Zz'Rot is not useless, it's basically just a whole new item with a different role.

I feel like the reason why people think it's underpowered because they don't use it properly.

The changes made the Zz'Rot die about 4 times faster, yes, but it also makes them deal 4 times the damage they used to do to towers now. So what does this mean?

You can't use it for base defence anymore, or as something that you can plant in the sidelanes to push minions or in general just not for clearing waves. Them not gaining any HP per lvl and their health decaying double as fast just means that if they aren't able to reach the enemy tower immidiately and run into minions instead, these minions will just murder them, so you have to clear the minions for them so that they can do the super-buffed tower damage now.

What this essentially means is that it's not a passive minion pushing item anymore but instead a more active tower pushing item. It's a splitpushing item for tanks who have no tower damage but all the other tools needed to splitpush, so waveclear and getaway abilities.

Here's how you use it: You are pushing toplane as a tank with TP, clearing waves until the opportunity shows itself for you to plant it. This would be when no enemy is nearby that could stop your splitpush - similar to classic splitpushers like Tryndamere or Jax who just start autoing towers if no one is there to stop them, a tank with a Zz'Rot Portal plants it instead to deal extreme tower damage.

The important part is that you have to clear the minion waves for Zz'Rot while it stands, not the other way around, so that they can instantly go to the tower and suicide bomb it. A Zz'Rot without you nearby is pretty much useless, quite the opposite of what the old one was.

Whether or not that is a good change is debatable. But the fact of the matter is that it's just not as bad as people say it is, they just shifted its role completely away from what it used to be.

It's definitely an extremely good buy for tanks who were already good splitpushers before because it just enhances their playstyle. will just proxy farm minion waves so that the Zz'Rot can go straight to the tower and suicide bomb it, is able to splitpush without having to leave his team behind because of his ultimate - Sunfire gives him the waveclear and Zz'Rot Portal gives him the tower damage to do that even better.

Even other toplane tanks like , or can use it to great effect. if they just do it properly.