This section is for those who are in champion select and picked Zed for the first time or does not have enough experience or your champions are all gone. So here you go, in here are the runes, masteries, summoner spells, skills to up and items. Good luck have fun!

<For those who already know, just skip this section already>

This is a list of abbreviations that i'll use in this guide :O

AD: Attack Damage

ADC: Attack Damage Carry

AoE: Area of Effect

AP: Ability Power

APC: Ability Power Carry

Arm Pen: Armor Penetration

AS: Attack Speed

CC: Crowd Control

CS: Creeps Score

DoT: Damage over time

Pros + Burst enemy down ridiculously fast + Cool splash art/in game model + Extreme mobility which can be used offensively or defensively + Able to eliminate your target quickly yet able to get away to safety + Most Summoners does not know how to deal with a Zed + Great harrass in lane + Is a energy-based champion, so you dont have to be mana-conservative + Allows you to be the sneaky ninja you want :O + Is a flipping ninja ^^ Cons - Could be easily chain cc-locked to take you out early in fights - The need to pay 110% attention to where your shadows are at - Some degree of difficulty to master - No sustain (without lifesteal) Zed, to be honest, have a form of skillshot Razor Shuriken which you definitely need to land to damage your opponent. While it isnt hard to get used to playing Zed, playing him effectively can take time. Zed also is definitely among the top assasins due to his amazing mobility and killing potential. His like a 2.0 upgraded version of Talon :P Zed can be seen all over the map as well, from the Top lane to Jungle to Mid lane, he can be effective in all these roles yet the opposite team may not guess correctly where you are going and make a bad choice of champion to versus you. Even though you have a incredible output of damage, when and where to go in a teamfight is very important. If you go in too early, you might be focused and taken out. If you go in too late the teamfight might already be over and you cant do anything to win. Go in and take out the target your team is focusing or the enemy with the most output of damage, which is usually the ADC or the APC. Same as all the other champions in the League, Zed has his own pros and cons as well. The ability to maximize the use of your pros and minimize situation of your cons taking place is what makes a difference between a good Zed and a less inexperienced Zed. To be honest, this applies not only to Zed, but makes a difference between a better player and inexperienced player. Ahhh you know what I mean :)

I believe that you have to read and know their story or background to get to know the champion better, so here's Zed's for you to read.

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


Although a violent and gory story, Zed's still my favourite champion in the League with his ability to easily outplay and win engages with the enemy~

This section is dedicated to videos showing you a glimpse of awesome Zed's plays or kills which you, after reading this guide and with some practice, can definitely do as well!

Here's a video of kill compilation on Zed :D The video's a little old though


A very cool Zed montage, the mechanics and skill are there. Mark of a skilled player :)

Another impressive Zed montage by a Platinum player

As you can see, this are the Lv 1 Stats of Zed. Based on this we are going to choose our runes and masteries to go on to the Summoner's Rift :D

Some trivia/interesting facts about Zed :)

Zed's ultimate was changed before release to create only one shadow. Forum post by Scarizard It originally created two and is still animated for two.

Zed was designed by CertainlyT and Samizul.

Zed is the 1st champion whose death animation shows him escaping (via a shadow portal), rather than actually dying. Whether he actually manages to cheat death remains open to debate.

Also his Shockblade skin has a different animation. Instead of crawling into a shadow portal, a bolt of lightning strikes him and he disappears.

Zed is the 5th champion to utilize energy as a resource.

Zed is one of the 8 champions who do not have a single skill that scales off ability power, along with Darius, Draven, Garen, Olaf, Riven, Talon and Vayne.

Zed switches his running animation into Airplane Arms, seen here when moving at a high movement speed (such as using Ghost)

The Airplane Arms animation is also activated when Zed is affected by an ally's Captain-enchanted boots, suggesting that any temporary speed buff will change his running animation.

Zed is the third dark-themed Ionian Champion along with Syndra and Varus.

Quotes

Zed's joke is a reference to the Mortal Kombat franchise.

Zed shares a quote with Shen: "Without a sound."

Zed has a special taunt when facing Shen "Challenge me Shen...You shall not be an orphan long!"

Design & Concept

Zed bears some resemblance to the Shredder from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, namely Shredder's later designs where his face cannot be seen and his facemask is a grill-like kenpo.

Zed also serves as an antagonistic role to a group of ninjas in his backstory.

Zed has similar powers over shadows and looks similar to Noob Saibot from the Mortal Kombat series.

Zed also bears some resemblance to Lord Zedd from the Power Rangers franchise, mainly due to the name and similarities in the mask.

Zed's Shockblade skin bears some resemblance to Storm Shadow from the G.I. Joe franchise.

Zed's dance is inspired by various martial arts. The animator that formed the idea is a black belt.

Zed's name is similar to the name of the antagonist organization from the classic Genesis Shinobi series, where the organization is known as "Zeed" and later "Neo Zeed". Furthermore, in the game "Revenge of Shinobi", Neo Zeed kills the protagonist's master.

Zed also bears some resemblance to the Dark Templar from StarCraft 2.

Zed and Shen were taught under the same master, Shen's father, and were rivals to one another.

Zed would later murder Shen's father and establish a new ninja order, the Order of the Shadow.

Zed seeks to abolish the old ways of balance and replace them with the forbidden art of the shadow. Any ninja who refuses to learn will be eliminated.

