Zed Counter Tips
This is not a QQ thread. I genuinely want to learn about countering Zed.
I main jungle, but, as everyone who's played draft pick has experienced, getting your main every time is highly improbable. I secondarily play mid, and sometimes have a bit of a hard time with a certain champion (Hint: It's Zed). I queued up for some team builder earlier to day and picked Ahri for fun. I got matched up against Zed and, for the first time in quite a bit, fed. I got absolutely destroyed in lane. I couldn't seem to do anything. I was pushed into tower because I couldn't match the ability-spam he put out, so I had little room to dodge the shurikens. I rushed Zhonya's, but, being way behind, didn't complete it in time to make a diference.
In the past I've had trouble with him on other mages, too, and since the recent early game buffs and my lack of experience against him, seeing him as my lane opponent automatically tilts me harder than a Teemo. The two champions I've been able to win lane against Zed with are Yasuo and Kayle (and Udyr top, but I am 60k mastery on Udyr and know how to play almost every match-up on him.)
Looking at what those three have in common, it's relatively strong early trading and waveclear. Is this how to counter Zed? Is picking a mage into Zed or first picking a mage just a terrible idea in general?
TL;DR: How do those of you who play more mid lane counter Zed? What do those of you who play Zed recommend?
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!
is the counter to just about every ad assassin out there. so if you can use her, that's pretty simple. on the offchance you first pick a different mage and wind up seeing zed, rushing zhonyas is definitely the thing to do, good job there. but besides that, you should make sure to focus on your cs and avoiding his poke. you'll scale better into the late game. if he uses his shadow to harass, he's quite vulnerable to ganks. so if he's abusing you in lane and uses his shadow freely, have your jungler come up for a nice kill. in teamfights, stick with someone that has good cc. but chances are if you built zhonyas, he'll go for your adc, at which point feel free to nuke him. basically, just try to play safe, unless you feel comfortable trading with zed. he hits a major powerspike at 6, so don't hang around on low health.
when i play with zed, i focus on poking them down pre-6, then going for a quick kill at 6. his all in potential is great, and if you waste your cc in trading, you're pretty much dead.
. Yes I know, shes a squishy immobile mage, but comeon. Once he ults in. Q/E to knock him back and not let him get in the extra damage for the mark and stun him and then press R. If all else fails, just use W and throw it at his shadow. He has to come back to it sometime.
: Use the Active when he goes in on you or right before the death mark activates, allow him to think he's killed you when all he's done is let you get off and waste his ult for nothing.
=> 
: Active removes his mark, effectively nulls his burst and allows for a more even trade in raw damage.
=> He's now burst you down, wasted all his CD's and now you get to come back to life and effectively given you a second chance. The bonus Armor and Magic Resist aren't bad either.
=> This Summoner Spell will save you countless times in the early game. Most Zeds will all in you once they hit level 6 as their damage just spikes, use this to counter the majority of their damage. Note: Use this BEFORE they start hitting you and After they mark you, this way you can limit the damage received drastically upon his mark's detonation.
=> The best item you can get as it effectively screams "Stop hitting yourself!" to Zed as he chunks his own life away while you're getting 100 armor.
=> Bonus armor plus taking 90% damage from basic attacks is pretty nice
=> Lowers attack speed and provides a good amount of armor
=> Basic Attack Style Zed relies on 
=> Effectively the same reason as 
=> This can also be used to reduce his output as well as get away from his sustained damage