I assumed the Zed changes were going to reduce his frustration levels..

Nope. He was only nerfed, which I guess in a way is reducing his frustration levels for his opponents. I love all of the other assassin changes and I feel that they are really good, but not Zed's whatsoever.

Zed's changes

Q Razor Shuriken First Q AD Ratio 90% Bonus AD -> 85% Bonus AD (NERF)

W Living Shadow

W 4/8/12/16/20% bonus AD Passive removed (Power shift to R, still a nerf) W Energy restored from passive increased to 30/35/40/45/50 from 20/25/30/35/40 (buff, but will hardly be noticeable) W Shadow Duration increased to 4.5 seconds from 4 seconds. (A nice buff but, again, nothing too major.)

E Shadow Slash

Cooldown changed to 5/4.5/4/3.5/3 seconds from 4 seconds (nerf early, buff late) Damage changed to 70/90/110/130/150 from 60/90/120/150/180 (buff LvL1, nerf LvL3 and onwards)

R Death Mark

Reaper of Shadow: Zed's R now "reaps the shadow of the strongest foe slain under Death Mark, gaining X attack damage (5+ 5/10/15% of victim's attack damage.] (Will, in majority of cases, be less AD than he would have received late game with his W passive unless he killed a Jhin) [NOTE: 0.5 second delay is still there as of 10/18 update tool tip doesn't mention it though.] - Noted on PBE. If the .5 second delay was removed then that almost makes up for the nerfs (.5sec may not seem like much, but it will make a big difference.)

Overall, these changes only weakened his early game and did nothing for his late. I would have liked to see changes that made him less frustrating to play against yet more fluent to play at the same time. **I'll show you what I mean with my suggested changes: ** **P (Contempt for the Weak): ** Unchanged

Q (Razor Shuriken):

Not too sure how I feel about these changes, they're supposed to be aimed at taking off some early game frustration.

** PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 (+ 90% bonus AD) -> PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 50 / 85 / 120 / 155 / 210 (+ 90% bonus AD) 」 ~~ ADDITIONAL DAMAGE: 52.5 / 78.75 / 105 / 131.25 / 157.5 (+ 67.5% bonus AD) 」~~ -> ADDITIONAL DAMAGE: 75 / 100 / 125 / 160 / 180 (+ 70% bonus AD) 」**(Additional damage is his 2nd shuriken hit off of shadows) (NUMBERS ARE JUST PLACEHOLDERS TO GIVE AN EXAMPLE)

I know these changes may not look like much, but it's, for the most part, just a power shift. I moved damage from the initial Q (Zed's Q) and moved it over to his shadow's second Q hit. Now, just his Q is not going to hit as hard but he is rewarded with a bit more damage if he manages to hit multiple shurikens.

** W (Living Shadow):**

Weird change here but if you guys remember back not too long ago Zed's W was changed to go through the entire Q animation before throwing the Q. This made his W+Q a lot clunkier and less smooth to use, so I suggest having the W's Q cast time animation go down with W's rank.

I don't know the exact cast time of Zed's Q from his W, but let's assume it's .5sec for the change .5/.375/.250/.125/0 This change will make Zed's W+Q combo feel smooth like it used to, but still unaffect his laner because Zed will not be putting points into his W during laning phase.

E (Shadow Slash): Unchanged

R (Death Mark):

This is where a lot of frustration lies in Zed's kit, at least come mid/late game, his R. I suggest removing his R base damage, which can get to be a lot with his current AD passive and him hitting 500+AD, and increasing the % return damage to compensate. This means that you won't lose 25%+ of your HP late game because Zed ult'ed you, was unable to hit anything cause he had to insta return to R or was blown up immediately, he'll have to hit his skills to earn his damage.

The mark detonates at the end of its duration, dealing physical damage equal to the stored value plus 100% of his attack damage.

**STORED DAMAGE: 25 / 35 / 45% -> 45 / 55 / 65% **(Just rough numbers to be shown as an example)

After 0.5 seconds, Death Mark can be reactivated. -> Death Mark can be reactivated instantly. This will, again, make him smoother and more fluent to play, like he used to be, but if he returns instantly then he's not going to do a whole lot of damage (R base damage gone, but E should hit and possible Q if the Zed is decent).

**My suggested changes TL;DR:

Initial Q damage nerfed (damage moved to second Q hit with a slight increase) W: Shuriken cast time now goes down with rank (No points will be in W until mid/late game, no change in laning phase) E: No change R: Base damage removed, Stored damage % increased to compensate, .5 sec delay removed. ** I'd love any feedback, feel free to leave some. If you have any ideas that would help compliment these changes feel free to leave a comment. (Changes are geared towards weakening his early game oppresiveness and giving him a bit more power late.)