Now that League of Zed in every game is back

ShadowBash·Jan 3, 2016·5 votes·1,782 views

Can someone PLEASE teach me how I'm supposed to beat this champion? I've read so many guides. "Zed is melee, just harass him with auto attacks." Yes, maybe, MAYBE, I can do that for the first 1-2 levels, but his manaless cooldowns are so low and his starting build allows him to start with more potions so that he almost always out sustains trades. Hell, even LEBLANC has to put herself in melee range for a second to do her combo, taking a risk at a bad trade. NOT ZED, AN ACTUAL MELEE CHAMPION. "Call your jungler." What if my jungler is bad? What if he's getting invaded or struggling, or isn't playing a strong ganking champion (which you pretty much need to catch a Zed,) am I supposed to just lose? "When he ults you just put CC behind you and insta kill him." That crap never happens against a good Zed. Especially since most Zed's build hexdrinker against a more bursty matchup, he's almost always able to survive an attempt to kill him. A good Zed whittles you down with 1-2 WEQ combos before going in so all that's needed is ult q ignite to finish you off. He doesn't need to spend time beating you up with autos in his "unsafe" range. His damage is stupid and with the new Assassin mastery and thunderlords, one W E Q on you usually does half your HP. If he lands that again you're most likely dead, especially if he has ult and ignite. I can NEVER beat this champion. Sometime I can go even with them and just farm it out and hope my team wins teamfights, but I never can deny him or beat him and that's so frustrating. If I'm using a typical mana mage, I eventually run out of mana trying to eliminate all his HP potions, and then when he sees I'm out of mana I'm just a sitting duck whenever I try to CS with auto attacks because of his WEQ crap. He's way too safe, too strong, too mobile, and too unfair to play against.

The Youmuu's buff, the Zed buff last patch, the assassin mastery, the zhonya's nerf, the AD ratio on thunderlord's buff.....just so many little things all buffed Zed in the past two patches, and that's why his win rate has risen 11%. I accept that he's a "fun" champion to play and that's why he's always been a popular champion, but Zed needs some SERIOUS attention in my opinion if he's ever to be a healthy champion in this game.

I ALSO CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS NEW ASSASSIN ITEM TO COME OUT TOO! THEN ZED CAN HAVE 2 ULTS!

For those of you who want to just call me a noob, I've reached Diamond for the past 3 seasons, so I'd like to think I know a thing or two about the game.

32 Comments

PDE5 InhibitorsJan 3, 20163 votes

If you don't play a champ that hard counters Zed, you are fucked. Simple as that. He has far too many tools, and takes away yours. While rito continues to say that lane shouldn't be decided in champ select, it's completely the case with Zed. Of course we are assuming the Zed isn't an idiot.

Just ban him.

iHerringJan 3, 20161 votes

Did you try pink warding him?

PDE5 InhibitorsJan 3, 20161 votes

I would, but I can't afford pinks while playing against Zed item 3070

iHerringJan 3, 20161 votes

In that case you should just rush item 3140 , then he can do literally 0 damage to you its a secret passive if you're playing an AP champ.

PDE5 InhibitorsJan 3, 20161 votes

Funny. All that does is stop his ult. Doesn't stop his mage level poke. Also screws you since you're building 0 AP and 0 mana reg now...so you do 0 damage to Zed :)

iHerringJan 3, 20161 votes

Well if you really want to be difficult, just get that 3.5k item 3157 before Zed hits level 6. Honestly he has so much counterplay I wonder why he gets played at all! [slayer-jinx-wink]

PDE5 InhibitorsJan 3, 20162 votes

I find it mathematically impossible to get 3.5k gold for Zhonyas before a competent Zed hits 6. You also then don't have any mana, unless you aren't using spells and getting pushed under your tower and losing cs/pressure so Zed can roam. You also can't buy mana pots to make up for the lack of mana because rito.

iHerringJan 4, 20161 votes

Alright then, here's my grade A last ditch hail mary advice.

You have to...

git gud http://i64.tinypic.com/29oq4xe.png

Seriously though lets all pray that this whole deadeye teaser thing is the herald for the permanent deletion of Zed.

PDE5 InhibitorsJan 4, 20161 votes

Zed is already strong and I'm not even including the new item (no clue what it is anyway).

It honestly feels like the only counterplay to Zed (outside of counterpicking him) is to ban him or hope that the person playing Zed is a baddie.

iHerringJan 4, 20161 votes

omg the feels when I blind pick Lux into a baddie Zed and squish him. So good.

Wheres your manaless wave clear with super burst and unlimited safety and mobility now!

Titanium70Jan 3, 20162 votes

Well I usually play a champion who is supposed to be a pretty good counter to Zed. Swain...

And still have the same issues. Usually I hated Zed because against a half brained Zed you wont snowball - ever! I kill him once and than he hugs his tower. (Still getting every CS because of the typical Assassin 1600 Range Waveclear! [1500 before but that's still as much as Xerath - without charging and no mana]).

Than 5.23 happened!

Now 20%More DMG at 6 - even faster shadow with more range - Thunderlord! AND HEY - my only tool to bind Zed after he ulted (IF I could time it perfectly) got Nerved by a whole damn second! (Swain W root: 2s 1s at level 1 - you never ever put a single point in this spell after the first one).

Sometimes I really question the balance decissions... but on 5.23 these guys where drunk!

ShadowBashJan 3, 20161 votes

Don't forget his passive which is one of the best last hit tools in the game anyways.

