Hello everyone, and welcome to my version of Zyra, Rise of the Thorns, guide.

....I’ve been playing on the North American server since Season 2. My main summoner name is lTYTl (with Ls), and my second is Haijengi. I’ve reached Diamond a couple times since season 3 but due to my interest in other games I have almost always elo decayed to Platinum. However, I intend on only playing League of Legends this year to see how high I can climb. As of now, Haijengi is Diamond 2 and lTYTl is Diamond 4. I chose Zyra due to my opinion that Zyra is the strongest support at this moment that I'm writing the guide (theoretically, and yes, even ahead of Lulu). I felt my overall experience of the game and competence would lead to a good guide.

This is also my first content in a series of other League of Legends contents I plan on creating for the next few weeks, so it will be much appreciated if you guys could show some love. If there is something you don't like (or like!) please let me know in the comments section.

TYTsupp's Patreon Page!

I just wanted to add my Patreon page because I plan on making as much League of Legends content for the next month or so. Any of you who are interested can visit freely. As for more guides, I will only be doing them if there are enough requests. This Zyra guide took a good 50+ hours to make, and so I don't really want to spend so much time again if my guide isn't interesting enough. Also, if you donate with a request, I would have no choice but to respond in the quickest and best manners possible.

Patch 7.9 Changes!!

Nothing really changes through this patch for Zyra, and in fact, I could argue she got slightly buffed from several things. First is the introduction to a new magic resist item that works well versus continuous spells, which Zyra isn't about (goodbye Cassiopeia). Armor items generally got buffed, and armor reduction items got nerfed meaning magic damage is that much more important. The update of support items makes Ancient Coin sound nice, but movement speed you get from Frostfang is better. I even emphasized the need for movement speed as Zyra support in my guide, and the change to Spellthief's Edge item lines only helps Zyra. But since the mana regen part got nerfed, Meditation is now a must. The new item changes need some testing and I'll be back to that as soon as possible.

With all that said however…

Ability Sequence

(Click to enlarge chart)

OR

There are only a couple flexible options for Zyra in terms of masteries. 18 points in cunning is a must, as there really isn’t any other final tier mastery useful to Zyra other than Thunderlord's Decree . The first tier in cunning isn’t flexible as you have no use as a support having extra damage against minions and masters- thus 5 points in Wanderer . The second tier is also an obvious choice as you won’t really be getting buffs to utilize Runic Affinity , and you won’t really be alone any time during the game so there’s no use for Assassin . Go with 5 points towards Secret Stash . The third tier is the first flexible option from the cunning mastery tree. You can either go with 5 points in Merciless for the extra damage, or you can go with Meditation for extra mana regen. The choice is up to you, and it also depends on your play style and mindset. If you are confident in your ability to hit skill shots (in other words, you are confident you are clearly better than your opponent), then go with Merciless . If you find it difficult to win your lane at your current elo, then go with Meditation (same if you think you are quite even in laning phase). The fourth tier also leaves us with 2 options (no use for Dangerous Game , you won’t be consistently killing champions as a support, and even then, the other two masteries are better). The most common, and probably the best option, is to go with Bandit , as it provides some extra gold for a role that gets the least amount of gold from all positions. The other option is to go with Greenfather's Gift . This mastery is actually quite undervalued from many support users, and there was a time when I would take this almost every time with mage supports. It’s fairly easy to proc as ranged champions since you can just auto attack to proc it, and bush control is one of the most important aspects as a support during laning phase, helping your cause in procing it. On the contrary, it means you’re getting less gold without kills, forcing pressure on you to kill or win significantly in cs during laning phase to come out ahead. Hence, like Merciless , this is an option for those who think they can CRUSH their opponent during laning phase. The 6th tier is preferential for most supports but Precision is much better for Zyra considering her damage output potential. The final tier is obviously Thunderlord's Decree , anything else is troll.

