Talk:Zyra/@comment-5248647-20120718135924/@comment-216.120.137.42-20120718184758

Hmm... Tough call. They're both not your run-of-the-mill mage and I'm sure you'll have fun playing either one. I'm not a big Ranked player so I can't say what "The Meta" believes about their place in the game, but let's look at some of their defining features.

Vlad has amazing potential for survivability with his manaless kit, passive, and spammable Q. In contrast Zyra is VERY squishy:  she has no sustain to speak of and has some of the lowest health and armor in the game. In conjunction with her seed mechanic, this means you'll have to play her very smart, moving to where you need to be to drop your seeds/activate your plants while not getting smacked in the face in the process; common knowledge for all casters, but she's particularly susceptible to punishment without much in the way of escape. However, Zyra has great potential for harassment and fast damage by rooting/slowing the opponent and letting her seed plants wail on them; Vlad just sort of keeps on trucking, putting out plenty of AoE in the fray but not doing it particularly quickly, and not really dishing out anything other than plain damage. Both of them will really shine in teamfights; they've each got amazing AoE ults, and while Vlad's fully-stacked E can really clean up a group, don't discount the killing power of Zyra's true-damage death passive, especially in the chaos of a teamfight. Another point to consider is that while Vlad is constantly getting bonus HP/AP from his passive, Zyra is gaining bonus CDR from leveling up her W.

Overall I'd say Vlad has more wiggle room with his item build and strategies, but a well-played Zyra is going to be more of a pain to deal with for your opponent. Your mileage may vary; I'm not the most competitive of players so The Meta might render everything I just said pointless.