Sup chums,
Pehnoi here with a new Zed guide. After looking through many guides, I think we can all infer that Zed has a basic assassin top lane build, but with some items that I believe are not effective on him and they offer no logic or evidence to back up there guides. So I'm here to fuck shit up and give you all a guide that is excellent, and can be used in ranked games.

Champion Spotlight




With the introduction of season 3, assassins and bruisers have been taking over League of Legends. Zed's incredible burst damage places him in a dominant spotlight in the top lane. Although Zed can play different roles respectively, I believe top lane is where he shines the most.

Pros
- High burst damage
- Great Mobility
- Amazing Skirmisher
- Effective throughout game
- Skills synergize well
- Utilizes Energy
- Fucking Ninja


Cons
- Focused in team fights
- Moderate Cooldowns
- Difficult to master
- Can be countered if played badly



Zed, like most top laners, is extremely farm dependent early game. Thanks to his skill set, this isn't a big problem when playing him. As well as being able to farm well, he can win trades with a good build, and has effective ganks when roaming. Zed can also target out AD carrys in team fights as the rest of your team closes in. Being a top laner is an important role. You play the champion that feeds well in almost every aspect in the game. Whether its early on, or extremely late, Top laners are an important role. So basically, don't be a fuck up. Zed is no exception. He has the potential of the next Riot nerf. Combined with great items, Zed is really, the terror of top lane. With a great team comp, Zed can be unstoppable.

Keeping my guide short and simple, This is the reasoning behind my Runes and Masteries.

I Go x9 Marks in Armor Pen and x3 Armor Pen Quinces. The reason behind this is because you go into lane with almost 25 Armor Penetration. Going into lane with this much armor pen is scary. Typical Top Laners like Shen, Olaf, and Rumble who run runes and masteries in armor. This equals to around 40 armor for any top laner, including yourself. So running these runes slash your enemies armor to a measly 15. But wait, we forgot the masteries. Adding the offensive masteries of +6 Armor pen and +10% armor pen gives you almost 30+ ARMOR PENETRATION. Now imagine just ruining the lives of all top laners coming your way. The best thing is, when you target AD carries, they stand no chance.

I then put simple glyphs and seals in Magic Resist and Armor as well as masteries in Defence for Armor and Health.

- Flash is an obvious choice. High Mobility, Gap Closers, and Securing Kills. Its Self Explanatory. If you don't run flash, go play bots.


- Ignite is amazing early game but scales worse towards the end game. It secures kills that can decide the early matches of the games as well as neglecting the healing bonuses of your enemies.

Other Choices


- Teleport can allow you to can back to your lane quick to lose very little creeps. Another great use for this is split pushing and ganking lanes across the map that can catch your opponents off guard.


- Exhaust would be good for skirmishes but I wouldn't recommend it compared to the other summoner spells I listed. Only pick this if you somehow fell asleep and thought exhaust was flash.

Alright, the infamous Zed build is becoming something that is common and easy to understand. I'm just here to say what I think is best and Why.


As I stated in my RUNES AND MASTERIES chapter, I went full Armor Pen. 35 Armor Pen out the gate is extremely beneficial. Now farming a lane for 5 minutes gets you this. The brutalizer offers +15 armor pen, giving you a grand total of 50. As well as some CDR and some flat AD.
Always get this item first then work on things like Heart of Gold or Avarice Blade if you plan on getting a .

SEASON 3 CHANGES
Unfortunately, Heart of Gold is planned to be disbanded in season 3, making a competitive build more reliant on farming as well as other GPs like avarice blade. On a side note, after getting your brute, try Wriggle's lantern for ward control, armor against your lane, great lifesteal, as well as Flat AD. If you want to go for frozen mallet, get a phage over wriggle's while still maintaining your important farm.


Towards mid game, get items like hex drinker and bloodthirster for nice sustain as well as good offensive power. However, I highly recommend getting Last Whisper as soon as possible because of the AD it offers, and the armor pen.


To finish things off, Radiuns omen finishes the deal by adding tank, a great active, some CDR, and more. Finish with items like GA or youmuus for more armor pen.



6th Item
- Good Sustain, AD, and passsive
- Good active and something to build your avarice blade into
- Attack speed, MR
- The Final Push.