Who actually enjoys playing against Zed

Derfel·Feb 13, 2016·89 votes·5,536 views

Anyone?

175 Comments

Malicious MetalFeb 13, 201628 votes

I used to enjoy playing against him back when I played Morde mid.

Nowadays it's jut frustrating seeing my mid laner struggle to lane against him while I'm sitting in the desert Island called Top lane.

Sassmast3rFeb 14, 20161 votes

Why not just use Morde mid? OMG YOU COULD BE THE PERSON WHO MAKES MORDE MID POPULAR SINCE (I think) HE DOES WELL VERSUS ZED! :DDDD

Malicious MetalFeb 14, 20161 votes

He does counter Zed decently....Up until the point where you get camped by the enemy Jungler^^''

SimpumbaFeb 13, 20168 votes

I enjoy playing against him as malz. He ults me, I W,E,R and he's dead before he can even do anything. Quite fun to kick zed's ass though.

DerfelFeb 13, 201633 votes

This match up is completely overhyped by low elo players. Malz has no answer to Zed's poke. None (the inclusion of the horribly thought out TLD has made his spamming infinitely stronger, you will lose 25%+ of you hp IF YOU GET HIT ONCE EVER). Zed also has 0 trouble farming under tower, which counters Malz's hard pushing. But most importantly Zed is the perfect turtle champ, he will kill you if you get ganked cause this poke oriented assassin with no mana bar also does some of the highest burst in the game early ON TOP of his ability to follow up any gank instantaneously from anywhere in the lane cause this poke oriented burst assassin also has one of the best mobility skills in the game. Guess how well Malz fairs against ganks.

KhâmulFeb 13, 20163 votes

' Guess how well Malz fairs against ganks.' he gets double :p

YumaS2AstralFeb 13, 20168 votes

{quoted}

' Guess how well Malz fairs against ganks.' he gets double :p

Only if he is really fed

YumaS2AstralFeb 13, 20165 votes

[{quoted}](name=Senbei hakase,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=EvOguLoj,comment-id=00050000,timestamp=2016-02-13T08:20:55.930+0000)

This match up is completely overhyped by low elo players. Malz has no answer to Zed's poke. None (the inclusion of the horribly thought out TLD has made his spamming infinitely stronger, you will lose 25%+ of you hp IF YOU GET HIT ONCE EVER). Zed also has 0 trouble farming under tower, which counters Malz's hard pushing. But most importantly Zed is the perfect turtle champ, he will kill you if you get ganked cause this poke oriented assassin with no mana bar also does some of the highest burst in the game early ON TOP of his ability to follow up any gank instantaneously from anywhere in the lane cause this poke oriented burst assassin also has one of the best mobility skills in the game. Guess how well Malz fairs against ganks.

This.

I don't know why everyone says that Malzahar counters Zed. It is a skill based matchup at best. Malzahar can beat Zed later in the game once he has a Rylai and a Zhonya, but before that he has some trouble.

However, I wouldn't recommend to play Zed against Malzahar either. Because Zed falls off late game hard and if Malzahar has those items, Zed can't kill him (but it is possible that Malzahar can't kill Zed either due to QSS). Zed can't compete with Malzahar's teamfighting power, and he has an extremely risky assassination pattern. If Zed is not horribly fed, Malzahar does not really have serious problems with him.

That said, better counters to Zed would be Vladimir, Cho'Gath, and Fizz.

As Vlad, you can outsustain Zed's poke, especially if you use CDR runes. You can afford to buy a Zhonya early because you are not limited by mana. And Vlad can use his W to counter Zed's ult. Also, Vlad's Q is point-click. Zed's mobility can't dodge that.

Cho'Gath can just farm and heal all of Zed's poke. He can silence Zed, messing up with his combo. And despite having high mana costs, Cho'Gath can afford to buy a Zhonya very early due to his passive recovering mana for him.

As for Fizz... He can't sustain like the above two matchups. However, he can out-trade Zed at all points of the game. Fizz can use his E to dodge Zed's poke, and if Zed tries to all-in with his ult, when Fizz uses his E he becomes untargetable, so Zed's ult does not mark him. Fizz can also buy a Zhonya very early because he only really has to use his spells during all-ins and he can afford to leave a Morello/Lich Bane to later in the game. He is also really difficult to gank, so Zed's ability to follow up ganks is not of much use against Fizz.

