Well, too be honest i'm a player that is between Gold I and Platinum V, i've played alot of Zarya at the moment and i seem to be helping the team and dishing out the most damage with this build than any other.

The particle grenade build is not really effective, for particle grenade to deal damage you need to have a the % damage boost wich is so hard to get if you do not talent into the shields.

This build excells in teamfight but also requires you too time your shields and position yourself really well. The shield build im showing right here can generate 200% damage boost if you use your shields well and isn't afraid to take a bit of initial damage in the teamfight and this build is very good with a double fighter comp.

Zarya's damage is dependant on her % level, there's alot of players and builds trying to deal damage using the Particle Grenade. The particle grenade doesn't deal enough damage, EVEN at level 20 and you have spent most of your talents improving the ability.

Zaryas shields are some of the STRONGEST damage mitigators in the game, for yourself and for your teammates, especially with the Gain Train talent chosen. This means that heroes like Zeratul, Nova and even the newly buffed Valla are not as efficient against a team that has a Zarya in it, your shields mitigates a big portion of their burst AND gives Zarya a good damage boost.

The downside of focusing shields however is that Zarya isn't that effective in a 2vX situation, shes the best at a 3vX situation were she can maximize her shields and get her damage boost up as fast as possible.

To simplify my point, the faster you can get to 200% damage increase the more damage per second you can put out with your particle grenade.

1. Be conservative with your E, the ally shield, use it to protect from a gank or to start a teamfight.

2. Your ally shield should be used primarily on your teams Assassin, if it's a burst type of assassin try to time it so that your shield is active during their burst to maximize efficiency.

3. Your own shield should be used to withstand some heavy damage during a teamfight or to protect yourself from a gank, ofcourse. However since your own shield doesn't benefit from your damage it is not as crucial to land as your ally shield.


4. Be conservative of your Particle Grenades (Q)! Try to keep atleast 3 stacks ready for a teamfight and don't spam them untill you have over 120% dmg boost. It is also important not to waste these particle grenades for their frontline heroes. Save them for their mages, Jaina, Li Ming, Chromie or Zagara for example.

5. Be agressive as Zarya, don't be afraid to stand in the middle of the teamfight or behind them, you wan't to align your auto attacks to hit as many as possible. If you can hit their assassin and support at the same time, you are almsot Golden all the time.

6. Your ultimate, this choice varies alot, currently both ultis are good, but i prefer the expulsion zone mostly because it is better at Zoning your enemies than your graviton surge. Graviton surge isn't that god for defenceive maneuvers since it has a activation time. The expulsion zone gives you so much choice in when to use it and all of it is good.
Does your team need to escape, walk trough narrow paths and run through your own ulti, the other team cannot follow.
In a teamfight, use it to keep their casters away from the fight (might not work on chromie) and make a distance between them and the frontline. Or you could easily make the fight non-escapable.
The ulti also has a really low cooldown wich is super good!

Tier 1:
There's really no debate here, ALWAYS pick "Together we are strong".

Tier 2:
If you are in a team with alot of squishy heroes, go for "Give me twenty", if not go for "I am the strongest", just to be able to get a little bit extra % damage.

Tier 3:
"Hit me" is obviously the strongest pick here, the other talents are too weak and doesn't really do much.

Tier 4:
Graviton surge can be picked here but it really suffers from its long cooldown and therefor picking Expulsion zone is "almost" objectively better. Expulsion zone works in alot more situations that graviton surge.
If your team really struggles with ending teamfights graviton surge might be a bit better, it varies alot.

Tier 5:
"Unstoppable competitor" and "Endurance training" is both really good, if your up against a team with alot of har cc's, like stuns, roots etc, this is the best pick. However, in general "Endurance training" is just overall better, makes you more tankier and enables you to keep your % damage up for longer and deal som nice damage.

Tier 6:
These talents are pretty much obvious aswell, "Gain train" is vastly superior, however if you lack slows in your team "Plasma shock" could find its place.

Tier 7:
This tier is tricky, none of these are just straight up better than the others. I do however believe "Grenadier" to be the weakest. If you chose Graviton surge heroic going for the "Gravity kills" talent will probably work the best for your comp. In most other cases "Unyielding defender" is pretty damn good, gives you and your team ALOT more survivability and lets you keep up your damage twice as much. However if this talent is picked how you use it in the late game is what makes or breaks the teamfights sometimes with most other heores tier 7 talents has a powerlevel much higher than zaryas.

Please let me know if it works for you and if you have any ideas how to improve it, let me know!