[Important] The build at the top of this guide is updated, but the rest of the guide is still being worked on!

Hello everyone! First of all thanks for reading my guide. This one's for Zyra. Zyra is a versatile mage with a lot of utility/CC. She is played best as either a midlane mage or a support. Zyra is very strong in both roles. I certainly think she is very fun to play and a good mage to try out if you want to improve your mage and support skills.

I will talk about all the important things you should know: runes, masteries, items, abilities etc. Each subject will have its own chapter.

If you have ideas to improve this guide, or if you simply like it, please leave a comment. I will reply to every constructive comment. Feel free to ask questions too. I hope you like the guide!

Note - read before voting please!

If you're going to vote, please comment and make sure you've read the relevant parts of the guide first. Please don't downvote just because you don't like X item, or X rune. I explain every choice in my guide and give many alternatives. If you don't like something, comment and I will reply and consider changing it.

If you want to know the advantages and disadvantages Zyra has, here's a quick list. It could help you decide whether or not to buy her.

Pros Great CC and other utility. Can be both a support and an AP carry. Fun to play (in my opinion) and very rewarding. High damage.

Cons No built-in escape ability. Her passive is sometimes bugged (see abilities chapter). No 100% reliable damage (all skill-shots). Very squishy if you don't build a little tanky.

It's always good to know why something works well, so in this chapter I will discuss my rune choices and give some alternatives. The runes I take are pretty standard, but they're still worth talking about.

Mage

Pretty much the only runes you can take on mages. They will increase your early-game damage significantly as they work best against low-MR targets. Even later in the game, when enemies get more MR, these will still be pretty strong together with other forms of MR-reduction ( Abyssal Mask and Void Staff). Other options: not much.

At level 6, these will outscale Greater Seal of Mana Regeneration. This makes them usually the better choice. They will pretty much entirely cover your mana problems after this. Other options: also good. to make up for your low lvl 18 health. against physical damage midlaners like Zed or Talon.

Good choice for mages. 28 extra AP at level 18 is not bad at all. This will also get a 30% increase thanks to Rabadon's Deathcap and Archmage , making it 36 AP in total. This will give you a nice amount of extra damage. Other options: Against scary burst or poke mages.

An increase in early-game power. An obvious choice in most situations. 15 AP can mean a lot in early fights, and it might get you that early kill you otherwise wouldn't have gotten. Other options: also great for more durability. great against kite teams.magic damage.

Support

Playing support doesn't mean you can't deal damage. In the laning phase in a duo-lane, people usually don't have a lot of extra MR (if any at all). This means flat magic pen will give you a lot of extra damage. Other options: not much.

In bottom lane, the main source of damage will be the enemy AD carry in most situations. To counteract that damage, you need as much early armor as possible. Other options: if you're feeling safe enough in lane.

Good amount of extra damage. You don't really need MR glyphs that much, since you're not a tank. These will help out throughout the game. Other options: against supports with a lot of magic damage. against teams with a lot of magic damage.

Extra gold is really helpful on supports. They don't have any form of gold income apart from assists (and maybe a little bit of farm now and then), so they have to make up for that as much as possible. Other options: for more poke/burst damage. for more survivability.

Mage

As an AP carry, I take very offesive 21-0-9 masteries. This will allow me to be agressive in lane and push the wave if nessecary. These masteries are pretty standard for mages but are worth discussing.

4

Some helpful CDR.

1

Assuming your ignite is on cooldown in important fights (it should be), this will give you 5 extra AP (and AD) when you need it most.

2

Really helpful for last-hitting in lane. Even if you think you're really good at it.

4

Pretty decent. 18 AP is non-trivial. Combined with a Rabadon's Deathcap it will give you 25 AP.

1

Great mastery. Ignoring 8% of the enemy's MR is a big deal late-game.

3

Good amount of flat AP. Alternatively, you could go for Havoc for more damage late-game

1

Worth taking for extra harrass and easier last-hitting.

4

Really good as it will increase your damage by more than 5%, because your abilities scale about 270% in total.

1

A lot of extra damage for only 1 point.

1

For improved Flash.

3

Helps you out in the early laning-phase.

3

To get your Flash (and Ignite) cooldown even lower.

1

A little bit of extra mana.

1

For a longer blue buff.

