Zagara Build Guide “The Swarm hungers.”
Welcome to our guide for Zagara, a Ranged Assassin in Heroes of the Storm. Within these pages, you will find everything required to understand how best to play this hero, in both different map styles and team compositions.
Zagara's Overview
Zagara is a long-ranged Assassin who relies
on Zerg summons to wreak havoc on her opponents.
Creep Tumor is a strong ability, providing
not only buffs to several of her attributes, including attack range and movement
speed, but also supplying precious vision throughout the Battleground. Zagara
is capable of tearing down enemy defenses from afar and, when left alone for
even a small duration, will turn the strongest enemy fortifications into nothing
more than heaps of rubble.
Zagara's Strengths and Weaknesses
Excellent long range, sustained damage
Great waveclear
Strong sieging and pushing power
Creep Tumor provides a massive amount of vision throughout the entire map
Able to solo Mercenary Camps with ease
Quite vulnerable to crowd control
Zero mobility, except on Creep
Mana hungry
Low burst damage
Her only form of hard crowd control is
Devouring Maw
Zagara's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Infested Drop Build
RecommendedZagara's Infested Drop Build is usually the best choice because it allows her
to deal a solid amount of damage in team fight thanks to Bile Drop
and
Corpse Feeders boosting the already good damage output
of
Corrosive Saliva.
Baneling Barrage Build
Situational Zagara's Baneling Barrage Build is a good choice when you need the additional
range from Volatile Acid to stay safe in the
solo lane and/or want to damage enemy Structures from afar.
Zagara's Synergies and Counters
Due to her lack of mobility, Zagara is best when paired with one or two
Tanks who can provide her a strong
frontline. Those with reliable
crowd-control can also set up devastating combos
with Zagara's Devouring Maw.
Zagara's Maps














Zagara tends to be a viable Hero pick on most maps due to her vast build diversity. Larger maps with multiple objective locations (such as Cursed Hollow, Sky Temple, or Infernal Shrines) tend to favor a split pushing build where Zagara can take advantage of distracting moments of opportunity for the enemy team. Maps that are smaller such as Tomb of the Spider Queen and Towers of Doom make it much more difficult for Zagara to sneak away to push lanes and destroy defenses, although it is not impossible. On these Battlegrounds some players might consider going for a build that revolves around team fighting and applying massive amounts of sustained damage to enemy Heroes.
Zagara's Tips and Tricks
Baneling Barrage should be used primarily for waveclear to conserve valuable mana.
- When using
Baneling Barrage on Minion Waves, try using it from a 90 degree angle. Aim at the Wizard Minion to maximize splash damage.
- Use
Hunter Killer to zone enemies from team fights or lane.
- Always use
Infested Drop when it is available to deal damage safely and provide vision. Infested Drop can also be used to tank Mercenary Camps and interrupt channeling of objectives (like Tributes on Cursed Hollow).
- Do not try to force
Devouring Maw and instead wait for enemies to come into range.
- Place Nydus Worms provided by
Nydus Network in spots clear of heavy foot-traffic to prevent them from being immediately destroyed.
- Always use all available
Creep Tumors. Place them inside bushes and at other out-of-the-way locations to prevent the enemy from accidentally destroying them with AoE abilities.
Zagara's Role in the Current Meta
Zagara is currently played as solo laner to dominate the early game against most enemy Heroes unless ganked.
When fighting on a widespread area of Creep Tumor,
Zagara is a powerful duelist and bully thanks to the Attack Range and Movement Speed provided
combined with the relentless single-target damage of
Hunter Killer.
She is easily able to kite enemies in pursuit of her as well as chase those
down who may have regretfully overstepped their boundary.
The vision that Creep Tumor provides is extremely powerful
to play around enemy ganks, the best way to counter her
when she goes in the enemy part of the battlefield to get value from her pushing power.
Changelog
- 25 Feb. 2021 (talents page): New layout.
- 26 Oct. 2020 (this page): Builds updated.
- 26 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 05 Jun. 2020 (abilities page): Descriptions changed according to the latest Balance Update.
- 05 Jun. 2020 (talents page): Descriptions changed according to the latest Balance Update.
- 14 Apr. 2020 (this page): Introduction partially revised to match new standards.
- Talent Build Cheatsheet updated to reflect the current metagame.
- Role in the Current Meta modified to remove the unnecessary part about the now fixed Experience Globes.
- 14 Apr. 2020 (talents page): Talent Build partially revised to match new standards.
- Talent Build and Talent Build Cheatsheet modified to reflect the current metagame.
- Talent Descriptions modified to better describe when to pick them.
- 19 Dec. 2019 (talents page): Revised Zagara's guide. No talent changes needed to be applied despite the most recent Balance Update.
- 16 Dec. 2019 (this page): Added the current Anomaly (Experience Globes) to the guide.
- 25 Nov. 2019 (talents page): We are currently evaluating Zagara's talent changes and will apply further updates on her guide in the very near future. Added Jagged Barbs as Recommended for the time being.
- 02 Oct. 2019 (abilities page): Revised and updated the entire build guide including talents and builds.
- 02 Oct. 2019 (this page): Revised and updated the entire build guide including talents and builds.
- 02 Oct. 2019 (talents page): Revised and updated the entire build guide including talents and builds.
- 13 Dec. 2017 (abilities page): All mention of a Structure's Ammo has been removed.
- 11 Nov. 2016 (this page): Moved guide to new format.
More Ranged Assassin Guides
Elitesparkle is a multiple times Master player in Europe who plays Heroes of the Storm since its release. He is an active member of the community — especially on Reddit — who likes to teach new and veteran players all he knows about his favorite game.
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