Guide · Top

Zaahen Guide

The Unsundered

Fighter

Tier C Top

Zaahen, The Unsundered, is a fighter champion that is easy to pick up. Across our 447 analysed ranked games, Zaahen is mostly played in Top (85% of its games), and more rarely in the Jungle (15%), with a 51.7% win rate in that role: tier C among Top champions (#40 of 48, ranked by win rate). Zaahen's damage is mostly physical (88%): armor is the best defensive answer against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 61.7% in long games (over 35 min, 47 games) versus 49.6% in short games (under 25 min).

Updated Oct 10 2026 · Patch 26.21

Average KDA

5.3 / 5.9 / 5.1

ratio 1.8

Damage / min

822

CS / min

7.0

Gold / min

407

Kill participation

35%

Vision / min

0.79

Averages measured over 381 Top games played with Zaahen, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

How to play and combo preview

Written guide · based on the official ability texts

Zaahen is a fighter who gains power with every hit: his attacks and abilities give Determination stacks with bonus attack damage, and at max he can come back to life. The Darkin Glaive slashes twice and can be recast to knock up, Dreaded Return pulls in, Aureate Rush dashes him with a slash, and Grim Deliverance brings him down in a dive.

The trade

Q AA AA

When: An enemy is within range.

The Darkin Glaive slashes twice with bonus damage and a heal; recast it to knock the target into the air.

The engage

Q AA AA

When: An enemy is far away.

Dreaded Return pulls enemies toward you, Aureate Rush dashes you with a slash around you.

See all 3 Zaahen combos: key order, when to cast them, cooldowns →

Laning phase

Hit champions to stack Determination. The Darkin Glaive heals you and can be recast to knock the target into the air.

Common mistakes

Using the ultimate without having stacked Determination.
Casting Dreaded Return into nothing.
Forgetting to recast The Darkin Glaive.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Trinity Force, Death's Dance, and Stridebreaker (49 games, 69.4% win rate).

49 games · 69.4%

23 games · 69.6%

19 games · 63.2%

Skill order

Max order : Q > E > W51.1% · 47 games

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Q	●			●	●		●		●
W			●											●	●
E		●						●		●		●	●
R						●					●

The order shows which abilities reach rank 5 first; the grid shows the most-played level-up sequence with that order (measured over 53 games).

Starting items

Doran's Blade

Health Potion40.7% · 27 games

Doran's Shield

Health Potion50.0% · 16 games

Laning phase (averages)

At 10 min: 3404 gold, 65 CS, 4637 XP. At 15 min: 5379 gold, 103 CS, 8184 XP.

Summoner spells

Flash + Ignite52.4% · 225 games

Flash + Teleport52.7% · 129 games

Exhaust + Flash43.5% · 23 games

Most-played runes

Conqueror + Resolve

54.0% · 176 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph97%

Legend: Haste73%

Coup de Grace50%

Secondary tree · Resolve

Revitalize70%

Bone Plating68%

Shards

Attack speed91%

Adaptive force98%

Health74%

Grasp of the Undying + Inspiration

50.0% · 86 games

Primary tree · Resolve

Demolish100%

Second Wind69%

Revitalize56%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Biscuit Delivery86%

Cosmic Insight78%

Shards

Attack speed95%

Adaptive force96%

Health88%

Hail of Blades + Sorcery

44.8% · 58 games

Primary tree · Domination

Sudden Impact100%

Grisly Mementos88%

Ultimate Hunter98%

Secondary tree · Sorcery

Nimbus Cloak98%

Transcendence98%

Shards

Adaptive force95%

Adaptive force100%

Health scaling74%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Zaahen's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team38.6% · 101 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Trinity Force 42.3% ▼

Stridebreaker 44.3% ▼

Maw of Malmortius 52.2%

Death's Dance 60.9%

Black Cleaver 41.7%

Endless Hunger 60.0%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team56.2% · 105 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Trinity Force 55.3% ▲

Stridebreaker 55.8%

Death's Dance 73.0% ▲

Sundered Sky 70.6%

The item that stands out most is Death's Dance: 73.0% win rate, +7 points versus its usual win rate.

Balanced enemy team56.6% · 175 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Trinity Force 54.5%

Stridebreaker 61.8% ▲

Death's Dance 63.2%

Sundered Sky 64.0% ▲

Black Cleaver 78.3%

Endless Hunger 69.6%

The item that stands out most is Stridebreaker: 61.8% win rate, +6 points versus its usual win rate.

Zaahen Top: what our games say

Laning phase against the Top average

Measure	Zaahen	Top average	Gap
Gold at 10 min	3404	3580	−176
CS at 10 min	65	71	−6
XP at 10 min	4637	4754	−117
Gold at 15 min	5379	5655	−276
CS at 15 min	103	111	−9
XP at 15 min	8184	8297	−114

Measured over 53 Zaahen games with a timeline; the average covers 82 champions played Top in our ranked games.

Win rate by game length

short under 25 min49.6 %123 games

medium-length 25 to 35 min50.7 %211 games

long over 35 min61.7 %47 games

Best result: long (over 35 min). Only groups of at least 30 games are shown. A gap of several points shows the phase where the champion is the most reliable.

Zaahen in another role

Role	Games	Win rate	CS/min	Gold/min	Most-built items
Jungle	66	37.9 %	6.7	434

Roles where we have at least 40 Zaahen games.

Abilities

PassiveCultivation of War

Zaahen's attacks and abilities against enemy champions grant him stacks of Determination, gaining bonus Attack Damage per stack. When filled with Determination, Zaahen gains increased Attack Damage and can revive.

QThe Darkin Glaive

Zaahen slashes twice on his next attack, dealing bonus damage and healing himself. Zaahen can recast this ability to have his next attack deal bonus damage and knock up his target.

WDreaded Return

Zaahen stabs in a direction, damaging enemies hit, then pulls them toward him.

EAureate Rush

Zaahen dashes to a location and slices around himself.

RGrim Deliverance

Zaahen rises then stabs downward, damaging enemies and healing for a portion of the damage dealt.