This is my second guide on Mobafire. Zed is a Melee oriented assassin and deals damage with his shadow. He has a few gap closers at his advantage. This Zed build is leaned towards mid lane but it can also be used to go top lane.

I made this guide because I feel Zed is a strong addition to any team to help nullify their AD Carry. Zed is a difficult champion to play and just needs some practice to get the hang of.

My runes, masteries, items, and summoner spells are my preferences on Zed, they do vary from game to game but this is the most general set up I use. Unless I know I should adjust. The AD above on the cheat sheet doesn't add Zed's Living Shadow passive.

AD = Attack Damage;
AS = Attack Speed; The amount of attacks your champion completes per second;
AoE = Area of Affect ability, does damage in a given radius;
Burst Damage = Very high damage done in a short amount of time. Usually Mages are associated with burst. [There are also assassins like Zed or Talon who have burst damage]
CC = Crowd Control [Abilities that apply a debuff on you for a certain amount of time; some are silence, slow, pull, and bleed;
DoT = Damage over Time [Damage that hurts the target over time]
MR = Magic Resist;

Pros:

+ High burst damage;

+ Very mobile;

+ High harass;

+ Hard to dodge Razor Shuriken with Living Shadow up;

+ Easy to escape enemies with Living Shadow;

+ Contempt for the Weak helps pick up those low-health targets;

+ Plays Rock Paper Scissors with his shadow;


Cons:

- Squishy;

- Focused most of the time;

- Hard to catch up to people if Death Mark and Living Shadow are on CD;

- If not running Cleanse extremely vulnerable to DoTs;

- People complain about how OP you are, really you're just fed or pro.

Armor Pen. Marks for that person who builds armor early game.
Armor Seals for if you have an AD Carry or Assassin mid, or just to deny those basic attacks.
Magic Resist Glyphs for those AP Carries mid and to be more stronk.
AD Quintessences give you a little more oomph on your early basic attacks and abilities.

I take these so I can get all my CDs reduced. I rather not take Berserker's Greaves because I rush a Trinity Force. I don't use Ionian Boots of Lucidity that much because if you spam your skills, you'll run out of energy sooner or later.
Trinity Force is pretty good on Zed. Gives 30 AD, 30 AP (useless),
250 mana (useless), 200 health, 15% critical strike, 30% attack speed, and 8% movement speed. Plus it gives you this handy dandy 150% base damage each basic attack after an ability has been used. This allows for more harass or easier last hitting.
Bloodthirster is a must for almost any AD assassin or carry. After I go in a fight and come out, I'm almost always on half health. I just attack a few jungle camps and some minions, I'll be full health or nearly full health. It also allows you to last a bit longer in the fight because of the massive amounts of damage you are doing.
Infinity Edge is a must for all AD assassins and carrys, it gives more critical damage and more crit chance, while also giving a lot of AD. I don't think I need to explain myself much on this.