My thoughts on Zoe
So everyone has been talking about Zoe and how they dislike her and don't worry this isn't a post to defend her. I'm not high elo or anything this is simply my opinions on the champ and this will probably be a pretty biased view on it.
i am personally fine with being one shot or burst down easily, and i am an adc main. However, when all the burst is on one ability that is ridiculous and unbalanced. If an assassin or mage lands their skillshots and i die then i know what i did wrong. I could have dodge it or flashed or even stopwatched. But Zoe is an entirely different story. Trying to dodge her bubble when she point blank blinks to you is near impossible when i'm playing someone immobile. And even if she does manage to miss it, it creates a zone that has the exact same effect when you step in it, often cutting off my escape route. The frustrating parts about this ability is the benefits for missing it and overall the reliability.
I really dislike how aa enhancers work and how much impact they have in the game. (I know, ironic for an adc player to say, but i'm not saying adc's are very balanced either). Her passive is just free bs damage. I have had a Zoe with a lich bane dash to me, aa and take away nearly 3/4 of my health. The ability to simply walk up to someone and hit them for more than half of their health a pretty ridiculous concept. Often Zoe has to be pretty fed to do this however, but it still applies. Free damage that is basically impossible to miss isn't a healthy mechanic to have in the game.
Her q is in my opinion one of her most balanced abilities. It does shit ton of damage but often won't be able to one shot (of course there are exceptions). It takes quite a while to build up its damage and you can usually see it coming. That being said, I wish that most of Zoe's damage wasn't put onto one spell. It simply doesn't feel good to be one shot by two whole abilities. When you play against a Zed you have to dodge a bunch of shurikens and if you're successful you "might" live. It just feels frustrating being one shot by one or two abilities.
Unfortunately Zoe only has two damaging abilities plus her passive. This leaves her w in a very bad spot. The rng on this ability is a very bad design and i don't care whether Riot says that this is good rng. There are good examples of good rng. If we look at the elemental dragons, we can see when they are going to spawn and which one is going to spawn. You can choose with your team whether it's worth giving up a tower or rift herald for a certain drake. Summoner spells are an undisputed advantage for not only you but you're team as well. Games can often be decided by whether a key carry has their flash or not. The fact that Zoe can gain a free summoner spell or active item from a minion is ridiculous. There is no way to defend a minion forever, eventually Zoe is going to kill that minion and she will then have a free advantage. I am fine with her having a chance to steal her opponents it gives her an extra level of skill and stickiness, now sometimes you might not want to flash if you can just use you're heal or barrier. The minion part of the w is a bad design and I think that it should be reworked or removed in some way or form.
Her ulti is a cool and unique ability in my opinion. It gives her window to hit you, however, she will go back to her original portal no matter what. It is a great contrast to leblanc w. Leblanc can choose whether she wants to go back or not. This gives her a great escape or engage. Zoe's cannot be used as an escape since she will always go back to her original portal. I would say her ulti is a pretty balanced ability.
Overall, I think that zoe really has some deep design flaws. In my opinion several over her abilities need tuning or even reworks. She is extremely frustrating to deal with and very annoying. I think she needs to be looked at from a design standpoint rather than # changes. Killing an assassins damage can kill that assassin. Her abilities need to be recessed thought through more carefully.
