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Samira Build Guide by

[14.6] Urason's Grandmaster In-Depth Guide to Samira - INDEPTH MATCHUP EXCEL SHEET!

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Urason's Featured Video

Runes: Standard IE Build

1 2 3 4 5

Precision

Conqueror

Triumph

Legend: Bloodline

Last Stand

Domination

Sudden Impact

Eyeball Collection

Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor

Spells:

1 2 3

Standard

Cleanse

Flash

Items

Starting Items

3 Pot Start (Notes) (Anti-Poke)

D-Blade (Notes) (Fighting) (Standard)

Refillable (Notes) (Greedy)

Items

1st Item Options (Notes)

Boot Options (Notes)

2nd Item Options (Notes)

3rd Item Options! (Notes)

4th Item? (Notes)

Last Item/Situational (Notes)

Replace Boots

Example Builds

Abuse Before Nerfs (Statikk) (Notes)

Opportunity

Ghostblade

Old Reliable

The Urason Usual

Win Fast (vs Hyper Carries)

Utility Tankmira (Deadge ;-;)

Ability Order Standard

1 2

Samira Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Pantheon

Extreme

Pantheon completely destroys you. his early game presence means you can't do anything or he'll chunk half your hp. If you ever look to ult, he'll just W you. I tend to ban him.

Rell

Ideal

This is literally Samira's best support. Rell can follow up on your engage, you can follow on hers, she slows and wraps the enemy for you with tons of CC. It's just great!

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Rell

Ideal

This is literally Samira's best support. Rell can follow up on your engage, you can follow on hers, she slows and wraps the enemy for you with tons of CC. It's just great!

Champion Build Guide

Samira, The Desert Rose

Samira is a champion that thrives on diving into teamfights for the thrill of it. She will claim countless lives just to get her Pentakill and to style on her foes. Sure she may get paid for it, but NOTHING is worth the thrill she gets from these fights.

As a champion, Samira is great if you're looking for someone with a decently high skill ceiling. She works off of countless combos to let you weave in and out of fights with ease. At the end of the day, she's a strong early game champion that snowballs so she can wipe teams with her lead. If that sounds interesting, then the Desert Rose may be for you.

Intro + Matchup Sheet
Pros & Cons
Abilities

Summoners
Runes
Items

Early game
Midgame
Late game

Who am I?

Peak Rank:

Grandmaster 810LP
Main Champions: , ,
Speciality: Taking ANY and EVERY Fight

Introduction: Hey everyone! Welcome to my Guide! My name is Urason and I'm an ADC main/small streamer who loves playing Samira! Before I do my even smaller intro, PLEASE READ THE NOTES ON STUFF, THATS WHERE A MAJORITY OF MY EXPLANATIONS ARE ;-;.

I started playing Samira back on the PBE and loved to practice her combos and mechanics. Regardless, I'm always trying to look at new things to improve her build! This tends to happen with open discussion on the Samira Main's discord as well as on my stream (for those who are interested). Nonetheless, let's get into the guide! Keep in mind that this guide still looks rough but I'm slowly learning to make it look nicer! For now, I want the information to be available <3 Here are my accounts for those interested! Enjoy the Guide and PLEASE give me any and all feedback. Thanks! <3

Looking for the Matchups Sheet!?!? Look no further, click this image below:

Ps. If at any time you'd like to return to the top, click Samira's Sword at the bottom!

Samira's Pros

+ High Snowball Potential
+ Strong Team Fighting Ability
+ High Skill Ceiling
+ Extremely Fun & Rewarding

As an ADC, is an extremely aggressive pick. Her powerful early game makes her a strong champion that can gain a lead as soon as possible. Once she begins to snowball, she can start destroying teams with her ultimate, . While it may take some practice, she can use her quick combos to instantly burst down enemies before they get the chance to react. Plus, with her W, , she can block vital skill shots for her allies. This makes her a wonderful counter to things like 's or 's .

Unfortunately, with how powerful she can be early on, can struggle without a lead. If she falls behind, it becomes incredibly hard to catch up and deal damage. You heavily rely on AD scalings and crit to deal damage so things like and will do little to no damage without items. You're also extremely combo reliant and if the enemy has someone like , , , or anyone else with short-cooldown CC, the game becomes REALLY hard to play. It's not impossible, but its definitely difficult. With the reset mechanic on her E, , you need to think fast at all times and watch the entire fight. Failure to do so will have you caught out before you act with your resets.

