I'm actually curious.
What champion would be a good counterpick towards Zed? Meaning ... they would be good against him no matter what item most people feel they need to get immediately when against him (Zhonya's). I feel like any champion with a decent amount of skill who relies on mana just won't cut it against an equally skilled Zed. Seeing as Riot refuses to nerf him, I want to try to work around it the best I can.
Kitten of Evil8 votesMalzahar. He ults you, you ult him back. Your E can punish him for getting too close to minions for CS...but mostly it's his ult.
Kayle. Again, your ult completely negates his. You can Q and E him from range, and your W can help heal if you need it to survive his ult, but mostly your ult counters his and has a lower CD.
Lissandra. So much CC that he can't easily dive you, and if he does, punish him. Your ult again counters his (notice a trend?)
Anivia. Also a lot of CC, and your Q+E or R+E combos chunk him down a ton. If he dives you, your passive will save you. Just make sure you get under your turret before the mark procs, if you're going to die.
SaltyToplaneGoat6 votesVladimir
Also surprisingly Soraka Mid Full Ap. The silence fucks them over every time xD
The trick is wait until 6, let them dive with ult, throw out silence scone and slam a Q for self-heal. Aaand he's stuck under the tower if a ignite in his face.
GigglingAngel2 votes[{quoted}](name=Kyoki Shinkuro,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=OuWEGNpf,comment-id=0004,timestamp=2015-02-09T22:14:05.274+0000)
Also surprisingly Soraka Mid Full Ap. The silence fucks them over every time xD
The trick is wait until 6, let them dive with ult, throw out silence scone and slam a Q for self-heal. Aaand he's stuck under the tower if a ignite in his face.
Looks like that would take a little practice to get the timing right, but it sounds pretty funny.
SaltyToplaneGoat3 votesYeah Raka Mid takes a lot of practice, but vs Zed is worth it. You won't deal that much damage late, but the heals are downright broken.
Another plus: usually it's really hard to out-roam a Zed. But guess what? You don't even need to!
You see Zed ulting at top or bot? No problem! Slam your ult, ruin his gank and keep on pushing the lane.
BeatzBoyFTW1 votesYeah, typically a good Soraka mid player counters diving assassins like 
, just simply wait for them to jump on you with Cutthroat/Shunpo/Shadow or ult, place the silence field below you. It'll cripple them hard.
Leblancs Boob5 votesBan phase. You're welcome.
Orders3 votesKayle.
Baron of Bread3 votesIn my experience I find Malzahar and Lissandra work well (about everyone puts these two as big counters to Zed). I also tend to have a lot of fun against him as Mordekaiser or Vladimir, but I think Malz or Liss are probably safer bets (the targeted cc works wonders when combined with some good poke and burst).
Drunk Rummate1 votesLissandra and Annie are two common powerful counterpicks.
Ahri does well against him but it's a skill matchup.
Orianna has an okay lane against him. She can farm and survive and her teamfight is a ton better once she has a few items.
Azir is an okay choice. Sort of like Ori, he can farm and his teamfight is better but he won't get any kills since Zed will just shadow away and Azir has no catch or chase potential.
PS: When Zed ults you as Azir you should ult behind yourself (at a slight angle is best to mess with his Q aim) to push him away and then walk towards your wall to escape him when he swaps back to his R shadow. Make sure to dodge his Qs!
Malzahar is very good against Zed at all stages of the game. He can build a QSS after awhile to cleanse your ult but you can still win 1v1 even if he does that.
Zahz1 votesIf i am facing a zed in midlane i will often trade with my tanky top laner
Serevas1 votesFizz is also a pretty good counter as a timely Playful/Trickster can cancel the application of the mark and/or the damage that is applied afterwards.
Annie and Lissandra were mentioned above due to the lockdown they apply as well as the seemingly endless poke they can supply between Annie last hitting with Q she can stay in lane a long time, and Lissandra gets free casts of spells, her Q being her main poke spell.
Supposedly Talon does, I haven't tried it, but Talon's ultimate causes him to go invisible for 2.5 seconds, and the incubation period for Zed to apply extra damage is 3 seconds. So react quickly and you could potentially outburst him. I don't think this would be a hard counter, but perhaps more of a skill matchup.
LeBlanc would likely go even as well assuming you can save a portion of your mobility to convince him to tower dive jump back and chain him under turret.
