Hi this is Selena! my second guide on one of my favourite champions on league, Zyra.
Zyra is a really strong support. due to her long range auto attack and high output burst and damage, this allows Zyra to have control at the bottom lane, giving a great opportunity for the adc to get kills and as well as free cs.

Zyra is a strong support because she has many potential in fights, cc and the burst of her damage is really outstanding. She can disengage fights or re counter by her massive large cc ult, the Stranglethorns.

At first, zyra can be a hard champion to play, to me i struggled a couple of times because her set of abilities is strange another champion. But once you get to know her a lot more hitting her abilities would be a lot more easier, creating plants at the right situations, etc.

Zyra has a complete set and her kit is well structed to be a support. Zyra has an Engaging , Disengaging Ultimate, an ability to cc and root someone, can slow enemies after being rooted, High burst, Offensive Skills.

I think this is a good set of runes because it suits Zyra and her capabilities well.

Magic Penetration Marks:
by having magic penetration marks this will give Zyra a stronger poke and bursting damage. People usually ignore the plants, i recognize Zyra's ability as a full utilize and skillful abilities. Having to throw out her Deadly bloom gives out a high burst of damage due to the magic penetration, but also if Rampant Growth (Seed) was planted and turned into a range plant, this will act as a small minion, strong enough as 4 casters in one Plant shot in the early levels. but having more magic penetration such as getting a void staff or Liandry this will give a deadly damage to anyone, strong enough of 2 whole waves clashing on you in one shot. or atleast 1 super minion.

Health Seals
i take health seals because Zyra is a really squishy support, low mobility and risks plays against jumping champions or any closure supports such as Leona, Blitzcrank, or Thresh it can be risky for Zyra. the only hope for these Situations is an all out Zyra Lashing out every single abilities on to the ADC. Because of the high bursting potential of Zyra this will be strong enough to put pressure on the adc and remove his damage off you. I take health seals because this will allow Zyra to take in and soak an amount of damage incase of dangerous situations.

Ability Power Glyphs
I take ability power glyphs to create that early damage and bursting potential for zyra. For Zyra to having a small amount of ability power in the early level this will give her more lane control by simply dishing out damage on the adc forcing it to be on cautious to his/her actions against a zyra support, making sure he doesnt get caught by any of Zyras abilities. By having this control Zyra, can allow her adc to free farm whilst the opposing enemy struggling in the lanes worrying about the output Zyra would lash out.

Armor Quintessence
i take armor quintessence because zyra needs defence, because of small amount of health, the health seals were vital and required for Zyra, but by having this, she wouldn't have the armor seals that is common to supports. which is why i think Armor Quintessence is essential for Zyra in these scenarios. Zyra needs to be able to output an immense of damage as well as taking in damage in the early game.

For masteries i take 0/9/21
by having 12 Points in the resolve mastery like i said, Zyra is a squishy champion, she has no defense abilities that allows her to soak up any whatsoever damages, by having a few points in health, she would be able to take an amount of damage instead of having a low hp which can be lethal. It by having lots of hp as well as having an immense power can put out tons of pressure. that's why champions like leona have presence in lane because of her aggressive style with lots of hp, capable of taking lots of damage in the front line.

Utility
18 points on cunning because playing as an offensive zyra would mean that you would be burning tons of mana to dish out the damage you require in order to put pressure on the opposing enemy. thats is why i take mana regen.

i take fleet foot and wanderer so that Zyra have a bit more mobility, and by being an offensive support with little defense, it would be great to have an extra amount of movement speed to be able to escape at situations.

Extra gold is really helpful as well by the gps/k/a (gold per sec/kill/attack) it benefits any support, any amount of gold earnings would be a big impact to any support because all you would be getting are assists which are around 50-250 ( based on commitment / enemy streak ), having any source of income would make a big difference. also having a plant attacking an enemy champion triggers the bandit (Range - Grants 3 gold each time an enemy is attacked. this cannot trigger on the same champion more than once every 5 seconds.). By the use of the range plant attacking on the enemy champion, you would gain gold for every act of aggressive play style.

