Nami Build Guide by PandaWarrior

Introduction

Pros/Cons

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A + Nice heal with low cooldown. + Very strong CC. + Her Aqua Prison reveals a small area around the bubble, so you can check the bush like this. + Huge AP ratios (great for AP mid builds)

A - Very squishy early and mid game. - Long cooldowns on lower ranks of her spells! Totally not spammable abilities! - Bad early game. - No nature escapes (only stun from Aqua Prison and slow with her ultimate)

Masteries

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My masteries, i build on Nami as a passive support are 4/0/26, getting every possible gold bonus, experience gained bonus and cooldown reducuction. Also getting two new masteries from Preseason 3 patch - Biscuiteer and Explorer - to get as much early game safety as possible.
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If you want to go with my agressive build, go for 9/0/21 masteries with 4 points in Sorcery , 4 in Blast and one point in Arcane Knowledge , to get maximum damage output.

Runes

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This rune build is very passive, because we buy Greater Mark of Armor instead of some early game damage. It's good if you have to support a carry like Ashe, that is not very good early. If you want to go with early pressure, go with rune page bellow.
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This rune page is very similar to the one above, with one difference. We go with Greater Mark of Attack Damage. Use this rune page if you want to support a carry like Ezreal or Caitlyn. They both need to be fed to be useful lately.

Summoner spells

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Exhaust Great spell if you want to slow your enemy down and/or enable your carry to do even more damage to a single target. It's the most used summoner spells for supports because of this.
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I don't use Heal that often, because it gives you just a bit of health I think, there are better champions to use it on, but if your ad carry really wants it, just pick it.
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This spell can be used on every champion. AD carry, AP carry, tank, bruiser, support, etc. It's the best summoner spell in the entire game, but with the new very long cooldown that is coming in season 3, it's not gonna be as powerful as it was.
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Clarity was greatly buffed in Preseason 3 patch, so i no longer think, that this is the worst spell in the game. Vice versa! I think, that they buffed it too much :D. But we'll wait. Now it's a great spell and if your carry is very mana hungry, pick it.
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Clairvoyance is also one of the possible spells for support - especially if you go with my agressive build. Since we don't buy any wards at the start (we got only the one from masteries), you'll need some warding thingy.
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Ignite... Not freakin' really?! This spell is great, but even if you want to be super agressive support, don't use it!
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You don't really need Teleport since you got a lot of movement speed with your passive.
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Great spell, but you don't really need it when you are supporting your team. Or wait... You need it, but there are more "useful" spells for your team :D

Skills and their Sequence

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Aqua Prison sends a bubble into the air towards a targeted area. When it lands, it deals magic damage to all enemies in the area of impact and stuns them for 1.25 seconds.
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Tips:

• If "hit" by Aqua Prison's animation, you or your ally also gains bonus movement speed from your passive!
• Aqua Prison reveals a small area around its animation, so you can use it to check the bush.

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Ebb and Flow unleashes a stream of water that bounces between allied and enemy champions. This ability can only bounce to each target once and hits up to 3 targets. The damage or healing value is reduced by 15% with each bounce. On ally hits, Ebb and Flow heals the target and bounces towards a nearby enemy champion. On enemy hits, the torrent deals magic damage and bounces towards a nearby allied champion.
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Tips:

• Not just heals, but also damages an enemy! If you use it on ally, it bounces from that selected ally to an enemy and that back to one of your other allies. If you use it on enemy, it hits 2 enemies and one ally. Have that in mind! You have to choose between healing two allies or damaging two enemies!

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Tidecaller's Blessing empowers an allied champion for 5 seconds or until they have attacked 3 times. During this time, their basic attacks deal bonus magic damage and slow the target hit for 1 second.
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Tips:

• Don't use Tidecaller's Blessing too early! Yea, it lasts 3 autoattacks, but if you or your ally doesn't use any autoattacks in 5 seconds, the buff cancels!

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Tidal Wave summons a tidal wave outward from Nami's position. The tidal wave briefly knocks up enemies that it comes into contact with, slows them and deals magic damage. The slow duration increases based on how far the tidal wave has traveled, with a minimum duration of 2 seconds and a maximum duration of 4 seconds.
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Tips:

• It's good to use it with Clairvoyance, if you can't see an enemy you want to hit.
• The range of Tidal Wave is long, but not infinite. Use it when you are sure, that it hits the target.

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Surging Tides - When Nami's abilities hit allied champions they gain 40 / 45 / 50 movement speed for 1.5 seconds.
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Tips:

• This passive is applied even if your ally is hit just by Tidal Wave or Aqua Prison (spells that don't have any other effect).

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In this sequence, we are maxing our Aqua Prison first just to get the early pressure. It's also our starting skill. Right after Aqua Prison, we go for that great heal with our Ebb and Flow, because we can heal or damage up to 2 champions at once with it. Our last skill is Tidecaller's Blessing, because we don't really need this very low slow with our ultimate.

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In this skill sequence, we are maxing Ebb and Flow first, to get a maximum effect as quickly as possible. It's good, if you are in lane against someone like Vayne or Ezreal, who can "blink" from your buble.

Items

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In this section, I am going to explane you what items do i prefer for Nami and what are other possible item builds for her.
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A Faerie Charm is pretty usual starting support item. You got enough mana regen to do anything you want and since Nami is a bit too mana hungry, you'll need mana regen a LOT. Of corse, you can buy also 4 Sight Wards and 1 Health Potion (or 3 wards and 3 pots). This item is also a good choice, because it's a part of Philosopher's Stone, that we are going to build lately.

