If you’re someone who likes giving players a whooping while standing back, Zyra might be the champion for you.
Zyra is a damage heavy, mage support who proves to be extremely powerful in ARAM, especially against groups of squishy champions like Xayah, Jhin, and Ziggs.
Zyra passively places down flowers onto the field and can actively place flowers where she pleases using her W. Players should actively be planting Zyra’s flowers in range of enemy champions of minions as targetting flowers with her Q or E will cause the flowers to grow into plants that will deal damage to the enemy targetted by Zyra.
Zyra’s Q will cause flowers to become plants that deal ranged damage, which can be effectively paired with Zyra’s E which will root enemies. My combo usually consists of rooting enemy champions with W, placing flowers right next to said champions and quickly summoning Zyra’s Q to deal extra damage. If flowers can be placed earlier so players can quickly hit Q first and then root enemy champions with E, that would be more ideal, though it’s not always possible.
The biggest worry when it comes to placing Zyra’s flowers early is that they get easily trampled by enemy champions, especially if players are not as aggressive, causing enemies to want to avoid going near said flowers.
Zyra’s ultimate knocks up enemies and will empower flowers that have already become plants. Plants will deal 50% more damage and will also gain 50% of their current and max health.
Overall, Zyra is overtly powerful and should not be passed up!
QUICK RUNDOWN:
SUMMONER SPELLS:Flash and Clarity
RUNES:Dark Harvest, Cheap Shot, Eyeball Collection, Ravenous Hunter // Manaflow Band & Transcendence
ABILITY POWER UP:Q, E, W
FIRST BUY:Lost Chapter
BUILD ORDER:Luden’s Echo, Sorcerer’s Shoes, Liandry’s Torment, Rylai’s Crystal Scepter, Morellonomicon, Void Staff
COMBOS:To get the most out of Zyra, players will have to make sure that all of Zyra’s abilities are timed right, though in general, it will be fairly easy to deal damage over time to enemy champions.
Players will want to be careful about using Zyra’s E, Grasping Roots, on flowers as they severely cut the range at which Zyra can deal damage. Using Zyra’s Q, Deadly Spines, on flowers tends to be more effective as they deal high amounts of damage and can help damage distant champions when paired with items like Luden’s Echo.
The following is usually my combo: Place flowers withW, immediately initiateQ, quickly followed byE and ifRis on cooldown I pop that sucker to kill everyone in range.
SUMMONER SPELLS FOR ZYRA IN ARAM
FLASH
As is with most champions in ARAM, Zyra really benefits from having Flash on his kit. Flash should always be used for escaping as Zyra cannot do quick damage, making her fairly useless when it comes to last-hitting on command.
Although players may be tempted to Flash and land Zyra’s E or R, chances are that Zyra will get CC’d by another enemy champion and killed or the enemy champion will also Flash away, causing both players to waste their Flash. I would only recommend using Flash to jump into a team fight where Zyra’s abilities can help secure and enemy’s death.
Zyra, much like Malzahar, will deal high amounts of damage by moving back and forth while poking enemies.
CLARITY
Although Zyra players won’t usually run out of mana, depending on what runes they take, Clarity comes in especially handy for aggressive Zyras. There’s nothing worse than having a bunch of flowers out, but not having enough mana to cast your E, Q and R. *sigh* the joys of being truly oom.
Clarity will provide Zyra players with 50% of her maximum mana and her teammates with 25% of their maximum mana. Clarity can help amplify Zyra’s ability to support her team, especially in clutch situations.
RUNE TREES FOR ZYRA IN ARAM
Zyra plays like many other mages such as Veigar, Morgana, Twisted Fate, Heimerdinger,Brand, Karthus, Anivia,Teemo,Soraka,Ziggs, AP Miss Fortune, andMalzahar where she can either use domination runes or sorcery runes.
There are two runes trees players can choose to use when playing Zyra. The two most popular rune tree builds include:
Domination/Sorcery – Burst Damage Heavy
Sorcery/Domination – AP/Mana Sustain
DAMAGE HEAVY/BURST RUNES FOR ZYRA (DOMINATION/SORCERY)
DARK HARVEST
Damaging champions below 50% deals 20-60 (+ 15% AP) damage based on your level. Each soul that you harvest adds +2 AP.
Players will only be able to collect souls every 45 seconds or can reset Dark Harvest’s cooldown to 1.5 seconds by being part of an enemy takedown.
Dark Harvest works the best when players use Deadly Spines (Q) to transform Zyra’s flowers into Thorn Spitters, which can easily be used to help make sure that Dark Harvest souls are collected immediately upon becoming available. Once you build Luden’s Echo, you’re going to be passively collecting Dark Harvest stacks without really trying.
Dark Harvest comes especially handy when all enemies are below 50% health or are close to that and take damage from Zyra’s ult. You can effectively farm 3-5 souls as long as Dark Harvest’s cooldown is met.