Support

As an AP-based support, I take 9-9-12 masteries. These offer a good balance between offense, defence and utility in my opinion. You will get pretty much everything you need most.

3

Some helpful CDR.

1

Improved Exhaust helps you to make important targets vulnerable.

4

Pretty good. You can always use some extra AP and this scales pretty well.

1

This will give you a good amount of extra damage.

4

Some extra health for survivability.

3

Good against the enemy AD carry.

1

2 MR for only 1 point.

1

Decent amount of extra health to help you in the early-game.

1

For improved Flash.

3

Very helpful in the laning phase.

2

Good CDR for Flash and Exhaust, which can be really important.

2

Great mastery for supports who get a lot of activation items.

4

Really good on supports.

Mage

This build focusses on damage items, while also giving you some survivability. It will make you a big thread in teamfights if you can cast all your abilities well.

Start 1:

Start 2:

Start 3:

Start 4: sight wardsight ward

The best choice for start items is usually Boots and Health Potions. The extra MS will help you dodge skillshots and escape ganks more easily. If you're feeling really safe and want to play agressive, Amplifying Tome or Doran's Ring are good options, but they are very risky. If you want to play it really safe, you can go for a cristalline flask, sight wards and Health Potions.


Laning:

With some magic pen and 1 or 2 Doran's Rings, you will have very good damage in lane and some sustain and tankiness. After this, go for Rabadon's Deathcap if you're ahead and can afford it, or otherwise Rylai's Crystal Scepter.


Full build:

All these items are great on Zyra. Apart from having great damage, you will also be able to survive more easily with Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Abyssal Mask and Zhonya's Hourglass.

Support

This build focusses on great support items to help your team, but will also get you some damage. If you're able to get some farm and assists, you can also afford to buy more AP, which will be very strong in teamfights.

Start 1: sight wardsight ward sight ward

Start 2: sight wardsight ward sight ward

Start 3: sight ward

Start 4: sight ward

As a support, you have many good start options. Faerie Charm or Rejuvenation Bead + wards and potions are generally good for some sustain and an early philosopher's stone. If you're going for an invade, you can go Boots so you can potentionally chase and snare someone. Crystalline Flask is again a very safe option.

Laning:
philosopher's stone kage's lucky pick
Pretty much all the items you need in lane. This will give you sustain, tankiness and damage. The GP10 and free wards will help you out a lot.

Full build:

Great support items. They will give you very helpful actives and auras. These items will make you tanky and also give you some damage. Consider selling your Ruby Sightstone if you really need more wards, but this is usually not nessecary.

Item explanations

Sorcerer's Shoes The best tier 2 boots for mages. They will increase your damage (mainly against low-MR targets) significantly.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter A great item on Zyra. As soon as you hit one ability, it will be easier to land others. This is especially useful with your ultimate. The slow will even work on the attacks from your plants (for 15%), making it very difficult for enemies to run away from you. The extra health is very helpful in lane and can safe you against burst casters.

Rabadon's Deathcap Not much to explain here. It will give you tons of damage and is an obvious choice for any mage.

Athene's Unholy Grail Very good lane item. It gives you sustain with mana regen and makes you tankier against mages. Get a Chalice of Harmony early and upgrade it to Athene's Unholy Grail later when you need it.

Zhonya's Hourglass This is just an incredibly strong item for mages. Now that you have some MR and health, you need more armor. It will also increase your damage significantly. The most important thing is the active though. It will make you so much harder to kill in teamfights. It allows you to bait enemies and stay save while waiting for cooldowns. As Zyra, there's a good chance you will end up in the middle of the fight (to cast your ult or because you have no escapes). This makes it a core item for Zyra in the mid-/late-game. Even as a support it is very useful.

Void Staff By now, everyone will have MR. Some will have a lot (~200), some will have a little (~75). To still deal a lot of damage, you need a way to ignore this MR. Flat penetration is less effective against high-MR target, so you need %-penetration. The more MR people have, the more effective this item will get. All together, you will penetrate 43% + 43 MR. This means you will bring someone with 200 MR down to 71, making 129 of his MR useless!

philosopher's stone kage's lucky pick

philosopher's stone/ kage's lucky pick/ Ruby Sightstone Three amazing early items for (AP) supports. They give you sustain, damage and survivaibilty. Most importantly though, they will give GP10 (well Ruby Sightstone gives you wards-per-10, which are worth gold). Get these items as quickly as possible for an easier laning-phase and better late-game.

