Talk:Zed/@comment-5211662-20151017103843

Holy shit. This champion sucks by late game and sometimes even mid game. Unless you can get a lead, snowball, and end the game before the 25 minute mark, you will start to wish you had picked a mage, or Talon, or Fizz.

Yes he has a oppressive early game. He makes AP champions be forced to buy Zhonya before their mana regeneration item. But here is the thing, once they have a Zhonya, Zed can't do anything against them. AP champions may still not be able to kill him, but he will not be able to kill them either, unless he is fed. This has been made way worse now that Zhonya is cheaper.

Smart ADCs and AD assassins will just buy QSS and become completely immune to Zed because his burst is mediocre outside of his ult.

This champion sucks late game because ADs will have QSS, APs will have Zhonya, and tanks will have neither, but you can't focus them during teamfights for obvious reasons, so you are left without options. Also, Zed lacks utility. He can't even compensate all that with tankyness, since he is a squishy AD assassin.

In short; Zed is a very, very risky pick. He MUST snowball otherwise he cannot carry. Smart opponents will just play safe and deny Zed's snowball. He offers nothing that a team would want, except damage. His burst is easy to counter due to being counterable with specific items. And at late game, he can't kill anyone.