HauntFeb 13, 201614 votes

[{quoted}](name=Senbei hakase,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=EvOguLoj,comment-id=00050000,timestamp=2016-02-13T08:20:55.930+0000)

This match up is completely overhyped by low elo players. Malz has no answer to Zed's poke. None (the inclusion of the horribly thought out TLD has made his spamming infinitely stronger, you will lose 25%+ of you hp IF YOU GET HIT ONCE EVER). Zed also has 0 trouble farming under tower, which counters Malz's hard pushing. But most importantly Zed is the perfect turtle champ, he will kill you if you get ganked cause this poke oriented assassin with no mana bar also does some of the highest burst in the game early ON TOP of his ability to follow up any gank instantaneously from anywhere in the lane cause this poke oriented burst assassin also has one of the best mobility skills in the game. Guess how well Malz fairs against ganks.

Zed can't even touch Malz, what are you smoking? Don't pretend you're super high elo either fam, this matchup is not overhyped. It's little to impossible against good mazahars.

If zed is using abilities to farm before the wave pushes, how does he last hit under tower with everything on CD?

How does Zed farm under tower against mazahars range? Is malzahar not harassing under turret?

W is one of the best mobility spells? You mean the one with a high as fuck CD early game, that does no damage? That one? Or do you mean the one tied to his ultimate?

If zed is spam harassing you and you don't hit him back, you're doing something wrong. Once he combos, he can't farm because he has no range with everything on CD.

If we wanna talk about junglers, how about Malzahars "fuck you" r button? Easiest gank of a jungler's life.

Figure out what you're saying before you say it. This isn't overhyped by a low elo player either, look me up if you want. This is someone that has a brain.

Serika ZeroFeb 13, 201616 votes

as a Malzahar main. Zed survives all-ins after he gets item 3155 Yes, Malzahar has advantage early game, but after this, unless Zed tower Dives. Even if you hit EWQR+ignite, he won't die due to being retarded. The only way to kill Zed is to get jungler help at this point :( but if he is smart, he will just hard push wave with shadows and roam

Also, as a Malzahar main. I would very rarely harass a Zed under his tower. To begin with, if I want to push, I must use mana. If I wana to harass I will lose mana. IF I get him under tower and try to harass him, I will run out of mana in 1-2 minutes. Which is not fun. Oh right, did I mention Malzahar has no escapes. So being near Zed's tower, in range for a WEW swap for Zed is really really just asking you to get ganked and killed? Zed's W range is 700, your Q range is 900 but easy to avoid (you can zone zed out of a few cs with it tho). E range is 650, so, to dangerous to use while harassing Zed under his tower unless u know exactly where his jungler is.

PS: I realllllllllllllllllly want to rush RoA (instead of Zhonias) as Malzahar in every match-up. So maybe that's also why I'm having a hard time vs Zed when I play Malzahar

HauntFeb 13, 20166 votes

[{quoted}](name=Serika Zero,realm=EUNE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=EvOguLoj,comment-id=0005000000020000,timestamp=2016-02-13T14:56:08.705+0000)

as a Malzahar main. Zed survives all-ins after he gets Yes, Malzahar has advantage early game, but after this, unless Zed tower Dives. Even if you hit EWQR+ignite, he won't die due to being retarded. The only way to kill Zed is to get jungler help at this point :( but if he is smart, he will just hard push wave with shadows and roam

Also, as a Malzahar main. I would very rarely harass a Zed under his tower. To begin with, if I want to push, I must use mana. If I wana to harass I will lose mana. IF I get him under tower and try to harass him, I will run out of mana in 1-2 minutes. Which is not fun. Oh right, did I mention Malzahar has no escapes. So being near Zed's tower, in range for a WEW swap for Zed is really really just asking you to get ganked and killed? Zed's W range is 700, your Q range is 900 but easy to avoid (you can zone zed out of a few cs with it tho). E range is 650, so, to dangerous to use while harassing Zed under his tower unless u know exactly where his jungler is.

PS: I realllllllllllllllllly want to rush RoA (instead of Zhonias) as Malzahar in every match-up. So maybe that's also why I'm having a hard time vs Zed when I play Malzahar

You run oom because you don't manage the mana well

I main zed in diamond one, I know what counters him. Even if you can't kill him, he damn right can't kill you, and you scale harder, so a farm lane is fine for you.

RoA is fine if you get ahead, if not you will lose.

