How do you play Zarya? I've been trying to get a decent feel with her, but it seems like I can't find that sweet spot. Lazer seems to weak, so I have to rely on the right click for a bit.
In the middle of your screen when you are playing Zarya, you will see a number in the center. It can be from 0-100. This is her energy level. The higher the energy level, the more damage she will do. It will go down over time.
If you see the far end one, you better be careful because that Zarya has a huge charge.
Zarya has two shields: Particle Barrier and Projected Barrier.
The Particle Barrier is for herself. It absorbs damage and redirects the energy to her weapon's damage and width of its beam. The max energy you can get is 50. However, the shield will take 200 damage. This is complicated to explain but say she takes 199 damage. A riptire, which does 600 damage, will come by and detonate. The shield will take that final 1 damage and then disappear and you will remain unharmed from the riptire. Does that make sense?
The Projected Barrier is for her teammates. It also redirects the energy for her weapon. The max energy is also 50. If a Reindhart charges your Mercy, put a shield on her before she hits a wall in order to 1. save her and 2. get 50 energy.
So if you get both shields up and take immense damage from both, you'll end up with 100 energy.
As for her attacks, m1 is shortrange laser and m2 is an explosive charge that can hurt several enemies. It depends on the situation on which one you want to use. I use m1 when someone is close to me but if the enemies are at the entrance of Anubis, I'll just m2. Sometimes I'll m2 if someone is near be like Tracer who I can't target for the life of me. However, be careful since you take damage from your own m2.
Her ultimate is extremely useful...for other teammates. If you have 100 energy and you are rightclicking, then you may be able to kill a 200-400hp heroes. However, the better way to eliminate anyone there is to get Hanzo, D.Va, Reindhart, and some other damage ult to unite with yours. Say you capture 5 in there. Hanzo releases the Dragons and they cannot escape and die. Yay...Hanzo got POTG...even though you set it up...
Or you could just do this:
https://gfycat.com/ForkedBasicKingbird
It's also worth noting that Zarya's laser (m1) ignores Genji's deflect and D.Va's defense matrix.