Iconic, Broken, Unplayable: The Fall of Zed

Zed is a foundational champion, and a huge part of League of Legends as we know it today.
But after some serious nerfs, he’s been basically relegated to oblivion for years - and Riot said they had no plans to let Zed terrorize the player base ever again.
But as frustrating as he might be, is this really the end for League’s most iconic assassin - and what does Zed’s exile say about League as a whole?
Hosted by: Dimitri Pascaluta (@DPascaluta)
Written by: Alina Sotula (@ASotula)
Edited by: Andrew Faigal (@Brrrning)
Produced by: Alina Sotula, Jason Durante (@JayJay_Durante), Connor Dunn (@ ConnorDunn_), and Danielle Rosen (@_DanielleRosen)
Thumbnail by: Bennett Grainger (insta:@bennettgrainger)
Production assistance: Jason Lo (@JasonLobsterr)
Footage credits: pastebin.com/d...
Music used under license from Associated Production Music LLC (”APM”).
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[@kael9522]

“Alright guys how can we put faker’s zed outplay in a new video this time?”

[@zStC1]

I'm here for it 😂

[@ryanweavile]

"Wait, we never talked about zed itself"

[@longlifetometal1995]

they're doing it for the meme, let's be real

[@jgeybp]

Don’t kill me 💀

[@tristain0]

and next vid is a remake of the explanation of that outplay

[@WolfFlow78]

The instant Ryu clip. They just can’t stop posting “FAKER WHAT WAS THAT!!”

[@michaelfetter5413]

And it's' amazing the disrespect that DOA got from Riot when he was shoutcasting literally the most iconic pro replay of the entire game's history.

[@tristanafterdark]

Can't believe they made another entire video about Zed without including a single Onzed play

[@hvvppy6102]

THANK YOU onzed is such a good zed player.

[@TheRoyalAegis]

underrated Zed Main i guess but i like him more than Zed99

[@hvvppy6102]

@@TheRoyalAegis agreed I just like how he’s in high elo and he takes the time to translate to give us info and tips

[@burgir180]

@@TheRoyalAegis Isn't Zed99 higher elo most of the time?

[@TheRoyalAegis]

@@burgir180 Yeah but it doesn't matter for me, i like Onzed bcs he's entertaining “funny”and he shares a lot of tips and info every games.

[@Kurosaneuu]

Such a great video, very detailed and well-made. Zed, Yasuo and even Talon are the champs that get you into League in the first place. Because playing these champs is goddamn Gaming.

[@jaybeecaranza9471]

Remember when his shadow has a scaling AD passive? yeah good times it was

[@MinteeMusic]

When did they remove it? Lol

[@arntry8072]

"Zed must be kept weak because he is the most frustrating champ in league." Yea, Sure. Fiora and Yone being perma banned by many. Meanwhile Fiora is perma banned for half a decade by most top laners already. Its not because he is frustrating, its because he doesn't sell skins that much unlike others.

[@faisfaizal5194]

"Zed is the most frustrating champ to play against" Meanwhile: Yone and K'Sante just chilling in top lane building tanky items but can still one-shot any squishies

[@VenomNightGaming]

Wait until you guys look at LeBlanc

[@viniciuslopesmodena]

I will be wrong because i dont have means to research right now, mut i remember his ult be like 90% his AD or something, but around season 5~6 riot released draktar, with had basically zed ult in the item, broken you may think, so just to be shure, riot removed 40~60% of zed Ad ult in the itens debut as a counter measure After draktar was reworkd, zed never see his ad back again

[@stefanristic9245]

the ultimate dmg ratio without any bonus dmg done from his autos qs or es has always been at 100% since champions release until they nerfed it in season 13 as a placebo nerf because community was complaining about the champ way too much so unless youre talking about his old ult passive which would give him 90% of the targets ad if the target dies from his ultimate im not sure what youre exactly talking about here

[@Banana-kb4ln]

Zed won't be played in pro play ever again unless hes META, zed has too much counterplay, hes not consistant, horrible laning phase

[@Sai-wu5ps]

I think I've permabanned zed for 4 years now as a mid main. I don't think I've ever been completely destroyed and felt utterly helpless against that good zed player I played against 4 years ago, maybe I was just bad back then. But i remember vividly just unable to cs or walk up or do anything, and zed would repeat kill me under my tower while escaping flawlessly with his ult that i don't think I've ever felt with any other champ.

[@guru230]

I used to permaban zed before I picked him up and mastered him. Now I can safely ban the other cancer champs that actually have no counterplay

[@Sai-wu5ps]

@@guru230 I mean, maybe i can deal with him now. Though most of my champ pool in mid lane are also mages so its probably still my best permaban. Then again, I haven't played against one in 4 years, so i wouldn't know. But hes probably alot weaker in lane than 4 years ago. I still believe zed's kit played well is almost no counterplay in a 1v1 tho, every other matchup I've had in lane felt natural with their kills, and if i get solo killed i most of the time just attribute it to myself.

