Lore:

Zed is the first ninja in 200 years to unlock the ancient, forbidden ways. He defied his clan and master, casting off the balance and discipline that had shackled him all his life. Zed now offers power to those who embrace knowledge of the shadows, and slays those who cling to ignorance.

An orphan, Zed was taken in and trained by a great ninja master. Only one other student appeared to be Zed's equal - the master's son, Shen. It seemed Zed could never win the favor of the master, as every match between the rivals ended in a draw. Frustrated and jealous, he sought an advantage. The young ninja ventured into a sealed part of the clan's temple, where he found an ornate, foreboding box. Sensing the dark knowledge within, Zed knew he should not open it, but he peered inside nonetheless. In an instant, shadows touched his mind, revealing techniques that had long been hidden. Now armed with a secret edge, he challenged Shen, and this time he defeated the master's son. He expected praise and recognition in his moment of victory, but somehow the master knew Zed had used forbidden ways, and banished him.

Humiliated, the young ninja wandered for years. His bitterness turned to ambition, and he began to train others in the style of the shadows. As his power grew, so did his circle of followers, but he knew that without the box, his technique would never be perfect. One day, Zed looked at his followers and saw that his students were now an army. He led them back to the temple to claim his prize. At the gates, he was surprised to find the old master waiting, receiving Zed and his disciples as if they were welcome guests. The old man laid his sword at Zed's feet, declaring that he had failed Zed as his master. By banishing his former student, the master had doomed Zed to the shadows, instead of leading him to the balanced path. The old man implored Zed to enter the temple, destroy the box, and lead his followers to balance. The dark ninja followed the master inside. Moments later, the assembled ninjas heard Zed cry out in pain. Mysteriously, he emerged unscathed, and threw the severed head of the master at Shen's feet. Screaming in rage, Zed commanded his followers to slaughter the master's students and seize the box.

That day, the old ninja order fell. Though many students died, some escaped thanks to Shen's heroic efforts. Now the temple is a dark training ground for the Order of the Shadow. Zed rules as the Order's master, and his edict is simple: perfect one's technique, and kill all ninjas who refuse to embrace the shadows.

''Balance is a lie - we are the true ninjas.''
-Zed



Some facts about Zed:
- Zed is a meele champion
- Zed can summon Shadows of himself and use them to swap places and deal damage
- Zed is a AD-Champion, and I play him as an Offtank ;)
- Zed uses Energy as his Ressource

REMEMBER: I will always try to update this Guide (correcting mistakes, checking design etc.) At the moment it contains some mistakes, I will surely remove them in the following days :)

I tried to use lots of codding, got some problems although: Don't ask me why my Skill Sequence is not working. Also the codding for the Skill Sequence isn't working. Would be good if someone could help me in the discussion.

Well, since this Guide is for Zed at Top-Lane, you will mostly fight Offtanks/Fighters there. These Offtanks use Greater Seal of Armor in most cases. Here comes the reason why I chose the following runes:



As I already mentioned, most enemy champions will use Greater Seal of Armor on Top-Lane to give them the posibility to take more damage. If you use this runes, most of their armor will be gone through this ones.



To give you some magic resist in late game for the team fights.



To give you armor for early game against your opponnent at Top

Greater Mark of Desolation

Really important in early game, because the Passiv of your Living Shadow also depends on that rune. So it will be easy to increase your damage.

(You can also see the skill sequence in my 2nd build on this page)

You may ask yourself: Why the hell do you max Living Shadows (W) first?
Let me give you some reasons:
+ If you have a nice farming in your lane, and (just an example) you buy B. F. Sword with level 5, the passive of Living Shadows will give you already 15 % bonus attack damage -> 45 B. F. Sword x 15 % from Living Shadows = 56 attack damage, which is a lot (for me).
+ Mostly people max Q first. In my opinion, Q costs a lot of energy. If you keep harassing the enemy all the time (which is not really a good way to harass because the minions on your lane will decrease the damage of Razor Shuriken for sure) and you see that the enemy is on low health, you surely want to kill him. But remember, you can't do anything without energy.
+ As you can see in the Skill Chapter, Living Shadows restores 40 energy on level 5, which is A LOT! It will give you the posibilitie to make an endless chain of combos, which is not only OP, it also makes a lot of fun :)

Pros:

[X] extremly funny to play with
[X] has a 2nd Flash because of his Living Shadows
[X] his shadows copy the abilities from Zed, which means he deals awesome damage in team fights
[X] energy regenerates when Zed and 1 of his shadow hit the same target
[X] awesome combos with his shadows
[X] just looks like an amazing ninja :D



Cons:

[X] Razor Shuriken costs A LOT of energy
[X] Living Shadow has 21sec CD (WTF)
[X] Zed is really item-depended
[X] Shadows remove in 3sec
[X] refers a lot of time to master him

Contempt for the Weak (Passive):
Whenever Zed autoattacks an enemy below 50 % health, he deals an additional 6/8/10 % of their maximum health as magic damage. This effect can not occur on the same target morde than once every 10 secons.