According to Runaan, Akali may have some former connection to Zed. What that connection was has yet to be elaborated on.

13-Nov-2012
Patch 1.0.0.151

Zed is released


01-Mar-2013
Patch 3.03

These changes differentiate Razor Shuriken as a higher risk, higher reward alternative to Shadow Slash.

Razor Shuriken

Damage increased to 75/115/155/195/235 from 75/110/145/180/215.

Shadow Slash

Damage reduced to 60/90/120/150/180 from 60/95/130/165/200.

09-Apr-2013
Patch 3.5

Living Shadow
Fixed a bug where Living Shadow would sometimes cast in a random direction.


30-Apr-2013
Patch 3.6

Previously, Zed could safely farm large minion waves with Shadow Slash by consistently resetting the cooldown of Living Shadow. These changes were intended to promote aggressive play with Zed while also creating a window for players to engage on him in lane.

Living Shadow
Cooldown reduced to 18/17/16/15/14 seconds from 22/20.5/19/17.5/16.

Shadow Slash
Hitting minions and monsters no longer reduces Living Shadow's cooldown.
Hitting enemy champions reduces Living Shadow's cooldown by 2 seconds, up from 1.

15-May-2013
Patch 3.7

As a resourceless champion, Zed was able to farm efficiently and safely without giving his opponent much opportunity for interaction. These changes should hit his wave clearing efficiency, especially at early levels. The vision reduction on Zed's Living Shadow was just to bring it more in line with other abilities of this type.

Razor Shuriken
Damage dealt to secondary targets reduced to 45/69/93/117/141 (+0.6 bonus Attack Damage) from 60/92/124/156/188 (+0.8 bonus attack damage).

Living Shadow
Vision radius of the Shadow reduced to 700 from 1300.

Shadow Slash
Cooldown increased to 4 seconds from 3.

Now I will recommend smartcasting, and emphasis on how important it is. Smartcasting can definitely help you to improve your gameplay and react to any situation quicker with only a press of button instead of pressing and clicking which obviously can save time and lives (or kill enemies quicker if we are talking about them) even though they might not be significant.

For Zed, I strongly suggest you taking smartcast on all his skills except for his E skill Shadow Slash which activates without smartcast. Also, when trying smartcast for the first few times, aiming your Razor Shuriken can be a little challenging. Although you might not get used to it for the first few times, you'll eventually hunt down your prey even quicker once you are comfortable with it, so practice, practice, practice. Not convinced? Let me give you an example.

Scenario: Your trying to do a quick Living Shadow to close the gap between you and your target, instead of Press>Click to place Shadow>Press you'll be able to do it quicker with only a press>press. The time saved may allow you to catch up to your target which you might not if you did not smartcast and gain a quick 300 gold.

For those who dont know, in game press ESC which will bring up a window. From there, find key configurations and set your Smartcast Spells 1 2 3 4 and replace it with your Q W E R respectively.

Firstly, let's take a look at the official champion spotlight of Zed by Riot Games. This video will definitely make you know more about Zed and his kit.







Contempt for the Weak is Zed's passive.

(P.S. I cant find a image showing you the passive in action, so do check out the Champion Spotlight above and watch at 0:30)

Whenever Zed autoattacks an enemy below 50% health, he deals an additional 6 / 8 / 10% of their maximum health as bonus magic damage. This effect cannot occur on the same target more than once every 10 seconds.

This passive is somewhat similar to Executioner i guess :P This passive, when combined with Executioner, (Increases damage dealt by 5% to targets below 50% Health) allow you easy last hitting on minions and harrassing your opponent when they are below 50% health. Do remember to add in to AA your target if you are combo-ing on him when his below 50% health, it definitely helps in your burst and quickens to eliminate enemy faster. During the moment when both you and your enemy used their spells and it is on cooldown, this passive gives you the edge in a AA fight. Also, this passive scales with your level, and by Lv 16 you can gain a additional of a whooping 10% more damage in your AA.

On the other hand, the effect cannot occur on the same target more than once every ten seconds, so do take this into account and that the passive does not occur EVERY AA you do :O

Additional Information:









Razor Shuriken is Zed's Q skill.


(Active): Zed and his shadows throw their shurikens, each dealing physical damage to the first enemy they pass through and a lesser amount to enemies thereafter.

Cooldown: 6 seconds

Range: 900

Cost: 75 / 70 / 65 / 60 / 55 energy

Physical Damage: 75 / 115 / 155 / 195 / 235 (+1.0 per bonus AD)]Physical Damage (Secondary Targets): 45 / 69 / 93 / 117 / 141 (+0.6 per bonus AD)]Living Shadow: Additional shurikens striking the same enemy deal 50% damage and restore energy.

Second Shuriken Damage (When Striking the Same Target): 37.5 / 57.5 / 77.5 / 97.5 / 117.5 (+0.5 bonus AD)


As you can already see above, Razor Shuriken will deal reduced damage to the enemy champion when passed through other units so for maximum damage with Razor Shuriken try to get a clean and clear shot as a simple form of harrass when in lane.

E.g. When opponent walks up to last hit a minion you can AA>Razor Shuriken point-blank for substantial damage dealt quickly.

Of course, if you want to, you can place a Living Shadow and throw two shuriken, although the second one deals half the damage the first one did.

Additional Information:







Living Shadow is Zed's W Skill.

