Zilean vs Taric Counter Pick

Taric opens with 40 armour and gains up to 113.1 by level 18, which makes him unusually durable for a support, and Bastion passively splits armour with a linked ally. Magic damage ignores that stat, so armour is not the real barrier. The real barrier is that Zilean has no reliable way to end a fight. The record shows it bluntly: 213 games on patch 16.13.1 with a 45.1% win rate, and a difficulty rating of Hard.

Cosmic Radiance grants invulnerability to nearby allies after a short delay, which cancels the burst window that Time Bomb sets up, and it protects a whole group where Chronoshift protects a single champion. Bravado boosts Taric’s next two attacks after each cast and shortens his cooldowns, so his damage keeps building through a long fight rather than tapering off. Dazzle delivers a delayed stun from 150 attack range. With 340 move speed against 335, he can walk into it against a target with 574 health, 24 armour and no dash. For Zilean, the remaining option is to act first: cast Time Warp on Taric before the engage, keep it available with Rewind, and commit to fights early, before invulnerability can come online. Starlight’s Touch converts those boosted attacks into healing charges, so chip damage from a planted bomb seldom builds up. Because his damage is split between two types, a single resistance pick never fully covers both. Ratings of 3 against 6 leave the stronger champion ahead.