Zanis: Sweep the Enemy Team

Build and Guide Zanis: Sweep the Enemy Team

Cheat Sheet
Skill Build

When looking at a traditional laning situation, balance your skills. Always go with Blood Wyrm first. If team fights break out from the start, spec more into Blood Wyrm for that added mobility and harrassment.

Items

Claves Sancti, War Boots, Slikk's Sting, Hyoga's Edge, Fenrir's Tooth, Fafnir's Talon

Arcana

Attack Speed in early tiers is your best choice for Red arcana. Critical Chance and Critical Damage may be preferred later on. Life Steal will be your only choice for Tier 1 Purple arcana, but follow up with Life Steal and Crit Chance in the upper eschelons. For greens, feel free to go for Cooldown and Attack Speed if you know what you're doing. Otherwise, just play safe with defense.

Talents

Execute, Sprint, Roar

Introduction
Zanis is one of those staple fantasy characters. He looks cool (or handsome, depending on his skin) and brings up that all important question of how someone can swing a piece of steel quite so quickly. In his case, it's a polearm/spear that's so free-flowing, it's difficult to work out where Zanik really slots into most teams.

While his rapid attack speed and relatively low cooldowns may suggest a power-hungry melee machine, he's so focused on using abilities to keep himself alive and in the fight that he's relatively useless without them. Meaning he's not great for initiating a team battle or useful once he's been swinging that stick around for too long.

What he does excel at, however, is joining in mid-fight in an effort to 'sweep' the team – handy for a guy with Tail Sweep as an attack. He's a finisher and not much else. What that means is he's best utilized in gank operations where he can sneak into the back row and tackle anyone attempting to retreat on low health. He has a few ways to mitigate incoming damage when overrun, a great pull-out move and some decent AOE capabilities, but he's so squishy most of the time that he's quickly annihilated in his targets are numerous and not already on the brink of death.

Skill Build
Housing a fairly unique passive simply called 'Dragon', every champion kill or assist Zanis racks up permenantly increases his Attack Power by 12 with it capping out at 20 stacks. That's a massive 240 additional Attack Power for free in the late game. It can quickly mount up to be problematic if the enemy team isn't careful.

Blood Wyrm, Zanis' main ability, is much like the rest of his arsenal; multifaceted. Upon use, Zanis gains an impressive 80% movement speed buff for 1.5 seconds, giving him plenty of time to rush into battle or pull back out. Better yet, he immediately breaks free of any control enfeeblements, making it particularly useful in many more situations. Carrying on, it boosts the damage of his next auto-attack and ever adds a small AOE effect. Whichever enemy hero is struck by it will be slowed by 50% for a whole 2.5 seconds. Again, opening up even more strategic options.

Moving on, we have the aformentioned 'Tail Sweep'. A simple AOE attack all around Zanis' body, anything hit will take some decent damage. But the main reason for its existance is the 40% Attack Speed boon it grants should an enemy hero be caught in the swing.

Zanis' ultimate – Dragon's Wrath – doesn't quite match up the words spoken upon use, but it carries so many effects that suit both phrases. Quickly swinging at his target for maximum damage, anyone caught in the strike zone will be catapulted into the air. They don't stay there for very long, but they're then greeted by a Zanis that takes 20% less damage and dishes out even more with a boost to his auto-attack damage rates. This is all True Damage, too, so it's great for attempting to finish off bulky tanks with low mobility. A great tool for rushing in for assassination attempts before turning to join the fight.

Though a straight-up AOE swing would be nice for clearing minions early on, it isn't just Tail Sweep that gets the job done. Blood Wrym not only grants that massive speed buff, but even adds an AOE element to Zanis' next strike. For that reason, it's worth picking up the latter rather than the former. From there, it's more a matter of how the match is going.

If you find yourself needing to help out allies in team fights from the start, focusing on Blood Wyrm will likely yield better results, too. The short cooldown makes it a great way to charge across the battlefield and into the fray. Even if you're not able to 'finish' the enemy, you can sometimes get away with baiting them into towers or ambush scenarios by walking in and running out. The enfeeblement break effect really comes into its own here.

As for Dragon's Wrath, it has no major drawbacks and a lot to offer. Level this up whenever you get a chance.

If things are looking pretty standard, however, just balance out your points evenly. Neither Bloody Wyrm not Tail Sweep gains any effect duration increases by leveling, only cooldown reduction and damage numbers, so there's little need to prioritize one over the other if a reason struggles to present itself.

Talents
As a finisher-type melee champion, it's only natural we suggest rolling Zanis with Execute. He's designed to charge in when enemies are already fairly banged up, so pulled a few quick attacks before racking up the kills with Execute is a no-brainer. It's just difficult to pull off at times, but the temptation to see a pair drop dead causes many with Execute to walk into their own untimely demise. Certainly take it once you know what you're doing and have comfortable experience with Zanis' moveset and playstyle, but something else may be a better choice before then.