(Passive): Zed's bonus attack damage is increased by a percentage.

Additional Bonus Attack Damage: 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 %

(Active): Zed's shadow dashes forward, remaining in place for 4 seconds. Reactivating this ability will cause Zed to switch positions with this shadow.

Zed's shadow will mimic his basic abilities. If both strike the same target Zed regains some energy. Energy can only be restored once per mimicked ability.

Range: 550

Cost: 40 / 35 / 30 / 25 / 20 energy

Cooldown: 18 / 17 / 16 / 15 / 14 seconds


Energy Restored: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40


Here I also want to say that DO NOT use your Living Shadow unneccessary. E.g. When in lane, unless if you are very sure that you are not about to be ganked, it is advised to not use your Living Shadow to harrass, where you put a Living Shadow at where the enemy is at and > > after its off cooldown. Just be sure your Living Shadow up when you are ganked by the enemy team. In the laning phase farming>harrassing.

Additional Information:







Shadow Slash is Zed's E Skill.

(Active): Zed and his shadows create a burst of shadow, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies.


Zed's slash reduces the cooldown of Living Shadow by 2 second for each enemy champion struck. His shadows' slashes slow enemies for 1.5 seconds.

Cost: 50 energy

Cooldown: 4 seconds

Range: 290

Physical Damage: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+0.8 per bonus AD)

Slow: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 %

Living Shadow: Overlapping Shadow Slashes striking the same enemy deal no additional damage but will incur an increased slow and restore energy.

Overlapping Slow: 30 / 37.5 / 45 / 52.5 / 60 %



Shadow Slash is a low cooldown AoE skill which plays a important role in your burst/combo. Not only does it deals a considerable amount of damage, when combined with a Living Shadow it can slow the enemies. E.g. Your teammates got caught out and is running away, when you reach there obviously it is crazy to go in, so what do you do? Put a Living Shadow to where they are running to and Shadow Slash, it will deal a very good slow especially at max rank. Simply by doing this you can save countless lives, including yours. E.g. you are ganked by the enemy jungler, and placed a Living Shadow towards your turret and W again. They are on their way to tower dive, so press E to slow them. That would probably discourage them to turret dive you.


Additional Information:

Spoiler: Click to view

Shadow Slash is a point blank area of effect ability that deals physical damage to all enemy units in a small area around Zed, also reducing the cooldown of Living Shadow for each enemy champion hit. Any of Zed's shadows currently active will also perform this slash, and enemies struck by a shadow's slash are slowed for a short duration. Each usage of Shadow Slash can only damage a specific enemy unit once. If an enemy unit is struck by both Zed's and his shadow's Shadow Slash, the slow amount is increased and Zed regains an amount of energy, depending on the current level of Living Shadow.

Shadow Slash procs spell vamp and Rylai's slow similarly with all area of effect spells and abilities with diminished effect.

Shadow Slash pops Spell Shield.

Shadow Slash will not damage Black Shield but the slow will be negated.

Shadow Slash has no cast time and does not interrupt Zed's movement.

Shadow Slash does not interfere with Zed's autoattack.

Death Mark is Zed's R Skill.


(Active): Zed becomes untargetable and dashes to target enemy champion. Upon arrival, he marks the target for death and spawns a living shadow behind the target. This shadow lasts 4 seconds and mimics Zed's abilities. Reactivating Death Mark will cause Zed to switch positions with this shadow.

After 3 seconds, the mark will detonate, dealing physical damage equal to 100% of Zed's attack damage plus a percentage of all magic and physical damage dealt to the target by Zed and his shadows while the mark was active.

Range: 625

Cooldown: 120 / 100 / 80 seconds

Physical Damage (Mark Detonation): 20 / 35 / 50 % of damage dealt


Death Mark is a targeted dash ability that causes Zed to become untargetable for 0.5 seconds and rush to the target enemy champion's location over this time. On arrival, Zed marks the target and creates a Living Shadow behind the target for 4 seconds. Zed may reactivate Death Mark once within 4 seconds to blink to his shadow's location, switching places with it. After 3 seconds, the mark will detonate to deal physical damage, equal to 100% of Zed's total attack damage plus a percentage of the physical and magic damage Zed dealt to the target while the mark was active.

Death Mark procs spell vamp and Rylai's slow similarly with all single target spells and abilities with full effect.

Death Mark will not damage Black Shield.

Death Mark will pop Spell Shield, with the ability being completely nullified; the mark is not placed on the target, Zed will not move to the target's location, and the living shadow will not appear.

When the mark calculates its damage it will count all of Zed's physical and magic damage from all sources, including his Living Shadows, items, buffs and summoner spells.

Damage used for calculation is damage done pre-mitigation.

True damage such as from Ignite is not counted.



Why the extra chapter? I feel that Death Mark is something i have to talk about a lot so here it is. :P To be honest, Death Mark can be used offensively and defensively.





Offensively: Using Death Mark on a enemy target first deals your base AD, then adds in a percentage of all magic and physical damage dealt to the target by Zed. First a basic combo here (For more look under the combos section): Death Mark>Shadow Slash>AA>AA>Shadow Slash. Just by doing this can basically kill anyone off together with your Arm Pen( Last Whisper + Masteries Weapon Expertise).

