Introduction Top
Hey guys,
VisceraL here. I'm coming at you with my first dank guide on one of my favorite heroes, Zagara. This is mainly going to be a trial run, testing my hand at explaining theory, map awareness, and most importantly: How I play
.
So sit back, put on your reading glasses, and lets do some learning. :D
Pros and Cons. Top
So for some reason, people think its important to outline the pros and cons of playing "X" hero. For the sake of this guide, I'm not going to. I think that over-categorizing leads to a sort of hive-mind mentality. I don't like tier lists for this same reason. It removes creativity to a certain degree.
I will say this, however,
Possesses every tool you will need to be successful in Heroes of the Storm. How you use those tools, will determine both your worth as a player, and the characters intrinsic value to you, personally.
Lesson, The First: Learning the Build Top
Ill preface my explanation of my build with a small disclaimer: This is simply the way I feel Zagara should be played in the most current "meta". Any ideas or thoughts are biased and opinionated towards my own experiences in HL and Scrims while playing Zagara.
LEVEL 1:
The idea behind this talent is fairly simple. More Health Regeneration gives you more opportunities to stay in your lane and soak as much experience as you can. This is mostly a talent to give you a relatively stable early game and it just happens to scale well into the later stages of the game as well.
LEVEL 4:
Envenomed Spines is one of my favorite talents in the entire game. At level 4 you get an entire unit increase to your attack range (which brings you up to 6). This allows you to do more damage, in a much more safe environment, as you can feel the spacial difference between you and a front-liner much more easily.
LEVEL 7:
This is going to be the most contested talent in this build I feel. Most players attempt to make a case for
over anything else in the tier. From a certain standpoint I can honestly understand where they are coming from. However, Endless Creep allows you to gain more vision, which equates to more information, which equates, again, to more opportunities for your team to excel. I find that with some mana management, and generous usage of Healing Fountains, Rapid Incubation doesn't really make much sense to take over the alternatives.
LEVEL 10:
Take maw. Use it on the enemy teams back-line. Kill them. Literally that simple.
LEVEL 13 & 16:
AND
Fairly simple talents, with the bug fix on the Mutalisk Talent there really doesn't exist a reason to ever take that talent again. Grooved Spines provide range and damage to one of the best abilities in the game. And Brood Expansion allows you to use it twice. Sounds pretty good to me.
LEVEL 20:
Another talent that is sort of decided for you. You can Bolt to find aggressive Maws, Bolt to get away from bad situations, or just to scare your opponents. Super good talent, there isn't really much of an alternative for it.
Lesson, The Second: Understanding Your Trait. Top
The first step to becoming a great Zagara player is understanding how your trait
works.
Firstly (and perhaps most obviously) Creep Tumor allows you to litter the map with, what are essentially, wards that grant vision of the immediate area they are placed in. This not only allows you and your team the capability of identifying a gank/roam that is incoming to a given lane. It also allows your team to potentially capitalize on your opponents movement for a gank of your own.
What
does for your team in the long run in the early game is an idea that most newer players will often overlook: The application of, and subsequent directed shifts in Pressure. Pressure will come in many forms in HotS, from directly engaging and harming your opponents with your character (aka: Man-to-Man Pressure), to roaming around your opponents as a 5-stack, and forcing your opponents to rotate in response. Any sort of movement, action, or threat that you consciously make against the opposing team, can be categorized under this idea of Pressure.
Now, where does Zagara's Trait come into this idea? Its very simple,
acts as a facilitator for your teams Pressure. Any amount of vision that you have, where you don't actually see your opponents is where the enemy
IS NOT. By, again, consciously recognizing where your opponents
ARE NOT, you have an approximation of where your opponents
SHOULD BE. This allows you and your team to move in assertive and aggressive fashions that will give you a chance to dictate the pace of the game.
With this general concept in mind, I have taken the time to outline where you should be laying creep and what you should expect from the vision you have.
Sub Lesson 1: Creep Spots Top
Lesson, The Third: Zoning and Pushing with Non-Heroic Abilities. Top
This concept is extremely simple. You use your
on a squishy target and they will have to disengage off of you. i.e
,
, or
This is, of course, a generalization but its important to understand the power that your Hydras have. Never be afraid of brawling with someone that is face-tanking a Hunter Killer. Because, typically, you will win handily.
There are certain abilities that will drop the aggro of the hydra, and cause it to expire. The two most notable are: Illidan's
and Tassadar's
. It is frustrating to play against these opponents as Zagara, however, trust in your team mates, especially your support to help you out in a team fight.
As for the other two abilities you have
AND
USE THEM TO PUSH! Zagara has one of the best kits in the game for actually just killing a wave of minions. Its always important to try and keep your lane pushed, as you drain ammo and chip away at tower HP by doing so. It ends up being a gradual advantage, but its one that once you grab a hold of, you could push to the limits.
Lesson, The Fourth: The Maw. Top
Alright, now we get to talk about the fun ability.
Maw is perhaps the most satisfying ultimate to use in the entire game if you hit multiple heroes with it. You can set up huge Wombo Combos with this ability. Make sure you communicate your intent with Maw once you learn it. Every game is different, sometimes you want to kill a front liner before you move on to the squishy heroes. If you don't know, ask your team for input or help.
REMEMBER: IF YOU TOOK MAW, ITS YOUR JOB TO SET UP FOR THE TEAM OR TO CC A CERTAIN HERO. ILL SAY THIS ONE MORE TIME; EVERY GAME IS DIFFERENT. TREAT THEM THAT WAY.
Lesson, The Final: PMA. Top
Now, I know what you're probably saying: VisceraL, what the hell is PMA? Well my friend, its a lovely little conceptualization I like to live by.
PMA stands for Positive Mental Attitude. Its an idea that was popularized in the 70's and 80's by mostly D.C. punk and hardcore bands. Most notably among those and one of my favorite groups: Bad Brains. The idea is simple: No matter what is going on around you, what you are doing, or what people are doing to you, keep your chin up.
Most teams that lose in HotS lose because of a singular reason; Someone, or multiple people are on tilt. Tilting is a natural occurrence. You could be ****ing up your job in team fights, getting caught out and dying, or getting ridiculed by your own team mates. Its important to realize in these situations, that nothing you're doing really matters. The Will to win or lose, or to even have fun doing it, all comes from how you approach the game mentally.
Zagara is frustrating as BALLS to play for the first few games you bang out on her. She feels weak, she doesn't have the impact that Jaina or Sylvanas has, and when you're losing, shes extremely underwhelming. The only advice I can give you to remedy this, is that Start to the game smiling, and end the game smiling. If you're not, Take a Break. This is JUST a game. You could uninstall it and you would still be breathing. Its that Simple.
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