Zarya
Health Pool - 400 (200 health, 200 regenerating shields)
Role - Tank (Damage/Support Oriented)
Pros - Pusher, High Damage Potential
Cons - Low Health Pool, Low Mobility, Team-Oriented, High Cooldown Management
Zarya is one of the most difficult and unforgiving tanks in the game. With her low health pool and her survivability tied to abilities and her team, she can be difficult tank for any player to pick up.
Particle Cannon
Particle Cannon Statistics
- Primary Fire (Bypasses Defense Matrix and Deflect, Blocked By Shields)
- At Zero Energy - 95 DPS, At 25 Energy - 118.75 DPS, At 50 Energy - 142.5 DPS, At 75 Energy - 165.25 DPS, At 100 Energy - 190 DPS
- Has a maximum range of 16 meters/52.5 feet
- Has a R.O.F. of 20 rounds per second
- Has a magazine size of 100 rounds
- Reload time of 1.5 seconds
- Secondary Fire (Blocked By Shields, Destroyed By Defense Matrix, and Deflected By Deflect)
- At Zero Energy - 45 DPB, At 25 Energy - 56.25 DPB, At 50 Energy - 67.5 DPB, At 75 Energy - 78.75 DPB, At 100 Energy - 90 DPB
- Splash Radius - At Zero Energy - 2 meters/6.5 feet, At 25 Energy - 2.5 meters/8.2 feet, At 50 Energy - 3 meters/9.8 feet, At 75 Energy - 3.5 meters/11.5 feet, At 100 Energy - 4 meters/13.1 feet
- R.O.F is 1 shot per second
- Shares Ammo with Primary Fire
- Consumes 25 rounds per shot
- Has a projectile speed of 23.5 meters per second/77.1 feet per second
Barriers
Projected Barriers
- Projected Barriers (Self)
- Has 200 Health
- Lasts for 2 seconds
- Has a 10 second cooldown
- Does not negate knockback
- Any Damage done to Projected Barriers is turned into Energy at a conversation rate of 5 damage = 1 Energy
- Can protect more than 200 points of Damage as long as the damage is inflicted instantly and not over a period of time
- Max Energy Per Shield is 40 Energy
- Projected Barriers (Allies)
- Has 200 health
- Lasts for 2 seconds
- Has a 8 seconds Cooldown
- Same effects as Self Shield
- Has a range of 30 meters/98.4 feet
- Graviton Surge (Ultimate)
- Arcing Projectile (Initial Cast)/ Area-of-Effect (on impact with a solid object)
- Does 5.5 DPS
- Has a projectile speed of 23.5 meters per second/77.1 feet per second
- Area of Effect of 9 meters/29.5 feet
- Lasts for 4 seconds
- Disables Movement Abilities
- Energy (Passive)
- Increases damage of Primary Fire and Secondary Fire by 1% per point of Energy accumulated
- Maxes out at 100 Energy
- Energy decays at a rate of 2 Energy per second
- Energy is gained through Projected Barriers; See Projected Barriers (Self) for more info
General Strategies
General Strategies
- Projected Barriers
- These barriers can be used to survive most, if not all offensive and defensive ultimates in the game, as well as protect regenerating shields from the ulimate, Electromagnetic Pulse A.K.A EMP, which while protecting regenerating shields, also gives Zarya 40 Energy per barrier affected by the ultimate
- Primary & Secondary Fire
- Generally, you want to use your Primary fire for most fights, except in the cases where the enemy is grouped up, then Secondary fire is favored over Primary fire
- Since neither modes are able to inflict critical hits, you want to aim for either the center of mass (Primary Fire) or for the ground next to the enemy (Secondary Fire)
- Graviton Surge
- Graviton is one of the most powerful ultimates in the game, capable of setting up large multi-kills and team wipes. Use with caution, do not throw haphazardly, use in conjunction with your team; It is one of the most expensive ultimate abilities in the whole game
- Graviton does not disable healing abilities, almost every ultimate, sole exception is Meteor Strike, it also does not disable Fortify, Fade, or Wraith Form, and these are the only abilities that can allow a player to escape the effects of Graviton
Advanced/Intermediate Strategies
- Animation Cancelling and Combos
- Animation cancels on reload are not worth it except if there is in enemy in your face.
