Unpopular opinion about Zed.
Downvote me if you want, but I think Zed has a lot of safety and wave clear because his burst is extremely counterable. It's compensation for not having guaranteed burst like talon or rengar,
9 Comments
People hate on Zed for one reason. He deletes your carry.
He actually sacrifices his mobility spell to trade. How much more balanced can you get? He creates windows of weakness that players fail to exploit therefore he must be op. granted the escape power of his ult is fantastic, but he relies on snowballing pre6 to be effective.
Assuming he R's you at the beginning of the fight (which he should), his R places him directly on top of you which means:
- his AA is guaranteed to hit
- his E is guaranteed to hit
- botrk is always guaranteed to hit anyway
- Q more often than not hits because of the hitbox stacking UNLESS you have a mobility spell, then it's not guaranteed, it is however really easy to hit because of the low distance
If by 'exteremely counterable' you mean you can flash every 5 minutes or use zhonya if you happen to be AP then yeah, sure, let's go with that.
I completely agree with what you said, but to me that IS the reason hes hated and so strong.
If it was reversed (his ult not counterable, but he didn't have insane safety and easy farming) he would be much more balanced.
ZED MAINS UNITE
There are champions with more counterable burst that don't have Zed's handicap safety net. Assassins are about risk and reward. If you screw up, you're not supposed to have a get out of jail free card. If Talon wants "guaranteed burst" he'll often have to use his ult as part of it. Now what? He's dead unless he has flash, his team is ready to save him, or he's so fed his ult just killed everyone. Forget Talon. You want to talk about "unreliable burst"? Kha'Zix's burst is mostly reliant on the enemy being bad and ignoring the giant warning indicators or face checking brush. Unlike Zed, you can't really make your own opportunities, you have to just capitalize on the ones that your enemies make. Kha'Zix has his leap reset to escape, but unlike Zed's blink, it can be interrupted by any CC, whether it actually hit you or just came near you, and now you're dead.
Are Kha'Zix or Talon going to make Zed wish he was never born in a one on one? Yeah, probably, and rightfully so. But that isn't a measure of how good a champion is. The fact of the matter is, Zed doesn't need the enemy team to screw up even a fraction as bad as Kha'Zix does to make a play. Then after that, he has an infinitely better escape. Of course, none of that is even why people hate Zed. People hate Zed because his lane is disgusting. It's as safe as Lux with his main damage ability being a skillshot that costs no mana and can come at you from two angles every few seconds.
Zed is just a perfect example of flashy =/= healthy. It's a skillcap to skillfloor issue. If the best of the best could still play Zed like they can today, I'd have no issue with that. But Silver V xxsonicmemelord3197xx shouldn't be able to win games while missing 95% of his Qs in lane. That's nonsense and there's no arguing it. That is unhealthy.
Overall, Zed's theme should be changed from "shadow ninja" to "ninja who isn't punished for his mistakes". Here's an idea.
Zed's Q costs 75% of his energy when cast alone. If he casts it after ult or W, it costs the normal amount. No more Zed Q spam in lane and he'd actually have to step up to farm with his free last hit bonus damage auto attacks. That means that Zed can still use his Q as part of his combos, but he won't be the amazing ranged melee in lane anymore. He misses his Q? He's screwed. And you know what? He deserves it, because you don't play skillshot champions if you can't land skillshots. Assassins need risk-reward. It isn't optional.
Alternatively, they could just nerf his damage and make him bad, which is far more likely and not healthy either.