Samira's Cons

- Useless When Behind.
- Easily Countered by Hard CC.
- Extremely Hard to Master.
- Requires Quick Thinking.
- Tends to be Feast or Famine.

Ability Max Order

> >

Daredevil Impulse (Passive)
RANGE: 650=(650-950) Units
COST: 0 Mana
COOLDOWN: 0 Seconds

PASSIVE: Samira builds her combo by dealing damage with attacks or abilities against enemy champions unique from the previous one. Each of these stacks grant a style grade from "E" to "S". Samira gains 0%-21% movement speed depending on her style grade.

* Your Style Grade is the core part of Samira's gameplay. It'll trigger your ultimate as well as give you kiting potential thanks to the movement speed.

PASSIVE: Samira's Attacks and Abilities in melee range deal an additional 2-19 (based on level)(+3.5%-10.5%)(based on level)AD)bonus magic damage, increase up to 0%-100% based on the target's missing health.

* Samira's melee attack is great at dealing bonus damage. Thanks to its execute, using your Q in melee form or your E+Q], will let you deal bonus damage to low health enemies. Use it to your advantage!

PASSIVE: Samira's Attacks against immobilzed enemies will cause her to dash towards them. If they're knocked up, it'll extend the knock up by 0.5 seconds. Samira's dash range is 650= (650-950) units and scales off level.

* Samira's dash is nice but its nothing crazy. To be honest, you'll hardly notice its impact now that its been nerfed so hard. That being said, it definitely helps you close the gaps AND you feel like a mercenary while doing it.

Flair (Q)
RANGE: 950/400
COST: 30 Mana
COOLDOWN: 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 Seconds

ACTIVE: Samira fires a shot in the target direction that deals physical damage to the first enemy hit. If there is an enemy in front of Samira at the time of cast, she will instead slash her sword in a cone.

* This is Samira's bread and butter ability. It deals less damage than a basic attack but it works great for laning. Be sure to take advantage of its range so you can CS and trade from afar! A great trick is to use Q THEN auto rather than auto Q. It's faster.

If Flair is cast during Wild Rush, it'll unleash explosives in her wake that deal damage to enemies hit. This can be done during Blade Whirl as well as Inferno Trigger

* One of Samira's key components is using your Q and E together, ESPECIALLY during your ultimate. It'll significantly increase your DPS and let you easily pull of your resets.

Blade Whirl (W)
RANGE: 325
COST: 60 Mana
COOLDOWN: 30 / 28 / 26 / 24 / 22 Seconds

ACTIVE: Samira spins her blade around her over 0.75 seconds. Any projectiles that enter this area during this time are destroyed.

* Samira's W is HUGE because it can block key skill shots and damage. If you're ever facing an or or even a , you can block their key abilities! It does have a super long cooldown though so be careful!

Samira slashes twice during Blade Whirl, each time dealing physical damage to all nearby enemies. The first slash occurs instantly while the second one occurs at the end of the duration

* If you're not using your W to block skill shots, it works great at dealing damage. Compared to your other abilities, it has one of the highest base damages. Ideally, you can hit the enemy with both parts of your W but its not always practical. Just keep in mind that you can't attack during your W but you can end its animation early by ulting .

Wild Rush (E)
RANGE: 600
COST: 40 Mana
COOLDOWN: 20 / 18 / 16 / 14 / 12 Seconds

ACTIVE: Samira dashes in the direction of the target enemy or enemy structure, dealing magic damage. She will also gain bonus attack speed for 3 seconds.

* Samira's E is comparable to 's because of how much you use it for your reset potential. This is your main mobility tool and its how you'll weave in and out of fights. Get comfortable with its range.

Scoring a takedown against an enemy champion within 3 seconds of damaging them will reset Wild Rush's cooldown. Both Flair and Inferno Trigger can be cast during the dash.

* During your ultimate its key to always look for your next target before your E resets. This way of thinking will ensure that you're always ready to go for your next victim. This reset mechanic is vital to Samira's kit and functionality, get used to it!