The rest of the 12 points can either go into ferocity or resolve. If you prefer to live by the edge and go full damage, then you can go ferocity with 5 points in Sorcery, Expose Weakness , 5 points in Natural Talent , and probably Battle Trance , or Double Edged Sword . I tend to believe that you do more damage by being alive for the most time you possibly can, so even if you want more damage, resolve might be better anyway. For resolve, go 5 points in Recovery , Zyra can’t really maximize Unyielding , and that’s not really how she is meant to be played anyway. Recovery helps deal with Zyra’s lack of sustain, so it’s superior to Unyielding . For the second tier, Explorer is the best option as supports are meant to use the river and bushes quite often (although for tanks Tough Skin is also incredibly useful considering they get hit a lot), and it also slightly improves Zyra’s survivability. The third tier is obviously 5 points into Veteran's Scars as Zyra lacks any useful shield or healing to maximize Runic Armor . The final tier for resolve would be Insight ; reducing cooldowns is very useful for Zyra as it helps with not only survivability but initiations. The other two, Perseverance and Fearless , wouldn’t be too great on Zyra who doesn’t have much health regen, armor, or magic resist.

You are going to want to take Flash and Exhaust in 90% of your games. The slow adds another CC resource, while also helping Zyra land her E Grasping Roots. The damage reduction is great for counter play, and is harder to react to for opponents compared to Ignite, which is quite often just used as damage. Even when the opponent support is Soraka or another sort of healer, if the opposing team has dangerous burst assassins like Ahri, Akali, Annie, Camille, Diana, Ekko, Evelynn, Fizz, Kassadin, Katarina, Kha'Zix, LeBlanc, Lissandra, Nocturne, Pantheon, Renekton, Rengar, Riven, Shaco, Talon, Twitch, Wukong, Xin Zhao, Yasuo, Zed, or just high damage champions like Anivia, Brand, Cassiopeia, Corki, Darius, Draven, Fiddlesticks, Fiora, Graves, Hecarim, Irelia, Jarvan IV, Jax, Kalista, Kennen, Kindred, Malzahar, Master Yi, Nidalee, Orianna, Quinn, Rumble, Ryze, Swain, Syndra, Tryndamere, Vayne, Viktor, Vladimir, then there’s good reason to take Exhaust. If there’s two of them, it’s just better to take Exhaust and rush Morellonomicon if you need the healing reduction. After all, Morello is really good on Zyra anyway. But if the opposing team doesn’t really have any dangerous burst dealers, and also has a healer, taking Ignite is certainly better.

In short...

Just take Flash Exhaust, unless you feel healing reduction is necessary from you as a support role either because A. enemy team has a lot of healing or B. there's no one on your team that can get healing reduction during the early-mid game.

Taking Ignite for its damage is quite unnecessary because Zyra can often cast skills to target opponents outside of the Ignite range. Plus you have to remember that you are a support, not a damage dealer, and Exhaust provides Zyra another way to protect the adc.

+3 OR and

Spellthief's Edge + 3 Health Potions/1 Health Potion + 1 Control Ward

Spellthief's Edge is THE MOST cost efficient and effective item for Zyra support to start out the game. It gives you AP, natural gold generation, more mana regeneration, and then even more damage and gold for everytime you hit a spell or basic attack against champions or buildings. Everything is useful and great for Zyra. Most of the time, you would get 3 Health Potions or rather 3 Total Biscuit of Rejuvenation through masteries. But there are situations that require Zyra to start with a Control Ward. The precondition is that you are confident you will win or go even in lane with just 1 Health Potion, or you are absolutely certain your team’s jungler will gank bot SUCCESFULLY, at least burning two summoner spells, before your first back. Only then could you safely use an early Control Ward for early vision control, which helps snowball the game in your favor.

> > > > > >

Laning phase normally doesn’t end on your first back, which means you don’t necessarily have to rush Sightstone. Putting more priority into Frostfang helps Zyra become even stronger in lane. Moreover, junglers usually have a limited number of gank attempts in the early game because they also have to farm for gold and experience, meaning smart placements of Stealth Ward should be enough to keep you safe from ganks for the first few minutes of the game. Furthermore, the use of Control Wards eases jungle pressure without having a Sightstone.

-> -> -> -> ->

Mobility Boots, in my opinion, is by far the best boots to get for Zyra players who are confident their map reading skills are average to above average. It provides Zyra roaming abilities, more survivability, and room for more outplays. Roaming abilities should come as no surprise to most people who know that Mobility Boots provides 115 movement speed outside of combat. The survivability part may be confusing, since you actually don’t have any better movement speed than Boots during combat. So let’s look at the images below.

