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The real problem with Zyra isn't her passive or her numbers.

I Miss Cannon·7/14/2015, 7:38:04 PM·42 votes·3,706 views

The problem is that she feels so damn clunky. -Her Q has the delay of a Leona ultimate -Her E has 1100 range while her Q and W have about 800 cast range and her ultimate has 700 which makes it practically impossible to pull off a combo in time when you're hitting a root from over 800 range without risking the enemy will dash out. That's what happens to me often and it is pretty frustrating and i wouldn't necessarily buff her Q range but at least her ult cast range to 800 so it matches her other skills -Also her E's missile speed/width kinda feels meh in comparision to similar skills. Her E missile width was nerfed a while ago which was afaik one of the reason she disappeared completely -Her R is a 2 second delay for a 1 second knock-up. Why? Kalista got an instant 2 second knockup on a super-low CD which also offers a get-out-of-jail card for her support at the same time -her passive is okay but please remove the delay and buff the missile speed, right now it's only possible to hit people who don't know Zyra because nobody plays her All that points are the reason why it's nearly impossible and very frustrating to play against anything with some sort of mobility and the only lane opponents she can actually kill are the ones who are within the same tier as her (medium-range burst mage with no mobility). I'd suggest to cut down all her delays so she actually has a chance to hit anything against mobile champions.

30 Comments

A Miss Fortune7/14/2015, 10:45:19 PM15 votes

Her Q delay is long enough with how small the radius is, that there isn't really much of a reason that you shouldn't dodge it. it doesn't have that much range, the radius isn't that big, and the delay is pretty long for being her main source of damage.

Zyra doesn't really need damage buffs, she needs buff to her reliability and stupid mana costs.

Mimaropa7/15/2015, 3:42:12 AM6 votes

As a zyra support main, the only problem for her to me is her passive. I really hope that they tinker on it. For the rest of her abilities, the delays are there for a good reason. Good zyra players are able to activate seeds after she pulls her q or e in a sec after cast. You can q-w to block 1hit skillshot(it was implied on the latest riot cinematic, doesn't work on ahri's q that's why the skill is called the orb of deception), I counter blitz Q's most the time(you can tell they'll try to grab you when they speed boost). Her plants are good skillshot soakers. Her e can root evrything it touches, nuf said. Her ult also boosts her plants atk speed and does massive dmg with its massive size(knockups are a plus, you will barely dodge the dmg on it though). Don't compare her ult to kalista that does no dmg(it takes 1 sec to pull and 1 sec to go back and knock up, it makes sense it does 2sec ) she's an overall good standard nonmobile mage.

LVL 5 PORO7/15/2015, 4:48:14 AM6 votes

So I've been playing a lot of Zyra, mostly because I saw no one playing her and I thought she looked kinda cool. I used to feel the same way. I still think she's a bit clunky but as of now my only complaints about her are her passive delay and plant AI. Besides that, I think she's in a good place. The only downside to using Zyra is her items are insanely expensive. However, if you get ahead or manage to complete a full build you'll be scary as heck. Full build she has 3k hp, cc, and insane % burst. In a full combo a melee wont even be able to get within range before you devour his health bar.

Mr Broken Wings7/20/2015, 3:30:22 PM6 votes

Zyra is still the champion with the greatest damage output with lowest gold income. She is completly fine, a little buff to this cancer could make her to the nightmare she was back then when she got released. Silver gameplay and balance board, this thread gets upvotes. Completly retarded idea to buff her.

The Hate Boat7/14/2015, 7:50:51 PM6 votes

In my experience, Zyra's biggest problems are the following:

  1. Plant AI is slow to acquire/change targets when they enter/leave range.
  2. Her snare's hitbox is unreliable.
  3. 325 movespeed hurts her ability to land snare against targets who play smart.

I have no problem with her passive, but I think a nice QoL improvement would be a clearer indicator of when her passive's ready to be fired. Her delays are weaknesses, but weaknesses I don't mind dealing with. Mobility is always going to be a pain point against a skillshot champion, especially when her plants are immobile themselves, so if you try to hit the enemy with a plant and they jump on your face instead, you're double boned.

Osmigos7/15/2015, 10:11:17 AM4 votes

As a support Zyra main I feel that I should address some of the misconceptions, and provide some advice here.

The first thing I keep hearing about is people maxing Q for damage first. This might have been great back when SKT won worlds with her, but her oppressive damage and range was toned down a bit (rightfully so). Today's Zyra should be using E as her main damage ability. Rooting the enemy and dropping snare plants around them not only does huge damage, but sets up your teammates to dive on them and often still slows even if the actual roots miss.

Second, regarding the difficulty of landing spells, you shouldn't be expecting to play her as a blast mage like LeBlanc or Lux. I'd argue that Zyra is more powerful than either of them, but trades off a lot of speed in exchange for one of the strongest skill sets in the game. One very effective way to play her is to react to your opponent's moves rather than trying to catch them out of position. Did the opposing Leona catch your adc? Drop E/seeds in front of their adc so even if they dodge back to escape it you've now isolated Leona for easy pickings. If they aren't watching, or are too confident they can take it, they'll get a rude lesson in just how much damage you can dish. Try catching them off guard by hiding around corners or in bushes when you know they're coming. Get boots of mobility to help you find the right positioning and outmaneuver enemies. Use flash offensively to jump on enemies who think they're at a safe range from your roots. >Learn to combo her spells quickly< You can drop everything she has in less than a second, and when you land that on a hapless foe, you will often just insta-gib them right there. Of special note on that point, the huge majority of her damage is AoE so if you can tag multiple enemies in the center of your dump, they will all be rooted, knocked up and low health for easy clean up from your team (in one special game where I was fed, I actually managed a penta kill in just a few seconds when I caught them from a bush). The combo is also a great way to respond to the enemy team engaging, often turning the tide of a battle instantly as the other team is more focused on landing their abilities than dodging yours.

