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Seeking some feedback regarding Zyra

Jyoeru··3 votes·493 views

I've been actively playing LOL for about a year. I placed BIII in my preliminary rounds, and I know I need some work as a player. Being that this is my first starting season, I am not sure if part of my issue has to do with how people are being disbursed in ranked initially (i.e. plat players ending up in bronze queue). I acknowledge all these things before I go on my question campaign here. Long intro here, skip to the numbered points if you just want to see where I am going with this.

I've been maining Zyra for about four months now because my buddy seemed to like her and said she is misunderstood. I tended to agree at the end of last season. Perhaps at that time (when I was placing, and I placed just a day or so after the season ended because I didn't know how the season worked), the player base was more "evenly" distributed. She felt fine in November is what I am trying to say. At that time, I was in Silver II/III from my placement. I imagine I was facing more "balanced" matchups then.

Now, my buddy placed Bronze II for some reason, and managed to climb to gold over the last week using mostly Zyra. I've gotten feedback from him, and it really turns out that when I am against people who better know their champion, I am at an obvious disadvantage because I underestimate the player and I don't know everything about every champ and how to pre-counter (which is his advice, he says, "Know where they're going and when, and then E WW Q them, which I am still trying to figure out how to get good at). Here are the issues I am facing now that I am wondering if I can get some feedback/advice on:

  1. Her movement speed feels incredibly punishing. Before I played Zyra, I mained Teemo, so I know there is a huge difference. But I can't understand why she has such punishing movement speed and

  2. She feels incredibly squishy. Like, more squishy than Teemo, and I can't make sense of it because Teemo feels way OP compared to Zyra. I keep facing issues of trying to buff her MR/Armor/HP situationally, and no matter what I do, she just dies so fast even against 1v1 tank moments (where I am stuck because her movement speed is just slooooooooow). And she gets singled out more because people aren't scared of her because

  3. Her damage just isn't that great. Other than engaging in a team fight, EWWQR combo winning some massive--but not that lethal--damage, she's kinda ignored. Now, when I've played Teemo support, the harass has really turned how ADC farming works. Sometimes, Zyra can devastate a player, like maybe an Ashe here and there. But generally speaking, people see Zyra, they see two seeds, they see plants pop up, and they laugh at the damage and ignore her. Part of the problem there is

  4. The plants go down so fast, even against something like a Blitzcrank who can't even kill minions very well. It seems to me that plant damage in general isn't that solid, and they go down real fast, so they're basically no threat. Zoning? lol. People don't care. Ranged champs can stand outside the damage zone and gun them down. Melee champs just go straight to the face. And even when I successfully pop a plant under the champ's feet, once they move a bit out of the way, the plants frequently just attack something else. And I don't mean once they are out of the AOE circle, I mean, just move a little here or there, and the plant's ADD kicks in half the time.

  5. When trying to escape, the one thing that really seems to screw with me is how her E forces her to stand still for about 1.5 seconds. This feels clunky as all get-out. No other champ I've played has this problem. So basically what ends up happening is I do a WE combo, or sometimes not depending, and as I cast the E, she stops to smell the flowers, and then resumes course. This frequently allows the people I am trying to get away from even more opportunity to catch and destroy me. Compare that to a Janna tornado or a Raka Q for reference.

I saw some post saying Riot was planning on buffing Zyra a bit (but it seems for mid lane, which I am not sure what that will do for me as a support main).

Obviously, the fact that my buddy has gotten himself to gold indicates that he plays better than I do. I accept that. But even he agrees that many of these points do seem to make her feel a bit underwhelming. He disagrees with me about zoning, but seriously, I have yet to face anyone except for one Ashe who even thought twice about my plants under their feet--or needed to. Maybe that's a bronze thing. But, if it's working for them, then that's making it harder for me.

Please don't tell me to stop playing Zyra or go with a meta-friendly champion. I have no interest in being a platinum player if that means I have to play the meta. I like the champs I like, and I do believe every single one of them should and can be played to get desired effects, especially at the pre-plat tiers.

At this point, I struggle with the decision to just make her tanky and use her abilities to try and control fights instead of trying to harass and be lethal. But even when I set her up as a glass cannon going all-out AP, she still seems to not do enough damage to effectively harass. So I am really looking for any feedback from players who know her and can speak about how to better run her.

Sorry for the long post.

