Hi!
Welcome to my first Solomid.net guide :) Thanks in advance for the time you're spending reading this guide, i owe you a beer ^_^
Let's introduce myself: my name is DJPao, i'm an average 1200/1300 player on EUW, nothing special, but i just try to put effort in what i like to do.

I mainly play AP Mid or Support for team Critter Kill Squad (hi Team!), so Zyra immediately caught my attention, being able to cover both of my main roles.

As i said, this is my first ever LoL guide, i'm far from being a Pro player, so forgive me for being somehow dumb or unable to cover every aspect of Zyra and what she offers.

Enjoy :)

= DJPao =

Mastery-wise, I'm still looking for a perfect mastery page for Zyra.
Actually, 9/3/18 is what i'm running: she is an aggressive Support, so AP/Magic Penetration is a a good choice to poke in lane, while taking Heal bonus and a little armor from the Defense tree, losing just the 21st point in Utility ... good but not mandatory, in my opinion.

A different Mastery Page could be 0/9/21, taking armor/health in defense, against a heavy harass lane.

Speaking about runes, i'm still testing out 2 Rune Pages for Zyra. The first one is the page i'm featuring in this guide, running Armor Marks, Flat Mana Regen Seals, AP/level Glyphs and Gold Quintessences.

CDR Glyphs are not needed, since you will still reach 39% by maxing W (20%), building Ionian Boots (15%) and 4% from Offense masteries (or Utility, if you still want to run 21 points in Utility.

Another viable option is playing with Gold Glyphs, leaning towards lategame ... but i still prefer playing with AP/level, since AP boosts skills AND our plants, being able to poke the hell out of our botlane or pumping out some more damage during Dragon/Baron or Teamfights.

is quite mandatory: Zyra has NO escapes, no position skills, NO NOTHING. We MUST be able to avoid dangerous spells or CCs.

or is just a matter of preference and synergy with your AD Carry: i prefer running Exhaust while playing premade bottom or 5s, while i prefer Heal laning with an unknown AD Carry with no communication whatsoever.

Can be a viable option, if you want to play an extra-aggressive kill-botlane

Nowadays is a subpar summoner spell, as Junglers become more unpredictable day after day.

Any other Summoner spell is quite useless, just is viable against a really really CC heavy botlane, like or something like that

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.

It's amazing how much damage this passive is able to pump out, when needed. Quite as good as Kog'maw's, sometimes even more.




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.

It's a good skill while playing AP Mid, but support-wise, it's just good to pop out ranged plants to harass, since Q-Plants do not scale more by maxing out Q first.
Max Q last, at level 18




(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.

Mini-wards, a HUGE amount of Cooldown Reduction, your plant source ... W is an amazing spell, it's versatile, as you can put down seeds during Q/E travel time, to set up the plants you really need for the engage you look for.
Max W second, at level 13




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.

Damage, quite a long snare ... this spell is your main harass ability, used to set up engages.
When you are sure to root an enemy champion, put down a seed in the travel line of this spell, in order to pop out your Melee-Slow plant, then immediately Q and put down another seed inside the Q damage area, to pop out your second plant.
Max E first, at level 9




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%.

HUGE range, HUGE radius. Not so good to engage, just amazing after rooting an enemy champion, during a gank or engage, more amazing in teamfights, where it's full power comes in play.

Use your Ultimate ONLY if you have 2+ plants down, or if you will manage to put down 2 fast plants during Ultimate "arming" time.
Obviously get a point whenever able, at level 6, 11 and 16.

Recap:
> > >

Engages:
into
then into and

This guide is far from being complete or perfect, i'll try to make adjustments by experience, gameplay and so on, adding more information in the next days/weeks.

I hope you enjoyed this guide, have fun playing Zyra.

Huge thanks to my team and teammates, thanks to ArashiXXII for laning with me (sorry, i don't mean to KS you *kiss*)

See ya next time!!!!

= DJPao=



*** TO DO LIST ***
- Laning Phase
- Synergies with AD Carries
- Counters and Countering with Zyra
- Item Build discuss