Zyra/Strategy

Gameplay
As a plant mage, 's kit revolves around her ability to sow and transform seeds through Rampant Growth. Zyra can store up seeds using an ammo system, dropping these seemingly-harmless buds on the ground to grant limited vision while they remain active. Seeds aren't too threatening on their own, and enemies can even move over a seed to stomp it out of existence at only the cost of revealing their position on the map for a few seconds. Zyra's full fury blooms, however, when you use her other abilities to interact with her seeds.

On its own, Deadly Bloom causes damage to enemies caught in the area of effect after a slight delay. Seeds caught in the area of effect, however, will spring to life as a ravenous Thorn Spitter with a ranged attack. Likewise, Zyra's Grasping Roots ability deploys a line attack that roots enemies caught in its path for a moderate duration. Seeds affected by Grasping Roots transform into Vine Lashers armed with a shorter-range attack that slows enemies. Zyra can even drop a seed in the path of an ability she's just cast to surprise her enemies with an instant plant-to-the-face.

To seal the deal, Zyra can invoke her ultimate ability, Stranglethorns, to afflict an area with an infestation of thorny vines that deal significant damage as they spread out. After a brief delay, the vines retract again, knocking any enemies still within the area of effect into the air. Any of Zyra's plants touched by the Stranglethorns become enraged, gaining a hefty bit of attack speed and growing to an imposing size. Zyra can execute some intense combos with her abilities, playing off seed placement to lock enemy champions into a fight with the deadly wilds themselves.

Skill Usage

 * main combo is -->  if you see the roots about to land -->  -->.
 * The root and slow prevents the enemy champion from escaping the Thorn Spitter and prevents much retaliation.
 * Zyra's full combo is -->  -->  -->  --> . Once you are certain that Grasping Roots will snare your opponent(s), quickly plant a Rampant Growth to turn it into a Vine Lasher, then follow with Zyra's ultimate, Stranglethorns, and throw in your Deadly Bloom followed by another Rampant Growth. If done correctly, both plants will be buffed by Zyra's ultimate since there is a small delay before the thorns expands (E -> W -> R -> Q -> W -> Ignite).
 * Your poke should be -> . If you feel confident, you can choose to use  ->  which is harder to land.
 * During the early game, remember to harass with auto-attacks. Zyra has a long auto-attack range.
 * Using in your spell's path after you have cast it gives you the best chance of having a seed in the proper spot.
 * is a great ambusher. Look for opportunities to set a trap of seeds in brush, then lure enemies in.
 * Placing and activating seeds behind a wall is not only a good surprise tactic, but adds a layer of protection to the plants, especially from melee enemies. Plants will be able to fire at enemies close to the wall without fear of retribution. Example: Top lane of Twisted Treeline, place seeds through the wall separating the lane from Vilemaw's Lair. When your lane opponent gets too close to the wall as they farm, activate the seeds.
 * Seeds enter a brief grace period after being planted in which they cannot be stomped out. Aggressive players may take advantage of this by placing seeds directly under enemies and then activating them with, ensuring the targets will be slowed by the ensuing Vine Lasher.
 * Plants make great tanks. When in pursuit of jungle buffs, activate seeds between Zyra and the targets, allowing plants to become the focus target of creeps when they begin attacking. They can also tank hits from, but not from Baron Nashor, since he ignores all pets and only attacks champions.  While in lane, quick reflexes will even allow you to get a plant down to block a slow skillshot before it hits you or an ally.
 * can prepare to defend towers from pushes by planting seeds before the minions arrive at the tower, to allow for up to 4 plants to clear the minion wave quickly.
 * can be used to ward, set up a Teleport, set up targeted dashes, zone with the possibility of a plant, or set up perimeters.
 * has a longer range than wards do, use them to gain sight in bushes it would be unsafe to ward.
 * Enemies want to stomp on seeds, use this to bait opponents in. Conversely, seeds threaten to turn into plants, and can zone or push others into unfavorable positions. Use creatively.
 * grants vision of enemies that step on the seeds. Use this to track opponents.
 * is a great initiator like, landing a long range or placing a good  to knock up multiple enemies can lead to a game winning teamfight.
 * Even if passive doesn't get you a revenge kill, remember that your plants can also do that, so be sure to get at least 1 plant if you know it will be a sure death, especially if the one chasing you is a melee champion or one with a relatively short range.
 * is able to use trinkets during her passive.
 * If an enemy tries to escape from your team after kill you by running into a bush, you can use your warding totem to reveal them. You can also achieve this with the Scrying Orb.
 * If the enemy team has a stealth champion, such as Akali or Shaco, you can use the Greater Vision Totem trinket to prevent them from taking advantage of their stealth in a teamfight.
 * A word of caution: This is probably a bug. (It is not officially documented, and no other champion with a similar post-death passive (Sion/Kog'Maw/etc.) can use trinkets like Zyra can.) As such, it could be considered an exploit.
 * It is a good habit to drop a seed or two whenever you recall. If you recall without incident, the seeds will recharge while you run back to lane. However, if an enemy find you or interrupts your recall, the extra seeds will give you a better chance to either escape or win an ensuing fight.

