Is Zeri Broken? League Players Have Mixed Reactions to Newest Champion

League of Legends’ newest champion Zeri is taking the game by storm with her insane mechanical kit and her ability to dish out hybrid damage. After much anticipation, Zeri finally made her way onto the rift with the release of Patch 12.2 with players spamming the new electrifying attack damage carry (ADC) ever since. But the community seems to be torn between whether it likes her or not. Social media sites have been recording both positive and negative feedback about this new champion.

It is pretty evident that Zeri’s playstyle revolves around her in-game movement and auto-attacks, which are skill shots. While running around the map at full speed and spamming Qs sounds fun, players have been questioning the damage output of the champion.

Zeri runs around in circles

A clip from League of Legends streamer Nicholas "Quantum" Bianchi playing against Zeri has been doing the rounds on social media. The clip shows how a player on Zeri runs circles around Quantum’s team while doing no damage.

The same clip on Twitter from the point of view (POV) of Team Liquid Academy’s ADC Sean “Yeon” Sung, who played Zeri, showcased his amazing kiting skills as he single handedly engaged the enemies in combat without dying. On Twitter, one user commented, “Running around at 10000 mph doing nothing pog.” Other users were also quick to agree as most of them pointed out Zeri’s poor damage output.

Spamming the Q ability

Zeri as a marksman is unique as traditional auto-attacks for her are skill shots. Her right-click is a spell, not a basic attack, and her Q - Burst Fire has both ability and basic attack properties.

Explaining Zeri’s playstyle, Principal Champion Designer August “August” Browning wrote on Twitter, “Zeri's Q is 825 range, but that isn't the same as having an 825 range AA (auto-attack). Skillshots go center to center, AA's go edge to edge, so the Q is closer to a 725 range attack. Then you have to consider if the target is moving towards you (longer range) or away from you (shorter range).”

But the community has been complaining about her Qs being blocked by minions in the lane requiring players to constantly move around with her. With her auto-attacks turned into an ability, players have to spam Q in order to deal damage to their foes.

League of Legends caster Isaac "Azael" Cummings Bentley voiced his frustrations on Twitter with regards to Zeri’s unique mechanic. He wrote, “Zeri is so innovative - the first-ever champion to introduce a REVOLUTIONARY new mechanic! Zeri is actually able to transcend the game, attacking the people playing her IRL by making them press Q 10 million times per game and giving them carpal tunnel! Wow!”

With people already asking for Zeri to be buffed to amp up her damage, one Reddit User was swift to point out that she really does not lack damage and that “she’s far more balanced than any recently released champ.”

The League of Legends community has time and again questioned the introduction of complex gameplay under the veil of unique mechanics. Players were just as confused when Aphelios was released by Riot Games but soon got used to his five weapons. Only time will tell if the community will get used to playing Zeri as well.