Zed/Strategy

Skill Usage

 * Saving energy and spell cooldowns until you use your ultimate will maximize damage.
 * By quickly activating twice, Zed will send out his shadow and immediately teleport to it afterwards, allowing for quick escapes. This can be used to go over walls.
 * Use when your enemy catches up with the shadow to slow them and prevent pursuit.
 * provides vision, which can be used to check bushes or scout over walls.
 * If you move too far away from the shadow created by you can no longer switch places with it. An arrow indicates the direction of the shadow from Zed and changes colors depending on distance. If it is green then Zed is close enough to the shadow to swap positions with it; if it is yellow or red then he is not.
 * Placing a before using  can give Zed a safe escape from combat.
 * The skills also may allow you to catch enemies off guard after a small skirmish. Using primarily for damage, do not forget that it places a shadow behind your target. Faking retreat after a kill, decieve your enemy by swapping places with your ultimate shadow and use your  to effectively give your  50% more damage output.
 * Three overlapping will apply a stronger slow than just two, but won't do any additional damage. If you already have a shadow up from your, strongly consider saving your  for escaping or chasing.
 * In order, using, , , and an autoattack to proc can deal enough burst damage to kill a squishy enemy. If you're in danger and your marked target is low enough, you may be able to use  to escape and wait for the mark from  to kill the target. Be wary of effects that can deny you the kill, such as , , or.
 * With just 10% cooldown reduction the cooldown of becomes short enough to land two of them during the 3 second mark portion of.
 * With maximum CDR (40%) you can get off 3 and barely get off 2  during a single  or . Consider finding a way to fit it into your late game item build.
 * can come in very handy when running away from an enemy champion. Try placing your shadow in a bush and run in another direction, then activate the secondary ability effect to fool your pursuer and escape easily. In some cases this strategy is way better than just simply using the ability to dash away.
 * gives a short time on invulnerability, similar to . Use it to avoid channeled spells such as, , or with good timing,.
 * makes him very good at last hitting and also is useful in the jungle, but be careful as if you abuse the bonus damage you might end up pushing the lane

Item Usage
Zed plays as an AD Caster making AD, armor penetration and CDR more valuable than critical strike and attack Speed.
 * is a good core item on Zed due to its AD and Armor Penetration.
 * is another excellent core item on him since it builds out of and all of it's stats benefit him greatly.


 * If while playing Zed you find yourself dominating consider building a.
 * Due to the passive effect of his, Zed can benefit from every AD item like an AP champ would by having , and thus can obtain very high amount of AD on late game. With full stack and  alone, he can reach 262.5 bonus AD, although is difficult to stack both items.
 * Another good combination of items is, and  as they all synergize well with his abilities.
 * Getting can be a good choice if you are being bullied by an enemy mid laner.
 * The active from works surprisingly well with his Ult - Zed generally achives high amounts of AD, causing the crits to deal high damage on top of  damage.
 * The active from can also add damage on top of the Ult to further increase damage dealt to the target.

Countering

 * After Zed uses his, he is at his most vulnerable as his damage and mobility are both dependent upon it.
 * deals less damage if they pass through other units before hitting your champion.
 * Escaping laterally, rather than directly away, from Zed when he uses his ultimate will limit his ability to slow and pursue your champion.
 * Be aware of Zed's clone as he can use its ability to mimic his moves to attack you even when he is out of range, giving him deceptively long range.
 * Zed can be extremely vulnerable after he uses his ultimate, as he will most likely use all of his abilities to do as much damage as possible.
 * The delayed-effect damage caused by Zed's ultimate can be prevented by activating a within the 3 seconds before the mark detonates.  and  will not remove the mark.