All this Zed talk got me sweatin'
Getting so tired of "balance" patches, they might as well just come up with a set rotation of changes and make certain roles FOTM because that's basically all that keeps happening. I was actually about to stop playing if they had changed Zeds kit, or if they do since I guess it's still possible. He's strong but he's been the same for over a fucking year now people, things can be changed without compromising the way he plays or we just get back into the same problems. Now I don't play much ranked but I do play him a lot so lemme weigh in on a few points and options..
Waveclear: I agree with the fact that his clear speed is insane, but I think the problem is more about his passive, not abilities. Zed can't clear a wave in one Q even end game, E will get a few, and W is on a c/d of 18 seconds which still leaves us cleaning up with our AA quite often. That 8% seems like it wouldn't make a big difference but it actually cuts time by a lot. Even early game that's an extra 40 damage right off the bat. Two solutions I could see for this are to either eliminate the passive effect from minions, OR (Bear with me) change him into a mana champ.
Energy: I'll probably get a ton of hate for this but I personally think switching certain manaless champs over would be much better for everyone if done right. Zed is a good example of this. Right now as Zed you can basically stay out as long as you'd like just spamming abilities, I'll get to early game in a minute too but let's look at how he's played late game. He has so much mobility at no cost COMBINED with his clear speed that by the time you get to him he's already pushing another lane. Put a limit on his abilities and it will force him to be more conservative, slowing the clear. This also keeps him from snowballing as hard, since he wouldn't be able to stay out and chain combos w/ult 24/7 early/mid game. I think this would be a HUGE deal too, since right now you should be melting someone every time your ult comes up as you rotate and push, and mana tosses in the possibility of not being able to do that, having to back more often, etc. etc. Now obviously if this was done it would be best to keep the passive on minions or even boost it a hair, but like I said "if done right" and that can be a very fine line..
Current early game/poke: I see a ton of people complaining about Zed's poke and difficulty early game but there should be no reason for that. W is up every 18 seconds, Q every 6, and chances are if you're ranged you won't need to worry about E without his W. That means two times while his W is down he can either poke you or choose to get CS, and if you keep up harass it will force him to use his Q to last hit (Or at least make him more likely to). Once his W is up the combo can hurt like a bitch but if you keep your distance so that he can't get an E in then all he has are two more Q's on you. If he does get an E in or switches to get in an AA that's your chance to punish him, or have your jungler come in since that's when he's most vulnerable. If you're playing AP the easiest way to shut down a Zed is just build a Zhonyas, simple as that. BUILD A ZHONYAS I will bet you any amount of money that unless you get baited into using it, or he knows 100% without a doubt it's down, you won't be targeted the rest of the game. I guess I'd give the same suggestion as above if there was a way to balance him, mana and appropriate regen/cds. Like I said energy champs rub me the wrong way, and while I don't think the way he is played early game in live is unfair, I do think the fact he can keep it up for so long (forever?) is where the problem lies.
Ult Reactivation: This is the other thing I see a lot of people complaining about, but it can be "countered" too I guess if you want to call it that, I think it's just common sense. The range to ult isn't super big which means if you just walk towards his shadow he has nowhere to go after a combo. You risk taking extra damage that way but look at it like this, walk towards it and engage, possibly killing him after the combo (Definitely killing him after the combo if he's outnumbered). OR keep running/kiting away from it taking a tiny bit less damage but giving him a free escape. The ult makes Zed who he is so I don't feel there's any reason to change it, and it was already nerfed before but everyone seems to have forgotten that..I'd take the extra damage from triple hits it had before over an escape but yeah this is the one thing I'm not sure what else to say about, just deal with it?
