Nov 3 2015 - changes to skill order ( thanks comments )
- Changes to wording and clarity added to rune choices

I used Nami to get to gold/platinum from silver in season 5

She is a balanced champion with a Variety of utility and damage.

A true "Jack of all trades" support.

she's often not banned or picked as much as other champions and isn't countered as hard as any other supports are.

This guide has valuable information on what you should know about the items/build/everything

take the 10 minutes to read the fine print, i don't explain basic stuff about nami, i only point out the reasons why you need to take a certain mastery or when it is useful or how to use it properly. There are no pedantic's or fluff in this guide, only cold hard strategy and facts.

Currently i have a 72 percent win rate with nami using this guide in s5, with about 30 games played
http://www.lolking.net/summoner/na/157974#ranked-stats

If you have any questions or if i made any spelling errors or you know a better way to do something i mentioned let me know in the comments. any and all feedback is encouraged and appreciated.

You take this when you don't have a specific need for ignite, Exhaust is a damage nerf on who ever you use it on, and it acts as a reliable slow. Useful for preventing damage on ultimates, or moments where burst happens. try to use this only if you need it, if you need to slow, use one of your spells instead, the damage nerf that this applies is way more valuable than the slow.

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In rare situations you will want to take ignite, namely against soraka. If you only focus the adc and soraka gets to heal them, you will prob lose all trades. the best way to deal with a soraka is to either nuke her so that she cannot heal anymore, or ignite the target you are attacking and commit fully to the fight. this spell is also useful when playing against swains, or vlads, or any other hero that wins team fights because of life gain.

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Standard, most versatile spell in the game. Has a hundred uses. try and get value out of using this spell. either save it for a jungler gank, use it to secure a kill, or keep it for a backup plan

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This item is very strong on nami, since nami is sort of a jack of all trades support, meaning that she has alot of different mechanics but each of them alone aren't very powerful. Adding this to your kit means you can buff your adc ( or who ever ) permenantly with your heal spell. It also works with locket turning your locket into an offensive item if need be. this item gives you some much needed ap, movement speed (always good) and mana regen ( always good on support). This is a mid game item, complete after your core early game items.

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Boots of mobility have become as standard as flash when it comes to support. the reason is because they allow you to have more map pressure than any other boot, while being cheap. With these boots you can ward easier, get to lanes that need help quicker, and in lane, allows you to harrass or engage better. The captain enchant is vital as it gives your entire team a movement speed boost when you are around. I get the captain enchant pretty early on since the boots themselves are cheap, the faster you get this the more value you will get out of it.

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This is the compeleted ap/poke support item. The passive on this item gives you gold when you land a spell or attack on an enemy champion. This is your main source of gold in lane. It also makes that auto attack or spell do extra flat damage, which makes up for your lack of bulky ap items. try to keep your stacks low and never let them sit at 3 if you can. The activate is a soft nuke, and a good semi-reliable slow, its easy to dodge it at long range. i use this right after i land my bubble to keep them slowed and do more burst during the stun to discourage them from fighting back.

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This item is the support path for the challice item, which is your main source of mana early game. Nami uses a lot of mana if you are spamming her spells non stop. She can even spam her spells when just getting to a lane to speed players up because of her passive. So you are going to be constantly low on mana, this item gives you that reliable budget mana item. The active once its upgraded is useful in any situation. It becomes especially useful when dealing with lots of cc. Note it does not fix knock up ( you will still be knocked up), it does not cure blind, it does not remove a suppression. But the heal still happens, so its usually a good item if you can cast it.

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This is a core support item, it gives you much needed health early game, and gives you wards. The ruby one gives you a bit of extra health and one more ward to carry around.

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This item will round out your build giving you an aoe defensive spell (and offensive when coupled with censer) the last bit of cdr for you cap. it gives your team a passive stat buff, and is very useful against aoe teams. build it earlier if you are against an ap heavy team

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Once you get sight stone you buy this item so that you can both scan and ward at the same time.

