A Discussion about Assassins

To start off I would like to name my intentions, I would like to respectfully discus Zed, and assassins as a whole. Zed: has had many changes over time the most resent one being the ult delay jump back. I feel this was the wrong decision to make. Point being that this dose not fit the caricature or the true problem behind the caricature known as Zed. I feel Zed was intended to be a caricature that wins like all assassins by controlling some point( this changes depending on the assassin), Zed was to control his position on the board in relationship to his enemies as well as where he wants a damage presence compared to where he is( living shadows). The true issue I believe behind Zed is that Zed was designed to win through cunning. Cunning, not mechanical skill, though “skill” is required it is not the thing that makes him win. Cunning by thinking out side the box and being in the right place at the right time. The issue is: that Zed can be over powering to the point were cunning goes out the window. Not that Zed should stay weak for the entire game. The thought being that Zed is ninja: at the beginning of the game has great potential to go in many ways, but as Zed progresses he should start to focus down in an more limited area, not to absolute exclusion but to the point that other directions are undesirable. I feel Zed can be masterful in a team fight or a masterful duelist not both. The two paths that I have thought of lead to a ability focused team fighter or a skirmish/duelist focused auto attack basted champion. The method I was thinking would help bring this about is that first Zeds base ability damage would be greatly reduced while his scaling would go up as well as maybe a passive on his ult that would grant his ability's life steal as if they were basic attacks this style would rely on positioning, he would be the shadow in the team fight harassing the enemy going just at the right time to get the execute than vanishing again, it would have high damage but low attack speed and would not want to be in the fight for a long time. The other would be focused on critical strikes and attack speed, the guerrilla combatant upon his foes before they are aware of his presence. Ability's would not be very important just used to set up the kill, movement is the key, never more than about two opponents at a time, split pushing and dueling would be a focus.
Zhonya's hour glass: Is a very powerful AP item that most mages get as an integral part of there build. The question that must be asked is should a mage have an item (with a 90 sec cool-down) that can completely counter Zed's ult. Completely being the most important word, I would see Zhonya's as transmuting the skin into a metallic gold like substance. This would only be skin deep, therefor any damage that is internal Zed and Vladimir's ult as an example i.e. Vladimir's blood pull ignite still does damge, would still occur. This would still keep Zed from adding any more damage during his ult, this change would simply help keep Zed from using fancy maneuvers to get to that high threat mage only to be out played 100% by a one click item the mage bout five minutes earlier. Zhonya's is always been a very important item, (that I feel is honestly over powered ) it also does not help that AD does not really have an answer, it should still hold a very special place being able to give a brief moment to of survivability, just not to the degree to counter out an ult of this type. Why should a mage force an assassin to use a lot of cunning movement to get to them than be completely countered out with a, “click ability;” this means an assassin from challenger even if he uses all of his cunning he could still be countered/outplayed by a bronze five mage who clicked his Zhonya's key. This leads into the idea of, ability levels (which I would like to talk about at a later time). Assassins in a more general sense: To many people the word assassin in this game means lots of damage very quickly teamed up with mobility, now I feel this a descent understanding of the general concept. I feel that as a general rule this in some way is correct, but the true part of an assassin is that one wins through the control of a certain aspects of the fight is the true key. Through control I gain superiority through superiority I gain safety through safety I gain the ability to destroy my enemies. Example being Yasuo he creates a controlled chaos through which he controls where his target is dueling them then moving on the the next. Katarina controls when and how she inters and exits a team fight. Diana creates and controls team pockets, or team groupings if you prefer. Ahri through control of her location controls the position of her target. Ect. It is hear in my essay that I come to the conclusion that assassins need to be less about burst and TTK ( time to kill) but more about strategy; there for, I feel that in general in league it would be positive to slow down fights by a marginal amount ( without effecting time to kill tanks, other wise damage on a tank would be negative which is not numerically possible). This would make roles and fights more about skill/cunning for all classes rather than brute force. Slowing down of fights, again by just a small amount, I think would make them more fun and leave more room to introduce more complex and advanced play. The thoughts at the end of this essay I feel will also help with position clarification ( I will be attempting to make an essay on this topic). I feel that with this in mind it may become easier to make assassins balanced and as a whole change the flow of the game. I hope I have been helpful as well as respectful, seeing as how I feel Riot has done a very good, near thankless job over the years. There for I would like to thank you for the high quality game that you have designed. Ferinnor P.S. Playing an assassin is like playing chess one must keep track of all the peaces, or in Zed's place it is more similar to Go.