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Zarya Build Guide “Are you in need of personal training?”
Welcome to our guide for Zarya, a Support 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.
Zarya's Overview
Zarya is a ranged Warrior who combines protective abilities with strong offensive capabilities. Her Basic Attack animation is unique, as it allows her to hit multiple enemy targets at the same time. Unlike other Warriors, Zarya is capable of shielding either herself or nearby allies. Upon taking damage, shielded targets (herself included) increase Zarya's Energy, which can greatly increase her damage potential. Thus, playing Zarya requires the player to carefully analyse the battlefield and shield targets that are likely going to be attacked. Both of her Heroic Abilities can have a tremendous impact on team fights, which makes Zarya a powerful and rewarding Hero to master.
Zarya's Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
Does not require Mana
Personal Barrier and 
Shield Ally offer great single target protection 
Graviton Surge can single-handedly win team fights- Her Basic Attacks pierce through the first target, allowing her to damage multiple enemies at the same time
Weaknesses
Relatively weak early game- No crowd control until Level 10
- Extremely dependent on her Energy level
- Very limited mobility
Zarya's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Anti Melee Build
Talent calculator »
The Anti Melee Build is great, as the name suggests, against enemy melee Heroes who usually have to approach Zarya
in order to damage her. In those situations, 
Feel the Heat at Level 1 can become an insanely
good talent to heavily damage multiple Heroes at the same time, especially while on high Energy. If you notice that the enemy
team has a tendecy of clustering, picking 
Graviton Surge at Level 10 followed by
Gravity Kills at Level 20 can be a very rewarding choice.
Grenadier Build
Talent calculator »
The Grenadier Build relies on strong AoE damage by firing 
Particle Grenades in quick succession.
Demolitions Expert at Level 1 proves to be quite important to achieve that.
Pinpoint Accuracy at Level 7
is a nice follow-up talent to complement this Grenade heavy Build. We do not recommend picking up Plasma Shock at Level 16, since
the competing talents at this tier usually outperform the relatively weak Movement Speed Slow.
At Level 20, Gravity Kills can single-handedly
decide team fights if placed well. The applied Silence effect on potentially multiple enemy Heroes renders them completely defenceless while damage
rains down on them.
It is very important to stress that we do recommend
using Quick Cast on Particle Grenade's Hotkey when using this Build. Doing
so makes the ability more responsive and causes less delay, which greatly benefits your overall accuracy.
Zarya's Synergies and Counters
Zarya synergizes with
Zarya should never be your team's Tank, since she lacks the crowd control abilities, the mobility, and, most importantly, the survivability to fulfill that role efficiently. Consequently, she makes for an ideal supportive secondary Warrior, who can initate team fights with her Heroic abilities and protect priority targets with her Shields. As such, she complements strong Tanks like E.T.C., Muradin, or Johanna very well.
Zarya is countered by
Zarya is countered by Heroes who are able to outmaneuver and silence her like
Illidan, Alarak,
or Sylvanas. Furthermore, team compositions
that feature Zarya oftentimes struggle when it comes to clearing bigger Minion and Mercenary waves, which is
another reason why Sylvanas is hard to deal with. It is extremely important to time 
Personal Barrier
and 
Shield Ally well in order to quickly charge your Energy level when facing those
types of Heroes. Besides, try not to wander off too far from the rest of your allies or else you may not be able
to escape an enemy gank in time.
Zarya's Maps
Ideally, Zarya should reinforce
a 3-player or 4-player lane, since her Shields are incredibly powerful to dominate
early team fights. Zarya excels on Battlegrounds that feature multiple choke points
like Cursed Hollow, Infernal Shrines, or Towers of Doom. Not only is her 
Expulsion Zone
a formidable tool to break enemy team formations, but her Basic Attacks and Particle Grenade should
have an easier time to hit several enemies at the same time.
Zarya's Tips and Tricks
- Use Shield Ally as frequently as possible. Try to anticipate which ally is about to get focused to maximise your Energy gain.
- Personal Barrier can be used to absorb damage from Structures in order to quickly fill your Energy level.
Expulsion Zone's low cooldown makes it a valuable zoning tool to both engage and disengage from the enemy. - Unlike other Warriors, Zarya lacks mobility. Thus, keeping a healthy distance to the enemy team is usually recommended.
- Zarya's Basic Attacks hit all enemies in a straight line. Utilize this to your advantage when clearing Minion waves or Mercenary Camps.
- Zarya should never be the only Warrior in your team. If none of your teammates drafted a Warrior, we do not recommend picking Zarya.
Zarya's Role in the Current Meta
There are several things to be considered before picking Zarya. First of all, we do not recommend her as a solo Warrior, which means she should be picked as a supportive Warrior next to a true Tank-like Muradin, E.T.C., or Johanna. Secondly, Zarya offers little waveclear and even less crowd control until Level 10. Thus, she is a rather suboptimal pick on Maps like Tomb of the Spider Queen that require you to rotate a lot.
Thanks to her strong Shielding abilities, Zarya shines against enemy
team compositions that focus on burst damage. Thus, she is a great counter
to Heroes like Kerrigan or
Jaina, who aim to quickly
eliminate their targets. Furthermore, Zarya's Graviton Surge
enables her team to both initiate team fights
and counter enemy aggression.
Changelog
- 23 May 2019 (talents page): Updated Zarya's talents and builds in accordance with the latest Balance Update.
- 24 Oct. 2017 (this page): Updated Warhead Junction ranking and removed Energy build.
- 16 Apr. 2017 (talents page): Added a new Anti Melee build, and updated some talent discussions to account for this build.
- 31 Jan. 2017 (talents page): Changed some talent recommendations for Level 4 and 7.
- 24 Nov. 2016 (talents page): Swapped Pain is Temporary and Unstoppable Competitor in talent recommendations.
- 11 Nov. 2016 (this page): Zarya rework with the new guide format.
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KendricSwissh has achieved Grandmaster rank in multiple seasons while playing Heroes of the Storm since the early stages of the Alpha version. He is also creating game related content on Twitch where he will gladly answer all of your questions about the game or guides here on Icy Veins.
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