Zed/Strategy

Skill Usage

 * Saving energy and spell cooldowns until you use your ultimate will potentially 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(s) created by and  you can no longer switch places with them. 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; yellow means Zed can still switch places with it but will soon be out of range while red means he cannot.
 * 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  at the location of the cast. Faking retreat after a kill, deceive your enemy by swapping places with your ultimate's shadow and use your  to effectively give your  50% more damage output.
 * Three overlapping will apply a stronger slow than just two, however 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 (if not, an additional ) 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 (or  if it's safe enough due to it's longer duration) and wait for the mark from  to kill the target. Be wary of effects that can deny you the kill or even turn the tables, such as , , or.
 * With just 10% cooldown reduction the cooldown of becomes short enough to land two of them before 's damage triggers. This can be used against enemies who not consider Zed's cooldowns.
 * 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.
 * Both and  come in very handy when running away from an enemy champion or two.
 * The first tactic is to place in a bush opposite of the direction you are running in, slow them with  and switch places with your shadow afterwards for a nifty escape trick.
 * The second is to place your shadow behind you and run in the opposite direction in an attempt to have them dodge an uncasted or, then cast  to fool your pursuer into chasing you while you escape with your and then your ultimate's. In some cases these strategies are way better than just simply using  as a quick flash to safety, and might even ensure a kill.
 * gives a short time on invulnerability, especially since having a slightly longer duration compared to . Use it to avoid channeled spells such as, , , or with good timing, last-moment skillshots and autoattacks.
 * makes him very good at last hitting/stealing important monster kills especially in the jungle, but be careful when laning as if you abuse the bonus damage too much you might end up pushing the lane to your disadvantage.
 * An effective way to guarantee kills is to have deception as your ally. Letting a bruiser (an ADC/APC as a weaker bait might work occasionally) initiate on the enemy can ensure an advantage, often providing a good "clearing up" for a shutdown kill or even an ace.
 * This tactic becomes extremely potent in late-game teamfights, as even though 's damage is primarily single-target, and 's damage remains AOE, being able to shred through carries and groups of champions with ease.

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 its 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 with Rabadon's Deathcap, and thus can obtain very high amount of AD on late game. With fully stacked and  and no other damage items, he can reach 262.5 bonus AD, although stacking the Sword of the Occult and keeping it stacked can be difficult in a lot of matches.
 * Another good combination of items is, and as they both synergize well with his abilities.
 * Getting can be a good choice if you are being bullied by opponents with large amounts of magic damage.
 * The active from works surprisingly well with his Ult - Zed generally achieves high amounts of AD, causing the crits to deal high damage on top of  damage.
 * A allows Zed to fight 1v1's extremely well, as it adds extra single target damage that allows him to keep on top of his opponent aswell as increasing the total damage when his Death Mark pops. The extra attack speed also allows him to take down towers quickly, in combination with the active allows him to splitpush, knowing you'll be able to kill most of the things that are sent at you.
 * The high AD and active from /  can add significant damage to the Ult. Zed starts auto-attacking his target automatically. After the first hit, use the active to deal more damage, reset the attack timer and attack again. The combination can be as much as 300% of Zed's AD in a very short time. This item also includes a lot of extra wave clear for Zed, increasing his splitpush potential further.
 * If Zed's opponents have high amounts of crowd control, and he finds himself being locked down, a /  can be effective, not only reducing magic damage on him from his opponents, the upgrade gives him a considerable amount of AD.
 * Once Zed has his 6 item build, it is possible to replace his boots with a to increase his overall DPS in teamfights as it will reduce Crowd Control effects on him, as well as making his combat stats stronger and the 10% movement speed makes up for the amount lost from not having boots fairly well.
 * As some games go, it is relatively more cost efficient to rush a  as the enemy players will be quick to focus on Zed in a team fight.

Countering

 * After Zed uses his and, 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 slightly limit his ability to slow and pursue your champion.
 * Be aware of Zed's clone as he can use it to mimic and  even when he is out of sight, giving him deceptively long range.
 * On that note, be very careful when towerhugging at low health, as he can easily kill you while only taking a minimial amount of damage from the tower.
 * Zed can be extremely vulnerable after he uses, as he will most likely use all of his abilities to do as much damage as possible.
 * If you have any hard CC, try to save it for after Zed activates (and if possible, ), as this will both reduce the time he has to combo the mark and give the marked champion a chance to escape.
 * The delayed-effect damage caused by Zed's ultimate can be prevented by activating a  ( or  )  within the 3 seconds before the mark detonates.  and  will not remove the mark.
 * is a great item to counter Zed as a mage, with armor to protect you and the active to avoid the worst of his .
 * Beware, Zed is surprisingly dangerous especially when assassinating low-health champions due to.