Hello everybody and welcome to my Zed guide. This guide will be teaching you how to play Zed. He's an Assassin type champion that is great at dueling and going 1v1.He is great in the early to mid game , but afterwards in the late game he becomes a bit weaker if he is not played right.He uses energy in his kit and he has a lot of flashy combos that can make you look cool , because , why the hell not ? Anyways the guide will be covering which Runes , Items , , Build and Masteries he is using , it will also teach you his Abilities , Spells , Farming , Laning phase , Tips and tricks etc.

x3 Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage , we want to use this quintessence because we want the extra attack damage so our abilities would deal more damage , you can also take 1 Quint of Attack Damage and 2 Quints of Life Steal , my personal choice would be the 3 Quintessences of Attack Damage.

Greater Mark of Armor Penetration x6 Greater Mark of Armor Penetration , i use 6 Marks of Armor Penetration on Zed , it helps you kill squishy people and is useful against tanks.

x3 Greater Mark of Attack Damage , i use also the 3 Marks of Attack Damage , this way i won't lose as much as Attack Damage as if i had 9 Marks of Armor Penetration.

x9 Greater Seal of Armor , standard , we don't want to lose as much as health because we are squishy with Zed , this will help us a bit against Attack Damage champions.

x9 Greater Glyph of Magic Resist , we want these because we gain more resistances to magic type spells and it's very useful when you are playing against an Ability Power type Champion.

Contempt for The Weak
Contempt for The Weak is Zed's passive. When Zed hits a target that has less then 50% health , he deals additional 6%/8%/10% of the target's current health , the % rises when Zed's level is 7 and 17 . This ability is very useful while using your ultimate on a target , or just very useful for farming minions.

Razor Shuriken
This ability is Zed's Q ability and should be taken on level 1. Zed throws out a shuriken dealing 100% of the damage to the first target hit and 50% of the damage to the rest of the targets it hits. This ability is great for farming from a distance if your opponent is a tough one and won't let you farm from close. This is your main harass on Zed it deals the most damage from his basic abilities.

Living Shadow
This ability is Zed's W ability and should be taken on level 2. Zed throws out a shadow which stands in place for 4 seconds , the shadow will copy Zed's abilities and you use it for combos . The ability is used also to get closer to a target , or to escape a gank from the enemy jungler . therefore making it very useful for dealing damage , for chasing an enemy or for escaping a gank.

Shadow Slash
This ability is Zed's E ability and should be taken on level 3. Zed spins his blades dealing damage in a small AoE area , if Zed's shadow hits the enemy with this ability the enemy is slowed , if both Zed and his shadow hit the enemy , it does not deal double damage , but it applies a bigger slow and if only Zed hits a champion with his E , his W cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds.

Death Mark
This ability is Zed's ultimate ability and should be taken on level 6 , 11 and 16. Zed marks a target for death and dashes to them , while the mark is active Zed must deal damage to his target , when the mark triggers it pops and it deals damage equal to Zed's attack damage and 20%/35%/50% of the damage dealt while the mark was active , the % increases when his ultimate is upgraded to level 2 and 3. This ability is used for killing a single individual and is very strong against squishy targets.

These are Zed's Pros and Cons,

PROS
+Fun to play
+Very high damage and burst
+Strong during the whole game
+Great for dueling
+Good laning phase

CONS
- Easy to play hard to master
- Weak against tanks early to mid game
- Ultimate is easily countered
- Uses up a lot of energy for his skills

These are the spells i use when i play Zed.

Ignite is very useful on Zed , it scales with his ultimate's damage and it's what you want to be using with him for extra kill potential.

Flash adds more mobility to Zed making him harder to catch , and it's easier to chase opponents if your W is on a cooldown.

Death's Dance
New season 6 item , gives Zed a good boost in attack damage , but also gives him 12% healing from his abilities and also the last enemy he attacked deals 12% less damage to him. I recommend taking it as a second item after Youumu's.

Youmuu's Ghostblade
This is what makes Zed such a great duelist , he gains 20% movement speed and 40% attack speed bonus upon activation and you also get some bonus 10 armor penetration , this is great because it allows us to chase our targets and do quicker auto-attacks which results in more damage from the ultimate.

Mercury's Treads

Great item on Zed as it provides 35% reduction to crowd control effects , making them last less that means Zed can go back to assassinating quicker. Also good if you're going against an AP character.

Ravenous Hydra

I like to take this item on Zed as it provides a great amount of split-push potential with it's passive , also deals more damage on your ult , ensuring a kill.

Guardian Angel

This is a great item on Zed , it gives him 50 armor and 50 magic resist and it also revives him with 35% HP upon dying , which means if he gets killed , he can try to escape when the effect triggers ... or he can keep fighting. I always take this so i am a bit more tanky.

Infinity Edge
Good item , gives you critical strike chance and 65 attack damage , also 50% bonus critical damage when you do a critical strike . (Not much people like this item on Zed , but it works for me , try it out , if you don't like it get something else).

Black Cleaver
They buffed the damage on black cleaver so you should get it if the enemy team has 2 or more tanks , it helps you kill them quicker , because of it's passive. Gives you 55 attack damage 350 HP and 20% cooldown reduction.

Blade of the Ruined King
So i recently started using the item in season 6 and i still think it's viable on Zed and it synergies well with his ultimate , so i would advise you too get it 1st or 2nd item.

These are some basic and advanced combos for Zed.
Basic Combos
Combo 1
Throw out your Living Shadow
Use your Shadow Slash to hit the enemy
Throw out your shuriken at the enemy

Combo 2
Use your ultimate on the target
Use Ignite on the target
Use your E
Use your Q
Auto-attack the enemy to proc your passive on him

Advanced Combo
Use your ultimate on the target
Use your W and throw it behind the enemy
Use Ignite on the target
Use your E and try to get the slow on the enemy
Use your Q (If you fail to hit the enemy he may survive}
Use your W if the enemy is escaping in that direction
Finally auto-attack the enemy and proc your passive

This may seem like a lot of things too do but you need fast thinking and good reactions and also have to pay attention to what the enemy does , you need fast fingers to pull this off with no problems.

Zed is not very useful in team fights , he can die very easily if he goes in at the wrong time and uses his ultimate on the wrong person. When in team fights try to focus the ADC IF HE IS FED , if the ADC is not fed , he won't be dealing damage , which means you will not even need to focus him (Although i prefer to kill every squishy i can even the ADC if he isn't fed , if you think you can kill the ADC and the others do it).

Zed should go into a team fight when the enemy team has used up their Crowd Control Abilities like Stuns , Snares , Roots , Slows etc.
All of these will mess your assassinating up and you will probably end up dying in a matter of seconds.

IF you're behind do not go into team fights unless your team is losing the 4v5 , when behind you should split-push and get back into the game so that you can deal more damage and get the kills , remember this because Zed is already bad in team fights , if he is behind , he will be giving the enemies free kills in the fights.

Razor Shuriken is used for farming from a distance , you can use it to farm if the enemy is poking you (like a LeBlanc or Ahri) , use it to kill minions from a distance then when you get stronger you go in for the kill on the enemy.

Living Shadow Great tool for farming when you get in lane , if you see a huge wave of minions on your lane or tower use your W to clear them all out and get that gold. (Use it safely though , if you think or if you see the enemy jungler is nearby try to save it if he ganks so you can escape)

Shadow Slash Awesome for farming . it is an AoE spell and you can clear waves easily if you have enough damage with it.

Contempt for the Weak is Zed's passive and it allows you to farm very easily as you deal bonus damage to minions that are lower then 50% health you can easily get 80% of the farm when using auto-attacks.

-Don't use your W unless you're sure that the enemy jungler is not near your lane , if you do you won't be able to escape if you're trying to kill your lane opponent.

-Always try to split-push while you're behind , don't give the enemies kills and you'll be back in no time when you get some gold and items.

-Never go into a team fight before the enemy uses their ultimates and CC abilities , it's just a suicide.

-If somebody is harassing you while trying to farm , use your Q to farm from a distance.

-If the enemy jungler is camping your lane , be cautious on how you use your W , always watch out when you go in , the enemy jungler may come in and if you're not experienced enough to kill your lane opponent and get out , you will die and just give a free kill to one of them.

-Be sure your target does not have Zhonya's Hourglass when you're ulting them , if they use it they become untargetable and also they negate the damage from your ultimate when it triggers.

Zed's laning phase is not bad at all , you have range with your Q shuriken if somebody is poking you and you have your shadows for escaping ganks (unless you already used it for damage) , on level 1 spam your Q and try to hit the enemy to get them low , then on lvl 2 and 3 if you are winning by a bit try going aggressive , by level 4 i try to win first blood on the enemy mid laner , at level 6 IF you're ahead , use your ult offensively whenever you see a chance for a kill , the rest is pretty easy , do not chase , do not pick bad fights , play safe if you're behind and most importantly WARD. You should buy a stealth ward on your first back if you can afford it , that way you can see the enemy jungler if he tries to gank you.

Razor Shuriken
This is Zed's main source of damage and should be maxed first from his 3 normals spells.

Shadow Slash
Should be maxed second , good slow and ok damage , making it his second damage source from his normal spells.

Living Shadow
This ability is a core for combos but should be maxed last , it gives you passive attack damage scaling by level 5%/10%/15%/20%/25% and it does not provide anything too useful when you level it.

Death Mark
This should be taken on level 6 , 11 and 16 , when you level it you do more damage with it that scales with % , it goes from 30%/40%/50% on level 6 , 11 and 16.

These are some montages made by other people and also tips and tricks from a Zed main youtuber , i thought i would want to show you this because it shows what Zed can really do.
Play Video This video shows 3 advanced techniques for Zed.
Play Video These are 3 more Zed tips from Redmercy.
Play Video This one shows some great Zed plays from Vermillion.
Play Video This is one of the best Zed plays most people witnessed by SKT T1 Faker.

Thank you guys for reading my Zed guide and i hope you learned something more about Zed and what his role is in a game. This was my first guide ever , so i hope you liked reading it , as much as i had fun making it.
My name is Noeeex and i'm a EUW Zed main , my rank sucks , but i'm not a bad Zed at all , anyways if you want to play with me on EUW just add me and message me whenever i'm online.
And also thank you for almost 15,000 views , i never thought i would get that many views on the guide , i was expecting max around 5,000 mostly because i thought the guide sucked.

That is all i can say for now , comment if you see any mistakes or you need something explained too you and thank you for reading my guide!