This zed guide is written by Arctic; currently a Diamond-rated player at the South-East Asia Server. I've been playing League Of Legends for 3 years (mainly top/mid). The way I play and/or build champions may vary from others.

Zed is a bruiser-assassin Champion that can go either Mid, Top Lane or even jungle. He is a very fun champion. As an assassin, he can easily take out the enemy carry and then escape to safety if possible. Many argued that zed is weak in this current meta but l beg to differ. He can farm safely with his abilities and at the same time having good harass and a good escape skill. In this guide, you will learn how to be the true master of shadows.

Pros:

+ High burst potential
+ Good poke
+ No mana
+ Gap closer/escape
+ Dodge skills with good timing of using death mark
+ Good at splitpushing
+ Spamming Laughs
+ Good Waveclearing

Cons:

- Squishy
- Vulnerable to ganks if living shadows is on cooldown
- Death mark is countered by Zhonya's/QSS (Quicksilver Stash)
- Weak to CC (Crowd Controls)

Flash is always good for escaping and securing kills.




Ignite is used to secure kills and also to reduce healing effects. Basically, the true damage provides an insurance for your combo to kill the enemy laner.

Alternatives Spells:

Cleanse can be considered when facing a heavy cc team as it removes all cc effects on you.




You might consider teleport as it's good for ganking and helping in team fights especially dragon fights/baron fights/xPeke! However, it's more frequently used when playing top than in mid lane.

Recommended Runes:

Greater Mark Of Armor Penetration

Flat attack damage rune only helps in the early levels, however flat armor pen scales better into late game and allowing zed to deal much more damage to champion but not to minions.

Greater Seal Of Armor

This is essential against enemy AD mid laners/ AD junglers ;etc.

Greater Glyph Of Magic Resist

For defense against Ap junglers/Ap mid laners and it's also great to have balanced runes.

Greater Quintessence Of Attack Damage

It's good to have some early damage and also, you need to have a good amount of pure damage to put your armor pen into full use.

Alternative Options:

Greater Mark Of Attack Damage

Flat AD helps you in wave clearing,last hit and to clear the jungle creeps faster.

Greater Glyph Of Cooldown Reductions

Get these when your opponent team com has a full AD team com as magic resist is practically useless. Cooldown reduction helps zed to spam skills more often and shortening his cooldown abilities, allowing more plays to be made.

(Passive) Contempt of the Weak

Zed's basic attacks against targets below 50% health deal 6 / 8 / 10% of the target's maximum health as bonus magic damage.
This effect can only occur once every 10 seconds on the same target.

In Summary, Zed's passive causes his first attack on low health targets to deal a big chunk of bonus magic damage. It's great for last-hitting minions under your tower and it can help finish off low champions after your full combo.

(Q) Razor Shuriken

ACTIVE: Zed throws his spinning blades forward, dealing physical damage to the first enemy they pass through and 60% damage to enemies thereafter.
PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 75 / 115 / 155 / 195 / 235 (+ 100% bonus AD)
SECONDARY DAMAGE: 45 / 69 / 93 / 117 / 141 (+ 60% bonus AD)
LIVING SHADOW: Active shadows will also throw a shuriken in the direction of the target point. Additional shuriken striking the same enemy deal 50% damage and restore energy.

This is basically your bread and butter ability. If you’re killing someone, aim for a double or triple Q and DON’T MISS as they will usually survive if you miss. This means that you need to save your Q till you slow them with Shadow Slash or Blade of the Ruined King and/or they Flash.

(W) Living Shadow

PASSIVE: Zed's bonus attack damage is increased by a percentage.
BONUS ATTACK DAMAGE: 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25% Bonus AD
ACTIVE: Zed's shadow dashes forward, remaining in place for 4 seconds. Reactivating Living Shadow will cause Zed to swap places with this shadow.
LIVING SHADOW: Zed's shadows mimic his basic abilities. If a target is struck twice by a mimicked ability, Zed restores some energy. Energy can only be restored once per mimicked cast.
ENERGY RESTORED: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40

Proper management of your shadow(s) is essential in winning duels, juking enemies. It is also extremely importent in duels; you can potentially dodge any disables or skillshots they may have.

(E) Shadow Slash

ACTIVE: Zed spins his blades, creating a burst of shadow energy and dealing physical damage to nearby enemies. Each enemy champion hit reduces Living Shadow's cooldown by 2 seconds.
PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+ 80% bonus AD)
LIVING SHADOW: Active shadows also slash, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies and slowing them for 1.5 seconds. Enemies hit by both slashes are slowed more and restore energy but will not take additional damage.
SLOW: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%
OVERLAPPING SLOW: 30 / 37.5 / 45 / 52.5 / 60%

This is your only cc ability that allows you to slow your opponent when using living shadows which allows you to hit your Razor Shurikens more accurately and dealing tons of damage, making the minor crowd control essential for a successful assassination.

(R) Death Mark

ACTIVE: Zed becomes untargetable for 0.75 seconds and dashes behind the target enemy champion. Upon arrival, he marks the target for death, ignores unit collision, and spawns a shadow that lasts for 6 seconds at the cast location. Reactivating Death Mark will cause Zed to swap places with this shadow.
After 3 seconds, Death Mark will trigger, dealing flat physical damage plus a percentage of all physical and magic damage dealt to the marked champion while it was active.
PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 100% AD + 20 / 35 / 50% of damage dealt

This is possibly the best ultimate in the game when it comes to assassinating a single target. It works well with tower diving as it allows you to get in and out of tower range safely. Furthermore, it lasts for a 6 seconds and it also has no limit on how far you can teleport back to it.

These are the two combos that l usually used to poke people in lane. (Without Ultimate)
1) W -> Q -> E

2) W -> E -> Q

1) If you see a shuriken above their heads while your ultimate is active, it means the explosion will kill them.

2) Try to finish your assassination as fast as possible so that you can port back before the CC gets you.

3) Ctl+3 and then Spam Ctl+4.

To wrap it up, zed is an incredibly fun champion to play with. He is easy to pick up while also having a high skill cap. His assassination is one of the best in game. If you enjoy reading this guide, an up vote would be appreciated. In case you didn't like the build or found something inappropriate and wish to add your own differing opinions, don't down vote hastily, but leave a comment, and I'll fix that up and give credit where it is due.