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Zaahen Build 26.21

Zaahen is a Darkin built to outlast you. His passive stacks attack damage every time he lands on a champion and, once full, lets him revive out of a death, while his ult heals him for a chunk of the damage it deals. He is a comfortable pick at 51.1% and trending up, and the more bodies he hits at once, the faster he stacks and the harder he heals, so he wants the messy brawl, not the clean duel.

#40 of 141 top this patch · 4.1k games

Win rate51.1%+0.3Games4.1kPick rate2.9%Ban rate1.0%Last 8 patches+0.7 since 26.14Damage profilei

AP 5%AD 89%True 6%DifficultyiLowForgiving

The 10-second answer standard · 51.1% WR

Plated Steelcaps SkillsQ›E›W Runes

Shards

ModernARAM Counter

173 champions

AatroxTopB49.4%AhriMidA50.9%AkaliMidC49.0%AkshanMidA51.2%AlistarSupportS52.7%AmbessaTopD46.8%AmumuJungleA51.2%AniviaMidB50.2%AnnieMidA51.9%ApheliosAD CarryB50.0%AsheAD CarryB49.8%Aurelion SolMidB50.6%AuroraMidB50.3%AzirMidD46.8%BardSupportC48.9%Bel'VethJungleA51.7%BlitzcrankSupportA51.7%BrandSupportB50.0%BraumSupportB50.0%BriarJungleA51.9%CaitlynAD CarryC48.2%CamilleTopB50.7%CassiopeiaMidC49.1%Cho'GathJungleS52.5%CorkiAD CarryB49.4%DariusTopB50.7%DianaJungleC49.2%Dr. MundoTopA51.1%DravenAD CarryB50.5%EkkoMidA51.7%EliseJungleA51.5%EvelynnJungleB50.5%EzrealAD CarryD47.3%FiddlesticksJungleA51.3%FioraTopA51.9%FizzMidS52.5%GalioMidC49.3%GangplankTopB50.7%GarenTopA52.3%GnarTopC49.2%GragasTopB49.8%GravesJungleC49.0%GwenTopB50.2%HecarimJungleB50.1%HeimerdingerTopB50.2%HweiMidA51.1%IllaoiTopA51.0%IreliaTopB50.4%IvernJungleA52.5%JannaSupportA51.4%Jarvan IVJungleC49.3%JaxTopB50.0%JayceTopC48.5%JhinAD CarryB49.3%JinxAD CarryB50.4%K'SanteTopD46.7%Kai'SaAD CarryB50.7%KalistaAD CarryB49.7%KarmaSupportC48.3%KarthusJungleB50.7%KassadinMidC48.7%KatarinaMidA52.1%KayleTopA51.9%KaynJungleA51.0%KennenTopB50.5%Kha'ZixJungleB50.1%KindredJungleA52.0%KledTopB50.5%Kog'MawAD CarryA50.9%LeBlancMidB50.4%Lee SinJungleC48.0%LeonaSupportA51.7%LilliaJungleA51.5%LissandraMidA51.2%LockeMidB49.2%LucianAD CarryC48.5%LuluSupportB49.4%LuxSupportB49.4%MalphiteTopA51.2%MalzaharMidB50.2%MaokaiSupportB49.6%Master YiJungleB50.2%MelMidD46.2%MilioSupportB49.6%Miss FortuneAD CarryA51.1%MordekaiserTopA50.9%MorganaSupportB50.5%NaafiriJungleC48.4%NamiSupportB50.2%NasusTopB50.5%NautilusSupportB50.0%NeekoSupportC48.1%NidaleeJungleA51.3%NilahAD CarryB50.2%NocturneJungleC48.0%Nunu & WillumpJungleB50.3%OlafTopA51.1%OriannaMidD47.7%OrnnTopA51.1%PantheonTopB49.6%PoppySupportA51.7%PykeSupportB50.0%QiyanaJungleD47.1%QuinnJungleB49.5%RakanSupportB50.8%RammusJungleC48.8%Rek'SaiJungleB50.7%RellSupportS53.1%Renata GlascSupportC48.3%RenektonTopB50.0%RengarJungleB49.3%RivenTopB49.5%RumbleTopD46.0%RyzeMidD46.4%SamiraAD CarryB50.2%SejuaniJungleA51.4%SennaSupportB50.8%SeraphineSupportB49.9%SettTopA51.5%ShacoJungleA52.3%ShenTopA51.4%ShyvanaJungleB50.1%SingedTopA51.1%SionTopB50.3%SivirAD CarryA51.2%SkarnerJungleS53.2%SmolderAD CarryB49.8%SonaSupportA51.8%SorakaSupportB50.1%SwainSupportC48.9%SylasMidB49.3%SyndraMidB50.4%Tahm KenchSupportB50.2%TaliyahJungleS+54.4%TalonJungleB49.6%TaricSupportA51.9%TeemoTopA50.8%ThreshSupportA51.8%TristanaAD CarryB50.6%TrundleTopB50.2%TryndamereTopA51.3%Twisted FateMidA51.8%TwitchAD CarryA52.0%UdyrJungleA51.7%UrgotTopB50.6%VarusAD CarryB49.7%VayneAD CarryC48.1%VeigarMidB50.5%Vel'KozSupportB50.2%VexMidS52.7%ViJungleC49.3%ViegoJungleB49.3%ViktorMidD47.5%VladimirMidB50.1%VolibearTopD47.7%WarwickJungleA52.2%WukongJungleB50.2%XayahAD CarryB50.8%XerathMidA51.2%Xin ZhaoJungleA52.3%YasuoMidA50.9%YoneMidB49.4%YorickTopC49.3%YunaraAD CarryB49.5%YuumiSupportC49.0%ZaahenTopA51.1%ZacJungleB49.7%ZedMidC48.5%ZeriAD CarryA51.8%ZiggsAD CarryB50.8%ZileanSupportA51.7%ZoeMidA51.6%ZyraSupportA52.0%

