Full Build Friday - Ziggs, the Hexplosives Expert

The alchemist got a much-needed facelift, which it has finally received thanks to the remaster! This was definitely one I had to explore and I've been sitting on this particular character for a while in anticipation of it. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choice may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.

You can check out a video on the character over here on YouTube.

Let's get into the build for Ziggs, the Hexplosives Expert from League of Legends!

ZIGGS, THE HEXPLOSIVES EXPERT

CHARACTER Zigmund

SOURCE League of Legends

BUILD GOALS

o    In his lore, Ziggs is a yordle with a talent for invention similar to Heimerdinger but has a love for explosives as well a chaotic and hyperactive nature

o    This was exploited by Jinx who convinced him to ditch decorum and become a mad bomber that plagues Zaun

o    Ziggs is a member of the artillery class, meant to whittle down opponents with abilities from a long range

o    His passive is Short Fuse, which periodically empowers his next attack to deal bonus magic damage

o    He can throw a Bouncing Bomb that bounces up to two times, exploding to deal damage on the final bounce, upon landing on an enemy, or landing in terrain

o    Satchel Charge leaves the eponymous explosive at target location, detonating after a duration or when reactivated. When it detonates, it deals damage and knocks back enemies caught in it. It can also execute turrets or launch Ziggs even farther

o    He can scatter a Hexplosive Minefield in a small area that slows and damages enemies that walk through it

o    His ultimate is Mega Inferno Bomb, which creates a massive explosion that deals high damage, doing even more to those towards its center

o    In Legends of Runeterra, his attacks deal extra damage to his blocker and the Nexus, representing the splash of his bombs

Summary of Goals: Ziggs is a bomb-flinging madman from a race of magic beings who has given up that lifestyle for the mess of Zaun. In addition to his throwing of bombs, he can set explosives to demolish structures and rig up minefields to make it harder for foes to get to him.

LEVEL 1

Ancestry & Heritage: Charhide Goblin

o    Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Charisma, +Intelligence, -Wisdom

o    Ancestry Feat: Burn It!

Background: Saboteur

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence

o    Skill Increase: Thievery (trained), Engineering Lore (trained)

o    Background Feat: Concealing Legerdemain

Class & Subclass: Bomber Alchemist

o    Class Ability Boost: +Intelligence

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Arcana (trained), Athletics (trained), Crafting (trained), Intimidation (trained), Medicine (trained), Society (trained), Stealth (trained)

o    Class Feat: Far Lobber

o    Skill Feat: Alchemical Crafting

o    Formulas: alchemical fuse, lesser alchemist’s fire, lesser blasting stone, lesser junk bomb, lesser quicksilver mutagen, lesser tallow bomb

Details

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +0, Dex +3, Con +0, Int +4, Wis +0, Cha +2)

My intent was to await the Tian Xia Character Guide to see how the tanuki fits for yordles, but goblin honestly works very well for Ziggs and the charhide heritage can reflect the resistance he’s built up to fire after blowing himself up so many times. Goblin also comes with the Burn It ancestry feat, which is going to enhance the harm of his hexplosives and can actually play into his Short Fuse, granting extra damage to fire items specifically rather than being on a cooldown. There were a few options I looked out – Academic Dropout felt appropriate, but I think Saboteur better represents the destruction he caused with Jinx, which really began his descent into destruction. He further explores that with the alchemist class and its bomber research field. This will let him throw bombs that only affect the primary target and make fiery versatile vials, and that’s just his first level. He takes a number of fire based bombs such as alchemist’s fire and the tallow bomb while his present association with Zaun makes the junk bomb feel a solid fit. Based on his roll as an artillery mage, he uses Far Lobber as his class feat, which will allow him to launch his bombs further.

A very noticeable QoL that the alchemist received is that they now just need to learn the base formulas and can then make the upgraded versions. As described in the book, if you have the formula for a minor elixir of life, you can create the lesser, moderate, greater, major, and true versions of it as long as you meet the level and other prerequisites. Research fields offer quite a bit more and the alchemist now gains versatile vials. These vials can be used to deal acid damage or be converted to different damage types by the bomber or Quick Alchemy can turn them into alchemical items in your formula book. The neat thing about these vials is that they regen between fights with the alchemist regaining 2 vials every 10 minutes of downtime.

