Forum talk:Neekerivittu/@comment-2179912-20121120220839/@comment-202.128.204.238-20121121074042

^Have you seen the low damage of his ult at rank 1? I calculated it below and it was around 190 damage BEFORE resistances. Furthermore, Zed's abilities have lower scalings compared to other assassin type champs like Talon and Rengar. If you've played Zed, you'll realize that a large bulk of his mid-game damage comes from his ult. Without it, Zed has to rely on ranged harass through his Qs and shadow combos, and while it's very annoying to get harassed by Zed, it's rather dodgeable against competent enemies.

His shadows don't "double" his damage output - in fact, the only extra damage you're gonna get is 50% more damage on his Q. What his shadow DOES do is provide harass.

However, to compensate for his never ending harass, Zed's damage isn't exactly the best. You aren't gonna hit both Qs very often, and your E will probably be left at low ranks until mid game - his main source of damage is going to be  his Q only.

Another thing to note is that his ult is also quite counterable. Unlike Talon, Zed remains seen, and a simple stun/dash would make him lose a considerable amount of damage output. I like Zed's heavy lane harass playstyle, but he lacks straight up burst compared to older champs, due to his heavy reliance on it mid-late game.