Inferno Trigger (R)
RANGE: 600
COST: 6 Style |

Style Ranking
COOLDOWN: 5 Seconds

ACTIVE: Samira unleashes a torret of shots and reduces her movement speed by 30%. During this time she rapidly shoots at nearby enemies, dealing physical damage with each shot (reduced by 75% against minions). Each shot can critically strike and applies lifesteal at 66.6% effectiveness. This attack REQUIRES 6 Style to activate.

* Finally we've made it to Samira's Iconic ultimate, . This ultimate heavily relies on crit items to do damage but once you get some items, it can absolutely shred through teams. With its insanely low cooldown and its ability to combo with and , you become a monster at dealing AOE damage. Overall, it's what really defines Samira as a champion.

Samira requires a visible enemy to cast her ultimate, however, targets do NOT have to be visible to take damage. Style stacks are consumed at the end of the ultimate.

* Samira is great because she can deal damage even if the enemy can't be seen! Unfortunately you have to start your ultimate while you can see them. It's important to note that pretty much any CC can interrupt your ultimate and stop it early.

Impractical All-In Combo 1

->->->->->->

AA -> Q -> W -> E -> W2 -> AA -> R

This combo is great when you can pull it off because you get S pretty fast. It also takes advantage of your long cooldowns early on since you don't have to cast Q twice to get to S ranking. While I would say its a good combo to know, I'd also say its not the biggest necessity.

Impractical All-In Combo 2

->++->->->

AA -> W + E + Q -> AA -> W2 -> R

This combo can deal a great amount of burst within a small frame since the last few parts of it all happen at once. Sometimes you may even get the bug where you get to auto during your W which means an even faster instant S. Similar to our previous combo, its impractical just because it requires proper spacing thanks to using your E and both parts of your W.

Fast, Yet Practical Combo 1

->->->->->->

AA -> Q -> AA -> E -> AA -> W -> R

This is a solid Samira combo that just requires you to land ranged Q. It'll give you an easy S and is overall versatile. Remember this combo! Also, don't forget you can cancel your W animation early by ulting!

Fast, Yet Practical Combo 2

->->->->->->

AA -> E -> AA -> Q -> AA -> W -> R

This is another core combo to memorize! Sometimes you can't land your ranged Q's so thats when you'll use this! It's great when you can kill a target with a single all-in. Again, use your Ult to cancel your W!

Common Teamfight Combo 1

->->->->->->

AA -> Q -> AA -> Q -> AA -> E -> R

This combo is great for teamfights since you'll be kiting around the fight waiting for an opportunity to engage. Once you see your window, you can dive in with E and R! Don't forget you can buffer your ultimate during your E so it'll cast as soon as the animation is done!

Common Teamfight Combo 2

->->->++->

AA -> Q -> AA -> W + E + Q -> R

This combo is a burstier version of our previous one. If you need to deal a lot of damage to one target, this'll destroy them! It's great for teamfights since it can often give you your free reset so you can run rampant in the fight!

Disclaimer: There are a TON of Samira combos not mentioned here. However, these are the ones you'll use the most. Trust me, you don't need the super niche W E Q into 2-lined up targets for instant S. It's not worth the space in your mind. Also, its recommended to use Quick-Cast for optimal speed.

Aggressive

Defensive

Situational

is an essential Summoner Spell on nearly every champion. It's standard to take and it provides some additional mobility in situations where you mess up sooooo take it. Plus, it lets you go for risky plays by flashing forward!

if you're versus , , or , don't make the mistake of not taking cleanse. There's 0 reason to leave it up to react timing when you can take this free get out of jail card. Esp since it offers CC reduction afterwards! Put your ego aside, even Pro's take cleanse in these matchups. Also, I take this versus enchanters since they take almost every game versus Samira. This way your damage isn't completely neutralized! If you're tired of exhaust being your complete counter, then take cleanse every game!

is the standard on any and all ADCs due to the movement speed it provides and the heal to you and your support. So, there's nothing extra to say here. It's honestly one of my least favorite summoner spells.

is a NECESSITY if you're going versus champions like , , multiple assassins, , etc. It can provide you with the upperhand in many of these match ups and remove a ton of the "skill oriented" portion of them!

