Zagara Build Guide “The Swarm hungers.”

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.

Strengths

• 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

Weaknesses

• 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

Split Push Build

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Level 1

Level 4 ? ?

Level 7 ?

Level 10

Level 13 ?

Level 16

Level 20 ?

Larger maps with multiple objective locations (Cursed Hollow, Sky Temple, Volskaya Foundry, Infernal Shrines) tend to favor the Split Push Build where Zagara may take advantage of distracting moments of opportunity for the enemy team. Baneling Barrage should be used for waveclear and to quickly deal massive amounts of damage to enemy structures. Zagara should constantly rotate around the Battleground via Nydus Network to maximize the amount time she can effectively splitpush. Keep in mind that it will be much more difficult to effectively play the Split Push Build if they enemy team contains a high burst damage assassin Hero such as Zeratul or global range Heroes like Falstad who can intercept Zagara and execute deadly ganks on her. Heroes like these will frustratingly spend most of the match hunting down and picking off Zagara when she is overextended.

Team Fight Build

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Level 1 ?

Level 4 ?

Level 7

Level 10

Level 13 ?

Level 16

Level 20

The Team Fight Build is designed to give Zagara the most effective blend of damage and utility in matches where crossing paths with enemy Heroes is frequent and unavoidable. At Level 4, it is recommended to pick Serrated Spines, since with this Build Zagara will spend a lot of time hitting enemy Heroes, cumulating in underestimated and strong late-game damage on her Basic attacks. Use Infested Drop as often as possible to harass opponents and allow the spawned Roaches to provide vision and block certain enemy skillshots. Hunter Killer is Zagara's primary source of damage and (when possible) should be saved for the team's target of focusfire. Be patient when looking to cast Devouring Maw. Most often, Zagara should engage the enemy team with her other abilities and Basic Attacks, and use Devouring Maw when the opportunity arises. Try to consume multiple enemy Heroes by keeping note of their positioning and striking when they are grouped too closely together.

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Zagara synergizes with

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 is countered by

Zagara is counterd in lane by high mobility assassins like Illidan, who can outsustain her and stick to her even while on Creep. Furthermore, global range Heroes like Falstad or Dehaka can drastically limit her efficiency while split-pushing.

Zagara's stronger maps

Zagara's average maps

Zagara's weaker 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.

• 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.

When fighting on a widespread area of creep, Zagara is unexpectedly a good duelist. The Attack Range and Movement Speed provided by Creep Tumor combined with the relentless single target damage of Hunter Killer makes Zagara quite the bully. 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, especially on maps like Tomb of the Spider Queen and Sky Temple, where Heroes are constantly roaming to gank. This vision allows her to safely harass opponents without fear of being ambushed unexpectedly. She is also able to safely stop the channeling of map objectives on maps like Cursed Hollow and Blackheart's Bay by casting a single charge of Baneling Barrage or Infested Drop. Assuming it was talented for, a well placed Devouring Maw on multiple enemy Heroes may win a fight by itself, as it allows your allies to follow up with devastating AoE combos.

Aside from the movement speed boost provided by creep, Zagara's kit lacks any sort of reliable gap-closer. However, this does not prevent her from creating an almost unparalleled global presence when talenting for Nydus Network in conjunction with Endless Creep. This can be used to create pressure almost anywhere on the map, forcing enemy teams to have to make a constant choice between losing precious objectives or their own defenses.