This is why Yasuo and Zed are problematic champions.

First of all, this is not a rant, nor I complain about assassins in general. League has plenty of assassins who are both rewarding for their role and fair to use. However, there are some aspect of those 2 champions that warps the rules commonly accepted by assassins, without sacrificing much for those assets. Because of those assets, Zed and Yasuo are so commonly seen on the pro scene with little regards to bans and composition, as they will always be somewhat efficient. And when an assassin is always efficient regardless of picks, there we have a problem, as an assassin role is killing, and death is the strongest crowd control in league.

1. Being AD on top of being manaless means never leaving lane.
2. They have excellent farming tools in a manaless kit. 3.great damage steroids means that arpen will win the game

Note that I didn't talk about their escapes, mobility, or repositioning, neither about windwall . And that's because their kit are well designed, and allow for counterplay and strategy. The reason why I write this post is not their champion vs champion interaction, but their champion vs lane and itemization vs itemization. Those three points wouldn't be problematic by themselves, but they are together as they "scale" multiplicatively.

Let's analyze my three points again.

1. Being AD on top of being manaless means never leaving lane.

And that's true to an extent. What does it mean is that, being AD, and , in the case of Zed, AD with an execute , last hitting and farming will be easier by autoattacking, as your autoattacks will be naturally stronger. On top of that , once they get a Vampiric Scepter , perhaps on top of a Doran's Blade , they will gain health through minion at an alarming rate. Basically, they reduce a lot their concern about being harassed. And dodging/managing ranged harass is a great concern for a melee assassins. That's why you nerfed health regen when she was dominant even after the first batch of nerfs. I think that Xypherous was working on major changes about Lifesteal. When that time comes, I hope you will consider reducing the amount of health you can harvest from minions. **Because not having to worry about mana and not having to worry about health is quite problematic. **

** 2.They have excellent farming tools in a manaless kit.**

Zed here is the biggest offender. Even pro players who pick him agree that he has a farming potential that makes you forget being melee. The availability and low price of Shadow Shuriken , on top of an execute in his passive, makes last hitting easier, and allows for cs even on minions who are deep in the enemy harass zone. While harder, this is something that even Yasuo can do with Steel Tempest. Unlike other assassins, they are manaless , and thus they don't have to worry about casting too many shurikens or tornado. If we compare that to other popular melee assassins, we have Katarina, who has huge cooldowns on Q early, and needs to be in the minion wave to use Sinister Steel. Akali's Q is single target, maybe slightly cheaper, but to proc the bonus damage she also needs to go in like Kata. Talon and Fizz both have to manage their mana, and need to stay in a closer range. In short , their kits allow them a decent farm even when countered or being pressured, and thus removing one aspect of mastery of melee assassins, being able to farm when cornered. On top of that, we add point 1, that any incoming damage can be mitigated by lifesteal , as vampiric is just 800 gold and it builds into core items.

3. great damage steroids means that arpen will win the game

This point scales with the 2 already discussed, as both champions have, compared to their category and expected performance, a higher gold income on average thanks to their kit and resources. But let's get to the point. Both Zed and Yasuo have a huge damage spike : Zed from Shadow mark (20% to 50% extra damage from his combo, +100% AD) and Yasuo from his whooping 50% bonus armor penetration. Now, that essentially means that, if you are to itemize against them, building defenses will never be enough. To the point where, as a support, I feel botrk or iceborn are better picks than armor. Both of them scale insanely well with botrk, so they will also damage you through your current health. Zed also has a good AD steroid on his passive from living shadows, that helps to reduce the fact he builds item with low AD like Last whisper, Blade of the ruined king, and Ghostblade. In the case of Zed, he can easily pick both Yomuu and Last whisper, while Yasuo, prefers going infinity edge and wait for the extra arpen from his Last Breath. And, thanks to their kit, they will pick those items even when they have a just average lane phase. When both of them have both a last whisper, a brutalizer items, or the arpen from a black cleaver/Yasuo's last breath, it means that no amount of armor is going to save you. There is no efficient way to itemize against them, with the exception of , that is AP and has a 1.5 minute cooldown. In my opinion, it's fine for them to have such an high damage, what I don't like is how that damage is effective against tanks and squishies alike thanks to the botrk/last whisper + their steroids combinations. Especially when, thanks to point 1 and 2, picking those items is not as hard as it is for other melee assassins.

#Example time:

Something that happens quite often:As Sejuani I have 212 armor from all my sources, what happens if I get ulted by a Yasuo with a last whisper(and arpen marks)? I lose 12 armor from marks. 50% bonus armor from Last Breath 39% Total armor from Last Whisper. 212-80(base armor)=132 Bonus Armor. This armor is halved by last breath, so we lose 66 armor, down to 146. This 146 armor is reduced by Last Whisper and masteries of 39%, down to 89. This armor is lastly reduced by flat arpen, so it's 77.

212 armor is 68% damage reduction, so the health is increased by 2,12 times. 74 armor is 43% damage reduction so the health is increased by 0,57 times. EDIT: Kudos to ProfDrDeath for reminding me that flat arpen is now applied after %arpen.

Zed works differently, but still has huge kill potential on tanks due to death mark & Botrk. When the death marks pops, it also factors in the damage done by botrk active and passive. So, if he managed to attack a tank even 3-4 times, that means that the 8% of his current health, applied 4 times, +10% of maximum health of the active, is applied again for half their intensity. With last whisper, and perhaps another brutalizer, that's enough to shred quite some health. Numbers are harder here due to botrk dealing less damage as the target loses health, but, it's quite easy to say that once Zed reaches 66% of the enemy health as damage during death mark, the mark proc will kill the target.