For this image, let's assume you can see everyone else on the minimap, and are busy doing their own things. The lines indicate transitions into danger zones, in which Zyra could run into Kha'Zix. The little dots are the safe warding positions for that color. Red indicates situations in which Zyra doesn't have Mobility Boots. Yellow indicates either, without having Mobility Boots, when Kha'Zix isn't taking a direct route and jungling in the middle, or when you have boots of mobility, it is the regular safe zone. Green shows the potential warding spots and safe zones when you do have Mobility Boots AND Kha'Zix is jungling.

This is definitely a rough estimate, but it helps make my point. Most people who play League of Legends aren't constantly aware of these specific safe zones. As a result, simply having more movement speed can increase Zyra's survivability through increasing the area of these safe zones. Furthermore, by becoming capable of more safely deep warding, it increases your team's vision control, leading to more information for your team, and thus more opportunity for better plays. Mobility Boots is also helpful in chasing for initiation, stronger fakes (described below in nuances), and helping your teammates outside of bot lane. Lastly, it's one of the cheapest boots options as the total cost is only 900, and for us supports who beg for gold, that's a very important aspect.

Ideally, you want to upgrade your Boots before Eye of the Watchers, and after Sightstone and Frostfang. But certain situations require you to mix up the orders, and I'll try to list a few.

Obviously, I was joking with the last point (although not really if your team decides to open mid... then anything's possible), I don't really encourage intentionally feeding even if the game is out of hand, just because it's only going to ruin your own KDA .

-> ->

Hence You Should Rush Rylai's Crystal Scepter unless...

->

Your fourth item is rather simple, if you got Rylai's Crystal Scepter as your third item, then go for Liandry's Torment. If you got anything else as your third item, finish Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

Importance of Rylai's Crystal Scepter Examples!

This is an example that exemplifies why I argue that Rylai's Crystal Scepter is OP on Zyra. Not many people calculate the slow from Zyra's plants, and it leads to mistakes (like this Irelia's death).

This video shows how frustrating a Zyra with Rylai's Crystal Scepter could be. The enemy team is trying to make a push, but is forced to stop because of a support poking from the side.

This section is to discuss the importance of Control Wards for a support. I understand that some of you may already know this, and if you do, that's fine. You can just skip along. But even if you do know the importance of Control Wards, I still recommend you read this just in case you actually don't know what I'm about to say.

If you are a support player in League of Legends, and you are serious about climbing, then you HAVE to know that you should almost always be carrying at least one Control Ward any time you can after the first few minutes of the game. One of the most essential, and perhaps the most important, job of a support is vision control. Yet a lot of people play the support role like carry roles, trying to rush their core items as soon as possible, even if it is at the expense of Control Wards. If that's you, rushing core items over vision items, then the support role ain't for you. I'm sorry if that's harsh, and I'm not going to act like my words are law, this is just my opinion.

As an example, try to search the leaderboards on op.gg or lolking.net, and look at the past games of the top support players in the world. You will see that they buy, in most situations, at least 4 to 5 Control Wards a game. That may not seem like much, but sometimes, they buy over 10, and rarely, even over 15!.

Here's my match history as an example:

(Yes, that's two support Ezreal games in Diamond :P)

Basic Combinations

W Rampant Growth + Q Deadly Spines

W Rampant Growth + E Grasping Roots

Q Deadly Spines + W Rampant Growth

E Grasping Roots + W Rampant Growth

These are the basic combinations that Zyra uses. You're placing her seed while casting either Deadly Spines or Grasping Roots. The difference between the first two and the last two is when you are casting W Rampant Growth. You should get used to placing your seeds after casting either Deadly Spines or Grasping Roots in order to react to opposing champion movements, and thus for better placements for plants.

Advanced Combinations

E Grasping Roots + Q Deadly Spines + W Rampant Growth

E Grasping Roots + W Rampant Growth + Q Deadly Spines + W Rampant Growth

E Grasping Roots + Q Deadly Spines + 2W Rampant Growth

These are basically different compositions of the combos above. You won't always have two seeds stored, unlike practice mode, so the first combination is probably the most used one of the three. E Grasping Roots + Q Deadly Spines + W Rampant Growth maximizes damage when the opposing champion has an escape ability due to Q plants' superior range. It's also the easiest to use, and also much superior than EWQ once you have Rylai's Crystal Scepter. EWQW is all around useful during team fights when you have two seeds stored to raise both plants, and EQWW is the best damaging combo once you get Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

Ult Combinations

There are several ways you could incorporate Zyra's Stranglethorns into her combos. One thing you should ALWAYS be aware of is that you should try to raise at least one plant (ideally two or more) when using Stranglethorns. Try not to use Stranglethorns by itself, as you'll notice that without Zyra's enraged plants, it doesn't do as much damage as you would like. Incorporate Stranglethorns into the advanced combos above by using your ultimate once the plants are set up. The following are couple other ways you could use Stranglethorns.