Serika ZeroFeb 13, 20167 votes

Mind sharing how to manage mana then? In Malzahar vs Zed match-up. If I want to push Zed under tower, I must auto attack minions right? IF Zed does the same thing, he does more dmg per auto attacks, so, I can't push under tower.

If I use spells to push wave, so does Zed. But his energy regenerates faster than my mana. So, again, I won't be having push advantage.

What I usually do as Malzahar is start Q, build 3 in base (preferably there's no invade). Go in lane and try to put a few minions on lower hp (around half) with auto attack push. If I get Zed in range for my AA, I try to combo aa+Q+passive and hope to make him scared. After lv2, I try to put several minions on low hp (under half) and then EQ them. E will bounce around returning some mana and push the wave to some degree.

But Zed is also lv2, soon to be 3. And I'm scared. Usually........ the enemy jungler always camps mid q.q So, now I back away...... stay in fog, come back from time to time to farm with spells, run back in fog q.q

I agree that using your R to facilitate your own jungler to gank mid is great for Malza vs Zed match-up. But that's Malza with help <3

PS: ik I scale better to some degree. But the fun part is that you generally pick Malzahar to kill the enemy laner, and Zed is kind of immune to that. Hence why I'm sad :(

AninLegions777Feb 13, 20163 votes

You are a malz Main and say that Hexdrinker is strong? Loool. This comment is a joke.

Serika ZeroFeb 13, 20162 votes

You can't as Malzahar, 100-0 anyone with a Hexdrinker. Unless you are feed as fuck. On equal gold, you just cannot. Even if you land your entire combo perfectly. Don't even get me started if they upgrade the Hex drinker to Maw and all the free stats you get from that passive.

And yes. Malzahar gets countered by items. Generally by QSS. But Hexdrinker works just as well, it negates the 100-0 possibility in the 1v1 scenario. Afterwards, he can die to the enemy. As Malzahar you rely entirely on your abilities for your combo. Since R suppresses yourself as well. Sure, you got a voidling attacking the enemy, but that's your passive, so, ability as well. Unlike most APCs that can throw auto attacks in there during their combos. Which is meaningful especially early game where each AA is like 40-50 dmg. Doing 4 of them is 200 dmg already.

AninLegions777Feb 13, 20163 votes

Who said anything about 100-0? Malz is a DoT master. He just keeps using his visions and the shield of Hexdrinker will be popped in no time. QSS only removes the CC. It doesn't remove the dmg so it's not really a hard counter the way Zhonyas is to Zed.

Serika ZeroFeb 13, 20161 votes

You obviously don't play Malzahar. Malzahar is able to 100-0 almost everyone in the laning phase if you hit all your abilities.

Do you wana know why QSS is such a problem for Malzahar? Because your "combo" requires you to LOCK your targets into your W (Null Zone). And have the Voilding sneak in auto attacks. So, with Qss you don't stay in W. And you also take less dmg from the voidling because you can run away from it or run away though it.

Malzahar's E does no damage early game. They will not proc the Hexdrinker shield. Malzahar's playstyle is very obvious, if he is going to E you. He will step more forward than normal. Why do you notice this? because he mostly stays in the back. Since he has low mobility, he doesn't want to be in a stupid position like "between minions". And if the you stay in minion range to E the enemy, while you don't do it. You open yourself to free harass.

Hence why, in lane. Malzahar will RARELY hit his E on you. While you mostly harass with Q. Honestly dude.

Its like your knowledge about the champion is from playing him once or twice.

AninLegions777Feb 13, 20163 votes

You are confused man. We are talking about Zed, not everyone else.

I know this mate and It doesn't really matter. The way I play malz, my ult isn't even what kills you, it's the visions. The ult is for getting you low enough.

It will proc it after RoA. Definitely sure about this. Use it 2 or 3 times and it's sure to proc it. Why not just aim it for when Zed wants to last hit? Not rocket science.

He uses his E for farming but after RoA, that thing is good harass thanks to his voidlings. You really want to try poking with your Q when his voidling is chewing your hp away? Really?

No sir, it's you. You are telling me what I've done countless times. You are telling me about a champ that I perfected because he's one of the best Zed and Talon Counters. You can't mate. You just can't. Maybe the things I'm saying are out of your mechanical range/thought but they are not out of mine so I do them with ease. Now make me laugh more.

