Jarvan IV vs Zed Counter Pick

Resource design separates these two before anything else. Zed pays energy, which regenerates on its own and limits his burst by cooldown rather than by a mana bar, while Jarvan IV spends mana and has to ration Golden Aegis and Demacian Standard across a full clear. Over 790 games on patch 16.13.1 the split lands at 54.4 percent for Jarvan.

Physical damage on both sides keeps itemisation simple, since armor helps in either direction, but the shapes differ sharply. Zed’s 125 attack range against 175 means he cannot poke, and his 654 health at level one and 2,337 at eighteen fall behind 640 and 2,408 by the time the fight actually matters. He compensates with 345 movement speed against 340 and a difficulty rating of 7 against 5. His 29 base magic resistance is the lowest figure on the field, though purely physical damage never tests it.

Death Mark is the pivot. It makes Zed untargetable while it travels and repeats a portion of the damage after three seconds, so a Cataclysm cast into the dash catches nothing. The sensible answer is to hold the arena until the mark has been spent, then close with Dragon Strike. Living Shadow gives Zed a second exit, but only one, and the walls raised by Jarvan IV block a shadow swap as reliably as they block a step.