Zac Guide - by dignitas/Azingy
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INTRODUCTION
I didn't play Zac much when he was released, but a year or so later, on a Challenger team I tried him out and learned him then. With the Cinderhulk meta still thriving, Zac has a lot of potential in both normals, solo queue and competitive League. With this guide, I, Andrew "Azingy" Zamarripa, will teach you my own jungle Zac ways.
Why you should play Zac - He's a really good initiator, of course pretty much any tank jungler is going to be good for that, but Zac is good at making picks. You land your E, which is a 1500 range ability (a lot farther than others) and you can ult them back, away from safety. If you land their carry, you'll pretty much win the teamfight.
Why you shouldn't play Zac - Sometimes he can be a bad pick because you're investing all of your points in E. If they have an Alistar or Janna they can knock you back, negating most of your damage and initiating potential. However, you can still work around them by being aware in champ select. Keep an eye out for immobile carries to jump on, but also disengage champions that could leave you in a bad spot if you E in.
RUNES
In our game against Cloud 9 I ran nine Greater Marks of Attack Speed, nine Greater Seals of Armor, three Greater Glyphs of Magic Resist and six Greater Glyphs of Cooldown Reduction, and three Greater Quintessences of Ability Power. Similarly to many of the other top tier junglers right now, taking Attack Speed is vital on Zac. Clearing camps faster helps conserve a little more health, and gets you to the places you need to be like objectives and fights faster. The Armor and Magic Resist are there for obvious reasons, you mainly play a tanky role, but then we take flat Ability Power Quints to be able to supply some damage in fights, not just CC and prescence. Cooldown Reduction is there to have your E, ultimate and Q up for future fights. Your team depends on you quite a lot to at least engage fights, if not majorly disrupt them, so having your abilities up sooner can make the difference.
MASTERIES
Because Zac literally dives into teamfights all game long, we need to be sure that we can actually soak that damage up. Don't forget to grab the Cooldown Reduction in the Offensive tree as well as Expose Weakness, the mastery that makes your spell damage on enemies proc 1% more damage from allies.
Over in the Defensive tree we grab a couple of the lesser-utilized masteries like Reinforced Armor and Second Wind. Don't forget to put a point in Oppression, as it's almost completely made for Zac. It reduces damage taken by 3% from enemies that have impaired movement, i.e. when you E/W/ult. Then fill out Legendary Guardian for the defensive stats you get for being in the middle of the enemy team and you're set.
SUMMONER SPELLS - Smite and Flash
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I don't need to explain why we should take Smite on Jungle Zac! Flash however, I can defend. As great as your E is for ganking and your ult for team disruption, sometimes you need that instantaneous blink for engage. You're not always going to be able to flank in the shadows and charge up your E, sometimes they'll see you coming. You don't want to ult on nothing, so Flashing into an ult can catch your enemies in a very vulnerable position.
SKILL ORDER
I max E every time for the range. You get a lot more cooldown reduction and initial damage. You won't need it at first, so start W>Q>E to be able to clear the first few jungle camps. After you have the minimum of those, max E. After E, max your W for increased AOE damage once you've pounced on your prey. The slow on your Q is nice to increase, but not quite worth the damage from W. Of course, level up R at six, eleven and sixteen.
ITEM BUILD
Conventional jungler's start. Buying anything else is very risky and will likely put you behind in your first clears.
For the first back, I nearly always pick Chilling Smite. Ranger's Trailblazer (Purple) works alright with Zac if you're looking for a healthier farm and jungle clear. Its health return on Smite is better for sustaining through some of the more damaging camps like Raptors or Red, as well as coming in clutch if a gank has gone south. Purple Smite is alright, but Blue is my preferred choice, especially because of the kill potential it adds to ganks. You'll probably be able to land an E, but ensuring they don't go anywhere in those pre-six ganks is great for early (and late) game picks.
Then of course, no matter what Smite, finish it off with Cinderhulk. Grab some level one boots, a couple pots, the Sweeping Lens and even a couple wards if at all possible, they're always a smart buy. Also keep in mind that these sets aren't necessarily what you should be able to buy each time you back, just basic groupings that you should try to get over the course of the game.
After the second set, I like to pick up a Sightstone on Zac. I did it in the game against Cloud9, but it's not something I'd do on many other popular junglers like Rek'Sai or Sejuani. Vision, coupled with Zac's great mobility, can make a big difference on top of the extra health and CDR. Once you make it past the Cinderhulk, Sightstone and boots, there's unfortunately not much variety to what you can/should build. The two boots you're going to choose from will always be Ninja Tabi or Mercery's Treads, it just comes down to what the enemy comp is and how much CC they have at their disposal. Then it's just a choice of Locket of the Iron Solari or Randuin's Omen, again, depending on your opponents. If you're not sure, pick Randuin's first, to help guard against basic damage coming in from the jungle (and the odd counterjungle), then Locket.
At this point you should have a firm grasp on what damage is being thrown your way, whether it be physical or magical. Your choices here are between Banshee's Veil and Thornmail. I don't really like Frozen Heart on Zac, but if I found out that you purchased it against say, a team of full AD, I wouldn't even be mad. And then you can go Spirit Visage after Thornmail if you need it. Regardless of the order, the key here (and with many junglers in the current meta) is to go tanky.
As I mentioned earlier, Spirit Visage or Frozen Heart if you really want them in AD or AP heavy situations. Grab Homeguard boots, but you can go with the Captain enchantment if you're up to it, you'd give your allies an engage speed bonus when you E on to a target. Then, in terms of consumables, you can actually go with Elixer of Sorcery for a bit of extra damage later game. If you just want to be a 'bigger' nuisance in teamfights, however, the Elixer of Iron won't do you wrong. Remember that you shouldn't pick up Sunfire Cape, the Bami's Cinder effects don't stack with Cinderhulk.
MATCHUPS/SYNERGY
I don't really look at who Zac is good or bad against, slightly because he sees so little competitive play, but mostly because I'm just looking at the lanes in the game. If a lane has a champion with a dash or blink, they do have some reaction time to your ganks. Other carries, as seen in our Cloud9 game like Ashe and Kog'Maw, have a much harder time keeping Zac from ganking effectively.
Other junglers like Nunu, Rek'Sai or Sejuani all have ambiguous matchups against Zac. They're a little better picks overall, but they won't hard counter you, so it really comes down to how effective your plays are around the map and the individual player's mechanics.
CONCLUSION
When it comes down to it, Zac is a tier 2 jungler, but that can give you a competitive edge. He's in the same tier as other junglers like Evelynn, champions who are entirely viable, but not at the top. In choosing an uncommon or unused jungler, you put your opponents in a situation where they don't know their own matchups against you, and they probably need a refresher on Zac's ganking power. Though he's not a hotly contested pick, you too can successfully jungle with Zac!
Tips and Tricks:
Once you've got max level E, you can actually reach Dragon or Baron from the respective side's Krugs.
At level four or five E you can slingshot sideways, over the Dragon or Baron pit, granting vision, a window to Smite and an automatic way out.