Aegis of the Legion/ Runic Bulwark Very strong aura items. They will help your team a lot. Get Aegis of the Legion as soon as possible and upgrade it to Runic Bulwark later on, when your team needs more MR. The aura makes your entire team more tanky in fights (if you're nearby) and gives a bit of sustain. Overall, these items probably give the best aura in the game.

Shurelya's Battlesong The stats are useful and everything, but the active is what makes this items so strong. You need at least one of these on the team in my opinion (2 is good as well). It allows you to initiate teamfights from a long distance and catch your opponents off-guard. It's also useful for many other things like chasing or running away.

Twin Shadows I think this is the better kage's lucky pick upgrade. It offers a really useful scouting tool. Use it when you're afraid of getting ambushed, or when chasing enemies. It will enable you to find enemies and slow them so you can catch them or outrun them. It is great in spots where you don't have a lot of wards, as it can give you important vision when a fight erupts.

Enchantment: Alacrity The most reliable boots enchantment. It's not worth the price, so get it when you have full-build. Other enchantments can be good too but are more situational ( Enchantment: Homeguard, Enchantment: Captain, Enchantment: Distortion.

Other good items

Liandry's Torment
Synergizes well with Zyra's snares and slows and Rylai's Crystal Scepter. The magic pen will also increase your damage. Zyra's abilities are all AoE though, so the passive effect always has half the duration.

Abyssal Mask
Very strong, especially against low-MR enemies. Together with Sorcerer's Shoes and runes, this will allow you to remove 43 MR from champions, plus an additional 8% of their MR with Arcane Knowledge . This means you will deal true damage to anyone below ~45 MR. The AP and MR bonusses are also very nice and are really helpful in lane.

Deathfire Grasp
If you want that extra burst you might need to one-shot important target. If there's someone with a lot of lifesteal/spellvamp or just a lot of damage, you will need to kill him as soon as possible in fights. This item helps alot with that.

Rod of Ages
Great if you want more tankiness. You can get catalyst the protector early for an easier laning phase with more sustain. It takes 10 minutes to stack Rod of Ages so get it as soon as possible.

Guardian Angel
Serves a similar purpose as Zhonya's Hourglass. It makes you tankier and is great in close teamfights.

Oracle's Elixir
Very important for map control. If you want to do baron or push a lane, it's always a good idea to clear out enemy wards first. Zyra isn't the ideal person to get it on, because she's very squishy, but it's still great to have.

Banner of Command
Very good support item. It works great against split-pushing teams. If you're getting pressured in every lane, this will help you to push up one lane so you don't have to send someone to protect it. You can also use it if you want to splitpush yourself. Just use it on bot or top. In midlane, the promoted minion will be easier to get rid of for your enemies.

zeke's herald
Great item if you have a lot of auto-attacking champions. Works well with champions like Jax, Kog'Maw, Diana and many more.

Will of the Ancients
Good item for both support and AP Zyra. Only buy it if you have at least 2 high-spell-damage champions in your team though, or it won't really be worth the price.

Frozen Heart
Great against AS-reliant enemies. The armor, CDR and mana is all useful too. The aura protects your team from scary carries or bruisers.

Locket of the Iron Solari
Works well against AoE teams. This will block a portion of their damage and might save your team in close fights.

Randuin's Omen
Comparable to Frozen Heart in terms of what it does in fights. The stats are just a bit different.

Mikael's Blessing
Offers helpful sustain and MR. The active really good. You can use it to save your AD carry or help your bruiser get through the enemy frontline.

Zyra's abilities might be difficult to master, but there's a lot of combos you can pull off with them. Below I will explain each ability in detail. I will then explain other things such as the ability sequence and combos.

