Zagara Talents

Level	Choices
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4	✓ ? ?
7	? ? ✓
10	✓ ?
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16	✓ ? ?
20	? ? ? ✓

Infested Drop Build

Recommended

Level 1

Level 4 ? ?

Level 7

Level 10 ?

Level 13 ?

Level 16

Level 20

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Zagara's Infested Drop Build allows you to deal a solid amount of damage in team fights, especially in the late game against Heroes who have high maximum Health.

In particular, Corpse Feeders at Level 1 and Bile Drop at Level 7 boost the already good damage output of Corrosive Saliva at Level 16.

Infest Build

Situational

Level 1

Level 4

Level 7

Level 10

Level 13

Level 16

Level 20

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Zagara's Infest Build makes you more powerful when split-pushing but weaker while fighting against enemy Heroes. Due to being vulnerable to ganks as usual, you should not choose this Build when the enemy team has Heroes good for that (for example Zeratul).

Infest at Level 1 empowers nearby Minions, so that you can take down enemy Structures with ease, unless the enemy team can quickly clear your Minions. Mutalisk at Level 16 is good for taking down to enemy Structures as well as for dealing with Mercenaries.

ARAM Build

ARAM

Level 1

Level 4 ? ?

Level 7

Level 10 ?

Level 13 ?

Level 16

Level 20

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Zagara's ARAM Build allows you to deal a solid amount of damage in team fights, especially in the late game against Heroes who have high maximum Health.

In particular, Corpse Feeders at Level 1 and Bile Drop at Level 7 boost the already good damage output of Corrosive Saliva at Level 16.

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Volatile Acid (Level 1) Zagara

Banelings can travel 50% further before exploding.

Volatile Acid is a decent Talent that empowers Baneling Barrage by increasing its range.

The extra range helps a lot when you want more safety while soaking. More importantly, it can be used to poke down enemy Structures from high distance.

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Corpse Feeders (Level 1) Zagara

Reduces the cooldown of Infested Drop by 3 seconds and Roachlings have 30% more Health.

Corpse Feeders is a strong Talent that makes the Roachlings from Infested Drop survive a bit longer by increasing their Health while also making the Ability usable more often thanks to the cooldown reduction.

While not particularly good on its own, this Talent empowers Bile Drop at Level 7 and Corrosive Saliva at Level 16, hence why we find it more valuable than the alternatives.

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Infest (Level 1) Zagara

Nearby Ranged Minions deal an additional 125% damage, plus an additional 1% per 1000 Siege damage Zagara has dealt. Can be toggled on or off.

Infest is a good Talent that gives Zagara more siege power at the cost of team fight damage.

Consider picking this Talent when you are playing on a big Map, the enemy team does not have good gankers (for example Zeratul), and you want to split-push better at the cost of team fight power in the late game.

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Envenomed Spines (Level 4) Zagara

• Cooldown: 30 seconds

Activate to have Zagara's next Basic Attack apply 230 (+4% per level) damage over 5 seconds.

Envenomed Spines is a strong Talent as it provides Zagara with another relatively high source of on-demand damage which does not require her to be exposed for long.

When you do not expect to fight enemies Heroes for the next minute and/or when you are really close to taking down an enemy Structure but have to retreat, you can use Envenomed Spines against to enemy Structures.

Choose this Talent when you want to help killing high-mobility Heroes (such as Zeratul) or to damage enemy Heroes who can punish you when you get too close (for example Garrosh).

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Medusa Blades (Level 4) Zagara

Basic Attacks deal 33% damage to three nearby targets.

Medusa Blades is a good Talent that will greatly increase Zagara's waveclear and help her better manage her Mana usage when needed. Thanks to this Talent, all your Basic Attacks will cleave on 3 additional nearby targets.

Choose this Talent when you want to play more around macro, you do not need Envenomed Spines to deal with enemy Heroes, and you cannot stack Serrated Spines.

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Serrated Spines (Level 4) Zagara

Quest: Each Basic Attack against a Hero increases Zagara's Attack Damage by 0.2%.

Serrated Spines is a good Talent that provides additional Attack Damage based on how many Basic Attacks on enemy Heroes have been done by Zagara during the game.

Keep in mind that the damage bonus provided by this Talent also increases the damage dealt by your Basic Attacks against non-Heroes, including Structures, however, you still have to get a good amount of stacks on enemy Heroes.

Choose this Talent when the enemy team does not have a scary Tank which can punish you while hitting enemy Heroes with Basic Attacks or when playing ARAM as you can easily get 100-120 stacks before the game ends.

