Zed is the best assassin in the mid lane at the moment, because of his ridiculous damage, mobility, and split pushing. While he can be played both in the mid and top lanes, and even in jungle , I highly prefer him in the mid lane, so that he can start snowballing. Also, the mid lane sets up a great platform for roams and ambushes.

PROS:

• Great burst potential
• Great Poke in lane
• Great escapes with ult and shadow
• Powerful Split Push

CONS:

• Not much sustain early
• CD's on burst long
• Next to no crowd control
• His ultimate can be blocked

This is just a standard 21/9/0 running down the left side of the OFFENSE tree and getting the most efficient setup in the DEFENSE tree.

Some may opt for the movement speed in the utility tree, but I don't like this, since Zed is quite squishy.


Dangerous Game is a mastery that is run most of the time, but I opted for Expose Weakness instead, due to increased burst from your OWN damage as well as your allies' damage.

The reasons I chose the runes that I did:

QUINTS:

FLAT DAMAGE (x3):Just for that added boost in poke and in damage overall in lane.

LIFESTEAL (x3): Zed has next to no sustain in lane early, except for pots, so this is a great boost before you get your bilgewater cutlass or Blade of the Ruined King

MOVEMENT SPEED (x3): Great just for roaming. This is only when you are really good and are sure that your roams will be worth it.

MARKS:

Attack Speed (x6): This is really nice for last hitting and for poke in general, because it really allows you to autoattack a lot quicker (10%)

Attack Damage (x3): This will just give you a tiny bit more damage in lane.

SEALS:

Armor (x9): These are just to give some early tankiness, before you have the chance to jump in and jump out. Basically, later in the game, when you are splitting or backdooring, you can easily burst someone and jump away, which means that tankiness isn't needed as much later as early (in lane).

GLYPHS:

FLAT MR(x9): These are the best ATM. In the mid lane, against mages, the time when you actually need that MR is early. During the mid game, you are going to roam, so it's not as important.

(Passive) Contempt for the Weak
This is just a HUGE help in lane, as you can easily last hit with this passive, which deals bonus magic damage to low health enemies. This is also a pretty large part of your burst

Razor Shuriken (Q)
Cooldown: 6 seconds

This is your major form of poke. Pair this with your W to create a fearsome amount of damage.

Also, if you are being zoned, this ability is great for csing

If your shadow's [Q] lands, it gives you a bit of energy back.


(W) Living Shadow
Cooldown: 18/17/16/15/14 seconds

This is your escape and your damage amplifier.

If you place your shadow on your opponent, and E then Q, you can get a really nice poke.

Do not waste this for poke, if you know that the jungler is coming for you.

It also grants you % bonus AD, but this isn't as significant as its active


(E) Shadow Slash
Cooldown: 4 seconds

This, too, is a great damage ability. When your shadow's [E] hits, it slows, making it easy for you to land a follow up [Q]

(R) Death Mark
Cooldown: 120/100/80 seconds

This is Zed's single most terrifying spell. When you ult, place down a [W] shadow and get a triple [E] and a triple [Q]. Paired with BoRK, they will be bursted in a matter of seconds.

If you cannot reach them, either Flash or double W and then use your Q, E and BoRK. Since reactivating this spell blinks you to your beginning location, this spell is great for tower dives.

However, this can be countered by some spells and items, like Quicksilver Sash or Kayle's Intervention

I like to bring Flash and Ignite for these reasons:

Flash is a must have for Zed, as it extends your assassin zone by 400 units, and also is a great escape, paired with your [W].

Ignite is also a great help on Zed both because of the true damage and the Grievous Wounds. The true damage is great for your ult, as the more damage, the better, but the unsung hero is the Grievous Wounds. This reduces healing, which is great if you don't want them to live.

• [W][Q] For Farming and Poke
• [W][E][Q] For Farming and Poke
• [R][W][E][Q][R] +BoRK,ignite For Assassinations
• [W][W][R][Q][E] +BoRK,ignite For Assassinations
• [W][W][E][Q] For Escapes

This is a large portion of your damage, both for the passive and the active. The active deals damage during your ult, and the passive deals damage when you autoattack.

This is a must have for Zed because it allows him to push down turrets super fast. Also, the crit chance is amazing.

The Armour pen on this item is a must have on Zed. Not only does it amplify your damage vs. enemies (mostly tanky ones) but it gives a decent amount of AD as well (40)

this will greatly reduce your waveclear time, and increase your damage multitudes. with 1000+ crits towards the late game, this item is truly outrageous taric size 40

This gives you a bit of tankiness, as well as a revive. This is overall a great item because of its ability to act as a failsafe for Zed.

This gives you tenacity, Attack Damage, movement speed, and CDR. This, in the late game, will serve as a replacement to boots, and is all around a great item for chasing and escaping.

This is just to make sure that 1. If you are against a stealth champion ( Akali, Evelynn, etc) or just to check if the brush you're standing in to ambush someone in isn't warded.

Here's Why.

[Q]: This is your major form of damage. This is what you really want to get maxed, as a triple Q during your ult will literally deal TONS of damage.

[E]: This is the other burst in your arsenal. This ,even at level 1, will enable you to E twice during a shadow. This is especially nice. You want to max this second for mainly damage.

[R] You want to level this up at any possible time, for this is your primary assassination tool.

[W]: This you want to max last, since its benefits aren't that great. At level 18, however, you will get 25% bonus AD from its passive, which is quite nice.

The laning phase will either be really in your favor or relatively even.

Since you have [Q] to CS or your passive, you can typically hold your own in lane. However, if you are ahead, you can use your W E Q combo to zone and poke, and use your passive/autoattacks to last hit. Beginning at level 2, you can start poking with a W Q combo. Last hitting should not be a problem, so on your first back, you should be able to afford a brutalizer and maybe bilgewater. Once you get bilgewater and boots of speed or tier 2 boots, you have reached the mid game.

At this point, you should have:

The Brutalizer, Bilgewater Cutlass/ Blade of the Ruined King, and BOOTS.

Now, you want to roam around the map, getting kills and farming for BoRK, Youmuu's Ghostblade and Last Whisper.

After you have completed this, you either get a defense item (If you aren't doing too well) or IE. Once you get IE, your duel is ridiculous, with 900+ damage crits.

You can also start Split Pushing at this point.

This is when you either SPLIT push or TEAMFIGHT.

To SPLIT,

Use your W Q E to farm creep waves, and start pushing turrets with Youmuu's Ghostblade. If anyone comes, run until your cd's are up, and then fight. If a 2+ vs 1 happens, your team should be able to answer with at least a turret.

To TEAMFIGHT:

Simply wait between your Front line (Tanks/Bruisers) and your BACK LINE (ADC, APC, sometimes SUPPORT), until you can burst down a priority target in the back line.
after bursting, run away and act as an ADC, poking down with your Q.

To Recap:
Zed is an awesome assassin who is great at dueling, split pushing, and teamfighting.
You want to use a variety of ability combos to poke and assassinate opponents.

Thanks for reading!