[@guru230]

@@Sai-wu5ps Akali is a better permaban than Zed because it's basically the same champ except more braindead and requires no skill. Akali is played a lot more and even dogshit players can have 3 cs/min and still shit on your botlane repeatedly.

[@lussor1]

​@@guru230her R does like 600 ealy game

[@itsgonnabeokay9341]

​@@guru230Did you just say that Akali requires no skill? What rank are you?

[@this_smitty23]

Top- K'Sante, Rumble, Aatrox, Udyr. Jungle - Xin, Maokai, Vi, Rell. Mid - Azir, Orianna, Corki, Neeko. Bot - Varus, Lucian, Aphelios, Kalista. Support - Milio, Nautilus, Rakan, Renata. It's pretty much every game or close to it.. The pro play meta is a boring snooze fest compositionally.

[@khangnguyensongnhat6254]

You forgot Poppy in the jungle but yes, league esports meta is pretty much very stale to watch. It’s basically 5 champions at most for each roles….

[@Lalaaw]

You forgot J4 Bard Ashe Leblanc Jhin Blitz Ornn Renekton Xayah

[@this_smitty23]

@@Lalaaw I stuck with the top 4 at the time, it'll change slightly but not by much until patches stop. The meta comps are so boring I get slightly excited to see a low pick champion. Caps on Hwei was nice for instance.

[@Lalaaw]

@@this_smitty23 Hwei? Not much as LCK has been using Hwei for a while now.

[@this_smitty23]

@@Lalaaw Just looked at the LCK stats, he's been picked mid once to Azirs 39.

[@doflamingo3]

first ... the LL Styelish coming hot

[@p3rpNZ]

they just had to keep making the game easier thats why bruisers are meta these days. Can't expect minecraft kids to have skill when they are used to a game that only uses as many pixels as they are old.

[@nicopootato2330]

Zed ain’t a weeb anime girl that they can make a lot of skin on, unlike the other mid lane melee assassin More than half of these “outplays” shown are done by a zed 10 kills ahead, killing the entire enemy team without them having the ability to interact with him. Kinda shows why he is being left behind. He is a relic of the past, his kit is too fast for what the balancing team is going for. Thus he has to pay that power budget in other departments

[@kingbeastu]

As a Zed Main, Zed is still VERY VERY STRONG. You just need a lil bit more stills nowadays

[@Lomboses]

How riot treated zed is legit why i only play aram now. No point in grinding ranked when my favorite champion intentionally gets left behind

[@papabear5506]

Is this me?

[@jazobz2085]

Bruh zed is viable always lol

[@acecun6202]

@@jazobz2085In low elo maybe but not in Plat and higher even in mid gold most people have his number

[@jazobz2085]

@@acecun6202 I’m plat2 rn just playin zed and it’s still simple game . He is not dead just play better macro. Early game zed is back .

[@LoneDeeeeeeed]

​@@jazobz2085 Nah early game for Zed is terrible. But reaching mid-late game without getting behind is the key to play Zed, it's easy for lower elo but Higher Elo games don't last long and People often know how to play against Zed in those higher ranks. But yes, great macro will benefit you a lot with a bad early game champ like Zed.

[@hydratingh2010]

lets go LL Stylish referenced in the score

[@einjharrelraca]

The reason zed needs to be kept weak currently is because he isnt the zed you remember. Current zed does NOTHING but sit at quite litterally 3200 range poking you and farming with his q from under turret, until you fall into his kill range from r > e > auto > ignite > passive boosted auto and killing you with a combo, that you flat out cant dodge. They handed an assassin the neutral game of a mage. Now finally, the winrate argument. High skill capped champions are kept at a low win rate because they are hard, and people learning them tank the winrates harder than they will say garen. So if he is as hard as all the zed mains want us to think, then his winrate should never get even close to 50%.

[@Pentagram666mar]

Funny thing is to keep Zed weak as when he is strong he tilts everyone, while they keep k'sante strong while this champion is the single most frustrating champion i have ever encountered in 13 years of playing league (yeah, more frustrating than singed)

[@joshjoyfitness]

That play still gives me goosebumps to this day

[@neyavl]

Basically League's Jett

[@thrustfrombehind9869]

Huh? I never knew he was "nerfed" Always felt the same no matter what

[@nguyenhuuhiep1505]

the dmg is way worse than other season and I feel like zed just doesn't have the potential to carry a 1v9 games anymore

[@deathmark1940]

Low elo

[@dodgeme7456]

I remember 2014 , Zed was strong. You can carry 4 disabled monkeys back then playing as Zed.