Razor Shuriken (Q):
Zed and his shadows throw their shurikens, each dealing 75/110/145/180/215 (+1 per attack damage point) physical damage to the first enemy they pass through and deals 60/88/116/144/172 (+0.8 per attack damage point) amount to enemies thereafter.

Cost: 75/70/65/60/55 Energy
Cooldown: 6 seconds


Living Shadow (W):
Passiv: Zed's bonus attack damage is increased by 5/10/15/20/25 %.

Upon Activation, Zed's shadow dashes forward, remaining in place for 4 seconds. Reactivating this ability will cause Zed to switch positions with this shadow. Zed's shadow will mimic his basic abilities. If both strike the same target Zed regains 20/25/30/35/40 Energy and the spell gains a bonus effect.

Razor Shuriken: Additional shurikens striking the same enemy deal 50 % damage.
Shadow Slash Overlapping Shadow Slashes striking the same enemy deal no additional damage but will incur an increased slow.

Cost: 40/35/30/25/20 Energy
Cooldown 22/20.5/19/17.5/16 seconds


Shadow Slash (E):
Zed and his shadows create a burst of shadow, dealing 60/90/120/150/180 (+0.9 per attack damage point) physical damage to nearby enemies. Zed's slash reduces the cooldown of Living Shadow by 1 second for each enemy struck. His shadow's slashes slow enemies by 20/25/30/35/40 % for 1.5 seconds

Cost: 50 Energy
Cooldown: 3 seconds


Death Mark (R):
Zed becomes untargetable and dashes to target enemy champion. Upon arrival, he marks the target for death and spawns a living shadow behind the target. This shadow lasts 4 seconds and mimics Zed's abilities. Reactivating Death Mark will cause Zed to switch positions with this shadow. After 3 seconds, the mark will detonate, dealing 20/35/50 % physical damage equal to 100 % of Zed's attack damage plus 20 % of all magic and physical damage dealt to the target by Zed and his shadows while the mark was active

Cost: No costs
Cooldown: 120/100/80 seconds

The reason why I prefer this summoner spell: For most people it's really hard to hit with their Razor Shuriken. If you use this one, it will be much easier to help the jungler when he wants to gank Top-Lane and to hit with your Q. It also makes it much easier to plan the timming for your ultimate and where to place your shadow.



Another Flash. In combination with your W it will be a 100 % save escape process :)



Really important in Dominion. Also in 5vs5 and 3vs3 games important if you want to escape. But I don't like it that much because Zed is a champion which prefers positioning.



Another awesome summoner spell with Zed. In combination with your W, you send out a shadow and change places with him to reduce the distance if the enemy is on low health. Use your Flash and Ignite on the target and enjoy your free kill ;)



Only good in Dominion. Forget this summoner spell in normal games. It's useless thanks to his high cooldown.



Zed is also a really good jungler. Start at red Buff and ask someone to pull it. Level up your Shadow Slash first and max it first. You won't need the blue Buff from the bigger Golem because this spell reduces the cooldown of Zed's other abilities. And Zed's has energy, he will not need it.



Sure, why not. If you use Teleport it will be much easier to safe important time. It is also said that you get around 40 more minions then your opponent at Top-Lane.



Another good summoner spell which can be really important for you. If you got lower health then your enemy, mostly they will try to finish you off and get very greedy. Use it close before you are dieng to troll your enemy and enjoy your success :)



Ehm ... no. Zed does a lot of burst damage, so this one is useless. By the way, all of Zed's abilities deal physical damage, except of the Death Mark. You don't need it, trust me.



Sure, if you fight an annoying champion like Jax or Irelia, which can stun a lot, this summoner spell will help you a lot.



No! Zed doesn't have any Mana. Uuuuuuuseless!



Zed is not a Pusher. And this spell won't help you in any late game.



Leave this to your support :)