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You get your 40 percent CDR from, CDR is huge on caster supports because it allows you to cast more spells in a team fight, and use your ult more often


You get your money from assists and your support item


You do all your warding with


Your damage and utility scale with


You don't build armor instead you get health, and magic resist.

your two big team support items are

3x flat ap quints - gives you early game ap for spells

9x armor seals - gives you early game armor for defense and trading

9x magic resist glyphs - gives you early game magic resist for defense and trading

3x attack damage marks - gives you a little extra oompf on your auto attacks when harrassing in lane

6x attack speed marks - helps in lane phase when using auto attacks for geting money, also when you stun a target and you are fighting in lane early and mid game, the more auto attacks you do the better. these help you clear waves later on when need be and take down towers. also, with increased attack speed you can use your E on yourself and chase people better to prepare a kill with your slow. Maintaining a consistent slow on the target by refreshing the slow applied with E is done with increased attack speed.

this i max first, over the bubble, because this is a targeted attack, meaning you cannot miss it, you simply click them and it works. On a support, reliability is often times more valuable than chance. get this one first because its going to allow you to spend your 3 stacks on frost queen at level 1 without having to worry about losing trades.

I max this second because the damage output and cooldown on this spell both increase quite a bit, note that the CC on this ability doesn't increase with levels. so its usefulness at rank 1 is the same as rank 5. Level this second, it is your defensive and offensive initiation/disengage spell

I max this last since the other two options are just better. This spell is best cast on your adc, and if your adc doesn't use it, it's wasted. It is more of a utility spell than anyhting, and one that doesn't have as big an impact as the others in the early game. (late game its very useful) get it this third, it is not as useful level 1 or 2 compared to the other two spells.

normal ult, max when available

This passive gives all your abilities the option of using them as a speed boost. you can use your E to give yourself, or your ally a speed boost, you can use your w to do the same thing. You can use your q to give your team an aoe speed boost, you can use your ult to give your team an aoe speed boost. the speed increases with AP but don't worry about that too much. just know that if you are trying to chase, or move fast, using your spells in a cycle while you are running will help get you or your team mates there faster.

this spell is the spell you want to land when you go to fight. its an aoe, and it will knock them into the air, stunning them. the closer you are to the impact zone, the faster the bubble will land, the further away you are, the longer it takes to land. keep that in mind. While enemies are in the air, you can see them and they can be targeted. so if you land this in a bush, everyone caught will be revealed ( not a stealth reveal ). this is your main ability for winning a fight. if you miss this in lane, its a good idea to back off until its back up. You can use this to gank other lanes very easily. steal buffs since it will stun the jungler. it's a great way to get yasuo an ult. its also a great aoe speed boost for allies.

Your main laning poke spell. This ability can hit 3 times, it bounces to a nearby ally if cast on an enemy, or it bounces to a nearby enemy if cast on an ally. so if you cast it on an enemy and you are in range of the bounce, it will bounce back to you and heal you, it will bounce to a new enemy champion if they are in range of you but not the same champion twice. works the same with healing. you can heal two people, or damage two people. very versatile. great for harassing since you will get a heal after you harass if you position yourself closer to them. try to combine this with an auto attack after you cast it, since this will guarantee you are healed. procs your frost queen, mainly used for poking and getting gold and controlling your lane. can be used as a single target heal if you are under duress, can be used as a single target buff when you have ardent censer, can also be used as a speed boost. very very versatile and fun spell.

This spell buffs the target giving them an instant speed boost from your passive and the next three auto attacks will deal bonus magic damage and slow on hit. The slow increases with rank and so does the damage. Note that when you cast this spell it doesn't stop nami from moving or any other action. you can also auto attack someone and cast this on yourself while the auto attack is in flight and as long as you have the buff on yourself when the auto attack lands, it will apply the slow and magic damage. i use this spell to give myself a movement speed boost to get in range to auto attack for money, if they decide to trade with me, i use my bubble and it always hits because they have to stop and auto attack me giving me an easy stun. you can use it to run away very well since it doesn't stop nami from moving. It can be used on your adc to give them help with csing under tower. and i generally just throw it on me or my adc in a fight on cool down. Note that this item combined with ardent censer gives you a really big buff, ( attack speed, 2 magic dmg on hit spells, movement speed, and a slow on hit)

This is your ultimate, it is a slow moving wall cast from your location that travels a long distance, it goes through terrain and when it hits any enemies ( minions included) it will knock them up and slow them ontop of doing some pretty good damage at rank 3. the longer it travels the longer the slow will last. I use this after i land a bubble to guarantee they can't dodge it in lane phase to secure the kill. you can use it to aoe speed your team to a fight, you can use it to "check mate" an enemy by casting it in a way that they cannot run back. its good for escaping, initiating, mid way through a fight, as an engage tool. it has many uses and isn't on a huge cool down late game. use it often and get used to how slow i moves. it is pretty wide and the hit box is big so that helps you land it more often. always follow up with a bubble. don't bubble and tidal wave at the same time unless you are trying to burst because it will waste the knock up time.

