Hi my name is Rito Legendary and this is my first guide. I have made this to ensure that not only does the 'current meta' work great but there are other fun ways to play this champion. It might work in some instances, might work poorly in others. Who knows.

Anyway welcome to 'Crit the shadows ~ Zed Top', in the following, I will be briefly explaining how to play crit build zed. (Although some of you might already know, kappa)

Pros
- Fun to play
- Gives a different version of this assasin that not everyone knows about, so you can take that as your advantage and surprise them
- Crits are insane and you deal so much damage with your auto attacks
- Short cds and a lot of attack speed.
- Surprisingly all your abilities still deal alot of damage

Cons
- Sometimes relies on auto attacks too much
- Not as easy to play with
- Might be weaker against enemies who have a dash who can get out of your aa range

You would want to typically get attack speed reds just so you can crit faster. Cooldown blues also help spam your E, but get mr blues if the enemy is ap.
Obviously you need AD quints for the damage and armor yellows are necessary, but is debatable between HP per level.

Just the normal 21/9 masteries. I wouldn't recommend 21/0/9 at all but try the 30 offense masteries. They pack quite a punch. However, I more like to be safe so I usually go 21/9.

You can get Q max over E max, it really depends who you are up against. (Like for ranged, you can usually go Q, however melee, I prefer E).
With this crit build you really want to be next to the enemy bashing his/her face in with spammable aoe damages and slow so you can keep up with them, so E would be better.

I usually go E and dorans blade w/ one pot when starting the game so I can do wolves lvl 1, or an easy jungle camp. It usually works, but if you aren't confident, you can use a pot. It doesn't hurt to do that since you will be backing anyway with ~170 gold so you can get new consumables. I go dorans blade for the extra hp and lifesteal. I also get E(which deals just less then Q lvl 1), which can help you use it more times than Q and also for that AOE damage.

That is also why I always take teleport, to get to lane faster and to apply pressure around the map if needed. Also, Zed isn't really a good sustain champion, so bringing teleport can save you from losing a few waves of creeps if you plan on backing because the enmey got you to low hp.

You can get ignite and and teleport as well, aside from teleport and flash but i still think flash is always needed for any champion. It's always useful for assasinating someone or getting the hell out.

I wouldn't recommend ignite and flash combo, unless you dont want to make tp plays or do a jungle camp lvl 1. Which... i wouldn't see why you wouldn't... And ignite falls off late game as well since they will become more tanky.

Other reliable spells include Heal, Barrier, Exhaust maybe ghost. But these aren't as good as the tp flash combo, but u can experiment if you want...

All in all, crit build zed is fun to play as and may surprise the enemy, making them underestimate you. However, it's best to know how to play with this build and experiment on what works best, to get this strategy to your full potential.