CHEAP SHOT
Cheap Shot will deal 10-45 (based on level) bonus true damage to champions who have impaired movement or actions. Cheap Shot has an extremely short cooldown, being 4 seconds. Cheap Shot works really well with Zyra’s E as she can root enemies and damage immediately after will deal the extra true damage.
Remember with Cheap shot, it’s not the initial damage that triggers the rune, but the damage after champions have already been movement impaired. So if you want to secure your chances of landing Cheap Shot’s damage every time, make sure you have some flowers lined up with your Q.
EYEBALL COLLECTION
Collect 1 Eyeball per champion takedown, up to 10. Each takedown will provide players with 2 AP. Once players have received 10 Eyeballs they will also receive an extra 10 AP.
Eyeball Collection is the only Rune you will be able to use in ARAM from this tier of Runes.
RAVENOUS HUNTER
Abilities Heal for 1.5% of damage + 2.5% per every champion takedown for a maximum of 5 stacks. Healing is reduced to 1/3 on AoE damage.
Ravenous Hunter is one of the most powerful runes you can take while playing in ARAM as Zyra can unlimitedly heal herself when attacking all enemies and minions. Ravenous Hunter is one of the ultimate ways players can receive consistently health without having to build items like Rod of Ages, wait for health to appear on the field or receive from another player.
Ravenous Hunter should provide Zyra with enough health sustain to avoid taking summoner spells like Heal; and by paired up with Clarity, I find myself surviving as Zyra much longer, ultimately choosing to die when I need to. While I don’t think it’s a great strategy never to die, staying up as Zyra without buying isn’t the worst thing in the world because of her readily available root.
Players may also be interested in tryingUltimate Hunter which will reduce Zyra’s ultimate by 25% if players kill all 5 enemy champions. While I like having Zyra’s ultimate, I find I rely on Ravenous Hunter much more for its sustain.
MANAFLOW BAND
Hitting enemy champions with an ability will permanently increase your maximum mana by 25 (cooldown 15 seconds), up to a maximum of 250 mana. Although players will receive an increase in the maximum mana they can have, proccing Manaflow Band will not provide an increase in your current mana.
Once players have capped out their maximum mana at 250 bonus mana, they will receive 1% of their missing mana every 5 seconds.
It’s always good to have extra mana whenever you’re playing a mage, especially if you’re someone who is known to spam abilities…*cough, cough*.To combat this, I recommend taking Manaflow Band, since it allows Zyra to avoid building Mana based items and instead focus on Health and Damage items.
TRANSCENDENCE
At level 10 players will receive 10% CDR and 2 AP for every 1% CDR that goes over the 40% cap (or 45% if using Cosmic Insight).
Although I don’t build a whole lot of Cooldown Reduction on Zyra, I do appreciate the extra 10% that Transcendence gives you. Transcendence also comes in handy for players who are up against teams with all magic champions or all physical champions. Build yourselves Zhyonya’s Hourglass or Banshee’s Veil depending on who the other team is comprised of.
Enjoy that 40% CDR or at least enjoy the 30% when you build a nice thick “health-based” build (which I’ll cover below).
SUSTAIN DAMAGE FOR ZYRA (SORCERY/DOMINATION)
ARCANE COMET
Damaging enemy champions with an ability causes an Arcane Comet to be thrown at the enemy’s current location. The Arcane Comet can deal between 30-100 plus 20% AP. Damaging enemy champions with abilities will help reduce the cooldown of Arcane Comet, though the cooldown sits between 8-20 seconds based on player levels.
Arcane Comet is fairly powerful with Zyra, as she can root enemy champions, ultimately forcing them to take damage from the Comet. Players will gain sustained damage throughout the game, but may not be able to secure kills for their team as it is not always guaranteed that Arcane Comet will be on cooldown.
The same can be true of Dark Harvest, however, damage is ultimately going to rely on personal playstyle.
MANAFLOW BAND
Hitting enemy champions with an ability will permanently increase your maximum mana by 25 (cooldown 15 seconds), up to a maximum of 250 mana. Although players will receive an increase in the maximum mana they can have, proccing Manaflow Band will not provide an increase in your current mana.
Once players have capped out their maximum mana at 250 bonus mana, they will receive 1% of their missing mana every 5 seconds.
It’s always good to have extra mana whenever you’re playing a mage, especially if you’re someone who is known to spam abilities…*cough, cough*.To combat this, I recommend taking Manaflow Band, since it allows Zyra to avoid building Mana based items and instead focus on Health and Damage items.
TRANSCENDENCE
At level 10 players will receive 10% CDR and 2 AP for every 1% CDR that goes over the 40% cap (or 45% if using Cosmic Insight).