[@Shadowfoxgambit]

Nice fighting street cabinet in thr background

[@MerlinCross13]

Zed's a clear sign of "If he's unfun and old, fuck them". As you said, look at newer assassins that just kill you way easier and arguably more unfair than 'walk away cause cool guys don't look at explosions'. I mean ducking hell, Akshan is sitting RIGHT there. Just delete Zed if they don't care to balance the guy.

[@wavexhyper]

I don't know anything about league but I am still here to comment

[@SimonSlav-GameMakingJourney]

These old clips make me sad in a way.

[@xXDark0sXx]

As one rioter commented a while ago, Zed is made to be trash atm since uf he gets just a bit viable, it becomes meta and players get frustrated to play against him. Other champion that its keep like that too is Quinn. Different strenghts, same result.

[@leonardonatanbergamini4971]

Zed is one example, I think Zoe is another good one. A champion that people doesn't enjoy to play agaisnt and is kept with a below 50% win rate and around the lowest mid lane win rate for a very long time without any buffs (and personally as and old Zoe main, she feels unplayable compared to other mages). Of course, the difference is that Zed is way more popular and he is a beloved champion... by assassin players, of course. But in the end of the day, Riot have a point. Zed was for a very time my every game ban (and he still are for some of my friends that play ADC and support), and if he comes back to be strong and popular I may start banning him every game again.

[@elBanananas]

I kinda like the current state of Zed in this season after some buffs. He isn't broken but if you can play him you can dominate again.

[@ericshun2552]

The thing that makes Zed more frustrating than other Assassins is that he's essentially AD castor with amazing all in potential. Like with Fizz you can harrass him level 1-5 as a mage from range or if there's a Leblanc she has a clear weakness of clearing waves do you can out shove her and roam. Zed can farm/poke with Q, and his waveclear with E and Hydra is hard to compete with. Oh and he doesn't use mana so he can spam abilities in lane to eventually get you low enough to all-in.

[@jaybeecaranza9471]

Bro doesnt read patch notes with Hydra KEKW

[@ijustwant7407]

As a low elo player, i think the reason why zed is the most frustrating to play against is because he doesn't feel like a high risk high reward champion he can safely farm and poke you from a screen away and if you ever walk close to him he can one shot you in two move and he doesn't use mana so he can poke you forever.

[@autumngrace7742]

you should be happy he uses energy, its whats stopping him from spamming abilities lol

[@schutzadful]

Good point. I'm not sure what makes him "high risk". It's not like Lee sin or riven.

[@atrozzorta9602]

@@schutzadful Yeah anyone that ever refers to Zed as "high risk high reward" are just quoting that because that is what assassins are suppose to be, but that is 100% not Zed.

[@josephfodera8372]

@@atrozzorta9602 if zed doesn't snowball he becomes more irrelevant in the game. When it's late game and the enemy team has a brain for peeling it becomes harder to engage on squishies. Zed has no hard cc so he's less viable in teamfights than other champs like ori, azir, and so on. That's high-risk high reward. Ofc low elo players wouldn't even get the meaning of that

[@atrozzorta9602]

@@josephfodera8372 Oh please do tell what elo you are, so I can laugh at you. And that isn't high risk high reward. Picking a champion that needs to snowball slightly to become relevant late doesn't mean they are a risky pick and if you can't snowball with Zed maybe you are the one at low elo who sucks?

[@alexmarfi7263]

Shen with chain vest - come at me bro

[@classick3064]

Back in the day, if you can't play Lee, Yas or Zed you are an outcast

[@Amsalja12]

I honestly think it’s just okay if he has a high ban rate. I don’t think they should balance him around that. People inherently don’t want to play against something so high risk reward. I think that’s just natural, and they should allow him to be banned more, while keeping him strong. Personally I’ve banned zed a lot, just because it’s high risk and not so much because I don’t like playing against him. It’s kind of one of those bans that are just easy to throw, if there isn’t anything you really want to ban

[@Celmondas]

The biggest problem was the extrem amount of AH that was in the game combined with the reset mechanic on his W

[@ginsmyth334]

True, give him blue buff in late game, he's basically playing URF

[@deathmark1940]

Zed is him

[@chynonm]

Zed's real issue isn't even how he has no possible counterplay and the jumps between shadows means he only fights when he wants and 99% of the time even gets to walk out scott free. The real problem is his laning phase, the real reason behind his high ban rate. Every midlaner knows they have to ban Zed, it's impossible to win the laning phase against him when he has free escape, free harass(I still dont understand why he gets to proc eletrocute with a single w-e-q) and one of the strongest 1v1 in the game pre-6, and as soon as the clock ding 6, he can 100-0 anyone anytime on a 1min cd with only half his spells. It's not riot that doesnt want to see zed viable, it's every single midlaner not playing zed. My opinion make W a weaker passive-R debuff on auto that only swaps to the last shadow as active and have his R be 20s cd 3 charges place a new shadow. That would make the champion actually have some counterplay and not be a R-spam oneshot walking CD with an unlosable laning phase.