PRECISION

is 's best rune due to how it synergizes with her kit. There's not much to say about this besides the fact that you'll stack it throughout the course of a fight and if you play around it properly, you can hit max stacks with your ultimate. While there are other runes you can take, this just tends to be the best across most games which is why it's here. Don't be afraid to experiment on your own as this is a general guide!

is finally a good choice on ! Thanks to the buff on her R, she no longer needs PoM to function mid to late game. The bonus sustain and gold you get from Triumph is is nice and can help during teamfights! That being said, is a nice comfort rune of mine. I may not take it anymore, but I do miss it.

is going to be your best Legend after the item & Bloodline changes if you're feeling a bit clunky due to the lack of AS from your items. This will give you the AS you need early on due to how quickly it stacks! You could argue that is a good second choice versus heavy CC but I rarely take it. You can still go for if you want! It's not a bad option either just not as great as it once was.

If you're going for and then you should be taking ! Honestly, this option means you're looking to delete champs like , ,and other squishy champs! Mostly nice with Duskblade and occasionally Galeforce. I recommend taking if you're versus a team with a few tanks and/or Bruisers. It synergizes EXTREMELY well with due to the % HP damage boost you get! If you're playing PURE tank shred Samira. It's a must! is what you tend to take in most games. Last stand is best paired with any and all healing! It will empower your healing and allow you to survive and dish out consistent DPS. You'll live on the edge like Samira always wanted!




Domination
		-> Sudden Impact works well for helping you snowball. Due to your passive & E giving the pen, you can theoretically deal more damage early on. I personally dislike it but others love the free pen it offers. -> Taste of Blood is great for laning since it'll give you bonus healing. Pair this with PoM for nearly unlimited sustain. However, it's not that great if you're permentantly outranged. Look to trade when its up! Overall, its pretty meh now but has its moments. -> Ingenious Hunter works to lower any and all item cooldowns including wards, QSS, and even Guardian Angel. It'll also cut seconds off of your Galeforce, Immortal Shieldbow, and Mercurial Scimitar (great if you're facing constant CC). I recommend it vs CC heavy teams or if your allies are going to skirmish a lot. -> Eyeball Collection replaced Treasure Hunter due to nerfs. Think of it this way, you get an extra 6 ADs worth of gold if you kill the ADC, Support, and JG one time. You get 3.6 AD if you do the same with Eyeball. The difference is that Eyeball doesn't need UNIQUE takedowns! 10KP and you get a free 18AD! If you're really greedy, you can take Eyeball AND Treasure for some free stats from kills you'll get anyways!

Resolve
		-> Second Wind isn't great for Samira but its decent if you need to survive lane poke. I wouldn't get into the habit of using it but its worth noting. -> Conditioning offers a ton of free stats, plus, if you grab something like Randuin's Omen, Spirit Visage, or even Death's Dance, it increases in value. Bonus stats for just building something you'd build anyway. Worth. -> Revitalize is good if you're going to be grabbing Bloodthirster or if you're playing with an enchanter like Lulu or Soraka. Otherwise, pick something else. -> Overgrowth is one of my favorite combos with Conditioning since it helps you get tanky for free. You get bonus help for farming, what's there not to like!? -> Unflinching deserves an honorable mention but its not my favorite. You get some free tenacity which is okay. I personally prefer to run merc treads instead.

Inspiration
		-> Biscuit Delivery isn't great but it can help you get through difficult laning phases. Sometimes its better to bite the bullet and take this to survive till midgame rather than hard lose lane. Your goal is to live till you get Vamp scepter! -> Magical Footwear can be paired with biscuit delivery to save as much gold as possible. That being said, You don't get Boots till later and that can be REALLY BAD in some cases. -> Future's Market is one of my favorite runes of all time. It lets you hit item spikes faster than ever without needing to snowball. I wouldn't recommend it for everyone but its definitely my fav. With new ADC items, you may need this to get your B. F. Sword or Pickaxe on a good recall since Infinity Edge has a bad build path. Just note that bad buys -> bad debt -> lose game. Use your head! -> Cosmic Insight is used in high challenger games for the summoner advantage in lane. They use the extra seconds of advantage to force a play. Its also useful when you NEED Flash to fight as Samira OR if you're vs someone like Ashe/Varus and need the additional Cleanse CD!

