the Master of Shadows
Roles and difficulty from the global official site, lane from the China-server official site
| Rank tier | Win Rate | Pick Rate | Ban Rate | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All ranks | 49.8% | 4.3%#15 | 2.7% | B |
| Diamond+ | 50.3% | 4.4%#16 | 1.8% | B |
| Master+ | 50.4% | 4.5%#16 | 1.8% | B |
| Challenger | 49.5% | 4.9%#17 | 2.6% | B |
| Rift Apex | 52.1% | 5.7%#12 | 3.0% | A |
| Rank tier | Win Rate | Pick Rate | Ban Rate | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All ranks | 50.0% | 1.4%#37 | 2.7% | C |
| Diamond+ | 50.1% | 2.3%#27 | 1.8% | C |
| Master+ | 50.3% | 2.6%#24 | 1.8% | C |
| Challenger | 50.1% | 3.8%#18 | 2.6% | B |
| Rift Apex | 49.3% | 4.1%#17 | 3.0% | B |
The tier list shows Master+ figures by default.
Taken from the in-game loadout screen as of 2026-10-07. The pick count and win rate are shown exactly as the game reports them.
Serpent's Fang to cut down enemy shields
When you play jungle and the enemy has champions who use shields
Serpent's Fang reduces any shields an enemy champion gains for 3 seconds after you damage them. If the enemy is not already affected by Shield Reaver, the shields they already have are cut by the same amount. Gluttonous Greaves costs 1000G and grants 5% Omnivamp through Conversion. The Immortal Treads in build 2 have the same passive but cost 2000G. Death's Dance stores part of the physical and magic damage you take and has you take it as true damage over 3 seconds.
Guardian Angel to keep a revive in reserve
When you play jungle and the enemy has no champions who use shields
Guardian Angel revives you with 50% base HP after 4 seconds of stasis when you take lethal damage. The revive has a 180-second cooldown. Build 2 leaves out the Serpent's Fang of build 1 and carries Youmuu's Ghostblade. Youmuu's Ghostblade grants bonus Movement Speed 3 seconds after combat with enemy champions ends. Immortal Treads deal 5% bonus damage while you are above 50% HP.
Stacking +85 Ability Haste in total
When you play mid and the enemy has no champions who restore health
Spear of Shojin brings +450 Max Health and grants 20 Basic Ability Haste. Dealing damage to monsters or enemies with abilities raises your champion's ability and passive damage by 3% for 6 seconds, stacking up to 4 times. Crimson Lucidity brings +25 Ability Haste and reduces spell cooldowns by 20%. Build 3 totals +85 Ability Haste and +783 Max Health, both higher than build 4. This build leaves out the Mortal Reminder of build 4, and none of its items apply Grievous Wounds.
Mortal Reminder to apply Grievous Wounds
When you play mid and the enemy has champions who restore health
Mortal Reminder applies 50% Grievous Wounds for 3 seconds when you deal physical damage to enemy champions. Death's Dance brings +45 Armor and stores part of the physical and magic damage you take, which you then take as true damage over 3 seconds. If a champion you damaged in the last 3 seconds dies, the remaining stored damage is cleansed. You also heal over 2 seconds for 90% of your bonus Attack Damage. None of the items in build 3 give Armor.
The commentary is AI-written. It is cross-checked against this site’s item data and the official lane assignments before publishing.
Max Skill 1 first, your main poke tool and damage source, to dominate the lane.
Until level 3 gives you all three skills, you are weak to ganks, so play a little safe. Once they are up, use the Skill 2, Skill 3, Skill 1 combo to proc Electrocute, chip their health, and judge when a kill is possible.
Unlocking Ult at level 5 raises both your roaming and dueling power a lot. Shove the wave, gank side lanes, and stack kills to snowball the game. Catching isolated enemies inside the jungle works well too.
Late in the game, enemies build Zhonya's Hourglass and other defensive items, so solo assassinations from the front become difficult. Split push from outside their vision to spread the enemy formation and create favorable 1v1s with macro play.
Engaging from the front only gets you CC'd and killed. Enter from the fog of war or the flank, and the moment the enemy's key CC whiffs, Ult onto their ADC or mage. Dump the full combo at once and swap to your shadow to get out.
Zed's Skill 2 is the core of both his offense and defense, and his only escape. Throwing the shadow forward to poke in lane, and then swapping to it, makes you an easy target for the enemy jungler. Limit aggressive Skill 2 poke to moments when the enemy jungler is visible in another lane. From level 5, leave the shadow behind you as your way back after an Ult all-in.
Spawn the shadow from Skill 2, then land Skill 3 and Skill 1 from both the shadow and yourself to trigger Electrocute.
Open with Ult, place the shadow from Skill 2, then land every shuriken from you and both shadows.
This skill table was checked against the in-game text on 2026-08-15. Changes from 7.3 have been applied from the official patch notes.
| Details | LVL 1 | LVL 2 | LVL 3 | LVL 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | 60 | 55 | 50 | 45 |
| Base Damage | 70 | 120 | 170 | 220 |
| Details | LVL 1 | LVL 2 | LVL 3 | LVL 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cooldown | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 |
| Cost | 35 | 30 | 25 | 20 |
| Energy Regen | 40 | 45 | 50 | 55 |
| Details | LVL 1 | LVL 2 | LVL 3 | LVL 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cooldown | 5 | 4.5 | 4 | 3.5 |
| Base Damage | 65 | 95 | 125 | 155 |
| Slow | 25% | 30% | 35% | 40% |
| Details | LVL 1 | LVL 2 | LVL 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooldown | 85 | 70 | 55 |
| Base Damage | 30% | 42.5% | 55% |
A three-step guide set by the official champion library. For difficulty, a higher number means harder to play.
Critical damage is 200% for every champion. These figures exclude items and runes.
Our take
Both monster damage modifiers are gone — 80% on Razor Shuriken and 60% on Shadow Slash. How much of his jungle clear comes back depends on the Smite changes.
Our take
With Stasis Enchant no longer available to everyone, hunting kills as Zed had become far less risky. The 0.5s recast lock removes the option of bailing out the instant he arrives, so committing now costs him something. The cooldown also grows by 5s at rank 2 and 10s at rank 3, which makes chaining engages across back-to-back fights much harder.