E Grasping Roots + R Stranglethorns + Q Deadly Spines + 2W Rampant Growth

The idea behind this combination is to snare enemy team, use your Stranglethorns for crowd control, and maximize damage through Deadly Spines and enraged plants. You could mix up when to raise plants, for instance E + W + R + Q + W is practically the same concept except having a slowing plant. The decision is up to you.

R Stranglethorns + Q Deadly Spines + 2W Rampant Growth +
E Grasping Roots

This combination is what you use when you don't have to use Grasping Roots for crowd control before using Stranglethorns. For instance, your team could have landed area crowd control, such as Galio's Shield of Durand, or Amumu's Curse of the Sad Mummy. In such cases, you can just go ahead and use Stranglethorns first, use Deadly Spines for damage and Rampant Growth for plants, then use Grasping Roots when enemy team comes down for extra crowd control.


As some of you may have noticed, Zyra has a lot of possible combinations due to her flexible use of Rampant Growth. Hence what I listed isn't everything, but contains most of the concepts behind how you should use Zyra's skills. Even though this may seem a little complicating, with enough practice, you guys should have no problem using Zyra's combos.

Generally, early game refers to the period during your game in which all turrets are alive, or in other words, the laning phase. Laning phase usually lasts about 8-14 minutes-ish, but it’s always different game by game due to differing game flows. So keep in mind that this section assumes an average game flow.

Level 1 Passive Use

Zyra is capable of immediately applying pressure on lane from level 1 by using her passive. Ask your jungler if you don't have to leash, or if the jungler can start from top side. If the jungler says yes, go to bot lane early to plant your seeds. Some of it will disappear but it's okay.

If you wait, and land your Deadly Spines...

As you can see, it's not broken to give you an automatic win, but it is still substantial damage to give your lane a slight lead (which you can snowball).

Even if you don't land Deadly Spines...

You can miss Deadly Spines, and still cause pressure early on by pushing the wave, allowing you and your ADC to hit level 2 first.

The Importance of Auto Attacks in Lane

I've already mentioned a couple times on how good Zyra's auto attack motion and range is. It makes harassing certain ADCs, like Lucian or Vayne, fairly easy. For instance...



In addition, even if you meet a long range ADC like Caitlyn, you can still use Zyra's auto attacks by attacking minions, or the support (in this case Janna), to control wave (in this case shove for faster level 2).

“Fakes”

"Fakes" are what I call certain randomized movements that you can give out in order to more easily dodge, and thus also burn, opponent skill shots. This is maximized when you mix it up with your real intended movements, such as using Deadly Spines + Rampant Growth, or simply, just auto attacking. It's another reason why I put so much emphasis on Zyra's auto attacks, because unlike skills with cool downs, "faking" an auto attack can be used at any moment. For example...


Even though it looks like Thresh is targeting Twitch, this Death Sentence was baited through Zyra's auto attack pressure, and repeated movements (fakes) for roughly 2 seconds, tempting Thresh to throw his Death Sentence at that spot.


This might look like I reacted to Brand's Pillar of Flame, but it's actually a result of utilizing fakes. Well, I did react in a way from the sound and motion of Brand but I decided to move upward even before seeing the skill animation of Pillar of Flame because it was a spot that I haven't been to yet. If I break down the sequence, it's rather simple. Zyra auto attacks Caitlyn-> Zyra fakes auto attacking Caitlyn -> Zyra fakes auto attacking Brand -> Brand misses Pillar of Flame.

In summary, "fakes" are quite advanced skill sets that require you to understand the opponent's skills in order to bait them out. It's not for everyone to use, and probably is more for higher elo players.

