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Lulu
Table of Contents
Ahri Statistics for Ahri
Author's performance with Ahri compared to the ranked average.
Author
Freye
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Guide Details
Summoner Spells
Back to Top ▲
A pretty standard summoner spell on most supports, since its flexibility allows for both offensive and defensive plays. It is mostly used to escape sticky situations, but should be used carefully on support Zyra.- Remember that Zyra's passive, Rise of the Thorns, does a significant amount of damage after death and sometimes, it is better to position yourself to die in a fight rather than flash away (out of range) of your passive's maximum cast range.
Provides the most synergy with Zyra's kit, because you can use it in combination with your Grasping Roots and Stranglethorns to secure a kill. Although exhaust should be used to counter assassin type engagements, it is still a fairly strong choice in lane even with the adjustments to the damage reduction; exhaust is useful for securing kills, as well as escaping from ganks. Read Author Notes
Runes
Back to Top ▲Rune Page Overview
This page provides the following:
- +15 Ability Power
- +7.8 Magic Penetration
- +13 Armor
- +28 Ability Power at Level 18 (+1.53 AP/level)
The ideology of support Zyra revolves around the scaling of her damage through her plants and complementing spells, as well as the usefulness of her passive ability (which deals true damage upon death). By taking extra resistances on support Zyra, you counter-intuitively make it harder for her to die, and you pass up the chance to maximize her burst damage (threat) in lane. By building pure damage and utility in runes and masteries, you enable Zyra's potential to trade well in lane and secure kills later on by forcing the enemy players to blow their summoners to escape from her ultimate.
Read Author Notes
Masteries
Back to Top ▲Overall, 0/13/17 is the most efficient setup for Zyra because her auto attack range is superior to that of most adc's in lane. It allows easy farm with the Pickpocket mastery, especially against melee supports. With this in mind, take care against aggressive supports, such as Taric, Leona, Blitzcrank, Thresh, Lulu, and Alistar, who provide punishing hard cc's upon return harass.
1/13/16
This is the most efficient setup for all-in exchanges in lane since the additional -10 armor/magic resist aid on Exhaust makes it harder for your opponents to escape or survive your ultimate. Keep in mind that this will fall off late game, so use it to dominate or break even during the laning phase.
- Trading the point from Pickpocket to Summoner's Wrath is personal preference, but I have found that the benefits of securing the kill can sometimes outweigh the marginal income of +3 gold per auto (5 sec cooldown).
0/9/21
The additional mobility helps your auto attack harass more safely, but you have a little less tankiness by not taking Unyielding or Block.
Read Author Notes
Abilities
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Grasping Roots (E) is the most crucial skill to max on support Zyra, because each rank increases the snare duration by .25 seconds, in addition to the slowing effect if used in conjunction with her seeds. I take two ranks of snare by level 3 and wait on Deadly Bloom at level 4 because it helps me spam plants less (prevents the wave from pushing too quickly, especially if you miss your snare and don't capitalize on any harass).
Rampant Growth (W) is maxed next because of the passive cdr it provides for all of Zyra's spells. It also lowers the cooldown of her seed generation.
Deadly Bloom (Q) has the least priority because it does not do much damage on its own, and it brings no utility other than extra poke or brush control. The only case when I take Deadly Bloom at level 3 is when I'm playing against a Blitzcrank (I use the extra plant to block his Rocket Grab).
Read Author Notes
Items
Back to Top ▲Start With
Core
Situational
Items Overview
Starting Items
x2Allows you to stay even on trades by providing health and mana regeneration over time. Gives moderate ward coverage before first trip back to base. In most cases, I will start Flask as Zyra because I will most likely be building Kage's Lucky Pick, rather than Philosopher's Stone.
x3 x3The additional ward helps in invasion strategies, and the health pots will heal you through more damage than a Crystalline Flask. This will sustain you through more intensive harass (a bully lane, such as Draven or Varus).
- Health Potions heal for 150 hp; Crystalline Flask heals for 120 hp per charge.
x3 
The vision ward start allows you to control the brush, zoning your opponents. This start is ideal if you are against a weaker enemy jungler, since they will have less successful ganks as long as you keep the river warded.
- You should only start with this item grouping if you are confident you can bully your opponents out of lane without being heavily punished for your aggression.
Core Items
+ 
The three items you should aim for on support Zyra. After buying boots and a Kage's (as supplemental income), you want to focus on buying Hourglass because of the damage and anti-focus it brings in teamfights. Zhonya's Hourglass allows you to bait yourself and draw attention away from the adc in teamfights, so that your team can finish off their opposing damage dealers before you are targetable again. It allows you to choose when you want to die in teamfights, either as the primary target in a fight or near the end when you use your passive to clean up kills.
- I think Zhonya's Hourglass is optimal over Rylai's Crystal Scepter because it allows you to rush burst damage (through Needlessly Large Rod) versus stagnant health (through Giant's Belt) and provides the same survivability for teamfights.
Situational Items
An additional initiation tool I usually pick up, and a great complement to Zyra's kit of slows if you also take exhaust. It helps when you are fighting in the jungle and don't have complete vision (i.e. they have cleared out baron with oracles). The +5% movement speed is an added bonus, as the movement speed stat is hard to come by.
Another item option that upgrades out of Kage's Lucky Pick. If you started Faerie Charm (and bought Sightstone and Kage's early on), you can combine Kage's and your Faerie Charm into a Morellonomicon later. It provides a solid amount of ability power, as well as mana regeneration and 20% cooldown reduction. The passive effect on this item is less notable, but still useful if your ultimate happens to take opponents low with your team's initial burst during a fight. It is also much cheaper than buying an Hourglass (2,200g versus 3,260g).
