LoL: The Champion Riot Would Nerf If He Was Played More Often

More experienced or long term League of Legends players will know the term "hidden OP", which basically means, that a not so popular champion has something to him, that makes him overpowered, Normally it's not that "hidden", since even these champions are getting hit with the nerf-hammer pretty quickly.

But according to a popular Reddit thread, one man was able to hide his OPness for years. Read everything about this guy here.

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LoL: Is Zilean The "Most Hidden OP" Champion In The Game

How often did you encounter Zilean in your playing career? Most likely not that often, since he seems to be one of the famous "forgotten champions" of League of Legends. Across all ELO's and roles, Zilean has a 2.05% pick rate and a 0.5 ban rate, so he is rarely seen at all.

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According to a popular LoL Subreddit thread, the low pick rate is the only reason why nobody acknowledges Zilean as the most OP champion in the game. Fittingly titled, "How does Zilean avoid the cancel-mob of the league community?"

How does Zilean avoid the cancel-mob of the league community?
by u/Temporary-Platypus80 in leagueoflegends

In there, Reddit user and Thread creator "Temporary-Platypus80" shares his thoughts about LoL's bearded Chronokeeper. The user describes the different abilities of Zilean, and how the community would rage about them, if another champion would have them,

But, he does have a kit that I feel would utterly enrage a large majority of the community lol. He has an AOE stun via double bomb (While it is a Skill shot, its basically impossible to miss thanks to his E), he has an on demand GA that he can cast on himself or allies (Trying to kill his Carry? OOPS, no, you dont), and probably the most enraging ability, his E.

He follows this up, with a comparison between Zilean and other hated champions with annoying ability kits like Teemo or Shaco, and how Zilean might even be more OP than them. The user finished his statement with the theory, that more people would complain about the champ, if he was more popular,

I would honestly expect this board to be filled with Zilean complaint threads if he was at all popular lol. Basically, the moment Zilean gets a visual update will be the day people start whining about him en masse. Even if all he gets is strictly a visual upgrade and doesn't have his abilities touched. The moment Zilean play rate goes up, its a wrap, on god lol. I guess people just sleep on this dude due to how utterly out dated his visuals are.

And he might be right about this, Zilean's kit can be annoying as hell, his ultimate in particular has a huge amount of upset potential and can be used to outplay enemies engages or tower dives. Also, his E ability is great for chases or disengages, and is especially annoying when the enemy team is in front and can simply steamroll about your team.

But there is a reason why simply nobody is playing Zilean, not just now, but for the last couple of years. He is a squishy fellow and even with his movement speed very easy to gank. Also, his damage might be high, with a full damage built, but insignificant if you should ever fall behind with him.

Community Reactions

Of course statements like this and the topic of overpowered champions in general, have gained a lot of attention within the League of Legends Reddit community.

It's interesting so see, that the overwhelming majority of people, don't really agree with the users thoughts about the Chronokeeper. Also, many community members aren't seeing Zilean's ability kit as a big problem, and some were even joking about the "with your E its basically impossible to miss".

For example the user "I_AM_A_MOTH_AMA", who quoted this sentence and wrote: "You have never seen me play Zilean". He gets supported by the user "MajorLeeScrewed," who stated, "You’ve never seen many players play Zilean. It has a travel time and a hit indicator, it’s very easy to dodge unless you’re layering CC."

But some users support "Temporary-Platypus80" opinion. The user "Died_Last_Week", wrote a little analysis of the champion, in which he claimed that Riot Games would have nerfed Zilean to death "if he was any more popular",

Barely anyone plays him, he is one of the least popular supports in the game with a pickrate comparable to offmeta support picks like Shaco and Maokai (~2%), his midlane pickrate is non-existent at 0.2%. Riot has said in the past that if he was any more popular he would be gutted because they know his design is inherently toxic and kind of broken but he goes untouched because his low playrate means no one really complains about that 1 in 50 games they see a Zilean.

So, some interesting points about Zilean were made in the comment section, but still most users seem to think, that Zilean isn't a real problem for the game or the current meta. And it might be the case, that he's just not popular enough to be regarded as an op champ.

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It would be interesting to see, the community reactions if Zilean would find a way back into the meta. Maybe after a rework or with a big skin release, as a way to increase his pick rate, more players would complain about him.

Only the future will tell. Until then, we have to live with the old man and his slightly op ability kit, but since we encounter him very rarely, we can live with this fact.

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