Malzahar could potentially work as well because your ultimate is full suppression, just drop the combo on top of yourself and ult him when he shows up again. He doesn't apply any more damage, and will often times be dead or nearly dead. Remember his W at rank 5 does a minimum of 40% of their maximum hp in damage factor in 300-400AP and that's an additional 15-20% of their maximum hp over 4 seconds, in combination with a Q, an E, or both, and your ultimate, you blow up just about anyone in a matter of seconds.
I've also seen Heimer do okay with proper ultimate and stun grenade usage, but this one is less reliable obviously.
The issue of Zed will likely come down largely to the experience of the Zed player, I'm not going to deathmark you until you're at least down to half health unless I know you don't have much to defend against it, and I can easily apply the necessary damage and leave.
Terff1 votesTalon does counter him from my experience (which isn't a lot) with talon. The last game of talon mid I played he was ahead of me in kills (failed gank xD) and I still was able to stomp him, and I have literally no past experience as talon.
GigglingAngel1 votesLissandra and Annie are two common powerful counterpicks.
Ahri does well against him but it's a skill matchup.
Orianna has an okay lane against him. She can farm and survive and her teamfight is a ton better once she has a few items.
Azir is an okay choice. Sort of like Ori, he can farm and his teamfight is better but he won't get any kills since Zed will just shadow away and Azir has no catch or chase potential.
PS: When Zed ults you as Azir you should ult behind yourself (at a slight angle is best to mess with his Q aim) to push him away and then walk towards your wall to escape him when he swaps back to his R shadow. Make sure to dodge his Qs!Malzahar is very good against Zed at all stages of the game. He can build a QSS after awhile to cleanse your ult but you can still win 1v1 even if he does that.
Fizz is also a pretty good counter as a timely Playful/Trickster can cancel the application of the mark and/or the damage that is applied afterwards.
Annie and Lissandra were mentioned above due to the lockdown they apply as well as the seemingly endless poke they can supply between Annie last hitting with Q she can stay in lane a long time, and Lissandra gets free casts of spells, her Q being her main poke spell.
Supposedly Talon does, I haven't tried it, but Talon's ultimate causes him to go invisible for 2.5 seconds, and the incubation period for Zed to apply extra damage is 3 seconds. So react quickly and you could potentially outburst him. I don't think this would be a hard counter, but perhaps more of a skill matchup.
LeBlanc would likely go even as well assuming you can save a portion of your mobility to convince him to tower dive jump back and chain him under turret.
Malzahar could potentially work as well because your ultimate is full suppression, just drop the combo on top of yourself and ult him when he shows up again. He doesn't apply any more damage, and will often times be dead or nearly dead. Remember his W at rank 5 does a minimum of 40% of their maximum hp in damage factor in 300-400AP and that's an additional 15-20% of their maximum hp over 4 seconds, in combination with a Q, an E, or both, and your ultimate, you blow up just about anyone in a matter of seconds.
I've also seen Heimer do okay with proper ultimate and stun grenade usage, but this one is less reliable obviously.
The issue of Zed will likely come down largely to the experience of the Zed player, I'm not going to deathmark you until you're at least down to half health unless I know you don't have much to defend against it, and I can easily apply the necessary damage and leave.
Thanks for the detailed feedback. ^^ I appreciate it.
Sailor Mint1 votesAny champions who ouburst him or can survive his damage (utility mages) while building a Zhonya's do well against him. Any reliable Hard CC also tend to ruin his day.
It's less about countering him and more about keeping his kill threat down and force him to just be a split pusher.
insaiyanbacca1 votesthe counter to almost every mid laner ever malzahar
9kPluzZ1 votesannie, fizz, malz, syndra, lissandra, ahri, azir, and maby heimer wIth exaust and zhonaz
Drukyul2 votesNot Heimer, Zed has enough AOE to decimate the turrets on accident when he goes in.
Strident1 votesHe actually doesn't. It takes two direct Q's to kill one turret.
shadecrapper1 votes
pre 5.2 definatly, now its a bit harder. I still like the match up for fizz though
B3ER1 votesKayle destroys Zed at every stage of the game. It isn't even funny how much she does. It's like having to watch bad domestic abuse.
