Hi! My name is Risenbane and I am a DPS for the Heroes Of The Storm team Momentum. My specialty is specialists but I also play a majority of the range dps/assassins.

Zagara is a high dpsing specialist known for her high damage output, insane vision through creeps, and game changing ultimate. Zagara has a high skill cap and requires great map awareness in order to play her to her full potential.

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Early game greatly influences how the game is played out. Zagara is one of the only heroes in the game with a vision talent, and with games requiring a massive amount of rotations having vision can sometimes win the game.

With that said the tumors on Zagara's D passive is something you won't only use in the laning phase, but throughout the entire game for both map vision, and rotations. Preferably you should have your team help you to the enemies side of the lane you will be playing in and place tumors on their side. This is an aggressive start but it can help save you from ganks and also show you when the enemy is rotating and to what objectives.

Zagara is one of the best poking heroes in the game due to her level 4 auto attack range boost and her hydra. By level 4 you should out poke almost every hero in the game with exception to heroes such as Tassadar, and Johanna. As your opponent laner moves up to deal damage to your minions you should be focusing your autos on them until the back up. By repeating this along with using your hydra you can potentially zone out your opponent and deny them CS. If the wave is on your side of the lane and you successfully zone out the enemy hero, continue to let the wave push into your side and deal damage as necessary to keep the wave just out of tower range. When you do this it is called zoning, and denying the enemy. The whole point of this tactic is so that your enemy is either forced to rotate to your lane causing a weakness in the other lanes and or to get an experience lead on your opponent because they cannot soak the experience from your dying minions.

Make sure to keep putting out tumors in your lane! They are great for regenerating your health, providing you movement speed to either engage or disengage, and for vision in your blind spots.

Since Zagara has very little escape potential you will want to position behind your tanks and most likely behind your healer. Envenomed Spines gives you increased auto range and most of your abilities can be casted from a safe distance. The main thing you have to watch out for is to not corner yourself or over extend into an enemy tank or assassin and to know when to use your Maw. When you use your Maw/ultimate you are looking for a few things. 1) Is there 3 or more players grouped too close to each other you can Maw. 2) Is there a healer or a dps or even a tank that if you use your Maw on them it could drastically change the fight in your favor. 3) To disengage and get away from the fight safely.

Zagara has no escapes other than using her maw to disengage and the speed bonus from using tumors. As Zagara, especially with the Envenomed Spines, you can sit back and deal damage over a period of time through auto attacks and abilities. Remember to sit behind your tanks and around your healer for your best chances of survival.

I will be updating this guide as time goes on and also including visuals. For now please enjoy the content =)