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Zed Build Guide by CashLOL

Middle [14.8] Max-Depth Master Zed Guide

Middle [14.8] Max-Depth Master Zed Guide

Updated on April 28, 2024
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League of Legends Build Guide Author CashLOL Build Guide By CashLOL 881 66 2,343,260 Views 31 Comments
881 66 2,343,260 Views 31 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author CashLOL Zed Build Guide By CashLOL Updated on April 28, 2024
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Runes: NEW SEASON 13 BUILD (BEST IMO)

1 2 3
Inspiration
First Strike
Magical Footwear
Future's Market
Cosmic Insight

Sorcery
Transcendence
Scorch
Bonus:

+8 Ability Haste
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10-180 Bonus Health

Spells:

1 2
Mid
LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Teleport

Teleport

Items

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Champion Build Guide

[14.8] Max-Depth Master Zed Guide

By CashLOL
Introduction
Hey, I'm Cash also known as 🍎! I have been playing Zed for a long time and have managed to reach Masters 200 lp with this champion in Season 11 and 12! I have achieved this rank in Mid and Jungle which allows me to play Zed in both roles. I have created this guide and I have linked my twitch to this guide. I've asked many players multiple questions to cover everything lower-ranked players want to know! I have created a donation link down below if anyone is interested in donating so I can upgrade my setup/stream. It isn't necessary at all, but thanks a lot if you consider donating, I appreciate it!!

Zed is my favorite classic assassin champion in LoL. He's one of the best at taking one champion out of the fight, but then loses a lot of his power once Death Mark is on cooldown. My guide includes how to be proactive and fight without Death Mark! He doesn't have the best laning phase in this season which is why I explain many items and builds, which will help you snowball in the early game.

I hope you enjoy reading the guide as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Pros and Cons
Pros Cons
No Mana Issues
Short range
Abilities are AoE
Weak early game
Quite Mobile
Countered Easily
A 1v9 Carry
Full AD Teams
Good Teamfighter
Vulnerable to CC & squishy
High Damage
Need to Land Skillshots
Abilities
PASSIVE ABILITY
Contempt For The Weak
Zed's basic attacks against targets Health below 50% of their maximum health deal 6 / 8 / 10% (based on level) of the target's maximum health as bonus magic damage.
Against Monster monsters, Contempt for the Weak deals 200% damage, capped at 300.
Contempt for the Weak can only affect enemy champions once every ten seconds.
Q
Razor Shuriken
Zed and his Living Shadow Shadows throw their spinning blades toward the target location. Each blade deals physical damage to all enemies struck in their path, reduced to 60% against units beyond the first.

PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 80 / 115 / 150 / 185 / 220 (+ 110% bonus AD)
TARGET RANGE: 925
WIDTH: Range 100
SPEED: 1700
CAST TIME: 0.25
COST: 75 / 70 / 65 / 60 / 55 ENERGY
COOLDOWN: 6
W
Living Shadow
PASSIVE: Zed restores energy energy whenever he and one of his Living Shadow Shadows or multiple Zed's Shadows hit a mimicked ability on the same target. This may only occur once per cast ability.
ACTIVE: Zed's Living Shadow Shadow dashes to the target location, remaining in place for 5 seconds and being able to mimic Razor Shuriken and Shadow Slash while in range. Living Shadow can be recast at any time while the Zed's Shadow is dashing or within its duration.
RECAST: While in range of each other, Zed and his Zed's Shadow blink to their respective locations, swapping places. If Living Shadow was recast while the Zed's Shadow is dashing, the recast will instead occur once it has been placed.

ENERGY RESTORED: 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50
TARGET RANGE: 650
EFFECT RADIUS: 1950
SPEED: 2500
CAST TIME: NONE
COST: 40 / 35 / 30 / 25 / 20 ENERGY
COOLDOWN: 20 / 18.5 / 17 / 15.5 / 14
E
Shadow Slash
ACTIVE: Zed and his Living Shadow shadows slash, dealing physical damage to enemies surrounding them.
Enemies hit by the slash of a Zed's Living Shadow Shadow are slow slowed for 1.5 seconds. Enemies hit by multiple slashes take no additional damage but the slow's effectiveness is increased by 50%
Each enemy champion champion hit by Zed's slash reduces Living Shadow Living Shadow's cooldown reduction by 2 seconds.

PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 70 / 90 / 110 / 130 / 150 (+ 65% bonus AD)
SLOW: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%
EFFECT RADIUS: From Zed 315/From Shadow Clones 290
CAST TIME: NONE
COST: 50 ENERGY
COOLDOWN: 5 / 4.5 / 4 / 3.5 / 3
R
Death Mark
ACTIVE: Zed becomes untargetable and, after 0.6 seconds, he dashes 125 units through the target enemy champion over 0.35 seconds, after which he marks them, gains ghosting for 3 seconds, and becomes targetable again. Zed also spawns a Death Mark Shadow at his casting position for 7.5 seconds which is able to mimic Razor Shuriken and Shadow Slash while in range. Death Mark can be recast after 0.5 seconds of his reappearance while the Death Mark Shadow is active.
For the next 3 seconds, Zed stores a percentage of all pre-mitigation physical damage and magic damage he and his shadows deal to the marked target, detonating at the end of the duration to deal physical damage.
RECAST: Regardless of the distance between each other, Zed and the Death Mark Shadow blink to their respective locations, swapping places.
If the target dies or is 1950 or more units away before the dash begins, Death Mark is cancelled, goes on a 5 second cooldown, and Zed reappears at the cast location.

PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 100% AD (+ 25 / 40 / 55% of damage dealt)
TARGET RANGE: 625
EFFECT RADIUS: Recast GLOBAL/Mimic 1950
CAST TIME: NONE
COOLDOWN: 120/100/80
Runes

Electrocute
The Electrocute keystone is good in many scenarios. It enhances your single target burst and is the most reliable keystone when you expect to get ahead early. It has good power in lane against short-medium ranged matchups you're likely to trade with (think of Lissandra and Vladimir. If you are playing against long ranged mage such as Azir you will have a hard time proccing electrocute without taking a lot of damage.
A few downsides to taking this keystone is that it can be hard to proc on your target in large fights and other runes such as Conqueror will do a lot better in fights. Zed's AOE is likely to hit multiple people and Electrocute will only proc on the first target hit by three different spells. Taking Ravenous Hydra will increase Zed's AOE damage!

Conqueror
This rune gives a ton of extra attack damage when you hit auto attacks or spells. This greatly increases your long trades and teamfights. It is not so effective in lane against champions that jump on you and win long trades like Irelia and Sylas, but can be easy to out-trade champions that don't want long trades and come close

Conqueror also allows you to auto-attack and be more confident and aggressive in fights because the healing and extra attack damage will make your long trading combos powerful and harder to die. Also, the precision tree does give many offensive options to split push and do more damage when you are low on health and thus it gives more damage compared to other keystones. This will also make you take 3 Health Potion for the lane as you will not have Taste of Blood .
Advanced Runes

When taking the Conqueror rune, the precision tree helps a lot compared to the domination tree. When fighting long fights, Triumph is really useful in killing multiple people as you will heal and they won't expect it. This also synergizes well with Last Stand, as you will do more damage in those fights. The rune Presence of Mind isn't good for the best zed players as you won't have energy problems if you combo correctly. Legend: Tenacity can be swapped with Legend: Alacrity if the enemy team doesn't have much crowd control.

The secondary rune sorcery is the best for zed since it allows for a lot more damage through the late game where zed power spikes in Season 11 and helps with ability haste. Ability Haste on Zed is necessary since most of his damage is from spell combos. Transcendence enables Zed to throw two shurikens from one shadow in the early game and enables him to get multi-kills with abilities on reduced cooldown upon takedown. Absolute Focus can be taken when you know the game will last longer, and you can guarantee enough ability haste in your build. Gathering Storm allows for maximum scaling potential which improves Zed's scaling!
Combos

Simple Harass Combo: W -> E -> Q



During levels 1 and 2 you can throw Q's without trying to go pass through minions. Once you hit level 3, you unlock the full harass combo, when you feel it's safe to use your W offensively. Use Living Shadow beside the enemy, pressing Shadow Slash while your Living Shadow is in mid-air so it instantly casts once your shadow reaches its position. While the enemy is slowed, you throw Razor Shuriken towards the enemy perpendicular to your W shadow. This will allow the best chances of landing both shurikens!

