Zyra Build Guide by RxDoodle
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starting items
first back (no kills)
first back w/ kill(s)
mid/late game
Ability Sequence
Not Updated For Current Season
The masteries shown here are not yet updated for the current season, the guide author needs to set up the new masteries. As such, they will be different than the masteries you see in-game.
Masteries
Introduction
Hello everyone I'm here to show you how the BEST ZYRA NA (self proclaimed of course) does his thing down bot. I have been playing Zyra since she launched as both a mid laner and support. I prefer support because i love KSing the ADC -__- I'm just kidding. Although i do end up in most games dealing the some damage overall , op i know. :)
Ability overview
Passive : 
Rise of the Thorns Is an ability you gain upon Death. Once killed Zyra turns into a vengeful plant capable of firing one missile that passes through and damages all champions hit. You can activate the missile by pressing any button of an ability you have already learned. If u die early and only have your E for instance only that button will launch the missile.
Q : deadly bloom deals aoe damage in a small designated circle.
W : Rampant Growth Places a seedling at cursor location that lasts 60s and grants minor vision around its location. The seedling can be grown into 2 different types of plants. Hitting a seedling with deadly bloom will spawn a ranged plant that fires missiles at the nearest target or the target of your last Auto Attack (AA). Hitting a seedling with Grasping Roots will spawn a melee plant that reduces the movement speed of enemies hit for a short duration again will hit nearest target or last target hit by your AA.
E : Grasping Roots Snares all enemies caught in its path.
R : Stranglethorns Deals massive aoe damage in a large designated area and after a few seconds will knock up all enemies still inside its radius. Also any active plants hit by it will be enlarged and have their Attack Speed increased by 50%.
Play style
The way I play Zyra is a real in your face GET THE F*** OUT OF MY LANE! Start by taking a point in E Grasping Roots. This really is your bread and butter cause with it you can either run away to safety cause the whole enemy team is down bot cause they know you just read my strat and are scared to death of you or lock down the enemy for a nice gank from your friendly neighborhood Jungler. One thing you need to know about Grasping Roots is the delay in it. It needs time to travel so take that into consideration when attempting to lock down a fleeing enemy. Best bet is to take it at a 45degree angle and slightly lead him it takes some practice to master.
Ok next thing we need to talk about is her W Rampant Growth. These seeds act as 60s wards cause they do show u a small area around them in bushes , around corners anywhere you cant see. Also once stepped on they reveal that target for a few seconds. Now while these are all nice they also do tell the enemy that u are either near or are about to light them up with your awesome abilities. So don't place a seedling then cast your q deadly bloom or your e Grasping Roots. You can cast both of those first then simply lay your seeds in them to spawn the corresponding plant. Keep in mind your cursor dictates the placement of the seeds.
Now that you have a basic understanding of her more complicated abilities we shall talk about combining them in effective/deadly manners. Basically if u don't land your snares smack yourself on the forehead and wait for it to come off cool down. Your best bet to winning a fight is landing your snare while spawning two melee plants , so that is E , W W as fast as your fingers can hit the buttons WATCH CURSOR POSITION I can not emphasize this enough. It will become second nature as u continue to play her and trust me u will she is so FUN. Now granted u landed that combo and are 6 ULT THEM and good job u just won that fight. Use your Q , W combo to poke people hiding in bushes. The ranged plant has very long range and can shoot from one side of the bush to pretty much the other side(side note: your plants attack last target u hit). Also your Q alone does good damage so throw it at the enemy when you can , mana permitting , you wanna be able to ult when needed. Also I should mention when you do grow a plant in those long bushes down bot it reveals the whole bush so if you don't have a ward this is a good way to get some cheap vision.
Her ult is both a great initiator and disengage mechanism. For its high damage and the resulting knock up. Also because of this you will end up getting kills in team fights and during your lane phase. Who cares about kda right??? I mean the point is to win the game so what if you end up with the most kills every one gets the W and the lp. Some people will complain oh well winning is more important then your ego! Landing your E and spawning 2 melee plants (remember this happens when Grasping Roots hits a Rampant Growth seedling) is a great way to start a fight I mean u basically just lowered the health of all caught in the wake to half. Tell me that's not a great way to start a team fight. Same move but at the end of a team fight gone wrong will almost certainly get you and who ever is left of your team to safety. Even just throwing out your snare and tossing what ever seedlings you can to spawn melee plants to slow the enemies who are in pursuit will do the trick.
