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

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.

• 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 is a particularly great pick on smaller maps that focus on early brawls like Hanamura or Braxis Holdout. Her strong laning presence can give her team an early edge and prevent her enemies from picking up Experience Globes.

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.