5 Comments

PopCorn Chick3n1 votes

As a zyra main. I can understand the passion of playing your favorite champ even though you know that the character might give more cons than pros. I'm one of those players and the cons of playing her get me sometimes. What makes me keep playing her are her kits and concepts that motivate me to become better at zyra. Zyra has a lot of delay in her kits such as her root, ultimate, and passive. That's why I'm keep trying to practice different way to do her combos so it goes smoother. I see a lot of people do ewqwR and myself before but now I try ewRqw to make the knock up comes up faster. Her E is trash early game and I only use it for the plant to slow the Emmy so I can follow up with Q which is a good trade even if you miss E. Her plants are stupid most of the times and I feel like the plants should prioritize champ when she hits her ability on the enemy. Oh well, I guess we will just have to wait for the update to see anything that can help her out with zoning.

Aezanthya1 votes

get cdr, get magic pen (lyandri) and get rylai.

You can literally play the game by yourself if you manage to use your plants correctly. You can block some path just by using your plants. They deal an insane amount of damage and with lyandri/rylai + magic pen boots, you'll shred even tanks. They're forced to back off or kill them. But even if you get 2 hits with your plants, most squishies lose nearly 40% of their hp.

In teamfight, all of your spells are aoe. Stay behind, if your team engage : w q w e r (you can R before too), or if you get enged wewqr. It WILL WRECk the ennemy team. Her burst damage is incredible while providing a ton of cc.

obv, if you're getting stomped... you're getting stomped.

You have to play really carefully early with zyra since she's so slow and weak to gank. Better lose some cs than die.

Hex the FenFen1 votes

I have mained Zyra mid for some time now, the biggest reason they want to return her to mid lane is because that is what she is, and I am excited that she will be a mid laner once more ^_^ but further moving on, Zyra's kit and damage isn't fully expressed in the support role. I started out playing her support, but then took her mid and had much more success in her intended role once I learned the combos and her limitations. In the mid lane she is SUPER annoying against other immobile mages such as Annie Lux Viktor Orianna and some assassins like Yasuo Diana Katarina , her control is great level 2 if you can manage your mana and seeds, for the most part by level 4 I can push someone out of lane. Her full potential can be seen as a carry mage, you should try it

Chortle1 votes

Hey!

This is from a zyra mid/jungle player's perspective so if you are maining her support, this might not be too helpful :D

There are a lot of different ways to play zyra. She is one of the most flexible champions in the game in my opinion. I will do my best to respond to each of your concerns.

  1. She is one of the slowest champions in the game. This is especially noticeable during early game. Once you get to mid game, your priority is surprising your enemies or team fighting. Zyra is able to fight from a pretty good distance thanks to her plants. So MS is not a big issue come mid-late game imo.

  2. She is very squishy I agree even when compared to other squishy mages. She is also immobile so I can see why it might be a nuisance. She has a ton of aoe cc, burst, and ranged poke in the form of her plants which make up for a lot of her squishiness. Positioning is something you need to master on her.

  3. She has some of the highest damage outputs in the game actually. Until you get Rylais (which should be your first item unless you are playing support), your best combo is EWQWR. You want to place your seeds after you use your skill since they are delayed anyway and placing the seeds before causes your plants to be very telegraphed. Summoning a vine lasher with your E and a vine spitter with your Q gives you a slow (lasher) aswell as ranged damage (spitter). Your R is for burst, to steroid your plants, and knock up the enemies . After you get Rylais, your combo is EQWWR. E is to keep your enemies in place and your two vine spitters will slow with Rylais from range.

  4. The plants are fairly low CD if you are running CDR runes or have a CDR item. With Rylais and Liandry's they become a huge threat to anyone that gets hit by them (referring to vine spitters since you won't be using vine lashers mid-late game). Use them over walls or in bushes at certain choke points to split the enemy team. If the enemies are wasting their time killing your plants with abilities or autos, that's less damage your teammates are taking.

  5. Zyra is all about preparation and positioning. It's best to not let yourself get in bad situations if you can prevent it. Riot might change this with her update come mid-year, though I'm not sure it's really necessary. More practice with her might help. Wards are Zyra's best friend. She doesn't want to be using her E to save herself if she doesn't have to, she wants to use it to catch out enemies. If you get in a bad situation as Zyra, you'll most likely be screwed. If the enemy team dives you and you know you are going to die, drop all your plants and ult. This can often set up your team to get some kills or even snag a few yourself.

