Zarya Key Takeaways
- Zarya is best on maps which allow her to utilize natural cover and get into range of enemy players.
- Zarya struggles on open maps and maps with lots of high ground, as she lacks mobility and must close the gap between opponents before she can deal consistent damage.
- Zarya counters high damage heroes like Junkrat, as she is able to easily gain energy and therefore increase her damage output.
- Zarya is countered by heroes which are able to easily control their damage output, such as Winston, because these heroes will not give her energy, thus preventing her from dealing meaningful damage to enemies.
Table of Contents
Zarya Quick Tips
- Zarya has a low total health pool (475), but with 225 shields that recharge when out of combat.
- Zarya can gain up to 400 extra health quickly through use of her Particle Barrier ability (2x barriers with 200 health each).
- Zarya can gain verticality and a small movement speed boost by aiming her secondary fire at her feet and jumping upon impact while walking forward.
- Bad teammates aren’t worth using your abilities on—download the Z League app for free to find teammates who deserve your protection.
Zarya Abilities
Img via Blizzard Entertainment
Particle Cannon (Primary and Secondary Fire)
The primary fire of Particle Cannon shoots a straight beam in front of Zarya. The more energy Zarya has, the more damage and length the beam has. The secondary fire of Particle Cannon shoots a ball of energy at enemy players. The secondary fire is a projectile weapon instead of a beam weapon. Enemies take between 9.4 and 95 damage from the secondary fire, depending on their proximity to the projectile and how much energy Zarya has. Damage (DPS) and support characters have an easier time avoiding Zarya’s secondary fire than tanks like Roadhog do.
As we see from the drastic differences in potential damage, the effectiveness of Particle Cannon relies heavily on how much energy Zarya has. A fully charged Zarya can kill enemies very quickly with either primary or secondary fire, whereas an uncharged Zarya can sometimes be ignored entirely. Players who are unable to maintain consistent charge with Zarya during any particular match may be better suited choosing another tank hero.
Particle Barrier and Projected Barrier
Particle Barrier deploys a temporary circular shield over Zarya; Projected Barrier deploys the same shield over an opponent. The shield lasts for two seconds and has 200 health. Whenever either shield takes damage, Zarya gains energy. If a shield is destroyed, Zarya gains 40 energy (maximum 100).
Both Particle and Projected Barrier can be used to gain energy, mitigate crucial damage, or ideally—both. At the start of teamfights, Zarya will generally benefit from trying to use both cooldowns quickly to charge up with energy. Once Zarya is high energy, players should look to seize offensive and defensive opportunities for either herself or teammates to turn the tide of a fight. While a fully charged Zarya is still a threat, she often needs to do more than just damage to properly tank for her team, which is accomplished through intelligent barrier usage.
Graviton Surge (Ultimate)
Graviton Surge is a projectile ability. When it makes contact with the ground, the wall, or an enemy player, it creates a six meter vortex for 3.5 seconds, which traps enemy players. Some enemies, such as Moira and Reaper, are able to escape from Graviton Surge with their movement abilities.
Clumping enemies together and trapping them in that less-than-ideal formation allows Zarya and her teammates to follow up and secure kills. However, due to pulling enemies together, her ultimate also has the potential to enable enemies to defend themselves better. For example, if Graviton Surge is used on an enemy Ana and Reinhardt, Reinhardt will activate his shield to prevent incoming damage, and Ana will likely use her Biotic Grenade to increase healing output on Reinhardt. Securing either kill may be difficult. Therefore, to get maximum value from Graviton Surge, the ultimate ability should be used only when it will be possible to follow up and secure kills. Without the ability to easily follow up, Graviton Surge doesn’t serve much of a purpose, due to its very low damage output (five HP on impact, plus a maximum of 17.5 damage from the vortex itself).
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