Armed with her powerful Particle Cannon, Zarya is an offensive tank who can cleave through foes and shield allies from danger. Topped off with her playmaking Graviton Surge, a talented Zarya can single-handedly carry a team by cutting down foes while enabling her allies to do so as well.

Playstyle

Zarya’s Particle Cannon has primary and alternate fire modes, allowing her to melt enemies both upfront and from a distance. Her Particle and Projected Barriers block all incoming damage and raise her energy level, granting her amplified damage. These abilities allow her to ‘babysit’ allies, i.e. she can protect allies who are out of place or in vulnerable locations, in turn increasing her damage output. A mediocre Zarya player will only contribute average damage, some barrier absorption and a few beneficial shields. When played effectively, she’s a hard-to-kill threat who can wreak havoc in the frontline for extended periods.

Zarya is a frontliner by design. You should be looking to soak up damage with your barriers to power up your Particle Cannon. Average and underwhelming Zarya players position themselves too far back, spamming alternate-fire bombs at long range while maintaining low levels of energy. In reality, you should be moving in close-range frequently, tanking enemy fire and using your Particle Beam often, dealing more damage and absorbing lots of energy. Half of her health pool regenerates on its own after 3 seconds without damage, so while her health pool is relatively low for a tank, she can keep on the frontlines and take hits for her team with her health regeneration and barriers.

Your positioning should revolve around your abilities’ cooldowns. Train yourself to keep a mental note of Particle Barrier’s 10-second cooldown, since it’s your most important ability for gathering energy and pushing forward into the enemy team. This will take time and practice, but it’s an important step in mastering Zarya. Engage targets and retreat according to your Particle Barrier’s cooldown timer, and you’ll have a presence as a powerful, hard-to-kill frontliner.

Pros:

• High damage, at both short-medium ranges
• Game-changing ultimate ability
• Protect vulnerable teammates
• Partially regenerating health pool

Cons:

• Immobile
• Lowest Base HP of all tanks
• Struggles against high-mobility targets
• Low game impact when played poorly

Ability Breakdown

Particle Cannon (Primary Fire)

• 75 DPS at 0 energy, up to 150 DPS at 100 energy
• Single-target beam, does not penetrate targets
• 15m range
• Consumes 20 ammo per second (100 ammo total)
• Incapable of headshots

Zarya’s particle cannon delivers average damage without any charge, but becomes a real threat once empowered with energy. While the beam is thin and hard to aim, you should be trying to use it in most close-quarters situations. Training your accuracy and successfully tracing enemies with your crosshair is crucial to becoming a good Zarya player.

Particle Cannon (Alternate Fire)

• 45 damage blasts at 0 energy, up to 95 at 100 energy
• Arcing projectile, medium/long-range
• Area-of-Effect blast, area increases with energy
• Knocks/disrupts enemies slightly
• Consumes 25 ammo per blast (100 ammo total)
• Incapable of headshots

Particle Cannon’s alternate fire lobs large arcing bombs, ideal for bombarding choke points from a range and hitting multiple targets grouped together. The knockback from these blasts may be slight, but can be useful for displacing enemies during their ultimates or to stop fast foes in their tracks. Alternate fire is the superior option against heroes with dashes and high mobility such as Tracer and Genji, who are near impossible to focus with your beam.

A useful thing to know about Particle Cannon’s alternate fire is that while it consumes 25 units of ammo, it only requires 1 unit to fire. If you’ve got less than 25 ammo, you can use your alternate fire before having to reload. This is useful in clutch situations, where a final Particle Cannon blast can be fired off before reloading as opposed to using your final units of ammo for your Particle Beam.

Particle Barrier

• Generates a damage-absorbing shield around Zarya
• Absorbs 200 damage before breaking
• Lasts up to 2 seconds
• 10 second cooldown
• Grants 1 Energy per 4 damage (max 50 energy per shield)
• Energy decays slowly by 2 per second

Zarya’s Particle Barrier will tank all damage, projectiles and displacements while active. Try to use your shield once enemies begin firing at you, not beforehand, otherwise you’re less likely to absorb damage. Since half of your health pool regenerates after three seconds without damage, feel free to tank a few shots before activating your barrier.

Timing your personal shield is crucial. Don’t make the mistake of using Particle Barrier as you’re moving forward to fight, and instead use it to block damage once enemies have already started firing at you. Early barriers are predictable, generate less energy and are easier for your opponents to play around. Be sure to hold onto it until combat has begun.

Projected Barrier

• Identical traits to Particle Barrier
• Ally-targeted ability
• 8 second cooldown

Projected Barrier functions identically to your personal barrier, except with a slightly lower cooldown. Use your barriers to protect allies from powerful abilities such as Reinhardt’s charge, Tracer’s Pulse Bomb or Roadhog’s hook. Projected Barrier should also be used to protect your allies during channeled ultimates like Reaper’s Death Blossom or Pharah’s Barrage.

Graviton Surge (Ultimate)

• Arced projectile
• Black hole created at point of impact
• Enemies within 4.5 metre radius sucked into centre of black hole
• 4 Second Duration
• Deals 22 damage over 4 seconds

Zarya bears one of the most powerful ultimates in the game. Graviton Surge possesses the playmaking potential to wipe entire teams and turn matches around, facilitating high-damage ultimate abilities such as Genji’s or Reaper’s. You should be pinging to alert your allies of Graviton Surge’s charge status, so they can be ready to follow up. Be aware of which allies are present, since it’s unlikely that your ultimate will result in any kills when you’re alone.

When played on attack, Zarya’s ultimate should be used to initiate fights by locking down a few targets grouped together. Before firing Graviton Surge, be sure to consider the enemy team composition, which abilities they likely have available and who you’ll be locking down. Key abilities that you should be aware of are support ultimates, since Lucio, Zenyatta and Mercy can all negate the effectiveness of Graviton Surge. You may also want to whittle down an opposing Reinhardt’s shield before ulting, as his shield can defend against your allies’ ultimates if your team lacks the damage output to break through.

In a defensive position, Graviton Surge should be used to deny and retaliate against enemy engages. If an enemy Lucio speed boosts and uses Sound Barrier to push ahead and initiate, you can use your ultimate to stop your enemies dead in their tracks. You may also use this ability in the last few seconds of a round to block off choke points and main routes that enemies may push through to reach Overtime.

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General Tips

Don’t be too trigger-happy with your Particle Barrier, it’s an important ability. Half of your health pool regenerates on its own, so don’t waste this ability against minor threats such as lone, weak enemies shooting at you from a distance.

Upon using your ultimate, be sure to shield yourself and allies that are likely to be focused by enemies. While enemies are trapped by Graviton Surge, they’ll be looking to kill whichever threats are in view, and will likely shoot through barriers in panic. Well-timed barriers during your ultimate are an easy way to reach a high level of energy.

Projected Barrier works best on close-quarters allies like Reaper, Tracer and Roadhog. Toss these allies a shield to grant them temporary immunity when they’re diving into the enemy team.

Zarya is an incredibly powerful hero when played effectively, harnessing energy from meaningful barriers. With her playmaking potential and versatile Particle Cannon, Zarya has the strength to carry even the heaviest of teams!

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