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Baneling Massacre (Level 7) Zagara

Gain 2 additional charges of Banelings Barrage, but increase its cooldown by 2 seconds.

Baneling Massacre is a decent Talent that allows Zagara to immediately cast 2 additional charges of Baneling Barrage, but increases its cooldown by 50%.

The cooldown increase is easier to understand if you look at the time it takes to get 2 Charges back: without this Talent, you need to wait 8 seconds; with this Talent, you need to wait 12 seconds.

That said, being able to store 2 more Charges means that you can deal more burst damage by casting Baneling Barrage 4 times in a row.

Due to the cooldown increase, you should only consider this Talent when you want to improve your burst damage, usually combined with Devouring Maw.

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Viscous Acid (Level 7) Zagara

Banelings Slow enemies by 25% for 2.5 seconds.

Viscous Acid is a good Talent which makes Baneling Barrage apply a moderate Slow to enemy Heroes hit.

The effect provided by this Talent can be used to kite enemy Heroes and occasionally catch fleeing Heroes, if they lack mobility tools.

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Bile Drop (Level 7) Zagara

Quest: Passively increases the radius of Infested Drop by 20%.

Reward: After hitting 12 Heroes with Infested Drop, it spawns an additional Roachling.

Bile Drop is a strong Talent that, upon Quest completion, increases Zagara's damage by providing Infested Drop an additional Roachling. Combine it with Corpse Feeders to get even more value out of it.

In this section we discuss when and why to pick a given Heroic Ability. If you want to read how they work in detail and/or you are looking for some tips on how to use them, check them out on the Abilities and Strategy page.

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Devouring Maw (Level 10) Zagara

• Mana: 70
• Cooldown: 80 seconds

Summon a Devouring Maw that devours enemies for 4 seconds. Devoured enemies cannot fight and take 94 (+4% per level) damage per second.

Usable on Unstoppable enemies.

Devouring Maw is arguably one of the most impactful Heroic Abilities in the game. A well placed Devouring Maw will not only apply a moderate amount of damage to all enemies trapped within, but will effectively remove them from play for a full 4 second duration.

This unique crowd control Ability is completely uncounterable, as it is even able to take in Heroes considered to be Unstoppable at the time of its use, but it cannot be used on Deathwing despite him being permanently Unstoppable thanks to Aspect of Death.

A downside to Devouring Maw is its delayed cast time, which may leave newer Zagara players feeling as though the Ability is somewhat unresponsive, but you will eventually get used to it. Players need to be able to foreshadow their targets' movement to give themselves the higher likelihood of landing a successful Maw.

Once created, Devouring Maw is considered to be impassable terrain, similar to Structures, so keep in mind it may potentially block both allied and enemy Heroes to reach their intended location.

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Nydus Network (Level 10) Zagara

• Mana: 50
• Charges: 2
• Recharge Time: 120 seconds

Summon a Nydus Worm on Creep anywhere that Zagara has vision. Zagara can enter a Nydus Worm and travel to any other Nydus Worm by right-clicking near it. While inside a Nydus Worm, Zagara regenerates 10% Health and Mana per second.

Stores up to 2 charges. Maximum of 4 Nydus Worms at a time.

Passive: Creep spreads 15% farther.

Passive: While on Creep, each Basic Attack reduces all of Zagara's cooldowns by 0.4 seconds.

Nydus Network is a situational Heroic Ability which allows Zagara to split-push effectively, quickly join the rest of her team when needed, and restore Health.

Not only does this Talent provide a sizable increase in Creep Tumor coverage, but the cooldown reduction built in to her Basic Attacks is invaluable when having to constantly spam Basic Abilities to tear down the enemy defenses.

The cooldown reduction will not only greatly impact Zagara's sustain damage output through Baneling Barrage, but will also dramatically increase the up time of Roachlings and Hydralisks spawned from Infested Drop and Hunter Killer.

The ability to immediately travel anywhere on the battlefield where Creep Tumor has previously been laid is invaluable, and will constantly force enemies to have to leave other important Objectives to alleviate the pressure it will create.

Always remember to place an entrace to Nydus Network directly near the allied Hall of Storms to ensure quick return to the field should Zagara be slain at any point. The sustain provided when entering a Nydus Worm will also prevent Zagara from ever having to pull back her pressure due to a lack of Health or Mana.

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Hydralisk Transfusion (Level 13) Zagara

Zagara is healed for 60% of the damage dealt by Hunter Killers' Basic Attacks to Heroes.