Meep Man1 votesFrom A-Z, these champions have mechanics that help against Zed:
Stonington1 votes[{quoted}](name=Inept Maverick,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=OuWEGNpf,comment-id=000a,timestamp=2015-02-10T00:24:43.663+0000)
From A-Z, these champions have mechanics that help against Zed:
These champions except for Sivir and I'm not sure why Rammus is on here. Other than that, champs who take these spells 
don't die vs Zed. Then champs with long range waveclear will never die to Zed: Lux, Morgana, Zyra for instance. Also champs with dashes and blinks can jump out of his ult damage. Yeah, so overall, most mid lane champs have the tools necessary to never die to Zed. Unless you're making mistakes. He's actually a pretty shit champ all in all.
CrazedPorcupine1 votesA good Sivir can spell shield Zed's Ult and negate the bonus damage entirely.
Stonington1 votesA good Sivir can spell shield Zed's Ult and negate the bonus damage entirely.
You mean, if Sivir can accurately predict when Zed will ult and the Zed ults her while her spell shield is on she can luckily block the ult. That's hardly a counter when it's insanely difficult to pull off. Especially since we're talking lane counters. I wish there was a report button for bad theory crafting.
Skia Asteri1 voteshttp://champion.gg/champion/Zed
Towards the bottom, left column.
Of the champions I play a lot mid, my preferred picks are 
and 
.
The latter has a high chance of killing him a lot in the first 15 minutes and a low chance of being killed by him according to http://lolbuilder.net/zed
TTUPhoenix1 votesYeah. Morgana's about the only mid I play, and she does quite well against zed. She's tanky enough that it's hard for him to kill her (especially with Rod of Ages), and she can farm with her autos and w if you have to to save mana, keeping you in lane (built-in spell vamp helps with this too). Zhonyas is core on her and synchronizes really well with her ult, so you're not really changing your build to deal with him. Best of all is when he tries to dive you and you Q-W him under turret then watch the turret eat him alive.
Skia Asteri1 votesYeah. Morgana's about the only mid I play, and she does quite well against zed. She's tanky enough that it's hard for him to kill her (especially with Rod of Ages), and she can farm with her autos and w if you have to to save mana, keeping you in lane (built-in spell vamp helps with this too). Zhonyas is core on her and synchronizes really well with her ult, so you're not really changing your build to deal with him. Best of all is when he tries to dive you and you Q-W him under turret then watch the turret eat him alive.
Pre level 6, you can push the lane hard with W (best to start with it if going for this strategy) if he does not have an aggressive early jungler to back him up. Then he has no minions to protect him from Q. Land two Q's after W is back up from shoving before 6 and you should be able to kill him on landing the second one if you took ignite.
RedTrinketGoneHa1 votes
AMYS GRAVE1 votesI keep reading Lissandra, Malzahar, and Kayle, but that's just not true. They might work better than others but they are not a counter.
You MUST save your ult to use it reactivity to zed's ult. That's not beating zed, that's just not losing. Congrats on living long enough to run oom.
If Zed can shut you down but you can't shut him down, then that's not a counter.
RogueWill1 votesAnnie does decent against Zed if you know how to play her. if she sits at 2-3 stacks zed won't have much option than just farm since he won't be able to initiate. If zed shovels lane Annie can shovel it as hard with a single W and a couple of free Q. At level 6 is a bit tricky though since he can blink towards you with his ult. Also Annie can go HP with a rod of ages that works decent on her, so you can get a tanky item without going away from your core build so much.
Malzahar, his ult is a long suppres that can 100-0 zed. Be ware that zed might be able to do the same.
Katarina, although must people would say zed counter kat since his ult makes him untargetable for 2 sec but personally I believe is a skill match. Whoever is better will win.
Away from the meta champions like xin or riven or irelia beat him hard. You can push him out of lane and then roam and get a few kills for yourself.
Pæan1 votesTaric... With the right runes/masteries, starting cloth-5, and with your W you start with 100 armor. Once you get a blue buff you can stay in lane indefinitely and dont need to even try dodging shuriken. With IceBornGauntlet and FrozenHeart you should be able to kill Zed with health to spare even after his ulti and full rotation. Plus his targeted stun negates a lot of his kill pressure during ulti.
Delphinium1 votesKayle
CrazedPorcupine1 votesLissandra actually does pretty well against him since she has her own Zhonya's at level 6, and pretty powerful waveclear, and she builds a Zhonya's as part of her Core build, giving her unparalleled fighting potential against zed.
ILoveTiramisu1 votesBan or some tanky mage: Lissandra is his best counter.
