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

Play Video
Gives out some basic skill combos for how to play Zed.
Just a good thing to watch.

I rune Greater Mark of Strength because Zed is an AD caster so he doesn't benefit from the bonus attack speed given by Greater Mark of Alacrity. These are really the only marks I would ever run on Zed. I dislike Greater Mark of Desolation because it will decrease the effectiveness of your Last Whisper.


Greater Seal of Resilience is a must on Zed,becouse it makes him harder kill on start so u can pick an easy kill on start...


For seals use either Greater Glyph of Warding or Greater Glyph of Shielding with your Greater Seal of Resilience.


For quintessences run Greater Quintessence of Strength for the bonus attack damage.

Jungle


Exhaust is a must have on jungle Zed because he has very minimal natural crowd control (only the slow on his shadow's Shadow Slash). By taking Exhaust you will be able to set up kills much more easily when you gank especially in cohesion with Blessing of the Lizard Elder and Phage. Exhaust will be good late game to shut down the damage output on the enemy carry as you assassinate them.

An alternative for Exhaust would be to get Flash for increased mobility. However Zed already has an ability which he can use to jump over walls Living Shadow, so he doesn't really need Flash, and Exhaust just provides more overall benefits for you. However if you get Flash you can pull off some very impressive baron steals.


Smite. Take it.
It helps when trying to steal objectives (such as enemy red buff, enemy blue buff, dragon, or baron. It helps make sure that you don't have these objectives stolen from you. It makes clearing your jungle a LOT easier and safer. There really is no option, if you are playing jungle Zed you must take Smite.

Laning


You flash.
They flash.
Everyone flash.
Seriously this is one of the most broken summoner spells in the game.
It's your "Get out of jail free" card.
You can use it to get into range for your ultimate.
Just get it.


Good for finishing off that opponent who has two hp left. Also good for shutting down heavy sustain champions like Sion or Dr. Mundo. Excellent pick because it allows you to do more damage and finish people off faster.

Other Viable Picks:
Ghost
Well, this summoner spell is ok. I generally don't get it though because I just find flash to be more useful. Take it over Flash if you want to get it.

Exhaust (in lane)
If your jungler doesn't have it, or has low CC get this to help him out when he ganks!

Teleport (for lane)
This is a pretty good summoner spell which can be used to help gank other lanes and allow you to not miss creep kills. Very good against hard lanes such as Darius.

Heal (for lane)
Another good pick for laning, normally I take it over Flash, Heal can be used to bait opponents into diving you at turret or fighting you when you are low. Just remember to use Heal before they use Ignite!

DON'T PICK THESE!
Revive
Don't get this unless you are trolling.

Surge
One of the worst summoner spells in the game. Don't get it. Also, Zed doesn't benefit from either Ability Power or attack speed.

Cleanse
Don't get it. There are better summoner's. And if you really need the effect, get Quicksilver Sash.

Clarity
Zed uses energy.

Promote
Another awful summoner spell. Don't get it.

Clairvoyance
It's support spell...

Whenever Zed auto attacks an enemy below 50% health, he deals an additional 8% of their maximum health as magic damage. This effect cannot occur on the same target more than once every 10 seconds.

This passive will give you some extra magic damage when your opponents are at low health and is more useful in lane than in the jungle. Due to it being magic damage it will bypass any armor your opponents are building against you. Also allows for easier last hitting in lane.

Tip:
Abuse his passive in lane, whenever you get your opponent low, use his passive to do increased damage while harassing.


Zed and his shadow both throw their shurikens, each dealing physical damage to the first enemy they pass through and 70% damage thereafter.
Living Shadow: Additional shurikens striking the same enemy deal 50% damage, but restore energy.

Cooldown: 6 seconds
Cost: 75 / 70 / 65 / 60 / 55 energy
DAMAGE TO FIRST TARGET: 75 / 110 / 145 / 180 / 215 (100% bonus AD)
DAMAGE TO SECONDARY TARGETS: 60 / 88 / 116 / 144 / 172 (+80% bonus AD)
SHADOW SHURIKENS: 37.5 / 55 / 72.5 / 90 / 107.5 (+50% bonus AD)

A good long ranged spell, once again, more useful for lane than the jungle. It can be used as harass, for safe last hitting, and for finishing off targets. Just remember the cost on the shuriken is ridiculous (75 energy) until you level it, so be wise in using it or your opponent may jump you while you are low on energy.

Tip:
Razor Shuriken has a very high cost, so remember to be conservative in its use.


ACTIVE: 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 spell casts. If both strike the same target, Zed regains some energy. The energy restore can only occur once per cast.

PASSIVE: Zed's bonus attack damage is increased by a percentage.

