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Welcome to the League of Legends Champion Spotlight featuring Zyra, Rise of the Thorns.
Zyra is a ranged mage who disperses seeds and grows them into deadly plants that attack her foes.
She’s adept at pummeling individual enemies and controlling movement across the battlefield.
Zyra’s passive is Rise of the Thorns. Upon death, Zyra is frozen in place, and after a brief delay, can press any of her ability buttons to fire a line nuke that damages all enemies it hits.
Deadly Bloom causes thorns to shoot out in target area, dealing damage to enemies caught above.
Any seeds hit grow into Thorn Spitters that attack nearby enemies from afar.
Max Deadly Bloom early if your primary goal is dealing damage with abilities outright.
Rampant Growth passively grants Zyra bonus cooldown reduction. Every few seconds, Zyra stores a seed, up to a cap.
These seeds can be placed on the ground, revealing the area around them until they are stepped on and killed by an enemy champion, or grown into a deadly plant.
Zyra’s basic attacks will cause her plants to focus on her target. Max Rampant Growth if you’re looking to sprout as many plants as possible.
Grasping Roots sends a series of vines out in a line that damage and root in place enemies they hit.
Any seeds hit grow into Vine Lashers that strike nearby enemies and slow them upon striking.
Place points in Grasping Roots if you’re looking for a bit more damage, but mostly if you’re looking for extra crowd control.
Zyra’s ultimate is Stranglethorns. Stranglethorns damages all enemies in an area, laying a thicket of vines beneath them.
After a short delay, these vines snap upward, knocking up enemies caught in the area.
If any of Zyra’s plants are hit by Stranglethorns, their attack speeds are greatly increased.
As with any champion, place points in Stranglethorns as soon as possible, at Levels 6, 11, and 16.
With early points in Deadly Bloom and Rampant Growth, Zyra can choose to quickly push her lane by sprouting a Thorn Spitter and using its added damage to clear out minions.
Additionally, she can watch for ganks by planting Seeds near potential gank paths.
Early game, Zyra’s plants make her one of the game’s best duelists. As Viktor engages, Zyra lands all of her abilities, creating two plants in the process.
Though Skarner enters from across the wall, her plants plus Ignite and basic attacks pick up a kill in return.
Let’s go back and watch the abilities in slow motion. Zyra opens with Rampant Growth into Grasping Roots, following up with Deadly Bloom into a second Rampant Growth.
This allows one plant to slow down Viktor, which would have ensured Zyra’s escape, while the other continues to pummel him as he runs.
Only the unfortunate entrance of Skarner kept Zyra from winning the fight outright.
At Level 6, Zyra’s burst is phenomenal.
Grasping Roots into Deadly Bloom deals incredible damage and holds Viktor in place for the knock up from Stranglethorns.
If he hadn’t Flashed, or if Zyra had summoned Thorn Spitters instead, it was an easy kill.
Zyra’s passive, Rise of the Thorns, means she can always claw back from difficult fights. Here Morgana runs in on Zyra with Soul Shackles.
However, after Stranglethorns, summoning a Thorn Spitter, and locking Morgana down with Grasping Roots, Zyra can kill her with a final shot from Rise of the Thorns.
The best way for Zyra to follow up on ganks is by lending her own crowd control.
Here Rammus rolls in on Viktor, allowing Zyra to easily land Grasping Roots and sprout a Vine Lasher to take him out.
With a few points in Rampant Growth, Zyra can easily earn some extra gold from the nearby Wraith camps.
Dropping two seeds right before Deadly Bloom gives Zyra some nice extra income with very little difficulty.
You can also choose to cast a second Deadly Bloom to clear the camp faster.
Zyra can set up on her foes without them noticing.
After discovering Skarner with a ward, Zyra plants two seeds, grows them into Thorn Spitters, and locks Skarner down with Grasping Roots.
The combined damage takes him down almost immediately.
The Vine Lasher can provide great utility in a smaller skirmish.
Skarner runs in, so Zyra lands Grasping Roots and sprouts a Vine Lasher, whose slow completely removes his chances to chase or escape.
Focus on staying safe and outputting reliable damage in a team fight.
In this battle, Zyra opens by spawning two Thorn Spitters, as they’re the most likely to deal damage throughout a mobile fight.
Stranglethorns keeps Gangplank and Skarner in range as Zyra chases down her first kill.
Zyra runs off to the right to escape from Viktor’s clutches and flank the opposition.
As she moves down, she gets behind Skarner and Caitlyn. The long range of Grasping Roots and Deadly Bloom is enough to take her second and third kills of the fight.
I recommend building Zyra with an emphasis on Ability Power, maximizing her damage with some added durability through items.
Consider Magic Penetration Marks, flat Mana Regeneration Seals, Ability Power per Level Glyphs, and flat Ability Power Quintessences.
Try 21/0/9 Masteries, taking all the magic damage increasing masteries in Offense, plus Mana Regeneration and neutral buff duration in Utility.
For Summoner Spells, I recommend Ignite and Flash, allowing you to close in on kills or escape to safety.
As an example build, open with Boots of Speed, Health Potions, and a few Doran’s Rings or Prospector’s Ring.
Upgrade to Sorcerer’s Shoes and add Rabadon’s Deathcap for additional damage.
Zhonya’s Hourglass is exceptionally good on Zyra because her plants can continue attacking while she’s in stasis.
Finally, consider Rylai’s Crystal Scepter, Void Staff and Abyssal Scepter as other great items for Zyra.
Thanks for tuning into the Zyra Champion Spotlight. Please subscribe to the Riot Games YouTube channel above and leave us your comments just below the video!