Well, its time for the newest Champ. She is a new AP champ, so I jumped at the chance to play her. I have played her prior to her release on the beta. This guide will not be as detailed as other guides because there isn't enough data on her yet. I will focus on the items, because I find that building her is very difficult.

• Three AOE skills
• Plants allow for AFK farming and deceptive damage output
• Very practical snare
• Temporary wards
• Great Teamfighter
• Ult is an huge AOE knockup.
• Built in Cooldown Reduction

• 5 skill shots. Missing is VERY bad
• Passive is useless unless you die
• Seeds are hard to use effectively beyond creating plants
• Plants are insta killed by turrets.
• Kind of a weird walk animation that makes her look like a yeti.

OK, masteries. Standard 21/0/9. I take points in AD over Havock because 1% extra damage is nothing.

Another option is 9/0/21. Zyra has good base damage and her plants increase her DPS beyond her skills. The Utility tree has some nice stats for mages; Nice Cooldown reduction and Spell Vamp.
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Runes are standard for AP champs. I take increased mana regen. Zyra has decent mana usage, but you need the regen if you want to be aggressive early. MR Seals are also a good choice.
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Standard summoner spells. Ignite and flash. Flash is definitely a lot better on then Ghost on her. Teleport is also an option. I wouldn't suggest anything else for mid lane zyra.

Upon death, Zyra returns to her plant form. After 2 seconds, she can press any ability to fire a Vengeful Thorn towards her cursor, dealing 99 + (25 � level) true damage to each enemy it strikes.


This is a decent skill, but I wish it was something else. Passives that require you to die are awkward, and you have to aim it meaning you can miss. It is a lot of true damage, especially late game. Always try to hit as many people as possible.





Thorns shoot from the ground, dealing magic damage to enemies within the area.

Rampant Growth: If Deadly Bloom hits a seed, a Thorn Spitter grows. Thorn Spitter attacks with long range and deals magic damage.


A very practical skill. The attack is quick with a nice area. Not quite enough to get all of a minion wave, but definitely good for harass. The delay means you can cast this then put down a seed before the attack actually happens.

The thorn spitter is probably your best plant. The Attack range is nice and long. They will always attack the last thing you tried to auto attack. So make sure you at least target the champion when you sprout these.





(Passive): Grants bonus cooldown reduction.

(Active): Plants a seed lasting 30 seconds. If an enemy champion steps on a seed, it will be destroyed but they will be revealed for 2 seconds.
Zyra periodically stores seeds and she can hold up to 2 seeds at any given time. Zyra cannot plant any more than 4 plants at a time.
Cast spells on seeds to grow plants. Plant damage is based on Zyra's level. Extra plants striking the same target deal 25% less damage.


Very important skill for you. Not really worth putting points into more than once. Has zero cast time, so you can put them down really fast. You can have at most 4 seeds down, but you can only store 2. If you want to summon more than 2 plants, put down ahead of time. The stepping mechanic is annoying, but you can protect them by putting them in the middle of minions making it hard to walk straight at them. Using them as wards is inefficient since they only last 30 seconds.





Sends forward vines, dealing magic damage and rooting enemies for a short duration.

Rampant Growth: If Grasping Roots hits a seed, a Vine Lasher grows. Vine Lasher has short ranged attack that deal magic damage and slow by 30% for 2 seconds.


A nice skill that can snare an entire team or murder an incoming minion wave. The base snare is very short so get some points in it early. This has a fairly sizeable cooldown and is your only way of repelling attacks. This has a decent travel time, so you have time to place down a seed before it reaches max range.

Vine Lasher is a nice plant that can keep people around longer. Its best to get the plant between them and their escape path because then they have to spend more time around it. For a melee attack, the range is actually decent.





Summons the fury of nature, growing a twisted thicket at target location which deals magic damage to all enemies in the area as it expands. After 2 seconds, the vines snap upward knocking enemies into the air.

Rampant Growth: Plants within the thicket are enraged, increasing their attack speed by 50%.


One hell of an ultimate. The damage is big and fast, anything in the circle gets really hurt. However, you must use it in combo with your plants. Adding it into your combo is not hard, but you must make sure your other moves landed. Same as with the lasher plants, place the center of this move between the enemy and their escape. This makes it more likely for your knockup to land.

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In my experience, their is no big benefit to leveling up Q over E or vice versa. Focusing on one or the other just hurts you. Taking E gives you better CC, but taking Q gives you better damage. So, I level them up at the same time.

