BUILDS

What does Zeri want to build?

Zeri is a ranged Marksman whose damage scaled of Crit. She wants 3 primary stats:

• Attack Damage
• Attack speed (up to 1.5)
• Critical Strike Chance

In this guide I will be calling items that give all 3 of these stats "Tri-Stat" items.

Attack Damage will be Zeri's main stackable stat as there isn't really a cap on how much you can get or benefit from.

However, just as important will be Attack Speed(AS). Zeri's AS is capped at 1.5 (1.5 attacks per second) and while she does have a minor AD conversion for excess AS (60%), there's not much value going beyond 1.5.

Because Zeri scales with Crit (her R's chain-lightning and less importantly her E), you'll want to be prioritizing items that give her Crit. However since items that give crit [currently] give 25% crit, there are times you can stop at 75% Crit to start building utility should the game call for it.

Starting Items

Your starting items will either be Doran's Blade or Doran's Bow. Doran's bow offers better scaling as the Attack Speed is incredibly valuable and will typically outdamage Doran's Blade in extended fights. The 2 pots are also good for sustaining in the very early levels (1-3) compared to DBlade's 80hp (and 1 pot).

Doran's Blade, however, offers more power upfront for short trades as it has more AD, and health. It's also better at sustaining after those trades with the extra omnivamp.

Doran's Bow will typically be your go-to, but if you want stronger short trade and better sustained bulk (80hp is more HP after 1st back compared to the 2 pots) then you should start with Dblade.

If you get a cheater recall, you can look to buy a Cull on your first base.

First Item

Your choices for first item will consist of Stormrazor(SR) or Hexoptics C44.

Your go-to will be Stormrazor as it is a Tri-Stat item with a really powerful movement speed passive, which helps immensely with kiting and chasing enemies.

C44 is another option for your first item. While it is not a Tri-Stat item, it does have two strong passives (up to 10% damage on auto's at 500+ range and 100+ range on takedown). While some people like to rush C44 over SR, you should be looking to buy this item instead when you can't manage a B.F. Sword back (1300 gold) and want fighting power as its buildpath is far more forgiving.

Boots

Your boots options are not too plentiful, but Gluttonous Greaves, Plated Steelcaps, and Berserker's Greaves will be your main considerations.

Gluttonous Greaves will typically be your best choice as they offer much needed sustain, but if you see 3+ auto attackers on the enemy team you can opt for Steelcaps. Due note that with Gluttonous you need takedowns to stack the Omnivamp meaning it they can be challenging to use from behind or later in the game.

Berserker Greaves usually isn't too good of a buy, but one case is if you start with C44 you can buy these boots instead to pad your AS. You can also buy these boots if you're behind and nothing else is good.

Second Item

Your choices for second item will consist of Runaan's Hurricane(RH), Fiendhunter Bolts(FH), or, in niche cases, Phantom Dancer(PD). In other words, your second item will, typically, be a Zeal item(an item that builds out of the "Zeal" component).

Runaan's Hurricane will typically be your highest reward choice for your second item. The item gives you a lot of waveclear, movements speed, and, most importantly, insane amounts of teamfight damage. The item is also special-coded to have increased range with Zeri Q, because Zeri's Q is very unique. If you don't know which Zeal item to purchase, buy RH.

Fiendhunter is more of a niche buy for when the enemies are really squishy and you'll get more out of the burst than the overall teamfight value of RH. Due note that RH, will typically continue to outvalue FH after its passive is used up. The ultimate haste is decent for Zeri, but not as needed as one might think because her R cooldown is already so short.

Be aware that enemies can still body block your Q while FH passive is running. A missed Q also counts as a shot for FH passive.

Third Item

Your choices for second item will consist of Infinity Edge(IE), or Lord Dominik's Regards(LDR), or, in niche cases, Mortal Reminder(MR). C44 is also a special case niche purchase at 3 items.

The best thing you can buy at 3 items is Infinity Edge. Infinity Edge accompanied by 2 other crit items is the strongest (or at the very least a high contender) 3 item powerspike in the game. The item offers a unique stat in Critical Strike Damage which further empowers the bonus damage you get from critical hits.

While IE is an incredibly strong 3rd item spike, you will still struggle to deal damage into teams (or even a single member) where they are stacking Armor. Should you see a lot of [incoming] Armor on the enemy team or even 2-3+ Plated Steelcaps, you should look to be building Armor Penetration a your 3rd item instead.

That brings us to Lord Dominik's Regards and Mortal Reminder. Typically LDR will net higher damage than MR due to having more AD, Armor Pen, and also the Giantslayer passive. However MR offers a unique ability in the from of Anti-Heal.

You'd buy MR when you need Armor Pen, but you also need to cut down the healing of the enemy team. MR is also one of the few, if not only, good Anti-Heal items in the game so you don't have to feel bad for buying it.

Finally, a niche option you can consider is buying C44 assuming you started with SR. Typically you will buy this item 3rd if you want a quicker 3 item spike. It's not as powerful as IE, but much cheaper and it can give you an edge over the enemy bot laner if you can buy it before they complete their 3rd item. It can also be a better and/or more realistic purchase as a 3rd item if you are behind.

Fourth Item+

Finally we have the items that you will be buying from 4th slot onwards. For your 4th slot specifically, you will usually want to buy whatever you didn't pick up 3rd between IE and Armor Pen of choice.

After that your for 5th item, your options open up. While every game is unique and you should be making decisions based on your circumstance, here are some general pointers/considerations for each purchase.

Black Cleaver - An option for Armor Pen typically available from 4th item (because ideally your first 3 items get you crit). While this item has no crit it provides Percent Armor Reduction(Armor Shred). This means your ENTIRE team benefits from it as opposed to just you. Buy this if you have 3+ AD characters (including yourself) or you just want the HP.

Bloodthirster - Lifesteal item with high AD that gives you a shield on overheal. But this when you don't need anything specific. Value goes up without Omnivamp boots.

Endless Hunger - Similar to Bloodthirster, but greedier. No added shield but much higher sustain after a takedown. The scaling Ability Haste is nice, but far from needed.

Blade of the Ruined King(BotRK) - Another sustain option, but you buy it to counter HP stacking targets. Buy this 4th after Armor Pen 3rd if you really need to fight lots of tanks and HP stackers.

Mercurial Scimitar - Buy this item to counter uncleansable crowd control or you feel that there is X amount of CC you want to counter. More deliberate of a sustain option than Bloodthirster. Should be your general go to for Lifesteal. Especially if you already have Omnivamp Boots.

Serpent's Fang - Buy this when the enemy team has a lot of shielding (including Barrier).

Guardian Angel - A good defensive option that lets you play aggressively with a safety net. Strong defensive general buy.

Zhonya's Hourglass - It's like Guardian Angel, but more indexed for defensive play. Buy this when you really have to play defensively.

Death's Dance - When Guadian Angel is on cooldown you can buy this instead to maintain some offensive defensive capabilities.

Randuin's Omen - incredibly strong anti-crit tank item. Buy when enemy has 2-3+ crit champions.

Maw of Mawlmortius - Anti AP burst item that offers slightly conditional sustain. Buy when there are 3+ enemy AP champions or even just 1-2+ fed ones.

Kaenic Rookern - incredibly strong anti AP burst, sacrifices all damage for defense. Much better than Maw of Malmortious for defense and is usually the higher value buy between the two after 4 items.

Edge of Night - Protects against a single ability off cooldown. Buy this when there's a specific ability targeting you that you want to nullify.

Example Build

Here is an example build that you can auto-pilot in most of your games. Do remember to get specific with your purchases!

Next page - Synergies! →