Have you ever been sad that you, the shining star that you are, have been stuck last pick and forced to support knowing full well that your carry potential will be put to waste? Then let me tell you that this guide will show you how to carry from the support role as my new favourite champion Zyra.

Pros
+ Great in all compositions
+ Hard bush control
+ Strong early game poke
+ AOE CC and minion phasing stun
+ Ability to solo and do tons of damage to enemy carries/tanks with only a few items
+ Incredibly strong wave clear
+ A passive that makes turret divers and support focusers regret their decision

Cons
- Hard to position with
- Difficulty against hard engaging bot lanes
- No escapes
- All skill shots
- Early game very squishy

You could just as well go Exhaust here but Ignite will usually be more useful to stop lifesteal/regen, kill someone pre-flash, and add a bit more extra damage to win over a fight. So many adc's now have the ability to dash and the duration of an exhaust could be eaten up almost entirely by a well baited fake initiation/dash. The fact is you can play around an exhaust a lot easier then you can an ignite so you choose what you feel is right.

These are personally the runes I choose to use while supporting as Zyra as I find them to be helpful and efficient. You can play with these if you like as the difference is pretty miniscule as long as you remember to keep armor seals and magic pen marks as those are mandatory.

I'm honestly 100% certain there is absolutely no way to improve on this mastery page for support Zyra. The only thing that has room for change could be the points in Inspiration but keep in mind that these play a big role if you die early, as it will help you comeback since Zyra's biggest weakness is her early game squish, and if you want to roam to mid lane to try to gank while your adc is dead or on recall it will help you regain the experience you missed running there and back.

Starting items

Ancient Coin is going to pay off big when upgraded mid-late game as the movement speed for Zyra, a champ based on kiting, and the team is always useful. Sweeping Lens is the best trinket to run as your seeds from Rampant Growth give a small amount of vision and bush control on your inner bushes meaning you only need 1 ward early to cover the river. (Also your adc can ward the bushes with his trinket)

Early-Mid

Upgrade your coin on first back and go for Haunting Guise. Buy it outright if you can afford it otherwise decide between the pieces. Need more sustain, get the Ruby Crystal. Need more damage, get the Amplifying Tome and remember to get at least one ward as well. Also I recommend not upgrading your Sightstone until late game or if you feel it is really necessary as 4 ward placements is more than enough for the maximum 3 and the gold wasted upgrading it could go into a bigger item.

Rush items

This is were you really start to break apart from standard support to the secret undercover monster with Liandry's Torment and Rylai's Crystal Scepter. These two items alone on Zyra spell destruction for everything and everyone as they work as a good catch and kill as well as a kite and poke. Don't go Ionian Boots of Lucidity as you will already have more than enough CDR with your build, masteries, and Rampant Growth passive cdr boost.

Situational-End

This is when you have to decide on an item based on the game. I personally will usually strive for a Rabadon's Deathcap but sometimes you might need one of the other options so be wary summoner of the situation.

Now this part might be questionable for some but allow me to explain why I choose to max E Grasping Roots over Q deadly bloom. While it would seems that Q does get better boosts in leveling your main job early as support Zyra is to hit your roots so your adc can follow up. One Q used is one less E that could be used because of mana depletion and I find trying to harass with Q too much will drive you OOM (out of mana) faster then you can kill them alone. That is why maxing E works best here as it is the do or die skill in lane. Also considering the difference in range and the ability to angle it properly to score multiple people easier it definitely plays a bigger part from what I have seen to max the roots first. That is not to say someone could have the same if not better success maxing Q I just believe that given most circumstances a more goal specific Zyra intent on landing E's for the adc to capitalize on will max E first. Also when kiting you sometimes won't have time in some cases to throw out a Q and the extra E damage could make a flee into a chase.

Your main goal in every stage of the game will be the same and that would be to try and keep the enemy team under your control. With Zyra this is very much possible as her zoning and wave clear are almost second to none even when played as support. It is scary to know that if done properly a "support Zyra" can do the most damage in a game with relative ease and cover the basic needs of a regular support. So if you are tired of trying to just support and lose games due to lack of carry then how about you do both :)

This was the first guide I have ever made so sorry if the quality and depth isn't as thorough as it could be. I wanted to show some of my recent game scores as support Zyra as in all of them I was top damage dealer to enemy champions and had the highest amount of assists to prove the legitimacy behind this guide but I am not very knowledgeable in that department might add them in and make some depth edits in the future.