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Zed. Mobility. Burst. DPS and low energy cost. Isn't this a little bit much?

Kowe The Ewok··6 votes·1,112 views

Maybe it's just me, but I find this champion frustrating to lane against. He's close to ungankable. He can towerdive you and suddenly port back a whole screen length while your stun is flying. His burst is high. He can poke endlessly due to the high regeneration of his enegry. His passive deals incredible damage, especially when combined with his ult. His cooldowns are incredibly low.

Hell, there's basically nothing he can't do, not to mention that even his attack speed per level is extremely high for a "caster".

In my eyes it's simply too much. I would suggest to either lower his energy regeneration or decrease the time he can swap place with his shadow. He is simply too save considering his damage and poke.

EDIT: I complete forgot to mention his range... 550+900 = 1450... Not even Xerath can match that... (Yes, I do add these number - simply because he'll take less than a half second to pull it off and come back out where he started, before a normal living being can react).

27 Comments

Ninpire3 votes

well back in the olden days of Japan the people getting insta killed couldn't complain about ninjas being op so why should we

serious: his w is on a pretty long cooldown, your jungler would have to observe if he uses his w or not for the gank to succeed or fail.

Kowe The Ewok1 votes

If his W has a long cooldown you're using his E wrong.

Hayaishi2 votes

Assassins m8, known for being bullshit.

ScurvyNave2 votes

League of Assassins. Say good bye to low mobility mages in mid lane.

Rest in Peace Mordekaiser , Anivia , Cassiopeia , and others.

Narasimha1 votes

Mordekaiser Wut If anything, Mordekaiser is known for being an anti-assassin.

ScurvyNave2 votes

Ok maybe Morde was a bad example I was more referring to how mobility wrecks most mid lane mages and mobility seems to be all Riot is putting into their new champs.

Narasimha1 votes

You're underestimating immobile mages. Its not an understatement to say they often have the best wave clear and sieging potential bar none. So they make up for it by being more vulnerable targets. Zed might seem like he gets the best of both worlds, but don't forget that he really only gets kill potential at level 6. Before that, he's a melee champ stuck in a ranged lane, and unless he's consistently landing double hits with his shadow, he won't have the energy to fight and farm.

ScurvyNave2 votes

I see your point in that they make up for fragility by wave clear and farm however that only gets you so far when the game is much easier won by snowballing and getting early kills. Whenever I play someone like Anivia or Ziggs I just feel like I don't have as great of an impact pushing lanes into towers as compared to the roaming zed or yi who goes bot and gets himself a double kill

A Slime Appears2 votes

The only thing that annoys me about zed is that he can teleport to his shadows. Most champions don't have the mobility to keep up with a zed that can use shadows half effectively.

DarthSpectrum1 votes

As a frequent Zed player myself, I agree with the majority of these statements. The only correction is that his energy regeneration compared to other energy users is actually subpar. The only method with which he can gain energy besides waiting it out is to hit you with both a cast from himself and his shadows. With one shadow out, it will just cover the cost of the ability.

I won't deny that he is on the better side of the roster. The problem is that so is almost every other champion competing for the role of "assassin" with Zed. (ie. Fizz, Katarina, Lee Sin, Akali, etc.) If you nerf him, another will just take his place while the only result is that Zed will be picked less often.

In the meanwhile, the best you can do is to learn to play against him. Try bringing a brusier with high health regen against him; it is surprisingly effective.

ScurvyNave2 votes

A bruiser to mid lane? Not the most common strategy especially since if you play outside the meta you'll never get accepted in team builder. Would a more tanky mage like Ryze or Swain counter him? I've had success against zed with Lissandra but that's because I just rushed Zhonya's and CC'd him for days.

Kuroi861 votes

Imagine Swain, Lissandra or Vlad as ap bruisers.

DarthSpectrum1 votes

Well Lissandra has a built in Zhonya's the moment Zed hits 6 as well, so the match up will be in your favor.

Ryze and Swain will probably destroy Zed, since by rooting him he will not be able to follow up his death mark or teleport back to his original point. Plus, their poke is better than Zed's Q. I would recommend that you try it out, at worst he ults you under turret, you root him, and you both die.

Kowe The Ewok1 votes

Playing a "high health regen" bruiser just feels like being a cooldown reduction tool for him. He might deal less damage, but taking a high health regen bruiser (which usually don't come with that much health regen) means you won't be much of a threat while he just kites you into oblivion with the slow on his E and the cooldown reduction gained for W upon each cast.

Not to mention that you only can outpick him if you are not picking mid first. He counter half of the champion rooster, or at least anybody who uses skillshots and has average mana cost.

P.S: Try playing Shen - you'll never again describe Zed energy as "subpar".

DarthSpectrum2 votes

Actually, champions such as Leona, Renekton, or Garen (not necessarily regen, just has to be tanky) dominates Zed. Even with his shadow, a bit of CC or an empowered AA means that you will always out trade him if he is within melee range. Zed's only option left would be try to harass with Q, but keep in mind that his Q cost a ton of energy without his shadow.