[@NunoMatias-qq7ud]

The maim problem with Zed is that he´s actually one of if not the champion with the highest amount of counter play in the intere game, your ult literally stuns you and makes you a super easy target to anything inside of the game and unlike others such as Yi Kata Kayn who can choose where they come out to increase skill and reduce their counter play Zed cannot do this while also having everysingle one of the weaknesses this other champions do have, The thing is people just suck at the game, Zed is barely playable in Master´s plus cause people there know how easy and how much counter play he has but for the average guy or even a slitly above player they are just not good enough to abuse the massive amount of counter play he has cause that counter play is not as clear. It´s sad to see a champion that not only does not have an identity for almost 10y at this point but also being nerfed more than he should not really because he deserves it but because players are just not good enough at the game

[@r1nbok]

When Master+ is your benchmark for decent player which top 1%.

[@NunoMatias-qq7ud]

​@@r1nbok I mentioned Master+ cause that where i´m at, if i go on a smurf and play on Emerald people know how to play vs him at least to some level and he´s difficult to play there because of it. If you look at his ban rate it mostly comes from Iron - Gold, these players are not good enough to abuse how insanenly high his counter play is but he has to get nerfed anyway despite being weak already because of them that´s why it´s sad He´s a champion tat requires higher than aberage level of micro to perform on him yet he´s getting nerfed because of the people not on that level, it makes no sense, he´s a noob stomper but he was designed as a higher than average micro champ the 2 things do not go together

[@r1nbok]

@@NunoMatias-qq7ud Problem is it is countered in teamplay. You cant do much with an adc or mage if you don't have stopwatch which is the problematic part IMO. D2 take.

[@NunoMatias-qq7ud]

@@r1nbok Almost every mage has a way to counter Zed what are you on about? Zed doesn´t have a single good Mid Lane match up the interety of 2023, he could only play lane by doing nothing with hydra that´s not good mtchs ups that´s toxic gameplay they are not the same. When it comes to Adcs a lot of them either have tools to deal with Zed better than other assassins or everysingle one has the option of going exhaust the most broken summoner spell in the game that turns every champion into a cannon minion and also counting Adcs by themselfves doesn´t make sense cause they should always have a support with either CC or Sheilds next to them. Saying that Zed is countered in teamplay shows that you do not know anything of what you are talking aboutit´s very easy to counter this champ in soloq in 1v1 cenario especially in the first 20m of the game, even is scenarios where Zed somehow is able to get a 1v1 with an ADC with 1 level advatange, if the ADC has exhaust the ADC wins that 1v1 which is something that should never happen but it does, if the Zed goes 1v1 vs a ton of mages, even if he´s 1 level up it´s very dificult to kill them from full like an assassin should cause most of them have cc to easily use cause your R self stuns you it´s not like Kayn Yi or Kata that can choose were they come out from. Zed is probably the champion with the highest a mount of counterplay in the intere game but people are just bad, you don´t see any other assassin having to ait 3 s for their highest damage part of their combo to happen, you don´t see other champs self stunning themselves in their most important ability, you don´t see other champs watching their most important ability not even work cause someone pressed zhonyas or a untargeted spell that makes your ult mark not even apply on them, all of this while still having all the weaknesses other assassins have like being prominant to cc armor stacking and itens falling down in late game, he has all the weakness of others plus some unique to his own

[@r1nbok]

@@NunoMatias-qq7ud I dont get how the landing phase argument is relevant in this case. Never said he has strong lane. Also, stopwatch counters most ults not only Zed's. Moreover, adc's are not running exhaust in 99% of the cases and if a sum cannot counter ult idk. Also, you cannot outrange Zed when he has W. Also, saying that Zed has more counters that Yi or Kata is wild.

[@muneebzulfiqar4035]

Balance is weakness ~ zed

[@punklingyt]

I will never, ever let Riot live down "Zed must be kept intentionally weak because he is frustrating." You know what I hear infinitely more complaints about being frustrating? Tanks that can 1 shot people while having 4k HP. Control mages that don't need to interact with you in a meaningful way to damage you. You know what I don't hear complaints about frustrations with? An AD melee assassin who can only break even in trades every 20 seconds with an ultimate that only kills if he can land 3 separate skillshots perfectly. If we are balancing around frustration, then I would like to see Hullbreaker and other items enabling inting "strategies" removed from the game entirely.

[@dimmak6044]

There's more champions who do not fit pro league of legends but are just as relevant and iconic to league as they were 10 years ago. To get Zed back into pro right now he would have to be so over tuned and that might sound like a numbers problem but it is not. His kit or playstyle just doesn't fit the coordinated heavily objective based game that is pro.

