If you want to learn how to carry your games or just look stylish to impress people (or both), you found the right guide.

hey im Aiko and im a top 100 Zed main and im Grandmaster at the moment.

Ive been playing Zed since forever, always came back to this champion, even when i tried something else because of his huge outplay potential and fun/expressive Kit.

I also watch a ton of content about league and Zed in specific, giving the best tips and trick known possibly known by anyone.

Im a very mechanical focused Person.

Twitch : https://www.twitch.tv/aikopanda

Discord : https://discord.gg/d8rhhnSkJ4

Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/@AikoPanda.

This will be a guide about EVERYTHING there is to about Zed.
a full indepth guide that will help YOU become the master of shadows.
it may not be the prettiest, but for sure the most helpful Zed guide.
also a section about just looking cool.

if you Enjoy this guide make sure to join the Community Discord and follow/come see me live on stream on Twitch

PASSIVE (Contempt for the Weak)

Zed's basic attacks against targets below 50% maximum health are empowered to deal 6 / 8 / 10% (based on level) of the target's maximum health as bonus magic damage.
Against Monster icon monsters, Contempt for the Weak deals 200% damage, capped at 300.

Contempt for the Weak cannot occur on the same Champion more than every 10 seconds.

Q (Razor Shuriken)

Active: Zed throws a shuriken in the target direction that deals physical damage to enemies hit, reduced to 60% against targets beyond the first.

Physical Damage
80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+ 100% bonus AD)
COST: 75 / 70 / 65 / 60 / 55 energy
COOLDOWN: 6
CAST TIME: 0.25
TARGET RANGE: Range center 925
WIDTH: Range model 100
SPEED: 1700

W (Living Shadow)

Passive: Zed restores energy whenever he and his Shadows or multiple Shadows hit an ability on the same target. This may only occur once per cast ability.(It will not deal additional Damage but will stack the Slow if you hit multiple Shadow E's)

Energy Restored:
30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50

Active: Zed creates a Shadow that dashes to the target location and remains there for 5.25 seconds, being able to mimic Razor Shuriken and Shadow Slash regardless of range.
Living Shadow can only be recast while within range of the Shadow.
Recast: Zed and the Shadow Flash blink to swap places. If Living Shadow was recast while the Shadow is dashing, the recast will instead occur once it has been placed.
If an ability is cast while the Shadow is dashing, it will cast that ability once it has been placed.
Living Shadow will cast at max range if cast beyond that.

COST: 40 / 35 / 30 / 25 / 20 energy
COOLDOWN: 20 / 19 / 18 / 17 / 16
CAST TIME: none
TARGET RANGE: 650
EFFECT RADIUS: 2000 / Global
SPEED: 2500

E (Shadow Slash)

Active: Zed slashes to deal physical damage to nearby enemies.
Enemies hit by a Shadow's slash are slowed for 1.5 seconds, with multiple slashes dealing no additional damage but the slow's effectiveness being increased by 50%.

Living Shadow's current cooldown is reduced by 3 seconds for each enemy Champion icon champion hit by Zed's slash.

Physical Damage:
65 / 90 / 115 / 140 / 165 (+ 65% bonus AD)
Slow:
20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%
Enhanced Slow:
30 / 37.5 / 45 / 52.5 / 60%
COST: 40 energy
COOLDOWN: 5 / 4.5 / 4 / 3.5 / 3
CAST TIME: none
EFFECT RADIUS: Range center 315 / 290

R (Death Mark)

Active: Zed becomes untargetable and, after 0.6 seconds, he dashes 125 units through the target enemy champion over 0.35 seconds. Afterwards, he becomes targetable again, renders the target Marked for Death for 3 seconds, and gains ghosting for the same duration.

Zed also spawns a Shadow at his casting position for 9 seconds which is able to mimic Razor Shuriken and Shadow Slash regardless of range. Death Mark can be recast after 0.5 seconds of his reappearance while the Shadow is active, though not in the last 1.25 seconds of its duration.

Marked for Death: Zed stores a portion of all pre-mitigation physical damage and magic damage he and his Shadows deal to the target, detonating at the end of the duration to deal physical damage.

Recast: Zed and the Shadow blink to swap places.