Although I think you are spot on with the problem; Zed counters almost every APC because they are so squishy. The amount of damage output needed to burst them down won't really strain Zed's cool downs or energy; hence, they become easy kills.

As well, Shen does have terrible energy regeneration. He can't even use all his skills without running out. However, I was referring to champions such as Akali or Lee Sin, who doesn't have to even watch their resource bar or get more energy back than they spent from their passives.

Narasimha1 votes

You forgot the part where the majority of his power, his ult, is blocked by two items item 3140 and item 3157 .

Kowe The Ewok1 votes

You forgot the part where the majority of his power, his ult, is blocked by two items item 3140 and item 3157 .

Sashe grants "wasted" stats which do not help at all against him, only the active. If the enemies pick an AD toplaner as well this item is completely unviable. (Just imagine somebody one had to spent 1550 gold for each member of the enemy team just to slightly reduce the damage...). Not to mention that it has a higher cooldown that his ult.

And Zhonyas again is an item which is only viable on a certain group of champions, not to mention that building it first will SEVERELY limit the damage which you could have gotten with another item - while Zed's ultimate a.) has a longer duration and b.) he can simply ult another teammember.

Vore Monster2 votes

Sash builds into Mercurial Scimitar, which grants both +80 AD and +45 MR with the Sash's active in place. An AD top laner will greatly benefit from building that.

Kowe The Ewok1 votes

Sash builds into Mercurial Scimitar, which grants both +80 AD and +45 MR with the Sash's active in place. An AD top laner will greatly benefit from building that.

So you're building a 1550 item while your opponent gets a brutalizer and (half) an additional item. You get only the utility, which has a longer cooldown than his combo.

This is how you loose your lane.

Vore Monster2 votes

It's not how you lose your lane. By creating a situation where you render a crucial part of your opponent's kit useless (Including reduced damage on his passive) you are definitely going to end up winning most fights once that item is built. Plus, the laning phase isn't about fighting the enemy, it's about farming up and taking the enemy's tower.

Kowe The Ewok1 votes

It's not how you lose your lane. By creating a situation where you render a crucial part of your opponent's kit useless (Including reduced damage on his passive) you are definitely going to end up winning most fights once that item is built. Plus, the laning phase isn't about fighting the enemy, it's about farming up and taking the enemy's tower.

You are worthless in Drake fights, more vulnearable to jungle ganks, limit your roaming power, get weaker poke. So even if you don't die to him QSS he will win his lane against you AND be more valuable when it comes to doing objectives or roaming.

Vore Monster2 votes

So, you are telling me you are ending your laning phase with just a sash to go to dragon? That shows that you didn't farm up enough or you are leaving your lane too early, especially for a top laner. A BF sword (Which is a key to Merc Scim) definitely will boost your damage ratio and increase your poke damage (If it scales off AD).

Roaming mid lane with a sash also allows resisted damage from the usual enemy mid-laner through the magic resistance. And a sash does not affect your ability to ward or avoid the jungler. It's the player's capability to look at the map and use key getaway abilities like flash or dash-like skills.

And reducing Zed's damage or negating it from two key parts in his kit will still allow you to win fights. You should be building up after you get sash and scimitar, not just stop like you seem to be portraying. Your jungler and also your ability to utilize your kit well also helps you win lane.

Kuroi861 votes

No, this is how you win games. If their Zed is the fed champ, then he is your top priority. Another good option, be smart and make sure at least one of your team has exhaust, I typically like to make sure someone has that and another has ignite.

SparrowPriest1 votes

[deleted]

Kowe The Ewok1 votes

Zed has no cc, is extremely easily shut down by armor and or cc, and will die if he gets sneezed at late game without building some form of armor. Bad at dueling melee in the early game. Has extremely high energy costs until skills are ranked up and also extremely long cool down on shadow. He gets zoned by mages badly and if there are two burst mages he almost cant even attack without dying instantly.

So a (40 to ) 60% slow for 1.5s with 4s base CD is nothing? With 40% CDR that's 2.4s cooldown with 1.5s duration. This equals (40 to) 60% slow with 62.5% uptime. (Furthermore casting does not interrupt his own movement)

Does that count as nothing these days?

High energy cost? Try Kennen or Shen. Zed's energy costs are a joke.

SparrowPriest1 votes

Zed has no cc, is extremely easily shut down by armor and or cc, and will die if he gets sneezed at late game without building some form of armor. Bad at dueling melee in the early game. Has extremely high energy costs until skills are ranked up and also extremely long cool down on shadow. He gets zoned by mages badly and if there are two burst mages he almost cant even attack without dying instantly. Furthermore, if you flash or dash after he ults you he will do no damage at all and if he misses hitting you with his q he will do almost no damage with his ult.

chumbler1 votes

Welcome to certainlyt champions.

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