Why was Zed left untouched in patch 6.4?

Gene Freakz··28 votes·2,025 views

In reading through the patch notes for 6.4, I was eagerly awaiting what would happen to Zed as pretty much everybody in the boards has been complaining about him (e.g. he has a strong early game and late game and he is safe to play for an assassin in that his commits are not true commits at all). I was surprised that nothing was mentioned, not even anything about future nerfs due to the outcry in boards. I guess he's still permabanned until he gets some sort of nerf.

Edit: Alright, I've seen some fair points from both sides. I think he is a good champ to carry with in solo queue as he has not gotten many bans or plays in LCS so far. He's like Yi in that he is good at carrying if you do not know your team and are relying on yourself to climb the ranks. His skill cap is high, though, which generally means that a champ will see low win rates in lower mmrs and vice versa. This may not be everybody's experience with him, but I have a hard time facing him because of how mobile his w is. If he doesn't use it offensively there is really no point at going all in. If he does use it offensively, though, I usually take a lot of damage in which case I have to back off (unless I dodge the q and e that follows). I jungle main and mid secondary so I mid maybe 20-30% of the time if that. It could just be the champs I play or that I need more practice against him. I usually play safe mages that do well late game by providing cc and utility such as Morgana. When I face a Zed, however, I usually (but not always) get stomped on and am unable to make it into late game as a viable resource for my team.

55 Comments

Dominick Destine8 votes

Because F balance.

The protected children must never be brought into balanced levels Zed LeeSin Yasuo

Vanic9987 votes

Those champions are not overpowered.

Dominick Destine5 votes

{quoted}

Those champions are not overpowered.

False.

Vanic9984 votes

They're really not. Zed and lee and formally yasuo, had really high play rates. Because of that, not all of them were really skilled, just some players who think playing the "op" champs would actually help them climb. That's why Lee sins, at least in NA, have a reputation of being unpredictable. A lot were really bad and some were actually good. Last season, Lee once had 30% play rate.

Very Hard Engage3 votes

{quoted}

They're really not. Zed and lee and formally yasuo, had really high play rates. Because of that, not all of them were really skilled, just some players who think playing the "op" champs would actually help them climb. That's why Lee sins, at least in NA, have a reputation of being unpredictable. A lot were really bad and some were actually good. Last season, Lee once had 30% play rate.

except zed still has a 20% play rate and a 52% win rate to boot. especially looking at the players with 1~5 games played with zed and still above 50% win rate, which only scales up higher with more games played

Vanic9984 votes

52% is pretty balanced. And don't exagerate. It's actually about 51%. And those statistics are for plat+. The majority of players are low elo.

Very Hard Engage4 votes

{quoted}

52% is pretty balanced. And don't exagerate. It's actually about 51%. And those statistics are for plat+. The majority of players are low elo.

if 52% is balanced for champs with no experience, what does it mean with people with 150+ games played barely break 48%?

http://champion.gg/champion/Orianna

Vanic9983 votes

That just means that those champs are just a little underpowered compared to zed. And 48% isn't bad. It's also pretty balanced.

Very Hard Engage4 votes

{quoted}

That just means that those champs are just a little underpowered compared to zed. And 48% isn't bad. It's also pretty balanced.

so the 42% no experience -> 48 with experience,(45 overall) is the same as 50% no experience - > 58% with experience (52 overall). same balance level. "both are pretty balanced"

Nilok2 votes

Wait, are you saying that when someone invests over 125 games into mastering a champion, they should expect to lose more often then they win?

Vanic9981 votes

Look, it's true that some champs have less then 50% win rate, but don't exaggerate. 48% and 51% win rate is completely fine. It's almost perfectly balanced. Riot isn't perfect but win rates like those are close enough to balanced.

Slamurai Jack1 votes

{quoted}

Wait, are you saying that when someone invests over 125 games into mastering a champion, they should expect to lose more often then they win?

According to these boards, if you're playing Lee Sin, then yes, you should.

Slamurai Jack5 votes

{quoted}

if 52% is balanced for champs with no experience, what does it mean with people with 150+ games played barely break 48%?

http://champion.gg/champion/Orianna

I agree. Buff Lee Sin.

Streeton3 votes

{quoted}

except zed still has a 20% play rate and a 52% win rate to boot. especially looking at the players with 1~5 games played with zed and still above 50% win rate, which only scales up higher with more games played

52%??? its actually 50.86%

Vanic9987 votes

Zed doesn't need to be perma banned nor nerfed. No offense, but most Zeds in low elo (silver, possibly gold and lower) don't really have skills with him. So if anyone complains about Zed and is in low elo, then they just poor skill in general. To me at least, Zed isn't much of a problem and I'm also in low elo.

