To poke:

(W) - (Q) : Regular poke, a bit hard to land and moderate damage.

(W) - (E) - (Q) - (E) : Strong poke if the enemy decides to stay near the shadow after the first (E), otherwise you'd zone him or make him lose CS.


To trade/retaliate:

(W) - (E) - (Q) - (W) - AA - (E) - Walk away from retaliation : This combo is pretty risky and dangerous if the opponent decides to go all in on you, or if the enemy excels at retaliating, like Riven or Renekton. Use it wisely as it lets you deal a huge amount of damage but puts you in risk aswell.


Go melee - (E) - (Q) - AA - (E) - (W) to the back - (W): Safest trade as it lets you do your combo and quickly go back to avoid retaliation. The only danger is when you're walking towards the enemy. Often, they'll underestimate you and try to trade but you'll be out of their range before they know it.


To go all-in and juke on the way back: (Note: Hard to execute)


(R) - (W) - (Q) - (E) - Ignite - Blade of the Ruined King - AA - (E) - [(W) or (R) - (R) or (W)] (the last two casts can let you dodge up to 2 skillshots and make it to Top 5 jukes on YouTube easily) : Use this to completely obliterate a single enemy, like this:

Difficulty: Hard
Ap Teemo Sometimes can give you a hard time
Singed will wreck you after level 6, unless you totally crush him pre-6.
Irelia has a lot of sustain, true damage and hard CC plus gap closer. Direct counter.
Garen can't be poked out of lane, and his silence destroys your combo.
Elise can rappel and dodge your full combo after you ult. Strong poker with sustain aswell.
Lee Sin can keep up with your dashes, and kick you away when you go all in on him.
Riven if good can retaliate to every trade/all-in you do. Can't be poked out of lane.
Renekton's ult counters yours, has hard CC and sustain, aswell as a gap closer.
Jayce will out trade you is most case-scenarios. You need jungler pressure.
Rengar if good will abuse the bush and max E first, then W, and get CDR items to handle you.




Difficulty: Medium
Jarvan IV's kit is effective against you, but you can escape his ult easily with (W).
Jax needs his stun to win trades, otherwise just retaliate if he jumps without stun.
Kayle's ult counters yours and ranged poke can hinder you hard. Be careful with your plays.
Udyr has the same damage output as you, but better sustain. Keep poking him 24/7.
Yorick's sustain/poke is annoying, but you can win an all-in easily.
Xin Zhao if good can be a problem for you. Otherwise save your W for his E.
Kha'Zix's has strong poke and moderate sustain, but you can all-in him easily early game.
Katarina if good will can outplay you real hard. Otherwise ult when she ults and it's done.
Akali's shroud can stop you from doing your combo after you ult. Buy Vision Wards for when she goes invisible then wreck her after ult.




Difficulty: Easy
Nidalee She can do nothing but heal your poke. Force her oom. You eat her in all-ins.
Malphite can never out-trade you early, just be agressive on him and force him oom.
Olaf's strongest threat is his true damage. Force him oom while poking him. Easy lane.
Shen can get really tanky but he can't do much to you either. You'll be comfortable.
Teemo can be an annoying little brat but he has no escape from your ult follow-up.
Rumble has strong lane phase, but you can just focus on farm and outscale him late.
Vladimir can pool your ultimate, but other than that he can't win trades at all.
Cho'Gath's spells can be outplayed so hard with shadows. Play smart and you're on.
Gangplank's poke can be heavy sometimes. Trade with him when he uses his Q to farm and don't get baited into ulting him when he's low because of the famous Elixir of Fortitude + W.

Champions Zed synergizes very well with:
Thresh can get him out with lantern after he goes all-in on the enemy carry.
Kayle can give him an extra 2 seconds to get the enemy carry.
Lulu's speed boost, shield and ult allows him to go deep enough to reach the carries.
Shen's ult on a deep in the enemy lines Zedinto Shadow Dash secures kills.
Maokai's intiation with Twisted Advance and his ult can follow up with him in the deeps
Xin Zhao's E into ult isolates the enemy carry for him.
Hecarim's ult disrupts the whole enemy team and allows Zed a clean engage on carries.
Vladimir's ult synergizes perfectly with his ult.
Mordekaiser ults the enemy AD Carry and Zed pops him up real fast to win the games