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Skill matchup. Yet it feels like Ahri has the upper hand since you won't be able to kill her in lane unless she mess up or you get a gank. You're gonna be frequently using the W+E+Q combo to trade.
Akali
With additional nerfs to Akali, perhaps we now have a slight possibility of not getting demolished in lane. In lane, as long as she has energy up, keep a safe distance and avoid getting hit by her Qs. Farm with Q and from lvl 3 play more aggresive. Post 6 you'll often want to R before using W, since it is an important gap closer for when she uses her R. Her shroud also makes it really hard to hit her, either waiting for its cd or getting an oracle lens might be handy.
Anivia
You'll have a hard time killing her pre 6 especially with her passive. Post 6 you'll wanna try to save your R to dodge her stun and you should be able to kill her, should she place a wall, can you just W over.
Annie
Rush Mercs and Hexdrinker for much needed MR and Tenacity.
Aurelion Sol
Sol is pretty vulnerable against melee assassins with heavy gap closers, and Zed is no exception. Push wave to prevent him from roaming. Should he engage on you with Q, use your R to dodge, and save your W as a gap closer when he decides to R you.
Azir
Electrocute setup. Long Sword + Refillable start. Farming in lane is going to be a struggle as he can easily zone you, giving up cs is going to be necessary to avoid taking too much poke. However, Azir struggles against champions with good gap closers and all-ins, use W+E+Q for frequent trades. Avoid using W before R as you'll need a gap closer when he uses R or E.
Cassiopeia
Do short trades early and she'll be out of mana before you've used up all your 3 pots. She most likely wont recall before she got enough gold for Tear, therefore play aggressive. Mid-late game she will undoubtedly outscale you, especially as she builds Zhonyas. You can't swap places with your W, nor use R when standing in her W.
Cho'Gath
Play safe and farm with Q and W+E. His sustain is too good and pokes too hard to go near. Eventually he'll also be too tanky to kill. He can easily Q once you ult which leaves you very vulnurable, so avoid ulting when he has Q up.
Corki
You'll want to survive until level 6, then all in him with R first and then follow up his W with your W. You can also poke him with W+E+Q from lvl 3 and onwards, but you have to play safe without W up.
Diana
Diana is very strong in her current state, with the biggest issue being her tankyness. She has always been a strong counter to Zed, but with her mini rework she is actually threatening pre 6 as well. However, it is still winnable. Any decent Diana player will start W againsts Zed, if she starts Q you'll wanna walk in melee range and trade as much as you manage as your basic attacks + Q do more dmg than her basic attacks + Q at lvl 1. Avoid trading when her W shield is up. At distance, juke counterclockwise and inward from Diana. This will cause her to miss her Q.
Ekko
He can R your R, or negate a lot of dmg from your R with his W. Yet you should be able to screw him up pre 6. You proc Domination easier than him, so do frequent short trades and don't let him proc his Domination on you and you'll win lane. You can also build Hexdrinker/Maw to remove any kill pressure he has.
Fizz
Conquerer setup. Doran's Blade start. A nightmare to play against, especially if the Fizz is good. His E makes it hard to hit your combo on him. He can rush armguard/zhonyas without really missing out on any damage. To outplay fizz, you have to be patient and wait out his combo. You can rush Hexdrinker/Maw, dodge the dmg from his R with your R.Dont go throwing your entire combo onto him when you know his E is up, otherwise he'll dodge all your abilities once he see you throwing that shadow.
Galio
Conqueror setup. Doran's Blade start. CS with Q or W+E. Do short trades with W+E+Q. Play off his cooldowns, especially on his W. Ask jungler for help. You will struggly killing him solo, but so will he should you play somewhat safe. His shield only blocks magic damage, good thing considering Zed does none (besides a little from Scorch and his passive), so ignore it.
Irelia
Irelia is in a pretty weak state for the moment. Yet, a good Irelia doesnt struggle to win against Zed. Her W is good to negate the dmg from your R. She can also build armor which makes her hard to kill, especially late game.
