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"Some things must remain buried."

Strategy is highly subjective and may become outdated without any notice. Because of this, the League of Legends Wiki has decided to retire strategy pages and would recommend using other platforms (such as YouTube) to find guides. For more information visit this thread.

  • This page continues to exist for archive purposes.


Champion Spotlight[]

Recommended Items[]

Summoner's Rift
Starting
Twisted Treeline
Starting
Howling Abyss
Starting

Tips[]

Playing As Zed Zed
  • Saving energy and spell cooldowns until you use your ultimate will maximaze Death Mark's Death Mark's damage.
  • Quickly double tapping Living Shadow Living Shadow will teleport Zed Zed to his shadow immediately for rapid escapes.
  • Placing a Living Shadow Living Shadow before using Death Mark Death Mark can give Zed a safe escape from combat.
Playing Against Zed Zed

Tricks[]

Ability Usage
  • Saving energy and spell cooldowns until you use your ultimate will potentially maximize Death Mark's Death Mark's damage.
  • By quickly activating Living Shadow Living Shadow 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 Shadow Slash Shadow Slash when your enemy catches up with the shadow to slow them and prevent pursuit.
  • Living Shadow Living Shadow provides vision, which can be used to check bushes or scout over walls.
  • If you move too far away from the shadow created by Living Shadow Living Shadow you can no longer switch places with them. An arrow indicates the direction of the shadow from Zed Zed and changes colors depending on distance. If it is green then Zed Zed is close enough to the shadow to swap positions with it; yellow means Zed Zed can still switch places with it but will soon be out of range while red means he cannot.
  • Placing a Living Shadow Living Shadow before using Death Mark Death Mark can give Zed Zed a safe escape from combat.
    • The skill also may allow you to catch enemies off guard after a small skirmish. Using Death Mark Death Mark primarily for damage, do not forget that it places a Living Shadow Living Shadow 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 Living Shadow Living Shadow to effectively give your Razor Shuriken Razor Shuriken 50% more damage output.
  • Three overlapping Shadow Slash Shadow Slashes will apply a stronger slow than just two, however won't do any additional damage. If you already have a shadow up from your Death Mark Death Mark, strongly consider saving your Living Shadow Living Shadow for escaping or chasing.
  • In order, using Death Mark Death Mark, Shadow Slash Shadow Slash, Razor Shuriken Razor Shuriken, and an autoattack (if not, an additional Living Shadow Living Shadow) to proc Contempt for the Weak Contempt for the Weak 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 Living Shadow Living Shadow to escape (or Death Mark Death Mark if it's safe enough due to its longer duration) and wait for the mark from Death Mark Death Mark to kill the target. Be wary of effects that can deny you the kill or even turn the tables, such as Wish Wish, Chronoshift Chronoshift, Stand United Stand United or Divine Judgement Divine Judgement.
  • With just 10% cooldown reduction, the cooldown of Shadow Slash Shadow Slash becomes short enough to land two of them before Death Mark Death Mark's damage triggers. This can be used against enemies who don't consider Zed Zed's cooldowns.
  • With 40% cooldown reduction, you can get off 3 Shadow Slash Shadow Slash and barely get off 2 Razor Shuriken Razor Shuriken during a single Living Shadow Living Shadow or Death Mark Death Mark. Consider finding a way to fit it into your late game item build.
  • Both Living Shadow Living Shadow and Death Mark Death Mark come in very handy when running away from an enemy champion or two.
    • The first tactic is to place Living Shadow Living Shadow in a bush opposite of the direction you are running in, slow them with Shadow Slash Shadow Slash 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 uncast Shadow Slash Shadow Slash or Razor Shuriken Razor Shuriken, then cast Death Mark Death Mark to fool your pursuer into chasing you while you escape with your Living Shadow Living Shadow and then your ultimate's. In some cases these strategies are way better than just simply using Living Shadow Living Shadow as a quick flash to safety, and might even ensure a kill.
  • Death Mark Death Mark gives an untargetable state that lasts slightly longer than Hallucinate Hallucinate. Use it to avoid channeled spells such as Absolute Zero Absolute Zero, Requiem Requiem, Noxian Guillotine Noxian Guillotine, or with good timing, last-moment skillshots and autoattacks. (He can still be killed with DoTs or even die to another Zed Zed's ultimate during this time)
  • Contempt for the Weak Contempt for the Weak 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 Death Mark Death Mark's damage is primarily single-target, Shadow Slash Shadow Slash and Razor Shuriken Razor Shuriken's damage remains AoE, being able to shred through carries and groups of champions with ease.
Runes Usage