LEVEL 2

o    Class Feat: Quick Bomber

o    Skill Feat: Crafter’s Appraisal

o    Gear: cloak of feline rest

LEVEL 3

o    General Feat: Toughness

o    Skill Increase: Crafting (expert)

o    Gear: lesser everair mask, cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion

LEVEL 4

o    Class Feat: Demolitionist Dedication

o    Skill Feat: Snare Crafting

o    Skill Increase: Engineering Lore (expert)

o    Gear: crafter’s eyepiece, lesser everair mask, masquerade scarf, cloak of feline rest

LEVEL 5

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +0, Dex +4, Con +1, Int +4.5, Wis +1, Cha +2)

o    Ancestry Feat: Vandal

o    Skill Increase: Arcana (expert), Occultism (trained)

o    Gear: alchemist goggles, 3, 3, lesser everair mask, cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion

Ziggs used the Far Lobber to reflect his role as an artillery mage but also wants Quick Bomber so that he can litter the battlefield with explosions. The alchemist does get better weapon scaling in the remaster but they’re still an Int-focused class, not Dex-focused so Ziggs will only really want to be spending these bombs on targets he feels confident he can hit. To represent his ability to destroy towers with Satchel Charge, he takes up a Demolitionist Dedication, which ends up having some nice synergy with his background and makes him an expert in Engineering Lore. It also allow him to Set Explosives, creating a massive blast that ignores a value of Hardness, which just in general is a great way to represent this particular use of his ability. Given the natural association that yordles have with magic, Crafter’s Appraisal slots in nicely and fits with his investment in Crafting. Snare Crafting also takes advantage of it and may better help represent his Hexplosive Minefield with stuff like hampering snare missing the damage but including the slowing effect by virtue of being difficult terrain that doesn’t require a save. Given his appetite for destruction and association with Jinx, Vandal is a perfect fit from his ancestry feats and will let him ignore at least some Hardness even when he’s not Setting Explosives.

Fifth level also includes a field discovery for the bomber that allows them to use their Intelligence for determining their splash damage, changing Calculated Splash into a class feature.

LEVEL 6

o    Class Feat: Debilitating Bomb

o    Skill Feat: Inventor

o    Gear: +1 leather, alchemist goggles, sleeves of storage, backfire mantle, lesser everair mask, masquerade scarf

LEVEL 7

o    General Feat: Fleet

o    Skill Increase: Crafting (master)

o    Gear: ring of the ram, +1 leather, thunder helm, alchemist goggles, backfire mantle, flag beetle lantern

LEVEL 8

o    Class Feat: Directional Bombs

o    Skill Feat: Magical Crafting

o    Gear: boots of bounding, staff of elemental power, ring of the ram, +1 leather, alchemist goggles, sleeves of storage

LEVEL 9

o    Ancestry Feat: Junk Tinker

o    Skill Increase: Engineering Lore (master)

o    Gear: +1 resilient leather, boots of bounding, greater masquerade scarf, ring of the ram, astrolabe of falling stars, thunder helm

LEVEL 10

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence (Str +1, Dex +4.5, Con +2, Int +5, Wis +1, Cha +2)

o    Class Feat: Greater Debilitating Bomb

o    Skill Feat: Trick Magic Item

o    Gear: dreadsmoke thurible, +1 resilient leather, wand of smoldering fireballs (3rd-level), boots of bounding, staff of elemental power, ring of the ram

While Snare Crafting may cover the flavor of Hexplosives Minefield, Ziggs takes up Debilitating Bomb and then Greater Debilitating Bomb to be able to inflict a slow on his adversaries and uses more additives with Directional Bombs, which isn’t perfect, but the extension of it as a line could be a good fit for Bouncing Bomb. The issue with this ability is that it explodes on contact, meaning that its interpretation might be better defined simply as his Far Lobber feat. But Directional Bombs will alter the trajectory of his bombs, sending them more bomb like, and this will actually come from his demolitionist archetype so that he can start filling out feats with it – and Ziggs will be damned before he takes Safety Measures. He takes a heavy investment in Crafting with his skill feats here between Inventor allowing him to design his own bombs and Magical Crafting again reaching back into the inclination that yordles have towards magic. This is also the reasoning behind the increases he has been making to Arcana and taking Trick Magic Item. When it comes to building things, he can put them together a little faster thanks to his Junk Tinker ancestry feat, which is again a nice nod towards his connection to Zaun.