Kassadin
A matchup definitely in favour of Zed. Kassadin shines against mages, but strives against AD assassins like Talon and Zed. Pre 16 is where you shine against Kassadin. However, post 16 Kassadin is a nightmare no matter who you're playing. Zone him as much as you manage in lane, if he walks up to a minion, AA+E+Q him.
Katarina
She is very mobile and can be a struggle hitting your combo on. She shines against champs without no hard cc, like Zed. She can build Cloths into Armguard without really sacrificing anything. Use W or Flash to escape when she use R, or if you have a chance to kill her, you can R her R to negate a lot of the dmg, and follow up with your combo which should be easy to hit as she stands still when she ults.
LeBlanc
Electrocute setup. Long Sword + 3 pots start. Skill matchup. Play safe early. Rush Hexdrinker if needed. Be careful early as her dmg is high, if she Qs you, walk back until the Sigil disappears.
Lissandra
DON'T BE THE FIRST TO ULT. QSS might be necessary. Try to roam as much as you can as you will have very little kill pressure in lane.
Lux
Try to dodge her abilities. You can also use your R to dodge her R. Play aggresive after lvl 3 when you can combo. She is VERY vulnerable without her Q, so attempt to dodge it and then engage on her.
Malphite
Tanky and loves to build armor, nice. Play aggresive early, attempt to keep his shield down and constantly put pressure on him as it only gets harder to kill him as time goes by. His R can be dodged with our R, or our W, should we already have a Shadow sat up.
Malzahar
QSS will be necessary early on if you want to accomplish anything in lane post 6. But by building a QSS early, you'll be sacrificing a lot of crucial dmg, and therefore reducing the kill pressure you have on Malzahar. Ask jungler for help.
Neeko
Unlike other skillshot champs, Neeko wants minions to block the shot because it increases the root duration. Try to angle yourself so that there are no minions between you, causing her root to be extremely short. And if you do get hit with the root, she will most likely just Q you. Should you choose to go in at that point you should win the trade as she has blown all of her cooldowns. You can use R to dodge her R stun.
Orianna
Don't play overaggresive early on, focus on getting as much cs as possible and wait for lvl 4. Later on she'll be more difficult to kill as she has Barrier, good scaling shield on E and most likely Zhonyas.
Qiyana
Skill matchup slightly leaning towards Qiyana being the stronger part. Stay away from walls etc. R her R. She wins pre 6.
Rumble
More info to come..
Ryze
Ryze is extremely weak to all ins, which is Zed's exact strong point.
Sylas
Conquerer setup. Doran's Blade start. Get Executioner's Calling/Mortal Reminder relatively early. Pre 6 you just want to be dodging his E’s as his Q dmg is unnoticeable, especially considering its the last ability Sylas players max out nowadays. Again do not fall for the low HP bait. If you are both low, and unless you have ignite, Sylas will always win if he has his W. As for Post-6 you'll be looking to engage with your R when his E goes on cd. Should he respond with his R, you can just prep your shadows and hit triple Q as he spawns behind you and switch place with your shadow before he gets to W you.
Syndra
Take Nullyfying Orb. Dodging her stun is crucial to win trades and avoid dying. You can use R for this, or just sidestep. Using R when she uses her's will mitigate the majority of the damage.
Talon
Conquerer setup. Doran's Blade start. Play safe early, throw Qs for poke and farming. Fight when his W is down. Using your ult before his is often a waste as he'll most likely use it as an escaping tool. Attempt to hit 6 before him and all in him.
Twisted Fate
Conqueror setup. Long Sword + refillable start. Play safe early. A good TF player can make this matchup much harder. Use R for his stun and he should be pretty much dead from that point onward.
Veigar
One of Zed's easiest matchups. You can use both W and R to get out of his W. You can also counter his R with your R. In laning phase be wary of your W usage, as his W can be lethal when setting up for a gank. Also, dont let him get to much free AP stacks. Punish him when he uses Q on minions with W+E+Q or just a Q. Freezing your wave close to your tower also makes for easy ganks as he is very immobile.