Cost: 40 / 35 / 30 / 25 / 20 energy
Cooldown: 22 / 20.5 / 19 / 17.5 / 16 seconds
ADDITIONAL BONUS AD: 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25%
Energy Restored: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40

This is one of two moves that Zed has which creates a shadow, the signature part of his game play. Living Shadow is an excellent spell, both in the jungle and outside of it. Use this spell to check bushes as opposed to face checking, jump over walls, escape, chase, and to zone your opponents. The bonus AD you get from this is excellent as well.

Tip:
The cooldown on Living Shadow is pretty high, keep this in mind, if you use it to do more damage you won't have it to run away if situations turn nasty!
See more helpful tips in the Living Shadow section of this guide!


Zed and his shadow both create a burst of shadow, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies.
Cooldown: 3 seconds
Cost: 50 energy
Zed's slash reduces the cooldown of Living Shadow by 1 second for each enemy struck. The shadow's slash slows enemies for 1.5 seconds.
Living Shadow: Overlapping Shadow Slashes striking the same enemy deal no additional damage but slow for 50% more and restore energy.

PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+90% bonus AD)
SLOW: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%

OVERLAPPING SLOW: 30 / 37.5 / 45 / 52.5 / 60%

This is your main damage source. Much more spammable than Razor Shuriken and also much easier to hit. This will make your jungle clears faster, slow when you gank, and will reduce the cool down on your Living Shadow giving you more mobility.

Tip:
Only your shadow slows enemies so when ganking, try to put a shadow in front of the target and use Shadow Slash once before you use Living Shadow again to teleport to your shadow.
When running away/chasing as Zed always look for chances to use this ability to lower the cool down on Living Shadow



ACTIVE: 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 physical damage equal to 100% of Zed's attack damage plus a percentage of all magic and physical damage dealt to the target by Zed and his shadows while the mark was active.

COOLDOWN: 120 / 100 / 80
COST: No cost

BONUS PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 20 / 35 / 50% of damage dealt

Dominon

Summoner Spells:

Good for juking, running chasing, and getting to points faster. Overall a strong pick.


Excellent Summoner overall, good for finishing people off even as you cap their objective.


Another good summoner to lock down your target and prevent them from escaping. Can be taken instead of Ignite or over Ghost.


still a very strong summoner spell but it loses importance in dominion because defending and taking vulnerable points is easier with Ghost.

Skilling Order:
Max Shadow Slash first, Living Shadow second, Razor Shuriken last.
At the beginning get a point in each spell.

Items:
+ + 2x
Best way to start any dominion game if you are a melee ad.
This will allow you to get to the windmill faster and still do tons of damage because of your Prospector's Blade. Use your Health Potion to regain a free 200 hp while fighting at the windmill.


Get this ASAP as it lets you do more damage and kill more people. Also gives you increased mobility.

and maybe
Phage is an excellent item that will let you live longer in the large team fights that occur on the map. Hexdrinker can be bought if they have lots of magic damage.


These boots are great for Zed on this map. They allow him to get where the fighting is and either help capture or protect objectives.


Basically The Bloodthirster except for dominion. The greatest problem with this item is it requires you to auto attack to gain maximum benefit. It's still a great item though so I get it over the alternatives.


Say your defending a point from 4 people and you are hopelessly outgunned. You do your best to stall them so your team can get to the point, however you die. This item will allow you to protect points for an even LONGER time as well as making fights in general much safer.


Trinity Force is a great item and all... but lets face it. This item is much better on Zed. The AD it gives you is immense, synergizing with your kit excellently. And don't forget the true damage on the passive! That will allow you to keep doing tons of damage even when you are out of energy or all your spells are on CD.

Quite honestly the game isn't going to get here. Ever. But here you go.


Self Explanatory. Sell your The Brutalizer here.


The shield is nice. The bonus ad and MR is nice. Another Sanguine Blade or Infinity Edge can work as well.

Itemization

Start with either and four (wait as base for the last one) or and five . Take cloth 5 if you are going to be going against a very hard ad lane and need the extra resistances and health potions to survive the lane. On your first back, buy Boots of Speed if you didn't get them, as well as a Doran's Blade or two. A Sight Ward is mandatory if they have a jungler and extra Health Potions (normally 3 should do) should always be bought. If you don't have enough money for a Doran's Blade after buying Sight Ward and Health Potion then get an Elixir of Fortitude for stronger lane presence.

Core Items for top lane

or or
Get Mercury's Treads if your lane opponent does mainly magic damage or has some heavy crowd control (aka stuns). Get Ninja Tabi if they do mainly physical damage and have few crowd control abilities (I normally get Ninja Tabi because it is good and cheap!). If destroying your lane, get Ionian Boots of Lucidity for more cool down reduction and faster stomping.