Ability explanations

Rise of the Thorns This is Zyra's passive. When Zyra dies, she turns into a plant and she will be able to shoot a (long-range) missile that deals (high) true damage to all enemies it hits. To fire the missile, aim with your cursor and press any ability key (Q/W/E/R). There is this really annoying bug which Riot has been trying to fix for months now. If you cast an ability right as you die, this will count as firing your passive. This means you will often fire it in the wrong direction for no reason. The only piece of advice I can give you is be patient, don't button-mash when you die and accept your fate when you're about to die. Predict your opponent's movement carefully and fire when you're most confident it will hit.

deadly bloom

deadly bloom Zyra's main damage ability. This is a ground-targeted AoE skillshot. After a short delay, thorns will shoot from the ground, damaging enemies inside the radius. If this ability hits one or more seeds planted with rampant growth, the seeds will grow into Thorn Spitters (see Zyra's plants section below).

Rampant Growth Zyra plants a seed on the ground which will live for a maximum of 30 seconds. When planting a seed, vision will be briefly granted over a large area around the seed. After this, the seed will grant vision over a smaller area around it. If an enemy champion moves over the seed, the seed will dissappear and grant vision over the champion for a short time. If Zyra casts her Q or E over a seed, the seed will grow into a plant (see Zyra's plants section below). This ability also passively grants a big amount of CDR. The seeds work on an ammo system and Zyra can store up to 2 seeds at once. This means she can plant 2 seeds almost simultaneously and can have up to 4 seeds planted at once. The seeds can be used in many ways. They can function as small wards or as plants to damage and zone enemies.

Grasping Roots A line skillshot that snares and damages enemies it hits along its path. This is a very strong CC ability, especially in narrow passages in the jungle. If this ability hits one or more seeds planted with rampant growth, the seeds will grow into Vine Lashers (see Zyra's plants section below).

Stranglethorns Zyra's ultimate. A huge AoE ability with two parts. When cast, thorns will grow from the center of the target location towards the edge, damaging enemies they hit. Once they reach the edge, they will contract and knock enemies in range up. Any of Zyra's plants in the AoE gain 50% increased attack speed. This is obviously an amazing ability in teamfights. It has great damage and great CC. It takes a while before the knockup triggers though, meaning you might have to CC enemies right before casting it, or they will be able to walk or jump away before they get knocked up. The casting range on this ability isn't that big, so yo might have to get into the enemy team to cast it. Overall, this ability might take a while to get used to, but it can devastate entire teams when used correctly.

Zyra's plants

Whenever Zyra hits a seed from Rampant Growth with her Q or E, a plant will grow. There are two kinds of plants: Thorn Spitters and Vine Lashers. Plants will attack anyone in range, preferring champions. If you right-click on an enemy (even if you're not in auto-attack range yourself) plants will start attacking this target if they are in range. You can have a maximum of 4 plants active at once, as you can only have 4 seeds planted at once. As mentioned before, casting your ultimate Stranglethorns over plants will increase their attack speed by 50%. Attacks from plants will apply spell effects such as spell-vamp or the slow from Rylai's Crystal Scepter with diminished effects. They will not apply on-hit effects such as life-steal or red buff.

Plants have 6 HP and will lose HP in the following ways:

• Auto-attacks from champions deal 2 damage.
• Auto-attacks from minions or monsters deal 1 damage.
• Auto-attacks from dragon/baron deal 4 damage.
• Spells deal 3 or 4 damage.
• Turrets deal 6 damage.

Thorn Spitters are ranged plants. They will fire thorns at targets in range. These deal magic damage. Thorn Spitters have no additional effects.

Vine Lashers are melee plants. They will attack targets close to them. Their attacks deal magic damage and slow their target for 30% for 2 seconds.

For more imformation see: .

Ability sequence

Mage
> deadly bloom > >
As a mage, you'll want the maximum damage output. For this reason your ability order should be Q-E-W. Q deals the most damage (75 + 40 per rank), followed by E (60 + 35 per rank). W doesn't gain any damage with ranks. Make sure you have 1 point in every ability at level 3. Of course, you should level your ultimate whenever possible. At level 1, you can take Q, W or E depending on the situation. If you want to protect against invades, get W. If you are going to invade, take E. Otherwise, wait with choosing what to level and pick up Q if nothing is happening.

Support
> > > deadly bloom
As a support, you have an entirely different ability order. You will focus on utility instead of damage. This means you max W first, for the 'wards' and more CDR. After that, you max E for a longer snare duration. Max Q last. Again, you should obviously level your ultimate whenever it's available. At level 1 you should decide which ability to get in the same way as you would as a mage.

