There is one League of Legends champion that just has an insanely high ban rate, and as it turns out, even the balance team hates this champion.
There are some champions in League of Legends that are just always banned, no matter how strong or weak they are in the current meta. They are just extremely unfun to play against and therefore get banned in multiple games. One of the champions with the highest ban rate, consistently is none other than Zed.
Even if he isn't the strongest he always has a high ban rate, but because of this, there are also some issues with his balance, since it seems like the balance team will not be able to buff the champion either, otherwise he'd never see the light of day again.
LoL: Riot Devs Reveal That They Keep Zed Weak On Purpose
In a recent stream August "August" Browning, Lead Designer on League of Legends at Riot Games, spoke about Zed and how the balance team has to intentionally keep this champion on the weaker end of the spectrum. Why is the balance team doing this, though?
Well, according to Riot August, as well as most of the League community, he is the most frustrating champion in League of Legends.
Zed is weak. It is intentional. Zed must be kept weak because he is the most frustrating champion in League of Legends. And so for all of eternity Zed will probably be slightly weaker than he should be, because of how often he is banned.
Riot August: "Zed Is Weak And Will Be Intentionally Kept Weak Forever Because He Is The Most Frustrating Champion In The Game" by u/bxgang in leagueoflegends
There is a reason for Zed to be kept weak, though. Due to him being so frustrating to play against, he is going to shoot up on the ban list. Currently, according to op.gg he sits at a 20% ban rate in the mid lane. This has shot up to 30% and above when he was in a better spot in the meta.
Therefore, Riot is intentionally keeping him weak, so his ban rates don't go overboard and those who do want to play him still have a chance to get to pick him in their games.
One Redditor explained that a similar thing happened to Samira, who after her release and a bit of shuffling around was actually pretty balanced, but her ban rate continued to shoot up, hence why Riot had to nerf her again, thus making her extremely weak. Only then, though, did her ban rate go down to an acceptable level.
Other champions have experienced similar situations, but Riot have started to buff them again, but it seems like Zed, who has been around for long enough, will continue to be kept weak, due to his constant frustration in solo queue.