Zed's badassery ruined?????

WitchQueen Annie·4/13/2017, 9:33:11 PM·2 votes·2,037 views

Why is Zed portrayed as a total noob in the new Vastaya cinematic. Also, since when did he turn into an Incredibles style villain with a bunch of Stormtroopers to do his bidding? What is with this nature theft thingy? He now STEALS energy from the forest like a Bond villain?

Also, did he just get outplayed by ADC in a near 1 vs 1?

MAN....

Can Riot PLEASE not resort to trashing all over Zed's lore for the sake of promoting its new toys/favorites?

If Zed is going to be changed into a Darth Vader wannabe, at least give us a heads up before hand.

31 Comments

GreenLore4/14/2017, 12:07:52 AM8 votes

Not sure how Zeds badassery is lost. He clearly had the upperhand against Xayah and if it weren't for Rakans interference,the battle would have ended with Xayah dead and Zeds stone-thingy destroyed,so Zed would have been victorious,but Xayah would have had a small victory on her own. So in the end Zed is stronger than Xayah in close combat,but Xayah isn't completely helpless either.Its just that Zed can't win against Xayah and Rakan on his own,which is pretty reasonable.

Also he always had some mooks,the order of the shadow doesn't just consist of him.

Furor Nexis4/13/2017, 10:52:50 PM3 votes

Don't forget, Zed is a broken man. After Jhin's arrest and imprisonment he started failing, making mistakes and falling behind. Because he was broken, and possibly in his own eyes, too weak, he stole the power of Shadow Magic. From this glimpse of the trailer it seems that the magic of the spirit realm, and thanks to Xayah's story, it implies that Shadow Magic users strengthen themselves with the essence of souls / life. The magic of the spirit realm is probably more powerful than a single soul, so Zed harnessing it under his grasp wouldn't be too unlikely. He was thwarted, yeah. But he also didn't expect the crystal holding the magic to be broken. From this trailer it shows that he's still a student making mistakes over and over, a sign of his broken spirit.

Ralanr4/14/2017, 1:47:09 PM3 votes

What makes you think that Xayah and Rakan aren't good enough to actually fight Zed?

Take into consideration that Zed may have lacked the element of surprise (generally. He may have not expected visitors) and potentially didn't know the capabilities of his opponents (like how Xayah's feathers work).

There's also the theory that Zed let those two win for some ulterior motive. Like understanding their capabilities so he can better prepare his strongholds for them.

Ebonmaw Dragon4/13/2017, 11:03:23 PM2 votes

Oh please... You forgot about how did Riot trashed all over Shen's lore for the sake of promoting Zed? And its not like he is the first time that we see him having people to do his bidding, that has been part of his lore since always.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP63a0FhXa0

Look at this old Video, a performance in a official event of Riot... those ninjas arent clones of Zed.

For gods sake, his name is Zed like the villain of Power Rangers and he looks like the Shredder from TMNT with evil shadow powers... and he TALKS ABOUT BREAKING THE BALANCE ALL THE TIME.

... And Zed was actually going to kill Xayah, but Rakan saved her.

ModKnightsKemplar4/14/2017, 6:11:20 PM2 votes

I don't understand how Zed isn't a badass for singlehandedly threatening to existence of nature itself in Ionia.

You may not like the tropes they are leaning on to tell that story, but it's pretty consistent with Zed's prior lore. What do you suggest they do instead? Keep him as a "mysterious shadow ninja" with barely any backstory to speak of? Other than the mysterious box of shadows that we don't have any ideas about?

What does your ideal Zed lore look like?

KingBlackthorn17/17/2018, 7:00:00 AM2 votes

Okay, I was not gonna comment, but I just saw this thread (a year later! I know), but your comments are just yikes. I am pretty sure in the lore Xayah and Rakan older (possibly much, much older). You are going off “they have no previous combat experience”, but clearly they do because they have lead their people into many battles and won. And the two of them together is pretty powerful. It’s also important that they highly underplayed not only Zed, but Xayah and Rakan because it’s a 3 min cinematic. And it’s the cinematic to introduce them, it’s not gonna focus on Zed.

Lùmen4/14/2017, 1:40:07 PM1 votes

He was going to gut her innards out, Rakan saved her. Totally outplayed, yep

ssj8Brolykugeta4/13/2017, 11:23:58 PM1 votes

yea they did make zed look like a bitch. atleast in the last cinematic he was fighting way more people and go ham before they realized "LMAO ITS A TEAM GAME NOOB"

WitchQueen Annie4/14/2017, 4:29:38 AM1 votes

I get that Riot wants to make these new champs look good but come on.

Lets be serious here, as far as lore goes, Zed is several tiers above them. This video way underplays his technique, deadliness/precision, mastery of the dark arts, stealth craft, and outplay skills.

OurLestrade4/13/2017, 9:35:13 PM1 votes

The twist is it's actually Shen's dad. Yeah. Make sense out of that one, lore theorists.

The Whamboozler4/14/2017, 3:35:55 PM1 votes

Gotta make the new champs look good, don'tcha know? Poor zed got paid off to job to the new girl and make her seem threatening and cool, because LORD KNOWS no one picking her up in-game, seeing her or hearing her VO will get that impression otherwise.

Yep. Zed is a captain planet villain now, sucking power from nature... somehow. And these two idiots are going around yelling "ONE IONIAN GUY (we think. he had a mask) OFFENDED NATURE, IONIA MUST BE DESTROYED!". Or maybe they're tweeting it. Those two strike me more as the #fuckionia sorts than the kind that actually go out and do anything... but that's besides the point.

I know Zed is newer and you younger players haven't had to feel the icy hand of Riot reaching in to grab a champ you like and crush them in front of you with shitty new lore, reworks or lousy changes that make them into someone that isn't the champ you love.... but that time seems to be nigh. They did to to me MULTIPLE TIMES with Skarner, Fiora and Cassiopeia. The brutalized Mordekaiser so badly he may never recover. They'll loop around to all your cherished champs eventually. Someday they'll have Yasuo and Lee Sin jobbing to some obnoxious new champ that they made to appeal to "the kids"... mark my words.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

ssj8Brolykugeta4/14/2017, 4:12:35 PM1 votes

jesus christ the made zed a jober. Is League an anime now? Feels bad man