When Is Zaahen Strongest?

The high point is the late game, so every extra minute helps, and games at this rank average around 28 minutes. Zaahen is a duelist who wants to force skirmishes where his healing and revive let him out-last a single opponent. Use the early and mid game to hunt isolated fights, stack determination through every trade, and let his sustain and second life carry the tempo.

Game timeline · Zaahen drag or hover to scrub · space plays · ←/→ step

your power minute by minute · gold = item spikes · small = components · dashed = objectives

Camps1:30Drake / Grubs5:00Herald14:00Baron20:00Avg end27:59

Ambush zone7:54–9:24 Power spike 14:28

13:29

14:28

13:29

18:48

0:00 10:00 20:00 30:00 40:00

At 12:00

Power 50/100 · Even

Core 0/3 items

Gold ~4.9k

Phase Lvl-6 window

Next spike Plated Steelcaps · 13:29

Zaahen Item Build

Zaahen is a Darkin skirmisher who stacks determination as he fights champions and can rise again once fully charged. The build leans on attack damage, lifesteal, and durability so his glaive strikes hit harder, his self-healing keeps him in the brawl, and his revive turns a lost fight into a won one.

Standard loadout · Zaahen The consensus path — reliable spikes, no dead time.

Starting items 500g

Doran's Blade×1

Health Potion×1 Core path · click an item for its recipe ›› Boots

Plated Steelcaps70% · 52.6%

Mercury's Treads30% · 52.1%

Situational items pick an opponent in the bar above — the right swaps light up

vs AP threatsTheir damage is mostly magic — stack magic resist before their second item.M

Maw of Malmortius42354.4%

vs AD threatsPhysical threats spike with lethality — armor answers buy the mid game back.G

Guardian Angel7368.5%D

Death's Dance1.5k60.6%R

Randuin's Omen5750.9%

vs stacked resistsWhen resists stack, penetration beats raw stats — swap a damage slot.B

Black Cleaver50360.8%

vision controlFights are decided a minute earlier by the team that sees first.O

Oracle Lens75455.8%F

Farsight Alteration62853.8%S

Stealth Ward2.8k49.1%

Best Zaahen Runes

Conqueror suits a champion who wants to commit to a fight and keep swinging through it. His double strikes and multi-target abilities get value out of it the moment a brawl starts, and everything else in his kit is built to keep that brawl going. Set the rest up for durability so he survives long enough to out-sustain the trade.

