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How to Win Zed vs Swain Counter MatchupZed is in the b tier of champions

Zed vs Swain

How to Beat Swain as Zed in LoLZed is in the b tier of champions
Assassin
MageFighter

How to Beat Swain as Zed

based on 4,933 Zed vs Swain matchups
Win Rate
46.7 %
K/D/A
2.18
Pick Rate
3.6 %

How We Analyze LoL Champion Counters

At MOBA Champion, we summarize millions of recently ranked League of Legends games every week. Within our database, Zed fought Swain in 4933 rounds. Including so many matchups for Zed versus Swain provides us a lot of faith in our ability to prepare actionable statistics and a supported build to counter Swain. This pairing is relatively rare. Zed has to counter Swain in only 3.6% of his games.

Zed vs Swain Matchup Summary

Unfortunately, Zed does a pathetic job of countering Swain. On average, he wins a lowly 46.7% of matches the champs fight one another in. In Zed against Swain games, Zed’s side is 0.1% less expected to get first blood, indicating that he most likely won't be able to get first blood against Swain.

Best Zed vs Swain Counter Build

Items

Starter Items

Time Target
Long SwordHealth Potion

Early Items

~5 Mins
BootsThe Brutalizer

Core Zed Items

~22 Mins
Serylda's GrudgeAxiom ArcOpportunity

Optional Items

Guardian AngelEdge of NightEclipseMaw of Malmortius

Summoner Spells

summonerflash summoner spell D
summonerdot summoner spell F

Skill Order

First skill for Zed to level upq
>
Second ability for Zed to level upe
>
Last skill for Zed to max outw

Runes

InspirationFirst StrikeMagical FootwearFuture's MarketCosmic Insight
SorceryTranscendenceScorch
Adaptive ForceAdaptive ForceMagic Resist
Zed's passive ability p
Zed's q ability q
Zed's w ability w
Zed's e ability e
Zed's ultimate ability r
1
Q
2
E
3
W
4
Q
5
Q
6
R
7
Q
8
E
9
Q
10
E
11
R
12
E
13
E
14
W
15
W
16
R

Guide to Countering Swain as Zed

Tips for Playing as Zed against Swain

Placing a Living Shadow before using Death Mark can give Zed a safe escape from combat.

Saving energy and spell cooldowns until you use your ultimate will maximize Death Mark's damage.

Quickly double tapping Living Shadow will teleport Zed to his shadow immediately for rapid escapes.

Advice to Win Against Swain

Buying an item with Grievous Wounds will make Swain much easier to kill during his Demonic Ascension.

Swain's passive is very potent if you are immobilized. Make sure to be extra careful around enemies who have immobilizing effects.

High mobility counters all of Swain's basic abilities: Death's Hand does more damage the closer he is, Vision of Empire has a very long delay and Nevermove must start returning back to him to be dangerous.

Zed vs Swain Counter Stats

Zed Image
Win Rate
46.7 %
VS
Win Rate
53.3 %
Swain Image
8.8
< Kills >
5.4
6.6
< Deaths >
6.5
5.6
< Assists >
10.5
2.03
< Killing Sprees >
1.24
155
< Minions Killed >
101
0.22
< Dragons Killed >
0.07
0.35
< Inhibitors >
0.45
22,997
< Physical Damage >
1,445
1,350
< Magic Damage >
19,470
1,249
< True Damage >
928
25,596
< Damage Dealt >
21,844
23,320
< Damage Taken >
31,398
12,476
< Gold Earned >
10,540
1.54
< Towers >
1.86
0.04
< Baron Takedowns >
0.02
3,845
< Total Healing >
9,194
14,724
< Experience >
12,657
17
< Vision Score >
34
7
< Wards Placed >
15
150
< Time Dealing CC >
367

How to Counter Swain with Zed in LoL

The stat comparisons shown here highlight some important Zed against Swain counter stats that may help you distinguish the distinctions between this set of champs. Zed’s KDA ratio ([kills + assists] / deaths) of NaN is better than Swain’s ratio of NaN, demonstrating that Zed may be more central to his team's team fighting effectiveness than Swain. This observation is largely a result of the difference in kills.

Zed typically has a slightly larger longest killing spree than his enemy does. On average, he takes less damage than Swain. This is usually reflective of differing health capacities, yet it can also imply that the one champion has less agility and thus is not able to kite away from additional harm when engaged or poked.

Differences between Zed and Swain

Damage Types Compared

Zed
Swain
Physical Damage
Magic Damage
True Damage

Champion Playstyles Compared

Zed
Swain

Who is Better, Zed or Swain?

Both LoL champs are great. Both champs have their pros and cons. In the game's current meta, Zed usually loses when playing against Swain, with a 46.7% win rate. Therefore, Zed makes a poor counter to Swain.

While Zed does have a lower winrate compared to Swain, when facing one another, Zed also has a lower learning curve that makes him a less time consuming character to pick up and master. You should be very concerned when picking Zed into Swainas his relative depth means you may not be able to unleash his full potential without a significant amount of practice beforehand.

Furthermore, Zed has almost no amount of utility and CC, a similar amount to Swain. This often makes her just as valuable during team fights, especially when trying to counter champions with a lot of burst damage.

While there is not one best champion overall in League of Legends, in Zed vs Swain matchups, Swain is the better champ with a much lower win rate, less champion complexity, and a similar amount of utility to help out your teammates during team fights.

Zed is a bad counter to Swain. Make sure you focus your strategy on maximizing your CS and clearing objectives. If you are able to do that, you should be able to stand on your own as Zed against Swain.

Additional Information for Zed Players

How We Calculated Our Zed vs Swain Build and Stats

For this guide on countering Swain as Zed, we analyzed 4,933 matchups from recent LoL games. We use rigorous data cleaning and processing methods to ensure that our counter stats are of the highest quality. You can rest assured that the recommended build to counter Swain as Zed comes from real data and is not the fabrication of some random LoL player, as some other sites provide. You can use the filters at the top of the page to view the most relevant stats and items to your rank.

Other Useful Resources

Further Insights to Win this Matchup

To truly master Zed in order to counter Swain during both the laning and mid / late game phases of League of Legends, you should continue reading to pick up a few extra tricks and insights into this matchup. If you listen to the build and stats displayed above, you will increase your win rate significantly and be closer to League of Legends pro players.

Zed often picks up more CS relative to Swain. Champions who on average don't get many minion kills typically don't need much CS to be valuable teammates, such as support champions. They are capable of scaling properly off of their abilities and first items alone. Yet, champions with large amounts of CS, such as hyper-carries, often need a lot of items to be effective. In either situation, try to do better than the values displayed on this page to do well.

The best items to focus on in your Zed versus Swain build include Serylda's Grudge, Axiom Arc, and Opportunity. When Zed combined at least these three pieces in his build, he did a lot better countering Swain than with most other typical builds. In fact, Zed boasted an average win rate of 46.7% when countering Swain with these items in his kit.

To have the best probability of annihilating Swain as Zed, Zed players should use the First Strike, Magical Footwear, Future's Market, Cosmic Insight, Scorch, and Transcendence runes from the Inspiration and Sorcery rune sets. Out of all the rune builds that we analyzed for Zed vs Swain counters, this combo of runes yielded the best win rate. Notably, these runes averaged a 46.7% win rate overall.

If you need to view Zed vs Swain tips and matchup stats and build suggestions for a a particular division rank, feel free to choose one from the selection menu shown above. At first, the stats and build suggestions shown are computed using every match run with both champs.