Yone vs Zed Counter Pick

A 2,008-game sample is large enough to treat the number as settled, and on patch 16.13.1 it reads 43.4% for Yone — Hard, and consistently so. Yone owns the longer basic attack at 175 against 125, with move speed level at 345 apiece, so early exchanges are winnable; what he cannot fix is the shape of the fight after level six. Death Mark makes Zed untargetable while he dashes in and then repeats a portion of the damage he deals, which converts a defensive window into a delay rather than an escape.

Energy is the quieter advantage. Living Shadow returns energy whenever Zed and his shadow strike an enemy with the same ability, so the poke pattern refunds itself, while Flow only accumulates through committed combat. Razor Shuriken thrown by both Zed and his shadow doubles the wave clear and the harassment, and Shadow Slash slows anything caught by a shadow’s swing, cutting off the Soul Unbound retreat. Resistances land close: 32 armor and 29 magic resistance for Zed against 33 and 32, then 111.9 to 111.2 by level 18, with health at 2,337 to 2,405. Both are physical damage dealers rated 7 and 8 in difficulty, so armor is the shared purchase and the margin comes from cooldown discipline rather than the build path Yone chooses.