  • Electrocute Electrocute synergises perfectly with Zed Zed's quick combo for extra burst damage. Sudden Impact Sudden Impact in the Domination rune path gives bonus temporary lethality which synergises with his abilities and his lethality build.
  • Coup de Grace Coup de Grace behaves similar to his passive, helping him eliminating low-health targets even faster.
Item Usage
  • Zed Zed plays as an AD caster making attack damage, lethality, and cooldown reduction more valuable than critical strike chance and attack speed.
  • Duskblade of Draktharr Duskblade of Draktharr is the perfect item on Zed Zed because it works perfectly well with his kit. Proc Nightstalker and activate Death Mark Death Mark plus the enhanced basic attack for quick burst damage.
  • The Black Cleaver The Black Cleaver is another excellent item on him since it builds out of Caulfield's Warhammer Caulfield's Warhammer and all of its stats benefit him greatly. Youmuu's Ghostblade Youmuu's Ghostblade is another good upgrade from Caulfield's Warhammer Caulfield's Warhammer; this item does more overall damage than The Black Cleaver The Black Cleaver, and complements Zed Zed's mobility and DPS, as well as making him take towers even faster and giving him even better assassination potential.
  • When playing on Twisted Treeline, a Lord Van Damm's Pillager Lord Van Damm's Pillager can be a very useful item due to the fact all the bonuses apply to Zed Zed's abilities.
  • Getting Maw of Malmortius Maw of Malmortius can be a good choice if you are being bullied by opponents with large amounts of magic damage.
  • While not the most viable option, Zed Zed can purchase critical strike items and still be a dangerous threat. When building critical strike Zed Zed, a great item to get is Infinity Edge Infinity Edge. This makes Zed Zed's autoattacks do huge amounts of damage should they crit, and potentially killing targets below 50% life when combined with Contempt for the Weak Contempt for the Weak. While this item has the potential to make Zed Zed is extremely bursty, keep in mind that Zed Zed still relies more on his abilities than his autoattacks for damage, and on many situations, items like Maw of Malmortius Maw of Malmortius or Ravenous Hydra Ravenous Hydra may prove to be better choices, with Infinity Edge Infinity Edge being an option only if Zed Zed is ahead and dominating.
  • A Blade of the Ruined King Blade of the Ruined King allows Zed Zed to duel extremely well, as it adds extra single target damage that allows him to keep on top of his opponent as well as increasing the total damage when his Death Mark Death Mark pops. The extra attack speed also allows him to take down towers quickly, and the active allows him to split push, knowing you'll be able to kill most of the things thrown at you.
  • The high AD and active from Tiamat Tiamat/Ravenous Hydra Ravenous Hydra can add significant damage to Death Mark Death Mark, since Zed Zed starts basic-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 Zed's AD in a very short time. This item also includes a lot of extra wave clear for Zed Zed, increasing his split push potential further.
  • If Zed Zed's opponents have high amounts of crowd control, and he finds himself being locked down, a Quicksilver Sash Quicksilver Sash/Mercurial Scimitar Mercurial Scimitar can be effective, not only reducing magic damage on him from his opponents, the upgrade gives him a considerable amount of AD.
  • As some games go, it is relatively more cost efficient to rush a Guardian Angel Guardian Angel as the enemy players will be quick to focus on Zed Zed in a team fight.
  • Randuin's Omen Randuin's Omen and Spirit Visage Spirit Visage are two good defensive items, but since they don't provide any offensive stats for Zed Zed, they are situational. Either of them are a good option to buy if Guardian Angel Guardian Angel is on cooldown, though.
Countering
  • After Zed Zed uses his Living Shadow Living Shadow and Death Mark Death Mark, he is at his most vulnerable as his damage and mobility are both dependent upon it.
  • Razor Shuriken Razor Shurikens deals less damage if they pass through other units before hitting your champion.
  • Escaping laterally, rather than directly away, from Zed Zed when he uses Death Mark Death Mark will slightly limit his ability to slow and pursue your champion.
  • Be aware of Zed Zed's Living Shadow Living Shadow as he can use it to mimic Shadow Slash Shadow Slash and Razor Shuriken Razor Shuriken even when he is out of sight, giving him deceptively long range.
    • On that note, be very careful when tower hugging at low health, as he can easily kill you while only taking a minimal amount of damage from the tower.
  • Beware that with a full build, Zed Zed can potentially duel even full tanks. However, he is extremely reliant on Death Mark Death Mark to do so; even against squishy targets, he relies on his ultimate to get a kill, as it's his ultimate that deals the majority of his damage. He will most likely use all of his abilities and autoattack a lot to do as much damage as possible.
  • Zed Zed is surprisingly dangerous, especially when assassinating low-health champions due to Contempt for the Weak Contempt for the Weak, so beware.

References[]

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