Every body that climbs in my shard with zEP either switched back to DR or JKR after their climb. When I got DR I was still using JKR and fell to the high 40's. After I switched to DR I fall in between the 18 - 25 range. If I kept zEP lead I would probably fall out of the top 50. zEP is a tool to merely get to help get better rewards due to speed mods. DR is to hold on defense. Now if I am not at speed mismatch I will cruise on through with DR but that isn't the case in my shard.