Zilean

Well before he earned the title Chronokeeper, Zilean was an Icathian mage who saw his homeland vanish.

The Fall of Icathia

Zilean was a formidable mage in Icathia, a nation consumed by a Void incursion. The disaster was too sudden and too complete for him to grieve it in any ordinary way. Rather than mourn, he delved into ancient temporal magic and searched through every conceivable outcome for one that could undo what had been done to his people.

A Mind Unstuck From Time

That search left him all but immortal, drifting between past, present, and future instead of resting in any one moment. He constantly warps the flow of time around his own body, and his purpose has stayed the same throughout that unending journey: locate the single moment that could reverse Icathia’s ruin. After countless years of looking, he has not found it yet.

Time as a Weapon

In combat, that command of time turns into a support toolkit built around tempo. His passive, Time In A Bottle, stores experience and can be handed to allies to accelerate their progress. Time Bomb clings to nearby units and goes off after a short delay, and if another bomb is planted fast enough, it sets off a second explosion. Rewind cuts his own cooldowns, Time Warp hastens allies or hampers enemies, and Chronoshift, his ultimate, brands an ally with a protective rune that snatches them back from lethal damage.

Playing Against the Clock

The order in which he uses these spells determines how effective he is. Combining Time Bomb with Rewind lets him attach two bombs to one target in rapid succession, because placing the second one triggers the first and stuns everyone close by. Time Warp works just as well for pushing an ally into a finishing blow as for slowing an enemy who is trying to flee. Chronoshift discourages enemies from targeting his carries, but casting it too soon can cause the target to switch, wasting the effect. Once he is focused directly, he falls quickly, so a team usually does better to commit to killing him together instead of picking him off piece by piece. His story belongs to the broader history of Shurima, the buried empire whose ascended warriors are awakening once more, alongside characters like Azir, whose destiny is tied to that same region.