Zyra Build Guide by iFreeFallGS

Introduction

Hello Summoners.

Here is my guide about how to play with Zyra, rise of the Thorns.This is a guide so you don't need to follow it the exact same way, but this is the way I like to play her. Because Zyra is a new champion right now (24-7-12) there are allot of people that are trying out new things and search a way to master Zyra, so do I. When you read my guide and you think, 'Hey, maybe you can better do this and this' please put a comment down below and I can change or suggest it in my guide. Also I'm not English so there might be misspellings :P.

If you like my guide please vote up :) and link me your own guide(s) so I can, if you want, try help you out and suggest you things in your guide.

Some more information about Zyra her self.

Pros / Cons

Pros/cons Zyra

Pros

1.Very usefull in teamfights (AoE spells)
2.Easy farm
3.Not to much worries about Mana
4.Uses both burst and sustained damage
5.Ranged attacks
6.Many ways to use your skills
7.And ofcourse much fun to play with


Cons

1.Expensive items
2.Need some skills to play with
3.Easy get focused
4.Very weak when focused
5.Hard to escape sticky situations
*Ones you played her some matches and learn to play with Zyra
it's not really hard to escape, but still need some skills and practise

Runes

Suggestion 1

Suggestion 2***If you got suggestions for runes please tell me so i can change or add some extra***

MARKS
Gives you a start amount of +8.55 Magic Penetration. When looking for Marks there aren't other runes that are better than Magic Penetration. Because you already focus on AP with items and Mana (Regen) isn't needed that much, but if you like AP more take greater mark of pontency gives +5,31 AP or gives you +0.9 AP at level 1 and +9 AP at level 18. But that doesn't help much.

SEALS
For Seals you can use all mana runes, AP runes, but also armor or HP runes for survivability just whatever you prefer. I recommend greater seal of replenishment which gives you +3.69 Mana Regen/per 5 seconds so you don't run out of mana will laning, farming or attacking early games.

GLYPHS
For Glyphs I recommend that gives you +10.71 AP which is not bad at start. Other usefull runes are

• gives +24.3 Magic Resist at Level 18
• gives +27.54 AP at level 18

QUINS

• I recommend this one, because most items are focused on AP so Magic Penetration is never useless on Zyra, especially not when they buy Magic Resist
• gives +15.85 AP
• gives +23.22 AP at level 18

***I recommend flat runes because they are very usefull early game, which is (do I) think more important because late game you already have much AP from your items***

Masteries

Just the standard AP setup. Gives you mana, mana regen and buff duration increased from the utility tree.

Ranked Play/Gameplay

When playing Zyra you want to go mid-lane.

What rolles can Zyra do?

• On the first place ofcourse mid-lane. She is a very powerfull AP champion, from start till end.
• When playing her as Support, you want to be a aggressive support. Because she doesn't have any abilitie to heal or shield your team. You could use your stun () or ult () so your team can attack the target, but the stun doesn't least very long. But as you can see at her abilities they deal more damage based on her amount of AP.
• I guess she can also jungle, but I'm not sure about that. Because her plants, grown out of the seeds, can be very usefull in jungle.

Playing Zyra
Most of the time you start agains AP champions with low hp. So with your abilities, which are already quite strong at start, you might get their hp fast down. I would try to avoid 1 on 1 battles, because all your abilties are AoE abilities and deals tons of damage in teamfights. Tip: Don't rush into the fight, but stay on distance and cast your spells from there.

Champion Spotlight
Skip to

• 2:07 for Early game
• 3:45 for Advanced tactics

I will make (if it's possible a jungle guide aswell) but I'm not sure she is good enough to jungle with. Also you will need very good skill shots for ganks will jungling.

Items

***I always Start with: + 3x[health potion] or a and after build boots.***

***Try to always (after build is done) get some extra 75 gold so you can get sight ward because it can save your life on early and mid game so much times!***

Build
+ 3x or start with I recommend you to start with because your base movement speed is kind of low. So you have more change to get out of early ganks on your lane or to keep up with early ganks of your jungler. If you want to spam your abilities at start I recommend start with so you have some Mana Regen, HP and AP.

after some farm get sorcerer' shoes + so you have your magic penetration from your boots early game and some AP from blasting wand.

Next the expensive items
and . This would be around mid-game or end of mid-game. When you got these your getting a high amount of AP because they give together +240 AP + increased AP by 30% + 50 Armor Also you can use the Unique active of Zhonya's. If you got mana problems follow the recommend build. After sorcerer' shoes and build up for Archangle's staff so you can get a extra 1000mana(after casting lots of spells) and Mana Regen

You still have to watch out because you have realy low HP. That's why our next item is for +500HP AND[/b] +80 AP or get which is also very nice.

After HP we focus again on AP and Magic Penetration for maximum damage.
That's why we take:

• or if you want more CD and a little more AP and Mana Regen, but with the recommended build you dont need this because of archangle's staff. If you need Magic Resist go for
• and our last item for AP and the most important thing Magic Penetration.

---If you want early game some CD buy

Skills of Zyra

Zyra's abilities are:

• Passive:
• Q :deadly bloom
• W :
• E :
• R :stranglet thorns

Early-game
Level 1: always Q deadly bloom
level 2: always W
level 3: always E
level 6, 11, 16: always R stranglet thorns

level 4+: first max your Q than your E and always at last your W


I recommend max W as last because it only gives you CD, as AP caster you first want to focus on damage.

Team Work

Zyra is a realy good mid champion and very strong teamfights. All her abilities are AoE like I said before. Also her AoE deals tons of damage to the entire enemy team!. When you see early game or in the laning phases that a ally wants to gank try to stun the target with and get a easy kill out of it.

Summoner Spells

Summoner Spells I would use and .

Flash because Zyra can't easyly get out of sticky situations so flash can save you realy much times.
Ignite so you can get your kill without going after him to finish him, with the change the enemy team will trap you.

Also good spells are:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Not recommend spells, but possible:

• 
• 
• 

Not usefull

• 
• (you can use this if you like, but it's more a support spell)

Unique Skills

A realy usefull skill of Zyra is her passive. When you die and your target got low health you can finish him with a well placed last shot. Also you can use cool and strong combo's with her. Like you can see in the champion spotlight.

2:27 at video.
When the enemy engages, Zyra lands all her abilities, creating two plants in process picking up the kill with her plants and ignite.

Summary/Last words

Conclusion
Zyra is a very strong mid champion and is a AP caster. She is deals realy much damage in teamfights and can deal damage to all nearby enemy's with her AoE Abilities. She need some skills to play with, but you will get used to it. Because the champion isn't that long out there will come changes. I hope you enjoyed the guide and get some information out it and got some ideas about how to build Zyra and how to play with her. This build is still in a working progress so please leave a comment below and help me improve this guide so I can add or change things.

Goodluck with Zyra and mastering her thorns!

Change Log + Suggestions from other Summoners

25-7-12 23:00
Twistinator suggested: get rid of mana regen runes.
Mana regen runes is not needed because she has decent amount of mana and you will hardly spam your abilities early game. If you do spam your abilities then I would suggest buying a as this will fix your mana problem while giving you some HP and AP. I normaly went 2x then boots but this is overkill, I have now changed to 1 and then I start building boots or .

>More information and some changes in chapter: Items
>Recommend build added

26-7-12
>Improved grammar :P