UirayaJan 3, 20162 votes

"Fuck mages." ~Riot Games

DogIsGodJan 3, 20161 votes

25% play rate. Literally every game :^)

ShadowBashJan 3, 20163 votes

Only took a second for me to check your profile to find you JUST played a Zed game and he's on your most played champ list. Predictable.

DogIsGodJan 3, 20161 votes

^_^

J EevoJan 3, 20163 votes

5th most popular out of 116 is STILL ridiculously popular (especially if he's so easily counterpicked as zed mains say he is, lel)

FızzJan 3, 20161 votes

hi i'm not diamond or have a lot of experience in the game but... imo fizz can do well againt zed i haven't played vs a zed as fizz yet after the new patches to see if it's still good but i was able to beat him (i dnw maybe the zed in my elo are stupid and don't wait my e to be on CD(not all of them) , but when i ult him, he doesn't have choice and have to ult, then i e and the shark still hit zed and i win the all in) if i'm wrong tell me...again i'm not in high elo.

The DeckownerJan 3, 20161 votes

pretty sure unless u are in melee range of zed, if he timed right he can dodge ur shark. as long as he is unvulnerable when the shark came out, showing up after the shark came out wont do dmg to him.

FızzJan 3, 20161 votes

yes i will q then r if he dodges my shark, i can still win but i don't know if i should max w or e first

The DeckownerJan 3, 20162 votes

max e for less cd, then max w second cause that is ur main source of dmg.

a good zed shoud be able to w away from u, then ult u and make the shark hit nobody, even if u e he will be out of the shark anyways. i think zed vs fizz is all skill match up, with fizz having advantages.

FızzJan 3, 20161 votes

yep, one mistake you'r dead for both

The DeckownerJan 3, 20161 votes

shen u see the shadow coming out immediatly move away from the direction it was sent, since it has a travel speed, u can atlease dodge zed's e harass, and his q alone isnt as much dmg.

ShadowBashJan 3, 20161 votes

My problem with this style of play is that although you may dodge most of Zed's damage, at this point there is no way to counter attack Zed for a failed trade. He made you run away from him but his body is still too far away to retaliate sufficiently, and not only that but his shadow is sitting there for 4 seconds to zone you. He's way too safe of a champion with very little actual counterplay. He's manaless so unless a jungler is smart enough to gank as soon as Zed throws out his shadow, then basically all trades against him are pretty free and in his favor.

The DeckownerJan 4, 20161 votes

zed might seem unbeatable, but there are ways to fight him.

first when the shadow appears, dont move backward, but diagonally forward or horizontally so u can dodge his abilities while shorten the cap between u guys(he expect his enemy yo either stay or move back). with zed used his first active of w, and his qe goes into cd, all he can do is basically aa or straight out ult u. but his ult only deals 100%ad sith no base dmg if he doesnt deal additional dmg during the death mark, and his qwe are still in cd, so u can just all in and fight him. zed while having the longest rangeabilities in ad assasins, his aa is the weakest among all, so trading with him only using aa and u having abilities is gonna go into ur favourite.

Posui GartJan 3, 20161 votes

Stay far from him so if he moves to cast his W-dodge sideways. Most of his damage is from his doubleQ, so if you dodge it-he has nothing more. And if at his lvl6 you are low(by "low" i mean <60% hp)-better recall. Zed can win the lane but if he does not snowball enough-he will be weak lategame because 1) assassins are weak in teamfights while mages are strong and 2) he is countered by Zhonyas and QSS. And if you are a mage-rush item 3191 . It has nice armor when stacked so Zed can't simply REQ you. Also, unless you are an assassin-i recommend getting summoner 21 or summoner 3 over summoner 14 , this summoners guarantee that he can't oneshot you without getting some items first, and when he does get them-you should have Zhonyas so you can just laugh in his face. I am not a Diamond or even Platinum player but as a mid main i faced enough Zeds and i got a friend who is a Zed main who told me a bit about Zed so i guess i know a thing about this matchup

ShadowBashJan 4, 20161 votes

When I do rush Seeker's, I hardly notice it stop Zed's damage to be honest. He usually gets that one dagger that has armor penetration so it kind of cancels out.

Posui GartJan 4, 20161 votes

Well, if you don't build it-you will take almost true damage from his spells and attacks

ZeroleraJan 3, 20161 votes

Play a champ that counters him or build a zhonyas early and accept that you'll be behind in farm. Assassins counter mages.

ShadowBashJan 4, 20161 votes

There's really not that many "counters." Just champions that can survive.

EcchiOtakuTMJan 4, 20161 votes

I can beat zed with my mid lane mains (Lux, Anivia, Malz, Talon, Galio, Illaoi, Zilian). So he def isn't unfair to play against, just dodge his q don't stand near his shadow and punish him for using shadow offensively, since he can't retreat once he launches it. Even if it's asafe range if he uses it safely instead of going for max damage it's dodgeable, if he goes for max damage it means he's in range for your harass and most of his damage is q anyways which you can still dodge.

chezwickcheeseJan 10, 20161 votes

The problem with Zed he does everything too well. Decent poke, insane all in, wave clear and escape. Not to mention he's basically resourceless (energy is better than mana). Why play any other champion when he does everything better? He's not unstoppable but definitely too strong imo side compared to many forgotten champions that Riot seems to just ignore.. A Zed in my MMR level always does well and snowballs the game. It's frustrating.