Although I don’t build a whole lot of Cooldown Reduction on Zyra, I do appreciate the extra 10% that Transcendence gives you. Transcendence also comes in handy for players who are up against teams with all magic champions or all physical champions. Build yourselves Zhyonya’s Hourglass or Banshee’s Veil depending on who the other team is comprised of.
Enjoy that 40% CDR or at least enjoy the 30% when you build a nice thick “health-based” build (which I’ll cover below).
GATHERING STORM
Gain adaptive damage for every 6 minutes of gameplay. The stats are as follows: 0, 8, 24, 48, and 80 AP
Gathering Storm is a nice passive way to gain damage, though at the end of the day it takes quite some time for players to receive enough amplification from Gathering Storm. Gathering Storm is notably powerful if you have Rabadon’s Deathcap, especially as time goes on in the ARAM game.
I personally don’t like using Gathering Storm unless I have hopes of building Rabadons, simply because Rabadon’s is what really makes it overpowered.
EYEBALL COLLECTION
Collect 1 Eyeball per champion takedown, up to 10. Each takedown will provide players with 2 AP. Once players have received 10 Eyeballs they will also receive an extra 10 AP.
Eyeball Collection is the only Rune you will be able to use in ARAM from this tier of Runes. Players can also choose Cheap Shot if they please.
RAVENOUS HUNTER
Abilities Heal for 1.5% of damage + 2.5% per every champion takedown for a maximum of 5 stacks. Healing is reduced to 1/3 on AoE damage.
Ravenous Hunter is one of the most powerful runes you can take while playing in ARAM as Zyra can unlimitedly heal herself when attacking all enemies and minions. Ravenous Hunter is one of the ultimate ways players can receive consistently health without having to build items like Rod of Ages, wait for health to appear on the field or receive from another player.
Ravenous Hunter should provide Zyra with enough health sustain to avoid taking summoner spells like Heal; and by paired up with Clarity, I find myself surviving as Zyra much longer, ultimately choosing to die when I need to. While I don’t think it’s a great strategy never to die, staying up as Zyra without buying isn’t the worst thing in the world because of her readily available root.
Players may also be interested in tryingUltimate Hunter which will reduce Zyra’s ultimate by 25% if players kill all 5 enemy champions. While I like having Zyra’s ultimate, I find I rely on Ravenous Hunter much more for its sustain.
SKILL LEVEL UP RECOMMENDATIONS & TIPS ON HOW TO PLAY ZYRA IN ARAM
Zyra isn’t complicated and powering up her abilities should only be done in theQ,E,W, order. Although players may be tempted to power up their W to decrease the amount of time it takes for Zyra’s flowers to recharge, chances are you’re going to collect enough cooldown from Rampant Growth’s passive, which I will cover in more detail below.
Levelling up your Q, Deadly Spines, is the better option simply due to the fact that it deals more damage to champions if it is used to make Zyra’s flowers into plants. While Vine Lashers are useful in the sense that they slow down enemy champions, they do not deal any damage.
DEADLY SPINES (Q)
Zyra players deal 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200 (+60% of ability power) of AoE magic damage at the cost of 70 mana. Deadly Spines has a cooldown of 7 / 6.5 / 6 / 5.5 / 5secondsbased on how many times Deadly Spines has been powered up.
If Deadly Spines is cast near a seed placed by Rampant Growth (W) or Zyra’s passive the seed will turn into Thorn Spitters which cause 20 to 100 +15% AP damage (based on level.) Thorn Spitters can last for a maximum of 7.5 seconds based on level, however, enemies will be able to kill said Thorn Spitters.
Deadly Spines, as mentioned, is the absolute best ability to power up first as Zyra as it provides players with the most boosts and magic damage without the worry of it costing more mana upon upgrading. Although Deadly Spines aren’t going to help Zyra players keep enemy champions close or in range of taking big hits of damage, Deadly Spines can be used frequently just to deal damage even without seeds nearby.
If you can avoid transforming seeds into Thorn Spitters if there are no enemy champions nearby, do so, as transforming seeds into Thorn Spitters is going to be the best way of dealing damage, period.
RAMPANT GROWTH (W)
Every 20 / 18 / 16 / 14 / 12 seconds, Zyra players can plant a seed that lasts for 1 minute or until an enemy champion tramples it. After a minute or upon being trampled, the seed will die and will no longer be able to be used to spawn ally plants.
Any time Zyra players kill an enemy Rampant Growth’s recharge time will reduce by 20%, though Rampant Growth will receive a 100% cooldown if players participate in a champion takedown, if they kill a large minion or kill large monsters.
Due to the number of things that will effectively passively charge your supply of seeds, I would keep your eye on your HUD to ensure that you’ve placed as many seeds as you can. I personally make sure that I only have one seed in my hand at all times as having two will cause Zyra to stop charging up seeds, effectively reducing the amount of damage you can put out upon summoning plants.
