Zed is just unfun to play against as almost any champion

Scrimshäw··106 votes·7,473 views

Picked TF into Zed, stomped him early, then when he hit 6 he could just... kill me... he would dodge my gold card with his ult 3/5 times, and I couldn't even really CS with him just pressing W towards me, smashing his face on the keyboard making sure to his E and Q at least once, proc thunderlord's, take out a shit load of health, and just repeat repeat repeat. Why does Zed have low cooldowns and low energy costs? W should be put on double the cooldown if he doesn't teleport to it, or something. It's just an unfair experience playing someone who has to manage their resource, while Zed can use all his abilities on you every time they're available with no fear of punishment.

EDIT: a little exposition, I had only played TF two times recently before this (with actually great success), and I picked TF into Zed knowing it would be a difficult match up, but there's no reason he should've been able to do what he did. I was 3/0 against him, until he hit around level 9. TF is supposed to be able to burst down squishies, but not Zed, who was able to kill me with a single ultimate rotation. In what world is that fair? Maw and Mercurial give so much damn magic resist, while also giving some of the highest damage in the game, it's not proper at all. I had 734 AP with void staff, obviously, and a complete combo of my abilities would only get him to like... 30% health. I ended that game like, something ridiculous, like 14/10/13. I never die that much, it was devastating.

169 Comments

KVbqbFsC8e47 votes

The only problem I have with him is how difficult it is to actually deny him anything. If he needs to, he can just sit way back and CS safely with his mage-like poke, and not have to even worry about mana.

Aniela5 votes

"Do not deny me!"

The Deckowner27 votes

Fight cancer with cancerLeblanc

Oelyk3 votes

[{quoted}](name=The Deckowner,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=iLA7TPaK,comment-id=0006,timestamp=2016-04-16T21:01:14.607+0000)

Fight cancer with cancerFizz

Ftfy

tXQbsPrjN524 votes

Cause he's horribly designed AND THEN THEY IMPLEMENTED THUNDERLORDS. Such a stupid poorly thought out mess of a mastery that now basically impossible for you to lane against Zed unless you pick a hard counter or coordinate with your jungle (this includes praying their jungle didn't pick some OP bullshit).

paisy6 votes

Zed's many things but he's not a horribly designed champ

J Eevo9 votes

The concept's fine but the kit's just ripe for abuse. The fact that he spends most of his laning phase super fucking safe having guaranteed lasthits, doesn't get punished by being pushed back to the turret because of his passive and clear, and yet still being able to harass people with a combo that outranges Xerath poke is just unfit for an assassin that can also 1v1 you in melee. Add to that the R which makes it super safe to towerdive and you've got a champion that even in times when he's balanced is super fucking annoying to play against because of how much shit he has crammed into his kit.

Crokinole Ace18 votes

Sounds like he's waiting for you to use that cooldown.

Tip: don't use that cooldown.

Grashnim14 votes

Riot's checklist for OP: Point and click ult? Check Insane burst damage?: Check Super tanky or absurd escape mechanics?: Check Fun for opponent Zero?: Check

Nameless Voice4 votes

I thought that was Riot's checklist for a well-designed champion who should rarely be touched in patches.

420 Stylish13 votes

Also, you have to not let him dodge your gold card with his R, as hard as that may be. Gross gore actually has a nice technique for that in he'll pull his gold card (when being chased by Zed),turn around quickly as if he were about to throw it but don't actually throw it, and Zed may instinctively ult. Just a tip.

Handin Out Naps13 votes

Zed kinda counters Twisted Fate extremely hard. Good players can win the lane though.

Kuroi8612 votes

Lets see.

http://www.championselect.net/champions/twisted-fate

TwistedFate is weak against Fizz Diana Leblanc Kassadin Akali Zed

TwistedFate is strong against Ryze Evelynn Lissandra Ziggs Vladimir Lux

Jet Sett2 votes

"What counters TF?" Assassins "I mean, like specific champs..." Any assassin will do, it may take awhile, but eventually all assassins counter TF.

Kuroi862 votes

He's more of a roamer anyways, why people want to stay in lane to fight enemy assassins when you can go gank for easier kills is beyond me.

Jet Sett2 votes

Indeed, damn near every guide to TF will tell you that you can almost never "win" your lane in the traditional sense, rather that you should gank with the jungler to make for lethal maneuvers. At most the jungler comes to gank for you so they can get ahead as well.

YumScrumptious9611 votes

So he uses his ult, which is on like a 1:30 CD, to dodge your gold card 3/5 times? Somehow it doesn't seem possible, seeing as gold card CD is like 3 seconds compared to over a minute. You don't really understand how roles work for champions do you. Zed is an assassin, he is made to 1v1 you because that's what his kit is entirely designed for. TF is made for stunning priority targets in a teamfight or using ultimate to tp in to give your team an advantage, not 1v1 the assassin.

