Nerf Zed.

Handin Out Naps·12/21/2015, 4:56:09 PM·3 votes·1,280 views

Oh is it that time of the year again? Is the Zed qq finally back? Who is ready for the upcoming months of low elo mage mains crying about Zed, I know I am!! Move aside Yasuo, It's Zeds turn.

7 Comments

Excitidly Insane12/21/2015, 4:57:31 PM2 votes

Did that time ever leave?

Shac Norris12/21/2015, 4:57:51 PM2 votes

I can smell the downvotes coming your way, i swear.

OperationDEEZ112/21/2015, 6:21:26 PM1 votes

Aren't assassin mains a lovely bunch?

Monsieur Seasalt12/28/2015, 3:02:51 AM1 votes

Found the Zed main.

But in all seriousness.

Statistics wise, Zed jumped up from a 43% win rate to a 51.47% win rate according to champion (dot) gg. His play rate has also increased to 15% of games played. Coming from a balance perspective of balancing around "skilled play" this has in fact made Zed too strong as a champion. A supposed high skillcap champion with this win rate would indeed warrant the broken complaint. If that's not a valid argument I want my Azir buffed again (;-;)

But let's look at this from what's changed for Zed, the most recent changes being patch 5.23. His maximum cast range for Living Shadow was increased by 100 units to 700 and the minimum cast range decreased to 350.

Secondly, his finisher damage on Death Mark was increased from 20% to 30% on its first rank and increased to from 35% to 40% on its second rank.

This alone would perhaps make Zed rather strong, but nothing warranting a hard nerf.

Let's look at what perhaps is the real culprit for making Zed so insultingly strong.

Thunderlords Decree is already well talked about, and will probably be nerfed next patch, or other masteries might be buffed (I personally prefer the latter).

Youmou's, considered his first core item to buy, is a considerably cheaper item compared to his AP mid counterparts, which are more or less forced to buy a Zhonya's Hourglass to hope to stay in lane. Sitting at a 3,200 Gold price tag, Youmou's is 300 gold cheaper than Zhonya's Hourglass. On top of this, Caulfield's Warhammer and Serrated Dirk both have a 1100 gold price tag. Both of these items give considerable advantages over the Hourglass' counterparts, namely the CDR and Armor Pen and damage steroid that the components give. Meanwhile, Zhonya's components either give 60 Raw AP, or an Armguard, which only gives 25 armor and needs to be ramped up before it becomes remotely worth the purchase.

Another item that's quite popular taking Zed against AP mids is a Hexdrinker, giving 20 AD and 35 Magic Resist for just 1300 gold. On top of the raw stats it gives, it gives you a rather large magic shield based on level at a minimum of 110 magic damage.

To add insult to injury, Maw of Malmortius is very strong on Zed now, offering armor pen on top of even more Magic Resist and and even bigger Magic Shield for a minimum value of 300. On top of that, Maw can also give you bonus attack speed and lifesteal if god forbid you fall below 30% hp.

Both Maw and Youmou's build from a similar cheap component, and combine costs are considerably cheaper than AP mid items.

The other item champions can buy is Quick Silver Sash, which is still more expensive than Zed's items components. What is so difficult about purchasing this item is that it is not feasible to make it a first item as all it gives is MR (Which doesn't help against Zed) and just gives you the active to remove zed's ult. However, the cost is that you still have no armor and no damage to use against Zed.

Combine this all with AP Mids' low armor, lower base hp and scaling hp, and Zed's overall safety in the early and mid game, it's probably safe to say that Zed is in fact, too powerful at the moment in the current metagame.

I don't personally know how other AD Mids fair against Zed, as I don't play them as often.

Conclusion: Zed is extremely anti-fun and oppressive to play against, and his potential to do anything he wants in the early mid game is what we can call broken in comparison to many other champions that are taken mid.

Solutions?: I personally think Zed didn't need his utility nerf on his WQ Poke combo, nor his immediate raw damage buff afterward. Perhaps a revert to 5.23 Zed or 5.20. I'm no balance expert, surely someone else has better knowledge on this than I do.