Basic Defensive Combo: W -> R -> W -> E -> Q



This is an important combo to learn. You start the combo by placing Living Shadow behind you, in a bush, or beside the enemy. After using Death Mark, you blink back to your defensive Living Shadow and combo the enemy with Shadow Slash and Razor Shuriken. You can take the Death Mark shadow back to finish them off if they are standing beside it!

You can definitely auto-attack before blinking back to your defensive shadow, but you will have to care that if the enemy crowd controls you, you won't be able to take the Living Shadow back if the cooldown expires. As the slow applies while you blink back, it will be easy to throw 2 Razor Shuriken. As the enemy is zig-zagging, you can throw the shurikens in the middle of the zig-zag where it will most likely land! If the enemy uses Flash, it's fine if you don't get the kill, as you will be able to get Death Mark before the enemy Flash is back up.

Fast Triple Q Combo: R -> W -> E -> AA -> Q -> R



This combo is also significant when learning Zed, as the triple q combo is the biggest burst Zed has! You start the combo with Death Mark and place Living Shadow beside them while using Shadow Slash. As soon as the enemy is extra slowed with two shadows, you will easily land your triple Razor Shuriken and the enemy will pop! Use Flash according to the enemy's movement to try to kill them!
Gameplay

EARLY GAME


At level 1, you'll unlock Razor Shuriken and begin poking the enemy as well as last hitting minions if you can't auto-attack the minion. The best time to throw your Razor Shuriken is when the enemy is not behind minions and when they are attacking minions as they stand still while auto-attacking.

At level 2, you'll unlock Living Shadow if you are pushed up in case of a level 2 gank or to try to land 2 shurikens at the enemy if the angle is available. If you are being pushed into, you'll unlock Shadow Slash so you can farm creeps under the turret a lot easier.

At level 3, you'll unlock your last ability to perform the simple harass combo. If the enemy is under 50% hp, you can land a simple harass combo and kill them with Contempt for the Weak while using Ignite.

Before reaching level 6, you will need to track how many minions you will need for XP to reach level 6. This is significant because you can surprise the enemy with a triple q combo as soon as you reach level 6. If the enemy doesn't allow this, you will have to look for a kill during a roam, as shoving the lane mid will be easy with level 6 pressure.

The best lane to roam to is the bot lane as the ADC and SUPPORT will be both easy to kill as they are behind in levels. This doesn't mean disregarding the top lane, if the top laner doesn't have summoner spells or ultimate, you can kill them easily. When ganking the enemy, don't open with all your abilities at once, use your Living Shadow for a gap close and use your Death Mark to dodge an ability such as Alistar Headbutt.

MID GAME INTO LATE GAME


During mid-game, you usually want to switch with bot lane and split. This is important as this will help you transition into the late game with a really good build! Many champions can't side lane against a Zed as this champion has a strong potential of winning 1v1s. If you can catch side waves and kill the enemy in the side lane when appropriate, you will be really fed!

TEAM FIGHTING


When team fighting, you need to focus and kill the carries. Watch what summoner spells they have, and look at the items, like if they have a Stopwatch, Galeforce, etc. It is important that you don't initiate the fight as you will die really easily and the enemy carries won't die. Let your team start the fight and try to find a flank angle. The best way to do this is to split in the side lane and flank the fight from the side lane. IT IS IMPORTANT TO WATCH YOUR SHADOWS AT ALL TIMES!
With crit zed, you will need to auto-attack a lot more to get the value of the build. With caster zed, you will need to play like a mage and poke them with your abilities until it's time to jump in and kill! With bruiser zed, you will still need to play like an assassin at some points. The different zed builds will make it easier to carry in different scenarios!

MONTAGE CLIPS


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CashLOL Zed Guide
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[14.8] Max-Depth Master Zed Guide

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