Hi there, fellow summoners! My name is jster131 and this is my Zed guide. I like to play Zed because he is one of those champions where you can be in the worst of situations and still 1v9 outplay the game. I hope you find this guide very helpful to your climb up the ranked ladder. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to let me know (:!

Zed is a very fun champion to play when mastered. You can pull off all kinds of outplays just like out Lord and Savior LLStylish. However, he has a pretty high skill ceiling and takes quite a while to become mechanically fluid with. Most of the mechanics you can learn by grinding out games and/or practice tool for a few hours.

This summoner spell is a must have on almost every champion (with obvious exceptions of champions like Shaco and Hecarim). It can be used both defensively and offensively, so it is almost too good to pass up on.

This is the best summoner spell to take in most matchups. It is used when you are in a potential kill lane or a lane where you can aggro the enemy laner without losing trades. You can use this summoner spell to increase your dps on the enemy, use it to secure a kill on a high mobility opponent, or use it to reduce healing effects on enemies like Vladimir.

This is a situational summoner spell that you will want to take against champions with heavy cc, such as Lissandra, Ahri, and Zoe. PLEASE keep in mind that taking Cleanse does NOT counter Malzahar, as his ult is a suppress cc and cannot be cleansed with anything other than Quicksilver Sash. I sincerely doubt that this summoner spell is worth taking on Zed because Ignite is too good to pass up on when you can just get Mercury's Treads and Quicksilver Sash. But if you feel like you really need the extra crowd control reduction, then by all means take it.

I really don't think you need this summoner spell on a bursty assasin such as Zed because of you ever get in a sticky burst situation, you can Living Shadow out of it, or you can use your Death Mark to negate all the damage if timed perfectly. But as with Cleanse, take it if you really think you need it.

Only take this summoner spell if you are playing Zed in the toplane. You are a roam champion and your Youmuu's Ghostblade and t2 boots gives you enough movespeed to be able to move around the map quickly.

Electrocute: This rune is like a Wal-Mart brand Thunderlord's Decree it gives good burst in all stages of the game, has a relatively low cooldown on it, and is pretty reliable. As of right now, I see no other runes that would be viable on Zed

Sudden Impact: This is a good rune to take because it gives you extra lethality when you use your Living Shadow and your Death Mark.

Eyeball Collection: To be completely honest, I haven't tried out any other rune from this tree other than this one because the new Ghost Poro is mainly for junglers and counter jungler midlaners, such as Yasuo and Talon. I never tried Zombie Ward because it seems entirely situational and terrible in my personal opinion.

Ultimate Hunter: I absolutely love this rune because late game with full stacks of Ultimate Hunter and 40% cdr, your Death Mark is at a 35-36 second cd. Ravenous Hunter is a good rune too for aggro lanes so that you can heal from your combos, this is as close to spell vamp as you can get. Relentless Hunter is a god rune to take if you plan to roam alot.


Triumph: This is a good rune to take on Zed because when you get an assist or kill on an enemy champion, it gives you a pretty hefty heal. As an assassin that has to get into the backline to kill the squishies, that heal gives you the ability to go in, get the kill and get out, or go in, get the kill, and go for another kill if you want.

Coup de Grace: This is good because it gives you extra damage on low health enemies, which can come in clutch sometimes in 1v2 or 1v1 situations. It can also help when roaming to kill a low hp enemy.

The stats I chose are good because you get the adaptive damage which converts to ad, and you get the extra health for skirmishes.

Starting Items

This is a standard start on Zed because it gives you the flat ad that you need to poke early with your Razor Shurikenand harass with your full w+e+q combo.

This item is a no-brainer. It's better than a regular old Health Potion because it lets you get a free refill on it every time you walk in the base, and you get 2 charges on it. If you feel you need it however, you can pick up some regular Health Potions. I strongly recommend that you NEVER take Corrupting Potion on Zed because it is extremely useless on him.

Vision control is very important. It is needed to know when the jungler or an opposing laner is coming to gank or roam in or out of your lane.

First Back

You will want to prioritize this item to back with before boots because you get the 25 attack damage plus the lethality which does alot for your dps output. If you prefer to have cdr instead of lehtality, you can get a Caulfield's Warhammer instead, as they cost the same and also provide the same amount of attack damage.

Get these to increase your movement speed, so that you can dodge skillshots easier, and also be able to more efficiently pull off roams.

Back with this item if you have an extra 75 gold to spend. It is good to use this item to put in the river bush near scuttle crab to defend against jungle ganks and top or support roams.

Core Items

You ideally want to get this item first because the passive out of combat movement speed it provides is great, as it allows you to move around the map quickly to set up top or bot roams. or to help your jungler kill the other jungler or rotate to siege an objective.

These boots are good to take on Zed because it gives you cdr which can get you to max cdr quicker, as your w cooldown is quite high early. If you are versus heavy ap or heavy crowd control champions, it would be better to get Mercury's Treads, and if you are against heavy attack damage, you should pick up Ninja Tabi

This item is good because it gives you more lethality, more attack damage, a way to deny enemy vision, and a large burst of damage on your first autto attack out of enemy vision. one simple w+e+q+w+autoattack combo will pop any squishy champions on the opposing team.