Maintaining vision
Good vision is key to winning games. So you do wanna make sure to keep wards on you at all times and an oracle active as much as possible. Placing 
Vision Ward during the lane phase helps your jungle come in undetected. Blue Team and Purple Team have slightly different areas to place Vision Wards. Blue Team for instance should focus on keeping tri bush clear and bottom river bush while Purple Team should concentrate on the direct route down river. Meaning by dragon and also bottom river bush. You wanna pay attention to your lane opponents items when they come back from
Recall
. You can do this by just hitting tab once you have vision on him and checking his inventory. You want to draw out their vision wards and counter them with yours. This is where you and your sighttone love affair begins. Sacrifice Your your sight wards to find out where they have Vision Wards. Don't neglect your 2 bottom bushes. Keeping a Vision Ward in your bush (closest to your turret ) and a sight ward in their bush (furthest from your turret ) will help open up lane ganks for your jungle and stop lane ganks from theirs. Yes this gets to be expensive but its s vital part of being a support.
As the game progresses and the lane phase ends you ought to be getting help warding by all members of the team unless a carry is behind. This is the only time they should not be spending money on wards till they get caught up in build. You still like I said wanna keep an oracle active and a full 
Ruby Sightstone to maintain doing your part in vision dominance. Keeping wards on Enemy buffs , Your buffs , Baron and Dragon are essential. Be ready for ward battles at Baron and Dragon. You can hide wards inside their pens if u place them in the corners as u enter. Mind your most people are keen to this and place Vision Wards deeper in to detect them but still worth a sight ward just in case.
Talent points , Ability points and Itemization
I go with the 9/0/21 forgoing points in movement speed cause like I said ITS MY LANE and I see no reason to have to run. With proper ward placement you will see any ganks coming with ample time to get back. In the event you need to get out quick you always have 
Flash and/or 
Exhaust. Make sure u make good use of
Pickpocket
getting your 3 gold for a ranged attack as often as possible. Rest of the points in utility should be pretty self-explanatory. The 9 points in offense are for the extra bite in her abilities stacked with the AP build. While this does make an already squishy champ squishier but not picking up points in defense. The added damage more then compensates for it and with her ability to GET THE F*** OUT OF DODGE need be via her snare w combo
While leveling her abilities I like to max my Q first then E. But do feel out your lane opponents. If u are being out harassed and need a little more time to maneuver max your E. Keep them annoying little pests in their place a little longer. I know maxing her w for the cdr looks tempting but with the points in utility and offense already gives you what you need to dominate lane. Of course take points in R at levels 6 , 11 and 16.
I do get a philosopher's stone for the early gp5 but sell it off later in the game when I feel its no longer useful. Probably asking why not get a kage's lucky pick since you build 
Morellonomicon anyway. Simply cause philo is cheaper to start with. Once you start morello you can sell off philo in exchange for kage's or simply take the gp10 , really its all on preference and how well the match is going. I get morello for its passive grievous wounds cause most champs late game all have some sort of health regeneration. Also it maxes her CDR at 40% with no other cdr items. 
Liandry's Torment is a key item for its passive burn. This item has become a staple for all APCs these days. 
Rabadon's Deathcap and 
Zhonya's Hourglass are the final pieces to the puzzle. Simply for the ap increase from deathcap and the GOLDEN STATUE effect of Zhonya's which leaves you untargetable for a few seconds. Trust me you will become the focus of team fights later in the match. I've become a higher profile target than our ADC on more then one occasion cause of my high burst aoe damage. Magic pen boots are for just that magic pen. I get homegaurd for my boots no matter how the match is going. Just being able to instantly fill your health and mana and flying back into battle are priceless IMO.
Conclusion
Ok well there you have it. What do you think? Keep in mind this is my first attempt at putting a guide together. I'm working on including some photos of ward placements and videos of successful combos (what you think I'm gonna show you failed ones??? lol). I'm just not that computer savvy and for some reason no matter how many times I try to download LoLreplay it just won't work. So if anyone can point me in the right direction on importing screenshots and getting LoLreplay to work so I can upload some video footage i would appreciate it. Well please let me know what you think of this guide. Any comments good or bad will be taken into consideration and I'll update the guide accordingly. Thanks for reading I hope you liked it and good luck DOMINATING THAT BOT LANE :)
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