Counter Guide
How to Beat Zaahen
You win the trade, land the killing blow, and Zaahen kneels for four seconds, heals most of the way back and gets up again.
That revive is what makes him so hard to put down in top lane. Every hit he lands on a champion builds Determination, and once the bar is full he gets a big chunk of attack damage and a second life for any blow that would kill him. On top of that his empowered attacks heal him, he has a dash, a pull and a knock-up, and his ultimate can't be stopped with crowd control. What keeps him in check is that every one of those stacks has to come from damaging you. Deny him the hits and the bar drains, and without a full bar there's no revive. If you're thinking about a ban this patch, check our solo queue tier list.
Teemo- A way to make his attacks miss or deal nothing, so the stacks never fill
- Crowd control that lands before his ultimate, which ignores it
Who Beats Zaahen on Patch 26.18
Best Picks Into Zaahen
- Teemo1,292 games57.0%
Jax1,369 games55.5%
Singed503 games54.5%
Garen1,990 games54.3%
Illaoi757 games53.6%
Picks Zaahen Beats
Camille716 games45.5%
Riven432 games45.8%
Sion615 games46.0%
Yasuo725 games46.6%
Win rates are for the champion listed, in the top lane against Zaahen. They come from Nerfplz's own ranked solo queue games on Patch 26.18, Silver and above, 36,858 Zaahen games in all. Only matchups that show up in at least 1% of those games are listed.
Zaahen Overview
Strengths: What Makes Him Dangerous
- He gets a second life. At a full twelve stacks, Cultivation of War [Passive] turns a killing blow into four seconds of resurrection that restores up to 75% of his health.
- The Darkin Glaive [Q] trades well. His next attack strikes twice and heals him for a share of his maximum health, and a recast within a few seconds knocks you up.
- He can pull you in. Dreaded Return [W] reaches 850 units, and when it hits full range the enemies it caught are stunned briefly and dragged toward him.
- Grim Deliverance [R] can't be interrupted. He's immune to crowd control while he casts it, and the slam heals him for every champion it hits.
Weaknesses: Where You Get In
- The revive needs a full bar. Stacks only come from damaging champions, and they start draining five seconds after his last hit.
- It's on a long cooldown. The revive doesn't come back more often than every five minutes early on (two minutes at its fastest, late in the game).
- He can't act while he revives. For those four seconds he's untargetable and stuck in place (it also puts his summoner spells on a five second cooldown, so his Flash isn't ready until a second after he's back up).
- His mobility is short. Aureate Rush [E] only covers 350 units, so kiting him costs him a lot.
Countering Zaahen
Any of these gives you a real shot:
- Deny his hits. A blind or a dodge means no damage, which means no Determination. The Darkin Glaive [Q] still heals him (the heal comes on the swing), but its double strike does nothing.
- Trade short. Get out before the bar fills, and it drains while you're away.
- Crowd control him before the ultimate. Once he starts Grim Deliverance [R], nothing you have will stop it.
Stuck in lane against him without a counter?
Playing Into Zaahen Without a Counter
Watch the bar under his health. It shifts from white to yellow to orange as the stacks build, and it's red when he's full with the revive ready. Don't all-in him while it's red unless you can kill him twice.
When he does revive, don't stand on top of him. You've got four seconds, so back off and make him walk to you.
Trade when The Darkin Glaive [Q] is on cooldown (10 seconds at rank one). It's his heal and his knock-up, and without it he's a melee champion walking at you.
Best Zaahen Counters
We'd start with whichever of these you already play. They don't beat him the same way.
Teemo Blinds the Glaive
Blinding Dart [Q] makes every basic attack Zaahen throws miss for two to three seconds, from 680 units away. The Darkin Glaive [Q] is an empowered basic attack, so it misses too (no double strike and no knock-up, though he still gets the heal, which triggers on the swing). And a miss deals no damage, so it doesn't build Determination either.
Teemo's ranged, so Zaahen has to spend Aureate Rush [E] to reach him, and Move Quick [W] gets him away again. Noxious Trap [R] mushrooms in the bushes around the lane make every one of those chases cost health.
Jax Dodges the Glaive
Counter Strike [E] makes Jax dodge every basic attack for two seconds and take 25% less damage from area abilities, which covers Aureate Rush [E] and Grim Deliverance [R]. Each attack he dodges adds 20% to the recast (up to double), and the recast stuns everyone near him for a second. Time it for The Darkin Glaive [Q] and Zaahen's best trade turns into Jax's.
Leap Strike [Q] reaches 700 units, so a Zaahen who backs off to let his stacks reset doesn't get far.
Garen Silences the Kit
Decisive Strike [Q] silences for 1.5 seconds, and pretty much everything Zaahen wants to do in a trade is an ability: the dash, the pull, the Glaive recast and the ultimate. Silence him first and he's left swinging. Courage [W] takes a chunk off everything he deals for four seconds, and between trades Perseverance [Passive] regenerates a share of Garen's health. Demacian Justice [R] finishes him once his health is low (true damage that grows with missing health), though a full bar still means he revives from it.
Itemizing Against Zaahen
Nearly all his damage is physical, and Plated Steelcaps take 10% off his attacks. Thornmail puts Wounds on him when he hits you, which cuts the heal from The Darkin Glaive [Q] and Grim Deliverance [R] by 40%. Frozen Heart slows his attack speed by a fifth. Executioner's Calling applies the same Wounds from the other side if you'd rather deal damage than take it.
Where Zaahen Sits Right Now
Counter picks move with the patch, so check our current numbers before you trust a matchup:
- League of Legends Solo Queue Tier List, updated every patch
- Tier List Changelog, for what moved and why
- How to Beat Every Champion, for every other matchup guide
