Zed Champion Strategy and Item Build Guide

This page contains a champion character strategy guide for Zed, including stats, skills, abilities, playstyles, and hard counters

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Zed

Basic Information

Zed – The Master of Shadows
Class	Assassin	Role	Assassin
Secondary Bar	Energy	IP / RP	6300 / 975

Champion Stats

	Lv1	Per Lv	Lv18
Health	579.4	+80	–
Health Regen	7.092	+0.65	–
Mana	–	–	–
Mana Regen	–	–	–
Attack Damage	54.712	+3.4	–
Armor	26.88	+3.5	–
Attack Speed	0.644	+2.1%	0.644
Magic Resist	32.1	+1.25	–
Movement Speed	345	–	345
Melee	125	–	125

Lore

[Click to read]

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.

(Source: http://gameinfo.na.leagueoflegends.com/en)

Skills

Icon	Description
	Contempt for the Weak (On-Target Cooldown: 10)INNATE: Zed’s basic attacks against targets below 50% maximum health deal (6 / 8 / 10% of target’s maximum health) bonus magic damage.
	Razor Shuriken (Target Range: 900, Speed: 900, Cost: 75/70/65/60/55 Energy, Cooldown: 6, Physical Damage: 70/105/140/175/210 [+90% bonus AD], Additional Damage: 52.5/78.75/105/131.25/157,5 [+67.5% bonus AD])ACTIVE: Zed throws his spinning blades forward, dealing physical damage to all enemies they pass through (reduced to 60% against units beyond the first). Active Living Shadows also throw a shuriken towards the target point. Additional shurikens hitting the same enemy only deal 75% damage but restore energy.
	Living Shadow (Target Range: 650, Speed: 1750, Cost: 40/35/30/25/20 Energy, Cooldown: 22/20/18/16/14)FIRST CAST: Zed’s shadow dashes forward, remaining in place for 4.5 seconds and being able to mimic Razor Shuriken and Shadow Slash. Zed restores energy whenever Living Shadow lands a mimicked ability on the same target he does.SECOND CAST: While within 1300 units of each other, Zed and his shadow blink to their respective locations, swapping places.
	Shadow Slash (Effect Radius: 290, Cost: 50 Energy, Cooldown: 5/4.5/4/3.5/3, Physical Damage: 65/90/115/140/165 [+80% bonus AD], Slow: 20/25/30/35/40%)ACTIVE: Zed spins his blades, dealing physical damage to surrounding enemies and reducing Living Shadow’s cooldown by 2 seconds for every enemy champion hit. Active Living Shadows also slash, dealing the same physical damage. Living Shadow’s Shadow Slash also slows enemies hit for 1.5 seconds, its strength increased by 50% if they were previously damaged by Zed’s. Triggering this effect deals no additional damage but restores energy.
	Death Mark (Target Range: 625, Cooldown: 120/100/80, Bonus AD: 5 [+5/10/15% of target’s AD], Stored Damage: 25/35/45%)Zed becomes untargetable and dashes to an enemy champion, marking them. After 3 seconds, the mark triggers, dealing physical damage equal to 100% Attack Damage + 25/35/45% of all damage dealt to the target by Zed while the mark was active.The dash leaves a shadow behind for 6 seconds. Reactivating Death Mark causes him to switch positions with this shadow.Reaper of Shadows: Zed reaps the shadow of the strongest foe slain under Death Mark, gaining 0 attack damage. (5 + 5/10/15% of the victim’s attack damage.)

Strategy

Top Lane

He can easily last hit minions with his Contempt for the Weak (Passive) as it adds bonus damage with units below 50% hp. You can use this to your advantage with securing last hits against a tough opponent as you will not wait until the minion is nearing death.
Zed has also a solid poke with his (Q) Razor Shuriken that not only damages and harasses your opponent from a great range, but can also be used to secure last hits from a safe distance.
You can use his ultimate (R) Death Mark to dive enemy champions behind turrets since it allows you to quickly close the gap between your enemy champion and also leaves a shadow which you can swap right back to when you finish killing your opponent. This means that you can quickly kill your opponent and quickly return to safety as well.
You can effectively split push lanes even when you’re an assassin as you have spells that can quickly clear off waves allowing you to take down towers easily dividing your opponents’ attention and creating hesitations in teamfights.

Mid Lane

Max your (Q) Razor Shuriken first since it will be your main source of damage in poking your enemy champion in lanes and it also doubles a skill to secure minion kills.
You can also use your (W) Living Shadow at the early stages of the laning phase where you don’t have your ultimate (R) Death Mark yet. Be sure to land it under your enemy champion to increase the chances of hitting him when you cast your (Q) Razor Shuriken.
Once you hit level 3 and get (E) Shadow Slash, you’ll be able to land your (Q) Razor Shuriken better since you now have access to a spell that slows your enemy’s movement speed.
Be careful when spamming your skills to enemy minion waves as they might be pushed back to the enemy champion’s turret. This will subsequently result to a melee champion like you trying to take last hits under the enemy tower’s champion.
Remember that your role as an assassin is to quickly take out enemy champions before they can get off any skill to be of any use. Use your (R) Death Mark to hone in on your target and quickly eliminate them. Go for squishy champions as this will further guarantee in you securing a kill.

Runes & Masteries

COMING SOON

Summoner Spells

Top Lane		Mid Lane

Flash	Teleport	Flash	Ignite

Ignite – Ignite is a solid pickup for his Summoner Spell since it allows you to quickly burst an enemy champion with your already existing massive burst potential from your skills alone.

Item Builds

Top Lane/Mid Lane

Starter Items

Long Sword	Health Potion	Warding Totem

Core Items

Duskblade of Draktharr	Blade of the Ruined King	Youmuu’s Ghostblade

Ninja Tabi

Duskblade of Draktharr – The newest Lethality item in League of Legends, Duskblade of Draktharr ramps up Zed’s burst damage. It gives good Attack Damage and decent cool down bonuses, as well as provide bonus damage when he is not in the enemy’s line of sight. He can then maneuver towards a squishy target and deal tons of damage with his (W) Living Shadow + (E) Shadow Slash + (Q) Razor Shuriken combo.

Blade of the Ruined King – Blade of the Ruined King gives additional burst against more beefy champions such as tanks. Its lifesteal enables Zed to last longer during clashes and duels.

Youmuu’s Ghostblade – The third Lethality item, Youmuu’s Ghostblade gives Zed increased movement speed with its active skill, apart from bonus Attack Damage and cool down reduction. This item provides Zed with more mobility to eliminate squishy targets.

Full Item Build

Ninja Tabi	The Black Cleaver	Youmuu’s Ghostblade

Blade of the Ruined King	Guardian Angel	Duskblade of Draktharr

The Black Cleaver – The Black Cleaver gives armor penetration and some tankiness to survive clashes or when he gets focused on initially.

Guardian Angel – Guardian Angel is a safeguard item. In cases where he is focused by enemy champions, he has a chance to get resurrected if he incurs lethal damage.

Situational Items

The Bloodthirster	Death’s Dance	Maw of Malmortius

The Bloodthirster – This item provides good survivability when dueling against enemies thanks to the bonus Attack Damage and lifesteal.

Death’s Dance – A luxury item, Death’s Dance increases his damage output on single targets. Death’s Dance inflicts enemies struck with any physical damage additional true damage-over-time. It also adds survivability as it can delay damage dealt to him.

Maw of Malmortius – Maw of Malmortius is usually bought to address enemy team composition that is predominantly Ability Power-based. It gives decent Attack Damage, lifesteal and Magic Resistance, as well as a spell shield that absorbs magic damage.

Playing Against

Zed is a hero with massive burst damage but since his skills are mostly Physical Damage, buying armor would greatly reduce his damages to you. Keep in mind that buying items is always situational as buying mostly armor would leave you defenseless against AP damage.
Like most assassins, he is very vulnerable to crowd control. Disabling him in teamfights will mostly render him useless as he can’t inflict damage when he’s immobile.
Zed’s ultimate (R) Death Mark is easily countered with items like Zhonya’s Hourglass ignoring Zed’s damage.
Zed abilities Death mark and Shadow Slash can easily be avoided with Flash and items that make you invulnerable such as Edge of Night and Zhonya’s Hourglass.

Hard Counter

Kayle – Kayle can practically harass all throughout the game. Kayle can also render Zed’s ultimate (R) Death Mark useless as her ultimate Intervention shields any ally that Zed will target.
Kennen – Kennen can harass you pretty well in lane since he has skills that can poke you, is mobile and also possesses a disable. An experienced Kennen can manage Mark of the Storm on you, exposing you to his abilities.
Lissandra – Lissandra can use Frozen Tomb on herself when Death Mark is activated, negating all damage done to her. Lissandra can also use Ring of Frost when he gets close, stunning him in the process.

Strategy Video