He needs a triforce. The cd on his E is too low to not exploit the added damage of Tri. Plus his passive on his W means he doesn't need to build heavy damage to still be useful. Probably would do just fine with either a BT or a LW with the Tri. Then it's just tank tank tank. He functions well as an assassin only in early to mid game. Then he needs to fall back on to ad bruiser.
I would say he feels a bit too strong early game, especially as a mid, but he's a bit average as a top lane. His cc is not completely consistent, but he definitely has a good aoe and damage presence.
He's built like most bruisers, triforce is pretty much a must on him. One more damage item, like Bloodthirster for lifesteal, or Last Whisper for better scaling damage, then situation-based tank items. He probably would do amazingly well with a Randuin's, and I found he's not half bad with a Sunfire/Atma followed by a FoN for some pretty durable tanky dps.
But I'm not particularly good with energy-based champs, cause I tend to overspend my energy, so I might not be entirely accurate with it. But he definitely plays similar to Shen, except with more damage with less tankiness.
Also, if you use his ult just right, you have temporary invulnerability when you activate it, so you can use it to avoid some sticky situations if you play it smart.
I personally would build him like Talon, but instead of Mercury Treads I'd build Ionian Boots
I find Zed stuck between a rock and a hard place. He is an Assassin designed for early game and that's it, if he doesn't get ahead early only he'll play catch up for the rest of the game. His role as an Assassin just doesn't cut it as he can't do what other Assassins can, especially in team fights. Outside your ultimate you have no burst potential, and even with your ult, getting its max damage onto something is already a challenge due to he vulnerability to CC.
He has a high mobility kit which entitles a long ass cooldown, he can only do maximum trade damage every 20~ seconds which involves losing your escape. Sure you can spam E for lower CD but you push the lane. I just find that his W just does too much of everything and not enough of one thing.
Zed requires 3 stats to perform welll; AD, Arpen and CDR. These 3 stats can only be obtained from 2 items (Brutilzer and Ghostblade), and I find that you have build tanky to be of any use come lategame. Assassins shouldn't have to build tanky to be useful lategame, and Zed just doesn't have the skills to be useful with a full damage build versus Akali and Talon who only need a GA for defence.
Zed needs a better lategame for him to be even considered a viable pick, because as it stands, he is only a good pick mid which can be countered by many bruisers who destroy him in lane. My suggestion is give his W the ability to reset on kill or assist.
Score Card
1 - Bad
10 - Amazing
Fun: 8
Viable: 2
Scaling: 2
Mobility: 5
Damage: 7
Overall: 4/10
I just find Talon a better AD Assassin, no other reason to pick Zed because Talon exists.
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