[@GG-hi5if]

God i feel old when i think zed is a new champion…

[@zztha156]

I do kinda miss the blind pick overtime rules

[@shadowstyle3139]

As a zed player i gotta say tank meta is way more annoying than playing against him atleast in gold-plat elo

[@s.b.e._9692]

Tekken 8 is so amazing and it came out last week. Jump in it's the best time to start! Im commenting it because score esport dropped FGC because of small engament i guess. Funny, they watched EVO tekken 7 and had blast so kinda sad to see them not even mention new tekken. I wonder what happend with cs2?

[@GermanGlitchhunter]

I am currently not playing League and I never was high elo. However, my opinion on why Zed is so broken is due to the amount of control he has. The main reason for that are his shadows. They act as insta blinks, can be used globaly but if and when he uses them is entirely up to Zed. Zed is basically Schroedinger's Zed, at 2 or even 3 places at the same time, at least as long as he hasn't used his shadows. Usually you have a single champion to aim for with the ability to dash/blink/flash/"dodge"/etc. Zed however creates up to 3 targets for a single champion. Overexaggerated: You can't outplay Zed, Zed only outplays himself.

[@azrrrrrrrr]

Well that happens only every 60-80s when he has ult. His w is much easier to deal with cause he can only use it once.

[@crimsonxii9361]

How can Zed be broken with 47% wr to all elos ?

[@GermanGlitchhunter]

​@@crimsonxii9361 And? Statistics aren't everything and especially "winrate across all elos"... You do know that different champions have different skill gaps, which is why some champions have a winrate below 50% in low elo and above 50% in high elo. Due to a larger portion of players being in low elo, a lot of more difficult champions will have a negative winrate despite being decent in high elo, again due to skill gap. Again: You can't outplay Zed, Zed only outplays himself. But these are still just statistics and ignore everything I have talked about in my opening comment: Control. You can't really quantify the impact control has on your game but put quite simply: Do you want to play a pvp game where it's up to your opponent to decide how good you perform? Zed is broken in the sense that you can't really balance him well. Do you know Ryze? Despite having an abysmal 37% winrate he had a 100% pick/ban-rate in the competitive scene also despite his competitive performance being garbage. Ryze was one of if not the most broken champion, which is why he got reworked. If Riot wants to "un-break" Zed they can't simply just tweak numbers. They have to change hiw design.

[@MaesHiux]

If I build ROG + ZON I should be able to survive an all in from an assasin. I dont get to win but they neither should. You dont have a reward for playing defensive vs a Zed. If you get counterpickd by a Zed your life is missery.

[@randomgoose01]

So many people liked to complain how op zed is. Is it finally cool to say the opposite?

[@dingding12321]

It's hard to call Zed bad when despite what he's lost he can still W or Flash before he reappears from R. He appears wherever he wants and you're looking like a complete moron chasing him down, then suddenly you're dead haha.

[@conceptvague5708]

i think what makes zed very annoying to play against is he’s an extremely safe laner that can afk farm until he has enough damage and kill pressure he plays like a melee mage different from other assasins. it’s hard to punish a zed if he’s good having him overturned would make even the bad zed mains ridiculous to play against

[@rendesu2301]

Zed is the most frustrating champion in league when Pantheon exist? Vayne? Draven? Ksante? Akali? Yasuo? Yone? Zed literally have so much counter like with armor, hp, shield, cc, stopwatch, and dodging his abilities😂

[@UrhajosAzAnyam]

good! when it's unplayably bad, nerf it even more just for good measure.

[@brunodeusdara8926]

well, riot frequently doesnt know what to do with their champions. Remember tank ekko?

[@DiabloTommaso]

Another great exemple of cool characther that riot is unable to balance.

[@andreitaker3527]

I hate facing zed but he lost so many things that the current version of him is just shadow of himself

[@Flowers_Die]

Pun intended

[@Rncko]

But don't worry, everytime URF arrives.... The summoners are reminded once again.... OF WHAT THEY FEAR

[@kedjfj798]

@@sadqqwwqeq4175 bruh wtf are u even on about lol look at aram stats hes 165/166 currently

[@vkknoell]

@@sadqqwwqeq4175 Azir has been buffed in ARAM actually He has -5% damage taken and +2.5 attack speed scaling. In fact, most assassins are bad in ARAM because 1.the average player can't play them well. 2. They fall off a cliff past 15:00 minutes due to accelerated gold gain.

[@Malam_NightYoru]

Zed and Azir are the complete opposite tho? ​@@sadqqwwqeq4175 Azir is a game changer for full teams, because his kit benefits from the Team Coordination, while Zed benefits from the lack of coordination of the other team.

[@ecszst.croixe3573]

Zed was already struggling back then. His fate was sealed when stopwatch can be built by literally everyone.

