Counter Guide

How to Beat Zyra

Matchup Guide · Evergreen · 3 Counter Picks

Zyra roots you from a screen away, and by the time you're free there are two plants chewing on you.

She's a support who fights with a garden, and the garden does most of the damage. Walk up for a last hit and a root lands, a plant grows next to you, and your health bar starts shrinking from three directions. Then her ultimate throws everybody in the air while her plants go into a frenzy. It's a lot, and it's all coming from someone with no way to run. The supports who beat her either outlast the plants or go straight past them to her. You can check her current standing on our solo queue tier list.

Matchup Snapshot Zyra, Rise of the Thorns

Where You Meet HerSupport

Damage TypeMagic

Why She Is FrustratingHer plants win trades for her

MobilityNone

Biggest ThreatGrasping Roots [E]

Hardest CounterSona

What a Counter Needs

Sustain that outlasts the plants' chip damage
A way to reach her, since she can't get away

Patch 26.18 Matchup Data

Who Beats Zyra on Patch 26.18

Best Picks Into Zyra

Sona726 games52.9%
Rell687 games52.3%
Janna599 games52.1%
Milio1,200 games51.8%
Leona2,329 games51.5%

Picks Zyra Beats

Mel513 games39.4%
Pantheon992 games47.0%
Bard684 games47.1%
Morgana2,268 games47.2%

Win rates are for the champion listed, playing support against Zyra. They come from Nerfplz's own ranked solo queue games on Patch 26.18, Silver and above, 48,116 Zyra games in all. Only matchups that show up in at least 1% of those games are listed.

Zyra Overview

Strengths: What Makes Her Dangerous

Grasping Roots [E] reaches 1100 units and roots everyone it passes through. If it crosses a seed, a Vine Lasher grows there and slows you.
Her seeds become plants. Deadly Spines [Q] on a seed grows a Thorn Spitter that shoots from range, and each plant fights for eight seconds.
Seeds keep coming. Garden of Thorns [Passive] drops new ones around her, and Rampant Growth [W] stores two more she can place herself.
Stranglethorns [R] knocks up a whole area. It snaps upward two seconds after she casts it, and any plant inside gets bigger and tougher and fires two shots per attack.

Weaknesses: Where You Get In

She has no dash and no speed boost (Flash is all she's got). Once you reach her, she's stuck.
You can step on her seeds. Enemy champions destroy a seed by walking over it (Rampant Growth [W] seeds also reveal you when you do).
Plants don't last. Eight seconds and they're gone, so it's usually better to back out of range than to fight them.
Stranglethorns [R] warns you. The thicket grows for two seconds before it throws anyone.

Countering Zyra

Any one of these is enough:

Out-sustain the garden. Plant damage is steady and small, which is exactly what healing is good against.
Go straight to her. A support who can reach Zyra ends the fight before the plants matter (they're only eight seconds each).
Cleanse the root. Every combo she has starts with Grasping Roots [E].

If you don't have one, you can still get through laning.

Playing Into Zyra Without a Counter

Walk over her seeds whenever it's safe. A seed you've stepped on is a plant she'll never grow (and it's the cheapest win in the lane).

Don't line up with your marksman. Grasping Roots [E] roots everyone it passes through, so two of you in a row is a double root (and a free Stranglethorns [R] after it).

When Stranglethorns [R] lands under you, walk out right away. You've got two seconds.

Best Zyra Counters

Three supports, three separate answers.

Sona Out-Sustains the Garden

Aria of Perseverance [W] heals Sona and her most wounded ally every ten seconds, which is the right shape of answer to damage that comes in small, constant plant bites. Meanwhile Hymn of Valor [Q] fires at the two nearest enemies and picks champions first, so Sona's poke hits Zyra even with a plant standing in front of her.

Song of Celerity [E] gives Sona a burst of speed for walking out of Stranglethorns [R] before it snaps, and Crescendo [R] stuns a Zyra who has no dash to dodge it.

Rell Goes Past the Plants

Zyra can't escape, and Rell's whole kit is about arriving. Ferromancy: Crash Down [W] leaps onto her and knocks her up, and Magnet Storm [R] yanks everyone nearby in and keeps dragging them toward Rell for two seconds (she's got no dash to get out of it).

Full Tilt [E] speeds up Rell and her marksman together, faster when they're running at an enemy, so they cross the garden quickly. Break the Mold [Passive] then steals resistances from Zyra with every hit.

Milio Cleanses the Root

Breath of Life [R] removes stuns and roots from every nearby ally and heals them, so the Grasping Roots [E] that starts her combo stops mattering. It can't lift the Stranglethorns [R] knock-up (airborne is excluded), but it gives 65% tenacity afterwards. Cozy Campfire [W] heals his ally over six seconds and lets them attack from farther away, which is how they reach a Zyra hiding behind her garden.

Itemizing Against Zyra

Mercury's Treads shorten her root with 30% tenacity and add magic resist. Mikael's Blessing removes a root from your marksman and heals them a bit. Locket of the Iron Solari shields everyone around you right when Stranglethorns [R] and the plants go off together. All of her damage is magic, so Kaenic Rookern is a good pick for whoever she keeps poking.