Hydralisk Transfusion is a strong Talent because it gives Zagara self-sustain when Hydralisk is attacking.

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Protective Coating (Level 13) Zagara

While on Creep, Zagara gains 20 Armor, taking 20% less damage.

Protective Coating is a situational Talent, as a “permanent” 20% damage reduction to all sources is incredibly strong. It is recommended having Creep near Zagara's current location at all times to keep up this additional source of protection.

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Spell Shield (Level 13) Zagara

Every 30 seconds, gain 50 Spell Armor against the next enemy Ability and subsequent Abilities for 3 seconds, reducing the damage taken by 50%.

Can be toggled to allow or prevent this talent from triggering automatically.

Spell Shield is a situational Talent that gives Zagara more survivability by increasing her Spell Armor for a brief moment. Enable it when you expect burst damage and/or crowd control within 2 seconds, else keep it disabled to avoid wasting it for poke damage.

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Corrosive Saliva (Level 16) Zagara

When attacking Heroes, Hunter Killers and Roachlings deal additional damage equal to 1.75% of their maximum Health.

Corrosive Saliva deals damage based off of the maximum Health of a Hero, therefore the higher Health a target has, the more effective the Talent will be. This Talent is great at tearing down intimidating frontlines, especially since those are the Heroes that will most often be in range of Zagara's Abilities assuming she is positioned correctly.

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Mutalisk (Level 16) Zagara

Reduce the cooldown of Hunter Killer by 4 seconds. Hunter Killer now spawns a Mutalisk. Mutalisks have a bounce attack and last for 30 seconds.

Mutalisk is a good Talent when split-pushing is the name of the game, but at Level 16 you will not find many opportunities for that, therefore you will usually go for Corrosive Saliva anyways.

Although the additional bounce attacks are nice, especially when the Mutalisk is attacking an enemy Minion wave, the main strength of Mutalisk lies in the spawn's greatly increased duration. Long after their initial summoning, Mutalisks will continue down the lane, dealing multi-target damage to any Minions or defenses that happen across its path.

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Jagged Barbs (Level 16) Zagara

While on Creep, Zagara gains 50% more Basic Attack damage and her attack range is increased by 1.1.

Jagged Barbs is a decent Talent that further enhances Zagara's Basic Attacks by increasing her Attack Range by 1.1—from 6.6 to 7.7—and Attack Damage by 50%.

We find Jagged Barbs better when playing on Maps where team fights happen in a relatively fixed area which you can cover with Creep Tumor pre-emptively.

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Tyrant Maw (Level 20) Zagara

Devouring Maw deals 50% more damage. Takedowns reduce its cooldown by 25 seconds.

Tyrant Maw is a good Talent increases the damage of Devouring Maw by a low amount and it gives some cooldown reduction each time an enemy Hero within 20 range dies from units allied to Zagara.

Starting a team fight when some Heroic Abilities are not ready yet is risky, so the cooldown reduction is helpful because you will end a team fight having less cooldown on Devouring Maw for the next one.

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Endless Creep (Level 20) Zagara

The cast range for Creep Tumor is increased by 2000%. Creep Tumors now last 600 seconds. While on Creep, Zagara gains an additional 10% Movement Speed.

Endless Creep is a good Talent for Zagara at Level 20 when she has chosen Nydus Network as it includes a slew of performance upgrades to her kit. The first upgrade that comes with Endless Creep is the massive increase in Creep Tumor's cast range.

Creep Tumor with its upgraded cast range can be used liberally as it will be effectively providing free vision all throughout the entire battlefield. The resulting additional vision helps prevent enemy ambushes and also reveals their rotations more easily. Sometimes you may even be able to backdoor with it.

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Broodmother (Level 20) Zagara

Every 3rd Basic Attack also launches a Baneling towards the target.

Passive: Gain 20% bonus Attack Speed.

Broodmother is a decent Talent which increases Zagara's Attack Speed by 20% and automatically shoots a Baneling towards the target of your every third Basic Attack.

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Pack Instinct (Level 20) Zagara

Zagara and her summons deal 20% more damage to enemies attacked by a Hunter Killer in the last 2 seconds.

Pack Instinct is a strong Talent which boosts the damage done by Zagara and her Summons against enemies that have been recently attacked by Hunter Killer.

If you have picked Mutalisk at Level 16, it will be easier for you to get value from this Talent because Mutalisks are harder to kill than Hydralisks.

Unless your really need the utility offered by other Talents in this Tier, we recommend this Talent regardless of your strategy being more or less oriented to team fights because it boosts your damage against both enemy Heroes and Structures.