[@itsgonnabeokay9341]

Stopwatch got removed though

[@vherwashere]

remember when qss can also cleanse zeds ult debuff? lol

[@einjharrelraca]

​@@vherwasheregod i wish we could go back to that. Back when an assassin actually needed to land their full kits to kill a squishy, and couldnt instant kill bruisers/sometimes tanks without being HILLARIOUSLY fed.

[@yurciq]

except it didnt? seekers armguard is stopwatch just for few hundreads more, which essentially nerfs zed a lot more, cuz u have armor on seekers too @@itsgonnabeokay9341​

[@worldsgreatestspy5836]

​​@@itsgonnabeokay9341Yeah, the armguard replaced it, so nothing changed

[@usssr1917]

Riot: Nerf zed, keep him weak Also riot: *Adds Briar*

[@agustinmalo6051]

What does Briar have to do with anything? Lmao she actually kinda sucks

[@usssr1917]

@@agustinmalo6051 no wonder ur silver bro

[@parks4484]

Briar isn't good lol She was broken for the first couple weeks then was basically nerfed every patch that followed

[@vizzyMcExee]

Also riot: adds Samira Also riot: adds naafiri Also riot: does nothing about akali after adding stormsurge (the most busted item in this games history)

[@bradonhassell5567]

@@vizzyMcExeebro doesn’t remember deathfire grasp

[@khueythao]

Ryu.. awh shit here we go again

[@theflyingtoaster7414]

Off Meta is always good for a game. No matter how many people wish to win effortlessly, there will always be value in someone who know the true thrill and virtue of needing to reload in the middle of battle. Revolver Ocelot

[@adelishernandez1525]

Nice to find a man of culture once in a while.

[@geoshukaru6159]

late game disagree with this tho

[@Namelessyas]

Everytime i hear his iconic voice line "The unseen blade is the deadliest" is still giving me chills

[@kentuckyfriedchildren5385]

honestly as fun as zed is, you have to do infinitely more work to do damage and actually be able to win games, it sort of feels like unless you are 10/0 you barely do any damage with triple shurikens. It sucks that hitting 3 skillshots usually does less than most other champions point and click abilities. The moment zed actually starts to feel good he gets swiftly nerfed in the next patch.

[@zzephi]

This champ hasn't been picked in pro for so long, i think even twitch chat forgot the copypasta of "Zed or Bed"

[@noksss3546]

not being picked in pro doesnt mean a champ is weak

[@andreitaker3527]

@noksss3546 I agree. I think the right term is that Zed is not optimal in pro play.

[@azrrrrrrrr]

​@@andreitaker3527which is such a shame cause he is one of the most fun champs to watch olayed at hugh level

[@shadowd9810]

@@noksss3546 he isn't picked for that exact reason tho. He is very unrewarding because of how weak he is right now so if you actually want to win picking zed is just lowering the chances of ur team winning by 20%

[@astio8303]

@@shadowd9810 tehere are like ~30 chemps out of over 150 picked on pro play . please stop making zed "weak chempion" noone likes to play against him so he should be out of game

[@Bedardo12]

I think people have extra nostalgia for him cuz he was THE 1v9 champ back when it was LITERALLY possible to win a game solo

[@ZedSalvatore]

as someone who's been playing zed since its release, managed to hit rank 1 with him back in 2018, I can be completely honest with you and say zed is no longer able to 1v9 anymore. he completely fell with and lost the ability to win vs most adc's now days, if you're unable to 1v1 and adc while being 3 levels ahead being 5/0 then what am I supposed to do vs fed assassin junglers or tank top laners? what made things worse now is the fact that you cannot build last whisper and black cleaver combined anymore. you're only allowed to pick one. the only way possible for you to win with that champ is to play vs 5 squishies otherwise goodluck time to find a new main.

[@boogeymanw9643]

Damn, what kind of adc we taking about? What champ? In my game, I one shot them with full combo pretty easy. Unless we taking about different game here…

[@PolarSiren]

I love Zed, and I don't care

[@fusion6343]

​@@boogeymanw9643 in late game, Zed struggling to one hit combo Adc, because his damage is too weak to one hit the adc, and worse Tank champ even have more damage than zed abilities

[@CAPTAINCHAOS_]

What's amazing is... I very clearly remember when Zed was brand new. For some reason, "older" champions like Zed never feel old to me if they weren't new after the first two years or so I was playing. For the record, when he was new, Zed was a straight up menace.

