Boards›Gameplay

Zyra Runes

Breezy Boyy·1/12/2019, 4:01:55 PM·1 votes·2,115 views

So, I use to be a Zyra main, before I switched over to Janna and Karma, but recently, I'm starting to pick up Zyra a lot more again, mostly cuz I just miss the power high, but anyway..

I haven't really played Zyra all that much since Runes Reforged was released, and right now, I pick up Arcane Comet, with Manaflow Band Absolute Focus and Scorch, then go to Domination for Cheap Shot and Ultimate Hunter. I mostly go Sorcery just so I can get Manaflow Band, because Zyra has really high mana cost, and so I can get Scorch for the extra damage. I also get the Two Adaptive Damage Runes, and then the Flat Health Rune. Also, I kinda feel like Ultimate Hunter is sort of a must have on her due to the fact that most of her builds only have maybe 10% CDR on them, and Cheap Shot synergizes to well with her kit not to get, in my opinion.

However, I was wondering if I should switch out Absolute Focus for Transcendence, mostly because I feel like the extra 10% CDR would be more helpful than the damage boost. Don't get me wrong, I know that Absolute Focus damage boost can add up to a lot later in the game, but Zyra is just a very squishy champ, and it's fairly easy to get her past that 70% health threshold that's needed for Absolute Focus to work.

In another case, I was thinking about keeping Absolute Focus, but instead of getting Cheap Shot and Ultimate Hunter, switch them out for Taste of Blood and Ravenous Hunter. I'm aware that the healing is only 1/3 as effective for AoE abilities, which is all of Zyra's abilities, but with both of these, and all Ravenous Hunter stacks, I feel like it would make up for being 1/3 as effective. It might also help with how squishy she is overall, as I find that in the fights in which I survive, I'm at usually around 20-30% health.

I've also been looking at some other builds, specifically, going Domination primary, picking up Dark Harvest than Taste of Blood, Eyeball Collection, and Ravenous Hunter, than getting Scorch and Manaflow Band in Sorcery. I feel that Electrocute would be better for her, mostly because it's easy to proc with her kit, and that it's on a short cooldown.

FYI, I play her support.

So any advice would be helpful, please tell me about what Runes you pick on her.

3 Comments

Super Galaxy1/12/2019, 4:43:14 PM2 votes

I found great success with Electrocute>Cheap Shot>Ghost Poro>Ultimate Hunter, Absolute Focus / Transcendence>Manaflow Band.

Each individual plant that she spawns counts as a single entity used to proc Electrocute, so spawning two plants and hitting an enemy champion with the Q or E that spawns them will be basically an instant electrocute proc. It helps chunk people out of lane.

Cheap Shot and Absolute Focus also help with this.

And yeah, you'd be right about the 10% extra CDR from Transcendence being useful. I mostly build the spellthief support item, Rylai's into Liandry's Torment, so that's only 10% CDR among those 3 items, and CDR is valuable to her with her high cooldowns.

I suggest taking Ultimate Hunter because it's a game-shifting ultimate that could easily win you a team fight. It's better to have it up more often, especially mid- to late-game.

Troll Slaiyer1/12/2019, 6:19:56 PM1 votes

electrocute-cheap shot- eyeball-ultimate or relentless hunter-scorch-absolute focus.

item 3092 item 3285 item 3020 item 3165 item 3135 item 3089 my favorite against a squishy team. if they have an assassin, then probably pick up item 3157 . item 3102 for hookers or stuff like annie. replace the deathcap with those i'd say

Illabethe1/12/2019, 7:25:13 PM1 votes

I do a MUCH more novel build than the ones suggested so far, and it works:

Domination: Dark Harvest > Taste of Blood > Eyeball Collection > Relentless Hunter

Sorcery: Celerity > Gathering Storm

Why?

Zyra is arguably the best Dark Harvest Stacker in the game. Her skills do not require her to stand still, so drive by skilling is possible, and her plants/skills are some of the best utility to get people under 50, and ALSO get kills..... on the same champion. I average 30+ Stacksm whereas most champs get 15-20.
Taste of Blood offers some sustain that's good enough for her range.
Eyeball collection: Zyra already has vision application with plants, so 30 more AP is more beneficial
Relentless Hunter is the strongest mobility rune in the game, and compensates Zyra something she lacks. You don't need more of her Ult to do the job. You just need to get into positions where her other skills can do their jobs. Her range also makes Relentless easier to re-enter.

Sorcery

Celerity: I know everyone has an opinion about this tier of runes. I prefer NOT to take AP here, because Celerity is extremely beneficial to flat Move speed bonuses or % bonuses that do not come from boots.

In other words, it affects Relentless Hunter's base, and these AP items: item 3905 item 3907 item 2065 item 3100 .

Contrary to belief, you do NOT have to run a cookie cutter slow, Liandry's based build on Zyra. If you are mobile, and snowballing, sometimes being more mobile is stronger offensively than just hedging on damage when you are a slow moving champion that can be assassinated as a trade for eating her ult....

I cannot stress enough: 340-400 AP with 526 move speed is often FAR stronger than 700-900 AP with 380 Move speed. And if needed, you can adjust builds to get higher AP (I often max out my build items, the game is still going, so I start shuffling items around)

I do get Void Staff/Death Cap when needed, or even Morello/Liandry's. But I'm not commited to them.

P.S. My active win rate with her right now is close to 65%

P.P.S I think you have a misunderstanding of Ravenous Hunter/Taste of Blood:

-Taste of Blood will always give you the full heal amount, irregardless of aoe or not.

-Ravenous hunter only affects Zyra's Spells, not her plants, so it's actually an underperforming rune. 1/3 healing on only 3-4 skills per fight isn't that great.