- You can get a free 30 damage into a secondary fire by using melee for some good burst damage even on zero charge. This is even more devastating on high charge but you can add your personal bubble to the combo so you take less self inflicted damage as well as receive charge.
- Barrier Blocking and Body Blocking
- You can extend the uptime of a barrier’s protection by using a bubble on your support, retreating tank or the “carry” by walking infront of the enemies focusing them after giving them a bubble. Don’t bubble immediatly but rather wait a to take a little damage than bubble if they don’t disengage. Remember to keep doing damage so they back off eventually. In the mean time your supports should be healing themselves/the wounded player.
- You can reduce the damage an earthshatter does to your team by timing a bubble correctly so you stay up. Than bubbling the charged/attacked teammates. Not sure about this part but it might be possible to block earthshatter alltogether with a well placed bubble.
- When D.va ults don’t immediatly bubble, but rather chase her down for a kill if she is not in a safe positon; Than bubble right before the mech explodes.
- This is standard for all tanks but if a support is low and they have the hps to keep you up just stand infront of them as they heal you to prevent the kill.
- A well timed bubble is EZ charge from a Rein charge, be aware he can kill you under most scenarios if they extend the charge long enough.
Archive Event Strategies (Uprising/Retribution)
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Uprising
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Retribution
- Enemies will most likely continue to fire at you or a teammate while Particle Barrier or Projected Barrier is up, making gaining energy much easier than in a regular match.
- You can time your bubbles to negate damage from Enforcers, as well as gaining some sweet energy. This will make them easy targets as well, as it takes a while for their weapons to charge up.
- Much like a Rein’s charge, the Heavy Talon unit will charge into you or a teammate from time to time, which makes for some quick energy gains.
- Always make sure to shield allies with a Projected Barrier when they get pounced on by an Assassin, so don’t use the ability all willy-nilly. Wait for a special operative to appear Unless you need to save a teammate.
- Zarya synergizes well with heroes that get up in the enemies’ faces, and there will be a lots of opportunities for close-quarters combat during this brawl. Brigitte, Doomfist, Reaper, and Reinhardt are great for bubbling to gain energy, as the Talon soldiers will hit the large barrier hitbox instead of any teammates behind the barrier or inside it(You can expect an average of 60+ energy during combat doing this. I say during combat because there are periods between fights where your energy may decrease significantly). Bastion is also not a bad option, if you want to play around the omnic with a Mercy and another tank to heal, but be warned that Bastion becomes an easy target for most enemies and your Projected Barrier has a long cooldown.
- Graviton Surge isn’t super powerful in this brawl, as many of the enemies may be spread out at times and grouped in small numbers, but it can still be useful for disabling a special operative(namely Assassins or a charging Heavy) or cleaning up squads of soldiers and enforcers.
- Zarya’s alternate fire is useful for splashing groups of enemies, and a few high-energy shots can delete hordes of soldiers.
- Zarya can’t do much against the Snipers, but you may be able to knock her around with your alternate fire.
- The Assassin will be hard to hit for you until she attacks, and you need to anticipate when she will so you can benefit from that(As a general rule, stay grouped up when the Assassin appears, so you can quickly rush to the aid of whichever unfortunate ally she attacks).
- The Heavy, much like soldiers and enforcers, will continue to fire at your barriers. Just makes sure you don’t get too close trying to gain energy! A dead Zarya means a potential charge kill for the Heavy, and lost energy.