Gene Freakz4 votes

That's just situational though. You have one thing in common in each of your games: you. And I have seen some pretty good Zeds in Gold and Silver.

Vanic9984 votes

What do you mean? How do you know if I see good Zeds in my ranked games?

The Bearded Bard6 votes

I dunno I don't think he's that OP. A bit strong in lane, but he's got a shit ton of counterplay.

Penns3 votes

"Complaining about something" doesnt make it get insta nerfed... Then again... TahmKench kek

Apocyliptic3 votes

Because at the end of the day, his winrate this patch is at 51%, and this is the first patch he hasn't been around the upper 40's. While Zed will PROBABLY get nerfed in 6.5 in someway, they're not nerfing him now to see how he does for two patches in a row.

Zed isn't really op. Now, I play a lot of mid, and I KNOW how frustrating it is to lane against him, but his late game is pretty bad, and the only thing zed really does is make it so the midlaner can't carry, which is frustrating, but that doesn't make him op. At the very least, you won't be carrying early and mid game unless you are simply better than your elo as a whole, assuming you took a control mage into zed or got counterpicked, which, lets be real, zed counters pretty much every mid laner.

Just ban him, or request that he is banned. I've been banning Zed BEFORE it was cool (I.e, for about 3 patches) siimply because it makes carrying nearly impossible in the middle lane.

Chickendoodles1 votes

exactly, his early and mid game is pretty strong but once late game hits, that is when it sifts the good zeds from the bad ones since more than likely everyone has built to counter you at that point.

atomicwit3 votes

because he's not OP at all

Streeton3 votes

its because the boards has biased towards ap mages and tanks

Very Hard Engage1 votes

{quoted}

its because the boards has biased towards ap mages and tanks

play percentages tell us everything we need to know, people grossly pick what gets them the win time after time, they dont hide it. the only issue is when OP vs OP happens and someone by default has to lose. and then the numbers get clouded.

zed gets a buff, a miniscule buff. from 10% play rate, skyrockets in pick rate to 20%, now fotm its a tad bit lower.

ziggs gets a huge damage buff, extra 1.5% play rate, win rate actually drops...

Handin Out Naps1 votes

Yeah Lee sin has a huge playrate because he is grossly op and gets people wins Kappa. Nice logic.

Papa Slothy2 votes

people get pissed because they don't understand how to effectively beat Zed

just cause you hate him doesn't make him overpowered

Rabid Husky1 votes

if riot took every board complaint and idea to heart then everyone would deal 1 damage with 1 scaling only use autos with 1 unit attack range and everyone would have 1 hp and spells 300 ms and all items would be hugs and kisses that heal you and enemy champs, seriously zed is only a problem for the unskilled, i play him and can instantly tell when someone knows how to fight me and when someone is swearing at their computer over the lane cuz they think im instantly op.

as far as assassins go zed is the most balanced due to actually needing to calculate and think is this minion going to get in the way of my shuriken granted it hits and they don't dodge this obvious attack? is the jungler nearby or can i throw a shadow out? not to mention he has no damage buffer other than his shadow giving him ad and he can only jump to his shadow *cough Katarina Fizz Talon Leblanc cough * a slow that is restricted to his shadow *cough Talon Leblanc cough * his shadow and ult gap closers have pretty good cd not to short but not to long coughAkali Diana Fizz Leblanc cough people are just salty cuz he killed shens dad now if you excuse me i gotta get this cough looked at

Masala Chai1 votes

Why are you even calling people unskilled when you average 4 cs a minute, 5 on a good game, on a champion with a last hitting utility.

Rabid Husky1 votes

I'm not saying I'm gold or anything man but I have beaten zeds as mages and I have been beaten as zed also when is farming considered skill? I'm not saying "you lost to zed unskilled" way to many people just scream unbalanced when they don't even know what a champion does, I also put more emphasis on attacking my opponent as zed than farming unless I feel out matched since kills lead to snowballing which he needs to run the late game. I geuss someone who considers farm to be skill wouldn't see that especially if they feel they gotta stalk someones past games as a character

Masala Chai1 votes

An ability to farm is better than an ability to get kills imo. I'm still improving on csing myself. But here's what pisses me off.

I am up 50 cs on DIana (125 cs vs 75 cs on Zed) I also roamed bot and got a kill and assist. I back, finish up Seeker's, get NLR, and get magic pen boots. Back in lane right?