The pre-game page Conqueror · Precision + Resolve · keystone + 5 runes + 3 shards

Precision Primary

ConquerorGain stacks of adaptive force when attacking enemy champions. After reaching 12 stacks, heal for a portion of damage you deal to champions.

Triumph53% · 50.7%

Legend: Haste42% · 50.1%

Coup de Grace30% · 49.8%

Keystone plus three minors from Precision, two from Resolve, then three shards — no runebook, no masteries.

Resolve Secondary

Bone Plating45% · 50.6%

Revitalize57% · 50.3%

Stat shards Offense

Attack Speed+10% Attack Speed

Flex

Adaptive Force+9 Adaptive Force

Defense

Health+65 Health

Shards give +10%Attack Speed+9Adaptive Force+65Health

Build toward Trinity Force into Stridebreaker and lean into his sustain from the first item on. Falling behind early is recoverable on this scaling curve. Stridebreaker comes online by roughly 19 minutes, and that is when his heal-on-hit and stacking damage turn extended fights lopsided in his favor. Draft your all-ins to last, and get to that item before you look for them.

Zaahen Skill Order

The heal is there from the opening point: The Darkin Glaive slashes twice and returns health, and it stacks again at four and five. Aureate Rush at two and Dreaded Return at three fill in the dash and the pull.

Skill order · Zaahen R at 6 / 11 / 16 — always

PriorityR

R›Q

Q›E

E›W

WMax Q first; E at level 2.

Lv 123456789101112131415161718

Q14579max 9

W314151718max 18

E28101213max 13

R61116max 16

Zaahen Changes This Patch

Stat & ability changesPatch 26.22

Q Cooldown10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 8 / 7.5 / 7 / 6.5 / 6Buff

Zaahen Abilities

The Darkin Glaive hides a second button, a recast that turns his next strike into a knockup, giving him a hard bit of control the double-slash heal never advertises. Aureate Rush is his repositioning, a dash that slices everything around where he lands.

Abilities · Zaahenpatch 26.22 base numbers · click an ability · all ranks shown

Cultivation of WarPassiveP

The Darkin GlaiveMax 1stQ

Dreaded ReturnMax lastW

Aureate RushMax 2ndE

Grim DeliveranceUltRRank-up levels here match the skill order below.

The Darkin GlaivePhysical damageMax 1stStatLV 1rank 1LV 4rank 2LV 5rank 3LV 7rank 4LV 9MAXDamage+15 per rank+20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40% bonus ADlv 115lv 430lv 545lv 760lv 975Cooldown-0.5 per ranklv 18slv 47.5slv 57slv 76.5slv 96sConstant at every rankCost25same at all ranks

Zaahen Base Stats

Base stats · ZaahenPatch 26.22

Base statslevel 1 · +per levelAD63+4AS0.625+2.5%MS345Range175HP640+114HP57.5+0.8Armor36+5MR32+2.05MP350+55MP58.15+0.75

Zaahen Matchups

Zaahen wants to stick to a target and out-sustain the trade, so ranged pokers and kiters who deny him a clean commit give him the hardest time. Immobile bruisers and melee targets he can pull in and lock down let him stack determination, heal off his strikes, and grind the fight his way.

Lane matchups · Zaahen click any opponent to retune the console

Hardest lanes · click to tune

Best hunting

How to lane vs bruisers 01Win short trades early before the bruiser sustain and scaling take over02Track the enemy jungler since bruisers thrive on early ganks03Build armor and kite the bruiser during their long cooldown windows Win rate by game lengthZaahen overall · all matchupsUnder 20 min47.9%20–28 min51.5%28–35 min50.2%Over 35 min55.1%

Yorick, Mordekaiser, and Gragas are the ranged pokers and lockdown champions who beat him before the fight gets messy, chipping him out or pinning him so his sustain never kicks in, so respect them and itemize for it. Get them into an extended scrap and his healing takes over. He grinds down Vayne, Ambessa, and Renekton, so against that group, drag every fight long and let his stacks and revive win the war of attrition.

ExploreWhere to go next after Zaahen

Keep climbing · Top laneTop Lane Tier ListEvery top laner ranked by tierSee Top Lane Tier List