How to harrass in lane levels 1-6

Remember, harrassing means farming for you. Use your W on the enemy adc when they are trying to cs. after your w lands, use an auto attack. this will heal yourself and proc at least 2 of your frost queen stacks.

How to do a big trade pre 6

wait in a bush for the enemy adc to cs, cast E on yourself, run and auto attack the adc, if the adc runs, auto attack again until they decide to attack you back. use your bubble to stun them, continue to auto attack and use your W to damage them and heal yourself. this should half them, leave you will most of your hp and if your adc has a brain he will get a kill.

How to deal with bush micro from enemy support

Control your bush best you can with auto attacks and wards. predict where the enemy support is in the opposite bush and start by casting bubble, if you hit them they will get revealed and you can either auto attack or W.

How to kill at level 6

Get in the bush, wait for adc to cs, cast bubble on them, if it lands, use your ult instantly aiming it so that they cannot flash backwards to dodge it, buff your adc or yourself, who ever is in range auto attack the adc to slow them. and use your W when ever its up. you can exhaust the adc after your cc wears off to keep them pinned down.

How to stay topped up in lane

Use your potions liberally and use your heal on your adc if you have to. Always carry 2-3 of each pot if you can during lane phase. you are a harassing support, so you are going to take damage.

How to set up a jungler gank

If you see the jungler wants to gank your lane and is close, tell him you are baiting. than purposely miss your bubble and position yourself in a bad spot where it looks like you got caught. let them attack you and focus you. heal yourself and speed yourself up and run back, they should chase you 9/10 times, your jungler should have enough time to wrap around and secure a kill. use exhaust when the jungler arrives and your bubble should be back up by now, use it one last time and than make sure you don't die. buff adc or jungler with E and just live. you've done your job. use flash if you have to.

Play to win.

Play to win.

Play to win.

I cannot stress this enough, you won't be successful if you play nami passively. you must try to make things happen, the more you try, the better you will become, and the easier it will be to get work done. Failure Fuels Success.

Play to win, and you will either win or learn from your mistakes. passively sitting in lane and watching your adc farm will get you no where. it will only work if your adc is very good and that isn't something that will happen every game.


early game goals.

You want to get as much money in lane as possible, obviously this means getting assists and kills but more importantly it means using your frost queen procs and bandit procs as much as you can to get gold.

Item wise, you want to have a sight stone, a sweeper, mobility boots, and your frost queen before you leave lane for mid game.


Mid game goals.

Stay with your adc until you can kill your bottom lane tower. after this happens, get the items i mentioned above and a fast chalice, ward dragon and plan to kill bot lane and take dragon. you can siege mid, or keep wards aggressively on the enemy jungler camps to pressure them. If you lost lane early game, ward your jungle so the adc can farm and go mid to support the mid champ. you have enough cc and heals to make a kill happen mid.

item wise you want to have one of your core items done depending on how the game is going, ardent censer if you are winning, locket if you are losing or against heavy ap or aoe. also pick up chalice if you can

Late game goals.

you want to be with the team at all times, your movement speed buffs from spells and captains enchant are valuable. ward as you move as a group making sure you cannot be ganked. buff your allies all the time, and use your ult to start fights or secure kills. try to catch people with your bubble and slow them with frost queen so your team can catch up. You either win the fight for your team, or you lose it by getting caught. never get caught if that's possible. if the enemy team is focusing you, use your exhaust and your bubble on yourself to stun and get away. if you are dying a lot - and not getting caught, your team should win anyways, spam your spells and get something out for assists while you are dead and your team should be able to just win if the enemy is using hard cc and big cool-downs on you. finish your build and work towards full CDR and unlimited mana and just don't stop trying to make plays or buffing your allies. be aggressive about objectives, ping a lot and talk to your team. after all, when you play support you are the team captain. so inspire your team mates and lead them to victory.