At the start of the game, you level up Zed’s Q “Blade Shuriken”, in which Zed and his shadows throw their shuriken. Each shuriken deals damage to enemies it hits. If you are playing against a melee fighter, you should try to hit your Qs at your opponent as often as possible during the first few levels in order to slowly stun them and make them vulnerable to a later all-in. If you are playing against a character with a higher range, this will allow you to farm the Q from a safe distance and stay healthy. You maximize Q first, as its damage increases the most with additional skill points.

At level 2, you take Zed’s W “Living Shadow”, where Zed’s shadow jumps to the selected spot and stays there for a few seconds. By reactivating the ability, Zed can swap positions with his shadow. Zed also receives passive energy when he and his shadow hit a target with the same ability. The W is your most important ability as Zed, as it gives you a lot of outplay potential. It can be used offensively to trade from a distance or as a gapclose for an all-in, but also defensively to dodge abilities or escape from a bad situation. You should be aware that as a zed you are always at your most vulnerable when your W is on cooldown and use it wisely. Maximize your W last, because as an Assassin you usually need the additional damage of Q and E more urgently to be able to oneshot an opponent safely.

At level 3, you spend the first point on Zed’s E “Shadow Strike”, in which Zed and his shadows lash out and damage nearby enemies. Enemies hit by Zed’s shadow are also temporarily slowed. This results in your standard combo for trading: W->E->Q, placing your shadow next to the opponent, hitting and slowing them with the E and then hitting your shuriken more easily. With this combo, you want to keep poking your opponent in lane until their health is low enough for an all-in.

Level up Zed’s ultimate “Mark of Death” whenever you can. Zed becomes untargetable, leaves a shadow at his old position and jumps to the selected enemy champion, marking him. After 3 seconds, the mark is triggered and the opponent again suffers some of the damage he has taken from Zed in the meantime. By reactivating the ability, Zed can swap positions with the shadow left behind. In an all-in, you usually want to engage with your ult, dodge an opponent’s ability with W, deal damage with E, Q and autoattacks and retreat by reactivating the ult while your opponent is finessed by the ult’s delayed damage. So your full all-in combo is R->W->E->Q->AA, where you want to hit all 3 shuriken for maximum damage.

A combo you should know for outplaying particularly dangerous situations against ranged fighters is the following: W->R->W->E->Q. First place your W in a safe position before engaging with your ult. Then immediately switch to your W shadow so that you cannot be hit by your opponent and finish the combo with E and Q, dealing damage via your shadow and your ult proc.

You’ll have to play a fight a little differently against Bruisers, as they can usually finish you off faster than you can finish them off. You therefore want to stay out of their reach, which you can do as follows: W->E->Q->R->W->E->Q->R. First trade with your WEQ combo from the laning phase, wait a moment and use the ult just before your W runs out. After the ult, immediately switch to the position of your W shadow to stay out of the bruiser’s range and follow up with your next EQ combo to inflict further damage. You still have your R-shadow in your back hand, which you can switch to in order to finish off the opponent or to kite him further if he gets too close to you again.