I expect Zed to be one of the few assassins that will survive the AD itemization favoring ADCs

The new AD itemization is seemingly made to favor ADCs instead of AD caster assassins due to lots of reasons. is being nerfed (it was a great waveclear item for AD assassins, especially Kha'Zix who needed it to achieve isolation). got buffed, but is going to be removed and the new items that build into Youmuu's Ghostblade are not nearly as good of early game items as The Brutalizer, so AD assassins are going to suffer during the early game. Stat-wise, is now a better item for AD assassins, but it is more expensive.

The change that has been the worst for AD assassins, however, is the . It has been made way cheaper, but it is now useless against enemies that don't stack armor. Not even its upgrades are useful for that. Currently, AD assassins generally use, most of time even rush Last Whisper because it is extremely effective not only against tanks, but also against squishies, and it is absolutely necessary to allow them to be bursted mid-late game. Also, aside from raw AD, armor penetration is the only way to increase damage from physical damage spells.

One of the very few real buffs that AD assassins got is the new item called "Death's Dance" which is essentially an AD . Executioner's Calling is also back, allowing AD assassins to fare better against some sustain-reliant champions. But overall the new AD itemization will be a nerf for AD assassins (AP assassins haven't been affected much because they build like mages, so their itemization is only affected by mage itemization changes).

That said, I expect to be the AD assassin who will be least affected by the changes.

1. Zed doesn't need to use Tiamat or , so the Tiamat nerfs didn't affected him.
2. Cull will be a potential new starting item for Zed, allowing him to rush his core items faster.
3. Zed is normally countered by and . Both can outsustain and outduel Zed. But now he will have a way better chance of beating them with Executioner's Calling going back to the game (and building into a better item).
4. Death's Dancer and Lord Dominik's Regards will make it even more difficult to outduel Zed, as if he hasn't already been hard enough to 1x1.
5. has been made a weaker item stat-wise, and is also more expensive. Mages will still need to rush it against Zed. But now not only they will have a harder time doing that, but it is now weaker for them in general.
6. Mana pots have been removed. One strategy that mages had to use against him was to try to rush Zhonya and buy mana pots to compensate for the fact that they were not rushing a mana regeneration item. But now this will no longer be possible.

Zed will still be a very viable AD assassin, and I wouldn't be surprised if he turned to be better than now on live.