If the target dies or is 1950 or more units away before the dash begins, Death Mark is cancelled, causing the ability to go on a 0.5-second cooldown, Zed to reappear at the cast location, and the Shadow he spawned to disappear.

Strengths

Burst Damage
High Mobility
Strong Outplay potential / High Skill Expression
Energy instead of Mana
Safe Waveclear
Safe Csing (Q)
Safe Lane
Safe Blindpick
Good Sidelaner
Good teamfighting
Safe Poke
Easy last hitting (passive)
Clip farming / insane Fun
Can be insane Lobby admin champion / smurf champion

Weaknesses

High Skill requirement
Weak without W or R
Weak laningphase until R or Voltaic spike
Easily countered by Armor
No Teamplay (no CC only Damage)
Predictable R / W usage
Zhonyas
Needs to hit multiple Skillshots on the same Target for Energy management
Blue buff hungry champion

Zed is strong against:

Immobile / Squishy Champions
No to little CC / Peel teamcomps

Zed is weak against:

Tanks / Armor stacking
Heavy CC / Peel Teamcomps
Point and Click when R down
Statis / Invulnerable abilities
OTP Champion

This will be a very Indepth Combo Guide, showing off what is possible with this Champion, even hidden more unknown Combos which can still be useful.

Always wondered, how other Zed Player's seem to have so much more Ability uptime and Energy than you?
You will find all the answers here!

All of these are possible Combos you can Pull off in a real Game, i did not use any Cooldown or Energy Refunds from Custom Game in any Replay.

I will start off showcasing Combos in Practice Tool with Information belongsides the Videos, and then continue to some real Game usage.


Lets start with the most Simple Combos and Progress into the more mechanical or nieche ones after.

WEQ/WQE

Lets start with the Normal W+E+Q Combo, which is used to Poke your Opponent in Lane.

ALWAYS TRY TO HIT YOUR Q's DIRECTLY AND NOT THROUGH MINIONS AS THAT WILL REDUCE THE DAMAGE BY ATON

Play Video

Tips: use your W next to your opponent instead of inside your opponent, since most Players tend to walk straight away from your Shadow, making it easier to Land your Q's.

Pros : Safe combo from distance with E slow
Cons : Not the fastest, W on cooldown (vulnerable to ganks)

Alternative Harder version:

The W+Q+E Combo, it is faster than the W+E+Q Combo, being important if you have to back off/move immediatly do not get punished (like syndra q+e) or finish off a target quicker

Play Video

Tips: Same as the other combo, use your W next to your opponent instead of inside your opponent, since most Players tend to walk straight away from your Shadow, making it easier to Land your Q's.

Pros : Safe combo from distance and faster than WEQ
Cons : Faster but less reliable because of the missing Shadow-E slow, W on cooldown (vulnerable to ganks)

Backwards W+W+Q+E

Against certain Matchups, like LB, Yasuo or anything that can jump onto you, this is a Combo that can Punish those engages.

Play Video

Tips: There is no reason to W+W+E+Q, since this combo is all about being fast and while the enemy is in the dash animation they cant dodge anyways, doing it slow just gives them an opportunity to dodge (LB taking W back, Yasuo dashing/windwalling).

Pros : Fast disengage Combo, punishing the enemys engage.
Cons : Needs fast reaction time and quick hand to aim W behind and Q's forwards.

The Gapclose Aiko Combo WWQFEAA

Against enemies that are in Kill Range of 1Q+E+Passive AA, while being far away.

Play Video

Tips: It is Important to instant W+W then Q and flash AFTER instantly to skip the Q animation and give the enemies even less time to react, and then follow up with an instant AA+E

Pros : Very fast no way for the enemy to react combo to finish them off (pause).
Cons : leaves you very vulnurable, walk of shame to get out of the overextended position.

W Reset / Shadow Management

Now I will showcase Ways to utilize the W+E interaction, where Zed's melee E reduces W's Cooldown by 3 Seconds for each enemy hit.

Play Video

Tips: Dont forget about tracking enemy Abilities, because jumping into CC will just get you killed and you look like a fool just random W'ing into the enemies.