Also, after you ult on your target (and hear a HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH), Zed will be in a position linearly in front of his target, while the shadow will spawn behind the target. So lets say, E.g. Your in front of a enemy Gragas now and he Explosive Cask on you, causing you to fly far away. To catch up with him, just press R again. Dont forget about your Death Mark shadow! It is only behind Gragas.

If you place another Living Shadow near the enemy champion both the Living Shadow shadow and Death Mark shadow will copy Zed's ability casts. Razor Shuriken will hit the same target up to 3 times, dealing up to 200% of the ability's stated damage. Shadow Slash may hit the same target up to 3 times as well, but slow capped to level of Shadow Slash ability (up to 60%). Anddddd if the target dies before Zed arrives, the cooldown is reduced to 4-5 seconds.



Defensively: What? Death Mark can be used defensively? You've gotta be kidding me Siynkk -.- As quoted from above, "Death Mark is a targeted dash ability that causes Zed to become untargetable for 0.5 seconds and rush to the target enemy champion's location over this time."

]E.g. Lets take the video below as example. At the start of the video somehow your Living Shadow is spawned and is on cooldown. Your engaged upon by the enemy Riven, and she uses her kit of Broken Wings, Ki Burst and Valor, Blade of the Exile and will soon use Wind Slash to finish you off. You cant do anything but attempt to escape as she already damaged you to very low health.

But just when she uses Wind Slash, Zed uses Death Mark perfectly well-timed to dodge the damage and flashed out. Riven tried to catch up with her flash as well but Zed pressed R again to return to its Death Mark shadow and continued walking into the bush. As he see Riven using Broken Wings to gap close he uses Living Shadow and W again to create distance and when Riven is on his shadow he Shadow Slash to slow Riven. He then walk towards Amumu who is coming to his aid.

Amumu lands his Bandage Toss, Despair Tantrum and Curse of the Sad Mummy and Zed walks up to finish her off with a Shadow Slash.

This video brilliantly shows how to use your ult defensively but you have to time it correctly or else you'll die :O

• greater mark of armor penetration: greater mark of armor penetration The Greater Mark of Armor Penetration gives a considerable amount of ArmPen, which increases our damage with our AA and skills. It ignores some of the enemy's armor. With our Last Whisper and Weapon Expertise this will allow our skills to hurt more and penetrate the enemy's armor stack.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: Next we have Greater Seal of Armor to which is very standard runes. Allows for average defence against AA of enemies, creeps AA and fares better as well as neutral camps.
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: These is also pretty standard runes. Alongside your seals we need Magic Resist as well. Though why scaling magic resist instead of flat? This is personal choice, as scaling magic resist will out scale flat very soon. Feel free to take flat magic resist glyph instead.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: Really, this runes section might not be even necessary as all runes choice are pretty self-explanatory. Attack Damage quints are very necessary as a AD assasin for last-hit as well as fair damage early game.

OFFENCE TREE:

As Zed is a assassin, obviously he needs all the offensive power he can get to help him perform up in Summoners Rift. I put a point in Summoner's Wrath to get an advantage with Ignite, which will give you additional 5 AD and 5 AP while its on cooldown. I then put 4 points in Fury for the additional 4% attack speed and 2 points in Sorcery for the cooldown reduction to be able to use your skills at a lower cooldown and at a faster rate even though it isnt very significant. Up next is 4 points in Deadliness for the scaling AD per level to stay relevant in the game. 2 points in Havoc as well to increase your damage output, and a point in Weapon Expertise for the whooping 8% ArmPen. 2 points in Brute Force for extra 3 AD and 3 in Sunder for 5 more ArmPen.


DEFENCE TREE:

4 point for Durability for health per lv, 3 point for Hardiness with 5 extra Armor and another point in Resistance for 2 Magic Resist and finally a point in Veteran's Scars for 30 extra health


Why no [insert mastery here] ?

Lethality ?

Critical strike isnt needed on Zed

Perseverance?

The armor and magic resist will help you take lesser damage as compared to health regenaration, personal opinion as well.

These are the Summoner Spells i strongly suggest to take on Zed.

Firstly, Ignite. Ignite is a very commonly used spell. The true damage is very beneficial in your burst to kill the enemy target, as no matter how much armor / magic resist they have it will have no effect. Normally after an engage if your target is very low on health Ignite would do the job even if they flashed. And of course, the summmoner's wrath Summoner's Wrath we talked about before which give a bonus of 5 AD and AP when its off cooldown.

Flash, my all time used spell. No matter what champion I play i almost always take Flash with me. Your get out of **** card, or can be used offensively as well. Of course, I love getting a reaction test when a Trueshot Barrage, Final Spark and so on.

Other viable spells:

Barrier: This spell is more commonly taken on ADC like Ezreal, Vayne but you are definitely welcomed to take it. You can also use it to bait the enemy and turn around for a kill.


Heal: Just like Barrier, possible spell for baiting a fight. Can also be used midfight in a teamfight to heal your allies. On the other hand the cooldown is very long and the heal amount isnt that great so i seldomly take it.

Teleport: A classic example of a game changer. Teleport can allow you to reach your allies in 4 seconds and help to kill or turn the fight around in your team's favour. Scenes such as backdoor with teleport are also very common, advised to take if enemy have a laner such as Shen / Twisted Fate.


Ghost: Somewhat a alternative of Flash. I'll take it on Hecarim instead but as always welcomed to take it. Allows for easy gap closing to enemies to kill them off or escape from a gank.

