Zeri Builds and Guide

Hailing from Zaun, Zeri is considered a pillar of the Zaunite community and a close friend of Ekko. She is an ADC marksman who scales on ability power and attack damage bonuses. Her kit emphasizes all-out aggression and ramping up momentum in combat. Because of her combined damage types, players may struggle to pick a build for their matchups, whether they should buy AP or AD items. This guide will provide some insights into Zeri’s abilities and potential builds for you to try out.

Passive and Abilities

Zeri’s passive “Living Battery” makes her auto attacks count as an ability, thus proccing all on-hit spell effects like Liandry’s Anguish or Luden’s Tempest. Whenever Zeri moves or attacks using Burst Fire, she builds up charge. When Zeri is charged, her next basic attack will deal bonus magic damage. This passive also provides Zeri a shield whenever she attacks an enemy with a shield and gives her a movement speed bonus when she has a shield.

Her first ability, “Burst Fire” shoots out 7 projectiles at a target, dealing physical damage, and will be treated as a basic attack and can apply any effect associated with basic attacks. Burst Fire’s cooldown is determined by her attack speed, and any excess to the attack speed cap will be converted to more bonus physical damage. Consider this ability as your actual auto attack with its very low cooldown and crit capability.

Her second ability, “Ultrashock Laser,” fires an electric pulse that deals magic damage and slows the target on hit. If the pulse hits a wall, it will become a laser penetrating through walls and hitting all enemies behind it. This skill is useful in giving vision to your team and picking off vulnerable enemies behind a wall.

Her third ability, “Spark Surge,” makes Zeri dash in a chosen direction. If she dashes into a wall, she will vault over the wall and extend the range of her dash. Upon dashing, this empowers the next 3 casts of Burst Fire and will make Burst Fire penetrate targets. This ability’s cooldown can be reduced by hitting champions with charged basic attacks or abilities. Great for making big plays by chasing down enemies or disengaging from a bad fight

Herr ultimate ability, “Lightning Crash” creates an AoE blast around Zeri, dealing magic damage. When this blast hits a champion, she gains 3 stacks of Overcharged. While Overcharged, she gains extra attack speed, magic damage, and an empowered Burst Fire effect, chaining with other targets. When she auto-attacks a champion, she gains a stack of Overcharge and extends the duration of her ultimate.

Regardless of your item or rune build, always max your Burst Fire ability first, as this will be your best and only source of damage in your kit. Then, max your Spark Surge since the mobility will be important in your ability to kite enemies and escape when needed. Ultrashock Laser is a good poke ability, especially when it can penetrate walls, but it won't be as reliable as the Burst Fire ability. It is best suited for executing retreating champions when they are behind a wall.

Pros and Cons

Zeri’s mobility and damage make her a fun and engaging champion to play. Her kit provides her with more attack speed and AP scaling, which allows her to benefit from both classic ADC and AP items. With her Burst Fire, she can do a surprising amount of damage to objectives like towers and has good wave-clearing potential too. However, like any other ADC, her stats make her squishy, and she may struggle against tank champions. While playing aggressively is encouraged, take care not to overextend fishing for kills. Take advantage of your Spark Surge ability

AP Zeri Build

For runes, pick the Inspiration tree first and the Sorcery tree second. For Inspiration, pick First Strike to quickly gain gold from poking the enemy laner. Next, take Magical Footwear to get free boots and save gold for other items. Then, get Future’s Market to get your core items out early. Lastly, get Cosmic Insight for the free spell and item haste. In the Sorcery tree, pick Absolute Focus for the adaptive damage bonus since you will be playing to your ranged abilities and avoiding direct confrontations, then pick Gathering Storm to provide a scaling AP or AD boost as you reach the late game.

