With such a complicated kit, there are a lot of odd interactions that Zeri players (and Zeri’s enemies) should know about. The thing that makes Zeri so special is that her right click is a spell, not a basic attack, and her Q ability, Burst Fire, has both ability and basic attack properties.
Zeri’s quirky interactions
Since Zeri’s right click is a spell, it interacts weirdly with things like spell shields. But because it does such little damage, Zeri’s uncharged right clicks don’t break spell shields. On the flipside, since her charged attacks are so strong (and apply a slow) spell shields block it and break in the process.
For Zeri’s ultimate, spell shields will block the damage, but still make her Overcharged, so don’t worry about using it on a Sivir or Nocturne. Additionally, champion clones will provide stacks of Overcharge, too. So if you’re playing against Shaco, Neeko, Wukong, LeBlanc and the other cloning champs, then go ahead and stack up a few free charges!
Zeri’s right click attack is not a projectile, so if there’s a Yasuo on the enemy team, feel free to right click to your heart’s desire, his Wind Wall won’t save him. (But also, don’t get too close, Yasuo just got a buff!)
Zeri’s passive gives her a shield when she damages an enemy shield, and that works for specific damage-type shields too, but it always gives Zeri a regular shield. So if Zeri hits a Kassadin after his Q, she can deflect both physical and magic damage for a nice little upgrade.
But Kassadin has a trick up his sleeve, too. Every time Zeri uses her Burst Fire to target him or his teammates, Kassadin will gain a stack for his Force Pulse. Most marksmen can attack relentlessly without punishment, but Zeri is a bit helpful for the Void Walker.
Things that effect basic attack range, like Rapid Fire Cannon and Lethal Tempo, increase the reach of Zeri’s Burst Fire, not her right clicks. (Unfortunately, her Q range indicator doesn’t increase along with the range increase, at least not on her release.) Burst Fire also hits wards, plants, towers and everything else a normal right click would hit, too.
Speaking of plants, Zeri damages champions standing behind plants with her Q if they’re in range. Her Q will proc the plant, but they don’t eat up any of her attack, so all seven bullets can still hit your enemies. The same applies when she’s hitting wards. You can think of it like a Senna Q damaging both the plant and champion behind it.
Also like Senna, Zeri can hit wards and plants with both Q and right click. Right clicking them won’t consume any of her charge bar, whether it’s full or not.
Because her Burst Fire deals seven different points of damage, Black Cleaver immediately reduces her opponent’s armor by 30% if she hits with the full attack (though buying Black Cleaver on Zeri is unlikely to ever be your best purchase).
Using Ignite on a shielded enemy will provide you with a shield and movement speed boost. But… like with Black Cleaver, it’s probably not in your best interest to bring Ignite to a game. Maybe if you jungle with her, though, you can take advantage of this with Blue Smite.
If you get blinded, you can still cast Burst Fire, but it will be cast in a completely random direction. If your shots do happen to hit something, though, they’ll still do damage. It’s like a little game of Yordle Roullete.
Unfortunately for the Swift Scout, Zeri also has a neat little trick to help her fight him. Her Q is a highly spammable skillshot with no mana cost, so when Teemo tries to go invisible, it’s all too easy for Zeri to win their game of hide and seek.
Lastly, unlike when Kayn moves through walls with his Shadow Step, when Zeri uses Spark Surge to grind over terrain, being damaged won’t stop her. Even if she gets hit by the crowd control we tested, she just keeps moving along to the end of the terrain.
Of course, she is still targetable in the wall, so you can’t use Zeri’s generous Spark Surge interaction to escape inevitable death. (Yes, that Karthus ult will kill you.)
Lastly, Zeri’s ultimate buff has no cap on its stacks, meaning the longer Zeri stays in combat, the more stacks of movement speed she acquires. Yes, you can get 100,000 movespeed. Why not?
The sarcastic sharpshooter has a bunch of unique interactions, but … that’s just part of what makes Zeri the Spark of Zaun.
Zeri’s unfortunate counters
Unfortunately for Zeri, however, not all of her interactions are fun and games. She has a few hard counters to her Burst Fire, too. Even though it’s cast like an ability, spells like Jax’s Counter Strike and Shen’s Spirit Refuge block the damage from Burst Fire. You won’t deal any damage to them, so don’t even try. But of course, any other champ couldn’t auto them either, so don’t feel too bad.
Unlike other champs, though, flat damage reduction is a big issue for Zeri, whose main damage source is split into seven small ticks. Fizz, Amumu and Leona all have flat reduction that applies to every single Burst Fire bullet, meaning an attack that would’ve normally done something like 14×7 damage would only do something like 6×7 damage to a Leona with her W activated.
Luckily for Zeri, Riot was more forgiving with items that give flat reduction, like Warden’s Mail. Flat reduction from items only applies to the first instance of damage; the other six remain at their full power.
Zeri’s got a lot of wild interactions and new styles to learn. But although she may sound tough, Riot’s newest champion is a ton of fun! They won’t be bringing us quite as many new champs in 2022 as years prior, so you may as well dive into this one, you’ll have plenty of time.