Frost Queen's Claim and Ruby Sightstone are the only support items i use. this is because my build is an offensive support which means i am in the second tier frontline dishing out damages and trying to catch anyone who are at offguard. I dont use items such as Mikaels Crucible or Aegis Legion shield, etc because it does not benefit Zyra, sure it does benefit the team but when i play as zyra i like to zone and keep a constant pressure on the enemy team, i stand in the second tier frontline doing any possible damage that i could possibly do. And people really underestimate zyra. I use items like Liandry's Torment / Void Staff / Sorcerer's Boots because i like to build zyra as much of an apc if possible. This is because zyra's cc and abilities deals tons of damage.

being a 'support' doesn't always mean defensive items, full utility, protecting the adc and peeling, sacrifice for the adc. only supports who do that are Janna, Soraka, Nami, etc. Zyra is one of the aggressive supports such as Leona, Thresh, Morgana, Etc. they are the ones who erupts the fights trying to catch anyone offguard, Leona and Tresh are tank supports, which means that they have to build aggressively. Similar to Zyra and Morgana, they are supports who Engages / Disengage but they would prefer to build themselves as Much more of an Apc, a build that does tons of damage

Zyra Benefits on building magic penetration greater compared to building items like Iron Solaris, Crucible, and all those other support items. Zyra needs to be an offensive support otherwise she would just fall off late game. Zyra But this is how i build Zyra in my opinion, If Being a full support Zyra works for you well then great! But from my perspective, Offensive Zyra benefits every fight.

Zyra Grasping Roots 12s CD at Max Level. Using Frost Queen's Claim + Morrellonomicon + Rampant Growth Passive she would have 40% CDR MAX
( 12 x 0.60 ) = 7.2s Grasping Roots. Lasts 1.75s
( 7.2 - 1.75 ) = 5.45s till your next CC which means you won't be able to protect your adc in 5.5 seconds. There are no items other than mikaels crucible to save your adc. any other supportive items would have no benefits to zyra. Offensive Build is a Must! on Zyra. You won't be able to save your adc. the only possible way is too kill it faster which is why i build my zyra an apc style.

Abilities @ Max Ranked / Lv18

Deadly Bloom 210 + (65% Ability Power)
full build is at 250 ability power + mastery and runes and ap per lv around a total of 300 (lets use fixed numbers)
210 + (1.65 x 250) = 412.5 magic damage

Deadly Bloom + Rampant Growth
Thornspitters scale from 23 + (.5 xzyras level)
23 + (6.5 x 18) + = 140 Magic Damage Per attack

Total Combo Damage 412.5 + (140 x A )
if A = 1 Shot then;
412.5 + ( 140 x 1 ) = 452.5 Magic Damage

Magic Penetration = 40% Magic Resistance Reduction

Damage Multiplier = Total Magic Resistance / (100 + Total Magic Resistance)
100 / (100 + 100) = 50% Damage Reduction

Penetration Applies first before Magic Resistance
Penetration = 0.6 x 100 = 60 Magic Resistance.
Damage Multiplier = 60 / (100 + 60) = .375 Magic Reduction
Total Damage = 452.5 x 0.625 = 282.8125

282.8125 Magic Damage on One Deadly Bloom + One Shot Range Plant

However Every point of magic resistance requires a unit to take 1% more of its maximum health in magic damage to be killed. Don't Get it?

A unit with 60 magic resistance has 160% of its maximum health in its effective health, so if the unit has 1000 maximum health, it will take 1600 magic damage to kill the enemy

This means it takes the Deadly bloom and one shot spitter roughly 6x to kill someone with 1000 health and with 100%
(1000 x 1.6) / 282.8125 = 5.65 (Effective Health) 6 Combos to kill
where as:
1000/ 282.8125 = 3.53 4 Combos to kill which is insane.

Too much numbers! what does this all mean!?!?

it means Offensive Zyra carrying Magic Penetration build is really strong and fatal. its better to build zyra offensive rather than defensive trying to protect an adc.

I would do Grasping Roots and Stranglethorn mathematical calculations and damage but it would be too much time xD haha xoxoxo

Spell thief and getting the end product; Frost Queen's Claim really makes zyra a strong offensive, and poking support, creating the Range plant by using Q and W, this would allow Zyra to active the passive Tribute: Spells or Basic attacks against Champions / Buildings Deal additional 15 damage and grant 10 gold. this would be basically a mini teemo or wit's end. even a small damage like this would make a big difference similar to sunfire, every small damage counts.

Frost Queen also gives 10% Cooldown reduction, 50 Ability power and 10 Mana Regen/s. These stats benefits Zyra well, and also by having the Unique passive Artic Embrace which slows the enemy down would give you a greater opportunity land your Abilities and CC's scenarios like Engaging or Disengaging.

E.G a team fight erupts, Zyra can use her ultimate, Stranglethorns and also dishing out the artic embrace, while the enemies are in the area of stranglethorn, this would give the enemy frontline or anyone who is caught in the unique active blast in a dangerous situation forcing a flash. anyone within the perimeter may be able to get out cleanly while in the very dead middle would be caught creating a kill and advantage for your team. they wouldn't be able to escape the slow and the combo of Zyra's cc. which is why i think Frost Queen's Claim is a must and essential.

