Zyra Class Update Idea
Hi,
I have been a lurker for a long time and I have decided to post because one of my favorite champions is getting updated for the class update for immobile mages. I have played her mostly as a support so just keep that in mind.
Currently, there are a lot of complaints about Zyra's passive from the community. This is because it is an after-death passive that can feel underwhelming because there isn't as much control as Kog' maw's and it doesn't synergize as well with her kit, as, say, Karthus'.
I have my own complaints about Zyra's W. The skill doesn't leave many choices and feels very binary. This is because it takes up a large portion of the power budget in her kit in terms of damage. By this I mean it is not favorable to use them for utility (i.e. scouting a brush) because it gives up so much lane pressure when that ability is on CD. The ability is almost then solely attached to the remaining basic abilities and even in those scenarios, the question is "Do I want to place this?" rather than "How do I place this?". There isnt a lot of room for creatively placing the seeds. Sure, you can place the seed closer to the edge of the Q to get a bit of extra range, but that is pretty much the only case where there is more of a choice and it still isn't a great one.
I propose that the active W ability "Rampant Growth" get moved over to the passive ability so rather than placing seeds when they are off CD, there would be an internal CD on the seeds. For the Q a seed would auto place in the center of the ability if there is one available. The E would spawn a plant underneath the first champion or large monster hit if a seed is available. With this mechanic, it would not be possible to spawn multiple plant per ability but this would also allow more flexibility with how to balance the damage of plants. Right now they are balanced with the ability to place multiple plants per ability and their damage is reduced for multiple plants hitting the same target for that reason. With this change, you can feel good about having an enemy take a beating from multiple plants without feeling like it is being inefficient.
Pros:
-Frees up an entire ability slot
-Brings a more meaningful passive
-Reduces needless complexion on a skill that does not have choices
Cons: -Seeds are no longer placeable on their own -No more doubling up on a singular ability with seeds -Less choice over where the plants spawn
Having the W available for an entirely other skill I think will really allow Zyra to flourish. I have faith in Riot to come up with an ability that complements her kit. I do have some ideas for another ability but I do not want to detract from the main point of this post. Maybe an ability that spawns an AOE plant that shreds resists and does reduced damage. I think that work well with the itemization that Zyra tends to like ( ). This would of course mean that there are more abilities to potentially spend seeds on, so the CD would have to be adjusted accordingly.
I would love to hear any feedback, especially from people that play Zyra in other positions (thinking jungle here), or criticism.
P.S. I had this idea based on how much Haunted Zyra bothers me. The seeds are tombstones that the plants resurrect into undead horrors. Pretty cool, but the thing that really gets on my nerve is that in the center of the Q and R, there are tombstones there as well. So how does this skin work in its own cannon? They are very visually incohesive with the mechanics of the character :( So I thought, why couldn't those be the seeds?