LEVEL 11

o    General Feat: Fast Recovery

o    Skill Increase: Arcana (master)

o    Gear: greater staff of elemental power, dreadsmoke thurible, elemental wayfinder (fire), +1 resilient leather, boots of bounding, greater masquerade scarf

LEVEL 12

o    Class Feat: Expanded Splash

o    Skill Feat: Quick Jump

o    Gear: +2 resilient leather, greater everair mask, dragon turtle artillery, dreadsmoke thurible, greater staff of fire, wand of smoldering fireballs (3rd-level)

LEVEL 13

o    Ancestry Feat: City Scavenger

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (expert)

o    Gear: wand of smoldering fireballs (5th-level), +2 resilient leather, greater alchemist goggles, greater staff of elemental power, dreadsmoke thurible, elemental wayfinder (fire)

LEVEL 14

o    Class Feat: Inventor Dedication – Armor Innovation

o    Skill Feat: Rapid Affixture

o    Skill Increase: Survival (trained)

o    Gear: hellfire boots, wand of smoldering fireballs (5th-level), major staff of fire, +2 resilient leather, greater staff of elemental power, greater everair mask

LEVEL 15

o    Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +1, Dex +5, Con +3, Int +5.5, Wis +1, Cha +3)

o    General Feat: Diehard

o    Skill Increase: Crafting (legendary)

o    Gear: +2 greater resilient leather, hellfire boots, greater ring of the ram, wand of smoldering fireballs (5th-level), greater brooch of inspiration, greater alchemist goggles

This build can take another look at Bouncing Bomb – or at least the end of it – with Expanded Splash, again from his demolitionist archetype, letting him hit in an area as the final blast of his bomb. With these two feats from his archetype, he can take up an Inventor Dedication, which is mostly just a stepping stone to another option. He’ll take an armor innovation as he does seem to be wearing some sort of blast armor and he doesn’t a companion or a permanent weapon to innovate. Quick Jump is kind of based on his ability to propel himself with Satchel Charge, but we do have other ways of getting into that. Rapid Affixture is a little more in line with his Crafting capabilities even if it’s not really something that comes up in League. Fast Recovery and Diehard are more representative of his home game where health regen is a stat and people come back regularly. The goblin in general has felt fantastic for representing Ziggs’s relation to Zaun, and is further explored in his City Scavenger feat.

The advanced vials from his research field is maybe not as exciting as his fiend discovery, but it does allow him to treat a bomb as a precious metal, which will undoubtedly come up at least once. He also gains his greater field discovery in this block, which would increase the splash of his bombs to 10 feet – but because he already has Expanded Splash, he gets to increase it to a 15-foot splash instead.

LEVEL 16

o    Class Feat: Basic Breakthrough – Explosive Leap

o    Skill Feat: Craft Anything

o    Gear: dragonscale amulet, +2 greater resilient leather, major staff of elemental power, hellfire boots, wand of smoldering fireballs (5th-level), major staff of fire

LEVEL 17

o    Ancestry Feat: Reckless Abandon

o    Skill Increase: Engineering Lore (legendary)

o    Gear: wand of smoldering fireballs (7th-level), dragonscale amulet, greater thunderblast slippers, +2 greater resilient leather, hellfire boots, greater ring of the ram

LEVEL 18

o    Class Feat: Exploitive Bomb

o    Skill Feat: Legendary Professional

o    Gear: artificer spectacles, wand of smoldering fireballs (7th-level), greater staff of arcane might, dragonscale amulet, +2 greater resilient leather, major staff of elemental power

LEVEL 19

o    General Feat: Feather Step

o    Skill Increase: Arcana (legendary)

o    Gear: +3 greater resilient leather, clockwork helm, artificer spectacles, wand of smoldering fireballs (7th-level), dragonscale amulet, greater thunderblast slippers

LEVEL 20

o    Ability Boosts: +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +1, Dex +5, Con +4, Int +6, Wis +2, Cha +4)

o    Class Feat: Mega Bomb

o    Skill Feat: Unified Theory

o    Skill Increase: Nature (trained)

o    Gear: eternal eruption of Barrowsiege, +3 greater resilient leather, inexplicable apparatus, artificer spectacles, greater staff of arcane might, wand of smoldering fireballs (7th-level)

