How to maximize DPS as Zarya?

Competitive Discussion
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My main is Whey#11884 Peak 3813

Hello. I main Zarya and feel as if my Zarya play as kind of plateaud and I am not getting much better. I think that I am not utilising Zarya at high energies and making the most out of farming for Graviton and doing overall DPS. I usually just spam into chokes and sometimes flank and a personal bubble.

Are there any tips on getting ult charge and increasing DPS during the poke phase?

What are the main features that differentiate GM Zaryas from typical Master Zaryas?

Thanks.

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I used this video to help me get better at Zarya 3 Steps to Positioning like a Top 500 Zarya (Overwatch Guide) - YouTube

The gist of it is that your positioning is super important as Zarya in order to maximise DPS output while staying alive. Hope this helps

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Damned! A non complaining post on the forum!

Great! I do not have any tips but hope you will find some.

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Get better at aiming with the grenade. farther the target, the faster you get ult charge.

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From my experience it’s better to use your personal bubble on your way out than your way in when trying to get chip damage. What I mean by that is when you go out in front of your team to use your bubble you should hold it when you’re going in and doing damage, but then use it on your way back when you’re grouping up with your team.

It works better if you take some damage and make it look like you are using your bubble to survive versus to gain ult charge. People gain tunnel vision when they think they can get a pick and tend to really charge you up.

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First of all Zarya is not a dps. She’s a tank…she can kill things yes but get that out of your mind that she’s a DPS.

Now what is the job to a tank? To create space and protect your teammates.
If you’re doing that then you’re pretty much doing your job. Any kills you get along the way is a bonus.

Change your mindset. You’re actually doing alright. You’re a master. If you wanna climb and aren’t then focus more on team plays. Can’t ever go wrong with that. I don’t know. Never reached that SR.

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Thanks for you reply but Zarya is very much a DPS at high energy, and she is an off tank that helps main tanks secure and hold space not create it. Zarya to me can be a hard carry with Tank, DPS and supportive traits. Her ult is one of the most powerful offensive abilities that can change the way a teamfight is going. More DPS = More Gravitons? Correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.

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Well every one in the game can kill if that’s what you mean by DPS. Even rein is a DPS at close quarters. So fine I’ll agree with you.

But hey, hold the choke, bubble yourself and your team mates plus any other enemies you can kill = high charge and graviton.

Or you can go round and start killing everything in sights. Unless you hit all your targets and track everything, you’re only gonna get 2 maybe 3 the entire first round.

And why do people like to restrict themselves so much. Okay so you killed 2 enemies with Zarya. Haven’t you created space for your team? I kind of hate replying to anyone above my rank cos then i feel I shouldn’t even be saying anything. So I’ll just leave this here.

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It looks like your McCree and Rein plays are dragging you down, not Zarya

The number of deaths stand out for both, although it’s hard to say why that would be.

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im sure as heck not gm, but i do notice mechanical differences between gm and masters zarya. gms are much more wary of their ammo, they right click to get that extra burst in when ur ammo is lower than 25. they also always add in that extra melee after a right click at close quarters to cancel animation. i suppose mechanics wise t500 know exactly when to use both left click and right click in order to kill a single target or multiple grouped up targets the fastest way possible.

without gameplay vids, we can only give suggestions, but maybe the problem is not going in at the right timing? typically that’s the most common problem for masters to get into gm.

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locate a bad player on the enemy team, espacially if this is a offtank farm them for Ult-Charge . Find out who’s out of position most of the time, and farm Ult-Charge =)

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Master the sounds the gun gives off. So you know when to reload. Get better at controlling your beam fire. If anything, a lamppost or wall gets in front of a target. Stop shooting. Also a mobile target. Don’t be afraid at not shooting. The beam is hitscan. Also shut off your beam right before the person dies. The tickrate carries over to kill them. If you time it right. Every bit of ammo counts.

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I watch a lot of harbleu and what differentiates him from other Zarya’s is that he gets away with plays he shouldn’t be getting away. I’d say his play style is good if you feel you are rolling a team.

I’d watch twitch to see who is a more dogged harder working Zarya player. After you have done that see how they keep themselves alive against better players. As if you are trying to climb you need to beat better players than yourself.

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I actually main Zarya on PS4 and my rank keeps fluctuating between high plat and low diamond. I started playing Zarya when in low gold and during season 10 I climbed to mid plat, and now I’m here. From what I’m aware of, Zarya has the third highest single-target dps behind a fully charged new Sym and then Bastian. I found it easier to get charge by playing suicidal-ish and communicating with my Rein to back me up. By looking as if I’m pushing in on my own, people shoot at me, then I pop my bubble after losing a bit of hp and walk back to rein. When I’m at about 95 charge I stop using bubbles for charge until I drop to about 75-80 and I instead use them as saves for myself and teamates. I see a ton of Zarya’s at 95% or so use a bubble for no reason other than getting charge. Also, I like to try and get my team not to play Pharah. Pharah will probably make the enemy Junkrat (awesome charge) switch to hitscan, which gets less charge.

Hope this helps, but I think plat on console and plat on pc differ quite a bit, so you may already be using these.

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You don’t need to tell me how Zarya works. I know

Like I said, she’s not a dps despite being able to kill things. I’m sure when a pharah is terrorising your team, you whoop a Zarya out.

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Ya gotsa shot da peeps that are red :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: