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SSM's Gold Zed Guide Season 11
Build Guide By ShadowSlayerMain
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67
5
165,595
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0
Comments
Zed Build Guide By ShadowSlayerMain
165,595
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0
Comments
Zed Build Guide By ShadowSlayerMain
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Recommended Items
Runes: Most Common
1
2
3
4
Domination
Sorcery
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10% Tenacity/Slow Resist
Spells:
Flash
Ignite
Items
Threats & Synergies
Threats
Synergies
Extreme
Major
Even
Minor
Tiny
Show All
None
Low
Ok
Strong
Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
LeBlanc
Heavy Early Damage, Malmortius is optional, try to predict her blinking and use your own to back off to safety so she can't deal damage
Aphelios
Synergies
Ideal
Strong
Ok
Low
None
Aphelios
Champion Build Guide
Introduction
Hello, guys. I am ShadowSlayerMain or SSM, an Aatrox main who ended up in Gold Tier during S9. On this guide I will show you everything I know about Zed to help you learn a lot for him or become a Zed main. Be sure you also read my chapters well to improve your skills better because they have explanations and more. Good luck!
Pros and Cons
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PROS
+ Good Farm in Early Game + Lane Bully + Escape easily when getting ganked + Poke Heavy Burst Enemies + Good Focus in Teamfights + Outplay Potential Thanks to his high mobility and huge range, Zed can win a 1v1 if he makes a good outplay. Except of the mobility, his blinking gives him also the ability to dodge spells like skill shots. |
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CONS
- Not enough focus on farm in Early Game - Wrong Items - Get ganked when mobility spells are on CD - Aggressive at Heavy Burst enemies - Bad Focus in Teamfights including Stopwatchers - Wrong Shadow Swap An Assasin's wrong position can easily make him suicide. If they build shielding Items like Edge of Night and Maw of Malmortius, a wrong position can give them a chance to survive. |
Ability Order
(1)|
ABILITY SEQUENCE |
1
Q |
2
E |
3
W |
4
Q |
5
Q |
6
R |
7
Q |
8
E |
9
Q |
10
E |
11
R |
12
E |
13
E |
14
W |
15
W |
16
R |
17
W |
18
W |
(2)
|
ABILITY SEQUENCE |
1
Q |
2
W |
3
E |
4
Q |
5
Q |
6
R |
7
Q |
8
E |
9
Q |
10
E |
11
R |
12
E |
13
E |
14
W |
15
W |
16
R |
17
W |
18
W |
Runes and Items
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DOMINATION
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Zed's best keystone in classic games is Electrocute. If you have played champions of lower difficulty you know that Zed too can use it only mechanically. It is also useful when you stack your damage on a marked enemy champion with R- Death Mark. Its damage can be increased for a percentage of the damage stored from your build. It's not easy in Early Games because Zed will need to stay defensive until he reaches level 3 to have his 3 basic abilities unlocked.
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Taste of Blood as Zed's best part because its Life Steal is optional during the Laning Phase. Some players prefer Sudden Impact because it increases your lethality after you blink with one of your shadows for 5 secs(CD: 4 secs after expiration).
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Eyeball Collection. For this, Umbral Glaive's Blackout Passive makes it such a perfect rune for Lethality champions like Zed.
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Zed's R- Death Mark is his strongest weapon for outplaying and killing enemies quickly. Ultimate Hunter helps a lot thanks to the bonus CDR it gives. Some players prefer Ravenous Hunter for Spell Vamp. It works a lot during the Laning Phase. As Zed you'll build Youmuu's Ghostblade so you won't need to take Relentless Hunter. Zed's items don't need bonus CDR or the most of them don't have any active ability to take Ingenious Hunter. These 4 rune parts give you the following buffs when you takedown unique enemy champions so you will have to takedown everyone of the enemy team to reach 5/5 Bounty Stacks.
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PRECISION
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Zed's alternate compatible keystone is Conqueror. Compared to Electrocute you can deal more damage in Late Game than in the Early Game and you can heal from it. Also, its stacks can make R- Death Mark deal bonus damage.
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Presence of Mind is the most recommended part for Zed increase your maximum Energy. Compared to Triumph, it doesn't restore HP after takedowns but it wasn't a good choice until last year.
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Legend: Tenacity is the most recommended part for Zed to increase your Tenacity. Compared to Legend: Alacrity, Zed doesn't need Attack Speed since his kit is based on Spell Cast mostly. It can also help him blink with one of his shadows faster.
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Coup de Grace is the best part for Zed to deal more damage on Low HP enemies.
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SORCERY
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With Transcendence, you will always have 10% free CDR when you reach level 10 and your CDR Items like Core Items, Black Cleaver and Umbral Glaive will give you an AD bonus for every percentage that exceeds the CDR limit. Scorch will help you during the Laning Phase by putting your enemy on fire when you hit them with 1 Razor Shuriken. The flame's damage is based on your level.
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INSPIRATION
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Inspiration rune parts are other parts that can give Zed free items and some CDR from the start. Magical Footwear gives you free boots with bonus MS at 12:00 min. Takedowns reduce the time Slightly Magical Boots are given. Cosmic Insight exceeds your CDR by +5 for every Basic Spell, Summoner Spell and Active Item. Zed is an Assassin that can blink with his basic spells and needs to start building his Boots quickly (1st or 2nd back) so they are not recommended for him.|
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This is the item you start with as soon as a classic game starts. As Zed you will buy it as often as it builds into many AD items. At your 1st back it will build into Serrated Dirk for you to start penetrating Armor.
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3 of them are bought with a Long Sword as soon as you start a game. Some players build Refillable Potion instead of 3 Health Potions. The difference between these 2 items is that Health Potions which can hold up to 1/5 leave an empty slot in your inventory after you spend them all and you have to buy them again and Refillable Potion holds 2 charges but it doesn't leave an empty slot in your inventory and the charges restore after you return to the base. It's more recommended for you to buy 3 Health Potions than a Refillable Potion.
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As Zed you should start with this as your trinket. Thanks to Umbral Glaive's Blackout Passive you won't have to change it to Oracle Lens or Farsight Alteration.
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Long Sword should build to this at your 1st back for you to start penetrating Armor. If you plan on roaming bot lane, it is optional against ADCs that don't have mobility or Flash to escape from you because Lethality deals true damage against Non-Armor enemies.
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These should be bought at your 1st or 2nd back to start building mobility. If your Laning Phase is difficult you will have to upgrade them before building Core Items except if you build Hexdrinker instead of Mercury's Treads against AP enemies. Ninja Tabi are alternative against AD enemies.
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You got it. Don't forget to buy Control Wards! If you have enough Gold when you do your 1st back you should buy one and place it to the bush that you haven't warded and use a Stealth Ward charge for the opposite one.
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If you have a difficult Laning Phase with a Heavy Burst AP enemy this can be an ideal buy for MR and shield. A mistake Cons make with Zed is building it into Maw of Malmortius before they even build a Core Item. Well, Hexdrinker already gives a MR shield so you don't have to build it into Maw of Malmortius before you build your Core Items.
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You can often buy it when your Laning Phase isn't over and after you are out of Health Potions for not wasting too much Gold.
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This is Zed's Mythic Item for a shield, increased damage and MS after damaging an enemy within 1.5 secs. It will also increase your other Items' Lethality.
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This was always a Core Item for Zed. It also gives you easier the chance to roam a lane without leaving you forced to cast Living Shadow to move quickly.
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These are the most common built Boots on Zed. You should build them against AP or Heavy CC enemies.
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These are the alternative built Boots on Zed and are bought against AD enemies like Yasuo and Yone.
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This is an ideal continue after your Core Items. Its Veil Passive blocks all the incoming damage from the next enemy ability. |
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This is an alternative choice for Good Early games. It seems very similar to Rylai's Crystal Scepter.
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This is the best choice against Heavy Burst AP enemies and an optional 4th purchase for Bad Early Games. |
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After its latest update this is the best Armor option for Assassins. |
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This is an item that is often bought as 5th. Zed is a champion that can easily die if he has wrong position so it is optional for Bad Early Games and can give you a chance to win a game that you can't win easily.
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Another MR Option and the best choice against Heavy CC enemies. If you get to a wrong position and get CC-ed it can help you a lot thanks to its Active. |
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This wasn't compatible with Zed's style before but after its latest update it matches with a lot of AD Spell Casters.
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A rare Lethality Option that reveals wards and traps thanks to its Blackout Passive. It should be built rarely because it doesn't grant any Defensive Options. |
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During the last season this was often built on Zed and it's still good.
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If the enemy team has a lot of sustain champions this is the best option for Grevious Wounds. |
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This is an alternative option for breaking enemy shields quickly. |
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After you full build, you can build this for Spell Vamp and more AD. |
Laning Phase
As Zed you can farm from both short and long range thanks to his W- Living Shadow. In level 1 you'll be starting with Q- Razor Shuriken, the only ability that can poke enemies and last hit low HP minions from distance. Most Mid Lane champions have a better pre-level 6 kit so you shouldn't approach them because they can easily immobilize you and deal burst damage. Some others can also use their mobility to approach you and deal enough damage from Melee range (e.x. Yasuo and Fizz) so you should just last hit minions. After reaching level 3 you'll have the advantage of being more aggressive to place your W- Living Shadow near the enemy and trade them with E- Shadow Slash and Q- Razor Shuriken. They can also deal damage to minions as well but you should remember that Q- Razor Shuriken, deals less damage after it penetrates one enemy. More about W- Living Shadow:-NEVER be aggressive when it's on CD.
-It can save you from ganks because the blinking acts very similarly to
Flash.-Shadow's E-
Shadow Slash mimic slows enemies so after you blink with it you can slow your enemies with your E- Shadow SlashWhat is roaming? Roaming is leaving your lane for one moment to gank another one just like a jungler. Top Laners rarely do that using their
Teleport.When and how to roam?
-Top Lane: hide from your opponent and
Teleport on bush.-Mid Lane: hide from your opponent and use mobility spells (there are also some Mid Lane
Teleport users).-Before you leave your lane, make sure your minions were pushing it and then start roaming.
Zed's blinking with his Shadows gives him the chance to approach enemies very fast. Before you roam a lane, you should make sure the enemy has every mobility and CC spell on CD because if not it can stop you or worse, cause you death. If you get stopped don't try Flashing on them because you'll have almost nothing to continue. You can use your R- Death Mark to dodge CC and follow your target wherever they go. If they use their Flash before your R- Death Mark stops the dash on them, you can continue by approaching them with W- Living Shadow and then finish or just deal damage to them with a use of E- Shadow Slash and a Q- Razor Shuriken. Then your mark will detonate draining enough of their HP and forcing them to go back. Youmuu's Ghostblade's mobility buffs can help you reach the lane you want to roam without leaving you forced to cast any mobility spells.Something difficult with
Zed is pushing the enemy tower alone because you'll have to farm during the start and you won't have any Attack Speed. For that, you can help your team take the 1st tower by asking them for roaming or passing by their lanes and hit the tower with them when the enemy laner(s) are dead.
Late Game
Zed can easily take out a squishy enemy from a Teamfight but he can't start one without a CC-ing ally and will probably not take them out if they use spells like Playful / Trickster or Zhonya's Hourglass. For that, you should make sure your target is CC-ed by stun, silence or knock-up so he can't use any kind of these abilities. A use of Silvermere Dawn can free you from any CC that tries to stop you chase your target. After you takedown your 1st target, keep focusing from the squishiest to the tankiest enemies. Some of your spells will be on CD and your energy will be down for a bit but you can still do Passive- Contempt for the Weak on them, heal thanks to Ravenous Hydra or Elixir of Wrath and reduce your W- Living Shadow's CD by E- Shadow Slashing them with your team's help.
Mechanics
Before I show you some Mechanics of Zed, I will show you an example trick: Some players tap E- Shadow Slash after the Shadow appears. Well, casting an ability before it appears, will make it mimic the following ability after it appears. Look at this example:W,E Common Mistake
Correction:
Let's continue with the Mechanics:
Q,E
E-
has no cast time and doesn't interrupt Zed's previous orders.Q,
W,E,Q
W,Q,E
Casting Q-
1st is better against CC-ed enemies because it skips some of its cast time.W,E,Q,W2,
,
W,Q,E,W2,
,
Casting Q-
1st is better against CC-ed enemies because it skips some of its cast time.On any other Mechanic you will see, there will be this:
-(E) which means that you can cast E-
Shadow Slash for a 2nd time in Late Games because it won't have much CD.W,R,(W2),E,Q,(E)
R,[W,W2],E,Q,(E)
W,E,W2,R, Auto Attack,Q,E,(E)
R,E,W,R2,Q,W2,(E)
In Conclusion
That's it for my Zed guide. I hope it helped you improve. If you want, feel free to ask me any questions by commenting and don't forget to vote!
ShadowSlayerMain
Zed Guide
SSM's Gold Zed Guide Season 11
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