A This item gives you and all nerby allies massive mana regen, wich is great, but i don't think, you should buy it, because you can't buy almost any wards (it costs 400 gold!) or pots. It is possible to buy it and someone really buys it, but i don't recommend it. You still have to sell it lately, because we are not going to build any item that comes from it :D.

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A This item is great! It gives you a lot of mana and health regen + 5 gold per 10 seconds (1g/2secs). Since supports can't farm (or "are not allowed to), you have to get money somehow else and one of the possibilities is this item!

x A Now it's time to choose our boots! I know. Someone could say that it's too late. But you really don't need boots before Philosopher's Stone! You are support! Wake up! Ok. So now, you have to choose between cooldown reduction and a lot of movement speed. Usually, when i play support Blitzcrank, i use boots of mobility, because he doesn't have long cooldowns, but if i play nami, i really need that cooldown reduction early!

A Since Preseason 3 Patch, you don't need to have one slot empty for wards. You can buy this great item and it will give you three wards everytime you visit your base (refills the place from wards, you have already placed => you can have ONLY 3 wards from this item at once)! Of corse, it also gives you 300HP wich is awesome.

A Runic Bulwark is a new item build from Aegis of the Legion. It gives you and your nerby allies even more magic resist, armor, health and health regen then already mentioned aegis of the leagion. I think, that the new Season 3 is gonna be awesome for supports, because of all the new items, you can get!

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A Shurelya's Reverie isn't new item, but it's still as good as it was before. You got 2 mana and health per second, some HP, 10% cooldown reduction and awesome active, that gives you and nerby allies huge movement speed boost, wich lasts 3 seconds. Cooldown of this active is also very short. You will have it for every teamfight for sure!

A Mikael's Crucible is great item not just because of magic resist, mana, mana regen or his nice passive that increases your mana regen by 1% per 1% mana you are missing. It's a great item, because it gives you some sort of Cleanse, wich you can use on any nerby ally you want (including you ofc.) and also, it heals the chosen ally for 150+15% of their missing health!

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x A Last item you are going to build is one of the two above. Frozen Heart or Locket of the Iron Solari? Do i need attack damage reduce of enemies or shield for me and allies? Do i need mana or HP? This is up to you. I usualy build Frozen Heart, but i think, that Locket of the Iron Solari is also a valuable choice!

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or A These are two great support items, that you can replace Shurelya's Reverie with. Both items are useful if you buy them early, because late game, you can't use the whole potencial of them. Ohmwrecker is good for towerdiving whilst Zeke's Herald for some nice damage boost.

A Another new AP support item. It gives you 45 AP (wich is great for our agressive support build), passives from Kage's Lucky Pick and Mana Manipulator and great active that slows enemies around selected ally by 30% for 4 seconds. Cooldown of this item is very short (60 secs), so you will have it for every teamfight!

AA Yea, enchantments on boots. I'm always choosing between Enchantment: Captain, Enchantment: Distortion and Enchantment: Homeguard. Of course, Homeguard is great enchantment - maybe it's the best enchantment in the game, but i don't think that support should have it. Distortion is also great enchantment and can really come in handy with that long cooldown on Flash, but it doesn't add any bonus to your team :D. So the best choice in my opinion is Captain. It gives tons of movement speed not just to your allies, but also to your minions wich is great for pushing!

Warding

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Explanatory:

• Pink - If you want to clean enemy wards at baron or dragon, the best way to do this, is Oracle's Elixir. If you don't have enough money for it, you have to use a Vision Ward. At dragon, you can use just a regural ward early, because the spot that is marked on the map, reveals both, dragon and an exit from enemy jungle.
• Green - Best places to use your Sight Ward. This ward is pretty cheap and can be used just to check the bush, but the places i marked there on the map are places, that have to be warded always when possible!
• Blue - Usual places to use Clairvoyance at, when you think, the enemy team is stealing your blue/red or if your jungler wants to steal their. Of course, you can use Clairvoyance everywhere on the map, if you want to check if there are enemies or not (if they are doing baron/dragon, waiting for your team in the bush etc.)

Links/Vids

Summary

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OK Guys! This was my build and guide to Nami, the Tidecaller! I hope you enjoyed! Also please excuse some grammar fails - my english isn't that good. If you want to check my other guides, there is a link somewhere on the right border of this page (or down below) - if i remember correctly :D. I made one Darius build, one Ashe and i'm also preparing other guides like Wukong's, Sona's, Amumu's and/or guide to Vi.
Anyways, greetings from Czech republic!
Have a nice day!

My other guides:
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Darius, the Duckface of Noxus

Ashe, the Freljord Beauty

(12/26/2012) - Corrected some coding fails and grammar mYstakes. I don't have to much time for lol these days, so don't expect too much in next month, but i hope i could possible improve this build/guide some more.
(12/09/2012) - Later - Skill tips and new skill sequence. Also adding new item to possible builds. New mastery trees.
(12/09/2012) - Added agressive support build, edited both builds just to look nicer and also added new chapter called "Warding".
(12/08/2012) - Published

Things to do...

My check list with things, upcoming to this guide...

TO DO:

• Bot lane opponents/teammates
• Ap carry build
• Skill tips
• Something about farming and warding