Gives you a stronger early game, more health, more attack damage and gives you a small amount of lifesteal for sustain in lane. Overall a very strong pick to make you a lot stronger in lane.

or or
I know, I know, your looking at this and thinking Wriggle's Lantern on Zed? WTF?
Well it works, and it works well. However it's a situational item and I generally won't get it, however it is very good in high sustain lanes so that you aren't outsustained, outfarmed and out leveled. The armor and free ward also help a lot. If your against strong magic damage champions grab a Hexdrinker, the bonus magic resist and attack damage are nice and the magic shield is an excellent addition. Phage is what I generally end up getting, it gives you some nice survivability with the bonus health and the bonus attack damage is also pretty good. The slow is the most essential part, this is EVERYTHING it will allow you to easily kill opponents in the laning phase after setting them up with your slow from Living Shadow + Shadow Slash.


Gives CDR and more attack damage. Armor pen is an even better bonus. This item is a godsend for AD casters and should be gotten whenever you are winning or doing decent in your lane.

Late Game
You want the same items as in the jungle:


Best item in the game for Zed. All of Zed's spells scale with bonus attack damage (except his ultimate) so The Bloodthirster is a must have on Zed late game. The bonus lifesteal will also make him a lot stronger in 1v1s and allow him to sustain more if for some reason you are still in the laning phase.


I used to think this item was terrible... but now I have realized it's true worth. This item gives you resistances of ALL types and lets you live again! The only problem is that the passive turns on by itself so you can end up reviving surrounded by the whole enemy team. However if used correctly (aka not jumping into stupid 1v5s) you should be able to utilize this passive and wreak havoc upon the enemy carries.

or
Generally I get Trinity Force so that I can deal TONS OF DAMAGE. Zed uses most of the stats on Trinity Force except for the mana and ability power. The movement speed is really nice because Zed mainly relies on good positioning to stay alive in fights, the bonus crit chance is decent and sometimes you can get lucky crits to finish people off faster. The slow is also very good and the bonus burst damage you get on each spell cast synergizes very well with the spammability of your Shadow Slash.
Frozen Mallet can be a good item in some cases however I generally don't get it because it doesn't really benefit Zed that much. The perma slow is nice though.


For countering the armor people will be building against you. And they will, because you will be doing ridiculous amounts of damage.
Sell your The Brutalizer for this item.

or
Gives you more bonus attack damage and makes your burst even STRONGER! How can you go wrong with more damage? Get Maw of Malmortius if you got Hexdrinker

Mid Lane

Zed can be a very strong mid laner who is played much like Talon or Froggen's Lee Sin. Your main objective by picking Zed as mid is to make the enemy mid laner have a VERY bad time. Mid lane solves [{Zed]]'s main problem in the top lane. Namely his lack of sustain. In the mid lane there are more champions who have no sustain (just like Zed!) and you will be able to out dps them because you are an amazing assassin!

If you go mid lane as Zed you will need some one to do magic damage to go top (ie: Swain, Vladimir, Fizz) or else Thornmail, Randuin's Omen and Frozen Heart will be the doom of your team.


Itemization
Start with either and four . On your first back, buy a Doran's Blade or two. A Sight Ward is mandatory if they have a strong jungler and extra Health Potions (normally 3 should do) should always be bought. If you don't have enough money for a Doran's Blade after buying Sight Ward and Health Potion then get an Elixir of Fortitude for stronger lane presence.

Core Items for mid lane
or
Get Mercury's Treads because your opponent will be doing mainly magic damage and/or have some heavy crowd control (aka stuns). If destroying your lane, get Ionian Boots of Lucidity for more cool down reduction and faster stomping.


Gives you a stronger early game, more health, more attack damage and gives you a small amount of lifesteal for sustain in lane. Overall a very strong pick to make you a lot stronger in lane.

or
Grab a Hexdrinker if you feel you need some more survivability to survive bursty champions such as LeBlanc or Fizz. Phage is what I generally end up getting, it gives you some nice survivability with the bonus health and the bonus attack damage is also pretty good. The slow is the most essential part, as it will let you set up easy kills in addition with Shadow Slash.


Gives CDR and more attack damage. Armor pen is an even better bonus. This item is a godsend for AD casters and should be gotten whenever you are winning or doing decent in your lane. Just a great item overall for Zed.

Late Game
Same items as usual:


Best item in the game for Zed. All of Zed's spells scale with bonus attack damage (except his ultimate) so The Bloodthirster is a must have on Zed late game. The bonus lifesteal will also make him a lot stronger in 1v1s and allow him to sustain more if for some reason you are still in the laning phase.


