HotS Zarya – Quick Guide (Build, Counters, Tips & More)

Introduction

Zarya is a Hero that our Heroes of the Storm boosting team has predicted would join the Nexus. She's a tank from the Overwatch franchise.

How will she rank on our Heroes of the Storm Tier List, click and see. Zarya's release date was on September 27, 2016.

Zarya is a special type of a champion. She is a warrior, first ranged warrior if we do not consider Rexxar, and she is also a support - warrior hybrid, making the role she fills in a team similar to that of Tyrael. Zarya is not really fit to be a solo tank for her team (most of the time!) but she does perform pretty well if you have a main tank in the team or a secondary bruiser like Artanis, Sonya and so on.

Pros & Cons

PROS

- Can save teammates from fatal bursts

- Sets up wombo combos with graviton surge

- Only Warrior in the game with a Cleanse

- No hard counters

CONS

- If her shield is not managed properly she is one of the squishiest tanks

- High skill cap

- Dependant on teammates to perform to her fullest potential

- Lacks sustain

Zarya Build

Zarya has a lot of interesting ways to build her talents, but the one we are gonna focus on today is the build that we consider the strongest, and that is the allied shield build. The reason to go that build over full tank Zarya or damage Zarya is because, although she can dish out decent damage, and soak up decent damage, you do not really pick her to fit those roles, instead you pick her to support your teammates while not letting anyone get close to them due to your high damage. So now that you got the idea of which role you should try to fill as a Zarya, lets get into talent build and tips and tricks.



Level 1 Together We Are Strong (E)

Level 4 I Am The Strongest

Level 7 Hit Me (Passive)

Level 10 Graviton Surge (R)

​ Level 13 Spell Barrier (W) vs melee teams. OR Endurance Training (Passive) vs ability damage teams.

Level 16 Cleansing Shield (E) vs high CC teams. OR Born In Battle (Passive) vs low CC teams.

Level 20 Unyielding Defender (Active)

Counters

Just like in Overwatch, a good Zarya does not have a lot of counters but heroes that zarya has a hard time against are heroes that can just poke her from a distance, or have no trouble waiting out her shield to expire.

- Sgt. Hammer

- Lunara

- Raynor

- Tychus

Zarya Tips

- You can tank up tower shots with your shield, making charging up extremely easy sometimes, just be careful not to use shield that way if there is a risk of a fight occuring soon.

- Be sure to keep track of your cooldowns, as timing shields is one of the hardest things to master when playing Zarya.

- Graviton Surge (R1) has a slight delay, so keep that in mind when using it.

- Stick next to your support or ranged dps, do not go charging in, your main job is to protect your backline from any nasty melees.

- Your auto attacks pierce, meaning you can push waves decently if you have some energy

- Picking Zarya into Kerrigan or Chromie makes them almost entirely useless as your shield can basically negate their combo.