Like Sprint! This may be a slightly unconventional choice given Zanis has a perfectly good movement speed boost already, but having another can help you get in and out of even more fights. More uptime and less time spent travelling means you have far more opportunities to get some fight experience under your belt. It even gives you another chance to chase down an opponent for that all-important killing blow. Better yet, use it to heal steal the enemy jungle. Zanis gains crazy Life Steal in the late-game thanks to his Attack Speed focus. Paired with his Ult's damage mitigation, it's real easy to heal back to full through a big of cheeky jungle stealing.

Lastly, there's Roar. Instant boosts to your Attack Speed and Attack Damage can be extremely potent in the early game, but you'll be gaining so much of this from items and abilities later on that it'll quickly drop off so something less noticable.

Items
One of the trickier subjects when it comes to playing Zanis is certainly his choice of items. The in-game default suggest players focus on building up  Attack Speed and Life Steal for the most part. The problem here, however, is that you miss any real Attack Power increase until at least the mid-game stage when you arrive at Blitz Blade – which only really helps with creep farm; something that isn't that difficult for Zanis already. The idea here is likely to strike first and let his passive add Attack Power through kills and assists, but this is difficult go get going with only a slight increase to Attack Speed from the start.

Instead, try to go for a build that focuses more on Attack Power, Critical Chance and a hint of Life Steal. We'll leave the Attack Speed increases to a mix of your Tail Speed ability and a different choice in boots.


Build into Cleaving Claymore and save up to go into War Boots from there. This will give you a fairly standard Attack Power/Attack Speed spread that, when paired with your abilities, should net you a kill or two to boost your Attack Power further. It should at least enable you to net an assist for the same gain.

Upgrade into the trusty Claves Sancti – this will be the start of your crit-heavy career. You'll even gain a movement speed boost with each to help you secure additional kills, and thus, Attack Power.

Slikk's Strike would be next. This does indeed grant additional Attack Speed, but the increased Critical Chance and Critical Damage are well... critical. From there, you'll likely start to want some defense to survive those all-important team fights. Whether you come in toward the end or help bait the enemy into the false sense of security, you'll need to finish them off.

Hyoga's Edge is a great choice here as it builds from the massive HP gain of Greaves of Protection into something that gives Armor and Magic Defense on top of slowing down enemies hit with you auto-attacks. If you typically have no problems hunting down your foes, some would opt for the extra Attack Power of Mantle of Ra. It gives far more armor, but no magic defense. Weigh up the enemy composition before deciding. Fenrir's Talon is perfect for your Life Steal neeeds at this point, with a matching Fenrir's Tooth dishing out massive pain to enemies already missing a chunk of their HP – your main allure.

Arcana
For arcana, we're still focusing on Attack Speed; in the red slots, at least. Simple enough at Tier 1, you should start to look at gaining some extra Critical Chance and Critical Damage in the later ranks. We're aiming to maximize the damage of each swing rather than have lots of little stings. We still want them to be fast, of course, but you need to hit like a brick. Plenty of champions will have ways to escape you, and just in case you've used up your abilities before giving chase, extra hard hits will make up for the lack of time you'll have to wail on your enemy.



In their Tier 2 stage of Purple arcana, look at grabbing a mix of Vamp and Fury. Both award bits of Attack Speed, but follow up with Critical Chance and Life Steal. One even grants a little movement speed; and that's always good. Follow the same principle when it comes to Tier 3 arcana, too. For newcomers, your only real choice is Leech at this point. That's pure Life Steal if you hadn't guessed.

When looking at Green arcana, Tier 1 doesn't have a whole lot to offer. You'll need a little time to get to your enemy when it comes to ranged attacks like Mages, so Magic Defense may show its worth here. Don't worry too much about Armor Pierce and instead opt for Armor for yourself. A mix of Magic Defense and Armor is never a bad thing. Safety first, after all.

It's a different story with Tier 2 and 3, however. Sure, you can opt for the same choices as before; but where's the fun in that? By this stage you should know the ins and outs of Zanis and know how to pick a fight. Slam in those Assault arcana for some Cooldown Speed and Attack Speed gains and fight hard. If all else fails, at least your getaway skills will be back before long.

Early Game
Zanis doesn't have the most fun when it comes to Early Game. He's fast on his feet and able to clear minions pretty well, but without his Ultimate, he doesn't pack all that much of a punch before he gears up. Being a Finisher-type, too, there isn't a whole lot to do if you've pushed a lane out. You can't reliably kill foes to stack your AP passive – as much as you'll be tempted – so it's sometimes worth strolling the battlefield with Blood Wyrm. This gives you a better chance of grabbing a kill or assist for that very same purpose.

If that isn't really possible, just play aggressively. You have a great way to retreat with Blood Wyrm, and it doesn't as a creep-clearing AOE move, so make the most of the harrassment opportunities before running out of there if things get too shifty.

If you're clearning minion waves a little too much, try to save Blood Wyrm incase you need to escape the enemy jungler running through the river.

Mid Game
This is where you'll want to start stacking your passive as quickly as possible. It's the best way to overpower your enemies when you're claiming extra muscle from not only picking up items from their demise, but essentially stroking your ego at the same time. Start roaming around a little more. Keep a close eye on enemy position and team fight opportunites.