But Siynkk, other Summoner Spells?

No.

On Lv 1, when you spawn, do not immediately up your Q. As always, you need to guard your buffs for your jungler. In case of a invade by your opponent, taking your Living Shadow prevents your from getting CC-ed and getting First Blood-ed. If not, just take Q as you go to lane. Normally, the most commonly skill i up first is Razor Shuriken. When laning against enemies such as Darius, if you go in for a AA you'll be Decimate-d, a chunk of health bar gone. In this case, throw your shurikens to 'last hit'. When no minions to hit, use your shurikens as a basic form of harrass. It is advised to not hit the minions in case of harrassing, as this will push your lanes.

Lv 2, take your Shadow Slash. With this you can increase your harrass by AA>Shadow Slash>Shuriken, try to hit only your opponent. With Shadow Slash minion clearing is very simple.

Lv 3, put a point in Living Shadow, and your harrass upgrades again. Living Shadow to your opponent and Shadow Slash, Razor Shuriken. When your Slash is off cooldown use it again. If the opponent is still in range of your shadow you may consider switching places with your shadow by pressing W again to get close to them and AA them a few times. This in turn however, draws minion aggro, so think carefully before doing so.

From here on, Death Mark is priority, take it whenever you can which is at Lv 6, 11 and 16. Then, Shadow Slash, Razor Shuriken and Living Shadow as the last skill to max.

Why not max Q instead of E?

A. Long Sword + 2 Health Potions

By starting off with these items you can have around 80+ AD and some sustain. Early game you want to generally farm only, so try not to engage and fight too much or you'll have to back very soon. Juking out skillshots is also very important, such as Nidalee's Spears which at max range can hurt a lot. In conclusion gives you enough damage / sustain.

B. 1 Regen Bead + 5 Health Potions + sight ward 1 Sight Ward / 1 Cloth Armor + 5 Health Potion

By doing this most of the time you can stay in lane very long even if your facing a poke-oriented champion such as Jayce or Wukong who can be very annoying to deal with. By having enough health sustain to outlast their possible mana potion, you can stay in lane and farm happily for the upcoming major items you need to kill 'em all.

C. 1 Doran's Blade

A rather risky start of item without any sustain. Sure, you have the damage, but if the enemy damages you to a sticky health you have to farm cautiously or even give the enemy First Blood. Not advised for this start of item.

D. Cloth Armor + 5 Health Potions

Use this if your up against heavy damage dealers early such as Darius

Boots Choice:


Berserker's Greaves: Useful item, gives attack speed but should be sold for other boots late game unless your ADC

Boots of Mobility: Most seen on Junglers, unless your runnning Jungle Zed there is other choice of boots.

Boots of Swiftness: Not a bad buy, gives you extra Movement Speed to move faster in the map Summoner's Rift

Ionian Boots of Lucidity:

Mercury's Treads: This is the big boy. Recommended for most games as not only does it gives you Magic Resist which is harder to get, it gives you Tenacity as well in which
durations of stuns, slows, taunts, fear, silence, blinds and immobilize are reduced by 35%.

Ninja Tabi: Buy this only if majority of the opposing team is AD

Sorcerer's Shoes: Why the hell is this boots here?






Enchantments to Choose:

Furor:

Dealing damage to a champion with a single target attack or spell grants you a 12% movement speed boost that decays over 2 seconds.

This could be useful especially if your target always successfully escape from you, this boost is like a mini-ghost but isn't significant. For other champions maybe, but on Zed it isn't necessary.

Alacrity:

Increases movement speed by 15.


Not the best, not the worst. Gives you a little permanent bonus movement speed but the 475 price tag isn't worth it.

Captain:

Allied champions moving towards you gain an 8% movement speed boost. Additionally, nearby allied minions gain a 20% movement speed bonus.

Not recommended as well. It only gives your allies a mere 8%. Buy a Shurelya's Reverie instead if your playing other champions (DONT BUY ON ZED)

Distortion:

Your Ghost, Teleport and Flash cooldowns are reduced by 25%.

If you took two of the above Summoner Spells buying this can be beneficial as it reduce your cooldowns even more by 25% including your Masteries (if you took them)

Homeguard:

Being at fountain instantly restores your health and mana. Additionally, you gain a 200% movement speed boost that decays over 8 seconds. This passive is disabled if you are in combat.

This is the most used enchantment i bought on Zed. When bought, you will have a quicker return to lane to not miss out on CS or to swiftly return to your base from attacks/BD without having to wait for your health to fully regen and yet you can just rush out to defend.

Recommended Choices:

Distortion / Homeguard. Furor, Alacrity and Captain are not that useful on Zed, though its still your choice :D

Blade of the Ruined King: In my suggested build, this item is your first priority. It gives you 25 AD, 15% Lifesteal as well as 40% Attack Speed as well as a active slow and drains 15% of the target's health and heals you for it. While building towards it remember to grab some long swords to boost up your AD as BotrK does not give you too much. With this item you can basically burst someone down adding this in to your combo.

The Bloodthirster: A major boost in your AD with 70 and still counting for each kill you execute. Gives 12% Lifesteal and gives you stacks of up to a bonus of 30 and 6% Lifesteal BUT half stacks are lost upon death. BF Sword can be a little hard to save to, so consider getting Vampiric Scepter first if you dont have enough gold.