Third, people seem to think only about how easily her abilities can land. Now there are many ways to make that happen, as explained above, but Zyta is also really strong for zoning enemy players. Dropping e/w between enemy champions can isolate individuals for your teammates to pick off. R can break up the enemy team and ruin their engage by forcing them to choose between being vulnerable to a strong counter engage or backing off and leaving several of their allies in a very dangerous position. W is also an amazing tool for scouting, with a huge range it can check bushes before you're close enough to get jumped, or around corners/over walls to try and find hidden enemies.

Lastly I just want to say that I consider her to be easily the strongest support in low-mid elo soloq. When you can't really count on your adc, it's great to be able to put out large damage while keeping a safe distance during lane phase.

Chortle7/20/2015, 3:13:47 PM4 votes

Lackluster plant AI and a death-required passive are the only problems I see with Zyra. (AI being the most noticeable since her passive has gotten me plenty of kills along with dragon/baron steals)

She is sleeper OP in mid right now and with the itemization changes, she got even scarier.

AOE burst/root/knockup, vision capabilities, zoning, DoT, crazy dragon/baron pressure.

She almost always tops the damage charts. If you need mana, grab morello's and call it a day.

Most of the gripes being mentioned in this thread are caused by the player's incapabilities. She aint clunky, you clunky at playing her.

FastAsHeck7/15/2015, 12:01:10 PM4 votes

i dont think she needs buffs. what she needs is:

  1. a useful passive. A passive that encourages you to die is not a good passive (unless you are Karthus or Sion because these are actually well designed passives that change the gameplay). this passive is useless the better you are doing in the game.
  2. fixing the stupid high mana costs. you go oom in what, 4 q's?
  3. fix the damn plant AI!!! plants dont attack for 3 seconds or so after spawning. Also i dont see why they should have this HP system and not normal health like Heimerdinger turrets.
  4. I agree about the clunkyness on her e range. its probably the only ability that needs buffing about her.
godbuu7/15/2015, 12:27:08 PM3 votes

My biggest pain points are definitely plant AI (play her against heimer's turrets and watch the plants not attack anything) and her ult range. It's desperately low and is almost impossible to hit in a team fight since your champion is constantly sprinting forward to try to automatically get in range to cast it. Given her complete lack of play right now I find it hard to imagine she's going to break the game if you gave it an additional 200 units or so. It's aoe is smaller than zigg's ult and that one is global range!

Maple Crusader7/15/2015, 5:09:29 PM2 votes

It wouldn't hurt if Zyra's ult range got buffed.

CasterGilgamesh7/15/2015, 3:49:51 PM2 votes

Zyra needs a new and better passive like maybe she gains increased ap for every plant to makes?

s LessThanThree7/15/2015, 2:04:14 PM2 votes

I think the problem with Zyra is people don't know how to play her

VDc0zCqe0w7/14/2015, 10:27:40 PM2 votes

The real problem is that Riot forgot about Zyra's existance and hopes everyone else will too

there is no other explanation for being silent for so long

TNHA Baritone7/15/2015, 2:22:48 AM1 votes

Its obvious riot tried to make her kit go together and in many ways it does. But they should look deeper into her actual combo. It's so easy to evade her combo and NO ONE notices that her ult affects her plants' attack speed. I think it would be less clunky if her ranges were looked at and changed to match each other in a combo. right now she has to E then move up to q then move up to ult and most of the times you hit the enemy your ult and they walk away free....no extra damage or slow....I understand her kit revolves around plants....and to be honest ...her plants as a whole need reworks. they rnt even specialized...one has big range the other slows....

Catastrop7/15/2015, 4:06:03 PM1 votes

Change her passive and her mana costs, that's all she needs really.

Cindikle7/15/2015, 2:27:58 PM1 votes
  • Leona's ulti delay is mainly to help you avoid the center. Unless you have mobility you generally are going to get hit with at least the slow. It's faster than you give it credit for. I don't often have problems landing it. You can also time with your AA to ensure the plant attacks your target. Giving it Q damage, AA damage and likely 2 plant hits.
  • E's range is fine. If you land it on someone at the tip, it's probably best not to combo them with your ulti. I do agree the speed is too slow. While I understand it goes through minion/champions. I'd gladly give up 200 range for more speed. At it's speed and range, it feels more like the enemy has to screw up than I aimed it right.
  • R's delays is mostly fine. I'd like the ability to have a small slow attached through. 20% or so. Nothing large. Although she already goes well with Rylai's.
  • Her passive needs to have a charge like Varus' Q and have the delay lowered.
  • She is very slow. There are champions with more reliable CC and damage and are faster than her. Unless her E's speed gets buffed she should get a MS buff to 335.

Zyra is a very strong champion. She does lack in the early game right now though. Which is fine for how much power she can bring late game. And her early game isn't even that weak because she can play safe fairly easily with plants and proper warding. She'd gain a lot from a faster E and more reliable passive without becoming OP. And sure relying on a death passive isn't the best thing. But being able to turn a 0-1 into a 1-1 can be a big deal for her lanning since she at her weakest there.

CreationFlaw7/14/2015, 7:45:46 PM1 votes

Yeah, but Zyra ultimate is a huge aoe covering lane width

Shadowrun7/15/2015, 7:25:02 PM1 votes

Hahahahah this thread makes me laugh. You definitely max her q first. And her combo isn't hard to land at all. Please buff her though I will be diamond by seasons end than. My goodness zyra has the highest cumulative win percentage since her release (52%) but hey please buff her I won't complain. -best zyra NA