Starter Items
Starting items are exactly what they sound like. You'll be picking up these different choices depending on what you need!

1 HEALTH POTION + DORAN'S BLADE
This is a fairly standard start. You're going to want to do this when facing all-in champions because of the extra HP you get from D-Blade. This is pretty much going to be your starting item when facing someone like Draven, Tristana, or Kai'sa. Plus, the bonus omnivamp is pretty nice.

3 HEALTH POTIONS + LONG SWORD
This is a super powerful start at the moment. While you do miss out on the omnivamp and HP from D-blade, you gain a ton of useful lane presence. With 3 health potions, you can out-sustain most early game harass and you can also take trades with people that took D-blade so you can get an early HP advantage. On top of this, you will be able to grab an early Vamp Scepter and Refillable if you're having to deal with a heavy poke lane! It may seem weird but try it out!

Core Offensive Item Options
These items are a key part of the game as they grant great stats! The ADC item changes have made Samira's build options a bit more versatile when needed.

INFINITY EDGE
While it has a REALLY bad build path, its a high damage item that we can consistently grab second or third now in most games. It's mostly a stat stick that gives you some insane damage scaling..

OPPORTUNITY
This item provides with the extra early game damage, lethality, and build path that she needs to keep up with champions like or . The main goal of this item for Samira is to look for kills, snowball, and end thanks to her being as strong as possible on the map at all times! Overall, I love this new item. You're always strong on map, have a great build path to get components from, and its cheap price means you can get it before the enemy finishes their first item! 12/10!

GHOSTBLADE
This item provides great mobility when facing champions like or anyone else with long range. While it can't replace our beloved , it can still give you the additional mobility you need in order to win the game.

First Back/Recall
Your first recall can be really important to the game. It lets you adapt to your lane and deal with it how you see fit. This can mean you play safe, grab sustain, grab damage, grab mobility, or even a mix of all 3!

REFILLABLE POTION
It unfortunately got nerfed but overall, Refillable is there to give you bonus sustain and trade potential. If you feel like you're kind of struggling in lane or that you really like take trades, buy this. Don't fall for the trap of buying 15 s every game!

VAMPIRIC SCEPTER
With being a Legendary item now, you can sit on this in bad lanes and either commit to the item first or go straight into your other first item options like Collector. Regardless, its a great item at providing early sustain especially if you have a as well!

SERRATED DIRK
This item is Samira's standard and a great first buy in order to win lane. is ideal as a first OR second item and its build path means you can be as strong as possible EVERY TIME you get on the map. Go Collector first if you're going traditional IE build otherwise do Opportunity then Collector.

Boot Options
While I wouldn't say boots make or break games, they are definitely important. Most of the time you'll be running armor boots but lets go through all the options and their situations incase!

PLATED STEELCAPS
Again, here's your armor option. This is really good vs auto attack reliant champs! Champions like , , , and even are dominated by this item until later on. It's a really good choice for some defensive stats early on! More than likely, you'll build this in about 90% of your games.

MERCURY'S TREADS
This is your MR and CC solution, it's not too great for laning phase unless you're vs mages, but it'll help a good bit if the enemy has AP mid and jg that can kill you! Plus, who doesn't love the bonus tenacity!? I'll tell you who! The enemy .

TRAILBLAZER
This is your go-to item once you reach late game and need to sell your boots. It'll give you decent movement speed, defensive stats, and some damage. Plus, its pretty cheap!

BOOTS OF SWIFTNESS
These are rarely ever used. They're nice vs comps that you have to reallyyyy kite with but otherwise, it's a meme or just sometimes fun to go. You pretty much have a free version of these build into your passive soooooo. (That hasn't stopped me from building them sometimes vs champs like who can slow me for 99%). If possible, its also a great option vs champs that outrange you like or ! Just be sure to pair it with Galeforce most of the time for these champs or have your Flash ready!

