Zaahen is coming out in November 2025, and what a month November has been. We saw loads of teams facing of on the Worlds stage and saw Faker pick up another trophy, we were blessed with the Winter Map for LoL, and now we are getting a new champion!
Zaahen is a mix between old Aatrox and new Xin Zhao, and he is one of the more mechanically demanding champions in the game. He will primarily be played in the top lane as a strong duelist, but you might find him being flexed into the jungle role. I doubt he will get played much in the mid-lane as he is pretty vulnerable to range and disengage, and mid lane usually has a lot of ranged champions, so they are direct counters to him.
In this Mobalytics guide, we will go over a few different tips and tricks on how to play Zaahen in LoL. We’ve previously made an article on how to counter Zaahen in LoL, which I recommend reading as well!
Recommend Runes for Zaahen
Zaahen is a champion who benefits from trading with the enemy via basic attacks and abilities. He is also a melee champion and needs to be quite close to the enemy if he wants to fight. This is why we recommend these runes for Zaahen.
Please note that these are currently the best runes for Zaahen at launch, if you’re not reading this guide at the launch of Zaahen, then make sure you head over to Zaahen’s champion page for up to date runes.
Recommended Builds for Zaahen
This is the recommended build for Zaahen. This build is currently the best for him and empowers his kit. Zaahen is a strong skirmisher, so building these items will make you a lot stronger.
Please note that is currently the best build for Zaahen. You can find other build for Zaahen by heading over to Zaahen’s champion page.
Zaahen Max Order
Zaahen traditionally starts Q and maxes this ability first. He does this because his Q increases his damage output and it makes him stronger in those 1v1 settings. After he maxes Q, he will go for E, then W.
How to Play Zaahen
So you’ve picked the right runes, and you know what items to build of Zaahen, now it’s time to actually understand his kit. If you understand his abilities, then you’re basically halfway there for learning the champions. You must read the images we’ve posted, as well as read what each of his abilities does in the client.
Before playing him in ranked or in normal draft, make sure you play him in a custom game or in practice mode first so you can see how each ability interacts with each other.
Zaahen’s Passive is Cultivation of War
Zaahen’s attacks and abilities against enemy champions grant him stacks of Determination, gaining bonus Attack Damage per stack. When he is at maximum stacks (12), he gains increased attack damage and can revive after being killed.
His Passive is a really good skirmishing tool, and in team fights, you’ll want to just keep auto-attacking as much as you can so you can get the revive. If you can revive, then you have the option to turn the fight around and get a kill in return.
Zaahen’s Q is The Darkin Glaive
Zaahen slashes on his next attack, dealing more damage and healing himself. Zaahen can recast this ability to have his next attack deal bonus damage and knock up his target. This ability is an auto-attack reset, so make sure you auto before using this ability.
Zaahen’s W is Dreaded Return
Zaahen stabs in a direction, damaging enemies hit and pulling them towards him. In team fights, you’ll want to stab anyone and pull them towards your team. However, you might want to prioritse enemy carries over the enemy tank or a champion who can start a fight!
Zaahen’s E is Aureate Rush
Zaahen dashes and deals AOE damage. Enemies who are towards the outer-part of his E take more damage, so you want to kinda aim it so they take the most damage possible and not directly on the enemy.
Zaahen’s Ultimate is Grim Deliverance
His Ult has a passive that gives him additional armor pen. But the active of this ability is that he throws himself at a target location, giving him additional stats to help him soak up and deal damage. In team fights, you’ll want to try and hit the whole enemy team as this means you’ll deal the most damage possible.
Zaahen Combos
Now we will go over some basic Zaahen combos. If you want to find a complete breakdown of all of the best Zaahen combos, make sure you head over to the Zaahen combos page on the Mobalytics site.
Your best bet is to commit to all-ins when you have multiple stacks on your Passive, as this increases your damage output, and if the exchange goes bad, you can possibly revive as well, and turn the exchange around.
AA>Q>AA>Q>W>E
Start with an auto-attack and then use your Q as an auto-attack reset. Recast your Q and then press W to pull the enemy towards you. This will allow your E to do max damage as the target will be in the outer ring of your E.
Laning Phase Tips and Tricks
Zaahen benefits from extended trades, so you will want to focus on taking long, all-in trades to get maximum stacks on your Passive and to deal the most damage possible. You don’t want to go for short trades, because you’ll never max your Passive.
At level 1, you should try to go for an aggressive play if you’re against a weak and melee champion. Auto-attack them once, activate your Q and then keep auto-attacking before pressing your Q again. You should have enough damage to take a lot of their health bar away! You will then want to repeat this as often as you can.
As you need to all-in the enemy frequently, you need to manage the waves correctly. Your best bet is to keep the wave either even or slightly closer to your side of the map, as this allows you to chase the enemy down. If you keep pushing the enemy into their tower, you will be unable to kill them.
You can find out how to manage waves correctly by checking out our wave management guide.
While you’re incredibly strong in those fights, you should prioritise taking trades when they’re in favourable circumstances. By this, I mean try to play around the enemy’s cooldowns and their abilities. If the enemy uses an ability, make sure you abuse the cooldown, as this is one less ability they can trade back with. For instance, if the Renekton uses his Q on the wave or his W to last hit a minion, then you should abuse the cooldown and play aggressive while he no longer has access to this ability.
Mid, Late Game and Team Fighting Tips and Tricks
During the mid-game, you’ll want to split push and apply pressure to the enemy team’s objectives by clearing waves quickly and fighting whoever tries to stop you. However, Zaahen is also a great team fighter so don’t be afraid to team fight and force fights.
You can start by using your Ultimate at the beginning of the fight as it increases your damage output, helps you close the gap and also is an AOE ability. If you can land your R on multiple enemies, then you’ll be in a good position.
The main thing to remember is that you need to just keep auto-attacking and hitting whoever you can with your abilities. It doesn’t matter who you really focus, you just need to keep auto-attacking someone so you can get max stacks and get your revive ready (just in case).
Traditionally, you’ll want to play front-to-back and peel for your carries.
Final Thoughts
Zaahen is a really fun champion to play, and if you haven’t tried him yet but love playing champions with strong all-in and who love to play aggressive, then definitely give him ago before Riot Games nerf him!
