Let’s talk Zemo

MaxtheSilent

So I’ve seen a lot of very positive feedback on YouTube regarding Baron Zemo going back to shortly after his release. More recently I’ve seen a few people on the forum saying he’s overhyped and lacking in damage. The other day I finally got him as a 6* and I’m really enjoying him. I find his play style to be fun and his animations are sick. So I’m going to rank him up because I like him but I’m still not sure about his value compared to other skill champs. He clearly can do a lot , that’s evident from the videos out there on him , but can he do those things better/more quickly or efficiently than other skill champs? I’m curious as to other people’s perspective on him. I’m not asking if he’s “good” or worth ranking. I’m just curious if people feel like he’s in the top tier of skill champs or if they feel like he’s more niche in terms of usefulness. I’m really only asking for the enjoyment of discussing the character so if you have a perspective on his place in the game I’d love to hear it.

KnightOfTheRealm

I took him to R3. He’s not fast enough for BGs and I haven’t brought him to war because I have better options. I don’t find him to be a hard defender so I wouldn’t recommend him.

Moha84

Overrated lol

CyborgNinja135

I've had mine at R4 for about a month and a bit and he is one of my favorites. His playstyle is fun and while it is not the fastest, he has a lot of control over fights, he's very safe and he gets the job done. He doesn't shine in BGs outside of very specific match-ups due to the time constraints, but he shines in every other game mode.

A lot of people say he is overhyped and that is true to some extent. However, the other day I was rewatching Karatemike's video and I realized that people saying he's overhyped is also a bit of an exaggeration. Zemo is really good for all the fights that Mike showcased. He might not be the best option for some, but he's still a very good option. Yes he was running recoil masteries in that video but all those do is speed up the fight. Zemo can do all of them as comfortably as shown in the video. More importantly, I feel like another reason why people say he's overhyped is that there isn't a lot of content right now that will really make him stand out. While I was playing through the 8.3 beta I noticed that a lot of the Skill paths and bosses had nodes that really benefit him, and he was excellent for those fights. It is just a matter of time before we start seeing more content where he'll really shine. I will do the #Thunderbolts Carina challenge next week and I can already see him getting a few solos.

Regarding his rotation it did feel quite slow at first, especially when you want to stack up his bleeds. Zemo is one of those characters that really benefits from being a higher rank due to the increased combat power rate. A 7* Zemo wouldn't have that issue. Obviously fights where he will be constantly inflicted with debuffs will ramp him up even faster, and once you have around 30 bleeds (which can be done from one sp2, sp1, sp1 rotation), the constant DOT damage is no joke. As for his abilities, cleanse is very nice to have. I wouldn't recommend bringing him on nodes like Biohazard where the debuffs can kill you fast if they stack, but for those nodes that constantly place disorient/armor break/power lock he's going to be a great option. This also applies to champions that inflict a couple of debuffs when you hit them, mostly in the Science class. Finally, his decelerate. Each stack is passive, has 50% potency and this is a flat reduction to evade and unstoppable. I can't emphasize enough how strong this ability is, and most annoying evaders will be shut down for the rest of the fight the first time they are rooted.

He's very good. A bit overhyped but still very good and I feel like his value will only go up with every new patch. I wouldn't consider him a top 5 Skill just yet, but definitely top 10 for now.