In regards to the current Meta and Zed

It is obvious that Zed is currently amazing in the mid lane meta and has caused some problems throughout the community. Riot has been hesitating to nerf him even though he needs them, and I'll tell you why.

Reason 1: Zed was balanced before the mana regeneration nerfs

I must admit even though I hate playing against Zed and his safety and mobility, he was perfectly balanced not long ago, and direct buffs didn't put him in the state he is currently in. Not long ago mana regeneration was hit hard, and this affected Zed dramatically. Before the mana regen nerfs, champions like and were able to punish Zed by pushing to his tower when he roamed, now due to those nerfs they never have enough mana to do so. Even champions like (who has the lowest base mana regeneration of any Mage) cannot compete with Zed's sustain in lane. This is why has seen a recent resurgence. He doesn't have the mana problems of other mages due to his immense wave clear with little to no mana cost due to his soldiers low cost and free auto attacks.

The solution to this problem is simple. Instead of nerfing morellonomicom JUST because it was better than Athenes, you should have buffed athenes. It was the ideal item for most mages and after the nerfs to it, it's sadly not worth purchasing any more.

**Reason 2: **

Roaming potential

Champions that used to be able to keep up with Zed's roaming potential were nerfed. and even (dare I say, , even though his nerfs were deserved) cannot keep up with Zed anymore. While this problem doesn't necessarily need to be addressed since the affected champions are fairly balanced, it is a reason for Zed's domination of the current meta.

Reason 3

The Removal of DFG

After our lord and savior DFG, was removed from the game champions such as and had their core item completely removed with no compensation. While a couple of those champs don't necessarily need compensation it's worth noting it was a size able nerf to some champs that had a good matchup against Zed beforehand.

Conclusion: My conclusion is over the past month mages have been nerfed across the board and have little no compensation for it as of today. The once balanced Zed and other non mana mid laners such as and can now spam their abilities and outsustain the enemy mid laner much faster. Other champions roaming potential has been reduced, and mages who once countered Zed had their core item removed. At the end of the day the real solution is to:

(TLDR)

• Compensate some mages for the DFG removal/add a new 120 AP item
• Buff mana regeneration and fix older champions mana regen

Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment saying if you agree and disagree with my theory on how to effectively balance Zed.