Hi everyone, I'm FvkUvkCvkKvkU and this will be my first guide on mobafire for the newly released champ Zed - Master of the Shadows



I have spent a long time putting my effort into my Zed guide on middle or solo top lanes. So hope you enjoy reading this guide and please upvote but do not hesitate in providing any constructive criticism or feedback to help me improve this guide on Zed


Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.

"Zed is the first ninja in 200 years to unlock the ancient, forbidden ways. He defied his clan and master, casting off the balance and discipline that had shackled him all his life. Zed now offers power to those who embrace knowledge of the shadows, and slays those who cling to ignorance.

An orphan, Zed was taken in and trained by a great ninja master. Only one other student appeared to be Zed's equal - the master's son, Shen. It seemed Zed could never win the favor of the master, as every match between the rivals ended in a draw. Frustrated and jealous, he sought an advantage. The young ninja ventured into a sealed part of the clan's temple, where he found an ornate, foreboding box. Sensing the dark knowledge within, Zed knew he should not open it, but he peered inside nonetheless. In an instant, shadows touched his mind, revealing techniques that had long been hidden. Now armed with a secret edge, he challenged Shen, and this time he defeated the master's son. He expected praise and recognition in his moment of victory, but somehow the master knew Zed had used forbidden ways, and banished him.

Humiliated, the young ninja wandered for years. His bitterness turned to ambition, and he began to train others in the style of the shadows. As his power grew, so did his circle of followers, but he knew that without the box, his technique would never be perfect. One day, Zed looked at his followers and saw that his students were now an army. He led them back to the temple to claim his prize. At the gates, he was surprised to find the old master waiting, receiving Zed and his disciples as if they were welcome guests. The old man laid his sword at Zed's feet, declaring that he had failed Zed as his master. By banishing his former student, the master had doomed Zed to the shadows, instead of leading him to the balanced path. The old man implored Zed to enter the temple, destroy the box, and lead his followers to balance. The dark ninja followed the master inside. Moments later, the assembled ninjas heard Zed cry out in pain. Mysteriously, he emerged unscathed, and threw the severed head of the master at Shen's feet. Screaming in rage, Zed commanded his followers to slaughter the master's students and seize the box.

That day, the old ninja order fell. Though many students died, some escaped thanks to Shen's heroic efforts. Now the temple is a dark training ground for the Order of the Shadow. Zed rules as the Order's master, and his edict is simple: perfect one's technique, and kill all ninjas who refuse to embrace the shadows.

''Balance is a lie - we are the true ninjas.''
-Zed"

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Pros + High Moblility + Can harass from a distance with his clone + Uses energy so no worries about spamming abilities + Can burst down enemy carries quickly + THIS UNIT IS A FLIPPING NINJA

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Cons - Very squishy - In teamfights he can only focus one champ - No in built sustain in lane - If cced he is screwed - If snowballing he gets focused

Summoner's Wrath This ability synergises well with Ignite and Exhaust because you can burst enemies down slightly faster with exhaust because it reduces their armor and magic resist plus after you use ignite you gain 5 extra AD.

Brute Force The 3 extra AD it gives you helps last hitting creeps in early game.

Alacrity I know this mastery might be a little useless on Zed but it can be used for pushing lanes or clearing the jungle faster.

Sorcery This mastery works really well on Zed because he is an AD caster which means he relies on his abilities to do damage just that they scale on AD. The cooldown helps if you need to gain access to your spells faster because that extra second counts.

Deadliness I only put 1 point in this mastery because the 0.125 damage is practically useless but it helps last hitting creeps.

Weapon Expertise does a little more damage to those enemies stacking armor against your team and with "Last Whisper" you negate half of their armor.

Vapirism is used for sustaining yourself a bit more in lane before you get either your Doran's Blade or Bloodthirster.

Sunder Practically the same as Weapon Expertise .

Executioner This combined with your passive makes last hitting minions really easy as you do more damage.
Resistance Gives you 6MR which might let you escape on 10 hp.

Hardiness You can put 3 points in this instead of Resistance depending on if you go top or mid.

Durability Nothing much just gives you about 108 extra hp at lvl 18

Veteran's Scars Gives you 30 hp

Greater Mark of Attack Damage gives you 8.5 AD and early game this is a lot thats why i choose flat AD runes instead of per level which by the time you are level 18 items help give you AD. I prefer Greater Mark of Attack Damage instead of Greater Mark of Desolation because minions have 0 armor at the start of the game so armor pen is not very viable but it is all up to personal preference. You can also interchange them because if you have 5 Greater Mark of Attack Damage and 4 Greater Mark of Desolation then you can get 69 AD on Riven.

Greater Seal of Armor This is a great defensive rune because it gives you 12.69 armor so you can negate damage from heavy AD champs such as Tryndamere at lvl 1.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist If you are going mid against AP casters this rune gives you 12.06 Magic Resist so that you can tank incoming spells.

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage 6.75 AD is a lot of AD when you are dishing out TONS OF DAMAGE to enemies early game.

I usually take Ignite and Exhaust as my two summoner spells. Since Zed is a highly mobile champ and I don't take Flash because his Living Shadow can easily perform as well as your Living Shadow if you know how to use it. Ignite is used to secure those early gane kills so that you don't have to dive them. Exhaust can be used to slow them when your jungler comes to gank so you can get the kill or you can use it to 1v1 enemies. This is just my preference but you can interchange any spells you are comfortable with.

• FlashThis spell is probably one of the most popular spells for lvl 12s and above because you can use it to jump over walls when your Living Shadow is on cooldown. You can also use it offensively to catch up to someone so you can just get in range to do your Death Mark.
  
• Ghost is very useful for chasing and running away since the Flash nerf. You can easily outrun enemies even if they use Flash.
  
• TeleportONLY take this spell when you are going solo top. This is very useful for healing and buying items then coming back to lane to not miss any farm or xp. Late game you can also Teleport to a teamfight or Teleport to a large minion wave to backdoor.
  
• Heal I don't find this spell useful on Zed but it might save you every once in a while. This spell should be taken usually by the support.
  
• Smite Always and only get this spell when you are jungling. This spell seems only useful the first time you clear the jungle but you can use this to steal buffs from enemies.
  
• Clarity NEVER EVER EVER GET THIS SPELL ON Zed. Clarity DOES NOT GIVE YOU ENERGY AND WILL NOT DO ANYHING.

Any spells not shown here are not viable with Zed

Zed's Skills

Starting Items