[@Shiro_Sora]

Back then, barely anyone had any dash abilities

[@ledgy69]

Kha zix and zed on zeds release patch were absolutely bonkers lol

[@yppx]

Genuinely happy they got a prrrrrrrrrrrrrrr play in there

[@brunodeusdara8926]

right? yanni deserved it

[@harpogrine]

The current state of Zed is the perfect illustration of League's downfall Riot wants the game to be fun no matter how bad you play, that's why lane kingdom and snowball potential are decreased more and more to the benefit of scaling and teamfight When I started League, having to play vs a Zed was very hard, at lvl 6 it was almost a miracle to keep-up in lane AND survive Now if the Zed player doesn't have 5 times the average lobby skill he can't do anything

[@stefanristic9245]

well yeah but its not because riot explicitly nerfed him or anything its because riot gave all mages free mana during laning phase with d ring changes and durability patch before durability patch if you got hit by zeds w e q aa combo without his qs hitting any cs prior to hitting you youd lose 60% of your health now if you try to do the same thing you gonna get your ass kicked so ig riot wants the game to be oriented more towards scaling and less punishable so its easier for the lower elo players to play it

[@harpogrine]

@@stefanristic9245 I strongly agree with you

[@azrrrrrrrr]

As Zed main i feel absolutely devastating how they nerfed our laning phase. Watching azirs,oris and ryzes turbo shove us in and poke under turret is no fun and just to know even tho they are bullying you in lane they will outscale you as well. Especially when i remember times those scaling champs were afraid of leaving their turret when playing vs zed.

[@schutzadful]

Zed players are ridiculous. Playing an adc castor who can wipe an entire team with a single combo and is hyper mobile. Riot needs to keep nerfing him.

[@azrrrrrrrr]

@schutzadful *if you are fed. And between now tanky mages,bunch of mobility,healing and shielding champs it is hard to get ahead and much harder to get that fed. And any champ that is fed is obnoxious. Just look at sion or mundo-they take 0 skill,become unkillable and can take 40% of adcs or mages ho with one ability.

[@astio8303]

my man , even now zed is one of the safest and hardrest to play against mid laners, you ryze with 500 range q can poke you out you are doing sth very very wrong. I've played many assasin but whenever i play on lower elo (for example on flex) zed is way to go as its they easiest of all assasin to get lead on. If you are so sure about zed bad laning phase, try other ad assassins and you will change your mind for sure

[@itsgonnabeokay9341]

Skill issue

[@BlackTecno2]

​@azerbeastt there should be almost NO circumstances where a champion can 1v5 an entire team by jumping into all 5 at once. A lot of these clips show that. Also, the last person I heard say "tanks unskilled" turned out to be Silver 4. You don't get free wins just because you're playing a more complex champion.

[@joshgreen6773]

Riot is one of the dumbest companies. They always go back on their words, what they say is ironic af. Zed broken, ok, what about the rest of champs? Riot existed for 10+ years and can’t balance for shit

[@rares-ti7vb]

Well first of all this game is impossible to balance there are just to many combinations of champions, items, runes like we are talking thousands and thousands of combinations. Everyone complains about balance of some champ when they lose against him. Players are not reasonable and are biased. They have no problem when the champion they play is better but complains when he loses against anything. You can't balance players being unreasonable

[@SabanLeon]

Dont care what they do to him im permabanning him anyways

[@rodrigosanay4351]

It's amazing how players will cry with zed being playable. They are completely ok with Katarina players literally smashing, not "pressing" but smashing their keyboards and still getting pentas left and right. You would need to be a "special" player to fuck up with Katarina

[@peddapeddington2761]

Are you guys in the comments even playing league right now? Zed has the 6th highest pickrate of all midlaners in emerald+ elo and sits at 49,4% winrate which isn't great but also isn't reallly terrible.

[@ANDR0iD]

HAHAHHAHAH FEEL WHAT I FEEL (Sanest mage mid enjoyer)

[@dark3rthanshadows]

Not just zed but the whole assassin tree riot just nerfed the fuck outta most of them, those that work as bruisers can still work but the rest..forget it

[@imanjx2914]

Next title. Nerfed, Reworked many times : Ryze

[@monkeymanx6]

Zed is supposed to be an assassin, not a spamming mage with such mobility.

[@fikus5965]

tell that to the guy who thought it would be funny if every item had ability haste and that ravenous hydra passive would active with abilities

[@monkeymanx6]

@@fikus5965 ravenous and titanic hydra used to be only for melee champions and had the cleave item button for years before it got removed and put back.

[@fikus5965]

@@monkeymanx6 yea, i said tell that to the guy who thought it would be funny if .... and "that ravenous hydra passive would active with abilities". idk what purpose your comment had

[@AshendusTV]

I mean Zed is still broken today. There's no counterplay. If he shows up on your map and he decides to target you, you just die and can't do anything about it.

