Why I think Zed is an Unhealthy Assassin

is considered by Riot and for a while most of the community as a healthy assassin with a lot of counterplay while also having a lot of pick potential. I used to also think like this before I began to think on the role of Assassins, and how they should be operating in a game such as league of legends. I personally think is the healthiest assassin in the game, but I'll get to that later.

is an odd champion because he has very clear early game dominance, but all of this is loaded into one ability his Q. The good and bad Zed players are defined by how often they can hit their Q (and how good they are at using shadows to dodge). This is because his Q is simply all of the damage in his kit. His ult comes down to "Can I hit my double Q on the enemy and one AA?" His waveclear begins to become ridiculous around lvl 7 (on par with champions such as or ).

Basically Zed does a few things really well 1) His double Q chunks for around 35-45% of an enemies HP in lane phase 2) His W allows him to zone opponents for the 4 seconds it is up. 3) His shadow also allows him great mobility around the map. 4) He has some of the best waveclear out of the assassin class.

This is where the issue begins to show up. Zed does a little bit of everything. He's good in teamfights due to the damage on his Q. He's good at picking off targets due to his passive and Ult. His shadows allow him mobility around the battlefield. He doesn't seem to fall on the large design of what assassins are supposed to be 1) Punishing teams with bad team fight control 2) Punishing teams for lack of warding 3) Punishing players for positioning errors outside of teamfights. He instead feels like he is an AD mage that is melee while also having the benefits of the Assassin.

I think is the healthiest assassin because he fits the role of an assassin perfectly. He looks for a chance to get on the enemies back line and punish them with his isolation mechanic. Outside of teamfights he shines by using his ult to get past common ward locations, and getting kills on unsuspecting enemies. Basically if assassin itemization was better he'd be in a near perfect spot.

What I'd like to see on Zed is for Riot to encourage his pick potential while tuning back his early game power and teamfight power. To do this his energy costs would need to go up (perhaps 65 energy on his Q at all ranks) but his energy refund would need to go up (reward good zed players). Refund energy upon kills. Reduce his shadow duration to 2.5 seconds, but decrease the CD upon receiving a kill. Basically you want to make Zed into a high mobility assassin with high damage if he is allowed on the backline, but cause him to have a smaller window to engage. Have a less oppressive early game (without nerfing his damage) while gaining late game pick potential.

Edit: I think some of you guys are confused. This isn't a Zed is OP post and Kha'zix is balanced post. I think Kha'zix is slightly underpowered and Zed is balanced stat wise. This is a stance on design philosophy not balance. When I say unhealthy I'm saying that their design is counterproductive to what league should be striving for. Healthy being the opposite (what they should be striving for).