Typically, when a new champion in League of Legends is released, its win rate is usually quite low. The reason is that Riot often introduces many strange mechanics and effects for new champions, and players need time to adapt. Therefore, when a new champion like Zeri launches with an exceptionally high win rate (over 50%), we understand that this character is too unbalanced and needs adjustments.
As a consequence, in the recently released patch 12.4, Zeri will be heavily nerfed across all four basic skills as well as her auto-attacks, with both damage and utility being reduced. This will likely prevent Zeri from dealing damage significantly better than other critical-hit Marksmen, even if she builds full Fighter items. However, former T1 expert and current Cloud9 coach, LS, believes that Zeri will face many more nerfs and may easily end up in a situation similar to Akali.
LS: “First, we need to agree that Zeri is an extremely powerful new champion, even with outrageous damage upon release. Then patch 12.4 comes out and nerfs her comprehensively, so I believe Zeri will no longer be a must-pick in the professional scene. However, Zeri is an extremely strong champion in solo lanes, and sooner or later, players will discover this.”
“And then it gives me another worry that when Zeri becomes too powerful in the solo lane, Riot will continue to nerf this champion. They might even nerf Zeri to the point where she can no longer be played as a Marksman. Perhaps her future will be similar to Akali’s, with every nerf making her weaker until she is too weak to be used effectively.”
For League of Legends players, we are not too unfamiliar with the joke “Champions A and B are too strong, we have to nerf Akali.” This is because in the past, Riot frequently nerfed this champion in their updates regardless of the meta. As a result, after some time, Akali became too weak, and Riot had to buff her a bit only to… nerf her again in subsequent patches. It is not an exaggeration to say that Akali is a symbol of Riot Games’ struggle to balance champions.
Zeri could also find herself in a similar situation as she has too much mobility and incredible damage even when building full Fighter items. Even when allowed, Zeri has continuously appeared in tournaments with consecutive Pentakills. It would not be surprising if in patches 12.5, 12.6, etc., Zeri finds herself being nerfed bit by bit, gradually becoming extremely “useless.”