Last Whisper: This item is great, to be honest on any AD Assasin/ADC along with and . Though the given 40 AD isn't great compared to your other buys, this item cost only 2300 and 35% armor penetration. This would greatly benefit us as it is percentage penetration.

Ravenous Hydra: This item gives a massive 75 AD, 15 health regen per 5 seconds, 12 Lifesteal as well as a unique passive and active: Unique Passive - Cleave: Your attacks deal up to 60% of your attack damage to units around your target - decaying down to 20% near the edge. Unique Active - Crescent: Deals up to 100% of your attack damage to units around you - decaying down to 60% near the edge. 10 second cooldown. Add this in with BotrK, our burst would basically kill anyone and everyone (Still can't 1 vs 5 though).

Guardian Angel: A purely defensive item, gives 50 Armor and 40 Magic Resist but the active is why i even buy the item: Revives your champion upon death, restoring 30% of your maximum health and mana after 4 seconds of stasis. 5 minute cooldown. Gives you a second chance in life if accidentally messed up and got killed, you will revive and fight again. If your team is winning the enemies would not bother waiting for you to revive as they have to face your teammates, but if your team is losing they would retreat (or dies) and upon reviving your killed again. If this happens dont bother wasting your Summoner Spell to try to get away.

Frozen Mallet: 30 AD 700 Extra Health with a AA 40% slow. Not needed on Zed considering you would burst them down real quick but adds to survivability and decreases chance of enemy escaping. Viable item.

Maw of Malmortius: If your opposing team have lots of AP this or Mercurial Scimitar is the item to get. 55 AD 36 Magic Resist as well as a shield which can save your life lots of times. When your health drops below 30% health you first gain a shield which absorbs up to 400 magic damage.

Mercurial Scimitar: A upgraded item of Quick Silver Sash i guess, gives 60 AD and 45 Magic Resist. On activation, removes all debuffs from your champion. If your champion is Melee, this item also grants 50% bonus movement speed for 1 second. 90 second cooldown. Basically if timed right you can break free of any CC and escape, just like Cleanse.

The Black Cleaver: 50 AD 200 Health 10% CD and a passive, dealing physical damage to an enemy champion reduces their armor by 5% for 4 seconds. This effect stacks up to 5 times. At max, gives 35% Armor Penetration as well.

Youmuu's Ghostblade: Not a popular item nowadays, gives 30 AD 15% Crit 20 Armor Penetration and 10% CD. Notice how the Armor Penetration isn't percentage, and Zed doesnt need crit damage. But its active could get you out of sticky situation or even outplay the enemy as it gives 40% AS and 20% MS for 6 seconds.

Atma's Impaler: No.

Guinsoo's Rageblade: Zed doesn't deal AP damage -.- Passive isn't too bad but not necessary. Buy this only if your playing Jax or Kayle.

Infinity Edge: Take this on ADC, the 70 AD isn't impressive as we have Bloodthirster and Hydra, crit isn't needed on Zed.

Manamune: Zed use mana?

Spirit of the Elder Lizard: Only 35 AD from 50 AD as well as nerfed passive after patch, get this if your jungling.

Aatrox:

R > Alternate between putting points in Q and E > W.
Start Cloth 5 or HP Regen Bead+ 5 Pot + 1 Ward.

Try to avoid his Dark Flight and Blades of Torment, all of his skills cost health.

Cho Gath:

R > E > Q > W.
Long Sword 2 possible.

Avoid Rupture, easy matchup, possible snowball lane

Darius:

R > E > Q > W.
Long Sword 2 if your confident of safe harrass or go Cloth 5.

Safe harrass is strongly adviced, punish him once his missed or is on cooldown. Use shadows to juke him if possible.

Elise:
R > E > Q > W.
HP Regen Bead+ 5 Pot + 1 Ward. O

Objective: Farm and outsutain Elise's mana usage, once her mana is low you can go in and kill her.


Fiora:

R > E > Q > W.
Cloth 5.

Harass safely and bait her Riposte, engage her when its on CD.

Gangplank:

R > E > Q > W.
Cloth 5.

Harrass him safely, use the bushes to reduce chance of taking his Parley.

Garen:

R > E > Q > W.
HP Regen Bead+ 5 Pot + 1 Ward.

Try to kill him early or just farm. Consider buying The Brutalizer early and either upgrade to The Black Cleaver or sell it off for Last Whisper.

Irelia:

R > Q > E > W.
Cloth 5.

Try to bully her out of lane real early and if she retaliate violently and succesfully just focus on farm with your Q. Try to push her out of lane but do not engage early.

Jax:

R > E > Q > W.
Cloth 5 / HP Regen Bead+ 5 Pot + 1 Ward.

Bait his Helicopter [his stun] and punish him hard everytime he miss time it or did not successfully land it. Avoid long engages with him just harrass him. Try to kill him at Lv 6 and juke that stun with your shadows.

Jayce:

R > Q > E > W, depends on situation.
Cloth 5 / HP Regen Bead+ 5 Pot + 1 Ward.

This match is a harrass competition but dont add your Shadows into your harrass. Juking his skillshots greatly improves your chance of winning so use Flash in a all-in if necessary.

Kennen:

R > E > Q > W.
Cloth 5.

Use bushes to reduce chance of harrass from Kennen, look for engages in your favor. Dodging his Q Shuriken helps a lot.