Useful for initiation, but should only be built if you start with a Philosopher's Stone instead of Crystalline Flask. I find that Shurelia's Reverie is more useful on tanks and initiators on the frontlines of your team, since it allows for the rest of the team to follow-up with the intiation. Other items like Twin Shadows and Shard of True Ice are better suited to your build because they are upgraded from Kage's Lucky Pick.
A useful upgrade of Kage's Lucky Pick, since you can apply the affect to your plants to create an aoe slow that prevents enemies from running out of your ultimate. It retains the gold/10 properties of your Kage's Lucky Pick and provides a small mana regen aura for your teammates.
Another alternate survival item that also adds a slow to your plant's auto attacks. I find that rushing upfront damage via Hourglass is more effective, even though the utility of the slow on Rylai's is useful for initiating.
A useful aoe resistance item if your tanks have not built it for your team already. It provides allies with additional armor, magic resist, and health regen. Aegis is sufficient for physical damage-heavy teams; Bulwark is worth the upgrade if the enemy team is stacking primarily magic damage.
A cost-efficient aoe shielding that I only take when my team is behind in gold and kills; I find it is more attainable than Shurelia's, since it isn't cost-effective to stack Philosopher's Stone and Crystalline Flask (double regen) during early game laning.
An extremely strong item as it provides a free cleanse and heals your targeted ally for 150 + 10% of their maximum health. This item is fairly costly for its benefits, and it is difficult to use because it requires precise timing (and forces you to stay within close proximity of your targeted ally). It also has a 180 second cooldown. Now that the recipe has been changed and Crucible can be built from Philosopher's Stone, this may be a more viable choice if you do not want/need Shurelia's.Additional Concerns
The Crystalline Flask, Philosopher's Stone, and Sightstone Trinity: When to Buy Them
Starting items on supports have become more situationally-driven. Support players must now decide between starting with flask and neglecting additional wards, or starting Faerie Charm to rush Philosopher's Stone. I have found that choosing from the three starting item groups I defined above allows me to have the most successful laning phase possible, and the amount of gold I net on each returning trip to base determines whether I finish Philosopher's Stone sooner or at all on Zyra.
Starting Flask (my standard starting item for Zyra, specifically):
- The goal is to buy your gold items as quickly as possible
- Sightstone >> Kage's Lucky Pick, in that order of priority
- Do not buy Philosopher's Stone unless behind in gold. (I firmly believe that Kage's Lucky Pick >> Twin Shadow's is a stronger investment than Philosopher's Stone >> Shurelia's Reverie because it allows you to combo your snares and ultimate with the active slow. Shurelia's allows your team to follow up on initiations, but it doesn't have as heavy of an impact as Twin Shadow's slow.)
- The goal is to complete your Philosopher's Stone first (520g on first back to complete; 180g for Rejuv Bead + 340g to combine)
- Philosopher's Stone >> Sightstone >> Kage's Lucky Pick, in that order of priority
- Do not buy Kage's Lucky Pick if it is past the 18-20 minute mark, since it will no longer be cost-effective
**In evenly-matched games, most supports will opt for purchasing Philosopher's Stone before Sightstone, especially with the Faerie Charm start; however, in those rare cases where the lane is significantly ahead and you can afford to buy Sightstone before Philo or Kage's, it is even more cost-effective with the now-increased health it provides.
Stacking Crystalline Flask & Philosopher's Stone: When Double Regeneration Can Help
Even after the adjustments to Flask, I still see pros taking Crystalline Flask as well as Philosopher's Stone. Part of it is personal preference, but having double regeneration allows you to be as aggressive as you want when trading as a support. Season 2 brought forth a new age of aggressive play as a support; in tournaments, the more poke and utility a support had, the more successful they resulted in lane. One of the most obvious cases for Flask+Philo is Sona: Sona is essentially a mana whore and needs to be in mid-range to land her Qs, so having two sources of regeneration allow her to sustain extremely well in lane, as well as delay buying a Chalice of Harmony and opt for rushed aura items for teamfights.
I would say that taking both items is most successful in sustained (long) teamfights late game, and you shouldn't be too concerned with buying both unless you know you will fully benefit from all of the regeneration you are investing in. Keep in mind that buying double regen on Zyra will delay you from your Zhonya's Hourglass, which is one of the most important items in your build.
Read Author Notes
Comments (6)
2
RayMkII
4 months ago
The guide's super in-depth and you clearly spent a ton of time on it. Kudos for attention to detail and for clean presentation. Not to mention I learned a ton. :)
0
4 months ago
Good guide. I have around 100+ ranked zyra games and your thought (particularly about vs Nunu) are right in line with what I have seen. I noticed that you start some of your builds with a faerie charm but never finish it into philo, at least that I can see. Do you skip this item? I normally get it along with SS quite early to help with sustain or against lanes that want to trade with me. Do you find this not as useful?
0
4 months ago
With the fresh adjustments to flask, I am still playing around with whether or not to build Philosopher's Stone on Zyra specifically. In games when my lane comes out ahead, I usually bypass it and buy Kage's Lucky Pick in its place (later upgrading it to a Twin Shadows). In games where laning phase is more even, I will either rush it or build Philo after SS to ensure I am generating extra gold earlier on. I would say Philo is useful in certain circumstances, like if you need to match sustain in lane against Sona. Overall, I like Kage's better than Philo because you will benefit more heavily from Twin Shadows (with your ult/snares) over Shurelia's, which is the only useful upgrade from Philo.
1
4 months ago
Hello Freye, I would like you to know that we have featured your guide. Keep up the good work!