Your item build should be the following, as listed:

• Statik Shiv
• Nashor’s Tooth
• Rabadon’s Deathcap
• Crown of the Shattered Queen
• Sorceror's Shoes

Depending on the situation, you may opt for these items in your 5th slot:

• Zhonya’s Hourglass: For buying yourself time while waiting for teammates
• Banshee’s Veil: For countering high burst casters
• Hextech Belt: For an extra mobility option
• Night Harvester: Pick if you are snowballing a match and could use more burst damage

Once your boots are available for purchase, pick Sorceror’s Shoes for the extra magic penetration state. For your core items, Statik Shiv should be your first item as its passive synergizes with Zeri’s passive while also giving her a potent wave-clear effect. Nashor’s Tooth should be next as it buffs your already powerful Burst Fire ability with more magic damage. Then, pick Rabadon’s Deathcap for the 40% increase to your overall AP. Get the Night Harvester for its basic attack AP bonus and movement speed buff. Finally, take Crown of the Shattered Queen for the 40% damage reduction in the event that you get crowd-controlled

This build is a fun way of playing Zeri, great for dealing with brawlers and tanks stacking armor. These items provide some synergies to your Burst Fire, as her AP ratios are quite high. With all the on-hit effects stacked thanks to these items, this build can delete enemy champions in a flash.

Pure AD Build

For your rune trees, pick Precision and Sorcery. For Precision, select Fleet Footwork for the movement speed and sustain bonuses, Presence of Mind for the bonus mana regeneration, Legend: Alacrity for snowballing with AD, and Coup de Grace for easier champion kills. For Sorcery, pick Celerity for buffing all your movement speed bonuses and Gathering Storm for the scaling adaptive damage bonus.

For your item builds, purchase the following for your core:

• Berserker’s Greaves
• Ravenous Hydra
• Runaan’s Hurricane
• Youmuu’s Ghostblade
• The Collector

For situational alternates, you may choose the following:

• Muramana: If you need more mana regen
• Guardian Angel: Buy if you die a lot from getting ganked.
• Mercurial Scimitar: Good for clearing crowd control effects

For your boots, Berserker’s Greaves gives a hefty attack speed bonus. For core items. First, take Ravenous Hydra to build more AD stacks and lifesteal capability. Next, get Runaan’s Hurricane for the extra AoE cone needed to wave clear. Youmuu’s Ghostblade will help as an escape tool for when a teamfight isn’t going your way. The Collector is a great item for executing low-health targets, especially tanks, while also providing a bit of extra gold. Lastly, consider Guardian Angel your final item since dying in the late game can cost your team a loss.

This build is considered the meta for Zeri, as these enhance her ability to kite enemies. With the extra lethality and AD, this will make her deadly for any type of team composition, regardless of their builds. While not as burst-heavy as a standard crit build, this ensures that Zeri can keep her distance and wear down the opposition.

Crit Build

Choose the Precision and Resolve rune trees. For Precision, Fleet Footwork, Triumph, Legend Alacrity, and Coup de Grace. The only difference is that Triumph will provide healing for 5% of your missing health when killing a champion. In the Resolve tree, take Conditioning for some armor and magic resist and Overgrowth for 3 permanent maximum HP when killing 8 minions or monsters. 

For the itemization, purchase the following items:

• Berserker’s Greaves
• Stormrazor
• Navori Quickblades
• Runaan’s Hurricane
• Immortal Shieldbow
• Bloodthirster

Other situational items you may choose are:

• Guardian Angel
• Kraken Slayer
• Phantom Dancer

Like the previous build, Berserker’s Greaves is optimal for Zeri as an ADC. Stormrazor is an optimal first pick thanks to its great burst damage passive, which scales to your AD. Navori Quickblades is essential to your build since basic attacks reduce your ability cooldown by 15% per hit, and Burst Fire is considered a basic attack. This item ensures that the uptime of your Spark Surge is fast. Runaan’s will be your waveclear item. Immortal Shieldbow, while a crit item, also functions as a survivability item, with its passive granting a bonus shield when you are below 30% health. Last but not least, Bloodthirster provides AD when you are above 70% health, which is always ideal for any ADC.

This build is heavily reliant on crit chance and your ability to seize the advantage in the early game. These items will easily steamroll the enemy team when snowballing, provided that your teammates set up and peel engagements for you. It is as standard of an ADC build as it can get, but it is no less powerful than all the other top ADC builds are.