Zed is an assassin type champion who utilizes hardcore juking and clones for his damage and survivability. Zed comes to top lane packing the ability to safely harass and clear waves even if the enemy is attempting to zone him. Zed does mostly sustained damage early on (Which I honestly feel is what an energy champion should do) and scales his damage into burst as the game progresses. All in all Zed is a high skill-cap, high risk/reward champion who rewards players who learn to play him very well.

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Zed's passive is a bonus amount of % magic damage when the target is below 50% hp. This ability is really good for finishing off targets and adding damage to your ultimate. The main time you will notice this skill in top lane will be last hitting as the passive applies to minions making last hitting a breeze.

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Zed's Q ability is his projectile (All energy champs have one). I do however feel Zed's is the weakest as it is mostly gimmicky. This skill has the highest energy cost out of all of Zed's skills, it is like this due to the fact it can proc its damage 2x (Like Akali another shadow using champion can) if you are able to hit 2 skillshots at the same time. In full honesty this skill has potential, but it's energy cost makes it unfun to use. You should only use this skill in lane in fights where you want to commit and getting last hits. There are some rare occasions you should be throwing it as harass (You laid your shadow hit your E and the enemy walks away or your full energy and have nothing better to use it on).

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Zed's W is BY FAR one of the most fun skills in the game to use. It can be used offensively to provide more damage, utility, and positioning OR it can be used defensively as an escape. Most of the time you will want to use BOTH USES of this skill before fighting the enemy (Double tap) as the cooldown on the skill does not begin to go down until the second part of the ability is used and when you factor in the fact that you will most likely be hitting your enemy and possibly some minions with your E which will reduce the cooldown you'll want to have both prove down. This skill has some other in and out uses in the lane such as laying your shadow back and having it provide some support with the extra Q while you hit the enemy with your skills then swapping out or simply using the shadow to do all the harassing on the enemy with a quick W-E. The combos and mechanics off this one skill are sooooo numerous that this skill alone will give Zed a really big skillcap.

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Zed's E is a smaller range katarina E, but whereas her gives her MS his slows. If you hit with both you and your shadows E on the same target they will only take damage from 1 of you BUT they will take the slow from both of you allowing a pretty hard slow.

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Zed's R ability is like a 1 person Fiora ultimate + a vlad ult. It honestly feels underwhelming, but it does allow you some safety from AoE in teamfights and juking power to reach the enemy carries. This move leaves a shadow meaning you can all in, tower dive and do whatever then safely port back before the shadow fades.

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The Brutalizer- This item offers Zed everything he needs as an AD caster (Save spellvamp) and with it getting a new upgrade path it is a very strong item choice.

Bloodthirster- A very strong item choice on any AD caster.

Blade of the Ruined King (Not yet on SR)- This item has been confirmed to be coming to summoners rift and is an AMAZING item for an AD caster like zed (Though it can be a bit pricey).

Frozen Mallet/ Trinity Force- I like some item to give me a sustained slow when im autoing for the passive, I would actually probably prefer frozen mallet for the tankiness but if you really want the burst trinity force works as well.

Guardian Angel- You will need the second life being an AD assassin.


For my skill order I go R>E>Q>W most of time. (Ill flip E and Q if I am vs a ranged enemy)

Reasoning

R- Ultimate, allows you more burst.

E- Low energy cost, Good damage, Good CC

Q- High energy cost, not necessarily reliable.

W- Mostly Utility effects.

The main way you will find Zed having "energy issues" is if you use your Q to much. Thus I max my E as it is low energy and ends up doing more for me if I actually need to fight an enemy.