Summary
Items
Zed is a physical damage assassin, you will have to focus your build on AD, lethality and CDR.
Boots
Go for Ninja Tabi or Mercury Treads depending on your match-up and enemy composition.
Core Items
Youmuu's Ghostblade is your first lethal item. It will give you a higher speed of movement through its asset, enough to roam the map or better move you during a fight.
Duskblade of Draktharr is your second lethal item. It will allow you to burst your enemies with your self-attacks. If your target has little life, your Passive - Contempt for the Weak and the Duskblade of Draktharr's Passive will inflict colossal damage to your enemies.
Black Cleaver will allow you to slice through enemy tanks and earn a little VP at the same time. The Phage's Passive will allow you to chase your targets while attacking them to their death. In addition, you will now be captured in CDR.
Situational Items
- Edge of Night is a lethal item that allows you to rush to an enemy whose control can penalize you without warning.
- Guardian Angel will give you a second wind if an enemy manages to put you in the ground in battle. Don't forget to use the Stopwatch beforehand.
- Against large magical damage, Maw of Malmortius can allow you to take it without flinching. In addition, you'll have regeneration until the end of the battle when the magic shield is triggered.
- Against sturdy targets, buy Lord Dominik's Regards to melt their HPs.
- Executioner's Calling will be very interesting against targets that regenerate. Finish your Mortal Reminder at the end of the game.
How to play Zed
Zed has a lot of damage at level 3, so don't hesitate to ask for help from your jungler, or even try a 1-on-1 assault if you're sure to take a knockout.
Having a powerful passive but activating 50% of your opponent's life, be sure you can activate it before going head-to-head.
- Level 1: Q - Razor Shuriken allows you to harass your opponent from a distance and retrieve minions without taking any risks.
- Level 2: If you are strongly pushed, E - Shadow Slash is a good solution to farm under your turn, if on the contrary you have an advantage on the enemy, W - Living Shadow allows you to accentuate this pressure and to remain safe in case of adverse gank.
- Level 6: R - Death Mark is your main asset to turn a situation to your advantage, because it creates a shadow at the place where you use it, allowing you to come back after 1 second on this shadow: ideal to surprise an enemy and inflict a maximum of damage while remaining safe. Each shadow copies the spells that Zed casts, so don't hesitate to use your W - Living Shadow to create an extra shadow and cast 3 Q - Razor Shuriken on the target, most likely ensuring you are eliminated with your final damage.
Zed's main weakness comes after he's used his E - Shadow Slash: don't put yourself in unnecessary danger if you have no vision of the enemy's jungle.
If your advantage over the enemy midlaner is significant, you can quickly push your lane and shift to the botlane or toplane depending on the vision you have on the map.
Your role in teamfights is to wait for the enemy controls to be used to jump on carries and inflict maximum damage with your ultimate.
If your team is weaker in teamfights, choose splitpush, as Zed has a lot of mobility and a great potential in 1 vs 1, the opposing team will often send several enemies to counter you, allowing you to save a maximum amount of time for your allies to seize an important objective.
Match-ups
Tips & Tricks
- Your ultimate makes you uncivilizable for 1 second, allowing you to dodge spells if it is cast at the right time.
- The shadow created by your ultimate remains 6 seconds, you can surprise your enemies by casting a last W - Razor Shuriken and recover an elimination. It also allows you to escape and confuse your opponents.
- E - Shadow Slashing slows down enemies if they are hit by a shadow. Use it to more easily apply the damage of W - Razor Shuriken to them.
- Your liability is very important during your R - Death Mark, since in the event that you manage to place it on the target, the damage inflicted will generally be sufficient for the explosion of the mark to eliminate it.
- If a skill hits the same champion twice (thanks to a shadow), Zed recovers energy, whose impeccable management is essential.
- The best combo is R>E>basic attack>W>Q>basic attack(+passive in general)>R to get back to your shadow and replace you safely.
- If you have the Draktharr's Ghostblade, do not hesitate to play the lack of opposing vision to inflict a maximum of damage thanks to the passive of the item.
- Your priority target will be the ADC, because of the DD it will give you once its soul has been harvested. Keep in mind that the more ADCs your target has, the more relevant it will be to set your sights on him.
