Zyra is a support mage champion that has a lot of burst damage during the laning phase. Her kit revolves around her plants, and they can poke you down and bully you out of lane easily.
This is why playing against Zyra can be very annoying, so it’s important to know what champions can counter her on the bot lane. In addition, there are various things you can take advantage of while playing against Zyra regardless of the champion you’re playing.
Let’s check out the best ADCs and supports to play against Zyra and what you can do to have an upper hand every time!
The 5 Best ADC Picks Against Zyra
The following ADCs are the best counters for Zyra:
5. Draven
If there is any ADC that can 1v1 Zyra, it’s Draven. As long as he uses his ghosting and movement speed from his W – Blood Rush to side-step Zyra’s CC and to get closer to her, he will outtrade her every time.
Draven’s W also shares the same cooldown duration with Zyra’s E – Grasping Roots, so it can be used every time Zyra tries to root him. Moreover, Draven’s Stand Aside ability provides him with a knock-up that can either be used defensively or offensively against Zyra.
The one downside to Draven is that he has to catch his axes from his Q, which makes the enemy know in which way he’ll be moving. However, thanks to his movement speed, he can still dodge many skill shots.
Even if Draven gets caught in Zyra’s all-in burst, as long as he isn’t too far behind he can still get a kill, thanks to the lifesteal runes that are usually picked up on him.
Read Also: The 6 Worst ADCs You Should Avoid
4. Tristana
Tristana is an AD carry champion with a jump and such high damage that counters Zyra hard. Whenever Zyra tries to trade and deal damage to Tristana, Tristana can jump away even as the root lands, or jump into her and outtrade her.
All of Zyra’s abilities are skill shots, which makes Tristana’s jump highly viable against her. She can either use it to dodge her CC, run away from Zyra’s big scary ultimate, Stranglethorns, or use it as a gap closer to get near her after she misses a skill shot.
Furthermore, Tristana is one of the safest champions to play on the bot lane overall. Once the early game is over, Zyra becomes much less of a problem, while Tristana scales and can 1v1 her easily in the mid and late-game.
3. Zeri
Having both a dash and a long-range ability definitely pays off when playing against Zyra, and Zeri has all that and more.
Although Zeri deals with a long cooldown on her dash, Spark Surge, she still gets a decent movement speed bonus from her passive whenever she is shielded. This makes her a more than decent ADC when facing Zyra.
Her very long-ranged W ability, Ultrashock Laser, deals damage and slows enemies when hit. It is the perfect ability against Zyra, as it lets you poke her from far away while being safe from her plants.
Read Also: 5 Best Synergy Supports for Zeri
2. Lucian
Lucian is one more ADC with a dash and such high damage that counters Zyra hard. Whenever Zyra tries to trade and deal damage to Lucian, he can out-trade and out-damage her.
All of Zyra’s abilities are skill shots, which makes Lucian’s dash highly viable against her. He can either use it to dodge her CC, run away from Zyra’s big scary ultimate, Stranglethorns, or use it as a gap closer to get near her after she misses a skill shot.
Most of the times we see Lucian paired with supports such as Nami that give him an even bigger boost to his damage. This bot lane combo is the biggest nightmare for Zyra, and makes her almost useless even in the early game since she can’t bully as much as she wants to.
1. Samira
Samira is the perfect ADC to play against Zyra, as she has a dash and a “wall” that blocks abilities and attacks.
Samira’s dash can be used to dodge CC and as a gap closer. Even if Samira does get caught up in Zyra’s root, she can block a lot of damage with her W. In fact, Samira’s W – Blade Whirl also deletes Zyra’s plants if they are in the range of the ability, which leaves Zyra with no plants to deal damage.
Once Samira gets to level 6, she can all-in Zyra whenever her ultimate is stacked. Since Zyra is a highly immobile champion, she would either have to burn her flash to get away or take a massive amount of damage.
Read Also: 8 Best Synergy Supports for Samira
The 5 Best Support Picks Against Zyra
These are the top five support picks against Zyra:
5. Pantheon
Pantheon can show Zyra a very hard time because of his hard engage and huge damage. Although Zyra herself has a big burst potential, she’s much squishier than Pantheon, especially later on.
Even if Zyra does manage to land her CC on him, thanks to his E – Aegis Assault, Pantheon will block most of the damage.
Early game is the trickiest when playing against Zyra, as she will try to poke as much as possible with her plants. However, Pantheon is one of those champions that can counter-engage and punish her if she overextends, which often results in Zyra dying or wasting her flash.
Read Also: Top 5 Best Synergy ADC Picks for Pantheon Support in LoL
4. Karma
Karma is yet another mage that is very powerful early on, which has the potential to make Zyra’s strong early game useless.
