I think many of the balance problems that were present in the start of S5 were more due to the overall state of itemization instead of actual problems with individual champs. Like in the jungle, I will admit that the warrior enchant was far and away the strongest enchant (mainly because the others were trash in comparison) , which is why champions that synergized with it
were extremely strong and crowding out other jungler, and something had to be done, but Riot might have gotten a little hasty when the nerfed Vi, J4, AND the warrior enchant. Instead, I somewhat wish they left them as they were and released Cinderhulk, which is at least as good, if not superior, to the pre-nerf warrior enhancement, and tank junglers with cinderhulk would be just fine even against pre-nerf fighter junglers.
As for
, I believe he has two main strengths.
-
He is the only purpose-built assassin in the League who has a strong laning phase, and is actually capable of winning lane consistently.
-
His single-target assassination potential is unmatched, in that once he ults someone, they are usually already dead, with almost no way to survive. However, he can only do this every 60 seconds.
His first strength, I will admit, was aggravating. But buffs to mana regen items have slightly improved this situation, and people have started adapting to Zed by sending tankier champs mid, like
.
His second strength, as of right now, is overshadowed in this current meta. Pre-cinderhulk, he was dominant because tanks were weak so smaller skirmishes were in favor, which he excels at since he could have his ult off cooldown in between smaller fights. Tanks were also extremely weak and unplayed, and since there was no bonus %HP he could outright kill them if necessary. Now with mega tanks like
being strong, teamfights are in favor due to strong initiation and the ability to outright take turrets without minion waves (a bonus nerf to Zed, since he is a splitpusher).
**TL;DR **: The big problems at the beginning of S5 were more due to itemization changes, and I wish Riot had instead first fixed itemization (which they have done now) instead of individually nerf some of the champs that suddenly became god tier due to their ability to exploiit weaknesses in the itemization of other champs.