I start with Q as that is your best early damage move. Then take W because you need to have your seeds. Then E for the full combo. I then like to get a bit more in E to increase the snare duration. But then I max Q first (by one level) for the extra damage. You are welcome to take some points in W if you really want to, but wait until at least lvl 9.

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A quick aside about range. The range on Zyra's three skills are exactly the same. This means that being able to land one skill means being able to land all of them. You have to move in a bit for her ult, but a good zyra will own her zone.

Zyra is hard to build. Not because she doesn't work well with items, but because she works well with so many. As of yet, I can't say anything is the BEST to get on her other than Ionian boots and Rabadons.



Zyra can play keep away well, but the loss of the health pots makes for a potentially weak start. Still, I like the ring.


Best start. Speed is good for her and pots give her leeway for getting hit.



I call this core on her because of her W. Once her W skill is maxed, these boots and her masteries give her 39% cooldown Reduction. Straight. No blue buff required.


Zyra has synergy with a lot of AP items, but lets just go ahead and always get this. I see no reason to not get this either first or second on her.



A good item. Save it for when you need to get some Magic Penetration.


I don't like this item, but it might work on zyra. Her skills can be spammed well to charge it and her seeds count as a spell, so more viable then on most casters.


Getting this lets you get different boots since it gives you Cooldown. The stats are over all great and it lets you spam your skills with impunity.


Good defensive item. Definitely a good choice depending on what the enemy team is. Im looking at you


A must rush if you want the rod of ages. Good sustain early game.


Athenes is good, but Zyra doesn't really need this. No AP and her mana needs aren't severe enough to need this. But the MR is decent if you are against an Assassin like


I don't love this item, but this can certainly be a great lead in to your combo. Zyra's full combo is nasty, so this can almost guarantee a kill.


If you want to build the Unholy grail, this is what I would start with. This is the Cooldown of the grail and its good AP.


Yeah no. Zyra works well with a lot of things, but this is just a crap item in general.


Errr, its a good item, but all her skills are AOE. The spell vamp just isn't as effective on her. Her plants count as single target, but I don't know if they proc spell vamp. If you want the WOTA, get this.


Meh. Not the best stats. Builds into good stuff and gives you gold. It can work, but I wouldn't rush the things it builds into, lowering its gold effectiveness.


Zyra has a really nice Auto Attack animation. She does tend to use all her skills at once when going for the kill, but you can certainly space your skills enough to get great damage out of this. Her seeds will proc this. Very nice damage choice.


Noob stompers best friend. Not the best serious item, but its still a decent choice.


Again, meh. It builds into chalice, but I don't advice getting this.


If you don't need the ionian boots, switch to these late game. Very cost effective defense item.


Same as that stupid mask, waste of a slot. Riot should really have this and the mask build into something epic.


I like it, but probably not best on Zyra. I mostly get it for the Cooldown. But Zyra doesn't need to buy a lot of Cooldown because of her W passive.


HAHAHAHAHA. NO!!!! I can't think of a single AP champ who builds this. Yes you have a good auto attack. But don't. It will put you over the cooldown cap all by itself.


If you are facing Malz, Warwick, or Skarner, definitely buy. Otherwise, don't bother. Cost ineffective.


Huge damage, nuff said.


I like this item on Zyra. Her range is not enough to keep her safe in large fights, this can keep you alive for longer. I like to rush it for my first item, but that may not be the best route. Definitely a great item for her.


I don't call it core because, beyond her plants, zyra is all AOE. Her plants do proc this, but the moment you put down plants people back off. It is certainly good on her, but I wouldn't not advise rushing this. Its very expensive for the amount of AP it provides.


If you are going for the Lich Bane, sure. Its good stuff, but not the best stats. So, get it after the Death Cap.


Errrrr, I don't know. Zyra gets more out of other boots. They are a good choice, but I prefer other choices.


If you want the Arch angel staff, yes. Get it early. Its also fine by itself if you don't want to run out of mana.


I love to get this on Zyra. Great mana penetration and Zyra doesn't have to get Sorc boots.


Of all the usual AP items, this is probably the least usefull on Zyra. Her AOE comes back to haunt her. It is great if your top lane is gonna get it. But I would not get it if you are gonna be the only AP character.


A great defensive choice. Great AP and Zyras plants will keep doing work while she is in stasis. Great synergy with Zyra.


I like to get these early on Zyra. It gives her the option of building non AP items while this fills in for a while. Also great late game.

Im not gonna pretend I can write about how to handle the phases of the game or matchups for Zyra yet; she is too new. So lets leave it here for now. I'll come back if this gets popular.