A Mantra-empowered Inner Flame will take a big chunk of Zyra’s HP, and Karma’s E – Inspire grants Karma a shield and movement speed. These two are some of the biggest Zyra counters since the shield will negate her damage and the movement speed boost can help tremendously in avoiding Zyra’s already unreliable skill shots.
Knowing what ability to empower next with Mantra can be crucial in dealing with Zyra and can turn around fights when chosen well.
3. Alistar
Tanky, all-in engage supports such as Alistar can be very problematic to Zyra. After level 6, Alistar can cleanse any CC with his R – Unbreakable Will, which also makes him take reduced damage for its duration.
He also heals himself and nearby allies passively with his Triumphant Roar. This is one more reason why Zyra’s damage is insignificant for Alistar and he can even survive her level 6 burst.
Before level 6, Alistar can use his chain CC on Zyra and stop her if she tries to play offensively. His W – Headbutt can be used in combination with his Q – Pulverize for a longer-lasting chain crowd control, which gives the ADC enough time to deal significant damage to the squishy Zyra.
2. Leona
Leona is yet another tanky, all-in engage support that has many useful abilities in her kit to counter Zyra.
In the Zyra vs. Leona scenario, the bully can easily become the bullied. While Zyra sure can deal significant damage early on, Leona can punish any missed skill shot with a counter-engage while taking reduced damage thanks to her W – Eclipse.
Once Zyra is in range, Leona should use her E + Q combo to land a root and a stun, effectively keeping the squishy Zyra in a 1.5s CC. It’s best to try and all-in Zyra before she gets a chance to poke and harass, which is why hitting level 2 before she does can be crucial to winning early game.
Read Also: How to Counter Leona as an ADC and Support (Tips & Picks)
1. Xerath
Some of the hardest match-ups for Zyra are long-ranged champions such as Xerath (Vel’Koz falls in this group as well). His abilities have a much longer range than Zyra’s, which means he can poke more effectively and from a much safer distance.
Xerath’s pressure on the bot lane is unmatched and he can take down Zyra’s plants with ease. If Zyra somehow manages to land a root on Xerath, he can easily out damage and outburst her damage.
By playing Xerath against Zyra you’d be denying her bullying and poking when she’s most powerful, which is in the early game. Furthermore, Xerath’s Q – Arcanopulse has a ridiculously low cooldown later on, while dealing a huge amount of damage to squishy champions such as Zyra.
Read Also: How to Carry as a Support in LoL
More Counter Tips Against Zyra
Even if you pick a different champion on the bot lane against Zyra than the ones in this list, there are still some things you can do. Minimize her surprise burst damage by following these tips:
- Beware of unwarded brushes – this is where Zyra players love to lurk and damage you before you can even respond. The seeds do not spawn when Zyra is in a brush, but there still might be some laying around nearby. This brings us to the next point:
- If you see a seed nearby and you can’t see Zyra on the map, run. Chances are, Zyra is just around the corner waiting for you to take one more step further to catch you. Don’t try to step on it, she might be in the next brush waiting for you to do just that.
- Play around her cooldowns – look for a window opportunity once she uses her abilities, especially her root. Her E – Grasping Roots cooldown is about 12 seconds without cooldown reduction, which is plenty of time to trade some damage without being poked down by her in return.
- Step on her seeds when her root is on cooldown – not before that because she can spawn more seeds with her W – Rampant Growth while she roots you. Don’t be scared to step on her seeds if they are near you. Most of her damage revolves around her plants, without them her abilities don’t hurt as much.
- Pick magic resistance in champion select – especially if the enemy ADC is a mid- or late-game champion so that you get the maximum use of the rune early on.
- Focus Zyra in the laning phase, not the ADC – she’s very squishy and usually needs to extend to deal damage. Take advantage of that.
- Don’t spend your abilities when Zyra has her seeds up – especially if the abilities only hit the first target. For instance, Blitzcrank’s Q can be blocked by a plant and is therefore
- Play champions with longer range than Zyra – she’s very squishy, so you can punish her without letting her deal damage to you. This is why supports such as Xerath and Vel’Koz are the perfect pick against Zyra.
Read Also: 7 Best Synergy ADCs for Zyra
Conclusion
Although at times it might seem like there are no real counters against Zyra, that simply isn’t true. She is a squishy champion and knowing her weaknesses while utilizing your champion’s strengths is the best way to defeat her.
That’s why I included the top five ADCs and supports that can deal with Zyra better than the average champion. These champions and the counter tips are bound to help you the next time you face Zyra. GLHF!