NarasimhaFeb 13, 20162 votes

Speaking as a semi-Malz main, I think I see the flaw in your argument. You want to kill him.

That's not how you win against Zed. Much like if you were playing against a Fizz or a LB, your job isn't to get kills. It's simply to not die to them. Assassins need to get kills to snowball early and mid game, because a lot of their power is lost when late game comes. Except for Fizz. Fuck that.

But I digress. All you need to do is drop your E, dodge his combo, and simply wait him out. Zeds tend not to be patient people. He's either going to try and rush you, in which case you can turn your combo on him, or he'll roam, where you can knock out his tower. And even if you don't kill him, that's fine. You're Malz. You have an infinetly better late game than he does. You just need to wait him out.

Shuriman CuratorFeb 13, 20165 votes

I personally don't mind him. When I see a Zed pick mid I go Shen and make him pretty useless. I usually rush a sunfire then start trading with him. I never lost a match up against a Zed as Shen. Even with the old Shen.

LadyRenlyFeb 13, 20162 votes

{quoted}

I personally don't mind him. When I see a Zed pick mid I go Shen and make him pretty useless. I usually rush a sunfire then start trading with him. I never lost a match up against a Zed as Shen. Even with the old Shen.

Wait, you play new Shen into Zed? I am actually curious and not being mean, but how do you not get shuriken harassed out of lane? You have zero range

MunchCrunchLunchFeb 13, 20163 votes

hes one of those champions that is bound to get fed in low elo. (basically any assassin gets fed in low elo) people over extend in other lanes. and he just gets easy roams even if he loses to his lane matchup. always happens when i play against a zed. gets a double kill bot lane. few kills top lane and jungler. and then comes to me with 2 more items. am like ffs.

LeeerzeichenFeb 13, 20163 votes

I have a lot more fun playing against zed, than playing against a stupid poke champ, like ap ez, ziggs, jayce or lux.

DEGplaysFeb 13, 20163 votes

I'm noticing quite the unusual trend of people getting down votes because they say zed is an easy lane opponent, They are both right and wrong.

Right in the way that: There IS counterplay (do your research) A bad zed is a dead zed (look for the shadow placements and you will see) there are plenty of defensive items to use against him (any armor item giving health and item 3157 to remove the ult "pop") Team fights are Zed's weakest fights to be in (assassins work best alone, not 1v5) CC KILLS ZED ( Nautilus is a great source of CC and he is a pretty neat tank)

Of course they are wrong in that: Zed has a lot of armor pen and AD late game (which is why early game you HAVE to shut him down) New item doesn't really help fighting against him (but if "Zed is more reliant on his abilitys then auto attacking," than the item is just stats.) Q is hard to dodge (Shadows make it harder to judge where he will shoot his Q and where to dodge) Zed is popular (yes this is a downside with it being constant, since if everyone said zed was bad, he would never be played)

Looking from both stand points: Zed is both insanely difficult (when he is fed) and pretty easy (early game if you call for that wonderful gank) to lane against Only the people who do not want to try will not even look into even the slightest counterplay, and trust me, if you look into some counterplay Zed will crawl on his knees and beg for mercy (and maybe DC)

Serika ZeroFeb 13, 20165 votes

the problem with Zed. Most AP mid laners........ use mana. Surprise surprise

Zed uses energy Surprise surprise

Zed pushes wave faster and pokes at the same time using Energy. While the mage has to use their mana. So, in a war of attrition, Zed wins. In addition to this, most mages would like a mana item first. But Zed forces you to rush item 3157 which got a +500g increase in price and doesn't solve your mana issues.

Because you still have mana issues. You will have to recall to base more often. Because you need to recall more often, Zed has more opportunities to roam, gets more farm and more exp.

In addition to this. Zed counters AP champions by buying item 3155 cost 1300g Mages need item 3157 which cost 3500g. Which means, in any Zed vs AP match-up. Zed has a slight advantage for 1200g. Assuming each minion gives 30g. And each wave has 6 minions, and each wave spawns every 30s. That's 12 minions per minute, that's 360g per minute. Assuming you have perfect CS while under pressure from Zed and mana issues. Zed is going to have an advantage over you for 3-4 minutes at least due to power spikes. 3x360=1080

Anu3isIIFeb 14, 20161 votes

Yeah, in general I prefer to rush Triple Doran's Rings so that I cover the general weaknesses AP casters have (Mana problems, Squishiness, weak damage until they finish a big item)