Combos

Zyra has unique combo mechanics with her seeds and abilities. There are many ways in which you can use your abilities, but I will explain a few important ones.

• W-(W)-E-Q. This is your quick burst combo. You can use E/Q before planting your seeds to get this combo off even faster, but this might be difficult. Just make sure your seeds are planted before your other abilities hit so they grow into plants. Your target gets hit by the snare and will take damage from Q and 1-3 attacks from the plants. It doesn't really matter which plants you spawn.
• W-W-Q-E-R. This is your level 6 combo of death. Use all your basic abilities for damage and then cast your ultimate while your target is snared. This will most allow you to kill them with Ignite or force them to Flash away. Try to get your plants in your ultimate for more damage.
• Jump in-Spam-Zhonya's-Spam more(-Die-Passive). This is what I find most effective in teamfights. The dying part is optional but it will allow you to deal a lot of damage with your passive if you're in a good position.

My choice

Flash The best spell for escaping and making plays. It is a must-have on almost any champion. Use it to survive ganks, chase enemies and catch someone when they don't expect it.

Ignite Very good on mages. You need it to score kills in lane, as your full combo is almost never enough to bring someone down from 100% to 0% health. Use it in all-in fights to finish off enemies. The healing reduction also works well against healing champions.

Exhaust Good for support Zyra. In 2v2 fights or ganks, try to use it on the enemy AD carry to minimize their damage output. This will give you an advantage in the fight. This spell can also be very good on mage Zyra. It can be used as protection and works very well against burst mages like Katarina or Diana. It will also allow you to land your skillshots more easily on the slowed target.

Other viable choices

Ghost Similar to Flash in terms of uses. It beats Flash in longer chases, but in most cases it's worse.

Heal Works well at low-level play. You can use it to bait your enemy into doing something stupid. Then use Heal to survive and take advantage of the situation.

Teleport Good in well-coördinated teams and for more map-presence. You can use it to gank other lanes or to split-push.

Clairvoyance A good spell for any support. It is really helpful for preventing invasions and securing map objectives.

In this chapter I will discuss some important aspects of playing Zyra in different roles. I will give gameplay tips for the laning phase and beyond.

Mage

When playing as a mage, you will most likely play in mid-lane. This is the safest lane to get gold and exp, which helps because you have no escape abilities. Get strong in lane so you can help your team.

Laning
In the laning phase, your goal is mainly to become stronger than your opponent. Try to outlevel and outfarm him and maybe even get some kills. Zyra is a pretty safe laner. As soon as you get some AP and mana regen (possibly from blue buff), you will be able to kill an entire wave of minions with Q, E and some plants. Do this if you feel your opponent is winning. This way you can still get farm and exp without getting yourself killed. I usually make sure at least one side of my lane is warded, so I can stay on that side of the lane and be safe. If your lane is pushed for a while you can easily take wraiths if you have enough mana or roam bot/top. Zyra's CC makes her a great ganker and helping other lanes win is the number 1 way to carry games.

Mid-game
As soon as one mid turret is down, both mid-laners can roam more easily. Use this to get control over map objectives such as dragon or other turrets. If others are still laning, help them by ganking. Put some wards down in important locations to prevent enemies from roaming and to set up kills. You should still get as much gold and exp as possible so don't completely neglect your lane. You can also get this from jungle camps.

Teamfights
Your absolute highest priority is getting a good ult off. You should try to hit at least 3 people with the knockup. The more you hit, the better your chances at winning the fight are. Apart from that, spam all your abilities on as many targets as possible for the maximum damage and CC. Try to stay at range at first and go in further as soon as people start dying. If you have Zhonya's Hourglass you can even get into the center of the enemy team. Get them to focus you and then pop the active to turn invulnerable. This will allow your team to enter the fight while enemies have wasted their cooldowns. It's OK to die in some situations. Your passive can deal a lot of damage so sometimes it's even worth it suiciding.

Support Zyra

As a support you should do everything you can to help others. Protect your carries, ward for map-control and set up kills with your CC. You can still deal pretty good damage as a support. It depends on how many assists (or sometimes kills) you get. Try to leave kills for others if it's really obvious they will get the kill by stopping your attacks when the enemy gets low. In large fights or skirmishes, it's no problem to take kills just to be sure they die.

