Please verify that you are not a bot to cast your vote.
Not Updated For Current Season
This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page
Skill Match up. Pre 6 you can put her up against some heavy pressure so long as you use your abilities smart. Don't take any auto attacks, and don't get hit by her Q. Use your combo to harass and try to go for a quick kill before she hits 6. Once she gets Zhonya's you'll need help for her.
Akali
I have only played this match up a couple times. You dominate pre 6 and you can all in her if shes low enough and burns her W. Late game she can do a lot of damage though.
Alistar
Mid Alistar is played in high elo. THIS IS A MENACE. If you get anywhere near him he will knock you up, and his R negates your ult. If he's AP you're completely screwed because he has ALOT of damage. Ask for ganks early.
Anivia
If you don't get hit by too many auto attacks or her stun she's free kills. (Pop her egg before you try to ult her, unless shes too far extended and you can kill her egg too.)
Annie
Screw this champion. Patch 6.10 put her damage through the roof, and if you try to ult her she'll just stun you and full combo. Watch to see when her stun will come up and harass her as best as you can with your Q and combo.
Aurelion Sol
A good Aurelion Sol will harass you out of cs until lvl 6, until then farm with Q and all in when you lower him enough
Azir
This is a skill match up. Azir can pressure you very hard if he gets early poke onto you. Farm with your Q and stay away from his soldiers. If you can get your combos off on him he will be easy to all in as long as he doesn't have Barrier.
Brand
Brand is one of your easier match ups. Hit a couple combos to back him away from the wave, and all in when he is low. AVOID his stun by ulting when he starts to throw his Q at you.
Cassiopeia
I haven't play against the new Cassiopeia yet to really decide if shes good or not. Of course don't get hit by her Q and poke her down until you can ult her.
Cho'Gath
Cho'gath has a metric ton of lane sustain. Pray that he start off by building AP items and try to poke him enough to be able to ult him. Ask for ganks early. and don't drop low enough that he can kill you with ult.
Diana
As a mage that uses melee attacks, if you avoid her Q and reply with a full combo she wont be able to do much. She scales REALLY hard after she gets some items though, but it will be an easy lane.
Ekko
AP Ekko isn't as bad. Stay away from his Q, harass when he goes for CS, and don't get caught in his W. Don't ult when he has his up and you can potentially win. Tank Ekko on the other hand is still broken and you don't want anything to do with him.
Fizz
His E can cancel your Death Mark when timed correctly. Poke him when he goes to farm wave, and if he catches his R onto you, wait until its about to pop up then try to ult him. Once he gets zhonya's you have very little chance of killing him. Play Smart.
Heimerdinger
Q his turrets once you have enough damage, and when you poke him enough you can all in. Dash back to your shadow to get out of his Massive turret, and watch the little yellow man pop.
Karthus
Easiest Match up in my opinion. Get out of his Q's and keep comboing him. Ult for a free kill.
Katarina
Skill match up again. Stand away from the wave so when she use's her Q you don't get him by it. When she burns her shunpo you can use your full combo. USE YOUR ULT TO NEGATE SOME DAMAGE FROM HERS.
Kayle
Early on she isn't as bad. You'll probably just want to roam against her as you wont be getting easy kills after level 6.
LeBlanc
Don't let her get off her Q+W and this lane will be easy for you, if you ult she'll probably W+R so be ready for it, wait until she uses her cooldowns then try to all in. Ignite her before she clones so you know which one you're finishing off.
Lissandra
Avoid her Q and you'll be able to fight back. A couple combos will bring her down, and if you can force her ult through a gank or a really good combo, she's a free kill. Be careful though because her ult obviously cancel's yours. and she can even ult you if she has enough damage to finish you off.
Lulu
She has every way to avoid your ultimate. If you ult she can just polymorph, and if you do manage to get it off she'll just use R and live. Her Q can be hard to avoid, and is on a low cooldown. Bait her abilities and play smart.
Lux
Lux is actually very hard to play against lately. A good Lux is going to bring barrier, and sit back and poke you whenever you go to CS. wait for her to use Q and E and punish her for it. Once she gets Zhonya's she'll be pretty hard to kill.
Malzahar
I haven't play enough against new Malzahar to decide how strong he is against Zed. Be smart and get QSS for his ult.
Orianna
You can get down a lot of poke onto her. Avoid the ball and all-in when she's low enough. Be careful with how she'll use her ult.
Syndra
I haven't seen many good Syndra's lately. A good Syndra will stun you when you appear from ult. but other than that just stay away from her poke, and she is free kills.