[@demondoge1715]

Reddit runied Zed like most other champs, simple as that

[@robertklepackiiii8100]

Low elo*

[@demondoge1715]

@@robertklepackiiii8100 i see no difference

[@Kevin-qy6qt]

12:05 still one of LLStylendo's greatest plays. The target focus to the switch onto kataruna for the ignite to going back to kaisa for the q death mark proc. Goddamn

[@lussor1]

Blame silvers

[@mralokin3718]

"Zed is most frustrating champion to face against" also riot: releases Hwei with 7 abilities and xerath range

[@BMdeGuzman]

There are a lot more frustrating champs to face.

[@AtomicBettyGames]

Yeah he’s pretty bad rn but I really don’t give a flying fuck lol. I am not sympathetic at the least after the years of PTSD he’s caused me

[@Slayyyaphine]

0:16 - 0:19 I wouldn't know he's perma banned when I play mid 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@theWolfnMiniatures]

I want some reference to August and Riot's opinion on Zed to pop up in Arcane. "The god's have taken my power. The god's FEAR my power."

[@qeezeeqee]

This shit is forever ridiculous . There are turret champs who are even shittier to play against, champs who can walk thru walls and be perma stealth who suck more to play against, and people who can go invulnerable that suck to play against even more. Why does mages who get shit on make zed get turned into a dog shit champ . Players are so weird

[@TrườngNguyễn-x9z]

Also Riot : Akali. The most obnoxious rework I had ever seen from a champion. They gave her the ability to wake into the opponent, harass them relentlessly and don’t even have to waste hp. Someone on Riot much be smoking when they did her rework

[@DjVanillaGuerilla]

Is this a reupload? I swear I watched a video on Zed with all the same clips like a month ago. Or was that another channel? Edit: Checked. Yeah they have another video called "The Truth about Zed". Which is pretty much the exact same video lol.

[@abunja]

This only adds the confirmation from Riot August that they're intentionally make Zed weak to balance it for low ELOs. The rest is as exactly what you said.

[@DjVanillaGuerilla]

@@abunja Yeah, people who play Zed, or stay up to date knows this. Zed isn't the only champion either. They bent to the weak minded people crying about assassins. And instead of making assassins glass cannons, they removed them from the game. Example, A crit from an ADC, mid to late game,should do 50-80% of their health. So there is some counter play. You might get enough autos in? you might not. Depending how well they use their spells and you use yours. I've learned to not care, and just to try to enjoy the game xD

[@diomidistheologidis1780]

the fact that zed is nerfed to the ground and champions like aatrox and riven exist makes me sick

[@MyLovelyForm]

funny how Zed players reasoning why he should be OP is coz is fun to play, but they dont see enemy POV where they die with 0 counterplay so many times

[@saltylemonz258]

That PŔRRRRRRRRRRRRRAHHHHH is how exciting Zed players are to watch. There is just some high class elegance to Zed skills and plays but I can understand the feeling of facing a skilled Zed in late game. Its just hell for anyone not a tank. Even a tank will go down 1v1 with him. I still think tanks are the most broken ass thing though like fqing tanks like Ksante can 1v5 and kill a whole thing.

[@BlackTecno2]

There's like, 5 quad-pentakills in this video, some with the Zed player not even being particularly ahead.

[@mathiasjacobsen8433]

Maybe in pro play he is never picked anymore, but he was S tier for large parts of season 13

[@T0NI_]

Zed has been my perma-ban for literally years. I just hate playing (and especially laning) against him, because of how frustrating he is. Because of that, I understand where August is coming from when he says what he says about him. My perma-ban switched to Hwei now, though. That champ can go rot, it feels like I'm having to juke and sidestep 3 different champs when I'm against that guy, and my brain just cannot keep up

[@Mr_Buli]

Are you Veigar main?

[@T0NI_]

@@Mr_Buli Nope. Haven't really had a "main" per se in a long time, but I mainly play Xerath, Lux, Tristana, Brand and Anivia when I'm mid

[@FireWizardGg]

@@T0NI_ zed is ur perma-ban bc ur in low elo

[@T0NI_]

@@FireWizardGg okay and?

[@ghost0861]

ur bad @@T0NI_

[@hahamlml6844]

Zed: *has to hit three skillshots from diffrent angles and ranges to literally kill an ashe and hope she dies before she out damages him* Leblanc and fizz: *oneshots you with two undodgeable abilities goes brrr then zhonya*

[@bbotch5026]

this mf is broken again they reverted ult nerfs

[@fusion6343]

Seriously current Season u need to make a big Effort in Late game Zed. Late Game Zed is weak in clash, sacrificing yourself to kill one because the cd of his skills became longer and Zed Rely on his Energy but current season sucks for Zed Energy cd

[@infinitegaming2884]

Riot's balance team doesn't really know what they're doing. They nerfed zed so hard but created a much more frustrating hero to deal with which is Yone.

[@zzzlulzzz5080]

Zed whem he's on my team goes 0 5 0 on first 10 minutes Zed when he's on enemy team goes 11 0 6 on first 10 minutes