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Everything you need to know about Zarya

Brawl with the Blues featuring Zarya!

Make sure to catch Brawl with the Blues this Wednesday with Trikslyr, featuring pro players Fury from Murloc Geniuses, Oddish from Team Blaze, Sheth from team Liquid, along with Overwatch Zarya main and streamer Disciple

Spyrian will be around to collect questions from Twitter and Twitch chat and you can participate in the stream by joining the in-game lobby using”/join BRAWL”.  Also, be sure to comment on the official Brawl with the Blues post here with any cool ideas you’d like them to try with Zarya.  You can check out Brawl with the Blues details here.

Twitch.tv/blizzheroes on Wednesday, September 28th at 11:00 a.m. PDT

Zarya Spotlight

McIntyre’s overview and gameplay

As usual, the man, the myth, the legend, former pro, McIntyre delivers, bringing you first impressions and strategies for our new hero Zarya, as well as best maps and possible build ideas.

How will Zarya effect then Nexus?

Here are some things to consider about Zarya, moving toward BlizzCon.

No pain, no gain
 

  • Since one of her base abilities ONLY works on teammates, Zarya’s usefulness and damage output and usefulness are highly dependent on team synergies.
  • Zarya has no escapes or stuns like many warriors. This makes her very vulnerable to stun and crowd control.  One more reason to never lane alone.
  • Without escapes, much like Rexxar and Misha, Zarya will do best when NOT in the front tank position, at least not longer than her personal shield will absorb. 
  • The fact that Zarya does not bring CC in her base kit means this duty is probably best assigned to her shield-buddy. 
  • Even though Zarya is labeled medium difficulty, to be effective you must be great at anticipating incoming damage for you and your teammates.
     

I will break you!
 

  • You can soak tower shots while building up your power with your personal barrier.  Just beware, being that far forward makes you as vulnerable as Gazlowe and you can’t soak nearly as much as Chen can while chugging so it would be hard to drain a tower completely.
  • Everything is about the pink beam!  When you max out your power by being great at shielding, you gain a big power spike, letting you clear lanes and bring down the hurt.  The pink beam is an easy indicator and visual queue, separating average Zarya players from great Zarya players, just like in Overwatch.
  • Bursty heroes like Butcher and Thrall can make for a great laning buddies, Zarya bringing the shielding and possibly cleanse, while Thrall and Butcher bring the stuns, damage, and power to Zarya’s abilities.
  • Pretty quick auto-attacks means Zarya can quickly take out a Murky Pufferfish or a chest on Blackheart Bay.
  • A team with both Auriel and Zaria gives you cleanse every 9 seconds with a powerful group healing.
  • Zarya’s best maps will be more point capture and less rotation, maps like Sky Temple and Towers of Doom.
  • Zarya’s ultimate Graviton Surge has a ridiculously long cooldown but Expulsion Zone currently has a 45-second cooldown.  Great for denying camps, bosses, and escapes leading into the mid and late game.
     

In Conclusion

Zarya brings a lot of unique things to the Nexus so no doubt she has the potential to shake things up.  It won’t be surprising if her early win-rate is low, considering how much her kit is dependent on team coordination, much like Medivh. 

Rest assured, Zarya’s abilities bring plenty of options to the nexus, and we know Blizzard is not afraid of changing damage numbers to level the playing field.  With all this in mind, look forward to seeing Zarya shake it up at BlizzCon.

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