Pros : Gets you a nice Shadow inside of all enemies, making it easier to give more Damage and recover Energy, granting you Hit multiple Abilities.
Cons : leaves you very vulnurable if you didnt track enemy abilities or not done fast enough.

W Reset Teamfight

Here is a Full Damage Combo you can Pull off to carry Teamfights on your Own.
Nice in and Out Combo.

Play Video

Tips: Same as before, dont forget about tracking enemy Abilities, because jumping into CC will just get you killed and you look like a fool just random W'ing into the enemies.

Pros : Gets you a nice Shadow inside of all enemies, making it easier to land multiple Abilities, giving more Damage and recovers Energy.
Cons : leaves you very vulnurable if you didnt track enemy abilities or not done fast enough, not the safest Combo at all.

W Reset to get Away

On some occasions while running away or towards someone, you could run into someone else to get your W reset.
For example running away with low HP from the enemy jungler, walk a step close to him / someone else and get your W cooldown Refund and Dash away.

Play Video

Tips: Same as before, dont forget about tracking enemy Abilities, because jumping into CC will just get you killed and you look like a fool just random W'ing into the enemies.

Pros : Helps you escape, dash over walls or chase enemies, no drawback if you would die anyways while running away, might aswell try this.
Cons : leaves you very vulnurable if you didnt track enemy abilities/damage.

Energy Management

If you wonder how to get Energy back as Zed, hitting multiple Abilities like 2-3x Q's or E's on the Same target, refunds Energy back.

Play Video

Tips: Alot of the times when you run low on Energy but still want to full Combo, use the WQE combo instead of WEQ combo so you get Energy refund from the double Q to then use E after, instead of having no Energy for Q's because you used your E first.

Pros : Energy
Cons : You need to hit

QEAA Animation Cancle

You can Q+AA+E at pretty much the same time to burst the Enemy.

Play Video

Tips: Also combinable with Flash (always flash in the Q so Q and then Flash after for less reaction time on the enemy) QFAAE, you can immediatly E since it wont cancle your Q or AA animation.

Pros : Good quick Burst, no W usage so still safe. Good against Yasuo/LB trade without using W.
Cons : You get hit back, dont get Energy Refund and less Damage since you dont use your Shadow.

W+R Combo

Against alot of Matchups its helpful to setup your W before using R, to dodge incoming otherwise undodgable skillshots (Ahri E for example).


Play Video

Tips: There are 2 Ways to do the W+R Combo, either a safer way to hit Tripple Q, where you Spam Q until you get out and then instant swap with your W shadow as soon as you can, which has a slight delay of like 0.1 seconds but you buffer your Q and Swap while throwing out your Q's so even if you get CC'd you are still getting the Tripple Q off, because of the buffer.
The other way is instantly spamming W, to back off safe and then using E+Q after, which is a safer Combo but more unreliable to Kill the opponent since you are less likely to hit everything.

(The replay Video is the Q buffer varient)

Pros : Really good Burst combo, can help Dodge/Buffer alot of CC before Edge of Night.
Cons : Enemies may predict your W usage if you instantly Spam it instead of buffering it, so you dont get your Q's out at all and leaves you very vulnurable after since you dont have a W to still use, and all you got is your R shadow back.
Also out of Range for Autoattacks so lacking damage.

W+R Combo including Flash

Same Combo adding Bluetooth Flash + AA at the end to finish Enemys.

Play Video

Bluetooth Autoattack

You can AA+E and then instantly Swap with your Shadow once your Autoattack Animation starts and it will still go through, as shown in the Clips.

Play Video

Tips: Also combinable with Flash or W for more surprise effect, like shown in the last clip.

Pros : Surprise effect quick Burst if used with Flash or W.
Cons : Need to go into Melee Range.

R+W Combo

You can also use your W after you Ult the enemy, which gives you different Pros and Cons to the W+R Combo from before.
Here i did the exact same Combo to showcase just with the W after I Ulted the enemy and Q buffered again (Q then take W).
This is mainly used against Enemies who still have Dashes/Flash up to disengage or would outjuke your preset W, if you would W into R.
This also opens up the opportunity to jump anywhere you would like instead of being stuck with the W placement before.
Better combo than W+R after you get edge of night.

