
This is where Zed shines, and with that, where you need to shine. Your biggest surge of power, these levels are your most important out of all. You’re also very likely to be ganked within this timeframe, so while you do have strong kill potential, you need to be very careful about when and how you use your W.

Whenever somebody is about to last-hit a minion, they’re stuck in that animation, leaving them open to attacks. To actually hit this W-E-Q, you can rely on abusing their AA’s, since every champion in the game needs to CS. This is also where you’ll pick up most early kills, with a cheeky W-E-Q into them dying from either an Ignite or your basic attack. You’re pretty strong here too, all things considered, especially at level 5, where your shurikens deal significant damage. Your power is ramping up, and soon, you’ll reach your final form. Someone like Galio or juggernauts prompt this playstyle, so be ready for it. The third strategy is only really used against champions you won’t be able to kill at all. But, if it fails, you’ll essentially be half a champion for the rest of the game. It is high risk, very high reward, and it can absolutely be preferable to the first playstyle if played correctly. The second, the one focusing on extreme aggression is a playstyle I would only recommend for people who are quite experienced with Zed, and knows their damage. It’s low risk, high reward, which is wonderful. The first way is what I recommend for people learning Zed, as it’s the one with the least amount of risks. The third is pushing the waves to ignore lane and permanently roam. The second is hyper-aggression, pushing the waves and trying to whittle your opponent down constantly with Qs and then going for a kill level 2 or 3. One is letting the waves push towards you, freezing and zoning your opponent. There are 3 main ways laning phase is usually played with Zed.


Therefore, keep to the other side at around that time, and if possible, ward the side you’re occupying because they could always pull a fast one on you. If you aren’t against one of those enemy jungler, you can usually expect them to gank from the side opposite of what they started at, at approximately 3 minutes, level 3. This makes it a lot more difficult to gank you, because the distance between you and them is almost double of what it normally is-if you were in the middle of the lane. If they started Red, keep to the side your Red is at. Adding to this, play to the side opposite of what they started. Most of them start Brambleback (Red buff), which makes it a lot easier to predict their pathing. If you’re against an early game jungler, like Lee Sin, Elise, Shaco, warding the side they started on is highly recommended. You mainly want to farm here, throwing Q’s to either last-hit or poke your laner. Don’t go further than that, though, any extended trades will most likely be lost, since you run out of steam very quickly after using your abilities (figures, you’re an assassin). In melee lanes, however, you’re actually pretty strong at doing quick trades. You can throw a few Q’s, you can kill a few minions, but you’re generally helpless against ranged champions-which are the main adversaries you will be facing in the mid lane.

This is the weakest point in your laning phase, and the stage of the game where you can’t really fight back.
