Zanis — Patch 1.63 Verdict
[Liquipedia RPL: C | Web: C | Web: C | Web: C] Pro play (RPL 2026): 2 picks, 50.0% WR, 0.7% pick/ban rate. Note: pro meta may differ from ranked. Ranked C on zathong.com. Ranked C on metatierlist.com. Ranked C on pillarofgaming.com.
Zanis — Warrior Guide
Key Insights
- Dragoon stacks up to 20 times, each kill or assist gives 12 physical attack and restores 5% max HP.
- Blood Wyrm grants an 80% movement speed boost for 1.5s, the empowered auto applies a 50% slow lasting 2.5s.
- Casting Q purges all crowd control on Zanis at activation, hold it for incoming CC, not just as a gap-closer.
- Roar gives 50% bonus attack speed for 5 full seconds; cast it before you start autoing, not after.
- Dragon's Wrath airbones the target for 0.75s and converts all autos to true damage for 5s, also gives 20% damage reduction.
Strengths
Dragoon stacking gives a snowball ceiling most slayer warriors cannot match.
Dragon's Wrath true damage ignores armor builds entirely.
Blood Wyrm's cleanse punishes slow-and-poke kiting patterns hard.- Frost Cape plus Blood Wyrm slow plus
Roar speed creates suffocating lane pressure.
Weaknesses
- Mediocre early game before Dragoon stacks build; base stats are unremarkable.
- Dragon's Wrath airborne lasts only 0.75s, too short for reliable teammate follow-up.
- No sustain without kills; poke-and-deny lanes leave him starved mid game.
- Hard CC shuts him down before Blood Wyrm's cleanse activates, and the meta is full of it.
Matchups
Abilities
PDragoon
Zanis gains 12 physical attack and recovers 5% HP when he kills or assists an enemy. Stacks up to 20 times.
1Blood Wyrm
Zanis gains 80% movement speed for 1.5s. His next auto attack deals physical damage to nearby enemies and slows them by 50% for 2.5s. Cleanse all negative effects when using this ability.
2Roar
Zanis stomps the ground, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies and increasing his attack speed by 50% for 5s.
RDragon's Wrath
Zanis leaps and strikes enemies, dealing true damage and knocking them up for 0.75s. Afterwards, he gains enhanced auto attacks and takes 20% reduced damage for 5s. Each auto attack deals true damage.
Skill Order
Priority: R > Q > W| Skill | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Blood Wyrm | 1 | · | 3 | · | 5 | · | 7 | · | 9 | · | · | · | 13 | · | · |
| 2Roar | · | 2 | · | 4 | · | · | · | 8 | · | 10 | · | 12 | · | 14 | · |
| RDragon's Wrath | · | · | · | · | · | 6 | · | · | · | · | 11 | · | · | · | 15 |
Loadout
Awake
Spirit
Dragon's ClawStandard Build
1
2
3
4
5
6Core Combos
Standard All-In
R12Open with R to land the airborne and open the true-damage window, then immediately Q to extend the slow and cleanse any incoming CC, then W for attack speed and chain autos. Use this to duel isolated squishy targets in the mid game when you have 6+ passive stacks.
CC-Punish Trade
12RWhen an enemy uses a root or slow on you, activate Q right away to cleanse it, land the empowered slow-auto, pop W for attack speed, then finish with R when they try to disengage. This is the go-to pattern in lane against CC-heavy matchups like Arduin.
Flicker Dive
R12Use R to close the initial gap, then Flicker to reposition behind a wall or deeper into the backline before Q's slow locks down a carry. This works in teamfights when the enemy has peeled away from wherever your R landed.
Expert Video Guide
RoV : แนวทางการเล่น Zanis ออฟเลนเกมตาม พลิกยังไง!? — PJY` Gamer
Gameplan
Zanis's first meaningful spike is level 4, when all three basics are online and he can run the full Q-W-AA trade pattern. On the item side, Mantle of Ra makes his melee trades burn through enemies faster, and Fenrir's Tooth pushes his growing physical attack into genuinely threatening range. The true-damage window at level 4 with Dragon's Wrath up and 6 to 8 Dragoon stacks is his peak threat, so push for teamfights here. His late game depends entirely on how the stacking went; a 20-stack Zanis at 18 minutes is a problem, but a 6-stack Zanis at the same timestamp is just another average warrior.
Early Game
Levels 1–6- →Farm safely through the first two levels and focus on last-hitting over trading. Your base stats are not special, and fighting at level 1 before Q is online burns HP for no real gain.
- →At level 2 with Q available, look for one short Q-into-empowered-auto trade if the opponent steps up to last-hit; the 2.5-second slow gives you a clean retreat window if the trade goes sideways.
- →Prioritize every jungle camp edge-kill and any assist you can rotate for. Each Dragoon stack in the first five minutes is worth more than a kill at minute 15.
Mid Game
Post Broken Spear- →With Mantle of Ra done and 6 to 8 stacks banked, start hunting skirmishes around the Dragon objective. This is your highest-value window and you should be the one starting 2v2 or 3v3 fights.
- →Use Dragon's Wrath to target enemy supports or mages who are caught out of position. The true damage and airborne burst them before they can react, and every assist is another stack.
- →Do not sit in farm mode after taking the slayer tower. Rotate mid, contest jungle camps, and keep stacking while doing it.
Late Game
Teamfight phase- →At full or near-full stacks with Frost Cape and Medallion of Troy completed, you are a frontline DPS hybrid. Target the second or third enemy in a teamfight, not the tank sitting in front.
- →Dragon's Wrath should land on the enemy carry or mage, not the nearest target. The true damage during the buff window will genuinely cut through even armor-heavy supports.
- →If you are behind in stacks and the game has dragged on, accept a utility role: use Q's cleanse and slow to protect your own carry rather than forcing yourself to be the kill threat.
Pro Tips
- →Save Q deliberately for when you see the enemy about to use their CC. Reacting with the cleanse rather than firing it as a gap-closer is the highest-skill-expression moment in Zanis's kit, and most players never bother.
- →Dragon's Wrath cancels your auto-attack backswing animation. Jump, land an auto in the true-damage window, and the R cast resets your attack frame, squeezing extra DPS into the five-second buff.
- →Track your Dragoon stack count throughout the game. At 10 stacks the HP restoration per takedown is substantial enough to all-in fights you would otherwise walk away from, so knowing that number changes when you commit.
- →Against heavy ranged poke, wait until you are already in melee range before casting W. Using it from a distance wastes the AoE chip damage and broadcasts your engage timing to anyone paying attention.
Zanis suits patient players who can manage a passive resource across an entire match rather than spiking hard off one item. He rewards people who know when his true-damage sustained DPS is the right answer to a tanky enemy comp, and punishes anyone who picks him blindly into mobility-heavy or evasion-heavy lineups. The thing worth mastering is Q cleanse timing. Holding that button for incoming CC instead of burning it as a gap-closer is the difference between a Zanis who dies in every trade and one who wins them.
Zanis — Frequently Asked Questions
Is Zanis good in the current ROV patch?+
Not really. Zanis is C tier this patch, sitting at a 50% win rate and a 0.7% pick rate on the Thai server, meaning even his mains are breaking even at best. He can work in specific draft conditions but gets outclassed by most slayer-lane picks right now.
What is the best build for Zanis?+
Start with Gilded Greaves into Mantle of Ra for early lane sustain, then Fenrir's Tooth to amplify your growing passive attack stacks, followed by Frost Cape to add a second slow layer on top of Q. Medallion of Troy and Blade of Eternity round things out as defensive items that keep you alive long enough to deal damage through Dragon's Wrath's true-damage window.
How do you counter Zanis?+
Pick heroes with evasion (Butterfly), gap-control mobility (Murad, Florentino), or enough base tankiness to weather his stacking period before he is dangerous (Arduin). The key is denying him takedowns early and mid game; a Zanis with fewer than six Dragoon stacks at the 10-minute mark is essentially a plain warrior with nothing special going for him.
Is Zanis hard to play / good for beginners?+
Medium difficulty. His basic combo is easy enough to pick up, but using Q as a reactive cleanse rather than an aggressive opener takes genuine game sense to internalize. Beginners can get functional results quickly, but they hit a ceiling fast without understanding how to manage stacks and time the CC cleanse.