Gragas vs Zed Counter Pick

Zed runs on Energy rather than mana, which makes him relentless in short bursts and limited in long ones. Gragas is the opposite: Happy Hour heals him periodically as he uses abilities, and his 2,595 health at level 18 gives him 258 more than Zed’s 2,337 to work with. Over 113 games on patch 16.13.1 that trade has favoured Gragas 54.9% of the time, on a sample small enough to keep expectations loose.

Death Mark is the whole fight. Zed becomes untargetable, dashes to a champion, marks them, and after three seconds the mark repeats a portion of the damage he dealt. Explosive Cask is the direct answer, because the knockback separates Zed from his target and from the shadow placements that Razor Shuriken and Shadow Slash rely on to reach full value. Gragas does not need to kill him; he needs to move him.

Defensively, Zed’s damage is physical, so armor comes first — 38 base rising to 123 by level 18 already leads Zed’s 32 and 111.9. Contempt for the Weak adds magic damage to his attacks against low health targets, which is the one reason not to idle at half health waiting for Happy Hour to catch up. Zed is rated 7 for difficulty, Gragas 5. Full data: Gragas and Zed.