Debuting at the start of the 2022 season as a new Marksman, Zeri quickly proved her overpowering nature even after multiple nerfs. According to statistics from Riot’s own updates, Zeri has been nerfed a total of 12 times across just 9 patches, an unprecedented frequency of adjustments. Many jokingly say that Zeri is becoming Riot’s second Akali.
This observation is not incorrect as even the top League of Legends players worldwide have voiced their complaints about Zeri. Recently, Ruler from Gen.G stated that despite numerous nerfs, Zeri still appears too strong due to her extremely unreasonable poke capability. He also acknowledged that this was a crucial factor that helped Gen.G defeat DK at the LCK Summer 2022.
Question: You had an excellent match using Zeri, what do you think of this character?
Gen.G Ruler: Honestly, DK made it very difficult for us in all three games. In the third game, we realized that if we utilized Zeri’s long-range poke effectively, we would have a significant advantage. Truly, Zeri’s W ability is still too strong in terms of long-range poke and it needs to be nerfed soon.
If you didn’t know, the W ability – High Voltage has a critical strike interaction ratio with AD of up to 130% and guarantees critical hits when attacking champions and monsters. This allows Zeri to poke from a distance extremely effectively even when building physical damage items, often surpassing Mages.
In the recent match against DK, Ruler had several crucial pokes that thwarted the opponents’ combat plans. In fact, this ability took down 2 key members of DK and led to a spectacular victory for Gen.G. Clearly, it is hard to accept that a Marksman, building entirely physical items, can deal such strong magical damage.
Therefore, in upcoming patches, it wouldn’t be surprising if Zeri continues to receive nerfs or has some effects removed. We hope that Riot will adjust Zeri in time so that this character is not overly dominant during the 2022 World Championship.