Synergies
- Offense
- Doomfist (Has Excellent synergy with Zarya, due to his gameplay style of diving into the enemy team and attracting a lot of aggro, as well as his ultimate, Meteor Strike, complimenting Graviton well, as it is an aoe attack which is kills most characters if they are caught in the middle of the radius)
- Genji (Very good synergy with Zarya, due to him being a high priority target to the enemy team, though His deflect ability will deflect incoming damage, preventing charge from being gained; His ultimate is Excellent when combo-ed with Graviton, as Dragonblade is able to hit multiple enemies in one swing)
- Mccree (Average synergy, due to a lack of any area of effect damage, Deadeye can combo with Graviton to achieve a large multi-kill or team wipe, and Zarya can protect Mccree while he is using his ultimate)
- Pharah ( Good synergy, Due to high AOE damage capabilities, though her place in the battlefield means it can be difficult to pass a projected barrier to her; Barrage combos excellently with Graviton, due to its concentrated Damage over a small AOE, as well as becoming a high priority target for the enemy, making her a key barrier target)
- Reaper (Excellent synergy, due to Reaper, like Doomfist, being capable of drawing enemy aggro and taking high amounts of damage, and with his place on the battlefield, will most likely always be in range and in sight to give a barrier too; His ultimate, Death Blossom, combos excellently with Graviton, as it is an high DPS/Damage AOE ability, that is capable of taking out almost every character in the game, exceptions are most tanks, Reaper also becomes a high priority target to pass a barrier to)
- Soldier: 76 (Average synergy, due mostly to the Helix Rocket ability being an excellent AOE attack to use during Graviton; His ultimate ability, Tactical Visor, has a subpar combo with Graviton, as his ultimate grants him auto-aim, faster rate of fire, and faster reload time, but no high AOE damage to inflict massive damage to a group of enemies trapped in Graviton)
- Sombra (Has Average synergy with Zarya, due to a lack of any AOE damage, most synergy comes from the combo, Graviton Pulse, which traps and disables all abilities and destroys any placed shields, decaying barriers, and regenerating shields)
- Tracer (Has Good synergy, due to her being a high priority target for the enemy, but her lack of any base AOE ability means that for any High AOE damage, it must come from the dual ultimate combo, called Graviton Bomb, which is capable of destroying most characters caught within Graviton)
- Defense
- Bastion (Above Average synergy, due to Bastion’s primary fire being able to saturate a small area with massive damage, while his ultimate, Tank Configuration, grants him high AOE damage, benefitting greatly from Graviton Surge)
- Hanzo (Above Average syngery, due to his current ability of Scatter, as well has his high single target damage, which will benefit from graviton, due to the ability to easily headshot those trapped; The Combo, Dragon Surge, is effect against all characters, due to its large area and high Damage)
- Junkrat (Very Good synergy, due to his whole kit having high AOE damaging abilities and weapon, as well as the combo, Graviton Tire being effective due to it’s high AOE damage)
- Widowmaker (Subpar synergy, Due to location on the battlefield, bad ult synergy, and only really good at helping A widow getting kills on targets caught in Graviton)
- Mei (Average synergy, this is due to her placement on the field, usually near the tanks, now with her freezing piercing enemies, she can add time to take out targets when they are in grav, the combo, Snowy Surge, can first trap enemies, and then disable their ability to defend themselves in anyway)
- Torbjorn (Below Average synergy, due to his place on the field being in the back, though combo, Graviton Core, can lead to torbjorn dealing a lot of shotgun blast damage to trapped enemies caught in graviton)
- Tanks
- D.Va (Depends, either average synergy, or Excellent synergy, depending on communication between the two players, this synergy comes from D.Va being able to attract a lot of aggro onto herself from the enemy team, leading to high charge potential, and her AOE damage being helpful during Graviton, as well as the combo, Graviton Nuke, capable of deleting an entire enemy team)
- Orisa (Above Average synergy, due to her place on the field being within range to give a barrier to easily, her being a high target priority to an enemy team due to her ability to hold a choke point, as the ultimate combo, SuperGraviton, granting the whole team 50% more damage into the enemy trapped, as well as subsituting 50 charge from Zarya’s passive if her energy well is low at the time of graviton)
- Reinhardt (Excelllent synergy, due to him being the focus on enemy fire, with the barrier gaining energy while Reinhardt holds his shield up, as well as protecting him if he charges into the enemy team, though the ultimate combo, Graviton Shatter, can be poor if done simultaneously, but if done when graviton is almost done, can allow the team to finish off any enemy that survived graviton)
- Roadhog (Excellent synergy, due to him being a target that the enemy prioritizes high on their list, as well as giving the roadhog player a moment of protection to recover their health without taking any more health damage. The ultimate combo, Graviton Hog, can be good, I am not sure if Whole Hog is able to knock people out of graviton, but if it can’t knock them out, then it is an excellent combo, due to Whole Hog’s high damage capability)
- Winston (Above Average synergy, due to him, again being a high priority target for the enemy, as well as his AOE attack, his tesla cannon, dealing decent damage and able to inflict damage to main foes and to bypass any shields and abilities, though the ultimate combo, Primal Surge, is rather ineffectual, and is rather against the point of Primal rage, which is meant to push people off a point)
~ Always Adapting and Changing ~ (Please Let me know If This guide was helpful)
