AP/Supp Nami

[quote=Lugignaf]GP10 items are things like [[Philosopher's Stone]], [[Kage's Lucky Pick]] and [[Avarice Blade]]. The first two are the only good ones on supports while Avarice blade is only a holdover until you buy the bigger item on a few certain champions. And even then, they rarely get it over the other item in whatever they're building. As for gold to use on warding... I have had a game where the enemy support and I had literally a pink ward war, and we both had 2 oracles. One active, one in inventory. Warding is serious business bot lane.[/quote]

[quote=Satella]Ideal warding means you have vision everywhere you need it and the enemy has no vision at all. Accomplished by sweeping with [[Oracle's Elixir]]. It's expensive but it can secure teamfights (free gold!) and objectives (more free gold!).[/quote]

[quote=Oasis]In a realistic game the only full item i really find myself building other than Sightstone and boots is [[Shurelyas]], [[twin shadows]] or (rarely) [[locket of the iron solari]]. I usually buy both [[Philosophers stone]] and [[kages lucky pick]] and leave them there and dedicate my remaining slots to sight wards while putting the rest of my gold toward oracles . Only when full blown team fights start occuring do I buy one of the team fight items from above. Vision is so so important that you will very rarely have money to buy AP on supports w/o sacrificing team aura / adc protection items or vision. If you wanna do good in ranked games with supports I strongly suggest putting your full emphasis on map vision over any sort of damage item[/quote]

[quote=animorte]I play support quite a lot, mostly [[Nami]] and [[Lulu]]. I love the utility and potential damage output. Honestly, the items I usually go with are [[Mercury's Treads]] (boots situational), [[Ruby Sightstone]], [[Shard of True Ice]], and [[Locket of the Iron Solari]]. Even building up to all that, I have enough money to keep up wards (mostly [[Vision Ward]]s). If you are securing objectives and getting your share of assists, gold should never really be a problem. I also have 9/0/21 (with [[Greed]]/[[Pickpocket]]) and [[Greater Quintessence of Gold]].[/quote]

[quote=xIchi]^this is so wrong in so many ways. with a 9/0/21 mastery setup, even with armor seals you are pretty much free food most of the time. I assume you use 3 [[Greater Quintessence of Gold]]] which makes you even more squishy. Building [[Mercury's Treads]] is okay, it depends on the situation but [[Boots of Mobility]] are better in most cases to keep up the warding and mobility. [[Shard of True Ice]] is a horrible item for overall, you might want to buy it in some weird comps, but better stay away from that item.[[Lulu]]'s [[Wild Growth]] can do the same way better without any needlessly waste of gold. [[Locket of the Iron Solari]] is way too expensive, and in 90% of all games the junlger will pick that up. Better go for [[Shurelya's Reverie]] or even a [[Mikael's Crucible]] if you want to spend your money on items. 'keeping up wards, mostly [[Vision Ward]]s', almost sounds like a blatant lie, or you don't really know how having vision actually is. Getting [[Oracle's Elixir]] with alot more [[Sight Ward]]s and 2-3 [[Vision Ward]]s for special areas or champions helps way more.[/quote]

[quote=IceCreamy]In most of my support games I don't get any further than [[Ruby Sightstone]] and [[Boots of Mobility]] with [[Enchantment: Homeguard]], along with a shitton of pots, wards and Oracles. On supps with mana problems (such as [[Nami]]) a [[Mikael's Crucible]] is fantastic. If you want some damage, I suppose [[Twin Shadows]] or [[Morellonomicon]] would be the way to go. You can take [[Greater Mark of Magic Penetration]], and a [[Greater Quintessence of Ability Power]] if you like. 1/13/16 masteries, standard stuff for almost any support. Overall speaking, damage is too expensive for supports - focus on utility :) Good luck! :D[/quote]

[quote=Bioalchemist][quote=Focuscoene] Well, it isn't that I want heavy damage--it's that I want a powerful heal. The focus isn't damage, it's the passives (slow, etc.) to make the ADCs life easy-breezy. Not arguing, just clarifying my purpose in hopes that maybe we can get me pointed in a direction that achieves this goal: big fat heals, and debuffs on the enemy. [/quote] i get that...but the scaling is 30%. if you want more sustain heals go with sona...you will get more healz and poke. plus almost every good nami player i know maxes 'e' first because it benefits the adc the most plus makes bubbles easy to land. [quote=Focuscoene] I think maybe there's an item I'm not thinking of? What I had meant by "typical support items" was stuff like [[Shurelya's Reverie]] and [[Mikael's Crucible]]. Stuff like this lacks any AP so they don't help much with the big fat heals. What is the item that provides vision, other than [[Sightstone]] and its red buddy? As for helping the ADC get their kills, that's precisely my idea behind going for a "debuff" style. It fits my playstyle, anyway, and I really do think it puts the ADC in an ideal chance to get the kill (lots and lots of CC'd enemies to pick off, with big fat heals to boot!) Thanks again for the clear and intelligent response. Maybe through this discussion we can come up with something that works. [/quote] right i see where you are coming from but there is other ways to poke. i use ebb as a poke machine also but i just don't think building a lot of ap is going to work when you actually start playing against solid people...you will likely find this out when you hit lvl 30....you just won't have the gold for what you are suggesting...also what other support items are there? creamy mentioned the right way to roll it with ruby and mobility...mikael's and shurelya's are great also...outside of that the majority of your monies will be spent on wards if you are doing it right. at low elo wards and such turn the tide even more so because a lot of the supports are noobish and don't ward much...but vision makes HUGE differences...just watch the pros. like i said if you want to try and carry with a support there are better options and if you are going for damage type items you are more than likely looking to carry...i get that you are trying to set your adc up by whomping down their health but in order to do that with nami (who doesn't have great damage in the slightest) you have to spend more than it is worth. also i don't think anyone addressed your question of what GP10 stands for...it means 'gold per 10 seconds'[/quote]

[quote=Focuscoene]All of these answers have been extremely helpful. I get that the concern seems to be with gold. Gotta preserve that gold. Gotta get them wards up. It's interesting to hear how much warding goes on once you get out of unranked. In unranked, it seems like most people see wards as "nice to have". In ranked, it sounds like you're screwed unless your map is warded wholly. I'd bet money on it: if I were to spend that much time/money on wards in an unranked match, the other players would flame me, claiming I'm not "doing anything but buying wards". Love these people. All of this has been extremely helpful, and eye-opening for the kind of matches I'll be dealing with once I claw my way out of the land of bad habits. You guys are awesome.[/quote]

[quote=animorte]They would flame you until they realized they ALWAYS knew where the enemy was and your placements kept saving their lives (assuming they have any map awareness). xIchi, I have different methods. That doesn't mean they are shit. Apparently they work quite well for me and those I play with. Last two support games in my match history are on [[Nami]]. I went 4/2/11 and 2/1/22. One was solo, other was duo. Other than that, I have been playing a lot of jungle.[/quote]

[quote=IceCreamy]Oops, didn't realize you were pre30 - my bad. Any game you play before level 30, is best spent on playing as much different champions as possible. On 30, you start specializing in 1 role, and then you start playing ranked. A pre30 support is mostly busy getting kills in lane, and then buying some damage to help the team. On 30, you'll realize your opponents are more skilled, and will therefore walk around the map (roam) and gank you. If you would have warded, you would have seen him coming, and you could have evaded the gank. That's why wards are so important :)[/quote]