While this guide has gone unupdated for some time now, Nami is free and I felt like trying this out.

I'm a top lane bruiser player, so this kind of play is up my alley, and I love trying things that go against the meta. I used this build in a custom game of just me and bots, so this is only an example of playing against bad players who are cautious and nobody on my team interfering. I do this to test if something works, cause if I can't snowball against bots, either the build should never be done or I am terrible at that champion.

Results:
I went 25/8/5, and got the full build. While this isn't my best score, it's not my worst(ap offtank soraka, me playing shen, me doing jungle udyr, dear god those were horrendous). I played with a roaming style after I hit about 8, and only managed 133 cs because I'm terrible at last-hitting(only time I get good cs is if I'm left alone to split push). I should also mention that I don't have the runes recommended, so that may have affected results.

Laning: I went against Graves and Swain at top, with Cho'gath going top with me. I didn't give first blood, which is a good sign, though I died right after some bot on my team gave it, so lucky me. I was able to get double kills after both Graves and Swain were beaten down, but that didn't happen often. A slightly rocky start, but I hit 6 soon enough and it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Mid-game: I was able to get some double kills, get on some killing sprees, but I died soon after I got on a killing spree. Chat was basically only saying "Dychronius is on a killing spree" or "___ Bot has ended Dychronius's killing spree(___ gold)." Not as bad as others I've done, but not as good as was probably hoped. I should also mention that I do really stupid things against bots, and I'm not exactly good at this game, so my word is not to be taken as fact, but a rough guideline.

Late-game: After getting upgraded boots and a Liandry's, things started getting better. Less deaths, more kills, always a good thing. I was able to 1v1 the tankier bots, Shen and Xin Zhao. Meaning yes, Nami CAN duel, just against underfed and under-ability using people, if people can truly be said. I was able to solo dragon after I got a Liandry's, which is always good. I got the Rabadon's deathcap just as we won the game, so I wasn't able to truly see how much damage it could do, but judging by what I could do without it, it would have done quite a bit.

Overview on items: Athene's is just about necessary, combined with blue buff and no mana you just regen enormous amounts so quickly, it's beautiful. Lichbane is very good, coupled with her "e" it does quite a bit of damage. Rylai's was very good for sticking to the enemies, as the burst wasn't enough to destroy them instantly, so being able to stick to them was important. Liandry's useful, not much more I could say. Boots were a good choice, and deathcap does it's job.

Other notes: Probably not tanky enough but not bursty enough at the same time, so masteries are rather arguable but agreeable at the same time, hard to really decipher. Didn't take heal, took ignite instead, as ignite was more useful to me throughout the game, while heal would only really be useful during the laning phase to me.

Conclusion: I wouldn't try this in a normal game, but I just might have to because the purple of the Lichbane passive and blue of her "e" is just beautiful together.

I love your attempt to break the meta :)

However, remember not to pick Nami against Gapclosers!

No offense, but you already point out yourself that's she's in a bad spot right now. Also, if I go ad Veigar top and Alistar knocks up 3 people it's gg. If I'm going ad bruiser Heimerdinger and Ali knocks up 3 people it's gg too. Really, if I'm going ad Leona top and Ali knocks up 3 people it's also gg. Not a real argument in my opinion. Also, my ad Veigar, Leona and Heimy can also poke enemies while healing themselves, they just buy spell vamp for that. Also I do believe it takes forever for that bubble to land, and when she fires her ult she first needs to do a little dance so everybody can easily move out of the way. And if the damn thing finally starts to roll it still takes it's time to get to those fleeing enemies.

I think she can somewhat engage though, with her ult. But I think top Nami is like ap mid Nami, it somewhat works but after one week of release you never see one again. Of course she might win her lane, I can hold top too when I go support and our top leaves the game. I got a triple once when I had to switch to mid halfway the game with support Taric, but I don't think that automatically makes it viable.(for Taric it does though, but I think we can agree that's an exception ^^)

I think Nami can be awesome, but when she lanes bad then why don't you just play her as a support? You won't notice that deathcap anyways with this scalings :P No seriously, I don't think she's a top tier top laner.

Doesn't mean it can be doable and fun though, so I like the idea of the guide. But please all stop pretending this is the new Irelia(or ad Veigar :P). I hope you're indeed taking mpen marks and I suggest moving some points from Havoc into Butcher , if she's really such a bad last-hitter.

I also refrain from voting, partially since I hardly played Nami.

Hmm... Interesting. I must say, you have encouraged me to try out top Nami. I, personally, enjoy playing champions outside the role people would expect them to be played, and Top Nami seems to fit in there. I'll try it out. :3

Hmm... Interesting. I must say, you have encouraged me to try out top Nami. I, personally, enjoy playing champions outside the role people would expect them to be played, and Top Nami seems to fit in there. I'll try it out. :3

AD Mid is like AP Mid except it's physical damage. Kha'Zix is like any AP Caster if you ask me. Only difference is that he's AD. He can still do his job as a carry. What's a top lane Nami gonna do after laning phase? How is she gonna help her team out when she can't even get to the ad carry to take him out?