League of Legends is introducing an electrifying new champion for Season 12. Zeri, who was accidentally leaked a few days ago when Patch 12.1 notes were published, will soon be arriving in the game. When the champion reveal video dropped, fans also got a first glimpse at the marksman's exciting arsenal of moves, showing a mix of damage and high mobility in her kit. With Zeri's release in Patch 12.2, we put together a quick guide on the new champion's abilities and possible strategies for gameplay so you can achieve mastery on the character and use Zeri to her highest potential.

League of Legends Champion Guide: How to Play Zeri

According to Riot’s League of Legends champion roadmap released back in September 2021, the game's newest marksman create “the feeling of a shooter game” when played. That's a perfect way to describe Zeri and her kit. Some of the champion's moves are skillshots and there's a reload type of mechanic with her Q, Burst Fire, where she has to charge up with electrical energy. The developers also said they wanted to explore unique mechanics when it comes to auto-attacking. Unsurprisingly, Zeri's basic attacks are not the same straightforward right-click as with other champions. Her autos also rely on the influence of her Q's passive and active effects.

At the heart of it, Zeri's kit is all about optimization. Like with any other marksman, the champion will be the most threatening when players can combo their attacks and weave in autos where possible, while staying safe. As such, you'll find plenty of ways to rotate your spells to try and maximize the damage you deal. At the same time, you have a mobility ability (Zeri's E) to work with for more strategic repositioning—whether initiating fights or escaping them. But the real test for mastery will be how quickly players can charge up or get “resets” through her Q so Zeri's autos are frequently “empowered” so to speak.

Zeri Abilities and Gameplay Strategies

Passive – Living Battery

  • Zeri gains Move Speed whenever she receives a shield. When she damages an enemy shield she absorbs its energy, shielding herself.

Gotta go fast. Riot designers really envision Zeri as an extremely mobile champion, which probably captures her biggest advantage as a marksman. She can chase down kills and sneak away if under threat. She'll be a great kiter too, so this adds dimension to how teamfights play out in the mid and late-game. Her passive alone already makes her seem quite a bit overtuned. Gaining movespeed whenever you have a shield means she'll pair up great with Enchanter supports who also give movespeed like Karma or Yuumi, or even with an Orianna mid. If those buffs stack, you'll have one lightning-fast marksman for sure.

Besides that, the fact that Zeri can gain a shield for herself, by damaging an enemy shield, also means she can activate the speed buff herself quite often. This further gives her an advantage when trying to chase down an opponent, so not only do you get to break the enemy's defenses but you even get a speed boost to catch up to them. It might also mean Zeri could be a good counter against teams that do use Enchanter supports. Breaking the enemy's shield could help Zeri escape the opposing ADC boosted by the support's shield, for example.

Q – Burst Fire

  • Passive: Zeri's basic attack deals magic damage, scales with AP, and is treated as an ability. Moving and casting Burst Fire stores up energy in Zeri's Sparkpack. When fully charged, her next basic attack will slow and deal bonus damage.
  • Active: Burst Fire shoots a burst of 7 rounds that deal physical damage to the first enemy hit. Burst Fire scales with AD and is treated like an attack, with the first round applying on-hit effects. Its cooldown matches Zeri’s basic attack timer.

Instead of spamming autos, it looks like bot laners who main Zeri will be spamming Q instead. Actually, they're kindof the same thing, since her auto will be treated as an ability—the passive form of Burst Fire. The passive mechanic isn't too difficult to grasp. AD carry players will be quite used to the idea of moving and auto-ing at the same time, though it'll be a Q cast instead. By charging up, you empower your auto to deliver a slow effect.

It looks like Q max is the way to go, especially given Burst Fire's active. Seven rounds sounds like it'll pack a punch in terms of damage, not to mention the extremely short cooldown as long as you get your charges in. It also synergizes with Zeri's E—her dash—so the devs really designed the champion's kit with kiting or attack-move combos in mind. With this Q, it probably means Precision runes might be the way to go for the attack speed and stacking of autos with Press The Attack or Lethal Tempo. Although, a Hail of Blades (Domination) path might also work; we'd have to see the numbers to be sure.

W – Ultrashock Laser

  • Zeri fires an electric pulse that slows and damages the first enemy hit. If the pulse hits a wall, it fires a long-range laser from the point of impact.

Zeri's W can be useful for a similar purpose to either chase kills or escape foes, so it really complements her mobility-based kit. As if it wasn't enough that the champion could get speed boosts and a jump and dash, she's got actual slows in her arsenal, too, and not just from the special or charged-up auto.

Putting some points into W could prove useful if you take advantage of the terrain. If the damage numbers for the long-range laser are decent, and it happens to be an AOE or one that can deal some splash damage, Zeri becomes even deadlier than before. It'll definitely force opponents to be more mindful about where the fights are happening, because it'd frankly be terrifying to see a laser shooting out from a nearby wall and could change the dynamic of the fight completely.

E – Spark Surge

  • Zeri dashes a short distance and energizes her next 3 casts of Burst Fire, causing them to pierce through enemies. She will vault over or grind along any terrain she dashes into, depending on the angle. Hitting a champion with an attack or ability reduces Spark Surge’s cooldown.

Zeri's E isn't just a dash, as if a dash alone wouldn't make her powerful already. (Sometimes, I think Riot's putting way too much into a single ability. This is just chaos, it already sounds broken as it is). So not only do you get to reposition yourself better in a fight, but you also get to jump over walls. I can already see the Zeri outplays where gamers dish out the damage then zap away from the fight except with more limited uses depending on the terrain.

Oh, and of course, you get to reduce the cooldown, too—so keep spamming those Qs. It does sound like quite the circular loop: you spam Q to reduce E cooldown, activating E energizes Q, and continuing to use Q or auto while moving (aka the dash) also helps charge up the move to its empowered state. Aside from the fact that it sounds overpowered, there's no doubt it's a kit that really has all the abilities synergizing well with one another.

R – Lightning Crash

  • Zeri discharges a nova of electricity, damaging nearby enemies, and overcharges herself for a moderate duration. While overcharged, Zeri gains increased damage, Attack Speed, and Move Speed. Attacking enemy champions refreshes the overcharge duration and adds another stack of Move Speed. While overcharged, Burst Fire’s damage concentrates into a faster triple shot that chains lightning between enemies.

The rest of Zeri's kit is already shockingly exciting, and all about the combos, that comparatively it's her R that doesn't directly mesh with her other moves. But it's still very much in line with Zeri's overall theme: hit and run. You get both Attack Speed and Move Speed buffs here, so that indirectly helps out with the rest of your kit—and again, especially your Q, so you can squeeze in more move-cast combos to charge up faster.

And the “reset” mechanic that extends her ultimate's duration means that you can stay stronger, for longer. So best use the ult at the start of a fight and extend your overcharged state, become even faster, while weaving in your Qs and Es. At the end of the day, this'll make for some chaotic gameplay full of electrical charges with Zeri zipping around and zapping off enemy champs.