League of Legends: Why Zac is an Issue

If you don't understand this title, turn around now; this is pure game talk.

League of Legends holds itself highly as a game that expertly weaves addicting progression with fun and engaging gameplay (for more of what makes League of Legends, see my previous post). This gameplay remains exciting because of the amount of choices that a player can make to best their opponents, and vice versa.

Once his all powerful dash is out of the way, Shen is one of the most easily kited enemies in the game.

Throughout their creation process, champions are designed to have a balance of both power and counterplay; a chosen champion may seem powerful in one aspect, but actions can still be made to defeat him/her. Lux, for example, has long ranged and CC abilities that she can use to harass her opponents to their deaths, but she has no dashes/movement abilities which means that if she ever gets caught up close, she's in for a big beating. Likewise, Talon is a burst assassin that can eliminate mages with ease. However, once he starts facing enemies who build armor, he becomes less of a threat. Champions have never crossed a line that disallows their opponents from fighting back.

Zac has crossed that line.

This fool right here.

Now I know you're thinking that I'm saying he's overpowered. He has a strong early game and weak late game, so he isn't quite OP. However, his early game ganking power is simply unparalleled because of one move: elastic slingshot. Its range is so great that it can completely divert careful ward placement. How is it fair that someone should have to pay for a ward and place it intelligently, if the enemy jungler can make it completely irrelevant?

Elastic slingshot can also be used as a quick getaway. If Zac ever gets caught, all he needs to do is fly away. If he uses it preemptively, he can even leap over two walls.

Look at that bloody range!

Finally, elastic slingshot has the cancerous perk of knocking up anyone it hits. No, it doesn't snare, stun, or slow, it displaces enemies, as if that's some sort of tool to be used liberally. The problem with displacement is that it cannot be countered: No amount of tenacity can save you from Zac's full combo. All he needs is to hit his easily-aimed leap at you, and you are forced at Zac's mercy. His ultimate also gives him three additional chances to knock up his enemies yet again, meaning that if you are in his sights, you are going to get displaced. Of course Zac himself deals minimal damage, but that's the job of the lane that he's ganking.

We can see this problem recurring ever more frequently on the Fields of Justice: new champions like Vi, Aatrox, and the reworked Sejuani can freely disregard their opposing team's front line. They have abilities that both allow them to leap, and deal considerable damage or displace foes. The problem with champions like these is that they break the delicate balance of the game formed from years past. Rather than each team having a front line, mid line, and back line, champions with damaging/displacing leaps completely destroy the existence of any lines. This mobility should be limited to assassins, such as Akali and Kha'zix, who actually need the leap to reach high profile targets. Instead, this privilege is being handed out willy nilly to champions of all kinds. Old champions are also completely without this versatile tool, making them less than optimal choices as compared to their newer counterparts.

Oh, these guys? They're not important, just jump over them.

Zac, the most annoying of these examples, is simply the greatest exaggerator of this meta.

So what do you think? Is this argument all hogwash, or is there some truth to these abilities being cancerous?

Riot itself calls Zac powerful on all levels of play. Gee, I wonder why... (no, it's not the chunk drops.)