Again, you're not really great for killing an opponent at full health, so leave initiation to your tankier allies. Wait things out a little and roll  in if the fight is looking pretty even. Aim for whoever has the least amount of HP, but attempt to save Blood Wyrm for when they start looking for an escape (or you need to make one yourself). Open with Dragon's Wrath if there's more than one opponent (or you know they'll hurt you back) to mitigate the damage before following up with Tail Sweep. The Attack Speed buff here should allow you to land more than a few hits before they do much else back. Pray for those crits.

If they're relatively weak on the defensive side, save Dragon's Wrath as a way to interrupt a stronger cast. If they've used it already, go for it. Once they start to get really low, pop Blood Wyrm to slow their escape and deliver the finishing blow.

Then get back to laning. Your attack speed works wonders on towers, and that Creep cash is easy money.

Late Game
Once each team is at each other's throat, it's time to take things seriously. You'll begin to notice a lack of natural defense at this point, so you'll need to learn to pick your battles well. As tempting as it is to lunge into battle with your AOE skills and the promise of damage mitigation, you're neither a burst-attacker nor a tank, so you'll likely die regardless.

You should have a decent set of items by this stage. Your Attack Power and Attack Speed should be way up there, but it's those lesser visable Critical Hits we're banking on. You have slivers of armor and an item that begs you to hit enemies looking to cheat death. You want to survive long enough to see it work its magic, and that's what you'll do.

Keep pushing lanes and distracting your opponent with tower strikes; but don't engage. If you see a retaliation coming your way, pop Blood Wyrm to get out of there and retreat into the Jungle. Let team fights escalate before sneaking in from the back or sides to finish off any ranged attackers caught in the crossfire. Open up with Dragon's Wrath to distrupt the whole group and increase your chances of survival with its damage mitigation bonus. Follow up with Tail Sweep for some extra AOE damage but, more importantly, the Attack Speed bonus. Slap away at your enemy, but keep Blood Wyrm available as a getaway tool – or a finishing strike if the suprise attack caused the fight to shift in favor of your team.

If you've stacked enough Critical Chance to see your movement speed boosted enough during a fight, you can decide to pop Blood Wyrm early to make use of its bolstered AOE auto-attack. It's your move, as they say.

Once the fights are over, get back into the Jungle. Your damage mitigation ultimate has a short cooldown period. Tied with your Attack Speed and Life Drain choices, the jungle is a great way to quickly regenerate any lost health. Steal your opponent's buffs and benefit from the burning and MP Regen. Use it all to take on the Abyssal Dragon all by yourself. Toward the end of the game, there's a good chance you'll be able to take on the Dark Slayer on your lonesome. A real game changer.

FAQ/Tips

Blood Wyrm is on a short cooldown. Don't be afraid to use it's speed boost as a way to regenerate health back at base. You'll be able to pull out and rush back in before long.
If you're looking to stay on the battlefield for a prolongued period of time, secure the Blue Buff. The mana-regen will help.
Attempt to grab Red Buff before a bigger battle. Especially if you're not going for Mantle of Ra. The burns can make a big different if you play smart.
Don't think you have to save Dragon's Wrath to interrupt a bigger enemy cast. Mitigating damage early on is just as important. Most players blow their burst quickly when dealing with a surprise attack.
Bewear of mega-mobile melee attacks like Butterfly and Murad. They're dodging skills will waste your abilities.
Blood Wyrm's added crowd-control clearing effects make it great for dodging static AOE casts like Fennik's Chain Hammer Cyclone, Gildur's Indulgence or even Murad's Temporal Turbulence before much damage is sustained.

Matchups
As mentioned in the tips section earlier, Zanis' main enemies appear to be melee attacks that blink around rather than run. Butterfly and Murad are both prime examples of attackers who get the drop on Zanis' by quickly avoiding his set-up abilities. He isn't much use without them and can quickly get overwhelmed without the added damage mitigation and attack speed. Losing his Blood Wyrm speed buff by chasing an invisible enemy leaves him wide-open for a counter attack.

Tanks shouldn't get too comfortable knowing Zanis focuses on auto-attacks. His ultimate ability – Dragon's Wrath – inflicts true damage, meaning their extra armor won't mean much. HP, on the other hand, will still scale well. Just don't get too cocky at low health.

If dealing with a Zanis, keep an eye on his map position. If he's in a group fight, that's fine, but if you don't know where his is and you're sitting on low-HP, assume the worst. Don't get ahead of yourself. Either stay in the centre of your group if things are still going well overall, but get back to base and heal up if not. He'll be seeing everything thanks to the presence of his team and can likely rush in there faster than you can rush out.

When playing as Zanis, however, you're going to be doing just that. Again, learn to avoid too much direct conflict with enemies at a similar level to your own. You can damage them before bolting out and healing up with creep/jungle kills, but you're at your best when you're creating an entrance for your team in the midst of a bigger fight. Stroll in mid-fight to apply pressure and aim to kill off one or two enemies.

Even without this going fully to plan, the crowd-control offered by your initial Dragon's Wrath can spur your team into pushing ahead with a more aggressive strike, allowing for full team play and synergy between wisely-chosen compositions to really come into their own