Zarya Build Guide “Are you in need of personal training?”

Zarya is a Support who combines protective tools with strong offensive capabilities. She has a unique Basic Attack that allows her to hit multiple enemy targets at the same time. She can cast a Shield on herself or provide a Shield to allied Heroes, get Energy based on the damage absorbed by any of her Shields, and deal additional damage based on how much Energy has been stored, however, her Energy will slowly decay over time. As a consequence, in order to play Zarya effectively, it is important to predict incoming damage to cast Shields at the right moment, a move that will allow you to maximize both damage mitigation and Energy generation.

Strengths

• High survivability
• Good damage output at high Energy
• Shields for allied Heroes
• Abilities are free

Weaknesses

• Relatively low waveclear
• Lack of crowd control when Heroic Abilities are not available
• No mobility
• Vulnerable to Displacement effects, especially in the early game
• Weak against sustain damage because her Shields have a short duration

Shield Ally Build

Recommended

Level 1 ?

Level 4 ? ?

Level 7

Level 10

Level 13

Level 16 ?

Level 20

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Zarya's Shield Ally Build is based on a variety of Talents that empower Shields for allied Heroes and for yourself, allowing you to counter enemy crowd control effects.

Unstoppable Competitor at Level 13 is a great tool to indirectly increase your survivability, however, you need to time Personal Barrier correctly in order to get value from it. Similarly, Cleansing Shield at Level 16 can be used to help allied Heroes who are already under crowd control effects.

Basic Attacks Build

Situational

Level 1

Level 4

Level 7

Level 10

Level 13

Level 16

Level 20

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Zarya's Basic Attacks Build slightly increases her survivability and boosts her damage from melee distance by empowering her Basic Attacks, which will deal even more damage at high Energy.

The signature Talent of this Build is Feel the Heat at Level 1. To get value from it, you need the extra survivability from I Am the Strongest at Level 4.

Particle Grenade Build

Situational

Level 1

Level 4 ? ?

Level 7

Level 10

Level 13

Level 16

Level 20

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Zarya's Particle Grenade Build allows you to constantly poke the enemy team from the distance, dealing a considerable amount of damage without having to compromise your positioning with risky moves.

Pinpoint Accuracy at Level 7 becomes even stronger once you gain access to Born in Battle at Level 16 and Grenadier at Level 20 for drastically reducing the cooldown on Particle Grenade.

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Zarya synergizes with

As she can provide powerful Shields to allied Heroes, Zarya is good when paired with Heroes who suffer against burst damage: most Marskmen (notably Valla) and sustain Healers (such as Malfurion).

Heroes who lack mobility like to have Zarya on their side because she can give them Movement Speed thanks to Speed Barrier at Level 4.

A team featuring Zarya should prefer a solo laner who has enough self-sustain to not need any help from their team and survive to enemy ganks (for example Yrel) when playing on any Map and that can also double soak (such as Leoric) when playing on 3-lane Maps.

Zarya is countered by

Since she does not have mobility tools, Zarya is an easy target for enemy Heroes who do not have a reliable gap closer and can crowd control her, especially if they have access to Displacement effects (such as Wrecking Ball by Garrosh) to abuse her lack of mobility even more or Sleep effects that can be used to stall the team fight for a few seconds while her Shields wear off.

Considering that her Shields expire after few seconds, Zarya struggles against Heroes who can deal a constant amount of damage (such as Raynor) as they do not rely on their Abilities that much.

The best solo laners to play against a team featuring Zarya should be able to mitigate an enemy push done by a few Heroes while the reinforcements are coming with waveclear and/or crowd control (for example Yrel).

Zarya's stronger maps

Zarya's average maps

Zarya's weaker maps

The fact that Zarya does not use Mana is great during the early game, therefore she is a fantastic pick on Maps where a good start can make the difference between a win and a loss (notably Braxis Holdout).

If your team has a solo laner who can double soak (such as Xul), you can basically play Zarya on 3-lane Maps like when you are playing on 2-lane Maps, so just focus on a side lane and pressure the enemy team as much as you can.

• Particle Grenade should be fired when at high Energy to deal more damage or to interrupt enemies who are channeling an Objective.
• Personal Barrier can be used to absorb damage from Structures in order to quickly fill your Energy.
• Try to anticipate incoming damage when using Shield Ally and Personal Barrier to maximize your Energy gain.
• You can use Expulsion Zone to block an enemy Hero in a corner.
• Graviton Surge requires you to predict how enemy Heroes move, else it will miss them.
• Zarya lacks mobility, therefore it is important to have a good position when enemy Heroes are nearby or missing.
• Zarya's Basic Attacks hit all enemies in a straight line and therefore should be used to hit multiple Minions or Mercenaries when possible.

Zarya is a hybrid Hero with the survivability of a Bruiser, the potential to deal as much damage as a Ranged Assassin when high on Energy, and the utility of a Support.

When drafting her, make sure that your team composition will not lack a main Tank, a solid solo laner, and a Healer because a Support like her cannot cover any of those key Roles.

It is better to pair her with a Marksman rather than a Mage, else your team will lack ranged sustained damage. Zarya should always be with a Marskman and help them with Shield Ally when needed.

Since she can provide Shields, Zarya shines against burst compositions that feature a Mage who can deal burst damage (Jaina comes to mind) and sometimes even an aggressive Melee Assassin (such as Kerrigan).