If you don’t see an opportunity to use a seed for damage, allow yourself to use the seeds as wards. Seeds can be placed in bushes and if enemy champions trample them, the champion will be revealed for 2 seconds. Revealing a champion is a big part of using Zyra as support as many enemies will not view being revealed as a negative, but depending on what champions are on your team and their range, them being revealed can be detrimental. I’m thinking of teams with Xerath, Soraka, Jhin, Morgana or any other team comps that include a long-range stun or root.
If players are unable to secure hits on their E, Grasping Roots, I recommend powering up your W second as it will help ensure that you always have seeds/flowers, though at the end of the day powering up your E second will still give you more.
GRASPING ROOTS (E)
Grasping Roots feels very comparable to Deadly Spines, though many of the things affected when it is powered up are opposites to Deadly Spines. For example, levelling up Grasping Roots will cause its cooldown to remain the same at12 seconds, however, the manacostwill increase by 5 each time, becoming 70/75/80/85/90 mana per each use.
As mentioned, although Zyra’s vines cause 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200 (+50% AP) the Vine Lashers that are created by Grasping Roots touching seeds only reduce enemies’ movements speed by 25% stacking up to 2 times. Enemies must be hit by multiple Vine Lashers to receive the maximum 50% slow.
While Zyra’s Vine Lashers can come in handy for team fights, players will want to use Grasping Roots primarily for its root which lasts 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 seconds upon the roots touching the player and has nothing to do with the seeds.
STRANGLETHORNS (R)
Upon triggering, Zyra will summon a thicket of vines that deal 180 / 265 / 350 (+75% AP)to enemies, also knocking them up into the air while enraging plants that are already alive. Enraged plants will deal 50% bonus damage and will also gain 50% of both their current and maximum health.
Although it is most beneficial when players enrage Thorn Spitters instead of Vine Lashers, players should primarily focus on triggering many flowers in general while landing their ult on as many champions as they can. Zyra’s Ultimate is most notable for it’s knock up and should not be used on single champions if avoidable.
GEAR BUILDS FOR ZYRA IN ARAM
LUDEN’S ECHO
90 Ability Power, 600 Mana, 20% Cooldown Reduction and can cause extra AoE damage to help proc Dark Harvest? Yes, please.
Luden’s Echo not only helps deal more damage but given Zyra’s plants, Luden’s Echo can help deal damage to enemies who aren’t in direct range. As soon as I have Luden’s Echo in my hands I tend to dance around a lot, hoping that I can get Luden’s Echo to charge a few times while passively damaging. Oftentimes, my “dance” leads to Thorn Spitters shooting out Luden’s Echo charges at enemy champions.
SORCERER’S SHOES
The only shoes you’re going to want to use for Zyra is the Sorcerer’s Shoes as he can benefit from magic penetration.
LIANDRY’S TORMENT
If players do not need any defensive items or do not need cooldown reduction I would recommend using Liandry’s Torment so they can do sustained burn damage.
Liandry’s Torment gives 75 Ability Power and 300 Health. As a passive Liandry’s Torment will also deal 2% more damage per second in combat with enemy champions, up to a maximum of 10%. Spells will also burn enemies for 3 seconds dealing 1.5% of the player’s maximum health per second. If enemies are experiencing movement impairments they will receive an extra 2.5% damage from the burn.
Liandry’s Torment is going to be essential for Zyra players, especially due to the fact that her damage heavily relies on damage over time. Although many champions will require players to also buy Rod of Ages when building Liandry’s Torment, Zyra players will not have to as she can focus solely on damage heavy gear that passively gives support, rather than defensive gear that gives a bit of damage.
If players need to build defensive items they should look into Banshee’s Veil or Zhonya’s Hourglass instead.
RYLAI’S CRYSTAL SCEPTER
Ideally, players would build Rylai’s Crystal Scepter as their third item, however, chances are players will need Morellonomicon earlier if their enemies have high healing or sustain.
Rylai’s Crystal Scepter provides players with 90 Ability Power, 300 Health and will also reduce the enemy’s movement speed by 20% by one second. Rylai’s will work extremely well with Liandry’s Torment, but will also help allow Zyra players to keep their enemies close by slowing them.
MORELLONOMICON
If you don’t need Morellonomicon before Rylai’s Crystal Scepter, put off Morellonomicon. Morellonomicon will provide players will less Ability Power, dealing 70 AP and giving players an extra 300 Health, which will again help with his E and Liandry’s Torment.
Having Liandry’s Torment, Rylai’s Crystal Scepter and Morellonomicon will make it so players do not need Rod of Ages and are some of the best items players can build when they use the Domination/Sorcery runes.
Morellonomicon provides players with 15 Magic Penetration as well as Grievous Wounds for 3 seconds.
VOID STAFF
It’s always great to have magic pen, especially if you’re up against a tanky team!