Kha Zix:

R > E > Q > W.
Cloth 5.

Stick close to your minions when engaging or dont engage at all. When engaging, walking through the minion wave to dodge his Spikes gives you a edge but dont underestimate Kha Zix.

Malphite:

R > E > Q > W.
HP Regen Bead + 5 Pot + 1 Ward.

Farm lane, you cant do much damage to him, he cant do much damage to you. Just farm and push real quick when you want to roam.

Master Yi:

R > E > Q > W.
Long Sword 2 / Cloth 5.

If you confident in this matchup go ahead and grab a Long Sword 2 Start, but otherwise Cloth 5. Should not be too hard for Zed just harrass and farm. Try to get to Lv 6 first and kill him.

Nasus:

R > E > Q > W.
Long Sword 2 / HP Regen Bead + 5 Pot + 1 Ward.

Easy lane. Either you kill him early or only a normal farm lane.

Olaf:

R > E > Q > W.
Cloth 5.

Dodge his Axes and avoid trading with him, just harrass with your Q. Grab a Boots early if harrassed too hard. Dont engage with him unless confident.

Pantheon:

R > E > Q > W.
Cloth 5.

Annoying lane for anyone, if engaging AA him first to pass through his passive then start using your skills. Take Teleport if you want to counter-gank his Ultimate, Grand Skyfall.

Renekton:

R > E > Q > W.
Cloth 5.

Just farm and farm and farm, possible to punish him when his stun is on CD.

Rengar:

R > E > Q > W.
Cloth 5.

Another farm lane, avoid the bushes. Engage only when his Furocity bar is low. Be careful of recalling if Rengar hit Lv 6 and your low health, he might jump on you.

Riven:

R > E > Q > W.
Cloth 5.

Be careful of her Lv 1 / 2 FB Technique, punish her when her skills are off CD. Otherwise avoid engages and farm.

Shen:

R > E > Q > W.
HP Regen Bead + 5 Pot + 1 Ward.

If you cant kill him early just farm. Shen would stack armor so get Arm Pen early if necessary. Teleport to counter-gank Shen.

Singed:

R > E > Q > W.
HP Regen Bead + 5 Pot + 1 Ward.

Build a Hexdrinker early if necessary. Be careful of his Lv 1 proxy farm. If it happens co-operate with your jungler to kill him off. Remember, never chase a Singed.

Tryndamere:

R > E > Q > W.
Cloth 5.

BULLY HIM TO HELL. NEVER LET HIM FARM. GET WARDS AND **** HIM UP. Your team will thank you. If his Fury bar is full wait for it to go down and harrass him.

Vladimir:

R > E > Q > W.
HP Regen Bead + 5 Pot + 1 Ward.

Kill him early or farm. He can't do much early and only starts to become a threat near Lv 8, 9 +.

Wukong:

R > Q > E > W.
Cloth 5.

Avoid engages and farm only. Wukong counters you hard.

Xin Zhao:

R > E > Q > W.
Cloth 5.

Just like Wukong, avoid engages and farm under turret. Xin Zhao counters Zed as well.

Yorick:

R > E > Q > W.
HP Regen Bead + 5 Pot + 1 Ward.

No matter how hard you harrass him he'll sustain it back with his skills, so just stay in lane and farm as much as you can. Harrass him more often when his mana is low.

Here are some of the combos to use based on different situation you face




Harrass: Living Shadow > Shadow Slash > Razor Shuriken > Living Shadow > AA > AA

Your common lane harrass. If you did not ward or sense a gank coming do not use your Shadow to harrass just use your E / Q. Whether to use your Living Shadow to swap places with your Shadow depends on you. If you want to go in to hurt your opponent more do it and AA him but dont miss CS because of this.

All-In (Without Major Items): Death Mark > Shadow Slash > Razor Shuriken > Ignite > AA .

Use your Death Mark shadow if necessary to dodge retaliation such as Darius' Decimate to reduce damage taken as his teammates could be on their way to help him. Save your Living Shadow until he Flash or run away on you then kill him off with the help of your Living Shadow.

All-In (With Major Items): Death Mark > Shadow Slash > Razor Shuriken > BotrK > Ravenous Hydra > Ignite > AA.

Your reliable burst. In fact, just by doing this your target would probably die within two or three seconds. Even if they didnt die before the Death Mark explode you can just walk away from him, [cool guys never watch explosions]. This is very useful pre-teamfight: You catch someone out alone, use this and walk away to prevent getting caught by his teammates yet you still get the kill as your Death Mark explodes.

On the bright side this makes you look like a total badass, comment: ALL CALCULATED. On the other hand if you just walk away but your target didnt die to your Death Mark your teammates would probably flame you.

Laning, a very very important part to you winning your game. Do well early game and you'll snowball and carry game, do badly you still have a chance of catching up but will probably do badly for the rest of the game. This is why League is so fun: Certain champions counters certain champions yet is weak against others. Taking full advantage of easy matchups definitely helps, while focusing on farming and stay alive during a hard matchup gives you tons of oppotunity to do well as well.

Early game farming ALWAYS take priority over harrassing your opponent. Farming contributes greatly early game to the gold you have unless your snowballing your lane. The first wave on the Rift gives 114 gold but increases to the number of waves. A kill weights roughly around 20 CS early, so take it if you can. A lane can go three ways:

1. Snowball. Kill the lane off and dont push the turret too quickly. Early on if your opponent dead or recalled just push the lane real quick and let your minions push to the turret and recall. This way your opponent lose exp to the turret. Also you dont want to push the turret down to quickly, you want the exp from laning. REMEMBER TO WARD AS WELL. Only try to down it around mid game.