This item both caps out your cool down reduction at 40% and it gives you lots of health and attack damage. Not to mention it shreds armor on a stacking basis and provides short bursts of movement speed upon attacking.

Passive: Contempt for the Weak

This is a very helpful passive because not only does it help you farm more efficiently under tower, but it also helps you kill low-hp enemies. Not to mention that the cooldown on this ability isn't that high.

Q: Razor Shuriken

This is one of Zed's bread-n-butter abilities. It serves as a poke ability, as well as a combo ability if used with his w.

W: Living Shadow

This is Zed's only escape, so use it wisely. Only use it if you know for a FACT that you will make it out without using it, or if you know where the jungler is and it isn't near you. See Tips-n-Tricks for ways to use your Living Shadow offensively.

E: Shadow Slash

This ability can be used as a slow, a way to clear minion waves faster and easier, or a high dps ability if used in conjunction with your Living Shadow and Razor Shuriken. When disengaging or running away be sure to use a Living Shadow + Shadow Slash to slow them and aid your escape.

R: Death Mark

This, is the outplay ability in its rawest and purest form. You see a Lee Sin about to dive you under tower, he hits you with Sonic Wave and is takes the Resonating Strike, but you throw your w behind the wall and you use your Death Mark to avoid the damage. As soon as you stop being untargetable, you switch places with your Living Shadow and use your Shadow Slash to slow so you can land your triple Razor Shuriken and the pop will kill him. MAKE SURE that you fade away from the Lee Sin to make yourself a cool guy, because everyone knows cool people don't look at explosions.

Early Game

: Level 1 if you are vs a melee opponent, you are going to want to farm with your autos and use your Razor Shuriken to poke your enemy laner. Make sure you hit the opponent first with your q, because Razor Shuriken does reduced damage to all enemies past the first hit. If you are in a ranged poke matchup, back up out of their range and simply snipe minions with your Razor Shuriken it is okay to miss minions if it means you don't give up kill gold, especially first blood gold. Level 2, if you see the jungler somewhere where you think you will be safe from ganks til level 3, put a point in your Shadow Slash, with that you can walk up to the laner and simply do an auto+ Shadow Slash cancel (See Tips n' Tricks) and Razor Shuriken him when he tries to walk away, easily procing your Electrocute. If you see that the jungler is near you or you think that he might be there to gank you before you hit level 3, put a point in your Living Shadow. You can use it t escape a gank, or if you feel safe, you can throw a shadow out and try to land 2 Razor Shurikens and possibly snap to your shadow, autoattack, and get that nice Electrocute proc. Level 3, you put a point in whichever skill you haven't leveled yet. Here is where you can finally pull off your standard poke combo consisting of Living Shadow+ Shadow Slash+ Razor Shuriken. If you can kill them, snap to the shadow. do an auto, which by then should be augmented with your Contempt for the Weak and ignite.

Mid Game

Zed's midgame is very strong in my opinion because that is when he gets to the point where he can both roam and get kills in lane. You should at least have your Youmuu's Ghostblade and tier 1 Boots by that time, so you can quickly roam and get back to lane without the risk of your enemy laner taking all your plates. Just make sure to follow the number one rule of roaming; always shove the lane before you roam. You do this because while you are gone, the enemy has to clear the wave at his tower, plus another wave before the minions crash a your tower, and by which time another wave is already on its way up to lane. You can pretty much oneshot a squishy adc or jungler at this point in the game as well, so be on the look out for easy pick offs.

Late Game

Late game Zed is the best because you simply LIVE to pick off high priority targets in teamfights. You can kill the adc and squishy junglers with a simple w+e+q +autoattack combo, and if need be, you can use your ultimate to dodge any cc or heavy burst that comes your way. With the 9.4 changes to Zed, there is no need to ult the adc or high ad target in a teamfight anymore because they took away his Reaper of Shadows passive. In a teamfight, all you are going to want to do is get into the enemy backline and kill as many people as you can. Your frontline should be able to peel enough for you so you can get in, get a kill or 2, and get out.

Razor Shuriken - Your q does more damage to the first enemy hit, so be sure that your q's hit the champions first in lane to maximize poke damage.

Living Shadow - Your w doesn't go on cool down until either it times out or you recast it to switch places with the shadow, so be sure to keep that in mind.

Shadow Slash - You can auto attack, then before the auto attack animation ends, use your e to maximize dps, as well as a last hitting tool. Also, your e reduces the cooldown on your Living Shadow if it hits someone with the shadow e.

Death Mark - This ability can of course be used offensively, but not many people know that it can also be used defensively. Death Mark makes you untargetable while you are putting the mark on the enemy, which lets you avoid point and click cc's, any heavy burts (Like Veigar's Primordial Burst, or anything ou really don't want to get hit by in general.