➤Zed / Strategy 🕹 League of Legends

Champion	History	Strategy	Aspects and Curiosities

"Submit to my designs."

Please use the information in this article with consideration. It could be out of date.

Use of skills

Saving your stamina and cooldowns until you use your ultimate will potentially maximize the damage of Mark of Death.

When activating quickly Living Shadow twice, Zed will send his shadow and immediately teleport to it afterward, making quick escapes possible. This can be used to jump walls.
- Use Shadow Slash when your enemies are near the shadow to slow them down and prevent pursuits.
Living Shadow grants vision, which can be used to search bushes or search through walls.
If you move too far from the shadows created by Living Shadow and Death Mark will no longer be able to change places with them. An arrow indicates the direction of the shadow with respect to Zed and changes its color depending on the distance between them. If it's green (or blue with colorblind mode on) then Zed is close enough to the shadow to switch places with it; Yellow means that Zed can keep switching places with her but will soon be out of range, while red means that he can't anymore.
Leave a Living Shadow before use Death Mark can provide Zed with a safe escape from combat.
Cuban Tres Guitar Overlapping Shadow Slashes will apply a slow greater than just two, but will still not deal additional damage. If you already have an active shadow of your Mark of Death, seriously consider saving your Living Shadow to escape or chase.
In order, using Mark of Death, Shadow Slash, Shuriken razor, and an autoatque (if not, a Additional Living Shadow) to apply Contempt for the Weak can do enough damage to kill an enemy with low resistance. If you are in danger and your marked target is low enough health, you can use Living Shadow to escape (or Mark of Death if it is safe enough for its longer duration) and wait for the mark to explode to kill the target. Beware of effects that can deny you death or even flip the board, such as Prayer, Time Travel or Intervention Intervention.
With only 10% cooldown reduction, the cooldown of Shadow Slash becomes short enough to be used twice before the Death Mark explode. This can be used against enemies who do not know Zed's cooldowns.
With the maximum CDR (40%) you can get 3 Shadow Slashes and just 2 Shuriken knives in what lasts one Living Shadow or Mark of Death. Consider finding a way to fit your late game build.
Both Living Shadow and Death Mark are very handy when you're running away from an enemy champion or two.
- The first tactic is to place a Living Shadow in a bush in the opposite direction you are running, slow them down with Shadow Slash and then swap places with your shadow for a great escape.
- The second is to place a Living Shadow behind you and run in the opposite direction, and then use your Death Mark to trick your pursuer into following you while you escape with your Living Shadow and then the shadow of your ultimate. In some cases these strategies are much better than simply using your Living Shadow as a quick flash to safety, and they can even guarantee you a death.
Mark of Death gives an invulnerability time that lasts slightly longer than Hallucination. Use it to evade channeled spells like Absolute zero, Requiem, Noxian Guillotine, or with good coordination, skillshots and auto attacks.
El Contempt for the Weak of Zed is very good at last hitting / stealing important monsters in the jungle, but be careful online because if you abuse the damage bonus too much you will end up pushing the line to your disadvantage.
An effective way to guarantee deaths is to have deception in your favor. Letting a Bruiser (an ADC / APC as a weaker bait can work occasionally) start on the enemy team can assure you an advantage, often providing a good "clean up" to end a streak or even achieve an extermination.
- This tactic becomes extremely powerful in late-game fights, since despite the damage of Death Mark is primarily for a single target, damage from Shadow Slash and Shuriken Razors remain in area, allowing them to pass through carries and groups of enemies with ease.

Use of objects

Zed plays as an AD Caster making AD, Armor Penetration, and CDR more useful than Critical Chance and Attack Speed.

Last Whisper is a good main item on Zed due to its AD and Armor Penetration.
The Dark Blade is another excellent item, start by buying the bacteriophage, it makes no enemy escape you after throwing your skills and all its statistics benefit it.
If when you play Zed you find yourself dominating consider buying a Sword of the Occult Sword of the Occult.
Due to the passive effect of its Living Shadow, Zed can benefit from each AD item like an AP champion would a Rabadon Death Hat, thus gaining large amounts of AD in the late game. With only one Sword of the Occult Sword of the Occult fully charged and The Bloodthirsty, can reach 262,5 AD bonus, although filling the Sword of the Occult and keeping it that way can be difficult in many games.
- Another good combination of objects is La Sanguinaria, and Youmuu's Ghost Sword as they both have good synergy with their abilities.
- Maw of Malmortius is a good option if you are being attacked by enemies with a large amount of magic damage.
The active of Sword of the Gods works surprisingly well with his ultimate - Zed generally gets large amounts of AD, causing critters to deal a lot of damage over and above his damage. Mark of Death.
A Sword of the Ruined King allows Zed to fight 1v1 extremely well, as it activates it adds extra damage to a single target and allows him to stay on his target longer, while increasing the total damage when his Death Mark explodes. The extra attack speed also helps him destroy towers quickly, in combination with the active one it allows you to Splitpush, knowing that you will be able to kill most of the champions they send to stop you.
The high AD and the active Tiamat/ Ravenous Hydra can add significant damage to the ultimate. Zed starts attacking his target automatically. After the first hit, use the active to do more damage, reset the auto-attack timer and attack again. The combination can inflict up to 300% of Zed's AD in a very short time. This item also packs a ton of extra Waveclear for Zed, increasing his splitpush potential further.
If Zed's enemies have large amounts of CC, and he finds himself being nullified, a Mercury Sash / Mercurial Scimitar can be effective, not only reducing the magic damage you take from your opponents, the buff provides you with a considerable amount of AD.
Once Zed has his 6 items, it is possible to replace the boots with a Zephyr to increase his total DPS in team fights as it reduces the CC effects on him, also making his combat stats stronger and 10% Movement Speed makes up for the amount lost from not having boots well enough.
In some games, it is relatively more efficient to buy a Quick Guardian Angel as the enemy team will try to focus on Zed in team fights.

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Countering

After Zed uses his Living Shadow and Mark of Death, is at its most vulnerable since its damage and mobility depend on them.
HR Shuriken pocket knives Zed deal less damage if they pass through other units before reaching you.
Escaping laterally, rather than directly, from Zed when he uses his ultimate will slightly reduce his ability to slow you down and chase you.
Be careful with the Zed clone, as he can use it to imitate Shadow Slash and Shuriken razor even when out of sight, deceptively giving you a long range.
- With that in mind, be very careful being under your tower at low health, because it can easily kill you while taking only a minimal amount of tower damage.
Zed can be extremely vulnerable once he uses his Death Mark, as he will use all of his abilities to do as much damage as possible.
- If you have some kind of strong CC, try to save it until I activate its Mark of Death (and if possible, Living Shadow), as this will reduce the time he has to use his mark combos and give the marked champion a chance to escape.
The delayed damage effect caused by Zed's ultimate can be prevented by activating Mercury Sash (or Mercurial Scimitar) within 3 seconds before the mark explodes. Purification and Eliminating Scurvy Eliminating Scurvy does not remove the mark.
- If you are affected by Death Mark and a shuriken appears above your head, try using a shield or healing, because that means its damage will be enough to kill you.
El Zhonya's Hourglass is a great item to counter Zed if you are a mage, for the armor to protect you and activates it to prevent explosive damage from his Mark of Death.
Watch out, Zed is surprisingly dangerous when it comes to killing low health champions thanks to his Contempt for the Weak.