You also mentioned Zed can just spam abilities because he uses energy. You seem to forgot TF has an ability that creates mana for him that can be spammed the whole laning phase so you never need to leave unless you have low hp.

Succubús GF14 votes

Do you not know how many cdr items are available? Plus, he CAN literally poke from his turret. Meanwhile most mages are out of range. How the hell is that fair considering he is an assassin. Unlike tf, many other mages DO struggle with mana and have to deal with him never running out of energy.

TurquoiseYoshi7 votes

A level 16 Zed with 45% CDR has his ult at a 44 second cooldown. A rank 1 Twisted Fate W with no CDR is a 6 second cooldown.

Succubús GF11 votes

You ignored most of what i said, regardless, 44 seconds for something so huge. Versus something that is actually hard to pull. Gold cards arent always available.

Guy Fox Teemo3 votes

"hard to pull" ITS A DAM AUTO ATTACK???? You just right click and TADA!

Crossette5 votes

Except you don't always instalock gold card every time.

Try playing him once and tell me how you "just right click". :^)

Guy Fox Teemo4 votes

I have, i use to play TF a lot before the assassin meta, it isn't hard to get gold card out.

Scrimshäw6 votes

and if it starts on blue card.. you have to wait at least like 1.5 seconds before you can use it...

Kuroi862 votes

Except you don't always instalock gold card every time.

Try playing him once and tell me how you "just right click".

... Um... I know your friends are just going to auto downvote me, but it has to be asked.

Have you played TF?

You don't instalock a card when using your W unless you're fool enough to double tap the button.

Like Treasure Goblin said, if it starts blue, you're going to heavily forecast what you're trying to do (which is a strategy all in itself but that's neither here nor there) but you can always pull a gold card, every time.

Faceless Voidz2 votes

You completely missed what he was saying. He is talking about how the first card that appears is not always gold so you cannot instantly pick gold every time. L2R.

Majestic Sock2 votes

{quoted}

Do you not know how many cdr items are available? Plus, he CAN literally poke from his turret. Meanwhile most mages are out of range. How the hell is that fair considering he is an assassin. Unlike tf, many other mages DO struggle with mana and have to deal with him never running out of energy.

Wait until the mana regen item changes, then oh boy is mana gona be a even bigger problem! I think i might even wind up changing my cdr runes for some mana regen ones on Ahri... its just ridiculous how they think removing mana regen is going to fix AP mid lane champs...

Succubús GF2 votes

I know, I usually go flat AP, but I am starting to think I am going to need mana for champions like ahri and syndra because mana costs are way too high

kile1478 votes

A small correction, he's not fun to play against as most standard midlaners. Tankier champs like toplaners tend to do much better against him. I've played Darius against him and it's pretty entertaining because his ult basically is just a delivery service to you.

doombotMECHA6 votes

so what you're saying is, the best counter to mid zed is to not play a mid?

BigPooStorm8 votes

What's worse is when Zed picks up item 3155, and if you're an AP good luck ever killing him 1v1 from now on. It's ridiculous that this single item can tilt the match up so heavily in Zeds favor.

CarbRundum3 votes

item 3157

eaglei35 votes
  1. The item takes too long to build in lane prior to him having many ult/dive attempts to kill you before you get it.

  2. The CD on the item is longer than his ult CD.

Zhonya's does help, but it still doesn't lower the frustration of playing against Zed.

Penta Penguin2 votes

Cloth Armors take too long to build? I can't stand this "I'm not able to build Zhonya's in 5 minutes so therefore it's useless" stupid bullshit mentality, the armor is there for a reason and Cloth + Amp is not a bad first back at all

doombotMECHA6 votes

SEEKERS. EFFING. ARMGUARD. BLASTING WAND. GIANT. GODDAMN. COMBINE COST. also seekers gives you shit when compared to Zhonya's, doesn't really protect you at all vs. Zed's massive burst. in fact, BOTH items are shit vs. Hexdrinker, which costs only 1300 gold and ACTUALLY KEEPS YOU FROM BEING BURSTED, unlike Seeker's which does NOTHING

Depóngo8 votes

Remember, kids!

Zed Balance is weakness Zed

420 Stylish7 votes

Fizz would have destroyed TF in nearly the same manner. Besides, TF is definitely hard countered by Zed and by mobile champions in general. Zed's best matchup is TF.