Build Usage
is usually played either as a solo mid laner, or more commonly as a support in the bottom lane. As a damage source for her team, Zyra can get really scary by getting ability power, magic penetration and cooldown reduction. While playing as a more supportish role, cooldown reduction and team auras allow her to make an impact during fights by controlling her enemies and helping her allies.


 * Mage
 * is a great item on as all of her spells and plants benefit from the slow.
 * Using  to proc the slow effect from  can make it easier for  to land the snare from .
 * is an excellent item to get early for Zyra as it provides her with more burst, poke damage and a little extra tankiness. Her plants also proc the burn passive as well.
 * Combining  and  can be a valid choice. The mix of health, crowd control and damage over time increases effectiveness in extended teamfights.
 * A couple of items that can be used to round up  damage are  and  while a more defensive option can be .
 * 30% cooldown reduction can be easily reached by getting a  or combined with Zyra's 10% passive cooldown reduction.


 * Support
 * and its build path are a strong choice for Zyra as her plants proc the tribute passive when they hit enemy champions. If you're worried about sustain, consider getting instead.
 * is one of the best support items. It gives health, wards and even more wards! Vision is and always will be a key feature of the game.
 * Offensive options with an easy build path are:,  and . The cooldown reduction on all of those items is useful to get the most out of   abilities within the slightly more limited budget of a support.
 * Buying magic penetration is also an easy way of increasing  damage. Magic penetration from items such as or  provides damage in every phase of the game for support  because her plants have a low AP ratio but still scale with  champion level.
 * An item that increases both  and her allies' damage is . Even though it is not as cost efficient, if your team is ahead and deals a fine amount of magical damage, you can consider getting it.

Countering

 * seeds can be destroyed by stepping on them. Crush them underfoot if she is using them to give her team vision of an area. Remember that they cannot be crushed right after being planted. Be careful if Zyra is hanging around near the seeds as she may be trying to lure you into a trap by setting off the seeds with her other spells.
 * seeds cannot be destroyed by crushing them right after she places them, because they have a short invulnerability timer, which lasts for 1.5 seconds. Be very careful and move away immediately from seeds if she places near or behind you. If she places them behind you she will likely attempt land her, rooting you and leaving the plants for massive damage, followed by a and a finishing  if you are not quick.
 * If you survive the hit from her ultimate, her Q is likely to be off cooldown and will effortlessly kill you. Right after her ultimate prepare to evade Q, doing this will allow you to escape safely, as E has a too long cooldown to be ready after the combo
 * Moving closer to can be a smart move if she places plants too far away from herself.
 * This however can be a risky tactic, because she will likely fire her E if she sees you retreating near her seeds and will follow with a Q, R, Q leaving you extremely wounded or dead
 * Plants can be killed by three basic attacks or a single target spell and one basic attack. They also grant a little extra 5 gold if you land the finishing attack.
 * Early game will attempt to combo you with seeds behind or under you, followed by an E and a Q. The damage from the plants is insane and can leave you in a terrible position or forcing you to go back to the base.
 * Here however, dodging her E will completely mess her up costing her a lot of mana. If she has bad aim with E or you are easily avoiding it, she will instead use Q to harass with the ranged plants.
 * Move away from or strafe rapidly around when she dies, or she will strike back with true damage.
 * Be wary of chasing as she can easily place seeds in her wake, creating a pseudo obstacle course of plants which may cause your pursuit to result in death.
 * Attempting to connect skill shots with over her seeds can be problematic. Zyra may use her seeds as shields, activating her plants in front of your shots. It is important to note that, although plants will block skill shots, seeds in and of themselves will not hinder shots of any kind.
 * During early game, try to determine which skills is leveling first. A Zyra that levels her Q first will rely more on direct damage and less on CC, so she should be harassed more aggressively. When she levels her W first, she will try to harass more often than usual but rely on seeds more for damage, so staying away from the seeds or forcing her away from them will hurt Zyra's game. A Zyra that levels her E first will have powerful CC, but since the plants and her E have short range (narrow hit-box), moving around a lot will leave her struggling to deal damage.
 * ultimate has a large AoE, but it can be evaded at the edges, since it takes a while before the vines damage the edges, so a quick teleport or simply moving away will leave her ultimate wasted. So, Zyra, when trying to setup for a good ultimate, she will usually plant 1 or more seeds and activate them with her E to keep her target in place.
 * Since has no targeting abilities, a teleporting champion such as,  or  can prove to be very problematic for her.
 * As a jungler, wait for to use her E, as it is her only escape mechanism, and then strike. Just remember that her plants can continue to attack no matter what happens to Zyra and that her passive works very well in combination with her slowing plants, allowing her to revenge kill you when you made it out at low health.
 * is quite squishy if she plays support role. Try to play aggressively when her spells are on cooldown to effectively zone her and her marksman.

Champion Spotlight


Zyra/Strategy Zyra/Strategy