Zoning

What is Zoning?
Your Zone is the area you are able to control with your champion. Zoning is the act of controling your enemy's positioning and/or making them afraid of entering your zone. When you push enemies back from minions by making them fear your zone, they will have a much harder time funding items mid- and late-game due to not being able to last hit minions for gold. Additionally, if you can push enemy champions far back enough, you can even deny them experience from dying minions. Both of these things together can be extremely advantageous throughout the game, as your opponents can be both undergeared and underleveled. You can also Zone by moving them from one side of a lane to another. This can be useful during setting up a gank. For example, if you are on the Blue Team (bottom of map) and in bottom lane, your jungler will more than likely be coming from the river during a gank and will typically hide in the bush to wait for the right moment to strike. To increase the chances of successfully ganking a squishy or low health enemy, moving your champion to the right side of the lane can force the enemy to go to the other side, near the river. This makes it much easier for the ganker to get the jump on the enemy.

How can I Zone?
Successful zoning requires your opponents to be afraid of being inside your zone. There are several ways to do this, some of them include: putting out more damage than them 1-on-1, hiding in the bushes, and making them fear a gank (either from a jungler or fellow laner that can travel quickly). Some are tactics are more effective than others and combining them can be very effective. For instance, if your enemy laner knows that you can kill them if you get within range, your zone is limited to the range of your attacks and abilities. But, if you are hiding in the bushes, your zone covers virtually the entire lane, as your enemies don't know what part of the bush you are in.

Certain champions are better at zoning than others, and certain combinations can be very effective. For example, is an excellent zoner. His has a moderate range and it slows, preventing enemy escape for a few seconds. His makes it even more difficult to escape him with its Knock-Up. All this combined with decent damage output and a fellow laner can quickly take out an enemy. All this makes Xin a very proficient zoner. Coupling him with a can almost assure a kill with proper coordination.

Good Zoners
Good crowd control and high damage output are the bread and butter of good zoning. Longevity in the lane can also be very beneficial. Here are a few champions that can be good zoners and some explanations:
 * LeBlanc is an extremely effective zoner, even by herself. She has the uncanny combination of great CC and very high burst damage, as well as a dash that increases the area of her zone twofold. On top of all this, she can remain safe from ganks and return fire from opponents. Her combined with another spell can put out incredible damage. The slow/snare from  can prevent enemies from escaping on top of providing even more damage. When she acquires  and, her zoning potential increases even more.
 * Lux's early game spell damage is respectable, but her true usefulness as a zoner comes out when paired with champion with better and more consistent damage. The spark from makes enemies fear getting close when the debuff has been applied. The slow from  is decent, and its damage is fairly good. The snare from  is her primary advantage in zoning when paired with a high-damage teammate, especially if you can hit two opponents. Her CC allows high damaging teammate to put out more damage due to enemies not being able to get away.
 * Singed's gives him a great deal of zoning potential. Almost any opponent during early game will fear getting near Singed as doing so can be a very painful death. His  makes it difficult to get away if it is placed well, and his  can put out steady damage at its higher levels. By himself, his defensive zoning (with the help of his Tower) is great, but offensively he lacks the damage output. To be truly effective offensively he needs a teammate to deal the bulk of the damage.
 * Taric's has a moderate range and is one of the best stuns in the game, and his heal can keep him and his teammate alive for quite a long time. By himself, his zoning ability isn't so great. But when put with a champion with high early game damage, he can be very good at it.
 * As explained above, his damage combined with his CC makes him an excellent laner.