Vel'Koz
More info to come..
Viktor
More info to come..
Vladimir
He WILL outscale you. His only weakness is his early game where his W coldown is high and you actually have a chance at winning fights. Try baiting his W before you use R, then you can easily follow up with your combo without him making himself untargetable.
Xerath
Playing Xerath is mostly about dodging his skillshots, killing a Xerath can often be a difficult task considering they often positition themselves in a safe distance and close to tower. However, with a few items you should be able to pop him pretty easily, take advantage of his stun being down or use R to dodge it.
Yasuo
Conquerer setup. Doran's Blade start. Skill matchup. Yasuo wins pre 4. Build Tabis early, unless you're ahead. Pay attention to his W cd, which is 26 sec lvl 1, ie a couple secs longer than Zed's W. Try to pop his passive shield before making trades. Using your R to dodge his tornado leads to him being very vulnurable and should lead to a kill on him.
Ziggs
More info to come..
Zilean
Pre-6 Zed has the upper hand and you should play aggresive and play for kills. Post-6 Zilean will make you rethink your life choices while he R anyone you decide to R. His R is pretty much a direct counter to yours. However, he doesnt have much kill pressure on you either as his Q is his only damage output, so dodge these to the best of your ability.
Zoe
Electrocute setup. Long Sword + refillable start. The key to winning this matchup lays in dodging her E, which is pretty much like receiving a death sentence. Should she be able to hit you, use minions as cover. Her E has a reasonably high cooldown, and besides that she has no cc and is very vulnerable to an all-in. Play safe lvl 1-3 and pay attention to her empowered auto attacks.
Hi, I'm Swagilicious and this is my Zed guide!
This is my first attempt at creating a guide. However, the reasoning for why im creating this guide is for own personal gains as I seek to get a better understanding of Zed and his matchups through writing it down and putting it into perspective.
Despite this, I still hope there is some new Zed player out there who can implement some of this information into their gameplay obviously. I'm going to continuously be adding new info and stuff to the guide as I go through the season and new patches surfaces, so feel free to stick around and join me on this neverending journey of learning Zed. After watching a lot of the korean Zed OTP, Zed99, I've decided to implement some of what I've learned into this guide.
Flash is the best summoner spell in the game, about every champion takes it and Zed is no exception. Its offensive and defensive usecases are crucial to Zed's kit. It can be used as an extra gap closer, an escaping or dodging tool or a means for outplaying your opponent.
Ignite is equally important to Zed's kit as it offers crucial kill pressure in lane. Zed thrives off snowballing, and the kill potential it offers helps with this.
Domination Tree
Electrocute is arguably the best keystone on Zed. It adds vital burst, and procs very easy with Zed.
Taste of Blood offers decent sustain in lane. Optionally you can pick Sudden Impact in its place, which procs with both Living Shadow (Only when you actually swap places with the shadow) and Death Mark, and offers a timely boost of 7 Lethality.
Transcendence: Despite Zed often capping his CDR with the items he buys, overcapping with transcendence gives you bonus AD. Besides, it will only get you at 40% CDR faster.
Scorch: As Zed, you should frequently be poking your opponent with your abilities, which is where this rune will offer extra bonus damage and furthermore help the laning phase. Swap with Nullifying Orb against hard hitting mages for a safer laning phase.
Precision Tree
Presence of Mind: Allows us to raise the maximum energy cap from 200 to 250 with 5 takedowns, this allows the usage of a couple more abilities before running empty. Triumph is also pretty viable, often decisive on whether on you live or die after a dive or being ignited. The 20g bonus is also nice.
Coup de Grace: Making your job, assassinating, a lot easier with the bonus damage it gives against low HP opponents.
Inspiration Tree
Magical Footwear: Gives free boots with extra movements speed, which is always pretty convenient on assassins, as it further increases their mobility (which is their strong suit) and lets you put that 300g into offensive items instead. The boots are very advantageous in games where you have potential for snowballing and/or you know you'll be roaming a lot. Since kills and assists reduces the time of where you receive the boots and the bonus movement speed the boots offers obivously makes your roaming capabilities better by a slight margin.
