Can we have a deep long discussion about Zed. And his most/least balanced states?
So, upon release Zed was extremely balanced -> OP. Troughout season 3 they kept nerfing him but it felt like it didn't have an effect. Then, right at the end -> Near the end of season 3, they nerfed his kill potential, his poke potential, his escape potential and now Zed was set (They also mentioned that nerfing Zed's manipulation between/of shadows wasn't the way to go when nerfing Zed's ultiamte) Zed was extremely balanced all the way throughout season 4 because of the ''Anti-Assassin meta''. Then, in patch 4.10, they nerfed Zed's core item; Blade of Ruined King. Lifesteal down to 10% from 15%. Okay, no problem. On-hit damage increased to 8% current HP from 5% current HP. Alright, fine. Active damage reduced to 10% maximum HP from 15%. Active movement speed reduced to 25% from 30%. And Zed was a... well not in the best state ever in terms of balance, he got hit hard since he was prettymuch the only champion reliant on the Active. Anyway, Zed mains found a new build where we went Bork, Ghostblade, LW, and IE. This was REALLY strong because of the AD change to IE in 4.10, AD increased to 80 from 70. So, overall Zed wasn't in an extremely bad spot. In terms of balance and how useful he was, he was kind of underwhelming now though.
Alright, all of this above is the past of Zed, how balanced he has been and where Riot may or may not have messed up. Overall, Zed was really good because of his kit; being able to have 3 dashes in one kit with fairly high kill potential/escape potential was really nice to have on an ADCaster. Wasn't OP, wasn't UP. Now here is where Riot really and I mean REALLY messed up in terms of balanced Zed.
Patch 4.14; Zed now has unit collision when Death Mark is active on a target. Zed now reapears behind his target instead of in front of his target. The second change was really... well.. extreme... The whole reason Zed was balanced ever in between 3.13 and 4.14 was because Zed had low-ish kill potential unless he hit his skillshots/picked people off/was splitpushing. These 3 things were really valid strats on Zed due to how his ultimate worked. His ult was Low risk, Low reward unless He had the entire duration to apply damage to the pop. What did this mean? This meant Zed had to commit to get kills, people had good chances of escape. Ever since patch 4.14, Riot has struggled to balance Zed because ever since 4.14 Zed has had lot's of enjoyment with his newfound ultimate, because the way Zed ult worked (Low risk, low reward) had been changed to Low risk, high reward. Why is that? You see, Zed now reapears behind you, what does that mean? It meant, when Zed ult's you, you are sandwitched between him and his R shadow, which means u can't go up and u can't go down. Okay, 2 options left, right? well no, Zed could W to one of the sides and u would end up HAVING to either accept death, or try to outplay him, which wasnt exactly a possibility. Zed lost his identity as the most balanced Assassin to ever emplant footprints on the rift. Alright, Zed was OP we get it, well what was the next change that had an effect on Zed in League of Legends?
IE changes in patch 5.1. Now gives 20% Crit chance from 25% Had an effect on the crit build we all knew and loved, it was only 5% so it didn't have the greatest effect on his dueling/splitpushing. Patch 5.2; Zed's base Attack Speed reduced to 0.644 from 0.658. Attack Speed Growth reduced to 2.1% from 3.1%. Oh, that's not so bad? Right? Or is it?... Zed lvl 18 before this change had 1,025164 attack speed, 1,4352296 with BoRK. Now, Zed @ lvl 18 has 0,887432 attack speed, 1,2424048 with bork. Alright, fair, Zed's dueling/splitpushing got a hit, an unnecesary hit but they took a hit that was quite harsh. Next change that had an effect on Zed was in patch 5.8. Bork minimum damage from passive cap increased to 10 from 3. Passive on-hit effect now benefits from lifesteal. And a better build path. Overall, Zed's splitpushing got buffed and so did his Auto attack focused build that every1 used at the time. Next change... is obnoxious... but we gotta go over it...
Patch 5.9; Zed now has to wait 1 second before being able to reactivate Death Mark. This. Kills. The. Zed. This nerf to Zed's ult meant everything, alpha and omega. You need to view it like this: Imagine if Talon had to wait 1s before he got stealthed. IImagine if Ekko didnt get untargetable during his ult, thus meaning u would be able to flay him backwards and cancel it, or follow him as Maokai or Zed with Twisted Advance/Death Mark. Zed's kill potential got nerfed, his escape potential got nerfed, his outplay potential got nerfed. Zed's ability to manipulate between his shadows got nerfed to ruins.
Next change that had an impact on Zed was in patch 5.10, where BoRK's Active range got buffed to 550 from 450. Probably, most certainly, targetted towards Zed. They said that the active (obviously) got hit pretty hard in patch 4.10, and now (1 Year later) They decided to compensate with some buffs to it and an indirect buff to Zed. This ^ didn't impact what was the problem for Zed at the given moment. The problem wasn't bork's active, that was 1 year ago Riot Games, NOW Zed's problem is his ultimate has guarenteed counterplay. I know Zed is being buffed in patch 5.16, but it wont have a great impact since it's the same idea that applies; Zed get's punished for trying to do his job; Assassinating people that are misspositioned without letting them having a word said because they misspositioned, it was their fault.
LOOOOOOONG talk about where Riot fucked up in terms of balancing Zed. Right after 4.10, instead of buffing Zed, they should've buffed BoRK active so it would be useable while Autoattacking/casting spells and increased the range to 550 and Zed would've been fine, nothing as horrible as what happened in patch 4.14/5.9 would EVER occur to Zed. Riot, I beg you, please, one of you, please do something... Zed's kit as an Assassin makes NO sense at all right now.... I'm on my knees, please, for the love of GOD do SOMETHING!
-PoolFreak
