Zed is an ad assassin champion played mainly in the mid lane, but can go top and some times jungle. he is extremely fun to play. he will never run out mana. that's because he runs off energy. he has a very high mobility and a very high skill cap. this allows you to be able to play hundreds of games and still see yourself improving. he can provide a lot for you team when played correctly and is very flashy when you can play him right. he is great for highlight reels.

Pros

lots of damage
strong laning phase
high kill potential
lost of mobility
flexible build
high skill cap
no mana

Cons

countered by tanky top laners
not good when behind

for runes i take health per level so that i am not super squishy come late game. the armor pen marks help with getting cs and punching through early armor from my lane opponent. the damage quints allow for easier cs as well. having 40% cdr is very nice late game because it allows you to dish out maximum damage. the cdr in the runes allows for this. and when facing an ad mid i will take cdr per level so that i don't need to buy as many cdr items.

the 21/9/0 masteries are pretty standard and they give you some extra cdr, damage, and a bit of defense.

this build is a pure assassin build. the lw will punch through the little amount of armor your targets have. the BoRK will allow you to chase, and catch out enemy squishy. ghost blade, like BoRK, gives you lots of burst and and chase potential. the different boot types are explained in the notes attached to them. BT gives you the large chunk of ad as well as some life steel. the life steel will allow you to easily dual most people. spirit visage will amplify this life steel while giving you mr. the new randuins blocks some crit damage witch is nice when fighting the adc.

your main combo in lane is W-E-Q. you have to pull this off very fast for it to work most effectively. the slow from the E will allow you to hit you q easier. if you W-E fast enough you have a small window to use your E a 2nd time before the shadow goes away.

before fights you want to make sure you know who has what ults and who is where. you want to try to get into a position where you can flank. the best case scenario is that their whole tank line goes in and you just walk up to the squishes and ult. that will almost never happen so you will have to judge when the correct time to go in will be. try to wait till someone uses a large cc ability. this will make the opponent think they have the upper hand and they will focus on killing your team. this is when you rush in and execute the adc or apc thus allowing your team out damage them.

one tip for zed to start your ult out of tower range. one thing that really sucks is when you make an amazing tower dive and you outplay your opponent. you're one tower shot away from death and you remember your ult shadow is still back there. you ult back only to find yourself still in tower range. my next tip is to ult from bushes. this is mainly for escape purposes. if you ult someone trying to pick them off and find they have a full team next to them, then you can W as far away from your ult shadow and get them to chase you a bit farther before ulting back to the bush. almost everyone will have a moment of pure confusion not knowing where you went. by the time the realize where you went you've already gotten out. one great tip is to use your ult to dodge the big ults from the enemy team. one example is running face first at a Yasuo and wait for him to use his 3rd Q. you ult before it hits you. this allow you to avoid his knock up, his ult, lots of damage, and allow you to kill him. Leading people away form your shadows is another great trick. you can throw a shadow one way and run the other. as soon as you see the arrow next to your feet turn yellow then press W again to juke them. yet another tip with Zed's ult is that there will be a shuriken above their head if the damage from your ult will kill them. ALWAYS remember where your shadows are and what ones you can jump to.

last hitting is always important for any champion. one trick for zed in the mid lane is to take raptor before you go back or when you push up really far without wards. one thing i do is shove my lane hard and when it reaches tower i just W over raptor wall and take them super fast then head back to lane quickly. this gives you a good gold lead and you miss minimal cs.

so at the end of the day Zed is a fun champion to play as well as a strong one. he excels at assassinating the enemy adc and split pushing. remember to keep vision up so that you don't get caught with your W on cool down. denying vision is also important because this allows you to pull of effective ganks and allows you to roam and possibly get picks on the jungler. have fun playing Zed!!