By GamGem ResearchLast updated 20 Aug 2026 · 00:00
Zed
the Master of Shadows
Assassin
League of LegendsPatch 26.16MidRanked Solo/DuoEmerald+NA44,061 gamesSample data
Role snapshot (Mid)
- 48.7%
- Win Rate
- 8.6%
- Pick Rate
- 24.2%
- Ban Rate
44,061
Games
High
Confidence
Matchup map (Mid) — level 1–18
Conditional build matrix
| vs AP Burst | vs AD Assassins | vs Tanks | vs Sustain | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mythic / Core |   |   |   |   |
| Core 2 |   |   |   |   |
| Core 3 |   |   |   |   |
| Boots |  | |  |  |
| Situational |  |  |   |  |
Popular build
20,268 games49.1%Win Rate
Flash
IgniteReliable build
14,540 games47.8%Win Rate
Flash
TeleportHigh observed win rate
5,287 games51.2%Win Rate
Flash
ExhaustRunes
Primary: Resolve
Aftershock
Shield Bash
Conditioning
Overgrowth
Secondary: Precision
Absorb Life
Legend: Alacrity
Shards
+9 Adaptive Force
+9 Adaptive Force
+10-180 Health (based on level)
Skill order
| Q | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| E | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| R | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
Ability details
Contempt for the Weak
Zed's basic attacks against low health targets deals bonus Magic Damage. This effect can only occur once every few seconds against the same enemy champion.
Passive — never cast
Razor Shuriken
Zed and his shadows throw their shurikens.Each shuriken deals damage to every enemy hit.
Cost 75/70/65/60/55 EnergyCooldown 6sRange 900
Living Shadow
Passive: Zed gains energy whenever he and his shadows strike an enemy with the same ability. Energy can only be gained once per cast ability.Active: Zed's shadow dashes forward, remaining in place for a few seconds. Reactivating Living Shadow will cause Zed to switch positions with this shadow.
Cost 40/35/30/25/20 EnergyCooldown 20/19/18/17/16sRange 650
Shadow Slash
Zed and his Shadows slash, dealing damage to nearby enemies. Enemies hit by a Shadow's slash are slowed.
Cost 40 EnergyCooldown 5/4.5/4/3.5/3sRange 290
Death Mark
Zed becomes untargetable and dashes to an enemy champion, marking them. After 3 seconds the mark triggers, repeating a portion of all the damage Zed dealt to the target while they were marked.
Cost 0 EnergyCooldown 120/110/100sRange 625
Scaling — level 1–18
ZedMid average
1918
1918
1918
Counter plan — how to beat Zed
Deny the reset — it wants a kill to come back out; a warded exit removes it
Punish the cooldown — Zed is exposed while its rotation is down
Ward the flank — vision is what turns its best opening into a worse one
Respect the spike — Riot rates the kit 7/10, so a practised player gets more out of it than the average
Trade on your terms — take the fight where its damage lands on nobody
ARAM performance
- 51.0%
- Win Rate ▲ 0.1%
- 2.2%
- Pick Rate ▲ 2.8%
- 5.5%
- Ban Rate ▼ 2.2%
- Damage dealt
- 91.1%
- Damage taken
- 97.1%
- Healing
- 89.0%
- Shielding
- 94.3%
- Ability Haste
- +17
Best ARAM build
Patch timeline
We hold the rates, not the balance log. What actually changed each patch is in Riot’s own notes.
- 26.16Live now-0.3
- 26.14Sample win rate across this patch+0.5
- 26.11Sample win rate across this patch-0.7
- 26.08Sample win rate across this patch-0.8
- 26.05Sample win rate across this patch-0.4
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Methodology
- Data window
- 512,340 games on patch 26.16, Ranked Solo/Duo, NA. Last refreshed 20 Aug 2026.
- Rank aggregation
- Emerald+ and above, pooled. Splitting further leaves samples too small to separate a real effect from noise.
- Role assignment
- A champion is filed under the lanes it actually plays, not the one class it belongs to — which is why several appear in two.
- Counters
- A matchup, not a tier gap: how this champion does into that one specifically, over that pairing’s own games.
- Minimum sample
- The confidence indicator beside every rate is driven by how much of the window this champion appears in. A low reading means read the figure loosely, not that it is wrong.
- Why a build is not a cause
- The best-scoring build is the one the best-placed players happened to take. Correlation is what a rate can show; it is not evidence that buying those items caused the wins.
- Where the numbers come from
- Names, classes, lanes, abilities, items and runes are Riot Data Dragon. Win, pick and ban rates are derived samples — Riot publishes none of them, and nothing on this page presents one as measured.