Core items: item 3020 item 3116 item 3135

Other items: item 3001 Useful against burst mages like Ahri Diana Fizz Kassadin Leblanc Also gives you magic pen which is the most efficient stat for Zyra.

item 3157 Useful against AD mids like Quinn Talon Yasuo Zed If you fight against these guys, rush item 3191 and pick up zhonya's when you feel like you need its active. It's a pretty expensive item, so rushing it isn't your best option in my opinion.

item 3089 Great for finishing off your build if you think you need more burst damage over survivability.

item 3151 I usually get haunting guise before void staff for some cheap mid-game magic pen. This item is pretty much core for me, but in certain situations it might not be needed. With how common tanks are in the meta right now, this is a great pick up. If you are against a team of squishies, pass on this one and go deathcap after void staff.

item 3092 Great if you are having mana issues or need CDR. The active is also helpful in landing your skillshots. If you are getting this item, pick it up first. I don't like grabbing it personally because Zyra has a really strong early game. I prefer item 1056 item 1056 early to help snowball a lead.

item 3027 Not my personal favorite, but if you need more survivability and mana, this item can be nice.

item 3285 There are so many other great items for Zyra that this item sorta falls off. It gives MS which can be great if you are really feeling her snail speed.

Hope this has helped some :]

Narasimha1 votes

Speaking as a Zyra main since s3 here.

  1. Her movement speed feels incredibly punishing. Before I played Zyra, I mained Teemo, so I know there is a huge difference. But I can't understand why she has such punishing movement speed and

  2. She feels incredibly squishy. Like, more squishy than Teemo, and I can't make sense of it because Teemo feels way OP compared to Zyra. I keep facing issues of trying to buff her MR/Armor/HP situationally, and no matter what I do, she just dies so fast even against 1v1 tank moments (where I am stuck because her movement speed is just slooooooooow). And she gets singled out more because people aren't scared of her because

These 2 are for the same reason. She has incredible zoning potential. Especially during the laning phase, her plants are quite deadly. If she didn't have weaknesses to capitalize on when someone jumps her, she'd be an absolute terror in the early game.

  1. Her damage just isn't that great. Other than engaging in a team fight, EWWQR combo winning some massive--but not that lethal--damage, she's kinda ignored. Now, when I've played Teemo support, the harass has really turned how ADC farming works. Sometimes, Zyra can devastate a player, like maybe an Ashe here and there. But generally speaking, people see Zyra, they see two seeds, they see plants pop up, and they laugh at the damage and ignore her. Part of the problem there is

She's not meant to be a massive nuker. Think of her as variant of Lissandra. Her value isn't in her damage. Its in her zoning and cc capabilities. Low CD aoe damage, good zoning, and strong AOE cc are her chief points. And even considering all that, her damage isn't that bad.

  1. The plants go down so fast, even against something like a Blitzcrank who can't even kill minions very well. It seems to me that plant damage in general isn't that solid, and they go down real fast, so they're basically no threat. Zoning? lol. People don't care. Ranged champs can stand outside the damage zone and gun them down. Melee champs just go straight to the face. And even when I successfully pop a plant under the champ's feet, once they move a bit out of the way, the plants frequently just attack something else. And I don't mean once they are out of the AOE circle, I mean, just move a little here or there, and the plant's ADD kicks in half the time.

She's not Heimderdinger. Her plants are meant to boost her damage, not be the primary source of it. They're the assistants, Zyra is still the main source of damage.

  1. When trying to escape, the one thing that really seems to screw with me is how her E forces her to stand still for about 1.5 seconds. This feels clunky as all get-out. No other champ I've played has this problem. So basically what ends up happening is I do a WE combo, or sometimes not depending, and as I cast the E, she stops to smell the flowers, and then resumes course. This frequently allows the people I am trying to get away from even more opportunity to catch and destroy me. Compare that to a Janna tornado or a Raka Q for reference.

This boils back to points 1 and 2. She's meant to be vulnerable if she's caught.

Honestly, it just sounds like she's either not your type of champion, or that you simply need more practice with her. You need to be constantly aware of your champion's limitations as well as your opponent's strengths. If people are able to ignore your plants, then it simply means you're not doing your job. You need to harass at every possible point. You need to make them terrified of every Q you throw out. If they're not at half health by level 4, you're not doing it right (assuming they didn't go B). Zyra is a champion that values positioning and thought. You can't throw out a full rotation and get a kill like other mages. You have to put in the effort to make her work.

As for build, I tend to go for item 3020 item 3116 item 3151 item 3157 item 3285 item 3089 Obviously, it can change based on your matchups, but I find this gives her a good balance of durability and damage.

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