Play Video

Tips: Good if the enemy has Dashes or Flash (Ahri R, Ezreal E and so on).
Use WQE instead of WEQ to disengage from the enemy faster.

Pros : Keeps your W for after R to followup dashes, be more unpredictable after your Ultimate.
Cons : 100% spawns behind the enemy if you dont flash anywhere else instantly.

R+W Combo including Flash

Same Combo adding Bluetooth Flash + AA at the end to finish Enemys.

Play Video

R+W Combo Sneaky Picks in TF

This Combo is really useful im teamfights, where an enemy Frontline is standing infront of you with seemingly no way to get to the adc to assassinate him.

Play Video

Tips: Make sure to track the Enemy Cooldowns, to not get interrupted right after your Ultimate, abuse the chaos of the Teamfight to not be seen.
Remember you are able to go back to R at the end to disengage or continue fighting the Tank in your Ult.
You can instant recast back to your R once you W+Q+E+AA the enemy squishy for the bluetooth autoattack we discussed earlier.

Pros : Surprise effect quick Burst on a squishy Target, since they dont expect you to Ult someone and then go for another person.
Able to Kill off both champs if you hit both with multiple Q+E+AA's
Cons : Need to go into Melee Range without W or R setups so can easily be CC'd right after R or if not done quickly enough.
Also can lack Damage on the Squishy since you use Ultimate on another Target.

Vision Manipulation

Alot of Players dont utilize that Zed's W is a blink that can go over walls or really everywhere on the Map.
Here I gathered some Clips with comparison to Show you how OP vision manipulation and abusing Fog of war as in bushes or walls can be, since the enemy cant attack you back.

Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video
Tips: Make sure to track enemy wards to know if they have vision of you, otherwise dashing into a bush doesnt help much, going over walls otherwise can always help escape the enemy briefly before going back in or staying away.

Pros : Enemy doesnt know what you cast next and cant fight back.
Cant autoattack back / has to throw skillshots blind into the bush / over walls.
Cons : Less damage because of missing autoattacks and need good knowledge about vision and where the enemies are so you dont dash into them.

Hidden Shadow Combo

This Combo hides the Animation of Zed's W1.
It works by using W to a Target and instantly Swapping back with R2 to your Original position.
This can be used to either go for a squishy Target again after a slight delay to Dodge something or to Outplay your Main Target, since this way you can dodge Abilitys pretty easy for an out and back in.(against orianna with R, syndra q+e, or any form of skillshot just W next to them, take R2 back to dodge and W back in)
!REMEMBER YOU CANT INSTANTLY R2 BACK IT HAS CD THIS ONLY WORKS AFTER A SLIGHT DELAY!

Play Video

Tips: This is really useful in Teamfights aswell since there is alot of chaos going on where people wont pay close attention to every detail.
It is very easy to miss Zed's Shadow like this.
Play around Chaos.

Pros : Surprise gapclose towards an enemy squishy.
Cons : no more R to fight them if used on another Target and need to rely on Q+E+AA Dps, also close to the Enemys so can easily be Killed/cc'd if not careful.

R Flash W Combo

This combo can be used if the enemy has some form of CC and Dash, first you Ult the enemy without W setup, instantly flash to a different angle so you dont get CC'd out your R and then followup with WEQ/WQE+ bluetooth aa or just auto to death and swap back to your shadow at the end.

Play Video

Tips: you can spam flash and it will be used instantly when you get out, no need to time it, also make sure to autoattack before returning since its a free bluetooth aa.

Pros : Keeps W for a better followup with your WEQ/WQE, safe since you can go back to R.
Cons : burns flash.

Tripple Target Combo

Very rarely used combo but i wanted to share everything in this guide so here it is.
R1 target near you, W1 target 2, FQE+bluetooth AA on target 3 then W2 into AA target 2 and R back.

Play Video

Tips: Dont overuse this combo, alot of the times its fine to just pick the most important one, kill him and then chase the other one after, instead of failing the combo and killing noone.

Pros : Tripple Kill, cleaning the whole teamfight, safe combo to return R back to.
Cons : could not work out at all, lending to you not killing anyone.

