Zed Build Guide by Yuki H.

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For every matchup, it is important to analyze your strengths and weaknesses, along with your enemy's (key point). There are three main categories which champions fall under, and depending on these categories will Zed's playstyle change as well.

Mages:

Mages are usually reliant on mana for waveclear. Depending on the matchup, some will have an easier time waveclearing early game(TF/Ziggs), whereas others will scale into the late game (Anivia/Veigar). Against these champions, take advantage of your energy pool as opposed to a mana pool which can be depleted from either csing or trading. There are exceptions such as Vladimir and Kennen, but those details are in the champion matchups. This section will generalize and oversimplify the game plan but will be adequate in depth. Going into a game against a champion with a mana pool, there are two subcategories within the mage category which distinguishes playstyles in order to favor Zed.

• Burst Damage
• Sustained Damage

Burst Damage:

Burst damage champions are those like Ahri, Annie, Brand, Veigar, etc. This category does not mean they will always kill you in one rotation, rather, it means they have the advantage when it comes to short trades. For example, Twisted Fate is capable of out trading Zed if he gold cards into Q and auto. There isn't much counterplay there, though it does burn through mana quickly. Cooldowns exist obviously, and Zed is more of a "burst damage" champion, which means you are capable of quick trades which pulls in advantages. Level 6 is the biggest early game power spike for Zed, allowing you to dodge any incoming cc or burst while bursting them yourself. Of course your playstyle should vary mostly every matchup, but generally, you have an easier time against these champions than champions that deal sustained damage.

Sustained Damage:

Champions with sustained damage are champions like Aurelion Sol, Azir, Cassiopeia, Karthus, etc.

For these matchups, do not just let them poke you for free; your bursts hit harder than theirs in the same time frame. Given the opportunity, look for all-ins or short trades which favor Zed. This mostly occurs at level 6, but it can be done pre-6, though it is significantly harder. Coordinate with your jungler since they will most likely be pushed up. Overall, these matchups are generally harder than champions that deal burst damage.

As a champion in the middle lane, he is one of the hardest to gank since it is the shortest lane and he has decent mobility with his shadows. However, any junglers or mid laners with CC will try to punish your aggressive playstyle if you play too carelessly.

Laning should be split into two subcategories:

• Passive
• Aggressive

Passive:

Passive lanes generally mean you have a Doran's Shield from the first buy, and you are not planning on overextending whatsoever. Farming is generally more important than trading in these matchups, and your opponent will look to harass every time you try to last hit. Passive and control matchups are much harder for Zed, for example, Syndra and Orianna are both champions capable of zoning Zed off CS with their abilities. In a strict 1v1, they aren't the worst matchups. Zed's level 1 and 2 are pretty garbage against ranged champions unless they've been eating your Qs, so make sure to play safe and give up CS if it means staying healthy. In the early game, CS doesn't mean much as compared to experience. This is a very important notion which lower elo players tend to have a hard time grasping. You do NOT need to last hit CS in order to get exp. Therefore, you can sit back in exp range and last hit with Qs basically until level 3 or 4, where Zed starts spiking. However, most of the time you want to stay safe until level 6 if you have no jungle assistance, but even with a jungler, you would rather stay back to farm gold and xp (more in-depth in the "Ganks and Roaming" section). Early game, when both mid laners have one item, levels are the only difference between them. This means whoever misses more experience will end up hitting level 6 later. Level 6 power spike on Zed is the most important early game spike. You can mostly 1v1 anyone as long as you have a decent amount of health and everything off cooldown.

Aggressive:

Aggressive lanes are for matchups that favor Zed. Even if this means Zed loses some early trades/duels, as long as the matchups aren't sustained, extended trades, Zed should be completely fine. Zed has great poke due to a relatively low cooldown on his Q, as well as being able to spam abilities due to having energy instead of mana. All Zed needs is to play "safe" until he gets one very favorable trade procing Electrocute. Once this happens, you are able to pressure the enemy mid laner with your never-ending Qs and a possible all in at 6. What matters most in the early stages of the game is experience, not gold. This point is never emphasized enough in any guides I've read, so I felt compelled to write about this. NEVER ever try to overextend just because you are in an aggressive lane. Remember, the jungler exists for a reason. Only use your W once you know you will not be punished; an assassin who is behind is as useless as a nipple on a man. How to deal with jungle pressure will be in the "Ganks and Roaming" section.

Now Zombie Ward and Ghost Poro give adaptive stats, making it a bit more viable to take over Eyeball Collection. However, Zombie Ward does not sprout from your own trinket wards anymore, which defeats the whole purpose of taking it for the early game, even if it gives bonus damage later in the game after killing a ward. Ghost Poro is pretty much useless when behind, rather, the bonus damage is not given and is probably not the most optimal rune choice. The secondary tree is still given over to Sorcery after multiple games: the attack speed given from the Precision tree is very useful, but the additional damage from Scorch and Sorcery tree is better early game. Additionally, with Transcendence, even if you decide to build a Black Cleaver and go over the cdr cap, it is converted into AD, which makes it somewhat useful.

Against poke champions and harder matchups, it's viable to take Taste of Blood over Sudden Impact in the Domination tree. Additionally, the Resolve tree can be taken as the Secondary tree(Bone plating + Chrysalis).


[8.16]
Even after the adjustments to Electrocute and nerfs to many other options in the domination tree, Electrocute is still the best overall rune to take on Zed. This adjustment hit junglers hard since they cannot proc it as often. Scorch has gotten adjusted as well (cd half, dmg half). This isn't a problem for Zed since he often pokes with Q and Scorch is easy to proc.

[WIP]