IONIAN BOOTS OF LUCIDITY
These boots are popping around in a few places but again, they tend to be in super high elo games. The purpose is to gain additional CDR on your summoner spells as well as giving your some extra Q spam-ability. It's nice if you can't dive into the enemy team comp AND don't need armor which will rarely happen. The real value is the seconds cut off your and especially when combined with cosmic insight.

OTHER OFFENSIVE ITEMS
These are items that you can take to deal more damage. While most of them make you squishier, they also make you significantly stronger. I recommend only going a few of these. If not, you become a glass cannon and any damage late game will kill you!

THE COLLECTOR
is still a good item that gets a lot of hate. After its buffs and the removal of Shieldbow as a Mythic, you should rush this first if you want to play like old Samira. If you're going one of the lethality builds, then you'll be going this 2nd most likely but some people like it first regardless.

LORD DOMINIK'S REGARDS
functions as an AMAZING item for when you have to be primaryu tank shred! Take this to deal with tanks (like ). Keep in mind that most games, its best to ignore the tanks and kill everyone else. IF thats not possible, go LDR and shred them first!

MORTAL REMINDER
got a small boost after the item changes. It's a great option if you need anti-heal to deal with while also having enough armor pen to deal with . You won't need this most games but it can fit 4th slot generally and 3rd slot rarely.

SHIELDBOW
A lot of Samira players love but with the changes to , its better to pick it up instead. Its upgraded Passive is amazing for us since its a bigger shield plus, it has some nice Lifesteal! It'll be a great option for aggressively healing and sustaining. Be sure to pair this with and/or . You'll likely slot this in as your 3rd or 4th item!

DEFENSIVE ITEMS
Once you get your key items, its time to start building defensively! The longer you can survive, the more DPS you can do! This is probably one of my favorite parts of itemization because its hilarious when you get REALLY tanky.

GARGOYLE STONEPLATE
This is probably one of my favorite items in the game and I love building it on Samira. While may be a better item most of the time, is AMAZING in the right situation. If you're diving into a ton of people and need instant protection, you use the active and BOOM you're tanky. This item isn't for everyone and a lot of people will disagree with me so I def recommend Randuin's instead.

RANDUIN'S OMEN
A lot of people forget about this item and are afraid to build it on ADCs. On someone like Samira it's active is super strong since you're near a few people when you use it. Not only is this a good armor option for when the enemy has a lot of AD, but you'll take reduced damage from crits and get a nice chunk of health as well! If you're tired of dealing with the enemy team's + + , this is for you. Otherwise, steer clear.

THORNMAIL
After its price changes and armor adjustment, became a good armor item (but not really a good anti-heal one). This is honestly one of my favorite armor items if the other options don't fit. For the most part, Samira has an armor item for EVERY situation so add this to your list!

GUARDIAN ANGEL
GA is a great item if you feel like you only need a small bit of defense and want some additional damage. I personally enjoy buying the stopwatch before a big fight so that I can use it if needed. It's also good if your team has good peel + extended fights! Overall though, I'm not a big fan of Guardian Angel and prefer to pick up a real tank item or .

DEATH'S DANCE
DD is really just a better to me imo. It offers great stats with both armor and AD. It gives you a TON of healing once you kill an enemy. It gives you longer time to live because of its bleed effect. AND it also reduces incoming damage, again, because of its bleed effect. Overall, it's not an item I build often but I definitely think its a good one. Take it if you need to survive but can guarantee kills!

SPIRIT VISAGE
Here's the MR counterpart of . I rarely build it but when I do, it's amazing. Assuming this is near the end of the game, champions like and will instantly delete you. This is your option to stop that from happening + it empowers your healing from , and ! It's also great if you have a , , or on your team!

ANATHEMA'S CHAINS
A lot of people may come for me for this but Anathemas Chains is an extremely overpowered item on a lot of ADCs. That being said, it's made for niche situations but when it's a good buy, it's a GOOD BUY! This item is extremely cheap, gives you a nice bit of bonus health, AND IT GIVES WHAT MAY AS WELL BE A PERMANENT . Chains is really good when you're looking to deal with a single target that's destroying you. More often than not, this is my answer to or since they're usually the sole AP of the team. Ideal situations are that the person you are chaining is the main carry and the only important type of that damage. If the entire enemy is doing lots of magic damage, you're better off getting or . Oh yeah, did I mention it'll lower the enemy tenacity as well?

