dps with Lethal Tempo, Dusk and Dawn + Flickerblades, he would kill me if I fought him solo before 12 stacks even happened.

We won the match, but I felt hopeless in the early lane and in sidelanes, his potential W recast means I oughta back up before, then I lose stacks and all in ability.

Gold rank; Is it possible to beat Volibear early with ignite and Conq? or is this a pray to the Jungle gods and scale as good as you can to beat him teamfights kinda match up? I rarely face him.

so I started playing Zaahen top, I just love that champ. I feel Conq synergises the best with him and is my go to vs tanks and bruisers, I take HoB against squishies.

I see a lot of people talking about grasp, I tried it, didn’t really like it. When am I supposed to take it?

does anyone have some rule of thumb for runes picking?

thank you

I can't get to scuttle in time no matter how I try bro