Zed

Zed is a melee assassin who runs on energy and spends most of his time in the mid lane. Rather than leaning on raw stats, he wins by out-playing opponents with shadow clones. Nearly everything he does centers on Living Shadow: the shadow dashes ahead, copies his abilities, and returns energy when Zed and the shadow hit the same target with the same spell. Placing the shadow well and keeping energy flowing is what separates good Zed play from the rest.

How the kit flows

A common sequence starts with Living Shadow, followed by Razor Shuriken thrown from Zed’s position and from the shadow’s, which traps enemies between two skillshots. Shadow Slash brings area damage, and the shadow’s version adds a slow, so he can pin a fleeing champion or cut through a minion wave quickly. Living Shadow’s swap doubles as an escape or a way to close distance, which lets Zed trade and back off in lane with unusual ease.

Death Mark is the centerpiece of his all-in. Zed turns untargetable, dashes onto a champion and tags them with the mark. Three seconds later the mark goes off and re-deals a share of all the damage he inflicted during that window. Players get the most out of it by fitting a full combo into those three seconds. His passive, Contempt for the Weak, finishes the job by adding bonus magic damage to attacks against low-health enemies.

Zed excels at burst, lane pressure and mobility. Since he builds attack damage in a lane crowded with mages, he often wins matchups simply by making the threat of his all-in feel real. He fits players who like a high execution ceiling, tricky positioning and hunting down priority targets more than fighting head-on in teamfights.