Zyra is quite a strong pick in the current meta, having nice synergies with most meta adcs and very little hard matchups. Her capacity to either burst or deal damage over time to tanks and the whole enemy team at once makes her a very strong pick and ideal to have in a team with little magic damage.


Basic guide:
Your main goal during laning phase varies from matchup to matchup, but what you should always try to achieve is to complete your support item's mission before the other support. TO do this basically you should not trade when you have no item charges, try to never have 3 item charges at any given time, to maximise the amount of gold you obtain. Every individual plant will give you 1 tribute charge when they hit an enemy, and every spell and basic attack will give you 1 charge each too. a quick way to proc electrocute and all three charges is the simple Q-W-AA combo, or Q-W-W Combo.

REMEMBER: your E is your most important self peel and escape method, don't waste it or use it to poke.


PROS: Solid sustained damage, lane presence, CC, and burst. Also she can be useful from the backline without risking much, although not ideal.
CONS: Vulnerable to all ins from high damage, or tanky champions. very weak vs assassins. lacks peel for her adc.

Main page:


/ (vs trade lanes)
/
/ /

Secondary page:

- : / /
AND always scorch.

- : AND (VS engage and assassins)

- : cookies AND boots/ (NOT RECOMMENDED)

Use this page as standard. The reason we take electrocute is because it is surprisingly easy to proc, because individual plant hits count towards the 3 attacks required to proc it. (Q + 2 plants will always proc electro). Each plant can only activate it once, so you need two plants to proc it reliably, or 1 pant and a basic attack or E.


SECONDARY RUNES (ONLY USE WITH LIANDRY's ANGUISH)

Main page:



/
(Always take scorch)


Secondary page:
>
/ / .

This page is used with the anti tank annoying poke build, because it synergizes better than electrocute.

Zyra wants to always max Q first, since the cooldown is reduced with each level and the damage it provides is her main source of dps and poke.

Some people prefer maxing E first, but since it is much harder to hit, and much harder to hit more than one enemy with it, you're most likely left with little damage after using it. Also when you max it, the cds of your abilities will be much higher since it doesnt reduce with levels.

If you max W, close this tab and go play plants vs zombies or w/e.

Of course, put a point in R whenever possible.

I WILL NOT EXPLAIN WHAT THE ABILITIES DO. You should know that before checking the guide. Get in practice tool and test your champion, become comfortable with it, try quick cast, indicator, no quick cast, whatever feels better for you. But you should know what the abilities do before reading this part of the guide because otherwise you won't understand it. I trust in your empirical way of learning what the abilities do better than my ability to explain them to you.


Q:
you want to use this ability in lane to raise plants and complete your spell thief's edge faster than your opponent support. Although it is ideal to hit this ability, its not that bad if you miss it, since the plants will spawn either way.
Plants spawned by your Q will deal damage from range, so they are preferred when poking and sieging.

W: always use W immediately AFTER casting Q or E, to ensure the enemy you hit with either of those abilities also gets hit by the plants and procs electrocute.

This ability generates vision in a small area for a short while, so it can be used to check brushes and behind terrain if an enemy is camping. this function is very useful, dont forget to do it in all of your games to avoid getting picked before objectives and other stuff.

E: dont go throwing your E randomly, since its your only peel and escape tool. Try to use it as a follow up to ally CC or when you are sure it will hit. Like most hook champions, the sole threat of having this ability up will most likely deter the enemy from getting close to you, and they will look to engage on you when its down if you waste it carelessly.
Plants spawned by your E will deal THE SAME DAMAGE as plants spawned by your Q, but from a much shorter (almost melee) range. The good part is that they slow, and if the enemy is hit by 2 of these plants the slow will be greater.

R: Ok how you use this ability is what differentiates good zyra players from randoms picking it because it is good in the meta.
The way this ability works is quite strange, so you better get into practice tool and hit a dummy some times to figure out how it works.
Basically, the damage is very high, but is dealt about 0.8 seconds after you cast it, when the vines reach the border of the ability. The knockup part comes later, and often times the enemy will dodge it but dont worry, the fact that enemies will try to flash or dash out of this ulti will mean that they waste an important resource and are left vulnerable for your team to pick them.
After your first item, you should try to camp bushes, especially versus supports like nami soraka or lulu, who will try to approach the bushes to ward and dont have any tools to check vision in the bush. Free kills for you, yay!

BLUE SIDE:
1: A good ward to place versus junglers that like to engage from the blueside tribush, like Zac, Kayn, Fiddlesticks.
2: solid ward versus roaming midlaners and most junglers that like to run into botlane, like Hecarim, Nunu & Willump, Udyr, Graves, Master Yi.
3: Best ward to defend against Shaco, and champs that want to camp in the river bush. Most people put their wards here always, but sometimes 1,2,5 are much better.
4: lane bush wards are very good against toplaners and midlaners with TP, as your toplaner will be able to match their tp with this ward, and you will be able to see the teleport better and have more time to escape. Also works versus champs that can abuse bushes like engage and melee supports. Also helps against lane ganking junglers.
5: try to always place drake ward near the river, so it not only provides drake vision, but also serves to spot the enemy junglers and whoever passes by this location.

Lastly, these wards are very specific, but you're trolling if you don't use them:
Vs talon, use ward 5 and another ward placed behind the drake pit, to prevent most of his roam routes.
Vs Evelynn, use pink wards in 5, 2 and 3 instead of standard wards. and only use normal wards near her camps, because she isnt invisible while attacking them.
If your lane is pushed and your team spots the enemy jungler topside, dont be afraid to go deeper and ward near the enemy camps. This greatly helps your mid, top, and actually, every single member of your team, since they will be able to play calmly knowing the enemy jungler is spotted and won't gank them.

RED SIDE:
1: solid ward to defend vs most junglers when pushed in or when wave is even at the middle.
2: solid ward versus junglers that want to gank by running bot like Nunu & Willump, Master Yi, Udyr, and Hecarim.
3: solid ward versus Fiddlesticks and Zac, and other junglers that like to fullclear.
4: the best ward to spot enemy tps, and have the your toplaner tp to lane. Always try to have this ward up, as it also provides bush control and will make the enemy melee supports and lane gankers like fiddle less likely to succesfully get the jump on you.
5: try to always place drake ward near the river, so it not only provides drake vision, but also serves to spot the enemy junglers and whoever passes by this location.
6: this ward is very effective to spot roaming supports and midlaners, as well as the enemy jungler, and most of the time they won't be bothered to clear it.
7: this ward is very good versus junglers that will do full clear then gank, like Evelynn, Shyvana, Karthus, etc. Also works versus Lee Sin and Xin Zhao very well, but never place this ward vs Ivern, as he doesnt do krugs.