Now lets get into more "Nieche" or "hidden" Combos

Double Q from 1 Spot

This hidden Combo needs a setup to work before it can be used.
To set this up you have to W+Q+W once the shuriken hits your Shadow, dont issue a movement command while doing for more consistency.
Once you are setup your next WWQ will throw 2shurikens from 1spot as shown in the video.

Play Video

Tips: Pracice the Setup in Custom games, to execute spam WWQ instantly and setup is doable everytime you base and want to leave base.

Pros : Unexpected strong Poke.
Cons : Have to take the W so a less safe position.

Changing R coming out Direction

A hidden and very nieche Combo, that lets you change your R outcome position.
Most enemys know that Zed's Ult always puts him behind them, so they preemptively shoot their CC Ability to interrupt you from Killing them.
This Combo sadly leaves you without any form of Dash Followup, so if the enemies have dashes like Ahri R, Ezreal E or just Flash, this Combo likely wont work.
It goes WW instantly behind the enemy into R just 0.0001s after u swapped with your shadow, this will Pop you out in front of the enemy instead of behind as he expects, but also completly buggs your W and places it inside your R shadow where you now stand aswell next to, so you can shoot 3 Shurikens from the same direction and Buffer Q+E+AA for a quick unexpected burst.

Play Video

Tips: Pracice the timing and W usage in practice tool.

Pros : Change of Ult outcome.
Cons : No Dash followup, really unsafe since everything is on the same spot you cant kite.

!Fastest Zed Combo!

This is the most Flashy and fastest Zed combo there is which is not mastered by alot of People, and its so unknown that most Players dont even know how to react when they see this getting used.
R+W+E(onto the enemy)+F(Away from the enemy)+Q(Buffer into take W2)+Bluetooth AA+R2 out.

Play Video

Tips: Pracice this alot before using since its mechanically and timing wise on how to use W+E+F harder than it might look.

Pros : Quickest Oneshot possible, nonreactable besides R1 outcome and W+F after so we can followup dashes, and it just looks insane if done correctly.
Cons : Really hard, might get cc'd because we dont use W setup.

Shadow Control

Showcasing fun and quick Zed Combos with Keyboard inputs.

Play Video

The most important thing to keep in Mind is, you wont always be able to execute the combos like you imagined in your head and you have to adapt quickly.

A really helpful trick i didnt showcase yet is full committing in when you know you have the damage and team to back you up is, WQE/WEQ+AA into the enemies / or just one enemy and then Ulting after to dodge any incoming Attacks/Skillshots/CC..., if the opponent dies while your R is casting, you even get a full refund on it but still dodged everything.

Showcase of that :

R for Safety

Play Video

Q Buffer / 2+PPl 1Tank Combo

Here is an example of Q Buffer (Q coming out while being knocked up by Zaheen Q) and bypassing a Target bis R'ing the Frontline and going onto the squishy with W.

Play Video

R Dodge + W Reset

Here is an example of using Zed R to dodge incoming Damage/CC, into using E inside of 3 ppl to get my W back to return to safety.

Play Video

No Q buffer + WR Combo Dive

Here is an example of using WR setup without Q buffer to instantly dodge enemy CC and be safer.

Play Video

Vision Manipulation

Here is an example of using WR setup while playing with Vision so i dont get damage in return.

Play Video

Hidden W + RW Combo Followup

Here is an example of using RW combo to follow her Flash, with an hiddenshadow to finish her.
Play Video

RFW Combo

Here is an example of using RFW Combo to dodge incoming Attacks and followup the Naafiri dash afterwards with my WEQ/WQE +bluetooth AA back to R2

Play Video

Hidden Shadow R2 dodge W back in

Here is an example of using Hiddenshadow Combo into R2 back to dodge incoming skillshots and going back in with W.

Play Video

How to actually Play Zed

Zed is a scaling Champion which gets his first spike at lvl 6 and then on volatic cyclosword.

Early lane :

Focus fully on CS'ing, farm with Q and AA only when allowed, dont give up too much HP early on.
Once you are lvl 3 you can start poking the enemy down with WQE/WEQ, make sure to only use W when you know you are not getting ganked and you are not in a vulnurable position (too far into enemy territory).
Try to poke the enemy down enough so you can look for an all in timer on your level 6.
A simple trick you can abuse is poking with WEQ right before you hit your lvl 6 spike (1-2minions off while they are low hp) enemys will walk up thinking you just used your combo, you hit 6 take the W and all in.

