The Specialist Zagara
Zagara is a broodmother and thus a direct subordinate of the Queen of Blades, Kerrigan, who controls the Zerg swarm. For a long time, she was under the control of the Overmind but took her fate into her own hands with its death. She ruled over her own brood until Kerrigan reintegrated her into the swarm.
Consequently, she comes from the StarCraft universe and possesses numerous abilities that opponents have long despised in the RTS game due to the Zerg. As a specialist, Zagara does not fulfill a fixed role – she can deal solid damage, quickly destroy structures, and provides a substantial tactical advantage with her creep tumors.
Zagara’s Abilities at a Glance
- Creep Tumor – Creates a creep tumor at the target location, which is camouflaged and generates creeps in the surrounding area. Zagara and her minions move 20% faster on creeps and regenerate health points slowly. Creep tumors last for 4 minutes.
- Burster Bowling – Four burstlings roll in a straight line away from Zagara and explode on the first enemy target they touch, dealing medium area damage.
- Hunter Killer – Creates a Hydralisk that targets the selected enemy and attacks with ranged attacks. Lasts for 8 seconds.
- Contaminated Drop – Zagara summons a brood capsule at the target location, which impacts after a short delay and deals medium damage. Two broodlings hatch from the capsule, lasting for 8 seconds and dealing minor damage.
- Devouring Maw – After a short delay, all enemies in the target area are devoured. They take minor damage over 4 seconds but cannot attack or be attacked.
Recommended Talents for Zagara in Heroes of the Storm
Their talents primarily enhance the Bursterlings. They gain increased range, more damage to enemy minions, and ultimately their number doubles. From a safe distance, you can scare enemies off from certain positions or attack towers without entering their range yourself.
The increased range of their basic attacks allows you to maintain additional distance while Spike Profile improves the Hydralisk, whose damage is often underestimated.
Zagara’s Primary Playstyle – Creeps for Victory!
Zagara is a true queen of map control. Make regular use of the Creep Tumors! They not only provide you with the creep, which makes you faster and more durable, but also grant vision! A creep tumor in a bush ensures that you always have sight of that bush, even when no allied hero is nearby.
If possible, also ensure that you always maintain a large chain of creeps to quickly escape in case of emergencies – few enemies can move as fast as you on the Zerg ground. Position the tumors at all essential locations! In front of mercenary camps, at intersections in the jungle, pave EVERYTHING with your creeps! Even if enemies quickly destroy the tumors, don’t let that stop you – usually, it costs the opponent more mana to destroy a tumor than it costs you to place a new one.
Tips for Zagara
- If you want to destroy a whole wave of minions at once, position yourself in the middle of the enemies and use the burstlings. The explosion radius is large enough to damage all minions.
- Your creep’s vision only helps if you pay attention to the minimap! Check the map every few seconds to ensure you always know where enemies and allies are.
- Use the Devouring Maw carefully! Since the devoured enemies become untouchable, you might inadvertently save them from death. Only devour enemies when you are sure it will be useful!
- Keep track of the four seconds until Devouring Maw releases the enemies. With a bit of practice, you can accurately plan burstlings and the contaminated drop to deal devastating damage after the maw.
The damage of your Hunter Killer-Hydralisk is enormous! Especially assassins lose a large part of their HP if they don’t take out the little Zerg immediately. Therefore, only use it against enemy heroes, never against structures – it would be a waste.