SITUATIONAL ITEMS
These are items that are great in certain situations. While you may not build them every game, they can always be added to deal with something.

MERCURIAL SCIMITAR
I mean.... We all know what it does. Be sure to pick up early on if the enemy has hard CC that can stop you in your tracks. You can finish the item later since it's not really worth it. Things like ult or ult are nightmares to deal with without this, especially because you're short ranged! Don't ego it! Buy at least QSS!

SERPENT'S FANG
I honestly rarely go and kinda dislike it but, it's really good vs shield reliant teams. When used in the right circumstance, it can deny entire teams thousands of shielding. Champions that go items like or will be hurt pretty badly. Champs like , , etc. will give you the full value of this item thanks to how important shielding is to them. If the enemy doesn't have excessive shielding, don't bother.

ESSENCE REAVER
used to be a decent item vs teams that you simply can't engage into. Since you can't engage into the enemy, you'll be an auto + Q robot till an opportunity opens! But, again, because of how heavily it was nerfed, it's just not worth it anymore. It's presence here is simply in loving memory of its past.

MAW OF MALMORTIUS
With the death of , we can finally build Maw consistently! got a slight cost reduction and thanks to not being forced into Shieldbow, we can build it! THE MAGES WILL FEAR US!

BLACK CLEAVER
While this is a VERY situational item, has its places to shine! It works as a great survivability tool while also providing tank shred. I personally only ever build it if I have to fight multiple bruisers/tanks. Otherwise, its an okay item to grab. You'll likely build it 5th or 6th item if ever.

Early Game

✦ As , your early game is extremely important but its not worth inting for. It's great if you get a lead, but more often than not, you're a better skirmisher mid game. In match ups where you get out scaled, you need to get ahead by trying to get level 2 first and forcing a fight. If you can't do that, then farm as safely as possible and wait for the right moment. Be sure to harass them with your Q or auto as they go for CS. If the match up isn't favorable, you need to play extremely safe and just farm with Q. In most cases, you're the better skirmisher which means if you can stay even in gold and hp, when a fight breaks out at dragon you'll be able to pick up a few free kills! It'll take a lot of practice, but learning your limits as Samira are what allow her to thrive early game or play catch up for the rest of it. Keep in mind that your HP is your best resource early on in a lot of matchups. Preserve it and look to fight when they misstep!!

Mid Game

✦ This is where your real power spike is. Once you finish two items, you're extremely powerful and want to look to fight with your team around objectives. Be sure to keep farming and stay on the side of the map where the objective is up is. (Don't be bot lane when Baron is up!). An issue a lot of Samira's have in the Mid game is they try too hard to fight and end up falling behind in farm. I will say it again, KEEP FARMING. The more ahead you are the better! If your team can't team fight well, be prepared to shove waves and try to find picks. In most cases you can win the 1v1 but again, this comes with practice. This type of macro play is similar to many ADCs so it's a bit complex to breakdown in basic words.

Late Game

✦ At this point in the game, everyone has already scaled. Late game is difficult for Samira. She scales extremely well but the issue is, so does everyone else. For you to do most of your damage you have to be in close range and let me tell you, versus someone like Viktor or Ryze in the late game, that's a death sentence. The best way you can play the late game is look to kite around with your Q and auto's. Save your engage for when the enemy get's low HP and you can clean it up. This doesn't mean sit around, try to actively deal damage. You can think of this like a late game Katarina. If she jumps in she usually dies, but if she goes after everything was used, she can wipe the entire team!

I don't really have much more to say besides I hope this was beneficial! I've been spending hours testing damage (and my ranked games) to find the most optimal build for Samira. Regardless, I'm going to keep trying to update this the best I can! PLEASE feel free to leave comments on things you want to see more of/added so that I can work on them on my free time! If you have any questions, want to stay in touch, or let me know what you thought, come watch the stream so we can chat! Hope this was useful <3.

Special thanks to all of my friends who have listened to me talk about this champion nonstop. Another thanks to the Samira Mains discord who has a great community that also theory crafts with me on their free time! Finally, thank you to these guides for making this entire coding process far easier.

Hope to see you on the rift, summoners! <3 - Urason