League of Legends champion profile: Ziggs, the Hexplosive Expert

Lanes Ziggs Players Love

Orianna – Short ranged mage without a lot of mobility or sustain to ignore his poke if she doesn’t shield your poke you can chunk her out. To hit you with her big abilities (ult) she needs to walk into range of your poke and you can drop satchel or a minefield to dissuade her.
Ryze – Faces the same issue as Orianna, with the added disadvantage of not being able to really do anything with his root because he has to walk into Q/auto range and you can W him away while rooted. Also, your W can interrupt his ult’s channel.
Swain – All those same problems as Orianna and Ryze, but at least he can somewhat sustain and beat you when he gets ult. Unfortunately, for him, he’ll probably get bursted down too quickly

Lanes Ziggs Players Hate

Yasuo – Obviously, Ziggs hates his windwall, which can block all of his abilities including his ult as they’re all projectiles. However, Yasuo also has the ability to dash through minions to dodge your Qs and get on top of you quickly to all-in.
Leblanc – Similar to Yasuo, Leblanc can easily all-in you before you’re able to chunk her out.
Vladimir – Unlike the assassins who love to feast on Ziggs, Vlad is a terror for the simple fact that you can’t ever poke him out of lane. He’ll just sustain back up through the poke and eventually out-scale you.

Tips for playing Ziggs

Use your Satchel Charge (W) immediately behind you to give you an instant bounce forward, rather than putting it where you are walking towards. You can also throw it out in front of you and flash+W for a quick combo to get out of a sticky spot.
Use your Hexplosive Minefield (E) first to land your other abilities like Q and R more easily. Just dropping the E right on top of them is usually the best way to secure the slow. You can also use your W to knock the enemy into the minefield.
Try and use the Satchel Charge to either destroy towers, as an escape, or to interrupt channeled abilities

Tips for playing against Ziggs

Ziggs has very long cooldowns, even in the late game (other than his Q). If you see him use his Satchel or Minefield, that’s a great window to go on him.
As a low mobility champion, capitalizing when Ziggs doesn’t have flash or his Satchel Charge is key. You can also displace Ziggs (e.g. with Pyke hook) to put him on the wrong side of the Satchel just before it explodes.
Avoid fighting Ziggs in tight spaces, as he can effectively control a large area of effect with his Minefield and ult. He excels fighting enemies when they’re in the jungle or under their turret, but if you have more area to maneuver like in the open lanes or river, he has a harder time landing his skill shots.

Champion Difficulty: 6/10

A simple kit, to be sure, but Ziggs is entirely skill shot reliant, meaning your effectiveness on the Hexplosives Expert will be dependent on your mechanics. If you have high ping or are just not great at hitting your skills, Ziggs will feel pretty useless.

In addition, good players need to be able to position properly because of Ziggs’s low mobility. If you get caught out without flash or your Satchel Charge, you’re probably in trouble.

Similar to champions

Xerath, Lux, Vel’Koz