Zeri is the newest champion in League of Legends that is available to play in pro games. From the moment she was allowed to play, she has been raining down hellfire in every single league in the world, dominating pro play. Additionally, after the players found out how to best make use of her, she has been a SoloQ monster. What are her strengths and why is she so popular? Let’s find out together.
Today, Zeri is a “must pick or ban” for most of the leagues around the world. Especially in lower skill minor leagues, people have found it hard to stop Zeri and she is a “free win” for the team that picks her. If you don’t understand why, we have some answers for you. However, keep in mind that League of Legends is a flexible game and things can change rapidly, especially between patches.
What is Zeri capable of?
Zeri is kind of a different ADC or marksman. Her auto attacks are counted as an ability, which has a bar that fills up in time and it doesn’t act like an auto attack, but rather like an ability and deals damage like one. Her auto attacks are her Q’s, just like Ezreal. However, you can tank her Q’s, by standing in front of them.
She has a small dash that becomes longer when you use it over walls and her ultimate boosts up her Q’s. Thanks to her passive, Zeri can get a percentage of the shield her enemies have, when she lands her Q’s on them. Getting shields also boost her.
This is the overall summary of Zeri’s kit. However, using the traditional ADC builds didn’t help her kit at all. That’s when the players found out a fun build that boosts her movement speed to impossible levels, and that build turned out to be her strongest one. Using Trinity Force, Titanic Hydra, Runaan’s Hurricane, Blade of the Ruined King and similar items, she builds an on-hit build without a Guinsoo’s Rageblade. Together with Lethal Tempo’s attack speed and range boost, she becomes lethal.
Because of her high damage output and movement speed, most of the time, the team playing against Zeri loses the game if she doesn’t fall behind too much in the early game. Her laning seems to be a little tough, although she can thrive with some help from the jungler.
Thus, we have seen many teams pick her on the blue side’s first pick. The only counter to her seems to be Nautilus at this point, as you point click your R on her and stop her without having to expect where she would end up as she fires her Q’s on you with a thousand movement speed.
Zeri’s success in SoloQ and esports
Of course, this useful kit together with the most lethal build helped her climb a lot in SoloQ and pro play. According to LeagueofGraphs’ data, Zeri is the most banned champion in SoloQ right now (56.0%). Zeri has a popularity of 17.5%, and a 50.9% win rate. Of course that is the current WR, as she has had more when her new build was first introduced. A better stat: higher than Master level, her win rate increases to 51.7% and she is banned on 65% of the games.
Let’s get to professional play using gol.gg’s data. Having a look at the major leagues, she has a presence of 46% in LEC, she isn’t banned in only 5 games and she has 60% win rate. In LCS, she has a 33% win rate. In LCK, her win rate is 58.8% but she has been played much more than other leagues. LPL is the place she was dominating the most, with 64%. In PCS, she has a presence of 100%, and she also has a 100% win rate.
In general, she got close to 100% presence during the 12.3 patch. Throughout 165 games, she has a win rate of 63.6%. Additionally to her bot lane presence, she has been played in the mid lane four times with a 100% win rate, and in the top lane four times with a win rate of 75%. One of the most successful players with Zeri is Victory Five’s Photic, having 100% win percentage and 10.2 KDA with her.
It is not healthy for League of Legends to be dominated by a single champion this much. So, hopefully, her win rate will settle and she won’t be such a nightmare in pro play as well during the next patches.
If you are interested in Zeri, you should pay more attention to the professional games she has been played. Visit Luckbox to watch them and place your bets.
