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I think the only issue with Zed is that mid range waveclear puts him over the top.

FistOfSharkiesha·3/3/2016, 1:06:07 AM·6 votes·472 views

Having manaless waveclear? Okay that's not an issue at all. Having 900 range waveclear that goes through all enemy units? That's where the problem lies. Compare this to Annie's ~600 range spells that cost nearly 100 mana, or Lux, being considered an extremely long range mage, with 1100 range on her E, only 200 range more than a manaless AD assassin. When you add to this the fact that this is on a 6 second cooldown and he has a very strong all in capability and insane mobility, this becomes a problem.

He has no clearly defined weaknesses right now. Looking at his shurikens would be a really good start. These are hard to dodge early game when he does it 10 times a minute and they can't be blocked by minions. Look at every other champion with strong waveclear/poke. If you jump on them they can't escape. Ziggs is as close as it gets to having poke and an escape, but his escape is weak and on a massive cooldown, and mana problems prevent him from going unpunished spamming his Q every second it's off cooldown.

If you jump a Zed, they just dash away. There's not a lot of weaknesses to exploit against him.

13 Comments

SwapShadows3/3/2016, 1:08:18 AM2 votes

no defined weaknesses? how about the fact that he's the only assassin in the game that doesn't kill you almost instantly with little to no counterplay? or that there are around 15+ hard counters to him in the form of champions and that number increases almost every champ release.

People seem to forget that energy is one of the worst resources in the game after laning phase, if Zed had mana he would lose early game power in exchange for a huge boost of power mid/late.

Waveclearing is fine when you have to use your entire resource bar and spells, it however is not fine when you are a champion that only needs 1 spell to clear an entire wave.

WadeWilson13373/3/2016, 1:37:41 AM2 votes

False. item 3156 This is the problem with Zed. This item singlehandedly gives Zed a free lane against basically any ap, especially those who revolve around burst. Look at Syndra, the most reknown burst mage in the game aside from Annie. She has the lowest winrate in all of mid lane_. Simply because Zed can 100-0 her and Syndra cant because of hexdrinker. Even if Syndra has seekers, it doesnt matter. Her and basically all other mages just lose because of the immediate superiority of hexdrinker.

ModWulf Helhammer3/3/2016, 1:28:47 AM1 votes

I could see maybe putting a limit to how many units shurikins can pass through, but the thing is, Zed is supposed to be the assassin with a strong lane phase and near mage level wave clear. The reason: his entire purpose (killing the carry) can be negated by 1 of 2 items. Look at other assassins: they all have near instant burst that is pretty much unavoidable. In exchange, they have some of the worst laning in the game.

If you want Zed to have waveclear/laning equal to other assassins, then he will have to receive a massive power increase elsewhere, with the most likely candidate in his kill potential

masterdragon4813/3/2016, 2:10:04 AM1 votes

Zed is just a terribly designed champion. Yea, he has massive waveclear and insane poke damage, especially considering he is manaless. But unfortunately, he NEEDS that. Because he HAS to win the lane phase and MUST shut his opponent down. And this is because of terrible design; he must hit very specific windows of time where he is strong, because he is hard countered by items in the game; let alone good team coordination.

There is so much counterplay to Zed's all in when you play as a team; and there is even MORE counter play when you consider hourglass and QSS. So if the opponent is able to build these items before zed can get rolling, he will never get rolling. Thus he needs an oppressive laning phase (and free ad built into his kit) just to stay viable.

So until he gets his kit reworked so he isn't so hard countered by 2 items in the game, we won't see his laning phase nerfed. I don't like it, but thats the truth.

MunchCrunchLunch3/3/2016, 7:58:18 AM1 votes

as I bought zed and played him. here is why I think zed is over the top

  1. ability to farm and poke effectively from range. and even when he gets close his passive just makes waveclear really quick. last hitting is obviously easy as hell

2). hexdrinker/maw. simply wins you any lane against an ap champ. most of the time.