Wrong. While I was away, he got Level 6, and he all inned me after poking me down a bit with Shurikens. He landed his combo unfortunately, and I was unable to outburst him (thanks in part to Hexdrinker). To be fair, he was Level 5 mastery with Zed, which indicates high familiarity with Zed.

But I was 125k Mastery with Diana. I know the combos, Double R, The Triple R, the R-Q, the P-Q-R-W, the Farming Combo (E?- W- Q), Flash E, Flash Q + Followup. Zed (to the best of my knowledge) has a couple, All- in R-W- E- Q- P, Shadow as needed. Lane Harass and push wave W-E-Q.

I'll also point out that your cs is also pretty bad on farm-intensive champions ranging from 3.7 cs a minute to 6.7 (nice improvement, but that was an outlier) cs a minute (Draven and Jinx)

Though to be fair, you kinda also need to be aggressive on Draven while farming for stacks on axe bounces and minion kills.

Rabid Husky1 votes

so what you're saying is it wasn't a gold advantage but a exp advantage that cost you a kill because you backed instead of staying there and counter backing allowing zed to gain a advantage? and he had hexdrinker which ment your damage wasnt enough at level 5 vs level 6 when he had ult and you didn't it...so where farming equaling skill come in?

you are calling me bad and unskilled because i don't put focus on farming (which im sure you're looking at the final farm instead of laneing phase) when you just proved minion advantage is not as powerful as experience advantage.

sounds like you need to focus on champions as opposed to minions. if you look at my history (which hey your kinda stalking me so why don't you actually look) you see I usually stay under 13 deaths and go over 10 kills, give or take depending on length and the opponents, while most games you go over 10 and struggle to even get 5 as carrys not supp or top or jungle. yeah you play nothing but ranked but that is a lot of losses and a lot of you feeding but hey minions are everything i'm bad you're not

Masala Chai1 votes

Diana can only really roam after level 6...

You should avoid dying as much as possible as well.

Wow shots fired, I play Normals lmao. You haven't played Ranked since Season 5 on Ranked 3s. And you fed that game. lol

Rabid Husky1 votes

the stalking is real. you failed to even mention that in you're little story details are important. and was your flash down cuz he would still need to damage you after getting ult to do anything.

i got tricked into it by some friends they didn't mention it was a ranked until i saw it last minute i don't play ranked because of trolls afks and people like you who feed then blames team mates for not helping plus i did better than you usually do man don't fire shots unless you want a few fired back

also ps practice what your preach

Masala Chai1 votes

I don't rage, if I feed horribly (like that Ashe and Elise game) I take full responsibility, and then mystery gift whoever had the most carry potential on our team. Just saying.

I also don't play ranked that much because of before mentioned ragers.

I recall that Zed didn't use flash either. We were at similar HP values too.

Rabid Husky1 votes

were any of your abilitys on cd? it would seem easy to ult a minion sheild and get outta there

Masala Chai1 votes

His W was on cooldown and the shadow had vanished, so I Q R W R comboed him. He ulted and just used his two shadows to kill me. Ignite finished me off. I had exhaust, but I had used it on the roam botlane.

Rabid Husky1 votes

it sounds like if you had exhaust and/or he didn't have ignite you for sure would've survived which also means it came down to spells and not so much skill or advantage

Masala Chai1 votes

It's pretty ridiculous when you are 1.5k gold ahead at 17 minutes you can still get instagibbed.

Rabid Husky1 votes

wait what were the exact items?

Masala Chai1 votes

Zed: Hexdrinker+ Mercurial Boots

Diana: Seeker's+ NLR + Sorcs

Rabid Husky1 votes

right, yeah that really does suck tho it was his ignite that finished you so something was right but yeah man that burst down sucks all kinda ducks

edit: in my honest opinion that 700 twords sorcs would have been better spent being put twords finishing zhonyas or getting a blasting wand maybe a giants belt

N00B PWN3R1 votes

Because he is not OP.

The Deckowner1 votes

i only hate zed when i face diamonds.

on dis account, lol i love facing zed.

La Barbotte1 votes

because some champions are allowed to be too strong, while some others arent Ahri Azir Ekko :'(

Handin Out Naps1 votes

Ahri isn't allowed to be good...?

La Barbotte1 votes

thats me being tilted on her resent nerf XD

AHeroNamedHawke1 votes

Right after Lux

Handin Out Naps1 votes

e.g he has a strong early game ** and late game **

Lol.

ForgiveColour1 votes

Ever wonder why balanace was removed from gameplay and balance? Yeah this is why

Akali is SO HOT1 votes

Because everyone QQing about him is a low elo scrub that has no idea what they're talking about

More from Gameplay

More by Gene Freakz