2. Farm lane. Just as what it says, farm. Especially if your facing opponents such as Yorick, Nasus, unless you have a clear advantage of them early just farm and farm. When wanting to roam push the lane hard and go help other lanes / counter jungle. Only try to counter jungle if you are sure of not getting caught, unless your ambushing the enemy jungler. Be careful of wards and take note of enemy movements on your minimap. Communicate with your teammates for missing enemies.

3. Losing lane. Just try your best to farm without dying. Under turret, if its a Melee Minion, two turret hits followed by your AA will get the gold. If its a Caster Minion a turret hit and your AA will increase your CS. Normally if i cant farm and even die to enemy under my turret i'll go help other lanes upon respawning. If you cant win Top lane just give it away BUT you'll help your team but picking up kills and assist for them. This way your team would normally be in a numerical advantage of 5 to 4 assuming the enemy top laner still stays in lane. It is very possible to win teamfights so push the mid lane.

REMEMBER TO WARD Here's a image showing your where to ward.

Circled in Blue: Blue Side Ward here
Circled in Purple: Purple Side Ward here

Mid / Late Game Teamfights can always decide who wins the game. Even if one side appears to have the advantage it is ALWAYS that the other side can make a comeback victory so never give up. Encourage your teammates and acknowledge them with a gj or nice when they score a kill. As a assassin, your staying at the back. Let your tank / initiator stay at the front and patiently wait for a fight to break out. Decide your priorities to kill before going in.

Lets have a situation: Your team consist of you , Malphite , Diana , Vayne and Sona while they have Renekton , Amumu , Lux , Ezreal and Taric (why this two together :P).

Your Malphite ult in and caught Amumu, Renekton and Ezreal. While they are still CCed this is your best chance to go in and snatch some kills, make some plays since their tank and bodyguards are busy. You can then Death Mark and proceed to kill them all, starting from your targets.

Knowing when to go in and when to retreat is crucial on Zed. Too early and you can't contribute more to deal damage but if your too late the fight's already over. Observe carefully and decide. It is always adviced to go in and kill your targets when their tanks are busy dealing with your other teammates.

Estimate the right time to go in, trust yourself and Zed and just do it. Even if your decision cause your team to lose you can reflect and learn on it. What is my mistakes? What will be a better decision? Reflecting on my mistakes is what i always do after every single game i played. Don't dwell on your mistakes and let it go. There is always next teamfight to perform in :)

12/8/2013 Work on Guide begins, start of a longgggg journey :O Huge help after reading through JhoiJhoi's How to make a Guide
13/8/2013 Introduction, Short Summary, Pros / Cons , Background, Videos, Lv 1 Stats done.
14/8/2013 Smartcasting and Guide Planning finished. Guide Making is time-consuming :O
15/8/2013 Skillset and Death Mark chapter done.
16/8/2013 Runes, Masteries, Summoner Spells, Skill Sequence, Full Build, Starting Items completed.
19/8/2013 Viable / Not-so-Viable Items and Patch History section complete
20/8/2013 Lane Matchup, Wombo Combo, Laning and Teamfights complete
21/8/2013 Spell check and guide published

All credits to them for...


Zed Chibi

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/355/7/c/zed_by_rosemariye-d5ooqbm.png

Summoner Rift image

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110831010038/leagueoflegends/images/thumb/5/5b/Summoner's_Rift_In-Game.jpg/956px-Summoner's_Rift_In-Game.jpg

Zed's defensive Death Mark

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha_EIVxRFsc

Jhoijhoi's how to make a guide and her awesome dividers! :D

http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/making-a-guide-101506

Razor Shuriken pic

http://www.onrpgblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/RazorShuriken.jpg

Living Shadow pic

http://www.onrpgblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/LivingShadow.jpg

Zed's Skillsets

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121102022515/leagueoflegends/images/thumb/d/d7/Zed_Screenshots.jpg/550px-Zed_Screenshots.jpg

The awesome Zed wallpaper

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/0I3ImQfWwc0/maxresdefault.jpg

Very interesting trivia/facts about my favourite champion <3

http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Zed/SkinsTrivia

The free photo editing app online for my banners :D

http://pixlr.com/express/

His awesome kill compilations of champions in the League!

https://twitter.com/TheLoLSoul
https://www.facebook.com/TheLoLSoul
http://www.twitch.tv/thelolsoul

His awesome Zed montage!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Redmerc...
http://twitter.com/RedmercyLoL
http://www.twitch.tv/RedmercyLoL

The second Zed montage ^^

http://www.youtube.com/user/IncarnateDeath?feature=watch

Zed's lore

http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Zed/Background

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF THEM ^^

<Those who I have not listed above but found their information in this guide please contact me and i'll put you in Credits as soon as I can. I've tried my best to put all sources up here>

Thanks guys for taking the time to read through my guide on Zed, which i definitely tried my best to make it as detailed as possible.. Thanks for putting up with my grammar as well. Guide-making isn't easy AT ALL. This has been Siynkk, i hope you've learned a lot through this guide and enjoyed playing Zed as much as I do.

Peace out :D