Let's talk Zed and Talon

I think no one will argue nowadays that even after Zed finally got a nerf to his ability to blink away after popping his ult, he's still mostly superior to Talon. But why is that? First of all, why am I even comparing them? Well, they have very similar niches: They're both squishy melee champions who rely on dealing large amounts of physical damage in burst. Now, Talon tends to snowball much harder than Zed if he is fed early, but also falls off much faster if he isn't. Let's take a look at the strengths both characters have over each other:

Talon:

• His blink to his target is on a short cooldown, as opposed to Zed's being on his ult
• Has a powerful on-hit attack reset
• His ult stealths him, making it hard to focus him if used properly
• Much easier to use considering how Zed requires greater awareness because of his reliance on his shadows

Zed:

• Greater mobility thanks to the use of his shadows
• Energy champion
• Poke has a longer range

So, how do these compare? Well, at first glance Talon seems to have an advantage, but the way these work give Zed the advantage if he's played properly, for these reasons:

1. Zed has a much greater ability to disengage, giving him greater safety in a team fight.
2. Zed is a much better laner since his poke has greater range and he doesn't run out of mana.

In truth, the one advantage Talon has over Zed is in the way mana works: Energy may recover quickly, but it means you can't spam abilities every cooldown. However, for Talon, this means that as long as he has the mana, he can spam his abilities as often as he wants. And though over time, energy is more efficient than mana because of the way it regens, in a team fight a full mana bar will trump a full energy bar quite often.

If you have any more comments, add them. I'm interested in how we can compare both champions, see what parts of their gameplay are bad and which are good. Maybe find ways to improve them while also making them more different.