Cosmic Insight: The 5% extra CDR this adds to the maximum cap of 40% is pretty convient on Zed, as this is something Zed often cap when he has about 3-4 items, and Zed loves CDR. It also offers 5% CDR on your summoner spells, so that your Flash and Ignite are up more frequent allowing for more frequent plays. And furthermore, it also adds 5% CDR to your item actives such as Youmuu's Ghostblade, which again comes in handy especially with the roaming/snowballing style you play with this runetree.
Starting Items
Long Sword: Allows us to buy 3 Health Potion as well, giving us more sustain in the earlier levels where Zed is weak. It also allows us to get our core items faster.
Doran's Shield: Combined with 1 Health Potion, offers us a safer early laning phase with increased sustain, normally bought against tougher matchups.
Mercury's Treads: Most common boots choice on Zed. Offers Magic Resist and Tenacity, buy against teams with ap midlaner or/and lots of cc.
Ninja Tabi: Offers primarily armor and some basic attack reduction. Buy against heavy AD comps or in cases where you struggle with an AD opponenet. Great pick against Yasuo.
Ionian Boots of Lucidity: Offers 10% CDR + 10% CDR on your summoner spells, so that your Flash and Ignite are up more frequent allowing for more frequent plays.
Mobility Boots: Offers great roaming potential. Nonetheless, it is rarely the best choice of boots.
Core Items
Youmuu's Ghostblade: Offers all the crucial stats for Zed, in addition it offers a pivotal active ability which increases movement speed and permits you to get closer to your opponents, or for defensive usecases, further way. Get this as first item if you're planning on roaming.
Duskblade of Draktharr: Greatly increases damage output with its stats and passive ability. Get this as first item if you really want to demolish your lane opponent.
Black Cleaver: Offers all the stats you could want on Zed, AD, Armor Reduction, CDR and HP for survivability. Is traditionally the 3rd item you buy as Zed.
Optional and situational items
Guardian Angel: Doesn't offer the best stats, however the passive it offers is superb for Zed as an offensive squishy assassin whom often has to position himself in scenarios leading to his death in order to take out the enemy carry.
Edge of Night: Good when playing vs squishy teams. Also viable vs champions that are forced to use their main abilities in order to get rid of the shield, for example Twisted Fate.
Umbral Glaive: Good early-mid game item as it offers decent stats + vision control for an affordable price, however it does fall off lategame compared to Duskblade of Draktharr.
Lord Dominik's Regards: The downside of Lethality is that armor renders it useless, hence why you build this item when the enemy team is stacking armor.
Mortal Reminder: Builds from Executioner's Calling which you'll want to build against comps and champs with a lot of healing, like Vladimir and Fiora. In addition this also offers Armor Penetration, which always comes in handy.
Death's Dance: Indeed a viable item on Zed. Offers a decent amount of AD, CDR, Omnivamp and some decent defensive stats + passive which can be benefitting against champs with high burst.
Ravenous Hydra: Good when in need of more damage output, since it offers nice flat stats + an active which deals damage.
Blade of the Ruined King: Really not an ideal item on Zed like it once used to be, however its a decent pick when facing several tanks.
Tips that will seperate you from the casual Zed player
A lot of your fights is determined by how you utilize your R Death Mark. The untargetable state it offers can be crucial in dodging your opponents key ability.
Your Q Razor Shuriken deals decreased damage after hitting an enemy, hence why you want to position yourself so you have a clear projectile path to your target when throwing Qs.
Hitting the same target as your Shadows restores energy.
Hitting enemies with your Shadow's E Shadow Slash slows them and allows for easier success of hitting your Q Razor Shuriken.
Furthermore, hitting enemies with your own E Shadow Slash decreases the coldown of your W Living Shadow by 2 seconds with each champion hit.
Keeping track of your energy is important to see whether you have enough energy for your next move, it is recommended that you turn on "Show Spell Costs" in the settings as it allows you to see how much energy each of your abilities costs.
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