Zyra’s best build paths offer her great damage and Late Game scaling in League of Legends season 14. The Rise of the Thorns is quite effective as both a Mid Laner and a Support. However, she is much more popularly championed in the bot lane because of the amount of CC and damage she brings.
Her kit is also quite simple, and Zyra is one of the easier Mages to pick up if you want to climb the competitive ladder. Her plants will let her tank neutral objectives, and once she hits her first power spike, Zyra will also be able to start soloing Drakes.
She has a fair bit of CC as well, and well-timed ability placements will let you turn a losing fight around.
Contents:
- Best Zyra build
- Pros and Cons of playing Zyra
- Zyra tips and tricks for Early Game, Mid Game, Late Game
- Zyra counters, matchups, and Champion synergy
League of Legends 14.11 Best Zyra build (Mid/Support)
Runes
| Sorcery | Domination | Passive Stats |
|---|---|---|
| Arcane Comet | Taste of Blood | +9 Adaptive Damage |
| Manaflow Band | Ultimate hunter | +9 Adaptive Damage |
| Transcendence | +65 Health | |
| Scorch |
Itemization
| Mid Lane | Support | Situational Items |
|---|---|---|
| Liandry’s Torment | Zaz’Zak’s Realmspike | Morellonomicon |
| Sorcerer’s Shoes | Sorcerer’s Shoes | Banshee’s Veil |
| Malignant | Liandry’s Torment | Redemption |
| Rylai’s Crystal Sceptre | Stormsurge | Zhonya’s Hourglass |
| Rabadon’s Deathcap | Shadowflame | Kaenic Rookern |
| Shadowflame | Void Staff | Hollow Radiance |
Spells
- Flash
- Ignite/Exhaust
Skill Unlock Priority
 Q: Deadly Spines | 3 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 18 | |||||||||||||
 W: Rampant Growth | 2 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 13 | |||||||||||||
 E: Grasping Roots | 1 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 9 | |||||||||||||
 R: Strangle Thors | 6 | 11 | 16 |
Zyra Pros and Cons in League of Legends Season 14
Pros:
- Zyra comes with a good deal of damage in the Early Game. Even as a Support, she can scale extremely well in Riot’s MOBA. So if she has maximized her itemization through leads, she can carry games irrespective of the role you are playing her in. This makes her one of the better poke Supports in the meta.
- Her seeds allow her to control objects rather effectively. The plants let her and her team have an easier time taking down objectives. The plants tank the damage coming from the Drake and the Baron, letting her have an easy setup around the pits. She can even solo the Drake as a Support once she gets a few items under her belt.
- Zyra’s plants can block hooks from champions like Pyke, Blitzcrank, Nautilus, and Thresh. Making her an effective counter against them in the laning phase. Her E and R are also multi-target abilities and she can CC all five of the enemy champions with them when used right.
Cons:
- Zyra is extremely squishy. She can be very easily targeted and bursted down. So much of her teamfight goals will be to kite around the skirmish and place down her seeds and roots while avoiding enemy CC. She has no tools to protect herself and her ADC if the enemy collapses on them.
- Her kit also lacks mobility. Zyra is not as mobile as some of the other meta Supports. She has no dashes or gap-closing tools which will allow her to catch up to an enemy or easily avoid incoming CC. This often makes her a sitting duck when her Flash is on cooldown.
- Zyra only scales well into the Late Game if she has leads. She will struggle to put out damage if she is made to fall off early. Depending on the Gold disadvantage, she will struggle quite a bit to be relevant during teamfights.
How to play Zyra: Tips and Tricks for League of Legends Season 14
Early Game:
- Zyra comes with an exceptional amount of poke from levels 2 and 3 onwards. So much of her early game plan will revolve around harassing the enemy Mid Laner and the Bot Lane duo. So every time you see the enemy walking up to last hit a minion. Harass them with a Q+W combo.
- If you are often pushing in your lane, look for moments when you can roam the map. While she is not particularly exceptional at making cross-map plays, you will atleast be able to use her W and Wards to place deep vision in the enemy jungle. Zyra is very easy to gank, so having vision around you will let you have an easier time spotting out ganks.
- Before Zyra’s build starts to kick in, her E will have a significantly longer cooldown period in the Early Game. So only look to use it when the situation calls for it, or when you know that you will be able to snare the enemy. During skirmishes look to snare multiple enemies at the same time.
Mid Game:
- Once you start getting a few items under her belt, Zyra starts to become a teamfighting monster. If you are not able to get kills, or if the enemy is playing a very passive game concentrate on helping your jungler secure neutral objectives. Her plants will make it significantly easier to take down the Drake, Grubs, and Herald.
- If a skirmish does break out, your role will be to CC as many enemy champions as possible. Her higher damage output can shred through the enemy frontline, chipping away at their health. This will make it significantly easier for the rest of your team to collapse on the enemy.
- As a Zyra Support, continue to improve your vision score. Place down Wards around the neutral objectives and deep within the enemy jungle. Also don’t shy away from using your W to scout out brushes, or even face-check them.
Late Game:
- Considering you have been able to complete most of Zyra’s build, the Late Game for her should not be too difficult to maneuver. However, you will still need to be careful of enemy CC. Even with the best build, Zyra is very squishy and can be killed in the blink of an eye.
- If you are playing Support then keep placing wards around the objectives and the jungle. This will let you spot out a flank and avoid getting needless engaged on by the enemy frontline.
- Continue to pressure objective takes with the rest of your team. Zyra continues to have a good deal of damage on Neutral Monsters. Hence, you will be able to take down the Baron and Elder Drake considerably faster with your plants.
Zyra counters, matchups, and Champion Synergy
Zyra Support
Counters:
Zyra does not do well against Supports who have hard point-and-click CC.
Favorable Matchups:
- Blitzcrank
- Thresh
- Pyke
- Nautilus
- Rell
Zyra has an easier time in lane against Supports hook supports.
ADC Synergy:
Zyra’s kit pairs extremely well with ADCs who have a lot of all-in potential as soon as they hit level 3.
Zyra MID
Counters
- Fizz
- Irelia
- Zoe
- Ekko
- LeBlanc
- Zed
Zyra struggles in lane against those who have a lot of mobility in their kit.
Favorable Matchups
- Yasuo
- Yone
- Azir
- Katarina
- Akali
Zyra does much better in lane against these picks.
Jungle Synergy
Junglers who come with a lot of upfront burst in the Early-to-Mid game have a much easier time ganking a Zyra lane.
