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Zed, the Master of Shadows, is an assassin champion that is demanding to master. Across our 1258 analysed ranked games, Zed is mostly played in Mid (74% of its games), and more rarely in the Jungle (18%), with a 51.8% win rate in that role: tier A among Mid champions (#6 of 42, ranked by win rate). Zed's damage is mostly physical (88%): armor is the best defensive answer against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 58.8% in long games (over 35 min, 153 games) versus 47.5% in short games (under 25 min).
Updated Oct 10 2026 · Patch 26.21
Averages measured over 927 Mid games played with Zed, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.
Zed is an energy assassin who plays with his shadows: Razor Shuriken and Shadow Slash are cast by him and his shadows at the same time. He regains energy when his shadows and he hit the same enemy with the same ability. His ultimate makes him untargetable, teleports him onto a champion and marks the target for a delayed explosion.
W
Q
AA
AA
When: An enemy is within shuriken range.
Living Shadow sends the shadow forward, Razor Shuriken is thrown by you and your shadow, and your attacks use the bonus from your passive against low-health targets.
R
W
E
Q
AA
AA
When: A carry is within range of the ultimate.
Death Mark makes you untargetable and teleports you; strike with your shadows and abilities. After 3 seconds the mark explodes and deals a percentage of all the damage you dealt during the mark.
See all 3 Zed combos: key order, when to cast them, cooldowns →
Living Shadow lets you harass with two sources of damage: position the shadow before Razor Shuriken to hit twice. Energy is your resource: do not waste it, since every ability costs some.
The most-played core build is Bastionbreaker, Edge of Night, and Voltaic Cyclosword (141 games, 68.1% win rate), usually with Crimson Lucidity (54.2% over 598 games).
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ||||||||||
| W | ● | ● | ● | ||||||||||||
| E | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ||||||||||
| R | ● | ● |
The order shows which abilities reach rank 5 first; the grid shows the most-played level-up sequence with that order (measured over 150 games).
At 10 min: 3894 gold, 74 CS, 4849 XP. At 15 min: 6192 gold, 112 CS, 7495 XP.
Flash + Ignite51.8% · 735 games
Flash + Teleport52.8% · 159 games
Cash Back98%
Triple Tonic100%
Jack Of All Trades56%
Legend: Haste99%
Cut Down97%
Taste of Blood78%
Grisly Mementos89%
Ultimate Hunter96%
Scorch93%
Transcendence90%
Sudden Impact81%Grisly Mementos78%Ultimate Hunter98%
Coup de Grace57%
Triumph56%For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).
We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Zed's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.
Voltaic Cyclosword
57.0% ▲
Bastionbreaker
63.5% ▲
Axiom Arc
62.8% ▲
Serylda's Grudge
63.2%
Edge of Night
68.7%
Lord Dominik's Regards
67.2% ▲The item that stands out most is Lord Dominik's Regards: 67.2% win rate, +9 points versus its usual win rate.
Voltaic Cyclosword
51.3%Bastionbreaker
53.2% ▼Axiom Arc
53.2% ▼
Eclipse
39.7% ▼Serylda's Grudge
63.6%
Serpent's Fang
47.3% ▼No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.
Voltaic Cyclosword
51.3%Bastionbreaker
59.0%Serylda's Grudge
61.8%Axiom Arc
57.4%Edge of Night
67.3%Serpent's Fang
53.6%No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.
Katarina
Zed: 38.9%18 games
Katarina has the edge in 61% of the 18 Mid duels against Zed. See the Katarina guide.
Syndra
Zed: 40.0%20 games
Syndra has the edge in 60% of the 20 Mid duels against Zed. See the Syndra guide.
Yone
Zed: 41.7%24 games
Yone has the edge in 58% of the 24 Mid duels against Zed. See the Yone guide.
Ahri
Zed: 41.9%31 games
Ahri has the edge in 58% of the 31 Mid duels against Zed. See the Ahri guide.
Ekko
Zed: 43.8%16 games
Ekko has the edge in 56% of the 16 Mid duels against Zed. See the Ekko guide.
Yasuo69.2% · 26 games
Locke68.0% · 25 games
Lissandra66.7% · 18 games
Lux66.7% · 15 games
Viktor61.9% · 21 gamesWin rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Zed's matchups.
| Measure | Zed | Mid average | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold at 10 min | 3894 | 3783 | +110 |
| CS at 10 min | 74 | 77 | −3 |
| XP at 10 min | 4849 | 4838 | +11 |
| Gold at 15 min | 6192 | 5945 | +246 |
| CS at 15 min | 112 | 117 | −4 |
| XP at 15 min | 7495 | 7477 | +17 |
Measured over 150 Zed games with a timeline; the average covers 72 champions played Mid in our ranked games.
Best result: long (over 35 min). Only groups of at least 30 games are shown. A gap of several points shows the phase where the champion is the most reliable.
| Role | Games | Win rate | CS/min | Gold/min | Most-built items |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jungle | 225 | 44.4 % | 7.0 | 503 | |
| Top | 106 | 49.1 % | 7.5 | 464 | |
Roles where we have at least 40 Zed games.
Vel'Koz54.3 %
Kassadin54.0 %
Twisted Fate54.0 %Lux53.0 %
Diana52.9 %Katarina52.6 %
Anivia52.3 %
Aurelion Sol52.1 %The most-played core build is Bastionbreaker, Edge of Night, and Voltaic Cyclosword (141 games, 68.1% win rate), usually with Crimson Lucidity (54.2% over 598 games).
Zed's toughest matchups in Mid are Katarina (38.9% win rate over 18 games), Syndra (40.0% win rate over 20 games), and Yone (41.7% win rate over 24 games).
Zed posts its best win rates against Yasuo (69.2%), Locke (68.0%), and Lissandra (66.7%).
Win rate varies with game length: 58.8% in long games (over 35 min, 153 games) versus 47.5% in short games (under 25 min).
The most-played rune page uses First Strike with the Precision secondary tree (499 games, 55.7% win rate).
Full Zed page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides
