Zyra support, the elephant in the room.

I did read "Before you make a post about balance..." so here's the checklist: Skill level: dominant at both mildly low elo (mine) and pro, (SKT vs. RNG, game 1) check. Professional play: SKT vs. RNG, game 1, check. Design core: Dominant in the pro game I'm currently watching. Check. Reasoning: I'm gonna tell you what's wrong. Check. Current environment: Flew under the radar before Worlds, but I sure did feel her dominance in the meantime. Check. Prioritize discussion: Heh, we can talk counterplay. We might end up highlighting how it's lacking on this champion. Six checks, guess my post is valid.

Which support never lost a game at Worlds so far? Which support abuses the fact that winning the lane makes people win the game? Which champion is currently suffocating SKT? Zyra, Rise of the Thorns. Since her mage update, she became 80% less fun to play against. Then, she got a base damage buff, and from this point I never had fun laning against a Zyra support. I never will. Her E was already annoying before her update, now her whole kit just got worse for her enemies. She's just a fun killer, simple as that, and I think the balance team should watch out for that kind of effect on players because they might switch to OW or that new game in beta that some LoL streamers play in queue.

The passive makes Zyra spawn seeds, Illaoi style. Up to 8 can be placed, the Illaoi intensifies. "Enemies can step on them!", you'd say, "Here's your counterplay!" sure, get hit with the bind with the least counterplay, and get chunked because you tried to deal with her free ability. The seeds can become Spellthief proc monsters (Heimerdinger style) by using a single ability, costing 60 to 90 Mana with the potential to grow several plants. The Q deals AoE damage, and makes the seeds in that area become long-ranged damage dealers. The W allows you to control where the seeds spawn, and increases the max HP of the plants. Yup, as if enemy ADCs and Supports needed to spend more time killing up to 8 damage dealing plants. The E is just the worst: firstly, it roots all enemies in a line. No, you can't stand behind minions like a Morgana bind. No, 2 minions are not enough, she's more than Lux. And good luck when it comes to stepping on the seeds when you almost reach it and you end up rooted and having to deal with a newly spawned plant that deals the same damage as the other one, but trades its long range with a slow. Yup, you don't survive unless you flash, most of the time. And finally you have the ult, the wonder. Firstly, you deal damage as soon as the thorns spread. 180 magic damage at rank 1, that is. Then, if you can't get out because of the Rylai and the E plants, you get knocked up for a full second.

I'd love to see you try ganking her, by the way. Many ally junglers died along with the ADC and me because we tried to stop her dominance. First the jungler gets rooted, then she spawns the long-ranged plants to chunk the bot laners down, and turns out we just fed 3 kills to the bot lane. We're supposed to deal with up to 8 resistant plants that deal up to 91.2 damage per second (23.2 at level 1) each, AP scaling aside in case that support doesn't have a mid laner complex, +50% simply by pressing R in the right area, but you also have to deal with Zyra herself and the ADC. That's what kills all the fun for the enemy team: you're just overwhelmed, suffocated, and you lose your bot lane 100% of the time. Don't think I'll ever pick this 0 dignity champ, by the way. I have standards. The elephant in the room is Zyra, the lane killer. Let's hope the next PBE cycle will fix the problem she is. You might want to look into cancelling her damage buff, that's a nice start. She'd go back to being just 80% less fun to play against. But I think the E needs a shank that adds counterplay, right now it's absurd. I have to adapt my rune pages by adding a fair share of magic resist, but it's not enough to deal with her.

What do you guys think will bring Zyra to a state of balance? Could it be the removal/reduction of the slow on her E plants? The ult's damage dealt along with the knockup instead of when it spreads out? Maybe the shank on her E I mentioned? A base damage reduction? An update cancellation Kog'Maw style? Feel free to reply with which nerf would restore Zyra to a state of balance in your opinion.