Laning
Zyra is a very squishy support. This means you should play it safe at the start and poke from a distance. Help your AD carry get farm by trying to zone enemies whenever possible. It's always good to have control over the two bushes in your lane. Do this by using wards or seeds. Make sure the side of your lane is always warded with one or two wards, depending on where you expect the enemy jungler to come from. Also try to keep dragon warded after about 10 minutes. If you're winning you can try to go for a kill. This is easier at level 6 when you have your ultimate. If you land a good snare and your AD carry follows up, you can ult and probably force them to use their escapes at least.

Mid-game
If your lane is over you should start roaming more. Your main goal is now warding everywhere on the map. As long as your AD carry can farm, there if no need for you to be in the lane unless you want exp. If the lane is pushed you can group for dragon or go mid with 3-4 people to push. If you see empty lanes, it's OK to go there and take the farm. The more gold you get, the more damage you can get. In short, you should pretty much do what you would do as a mid-laner now.

Teamfights
In teamfights you should be very aware of everyone's position. Again, your main goal is to get a good ult off and CC important targets. You should pay close attention to your carries. Always try to help them if enemies dive on them. Teamfights are all about making choices though. Say the enemy AD carry is pretty fed and yours isn't doing great. If you see your AD carry is going to die without your help but you get an opportunity to snare the enemy AD carry so your team can kill him, do it.

If you're playing support Zyra, warding is really important. Even as a mid-laner it's still very important. Above is a map with the most important ward locations. This map assumes you're on the blue side. If you're on the purple side, you should swap the red and blue dots. There are a lot of other places you can ward, but they are more situational. So when and where should you ward?

At the start of the game, you might want to place a ward somewhere in the enemy jungle to catch their jungler. Do this if you have a jungler and mid with good map-awareness and cooperation. It will maybe allow you to kill the enemy jungler for first blood (and hurt his jungle really bad). At the very least it will give you information about his location, which might allow for counter-jungling or agression in lanes.

In the laning phase, you should keep your lane warded against ganks constantly, no matter how many wards in takes. If you're really ahead you might get away with not warding, but don't expect that. Use the green dots on the map above. It depends on the side you're on. On the blue side, you might have to ward the tri-bush and somewhere near dragon to always see ganks coming. On the purple side, one ward is enough to keep you safe. When you or your AD carry are getting zoned by the enemy support sitting in a lane bush, you might want to ward there to push him out of it. This also prevents so-called 'ninja-ganks' from junglers (they sneak into a lane bush when the lane is pushed towards you and then come out when it's pushed back). You should also keep dragon warded as much as possible (your jungler should ward it too). It's good to have a Vision Ward to get rid of enemy wards if you know where they are. This will allow your jungler to gank. If you're confident you won't die, and you think it's worth it, buy an Oracle's Elixir. Generally I buy 2-3 wards on every recall. This is usually enough.

Later on, or if needed sooner, you can roam a little, warding places in the jungle or near other lanes. Use the blue dots on the map if your jungler is getting countered a lot. These are more important if one or more of your turrets is down. Use the red dots if you want to invade and counter-jungle. Use the aqua dots for general map vision. The yellow dots should be pink-warded as much as possible, because Baron and Dragon are very important objectives to control.

Mid-game you can pretty much go anywhere. Try to roam with your entire team, taking out enemy wards and placing your wards everywhere. This will give your team a lot of map control and will enable safer pushing and jungling. It can also set you up for a Baron or Dragon attempt or a good teamfight.

The purple dots on the map are helpful when you're pushing hard or the enemy is pushing hard. They will tell you in advance where your enemies are going, so you can react.

There isn't much more I can tell you about warding. You really have to play many games as support to learn everything about it. Just try to follow these instructions and see how far you can get. Other things you will learn by playing.

Coming soon!
For now, keep in mind that assassins generally do well against Zyra, because she isn't really tanky and has no escapes. Zyra is good against slow moving enemies and enemies with less range.

Zyra is a very strong and versatile caster. She is very fun to play and is definately worth trying out in my opinion. She is a good addition to most teams and to your champion pool. You can learn a lot from playing her in different roles, so you can improve your skill. She can be difficult to master, but she has a lot of potential in the right hands.

Anyway, thanks for checking out my guide. I hope you liked it and have fun playing Zyra. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment. I will read everything and respond to most comments.