The Real 5.2 Patch notes on Zed

King Odin·Jan 28, 2015·24 votes·2,727 views

http://i.grab.la/0511c-3265b05e-5a40-49c7-b967-1a62f691fda3.png Click on the image to read it at full size. Bonus Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M2V9wKzFbk

32 Comments

StephenizgodJan 28, 201519 votes

You know whats funny about most Zed mains? They will always give you this list of ways to counter Zed, but the list they give you can be applied to any champion in the game such as "Wait for him to use his gap closer before ganking" ... no duh except Zed also has his ult to dodge with... "He is AD stack armor, Zhonyas blah blah blah" so now im forced into building defensively, something we can all agree is made useless by buying an early brutalizer, just to survive him tower diving me with no commitment? "He needs to poke you down before killing you with his ult" Oh yeah because Zed suffers from his lack of poke right? Its not like he cant just WQE over and over again and then just hit R while you are under turret...

Face it Zed mains! Zed is too strong right now BUT!!! it is only because all of the champions who contested him for the top have been nerfed (whether through items or directly) and he has been left relatively untouched. So i agree with Riot, yes Zed is in a healthy spot compared to where he was only a few months ago, but every single other mid lane champion is in an unhealthy spot (except Ahri although with DFG gone...)and he takes advantage of it.

2000boxesJan 28, 20153 votes

all mages benefit from zhonyas considering it is in the top 3 for most ap given from 1 item and if you are an ad champion you can build mercurial scimitar and that is also tied with ie and bloodthirster in damage given

supes the lostJan 29, 20152 votes

Malzahar gets very little benefits from a zhonya's, yes he gets a free ult dodge, but the rest of laning is going to be hell since that mandatory zhonya's delayed his main mana item. I would just like to bring up that it is not healthy of a champion to FORCE you to build an item under threat of dieing when he hits 6 otherwise.

Maximum ZileanJan 31, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=supes the lost,realm=NA,application-id=Ir7ZrJjF,discussion-id=AUXX6xrn,comment-id=000000000000,timestamp=2015-01-29T00:03:09.530+0000)

gets very little benefits from a zhonya's, yes he gets a free ult dodge, but the rest of laning is going to be hell since that mandatory zhonya's delayed his main mana item. I would just like to bring up that it is not healthy of a champion to FORCE you to build an item under threat of dieing when he hits 6 otherwise.

Actually, Malzahar in general is good against assassins 1v1. Since if Zed ults you, just W ult him and he'll probably die while his mark does 0 damage. If they try to roam to other lanes for kills, Malzahar is a lane pushing god. Take that tower.

DrCyanideJan 29, 20157 votes

{quoted}

all mages benefit from zhonyas considering it is in the top 2 for most ap given from 1 item

FTFY.

RIP DFG.

Kuroi86Jan 29, 20151 votes

item 3041 It's a troll item, but still...

DrCyanideJan 29, 20152 votes

If we're counting stuff that doesn't start with max AP then item 3003 needs to be on the list.

Kuroi86Jan 29, 20151 votes

Actually I typically consider it troll due to it losing stacks on death. Getting Soulstealer means you don't think you're going to die.

IzuhaJan 29, 20151 votes

Who says mejai is. A troll item lol I buy it in about 3/4 of my games

Kuroi86Jan 29, 20151 votes

It's cocky and it's a huge risk, if you don't get ahead with the item, then it's a wasted slot. =/

Nucleophilic atkJan 29, 20152 votes

I mean, Zhonyas 4th on the AP list.

item 3089 item 3040 item 3041

2000boxesJan 29, 20151 votes

ya but mejai's is a little iffy counsidering you lose stacks when dieing so i think zhonyas takes 3rd place since it's more consistent in the ap it gives

Nucleophilic atkJan 29, 20151 votes

Understandable. Even without Mejais, Zhonyas still isn't second like this guy said lol.

StephenizgodJan 29, 20151 votes

Not all mages build it though for several reasons, but mainly that other items are more beneficial to their kits. Merc Scim offers MR which is a useless stat against Zed. Like i said telling me i am forced into building 1 of those 2 items isnt much counter-play.

Zed is just a strong champion right now, he is just overwhelmingly dominate in the current game. Too safe, free harass and farm, no commitment required to go in for a kill (something that goes against assassins design), random damage built into his kit (why is that even there...), and ganking him is really difficult if he plays smart and wards (this is true for everyone to a degree).

NarasimhaJan 29, 20154 votes

Alright, I'll bite. Not even a Zed main btw, but heres my main point: How many other assassins are as predictable as Zed? Hell, I'll be decent and only ask for 3. I mean, good thing his ult isn't the most telegraphed move in LoL. And its not btw, its only #2, Sion's Q takes the lead.

StephenizgodJan 29, 20151 votes

Really? Zed isnt always so predictable, maybe in that when you are low he is going to ult you and kill you but thats the same for all assassins. He is pretty on par with the other assassins on predictability, his ult is instant so if you are in range you can never tell exactly when he will do it. Rengar is pretty predictable actually, runs into a bush he is going to jump at you, has his max passive and you are far from him he will throw his bola at you. Katarina because if she hits you with a Q, you are CC'd, near 2 teammates, or just when she is near you she will shunpo then R. Akali is always going after you so you know if you see her she will be coming at you :I... Talon too actually, if he hits you with a W he is most likely going to jump on you, the same if you get hit by any CC really.