Using Zyra Plants to Block Skills

It's also important to remember that Zyra's plants can block skill shots (not just in early game, but throughout the game). For example, it could block Rocket Grab, Sear, Winter's Bite, Volley, 90 Caliber Net, Missile Barrage, Mystic Shot, Inner Flame, Death Sentence, and so on.

Death Sentence block...



90 Caliber Net block, saving Lucian...



Sear block...

When to Watch for Ganks and Roams

Typically, you want to be especially careful for ganks around 3:00~to 3:30 area, and the 4 minute marks. If you know that the enemy jungler started bot side, it's highly unlikely you'll get ganked until the 4 minute mark. But you want to be careful around 3:30 just in case the enemy team jungler is doing full clear bot side, and then ganking. If you know the enemy jungler started top, you want to be careful around the 3:30 to 4 minute mark, and you'll be safe around 3 to 3:30.


This video actually shows a situation in which Evelynn counter-jungelled Ivern's red because he was caught at top side. She got caught in our vision though, which made us slightly more careful. In these kind of situations, fight your lane assuming it's going to be a 2v3, especially against Evelynn since she's invisible. That's why I save Exhaust until the very end, because I'm scared Evelynn might show up any time. She shows up rather late (I feel like she might have been waiting for me to use Exhaust since the enemy team bot lane goes aggressive all of the sudden), and it ends up in huge victory for us.



This is immediately after the first video. Any time you happen to kill the enemy team jungler and take a buff, you always have to becareful of a re-gank, especially double buffs, because the jungler is going to want the buffs back. Despite being aware of that, I stay around because I know that with my Flash, there is a potential outplay even 2v3 since enemy team bot and Evelynn just burned all their summoners. [[Evelynn] does come back, but since we are aware of that, we get free kills again.



In this game, we knew that Nidalee started top side because their bot lane came straight to lane and began pushing. So I try to stay alert from 3:30ish, and ward as soon as my trinket comes back up. What do you know, I run into Nidalee (in hindsight I should have just killed the crab, but I got hungry for those buffs).



If you haven't seen the jungler gank yet, you always have to be careful around the 4 minute mark, especially if the enemy jungler can lane gank well, like Nautilus.

Deep Warding

Generally, this concerns warding the enemy jungle as far out as you can. There are couple sweet control ward spots that people don't regularly check early on, but I'll start with an Evelynn special.



When the enemy team has Evelynn, you want to ward either one of the opposing team's jungle camp, or a jungle route of Evelynn so that she gets caught soon after killing a camp.



This video shows me going deep to place a Control Ward. There are certain pre-conditions in order for you to deep ward. First is whether your adc is safe or not, and in this video, I can tell she is safe because there's a huge wave going towards enemy bot lane. Second is whether you know it's safe to go in there, and knowing I can only run into their jungler, I go in, place the Control Ward, pop the seeds and get out. That's a win folks.

If you don't have the time or safety to go that deep, then just ward somewhere around mid. It's still relatively a deep ward considering how early you do it, it's just the safest deep ward possible early on. For instance...

When to Roam

There are two conditions that you HAVE to meet before actually roaming. First, your adc must have some sort of safety when you leave to roam, whether that be knowing the enemy team isn't around bot through vision, or successful kills at bot. Second, you must have team backup ready to wherever you are planning on roaming to. It's pointless for support to roam when there is no team backup.


The video above shows a situation in which both conditions are met. We kill both Jinx and Leona, giving us an easy roam opportunity towards mid. Clearly the back is there as I go with Lee Sin, and Kennen is ready to help.



Again, I go to roam because both conditions are met. Since Jinx dies, our adc is relatively safe, especially once we see Nidalee around mid. I also notice she hasn't done red buff yet, which is why I go wait there. When you go roam, remember that it doesn't HAVE to be mid.

Mid game usually refers to the time in which one or few turrets have been taken down. Time wise, it’s usually begins around 10-14 minutes (rough estimate) and ends around 30 minutes (or when both teams have 3 or more core items).

Protecting Mid Lane

Once one of the bot turrets go down, it's in your team's best interest to start grouping mid either to defend your mid turret, or attack the opponent's (assuming one or both are up). Mid turrets are essential because it's like a person's spine. Mid lane is the most used lane when moving around the map, so having your turrets up helps controlling vision massively. So don't be afraid to use Stranglethorns if it's needed in order to protect your turret. For example:



So if you see your mid laner trying to go back home (like Annie in this next video), try to help defend the turret until they get back.