Magic Penetration is also essential for Zyra, her abilities have high scale, having the raw penetration creating more impact to her damage would make any fight to a one sided match, since Zyra is a support people usually underestimate her and prioritize other champions most likely to be the APC or ADC. Zyra is in between the Support / APC Role. by having any set of build, Examples above would be fatal to the opposing enemy because of Zyras high bursts all the build sets above are more of being an apc the only support items would be the ruby sightstone and the frost queen. the rest of the items are fatal to the opposing enemy causing them to focus onto you.

Basic Bursting an Enemy down / Poking (Pressuring Early Games)
1: Deadly Bloom -> Rampant Growth x1 (One Range Plant) [Common / Recommended]
2: Deadly Bloom -> Rampant Growth x2 (Two Range Plants)

Advanced Stronger Burst / Catching Enemy ( Mid Game / 8-16min )
1: Grasping Roots -> Rampant Growth x2 -> Deadly Bloom (Two Melee Plants) [Common / Recommended]
2: Grasping Roots -> Rampant Growth x1 -> Deadly Bloom -> Rampant Growth x1 (One Melee and Range Plant)

Basic Engaging Team Fights
1: Grasping Roots -> Rampant Growth x2 -> Stranglethorn -> Deadly Bloom (Two Melee Plants) [Common / Recommended]
2: Grasping Roots -> Stranglethorn -> Deadly Bloom -> Rampant Growth x2 (Two Range Plants)

Why always Grasping Roots first?
By Landing the grasping roots this will lock in your enemy in place thus giving you a greater opportunity of being able to land your ultimate a lot better. i had recommended the first skill sequence because Summoning 2 melee plants would benefit you a lot better this is because by summoning two plants would mean 2 attacks applying slow all the time causing the opposing enemy to be slowed the entire fight, by having slow would give you a better opportunity on landing the spells required for you to win the fight.

Advanced Engaging Team Fights
1: Stranglethorn -> Grasping Roots -> Rampant Growth x2 -> Deadly Bloom (Two Melee Plants) [Common / Recommended]
2: Stranglethorn -> Grasping Roots -> Rampant Growth x1 -> Deadly Bloom -> Rampant Growth x1 (One Melee and Range Plant)
3: Stranglethorn -> grasping Roots -> Deadly Bloom -> Rampant Growth x2 (Two Range Plants)

Why Always Start with Stranglethorn?
By starting with stranglethorn, this will benefit your plants an increase on their attack speed by 50% which means they apply damage faster. i recommended summoning two melee plants (Grasping Roots + Rampant growth x2 Combo) because this will allow you to have that constant slow on the enemy, by having the slow any type of cc would benefit you and your team in the fighting creating a better chance on landing spells, chasing, escaping, a better opportunity on comebacks.

Pros
Tons of Damage / Burst
High Potential in Team Fights
Crowd Controls
Range Support
Lane Bully

Cons
Squishy
Low Mobility
Can easily countered with slow and cc's
No Escapes

once zyra is played a few times it gets easier to land her combos and abilities that is required to turn the game around in fights or in lanes.
Start of with Q Deadly Bloom as your starting ability this would allow you to bully the opposing support or adc already. for bully i usually find a good timing on auto attacking. zyra is a long range by auto attacking i can apply my frost thief passive and do a small amount of damage then combo it with a deadly bloom while the animation is flying. i would try land my auto attack on the support if possible to get that extra 10 gold from Utility Bandit and then use my deadly bloom on the adc to collect bandit from the adc as well as damaging him. by doing this would get 30g (2x10) + (2x5) gold from bandit and spellthief.

once i get level 3 is when i play aggressive. whenever i get a chance i would use my grasping root along with rampant growth. this will give out damage on e and 2 plants causing small amount of damage as well as giving slow on the enemy by having this i would easily be able to use my deadly bloom landing it well and doing a few shots by auto attack.

by playing aggressive you would gain presence in lane causing the oppossing enemy to be more cautious around you. your adc on the other hand could either join you with the poke and damage or safely farm while you zone them out. Playing Zyra can give you many advantages.

i always try to go for that double grasping plant combo so that i can apply more damage and presence in lane. playing as Zyra you would always need to be on a constant presence applying damage whenever possible. by doing this, you would create a large space for your adc to be able to safely farm without worrying about any adc trying to trade of damage or the presence of the other support. Showing aggressive play style can actually increase your adc's morale and play a lot better due to the safe mentality you are providing him. no stress for the adc means a good adc. presence and offensive play style is what you need as a zyra.

Overall i think Zyra is one of the strongest offensive supports at these current times. I think zyra can give much more presence than Leona this is because of zyras long range auto attacks and her high bursting abilities. if Leona decides to jump onto you, you can easily counter by landing the grasping roots along with the plants to slow the adc off, while they're taking damage. Slow and Damage would keep the opposing adc to have a hard time dealing damage back.




Leave a comment if there a holes or mistakes! i didn't proof read this properly Please and Thank You! :) <3