Zarya does not have enough levers to pull in order to make meaningful changes to her kit, she is the only video game character I’ve ever heard of who essentially has only 1 ability.
From that starting point we can begin to expand on the singular nature of her kit design and attempt to split it further into duality, namely I think her survivability shouldn’t be so tied to bubbles so giving her armour to offset severely weakening her bubbles would be a good start. I would like to start off with 150 armour as this should be enough for Zarya to position on the frontline without wasting a bubble cool down. Although the Bubbles will be weaker they will also have a shorter cooldown.
The next important thing is to introduce decision making to her kit, which is why I want Projected Barrier to be removed. This allows;
- Counterplay on Zaryas backline
- Removal of high value Support like capability
- Removal of double Personal Bubble spam
I would also like to add a new metered ability that lasts 9 seconds called Strongest Memory to her kit where she splits the damage from the entire team and absorbs it herself. The more damage Zarya absorbs the more her next Personal Bubble heals her for if she is still missing health, with a 1:1 ratio exchange rate of damage to healing done.