I used to think this item was terrible... but now I have realized it's true worth. This item gives you resistances of ALL types and lets you live again! The only problem is that the passive turns on by itself so you can end up reviving surrounded by the whole enemy team. However if used correctly (aka not jumping into stupid 1v5s) you should be able to utilize this passive and wreak havoc upon the enemy carries.

or
Generally I get Trinity Force so that I can deal TONS OF DAMAGE. Zed uses most of the stats on Trinity Force except for the mana and ability power. The movement speed is really nice because Zed mainly relies on good positioning to stay alive in fights, the bonus crit chance is decent and sometimes you can get lucky crits to finish people off faster. The slow is also very good and the bonus burst damage you get on each spell cast synergizes very well with the spammability of your Shadow Slash.
Frozen Mallet can be a good item in some cases however I generally don't get it because it doesn't really benefit Zed that much. The perma slow is nice though.


For countering the armor people will be building against you. And they will, because you will be doing ridiculous amounts of damage.
Sell your The Brutalizer for this item.

or
Gives you more bonus attack damage and makes your burst even STRONGER! How can you go wrong with more damage? Get Maw of Malmortius if you got Hexdrinker

Your Shadow grants visibility,use it to bushes,dragon,baron,and so on...

Throw a side and teleport to it to dodge skillshots like Ashe's arrow Fizz shark...or use it to go away from damaging AoE like Katarina's or Kennen's ultimates.

Throw your shadow towards your opponent and use E to slow them.Then swap places with your shadow.You can also toss your shadow over a wall if the enemy flashes u can swich places with ur shadow and keep chasing him :)

Throw your shadow infront of u than teleport to it to gain extra distance then use E for slowing ur enemy then if needed use flash,but i think this would be enough...

You can use ur shadow to deal damadge under a turret while being out of aggro range.You can also dive an enemy and teleport to a shadow out of towers aggro radius to get away.

The Ranged Harass Combo:
Throw your Living Shadow in their direction then hit Shadow Slash once to slow them. Now use your Razor Shuriken on an easy to hit slowed target.

Contempt for the Weak combo:
Same combo as before, except this time, hit your Living Shadow again before using Shadow Slash and hitting them with an auto attack to proc your Contempt for the Weak passive and chunking them for godly amounts of damage. Retreat away afterwards.

Try to keep a good idea on how much damage you do... Once they get low enough to be killed, pull one of these.

Kill Combo(Pre-6):
Throw your Living Shadow out towards your target and tap it immediately. Use your Shadow Slash as soon as you reach your new location for an increased slow on your target. Use your Razor Shuriken now, it should be impossible to miss (your at point blank range come on!). After that begin auto attacking and using Razor Shuriken to get as much damage as possible onto them. If they're low enough Ignite them as they escape to their tower so that you can get the kill.

Note: Ignite can be used early if you are fighting someone with tons of sustain ie: Vladimir or Warwick who might try to heal while fleeing.

Kill Combo (Post-6):
Lead with a double Death Mark (to get to your target) then hit Shadow Slash for the increased slow. Follow up with Razor Shuriken for more damage and then use Shadow Slash again. Your Death Mark should deposit it's damage now and if that wasn't enough continue to auto attack and Shadow Slash them until they're dead.

Why I Razor Shuriken after Living Shadow:
If you point blank [[Razor Shuriken them there are no minions in the way. Voila! Free bonus damage!

When ganking its pretty much the same thing as either one of the kill combos except you'll want to Exhaust as soon as you're Shadow Slash slow ends (that gives them time to use Flash so you don't waste your Exhaust).

Running away Combo #1 aka. Vanilla style:
RUN AWAY. YOU HAVE LEGS. USE THEM.

Running away Combo #2:
Start running and when your pursuer is with range of a Shadow Slash...
Living Shadow away and then hit Shadow Slash to slow your pursuer.

Running away Combo #3:
Living Shadow near the enemy and slow them with Shadow Slash, keep running then juke away with Living Shadow. Or run away if you can get away safely...

Running away Combo #4:
Death Mark to them, then double tap Living Shadow to get away. Risky but it will work if they're standing between you and escape.

Running away Combo #5:
So there's this spell you got... it's called Flash.

Pros:
1.Energy Champion
2.Strong Spells
3.Chase
4.Dodge
5.Tower Diving
6.Combo *****,Ultra cool Look :) (Joke)

Cons:
1.Loosing energy fast,but regen is ok
2.No CC
3.can be countered by alot of cc :(
Thats it.

Zed is a very strong assassin champion who can be played effectively in the mid lane, top lane or jungle. He excels at his role of bursting down squishy carries and escaping afterwards. He really takes on the role of a master ninja with his shadow mechanics and I hope this guide helps u learn something about him !!!