You also don't have to just purely defend. Any time you see an opportunity to harass the opposing mid laner, like Viktor here, go for it. It's only helping your own team.

Pressing on your Advantages

By the time the game goes to mid game, you should have at least one role winning (or even). If you are all losing then it's going to call for a "trap" situation (explained below) or just a surrender. You always want to work around your strengths, even split pushing, in which you want to make it easier for your split pusher by warding for him or her. Here are some easily recognizable situations:



Draven and I start moving towards top side because dragon and bot first turret is down. Accordingly, Fizz goes to bot, and the rest of our team wants to get the top first turret. While I try to ward around the top jungle, I run into Evelynn trying to clear wraiths. When you are clearly ahead, make sure you don't make it easy for the enemy jungler to farm. Try to take away any gold you can, even 10g is enough to frustrate the opponent (which is an intangible that works towards your teams favor).


This is shortly after the previous video. We end up moving towards topside, and knowing that the enemy team's bot is trying to push the bot turret, we make moves aggressively at top (since worst case scenario is 4v3, still in our team's favor). Every single one of the enemy team makes small mistakes, which snowballs for our team immensely. We eventually take out an inhibitor, and the enemy team should have grouped to defend top.



There are a couple noteworthy events going on in this video. For some reason, our team Annie and Twitch was fighting. I'm sure many of you experienced something similar, and my advice is, just don't chat. Even if you're trying to alleviate the situation, 3rd party input rarely has any impact in what's going on. You could say a phrase or two, like "could you please ignore each other and just play for win? TT" But anymore isn't really going to help.

Anyway, back to explaining what's going on. When your team is winning and there's dragon spawning, you could always set up traps by controlling vision. Most times, at least one champion will try and come ward, and sometimes, they will move as a team. If your team is positioned in the right way, it could lead to huge team fight victories (if we had Annie in this video, it most likely would have been an ace leading to baron/inhibitor). This is what I would call a "trap" play as well, which leads me to...

“Traps”

Traps refer to setting up a certain situation in which you throw something unexpected at the opponent. There are many ways to do this, so let's focus on some of the major concepts.

Using Yourself as Bait

Let me explain my thought process here. A dangerous team fight breaks out for our team, since Twitch is coming from base. So I use Stranglethorns to zone out the enemy, while placing a ward to get vision on the opposing team. Once I place the ward down, I only see Nautilus and Thresh, meaning Xerath and Lucian must be somewhere near their second mid turret. Knowing that Twitch is invisible and nearby, along with the fact that my health is rather low (and the enemy team is hungry for gold), I use myself as bait to see whether Xerath or Lucian will run down mid. Both of them do, and so both of them die, and it leads to our team fight victory.


Playing Around Vision

I actually came alive shortly before this video starts, making the enemy unaware of where I could be. So I run down mid, and knowing that I couldn't possibly have been spotted by the opposing team, I use Oracle Lens to see how deep I can go. I also choose to go top side because 3 of the opposing team shows at bot side of the jungle, while shortly after Caitlyn shows up mid and Darius comes from bot side as well. Initially, I moved towards top side of the jungle to clear vision, and place our own vision wards, but it turns out there is no vision at all by the enemy team; leading to a "trap" play. I actually died previously to Lissandra Flash Frozen Tomb play, so I didn't expect her Frozen Tomb to be back up again. Luckily, my Stranglethorns goes through before I die, and it leads to our team's ace.

Using Your Team as Bait

As the video starts, you can see Warwick moving towards dragon from bot side of the jungle, except dragon isn't up yet. Since Lucian is alone, I figured Warwick and others might make a move at Lucian. Fortunately, Warwick comes alone and is easily picked off. It might seem that simple, but there's another reason this happened rather easily, and that's vision control. The enemy team has no idea where Gangplank and Zyra is, making them indecisive. So even though initially Warwick had Janna and Lissandra around him, they choose to go towards Fizz and Gangplank once they get spotted out. On the other hand... we know what Warwick chose to do, and what happened to him. This is why vision control is so crucial in this game, especially in solo que in which communication is bound to be rough.

