Maxing Zyra E before Q ; The best way to go?

Dominick Destine·Jan 5, 2016·1 votes·1,044 views

According to http://champion.gg/champion/Zyra , the most successful way to play Zyra is by playing support and maxing her E first (Grasping roots)... given that her E does not improve in cooldown and remains at a 12 second CD, it makes me strangely cautious to attempt said strategy.

Zyra's Q is so ubiquitous and powerful , maxing it last just seems unheard of. Has anyone attempted this or perhaps been successful with that type of build? I would like to try a new support as I have gotten tired of the alternative support characters.

Thoughts?

9 Comments

Commit SudokuJan 5, 20161 votes

isnt maxing E make the plant have a stronger slow and the E have a longer root?

Dominick DestineJan 5, 20161 votes

The level of Q or E doesn't affect the power of the produced plant.

SerevasJan 5, 20161 votes

There's a few things I look into when looking at stuff like that, which is primarily how many games it's done in.

According to the website it's only done in 124 games out of 13943 registered as of my writing this post.

So there's probably situations where the longer root duration is valuable. Say you're laning with Miss Fortune. Rooting a champion into the ultimate for 1.75 seconds instead of .75 seconds gets off a lot more damage. So there were probably rare situations where it was just better for the game at the time. It's also possible there's some Zyra support main that knows a lot more than the rest of us do about her, but I think it's probably the rare situations where it works better than having more damage.

DreadlocksJan 5, 20161 votes

Typically if my lane is in need of damage, ill max Q first, if not E first is really good for the extra root duration. Typically ill max Q first and put at least 2 points into my E if i plan to max W second. I also dont have a problem playing her with 1 point in W.. but thats just me.. Either way maxing E isnt bad for the extra CC duration.

Stiv1234Jan 5, 20161 votes

Maxing Q is generally more favorable if you are playing versus a weak early-game champion like Koggles because it pokes like hell. People maxing E are aiming at all-ins, they try to burst the enemy down with one combo at level 6 or similar. This would be good with e.g. MF or Lucian who have loads of damage, but need the targets to stay in place for as long as possible. If you look at the snare duration, at rank 1 its only 0.75, which is basically as long as the casting animation roots you, so its only good for summoning Lashers. If you max it, at level 6 you will have a 1.25 snare which will practically guarantee the knockup on your ultimate, so its even more CC coming out of it. If you use every skill once only, it doesnt even matter damage-wise what you max. The only advantage of maxing Q is the lower cooldown.

Pika310Jan 5, 20161 votes

I have to say I'm one of the people that max E over Q. Zyra has the lowest HP and armor of all supports, she's a backline mage focused on poke and damage. I see her Q as little more than a means for summoning plants, whereas E is her main source of keeping herself and allies safe from enemies that just wanna rush you head-first. Sure, if the enemy is in range I'll use Q for damage, but before that, Zyra'd rather they not be in range unless she knows their attention won't turn to her the moment she moves in.

Bondage BunnyboyJan 5, 20161 votes

I think it depends on the enemy and whether or not you're getting help from your team. If you're getting ganks from either team, no reason to not get more CC, but if neither jungler is ganking bot and you're facing a poke heavy duo (think Sona and Lucian) where you can't guarantee a snare, you might want stronger poke.

Slamurai JackJan 5, 20161 votes

I would guess that Zyra already does so much damage that locking the enemy down longer is worth more than more damage from Q. It's a pretty small sample size so take it with a grain of salt, but if I had to explain it, that's how I'd do it.

StellafreyjaJan 5, 20161 votes

(I play a lot of ARAM so my opinion may be invalid)

I usually max E first, solely because of the root duration. At level 1, her E's root is .75 seconds which is barely enough time to do anything. I just find it more helpful for me and my team to max E first.