Laning Phase

Stay consistent with CSing since Zed is a really Item reliant Champion which scales really well into the early game.
Dont overuse your W if you dont know where enemy Support/Jungler is to avoid dying.
Surviving is more important than poking.
Poke the enemy down to 60%~ hp before looking for an all in to kill.
If ahead, look to shove waves quickly and roam either top or bot / help your jungler.
Pressure your lead onto other Lanes, like diving botlane into taking drake, make sure to ping your jungler and botlane so they know what you plan to do.
IF behind stay mid, place a ward in the middle of the lane to see where enemy mid is going to rotate to so you can ping your Team and pushout midlane quickly and take platings to comeback, dont follow rotate.
If no plays are available just get/destroy vision and hide in fog of war so the enemies dont know where you are.
ALWAYS TRACK ENEMY JGL.

Midgame

This is Zed's strongest Phase, the sidelaning.
Once the botlane T1 from either team is gone, you may swap lanes with your botlane.
Now you should have your Voltaic powerspike already and you can look to abuse the enemy midlaner, which should have rotated botlane aswell, even more now, since the botlane is an even larger lane where he cant hide under turret or get away without dashes.
Use your mobility to your advantage to poke and not get poked back and all in whenever you feel comfortable.
YOU can choose when to fight or not.
Try to always move first or atleast match your enemy rotating to a play, if the play looks doomed before you would even get there just stay on lane and get platings if enemy rotated.
You can also try to get the enemys to focus on you and rotate towards you(try getting enough vision deep into enemy jgl so you know whats coming towards you), play aggressive so the enemies will walk towards you and play super safe to not die when 2/3+ people walked botlane to dive/kill you, use all your mobility to just survive and your team can abuse that bad roam timer by doing something on the Map.

Endgame

You can either continue sidelaning bot or top (go to whatever lane has the next objective like baron or drake) and let your toplaner go to the opposite site or let him join your team since he has TP from toplane quest, try solokilling the enemy laner or if not possible try getting attention towards you again so your team can look for a 4v3 4v2 or picks when enemies rotating towards you.

Or you participate into Teamfighting, only do this when you are comfortable with Zed combos and have knowledge Ability tracking so you dont just randomly die.
Always abuse the Chaos of the Teamfights trying to flank the enemies or use the RW combo where you R a frontline champion and WQE/WEQ onto an enemy squishy bypassing the whole enemy team.
Avoid engaging first if possible, wait for team engage or CC to get a good pick.
Always make sure to press Tab to see what items the enemies may have (Zhonyas on Mage, GA on adc and so on..) and make sure to check who their most valuable target is, you dont need to kill an 1-2item adc who is 0/12 30mins into the game when they have a 14/0 Diana jungle, who would be more valuable to kill.
Usually the Adc/Jgl/Midlaner are the most important picks, since adc or mid deals the most dmg but their jungler has smite so without the smite you can freely do drake/nash.

How to hit more Q's

In lane try to wait until the enemies uses an Ability or autoattacks to last hit a minion to throw your Q to easily hit it, since they are locked in that autoattack windup animation for that short period of time.
In lategame teamfights you can wait for enemy abilities or team CC before throwing out Q's, stay calm and conquer the fight.

Dont overuse your W to clear waves if you dont know where the enemies are.
Always stay patient, patience is key with Zed.
Prioritze Farming over trading early on.
Dont get to overconfident and W in, forgetting about enemy's abilities or in fog of war.
Get oracle lens against invis champs at first base.
Abuse fog of war.
Dont be the main initiator to start fights.
Focus on dodging skillshots / surviving first and then killing after.
Dont mental boom if the game goes wrong early game, Zed scaled really well into the lategame.

Thank you for watching my whole Guide!

If you enjoyed it make sure to join the Discord and Follow me on Twitch if you have more questions or if you are just interested in watching Zed gameplay.

https://discord.gg/d8rhhnSkJ4

Enjoy your Climb!

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