This is the point during your game in which everyone has at least 3 items, including the support. Usually, that means that a one or few champions will have 4,5 or 6 items completed. As a result, both teams are looking to press for major objectives, or a big team fight. Every game produces differing late game scenarios, hence I’ll try to focus on Zyra’s role in general team fights.

The most important thing to remember as Zyra support during team fights is to stay near, or next to your carries. Although Zyra's Grasping Roots is a decent initiation tool, you don't want to be caught out of position and deleted (easily). Instead, focus on peeling for your carries with all your skills, while doing the most damage you can (hence mixing auto attacks whenever you can).


As you can see, I'm constantly staying near by Orianna at first, then use Stranglethorns and Grasping Roots to save Lee Sin. It's also very important to be aware of who in your team is in danger of dying. In this case, I'm aware that Jayce is in a dangerous position, and so I'm ready to peel for him if needed, which is how my Grasping Roots is eventually used efficiently. Another important thing to remember: you don't have to throw your body to peel for your carries (it's really not that efficient considering how fast Zyra can die, although, sometimes it is necessary- but that's very rare). When Talon comes down, I know there's really nothing I can do as some of my skill shots are on cool down, and thus try to get out of range of Talon's ultimate. Remember that as a Zyra player, you don't want to take unnecessary damage as it is especially punishing for her.


General Stranglethorns Usage


You want to use Stranglethorns not really as a damaging skill (although you could), but more of a crowd control ability. Ideally, you want to place it in an area of pathing that the enemy has to go through in order to reach your carries. In other words, it should be between your carries and the enemy team's carries (or assasins).


Most of the time, you don't want to use Stranglethorns on just one enemy champion. But there are definitely situations in which you could, like the video above. I'm aware that our team is grouped up around the top side of enemy team's red, while the enemy team is split up. Thus I focus on peeling off Caitlyn, and even use Stranglethorns. This effectively takes Caitlyn out of the fight ( Janna as well as she becomes confused in what to do), and without their adc, the enemy team loses the team fight lopsidedly.

BONUS: Zyra Stranglethorns Damage Use


This is an example of how strong Zyra's damage could be in the late game.


Zyra's Wave Clear and Defense Abilities

Other than team fighting, there is one more aspect Zyra excels at during the late game, and that's defending through exceptional wave clear and poke for a support. Combined with Rylai's Crystal Scepter and other core items, Zyra can hold off enemy team pushes fairly well. This gives your team advantage in the sense that they can leave Zyra to hold off more than one person to use number advantage somewhere else on the map. For example:


Zyra can really frustrate the enemy team once she has some core items. Those plants become very annoying once Zyra has Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Liandry's Torment. This allows Zyra to hold off the enemy team, which is precisely how our team defends successfully versus the enemy team with baron buff.


This game was very unfortunate, Fizz was being toxic for some reason, and I wasn't in the mood to take it in order to win (although in my defense, I was just arguing we weren't losing the game because of me, which was true, but in hindsight I should have just not responded to this toxicness at all). I guess I'm not 100% mentally stable, and need to work on that. But the video still does show a good example of Zyra's defensive potential in the late game.

(Click to Enlarge)


This is color coded to represent warding spots relative to time and team side.
Blue team warding spots go from light blue (early game), to blue (mid game) to black (~end game).

Purple team warding spots go from yellow (early game), to orange (mid game) to red (~end game).

The warding spots with white lines next to them indicate early game Teleport wards for your team.

These aren't the only nor are they the absolute warding spots through out the game. These are generally good spots to have vision around. Ideally, you want to place wards in pathways that the opposing team frequently uses. If you are new to League of Legends, or new to the Support role, you can use this map as a general guide. If you are an experienced support player, use this map to understand the general important areas, and know that ward placements can always change. Also, try not to place wards close to each other, and use smart ward placements to cover a wide area of the map.

Example

This is an example of a quite advanced ward placement to avoid the enemy team Sweeping Lens/ Control Warding your ward and getting rid of it.

Zyra is not a champion (neither are any supports, really) that you win with by continuously pressuring the opponents. You can't become too predictable (that's the same with all champions though), but it's especially punishing for Zyra because one mistake can lead to a death. Moreover, it's much easier to utilize skills like Grasping Roots
and Stranglethorns as a counter-engagement tool rather than engaging/offensive tool.
Hence baits through "traps" and "fakes" are essential for Zyra.