EDIT: Btw Fizz's ult is pretty telegraphed, Xerath and Varus's Q, Ziggs and Patheons ults, Corki's Q, Zacs E too

NarasimhaJan 29, 20151 votes

I meant predictable as in when he ults to go for the kill, I always know whats going to happen next. He is always going to reappear behind me at a set time. This can and should easily be abused. His ult by itself literally does the damage of one auto attack. If you can stop him from pulling anything off with it, then he's a piece of cake to handle. Other assassins USUALLY have some variance. Rengar's ult lets him stealth jump from anywhere, Akali's shroud makes figuring out her next move tricky (but her entire playstyle is binary, they need to rework her entirely. But I digress), Katarina is getting reworked, . I think Talon is the closest one to being predictable, but he kind of makes up for it by having one of the fastest bursts in the game.

StephenizgodJan 29, 20151 votes

Ye i know what you mean but all assassins have roughly the same amount of predictability and unpredictability, in that you know where they will end up up or when they will do one thing, but its when they do it that is the problem. Sure Zed always ends up behind you but that doesn't mean you can do something about it, saving CC for when your opponent goes in is counterplay to all champions (specifically assassins and fighters i think). So it brings us back to my original point, the only counter-play to Zed is: Try not to die. All the points mentioned for Zed are what you normally do to not die against any champion at any given time.

qetzelJan 29, 20151 votes

Well then what is counterplay against any specific champion?

GunpointJan 29, 20153 votes

{quoted}

Alright, I'll bite. Not even a Zed main btw, but heres my main point: How many other assassins are as predictable as Zed? Hell, I'll be decent and only ask for 3. I mean, good thing his ult isn't the most telegraphed move in LoL. And its not btw, its only #2, Sion's Q takes the lead.

Really? Zed's ult isn't that telegraphed, it's a pretty short animation that, HELPS ZED. His ult makes him untargetable. Zed's deathmark that is left by his ult is TELEGRAPHED but Zed doesn't even need the fucking deathmark to kill you. It's like Fizz's shark was, overkill.

NarasimhaJan 29, 20152 votes

It also leaves his next action very predictable. It means that once he starts, no matter what, he's going to appear in the same place relative to me. He will ALWAYS, 100% of the time, reappear behind me. It doesn't matter if he's untargetable, because I just need to time it and launch my response when he reappears. Well, this is assuming I'm a mid lane mage. If you're an adc, your best bet is just to run to the nearest buddy who has cc.

2000boxesJan 29, 20152 votes

when i play support(my main support is thresh) and i see zed ult i throw my q at the person he ultied and guess what in that 1 second he is in my hook my team blows him up

you just need to pay attention to these little details and use them against zed

Hard PenetratorJan 29, 20152 votes

You mean that you grab enemy champion and your team blows him up? That's really unique counter for Zed especially. I will have to note this down.

"Just cc him"... done!

qetzelJan 29, 20151 votes

It is almost as though you can outplay his ultimate with proper timing.

Hard PenetratorJan 29, 20151 votes

I am pretty sure you can outplay any champion in the game. I don't see your point.

qetzelJan 29, 20151 votes

That you can outplay him suggests that there is counterplay.

Hard PenetratorJan 29, 20151 votes

In teamfights. What ppl hate about Zed is his dominating mid performance and early game especially against mana users.

youngjake93Jan 29, 20151 votes

{quoted} "He is AD stack armor, Zhonyas blah blah blah" so now im forced into building defensively, something we can all agree is made useless by buying an early brutalizer, just to survive him tower diving me with no commitment? "He needs to poke you down before killing you with his ult" Oh yeah because Zed suffers from his lack of poke right? Its not like he cant just WQE over and over again and then just hit R while you are under turret...

His poke is very easily dodged and does very little damage if you stand behind minions. Flat armor pen works better against low armor targets, so Zed would actually be counter-building himself if he rushed Brutalizer against Armguard. There is also nothing stopping you from learning how to CS with your autos and poking him back/buying double doran's or mana pots. You'll likely do a lot more damage with your poke than his if you are playing a mage and don't say that his W is up often enough to dodge all your poke, avoid all ganks and hit you with his combo over and over because you know that is crap.

StephenizgodJan 29, 20151 votes

Trying to outpoke Zed with a mana mage is not going to happen, you get 2 maybe 3 rotations and you are out, he can do this from level 1 to level 18 without really worrying at all about his energy. His poke is easy to dodge unless he throws his shadow right on you, a bad Zed will miss his Q sure but a good one knows how to hit both. You poke him down, he pokes you down now what? You are out of mana so you go to turret but OH! he ulted you hit his buttons then hit R and got away with maybe 1 tower shot if he was too slow.

Sure there is skill required but the skill required makes it so there is nothing your skill can do other then hit Zhonyas and hope he does throw a shadow on you for the kill.

Flat armor pen works better against low armor targets, so Zed would actually be counter-building himself if he rushed Brutalizer against Armguard.

Fine he builds LW then...

Blue Moon WolfJan 29, 20153 votes

its things like this that make me wish I could buy out riot, fire people and run things myself. first order of business, EVERYONE GETS A SEXY INTERN ;3