Welcome to the most up to date Zyra support guide. Just a little bit about myself and my connection with League of Legends. I have been playing League of Legends since the end of 2011 when Fizz was realsed, immediately I began playing support, I began playing with Karma, however, when Zyra was realsed she became my main support. I have been playing Zyra through both her periods of glory and her few periods of failure and have never been disappointed in her ability to output sustained damage and her ability to protect her allies.

Just a note, I understand that many people just read the overview of a guide but before you condemn me for my choices, please read my explanations in the respective sections and give me some constructive feedback.

Professional Pros: + AOE snare and knock up. + Long range snare. + Summoned plants can block skill shots. + Can deal true damage after death. + Strong initiation ability. + Free 10% cooldown reduction when Rampant Growth is maxed.

Catastrophic Cons: - Skills have a relatively long cooldowns. - Majority of her skills are skill shots which require practice. - Low base health and mana pools. - Has no way to heal allies without specific items or summoner spells.

Core Summoner Spells

• Flash As with most champions, Flash is a must. It allows you to secure kills for your team, allows you to jump over walls to escape and to initiate team fights with your ultimate.
• Exhaust By adopting both an offensive and defensive summoner spell such as Exhaust, you will be able to slow those escaping enemies that cling onto life, or reduce the output of the enemy ADC when they are focusing your own team.

Viable Summoner Spells

• Clairvoyance Even if you are able to ward half of the map, you will often find that there is that one patch of brush that you cannot ward and will obviously contain the 5 members of the other team, patiently waiting for someone like your ADC to face check the brush, by using Clairvoyance you can check these little patches without fear.
• Ghost In all honesty, Ghost is has more uses than Flash, the duration is longer, you can get further away and close the gap between you and your enemy much faster, however, unlike Flash, it is predictable that you are going to initiate as the effect can be seen.
• Heal In the recent patch, Heal has now become much more viable to the point where Barrier is now completely useless. Whilst it is viable on Zyra, it is much more viable on the ADC, which then nullifies the viability of using Heal on Zyra due to the reduced effect.
• Ignite Zyra is an aggressive support, she has no heal or mana restoration abilities, and with the current meta of supports with heals such as Sona and Soraka, Ignite is a very useful ability, however, with the abundant use of Heal the main component of Ignite; the healing reduction is negated.

Unviable Summoner Spells

• Barrier With the current benefits of Heal; such as the bonus movement speed, removal of heal reductions and the healing effect, the benefits of Barrier are pretty much useless.
• Clarity Whilst Zyra does not have a large mana pool and it can be hard to manage her mana issues, once you grab your Chalice or Harmony for Mikael's Crucible you should be able to manage your mana.
• Cleanse You have a Mikael's Crucible, which essentially acts as Cleanse, if you are somehow being consistently being caught out with stuns and snares then you should be thinking about your play style not your summoner spells.
• Revive The only champion that I can say actually needs Revive is Karthus, and even then it is debatable. You are not a martyr, you should avoid dying in most circumstances.
• Smite I am not going to say that you cannot jungle with Zyra, however, this guide is focussing on support Zyra, and hence Smite is useless.
• Teleport I have seen supports take teleport and I ultimately do not see the point. You do not need to get back to your lane extremely fast as you should not be taking CS, and as a support you should not be split pushing and hence, you do not need Teleport.

Rise of the Thorns (Passive)

Upon death, Zyra returns to her plant form for up to 8 seconds. After 2 seconds, she can use any learned ability to fire a Vengeful Thorn in a line towards the cursor, dealing 80 + (20 × Zyra's level) true damage to every enemy it passes through. Range = 1500 This ability can deal over 400 true damage at level 18, furthermore, it is often more beneficial to use this ability as soon as you die then to keep trying to aim as your enemy gets further and further away.

Deadly Bloom (Q)

deadly bloom

After a short delay, thorns shoot from the ground at a target location, dealing magic damage to enemies within the area. If Deadly Bloom hits a seed, a Thorn Spitter grows that lasts for 10 seconds. Thorn Spitters have a long ranged attack and deal 23 + (6.5 × Zyra's level) (+ 20% Ability Power) magic damage. Range = 800 Cooldown = 7/6.5/6/5.5/5 Cost = 75/80/85/90/95 Mana Magic Damage = 70/105/140/175/210 (+ 65% Ability Power) Deadly Blood is Zyra's main form of a poke, combined with her Rampant Growth, you can dish out a considerable amount of damage.

Rampant Growth (W)

Passive: Grants bonus cooldown reduction. Active: Plants a seed at a target point for 30 seconds, granting sight of a small area around it. Zyra generates seeds over time, can hold up to 2 seeds, and cannot plant more than 4 seeds at a time. After 1.5 seconds, if an enemy champion steps on a seed, it will be destroyed, but they will be revealed by true sight for 2 seconds. If Zyra's spells hit a seed they will sprout into a plant, automatically attacking nearby enemies for 10 seconds. Plant damage is based on Zyra's level. Extra plants striking the same target deal 50% less damage. Range = 800 Recharge Time = 16.7/15.4/14.1/12.9/11.7 Cooldown Reduction = 2/4/6/8/10 % Cost = 1 Seed The seeds of Rampant Growth can be used to scout brushes, and objectives such as Baron Nashor and Dragon. The seeds themselves can be placed inside the frame of these objectives, mainly used on Baron Nashor, which can completely hide the seed, whilst still providing vision.

Grasping Roots (E)

Sends vines forward in a line, dealing magic damage and rooting enemies hit for a short duration. If Grasping Roots hits a seed, a Vine Lasher grows that lasts for 10 seconds. Vine Lashers have a short ranged attack that deals 23 + (6.5 × Zyra's level) (+ 20% Ability Power) magic damage and slows enemies hit by 30% for 2 seconds. Range = 1100 Cooldown = 12 Cost = 70/75/80/85/90 Mana Root Duration = 0.75/1.00/1.25/1.50/1.75 Magic Damage = 60/95/130/165/200 (+ 50% Ability Power) Grasping Roots is Zyra's main form of CC, it is a linear snaring move and is able to snare multiple enemies at the same time. By also using Rampant Growth alongside Grasping Roots, you can prevent many forms of retaliation as the plants will block any skill shots.

Stranglethorns (R)

Summons the fury of nature, growing a twisted thicket at the target location which deals magic damage to all enemies in the area as it expands. After 2 seconds, the vines snap upward knocking enemies into the air for 1 second. Plants within the thicket are enraged, increasing their attack speed by 50%. Range = 700 Cooldown = 130/120/110 Cost = 100/120/140 Mana Magic Damage = 180/265/350 (+ 70% Ability Power) Stranglethorns is an ability that can completely change the tide of a team fight, by using Flash and Stranglethorns and making sure that you hit the majority if not all of the enemies then you can successfully shut down multiple champions on the opposing team. It should be noted that the seeds do not have to be planted before the use of Stranglethorns, any plants that are already places will get the bonus.