Talon
Again a skill matchup. He can use his E to dodge your combo and get harass onto you instead. Play smart, and try to get him to ult before you do. If you do ult him, get an ignite on him so you know where he's going.
Teemo
Wtf kill him.
Twisted Fate
Easy lane until he gets Zhonya's. When he uses his W you can combo him and follow up with dashing to your shadow to melee him until he W comes back off cooldown.
Veigar
Maw if he gets ahead. But he shouldn't be getting ahead and you can 100-0 him whenever you want. Just don't get hit by his stun wall.
Vel'Koz
I actually use Vel'koz to counter Zed sometimes. If Vel'koz takes barrier then he can just keep spamming abilities until you're too low that you can't get near him anymore. But if his barrier is gone and he doesn't have Zhonya's he can be easy to kill. He'll try to use his E on you as you're coming out of your ult.
Vladimir
Same kind of deal as Fizz. His pool cancel's your ult. Bait the pool, and you can kill him. Once he gets Zhonya's you may struggle.
Yasuo
His wind wall can make him avoid your Q's. if he gets close to you throw your abilities in his face and make him back off. His wind wall is on a lower cooldown than your shadow, so get him to use it, then you can all in.
Zed
May the best Zed win. (If he ult's first you have the upper head because you can dodge his abilities with your ult when he comes out of his.)
Hey guys, thanks for reading my guide. I am a Diamond Mid/Top main. I first started playing Zed the day he came out, but i never really started to main him until i watched how dangerous he can be when put into the hands of players like Faker or Bjergsen.
Zed is a high kill potential assassin with amazing escapes, and dodge potential. When his strengths are abused, he can give almost all champions a hard time. Hopefully this guide helps you to learn Zed (or more about him) and you'll climb up that ladder when using this champion to his full potential.
If this guide gets a lot of love i'll definitely take the time to sit down and write a full guide on everything i know about zed, let me know with votes if you want to see more added!
6.11 Notes
6.11 Notes
Zed's base damage on his Q is down by 5 each level.
75/115/155/195/235 ⇒ 70/105/140/175/210
AD ratio is now 0.9 from 1.0.
Damage from additional shurikens increased to 75% from 50%
Essentially this means from your Q at lvl 18 with about 350 bonus attack damage, and the 235 base damage, your Q would deal a total of 585 damage in patch 6.10 (not including armor.) an additional shuriken would deal 50% of that (292.5 damage rounded up).
2 Shurikens at lvl 18 with 350 bonus AD would deal a total of 877.5 damage not including armor, in patch 6.10
Subtract the 25 base damage from your Lvl 5 Q, and 90% of 350 is 315.
1 Q will deal 525 damage. (Patch 6.11)
With the 25% additional damage increase from each additional shuriken, 2 Shurikens will deal 917.75 damage
That is 41 more damage from both Q's!
-=-=-=-=-TL;DR-=-=-=-=-
1 Q = less damage.
2 Q's = more damage than patch 6.10
3 Q's = obviously more damage than that.
4 Q's = you're hacking.
5 Q's = you're Faker.
Season 7 Notes
Season 7 Notes
Not much has really changed with Zed besides the fact its harder to 100-0 people without the old duskblade and his ult wont deal any damage if you don't get your abilities off. Right now Zed is out of the meta and takes higher skill than normal to have good results with him. All of my tips still apply, his burst is just a little bit harder to pull of. Also the passive on his W was moved as a kill reward on his ult.
Patch 7.2 Notes
Patch 7.2 Notes
With the lethality buff zed is starting to do insane damage around his early levels again. This makes his burst much strong and when you miss an ability while using your ult its a bit more forgiving and you have a better chance of getting the kill. DEFINITELY a strong pick again if you have all the mechanics down
Patch 7.4 Notes
Patch 7.4 Notes
Zed has risen quite a lot in popularity, and i've also been playing him a bit more. The buffs to lethality have (as with all other champions that can abuse lethality) increased his damage significantly. Bronze/Silver it wont be too hard to get a kill once you're level 6, but Gold/Platinum players will need to snowball to hard carry a game. Zed once again is near the top tier for mid lane picks
Patch 7.13 Recap
Patch 7.13 Recap
Zed is still in a fairly balanced spot now, If your mechanics are good he can still crush lower elo, but the higher elo population can deal with him. Still a very good pick if you need a slippery, bursty AD mid laner.
Patch 7.19 Notes
Patch 7.19 Notes
The changes to lethality in the recent patches in my opinion pushed Zed back over the edge. Incredibly strong pick especially in lower elo. Still play smart vs counter picks and teams with heavy CC. Rush Draktharr and proceed to get your free kills.
You must be logged in to comment. Please login or register.