The nerfs you're suggesting aren't actually that bad, but Zed isn't strong by any means. If his kit were truly overloaded, he'd be a contested pick in pro play, which he is not at all. Right now, the strongest mid laners overall are burst/control mages, such as Vladimir, Ryze, Swain, Azir, Viktor etc.
I am not undermining Zed's damage at all, nor am I undermining his maneuverability and access to power. But his unique kit gives him the potential to burst many champions, as well as potentially be punished if not done right. Despite what many will say, he does have a high-risk/high-reward play.
Zed can dominate the game and his lane if not played against properly, and I feel like you, and many others, are still unaware of his weakness, particularly in his laning phase with his w e q combo. I want to address this the most:
Zed's w e q combo is his bread and butter for trading in laning phase. It has the potential to do a significant amount of damage, or it can do almost nothing. The key to beating it is dodging the q's, which are not as hard as you think. You should never be able to dodge the w e portion, otherwise the Zed is god-awful. But Zed's q is actually generally very predictable. I find the best way to maximize the dodge is: once the w e hits, move back and to one side, then quickly shift over to the other side. It sounds simple, but works on most Zeds. You move back to try and make it harder for the q Zed himself is throwing to hit you. You move to one side originally to make it look like you are going there, then shift to dodge the q's. It doesn't work 100% of the time, obviously, but it's a pretty good shot. Finally, all of this is assuming you have no engage and are a long range mage, in which after you dodge most of the damage, you trade back.
If you are an assassin who can engage, however, you use a different approach:
Once Zed uses his shadow, his e will most likely be instant, quickly followed by q. This is a mistake a lot of Zeds make when facing other assassins, but one that can be easily punished. Each assassin has their own unique way of outplaying it, but the general way to do so is to engage the moment you see his shadow, as most Zeds unleash their full combo instantly and don't expect to be engaged upon. Even, let's say, you can't dodge both q's and his e, you will (generally, if you engage) only take damage from one e, the q Zed himself shoots out (in which the damage is mitigated by hitting at least one minion) and an aa + passive and thunderlords. This may sound like a lot, but it's not, because once the other Assassin engages, Zed's combo is down and the damage coming from it was reduced significantly.
Again, I am not saying Zed is weak, but he is a very balanced champion who has a unique kit that is not overloaded or overpowered in any sense. With the right counterplay, he can be rendered useless.
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etc. Which results in all the other supports like the tanky ones useless when an enemy team has Zed. Obviously the tanky ones can peel to some extent but that would mean they will ALWAYS have to stick to their ADC and not waste their cooldowns on anytihng else (engaging etc). He is just very oppressive to the bot lane.
