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What is the counterplay to Zoe late-game?

Katareener·8/25/2018, 2:33:27 PM·5 votes·3,935 views

You're walking along, in a nicely lit area of the map, getting ready for the next teamfight, when suddenly, with a fraction of a second's notice, you are falling asleep. A second later, you are dead. What happened? Well, Zoe threw her sleep across the wall, probably randomly, and then pressed "Q, R, Q, rightclick" and your entire healthbar vanished in less than a second.

You weren't mispositioned, you weren't overextended, and you didn't have time to juke or dodge or flash, unless you live in downtown Chicago and snort a mountain of cocaine before every match.

So where's the counterplay? What can you do?

I'm trying to figure this out... I know I can build QSS, and that might save me once every 45 seconds, but then what?

Don't walk in the jungle? A champion that can zone an entire team out of the jungle just by being present in the game doesn't seem healthy.

Ward! Ward ward ward! She can't surprise you if you see her coming! I can only place so many wards, and they usually have to be near key objectives... A champion that applies pressure to every unwarded area of the map just by going MIA doesn't seem healthy.

"But Katarina/LeBlanc/Talon/Etc.!" Sure, they can kill people very quickly, but not from nearly an entire screen away, and not with just 2 damaging abilities and no setup at all. Kat requires you to make a mistake before she can kill you (step on a dagger, walk too close to her as a squishy champion, etc.) and then she has to be aware enough to capitalize on that mistake, LeBlanc relies on deception; if she is skilled at tricking you and misdirecting you, she can kill you easily, but you have a chance to react, to outplay, to come out on top despite the odds. Even with Talon, all you have to do is dodge the second half of his W and wait for the debuff to wear off... how does he kill you then? He doesn't!

Zoe throws a random bubble in the general direction of your team, hits a single person, and turns the next teamfight into a 4v5, no counterplay, no warning, no skill from Zoe aside from simply memorizing the order of keys to press... how is this ok? I don't understand, it doesn't display any skill at all.

Don't get me wrong, I can respect a Zoe that flashes 5 times in a teamfight and gets a penta. That takes a high level of skill, reaction time, and situational awareness. I'm ok with random redemptions turning a 2v1 into her favor, because if you see the redemption icon on her bar, and you don't respect it, you deserve to get outplayed!

I don't have any respect for people being deleted through sheer luck and happenstance. It's not fun for anyone but Zoe.

29 Comments

Psyrix8/25/2018, 3:16:10 PM7 votes

How do u deal with a lux q’ing through walls late game then ulting you? Either take cleanse, buy qss, buy mr, or buy a stopwatch item.... or be prepared to flash/use a mobility spell the moment u see it coming out. (These are all ors, just getting one of these will do u wonders). Aside from that, group as a team so if ur hit by the bubble a tank can soak up the incoming dmg. U can also opt to not hug the walls, if u know the general direction of where Zoe is stay closer to the opposite wall it won’t be able to reach u because it is coded to not even be able to touch the opposite wall of what it came out of. It’s much like an Ashe arrow in that u have to pay attention and expect it to come flying whenever u don’t see her... the benefit however is that it’s a much smaller skillshot.

Infernape8/25/2018, 4:16:14 PM2 votes

Pray to god the Zoe has the aim of a bonobo.

hsumis1ove8/26/2018, 3:55:13 AM2 votes

lagswitch

Crimson Zeppelin8/25/2018, 2:53:28 PM2 votes

Her having a weak lategame. Come on, it's more than 8 months her release and everybody knows she has a good early-mid but can't do jack to tanks with items shielding the carries. This is just hyperbole. Any squishy hit by cc dies lategame.

By the way, your team have more problems than Zoe. Like that 12 kill rammus that is killing your Draven and Yi just by reflect damage. And no effective way to stop that fed mf. Has anybody warned you about the risks of one-tricking katarina? Don't get me wrong here, but if you are counterpicked, respect the loss.

BigBenClockTower8/29/2018, 3:52:40 AM1 votes

Another solid form of counterplay that everyone ignores without fail is building magic resist. Seriously. Build some magic resist, and watch as her kill potential takes a nosedive.

Pika Fox8/25/2018, 3:03:09 PM1 votes

Some MR, dodge bubble, use drowsy timer to engage ontop of zoe (can kill her before sleep or at least heavily reduce Q damage), get to team during drowsy timer so they can tank Q for you, throw AoE/CC at her return point when she uses R

Rathar Dashing8/25/2018, 4:54:50 PM1 votes

It's called warding.

Hollabakatchya8/26/2018, 3:30:11 AM1 votes

Sticking together as a team and not splitting or afk farming as adc's like to do for whatever reason. If you want to capitialize on her horrilbe early game, just play fizz. He is the hardest counter to her IMO