ForeverLaxxFeb 14, 20162 votes

The issue is that the majority of the playerbase doesn't want to change their build paths or play pattern in order to more effectively deal with their lane opponent. I used to run into this when laning against Veigar players who would get upset that I'd rush tankier AP options and MR in order to guarantee survival against his burst. They'd always get angry that I "built my champion wrong" even though it was the right choice for that particular game and led to the Veigar being underfarmed and unable to nuke priority targets effectively. While it's true that my burst contribution to teamfights would be lower, I was also tankier than usual and tend to play champions with enough utility to make raw burst unnecessary in teamfights with enough supporting cooldown reductions.

And that's really the crux of it. People want to do the most damage, and in so doing they neglect survivability. This makes them prime targets and food for assassins/burst champions and they always want to complain that it's the fault of the enemy for being too strong instead of a fault of their own for not building appropriately.

Sneakyy XDFeb 13, 20163 votes

I do, but I play Nasus, so he's just another minion to farm.

cuddlykitten4Feb 13, 20163 votes

Zed is like every other champ. He has a pattern. Learn it. Learn when to expect it to be adapted. Bait out his shots. Don't do things you know will get you killed. Follow him. Win. I have absolutely no problem seeing a Zed in lane. Prefer him over others actually because most Zeds think they're getting a free win and don't try as hard as a result. Honestly, if he upsets you that much, just play Hermi.

arcinexFeb 14, 20163 votes

*Wins lane by expending most of my mana to harass Zed

*Zed pretends to recall in the fog of war.

*I recall to replenish my mana and health

*Zed is in lane and pushes out two waves of minions and now has a two level advantage

same thing with Yasuo.

SnugglePuggle94Feb 13, 20162 votes

I hate playing against him. Just had to play against him as Nidalee. I'm not going into many details, but let's just say he made me fucking scream.

I.hate.Zed.

Ad InfinitumFeb 13, 20161 votes

{quoted}

I hate playing against him. Just had to play against him as Nidalee. I'm not going into many details, but let's just say he made me fucking scream.

I think the problem is you picked Nidalee (Operating under the assumption that you went Nidalee mid)

SnugglePuggle94Feb 13, 20162 votes

I picked first, mind you. And I have usually faired well with her against him. But since he's become way too strong, he's become even harder to lane against.

SwiftKitten88Feb 13, 20163 votes

{quoted}

I hate playing against him. Just had to play against him as Nidalee. I'm not going into many details, but let's just say he made me fucking scream.

I.hate.Zed.

i also used to main nidalee mid (you know back when it was viable in season 4). and zed destroys her.. but then he destroys everyone... so thats nothing new

The RewrittenFeb 13, 20162 votes

I do

n't

KrinuFeb 13, 20162 votes

I play Kayle mid...

He's annoying to fight because he can hit you regardless of where he is in lane and can clear like nobody's business, but at least he's sort of predictable.

qetzelFeb 13, 20162 votes

I have never minded playing against Zed.

I haven't had a chance to this patch, but it was definitely fine last time.

Vistha KaiFeb 13, 20162 votes

Diana aganist Zed.

Do not feed your minds out pre-6, then automatically win the game.

Robbit MangFeb 13, 20162 votes

my favorite part of the game is playing malzahar vs zed

TroiannFeb 13, 20162 votes

I do.

Masala ChaiFeb 13, 20162 votes

I enjoy playing against him as Diana, her base movement speed is fairly high so it's a bit easy to dodge the shurikens and such. Pale Cascade helps when Zed all ins or I decide to tank a shuriken because unavoidable. Q poke is fairly decent with the moon lady. I do have to rush Zhonya though... Picking Exhaust into him is also fairly helpful.

HoodwinkFeb 13, 20162 votes

Keane.

Hello I am BirdFeb 14, 20162 votes

I LOVE playing against Zed...

As someone who plays Anivia anytime I go mid lane :)

Unstoppable MonkFeb 14, 20162 votes

I enjoy it when I'm winning, because there's a high % I will be seeing salt or tilt in the All Chat from the Zed.

yashovamFeb 14, 20162 votes

Oh i ban zed every game i can i frekin hate that champ since end of se 5. Zed OH BTW ANYONE TIRED OF 14 kills yi being able to 1v5 ? NERF HARD, THe scaling not the early game.