Taking a Closer Look at Zarya in Overwatch
Strong physically and statistically, here's some must know information about Zarya.
Zarya is currently one of the best tanks in Overwatch, with abilities giving her temporary invincibility, while also granting her the ability to increase her Particle Cannon's damage through a thing called “Energy”. She can help save teammates at the same time as building up her available Energy, meaning if her enemies end up getting too aggressive, they might end up playing against a Zarya that’s practically mortar striking them. So, how can you improve as a Zarya player and become a tank your enemies will truly fear?
When playing Zarya, keep your Energy as charged as you can.
First, the main thing is to try and keep your Energy up as high as you can at all times. This is a difficult thing to do, considering you have to basically put yourself in danger (or your teammate, since the Energy is added onto your Particle Cannon through the Projected Barrier as well) with only 2 seconds to soak up as much damage as you can. Thankfully, the developers know that 2 seconds isn’t a lot of time, so don’t worry too much about playing passively. You have a regenerating shield on Zarya in the first place, meaning by default you can tank a portion of damage from the enemy team, retreat for a period of time and regenerate that shield back. This means that even if your barrier goes down, you still have a little bit of time to escape on top of that.
Another way to keep your Energy high up is to work with the enemy teams ults. If you can catch a Pharah ulting, and are able to throw a barrier on yourself when she targets you, you can soak up a good bit of Energy extremely fast. This also applies to things such as stopping a D.Va Self-Destruct, Junkrat Rip-Tire, Roadhog, you name it. It saves you or your teammate, and it also gives you some extra damage to shutdown the enemy team. This is what makes Zarya strong, she can deny plenty of damage while, when played right, being able to deal a satisfying amount of DPS herself as a tank. So, how else can you improve as a Zarya player? Working with the team of course, so who should you play with Zarya on the team? Who does she work well with?
Who Zarya works well with and when to use Graviton Surge.
Zarya synergises extremely well with Pharah, while also being fairly useful when playing against her at the same time. There are two main reasons Zarya is such a good partner for Pharah (and in my opinion the best). The first one is probably the one you know already, the combo that you can create with your ult and Pharah's. A good Graviton Surge, picking up a lot of the enemy team followed by Pharah's Rocket Barrage can wipe the enemy team in less than 3 seconds. They can't run, they can't hide, and they definitely can't do anything due to the confusion. The second reason I find Pharah is a great combination with Zarya is the protection she can give to Pharah when she's in the sky, and the fact that it can also benefit Zarya. Pharah is a mobile, airborne target who is weak to characters like Soldier 76, Zarya can protect Pharah for the time it takes for her to take down Soldier 76 or anyone else who can be a problem on the enemy team.
Another combination of ultimates between the two characters, Junkrat and Zarya can deal an insane amount of damage to the enemy team, and just like Pharah and many others, the combination of these two heroes' ultimates are able to wipe the entire enemy team within seconds when played right. And since Junkrat can be hidden away when he lets off his Rip-Tire, Zarya can jump in, tank a lot of damage and gain Energy. Why is that a good thing? Because once the rip-tire goes off, Zarya can clean up any remaining stragglers with just a simple right click or just beaming her Particle Cannon at them for a short period of time.
The Reaper, Reyes. He's insanely good by default with his ultimate, being able to wipe the enemy without any problems when played correctly. While extremely useful on KOTH maps, he can break the defense lines on Payload maps too. But if the enemy is grouped up and just not letting anyone breach their defenses, maybe it's time for some ultimates to be combined. Zarya and Reaper's, to be exact. With the ability to get the team close together for a well-played Death Blossom, Zarya can also protect Reaper with a Projected Barrier, meaning Reaper can reap everything and anything he wishes to without taking any damage in the middle of doing so. And when Reaper doesn't have his Wraith Form up, the Projected Barrier from Zarya can end up saving him, and once again, as usual thanks to the barrier, help Zarya build up her Energy at the same.
Hanzo and Zarya are a commonly seen combination in Overwatch, due to the Dragonstrike needing the enemy team to be close together or stuck close at a choke point. Zarya's ultimate can help create this situation for Hanzo, meaning you can do the same as many other heroes and wipe the enemy team with ease. And due to Hanzo's mobility, you can also help build a little bit of Energy when he's running away from the enemy team if he sneaks behind or into an awkward spot for example. Hanzo can also help Zarya out like he can the rest of the team with his Sonic Arrow, allowing the right click on your Particle Cannon as Zarya to be deadly even when you can't see the enemy. You can also see what's coming towards you, and exactly when you need to project barriers onto yourself or your allies.
앞아! It hurts, bad. If D.Va throws her ultimate out into the enemy team, and Zarya follows up with her Graviton Surge, there's going to be nothing the enemy team can do but accept their fate as they see the giant warning sign on their screen before they get sent back to watch their respawn timer. A deadly combo, Zarya can also help D.Va once she's out of her mech, due to the fact that she has very low HP outside of it. Because of this, if D.Va is getting low on health or is going to be facing an enemy who is going to put her in a battle she's not likely to win, Zarya can shield her while she runs away, saving her from dying because of her low health.
Other things to take into consideration.
Zarya is probably one of the strongest tanks when it comes to individual play. While by default being able to take up to 400 damage with a 200 HP passive shield that regenerates fairly quickly, and the ability to do up to 150 damage per second with your Particle Cannon is nice, Zarya isn't going to be the one sole tank your team needs. Zarya should mostly be taken within a comp that requires an off tank, meaning that on your team, you should probably bring on a Winston or a Reinhardt depending on the map or gamemode to help you become a fluid team.
Another thing to take into account is that you should also be paying attention to your allies a lot more than you would think. Some Zarya players forget about their Projected Barrier, meaning they won't be shielding their teammates as much as they can. If you see your teams Tracer being pinned by a Reinhardt, shield her at the last second before she smashes against a wall, and you're going to not only end up leaving the enemy teams Reinhardt vulnerable, but you would have saved the Tracer on your team too. Oh, and you get Energy! There's really no way to lose when it comes to helping your teammates out, so try to pay close attention to your teammates like you would if you were playing the support role.
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