Matchup Summary
The Zed lane is pretty Renekton favoured, however Zed's ability to play safe and crafty, does make the match up a lot more harder the better a Zed player is. Playing against Zed completely relies on his shadows, if Zed uses W in any way to farm or apply damage, Renekton can abuse it's long CD to force an E trade, allowing him to burst out Zed and punish his overall positioning. In 1v1's Zed cannot really do anything to Renekton, making it practically unwinnable for him. Zed's main objective is simply trying to roam in search of a lead, make sure to ping Zed's whereabouts at all times, otherwise his kills will allow him to easily nuke any of your carries. In the later stages, Zed's role to play the game is a lot more difficult, allowing Renekton to have more ways to win. Make sure to always peel your teammates with your W ready, allowing you to instantly stun Zed and lock him out of the game.
Detailed Tips
- 01
Level 1 E Start - Try to cheese PTA proc or Conq with E1 > 3 auto's > disengage with E2.
- 02
Play For Level 2/3 Kill Angle - Once you chunk out Zed you're most likely able to kill him with your W, Dash or Flash up. Look to shove the wave around your kill timer, so you're able to make Zed lose a lot more.
- 03
Avoid Tanking Zed Combo - Zed typically will W > E > Q to apply his damage, in which he will repetitively do it until you’re in his lethal range of 30% HP to easily finish off his kill. Try to abuse D Shield + Second wind to make his damage non existent, while also clicking around a lot to avoid his combo.
- 04
Abuse Long W Timer - Zed W is 20-17 seconds depending on if he hits E onto a target, use this to help you punish him every time his W is on cooldown as it’s the best timer to punish him.
- 05
Quick Trades - E > Q > AA > W > AA > E Out / E > Q > W > E / E Q E - These combos allow for Renekton to get quick damage off in being able to keep health up and whittling his opponent down, use these to get your laner low and look for a low HP kill with flash.
- 06
Ping Zed Roams - Zed can’t really achieve a lot in this lane, so his alternative plan to get ahead is simply trying to roam and pick up kills with his R. Always ping his movements if he is missing in the lane, try to abuse Zed by shoving in waves to make him miss out on gold and xp.
- 07
Respect Zed R - Much later in the game Zed’s damage gets increasingly stronger through each R rank, it will also continue to do more damage based on how much he applies to his target. Try to avoid his Q combos within his ult to make him miss out on extra damage, make sure to also anticipate where Zed will go based off his R shadow position, this will then allow you to get the head start on your damage.
- 08
Abuse Renekton's R Powerspike - Once you reach level 6 your ultimate will essentially help you consistently stat check and dominate any match ups you were winning or losing. Make sure to always wait for your R CD to help you make plays, otherwise it will lead you towards a major disadvantage in dueling your enemies.
- 09
Build Plated Steelcap, Eclipse, Stridebreaker or BoTRK - Go Plated Steelcaps to lower Zed’s overall damage and utilise the additional movement speed. / Go Eclipse for consistent power through mid game and damage mitigation with the shield. / Go Stridebreaker to cripple Zed’s mobility and provide teammates with additional utility. / Go BoTRK to one shot and snowball with a damage focused build.
- 10
Mid game + Teamfighting Tips - Zed’s role within the game is to look for isolated plays onto your squishy carry teammates. With that in mind try to protect your carries and instantly look for a W stun when Zed tries to engage. Zed is unable to do much if he is targeted by CC, so make sure to hard focus him and remove his team’s main hard source of damage. You should also look to abuse teamfights whenever Zed is split pushing and not grouped with his team.