Anyone else think Zyra's W needs a once over?

Nagoh Shan··2 votes·492 views

The basic design of Rampant growth is actually pretty cool, and a lot of fun. I just wonder if I'm the only person that has issues with the secondary aspects of the power? W is ranked last, no questions and there isn't a situation in-game that has ever made me regret adding damage to my Q or E over making my seeds recharge 1s faster.

Added to that is the CDR passive. It's something that works on Ryze's Q because there's another reason to rank the power in addition to the CDR. With Rampant growth, you buy everything about the power with the first point, and CDR is the only reason to rank it. Your plants aren't any stronger at R5 over R1, so the only thing you buy with your skill point is 1s off the seed recharge and 2% CDR toward your cap. The CDR isn't even that valuable, as most people build CDR elsewhere because they cap W last meaning they don't benefit from the passive CDR for most of the game.

I'd really like to see Zyra's W improve her plants with rank. Give players an actual decision when it's time to choose what to rank. Removing the CDR passive, and replacing it with a boost to her plants with rank would be a massive improvement. I could see something like 3% additional AP scaling, +2 Health, and +1s duration per rank (R1 health would still be 6 so plant base health would have to be cut to 4). At max level her plants would have 35% AP scaling, 14 health, and a 15s duration. That would be something, I feel, would actually make people think about what they want to rank.

At ranks 2 and 5 plants would have a dramatic and obvious power spike where they'd be able to tank 2 and 3 turret shots each. R5 plants would deal more damage than R1, and they'd have the additional duration to make the most use out of their additional hitpoints and longevity.

That's just an example, but something really needs to be done with the power. It's super interesting gameplay, but it's sad that there isn't any dynamic improvement to the gameplay throughout a match.

2 Comments

Marthian1 votes

Not sure about her current state since her abilities do decent damage as is, the plants are gravy on top. But her plants shouldn't be able to tank turrets, ever. Zyra doesn't risk anything to do so, and that's pretty toxic if they get to hit multiple times (that damage does add up.)

Nagoh Shan1 votes

Plants don't attack Turrets, Inhibitors, or the Nexus IIRC, so I don't know what you mean about damage stacking up and being Toxic (This buzzword needs to die).

If you're talking about her siege and ability to attack enemies under tower, she already has that in her Q and E, and the only reason her plants don't help at all in those situations currently, is because it's too dangerous to get close enough to tag an enemy for focus. Then even if you do, it takes one enemy less than a second to burst them down.

It's just so frustrating at the moment when the only real growth in her last 5 levels is capping her R or getting enough Gold for another item. 4 skill points available in her last 5 levels, and in most progressions, she'd not be much worse off if she just ignored them. This isn't about her strength. She feels fairly strong. I'm actually surprised her pick rate is so low. This is more holistic, like the Vladimir 4.16 change.

No character should be unable to feel 4 points added to an ability. While I'm biased and think my idea is pretty good, I'd be happy with anything that provides meaningful growth to the ability as it levels. As long as they don't make the plants 1/5th as strong and Rank brings them to where they are now, that is. :p

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