We can finally properly cover the movement capabilities of Satchel Charge with a Basic Breakthrough for Explosive Leap. It is not something that he can do consistently since it has the unstable trait, but it is very fun that he was able to fit it in. He expands on Far Lobber with Uncanny Bombs to throw them even farther, giving them a range of sixty feet to bombard enemies with. Again, this range can be reflective of Bouncing Bomb and just his range for his artillery role. He rounds out his class feats with Mega Bomb to, somewhat fittingly, recreate his Mega Inferno Bomb. This doesn’t have the epicenter, but does deal massive damage to everybody in the area, befitting the ability and it does have a 60-foot range. He goes for a full suite of legendary skill feats with Craft Anything, Legendary Professional, and Unified Theory – the last of which will be handy for expanding the use of his Trick Magic Item. Reckless Abandon sounds perfect for Ziggs and with the devastation that Ziggs can create, he finally takes up Feather Step so that he can Step into difficult terrain.

Vials can really only be restored outside of combat or by spending an action – until seventeenth level when Ziggs gains the abundant vials class feature. This makes him permanently quickened, befitting his excitable nature, but this extra action can only be used for Quick Alchemy to create a quick vial. This seems to be the first class feature, rather than a class feat, that can make a character permanently quickened.

FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: A free archetype game does some good for Ziggs and it might actually be better for him to take an Inventor Dedication first, as it will let him grab an early Brilliant Crafter and let his Crafting scale automatically. Also, the Explosion feat is just a perfect fit for him. But then he still will want to go for the Demolitionist Dedication, take the feats prescribed here, as well as Controlled Blast and Collapse Wall. With the extra alchemist feats, he probably benefits from more of the Debilitating Bomb feats, such as True Debilitating and Perfect Debilitation and then maybe take up options to enhance his versatile vials and Quick Alchemy, like Efficient Alchemy or Alter Admixture.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Ziggs, the Hexplosives Expert, is a charhide goblin bomber alchemist with a saboteur background. These builds have explored a few options for yordles in the past, and goblin feels particularly right for Ziggs while the more magical nature of his people is explored through his investment in Arcana and its skill feats such as Trick Magic Item and Unified Theory. His relation to Zaun and love for destruction comes through with his City Scavenger, Junk Tinker, and Vandal feats. More mechanically, he fights at as long a range as he can with Far Lobber and Uncanny Bombs while his ancestral Burn It can actually serve to reference his Short Fuse and the increased damage that some of his attacks gain. The aforementioned Uncanny Bombs can reflect the range of his Bouncing Bomb with the help of Expanded Splash and his own class feature covering the blast of it. The cone of Directional Bombs could also play into it, expanding farther in a specific direction than his bomb otherwise would. The Set Explosives of his Demolitionist Dedication is perfect for his Satchel Charge and by dipping into inventor and taking Explosive Leap, he can even recreate the dash that it lets him perform! He could lean into Set Explosives for his Hexplosive Minefield, but he also uses Snare Crafting and Debilitating Bomb with its slowing effect to more accurately recreate the movement reduction of this ability. Finally, and very fittingly, the alchemist offers up Mega Bomb for Ziggs’s Mega Inferno Bomb. This lets him deal full bomb damage to everybody in the area, so it lacks the epicenter a bit but Ziggs probably won’t mind that one bit. In summary, Ziggs uses his bomber research field to rain down explosions and is comfortable in the undercity of Zaun with a number of his goblin feats. His demolitionist archetype enhances his ability in breaking down structures and feats such as Debilitating Bombs slow enemies trying to engage on him.

This ebullient expert on explosives engulfs the environment in endless eruptions, eagerly earning his eminent epithet.

Love where the alchemist is at now! While you're doing so, let me know what you think and what other builds you would like to see.

If you want to join in on the discussion of these builds and the ones I do for monsters or just hang out with a bunch of fellow TTRPG nerds, check out the Discord server. We also have a Twitter where we try to post teasers for the blog. We're going to channel the toxicity of League into next week's build.

Have a fantastic Friday!