Lady Hammerlock7 votes

Here is a good tip to stomp zed even through level 6(when your a mage) use summoner barrier or exhaust DONT YOU DARE TAKE IGNITE unless you have a death wish ...

ll League God ll7 votes

you are basing your analysis off blind pick. If you are in ranked or draft, then the pick is solely your own fault. Simply put, urgot shits on zed all day long. Your champ choice is your problem not riots

Nameless Voice5 votes

Because you always get to counterpick in ranked.

Faceless Voidz1 votes

First picking a champion who has obvious and extremely hard counters is a horrible idea. I like to pick Orianna instead of my Vel'koz if I'm picking first mid lane, for example.

Nameless Voice2 votes

That is true.

I, personally, do not like that the game has such hard counters, however. I'm very sure that a lot of others would disagree, but I'd rather there were only softer counters that could be overcome with some skillful play.

Penta Penguin5 votes

"Picked TF into Zed"

Oh boy...

TF gets no lane power from his Ult, Zed gets a lot. TF's kit requires a lot of wind-up (Stacking your E and Pick-a-Card). He will struggle to react to Zed's assassination in time. That is on top of his natural weakness against assassins as a squishy mage. You picked possibly the WORST FUCKING MATCHUP, not only that but you're sitting in mid-lane after level six against the ZED; and you think this a problem with Zed? Use your fuckin' ulti, you roam way faster than him and can pick up kills or clean up a fight before he gets there.

'Almost any champ' but you only mention TF here. So let's look at reality;

Annie: You have Tibbers that will near-instantly stun Zed if he dares jump on you, you know exactly where he'll be when he Death Marks Galio: The same concept, even though he benefits more from MR you have a "fuck off" Ultimate that he can't escape if he Death Marks you, you can still build armor on him and do fine Ekko: Your Ultimate almost completely denies him and even recoups some of your health after his burst, if you're /good/ you can dodge the pop with Ult, get the healing, and explode back onto Zed Anivia: Unless you get extremely ganked early on then your passive denies him and he has to try harder than other champions just to get one kill Lissandra: Ultimate completely denies him and heals you back, even easier than Ekko. W and E are also very good at locking him down and getting away from him. So let's say your Ulti is down and you see him Death mark you; Cast E backwards, cast W right as he re-appears, press E again to gtfo Lulu: Again your Ultimate deters him and buffs your HP. You have Shielding to deter his burst and can even polymorph him Fizz: He can Playful Trickster to avoid some burst

There you go, 7 mid-laners that literally just press a button to ruin Zed's day. Not counting champs that might take a little more effort but can still do well against him.

If you're a "TF main" then holy shit, stop complaining and go master your champion. Zed is Zed, he exists, everybody has to learn how to deal with it or you'll never get better. I can have fun playing Zyra vs. Zed so why can't you have fun? If the game is not fun then stop playing it.

I mean come on dude you're literally Gold Carding him for no reason, Gold Card is the only thing he has to remotely worry about in lane and you just toss it out when you know he has Ult...

I'm just completely confused why you didn't recognize this as your own fault. It sounds to me like you horribly misplayed this and that doesn't make Zed OP, it means you have shit to learn.

Is this a joke post?

Akali is SO HOT4 votes

"I hard countered myself so I deserve to automatically win the game"

ilt2 votes

i fucking dare him to ult a Malzahar

ZyniX5 votes

Then he buys a QSS.

Fisk1 votes

And malz buys a zhonya.... Their ults are pretty much identical in goal, they just work differently.

Marluxius4 votes

It's actually not that simple: If Zed wants to counter Malzahar 's ult, he can get himself a item 3140 for only 1300g which already has the active effect of removing cc/ debuffs. However, if a Malzahar wants to counter Zed 's ult, he needs a finished item 3157 for 3300g since item 3191 does not grant him the active required to do so!

Fisk1 votes

Yeah that's definitely true, however, most zeds will not rush QSS that quickly. You lose all damage. Building QSS that early seriously will mess up your power spike (which to me is an acceptable trade) whereas building zhonya, you lose absolutely nothing as far as build path/power spike except maybe mana gen, but that also, is an acceptable trade off. Zed will nearly always want armor pen first. So he might go maw vs. malz, but he still can't kill malz with maw if you just ult him because you can cc him through his ult.

My Waifu Vanilla2 votes

Malz doesn't buy much mana regen anyway and if anything he can go Seeker's into his RoA and just be too tanky for him anyway (especially since he SHOULD'VE also taken exhaust). Also, if Zed buys QSS Malz still hard counters him since he can just stand still when Zed ults and get a free double Q hit since Zed always appears behind him which means he HAS to QSS the silence to be useful on that ulti or just teleport back and just do AA+ult proc.

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