MOBAFire's first Mini Guide Contest of Season 14 is here! Create or update guides for the 30 featured champions and compete for up to $200 in prizes! 🏆

Nami Build Guide by

[12.4] Nami, the Fish (ex-Top 85 EUW) | Diamond 1 Guide

42 2

104,983 Views

10 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author PicklePantsLOL

Nami Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (10) More Nami Guides

Runes: Main Rune Setup

1 2

Sorcery

Summon Aery

Manaflow Band

Transcendence

Gathering Storm

Inspiration

Biscuit Delivery

Cosmic Insight

Bonus:

+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor

Spells:

1 2 3 4 5

Flash + Ignite

Flash

Ignite

Items

Starting Items

Alterntive Starting items

First Back

Core Build Path

Boot Choices

Optional Extras

Ability Order

Nami Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Alistar

Extreme

The brushes are extremely dangerous in this lane and need to be kept warded at all times. Avoid walking too close to the brushes even if you see Alistar in them as he can Flash>Q>W you into his team. Alistar will definitely try to all-in you at level two once his W>Q combo. There are two ways to avoid this, either poke him enough at level one so that he can't all-in you, or concede the push and keep the wave near your tower at all times. Once he gets his Ultimate R, you can't allow him to build up a huge wave and crash it into your tower as the wave, paired with his Ultimate R will allow him to set-up brutal tower dives with his Jungler. In team-fights, Alistar will look to flank you from the sides and his goal will be to lockdown the highest priority target in your team (mostly your ADC). Try not to fight in the jungle as it will allow him to land a multi-person Q. You can thwart his team-fight all-in by poking the remaining four members of his team and forcing them to play defensively.

Lucian

Ideal

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Lucian

Ideal

Champion Build Guide

Table of Contents

ABOUT ME

About Me
Tier List

PRE-GAME

Summoner Spells
Rune Breakdown
Items

CHAMPION INFO

Abilities
Skill Sequence
Matchup Advice
Champion Combos

GAMEPLAY

Early Game
Mid Game
Late Game
How to Team Fight

TIPS AND TRICKS

Early Warding
Mid-to-Late Warding
Tips and Tricks
Pros and Cons

About Me

Hi, my name's PicklePants and I am a League of Legends Content Specialist. I have been playing League of Legends since Season 3- roughly before was released. For the past few years, I have been working closely with multiple League of Legends content sites: creating guides and other League of Legends content to help players achieve their League related goals and climb ELO. I am currently a full-time content specialist.

I am sitting at the top end of the Diamond Leaderboard- achieving Diamond 1 in both Season 8 and Season 9. I am Diamond 1 in Season 10 currently.

Before I worked on this guide, I have created over 100 separate guides spanning over 2 years and over multiple websites. My most famous (live guide; RIP LOLKING) is currently a wave management guide over at Mobalytics. The guide itself is one of the more in-depth guides you'll see and is the most complete wave management guide that is up to date. I would highly recommend reading it if you want to learn how to manage waves correctly. We also have a very in-depth and complete warding guide that is for all lanes and all parts of the game. It's known to be the "biggest and best vision guide you've ever seen". To finish of my accolades, I also created the worlds biggest and most indepth guide- Everything You Need to Know About Team Comps and Teamfighting in League of Legends. You can find it here.

As a content creator, I try to make really in-depth guides that describe everything there is to know about a subject and try to help players in the best way possible. For some, that's by watching videos, for others it is reading. Whichever way is best for you to learn, I am sure that we can help you out. You can find all my other guides here.

Tier List

Written Format

Summoner Spells

When playing , you’ll always want to take regardless of the matchup you’re in. Not only does offer you a lot of protection during the laning phase and throughout the game, but it also lets you play more aggressive and pick up kills. Whilst is a Support, she can be quite the damage dealer and get kills during the laning phase, and can aid her in doing this. Whenever I play , I take - and so should you.

is what you’ll usually take in conjunction with . However, there are some other options you can take which we’ll talk about shortly. When playing in a good matchup, taking will make getting kills in lane easier and you’ll have tons of pressure in lane. I would recommend taking if you’re in a matchup where you can get kills and dominate the lane.

Unfortunately, you’re not always going to be in a good matchup and you’ll sometimes have to adjust your Summoner Spell choice.

is not a bad option on if you’re against a heavy all-in bot like or an unorthodox Support like . Now, you could take into these matchups, but you could also go with . is also really good against enemy team compositions that have a lot of hard engage or assassins. ing an enemy as soon as he engages will make it very difficult for him to execute someone.

Alternatively, you could also go . As many ADC’s nowadays are going , you could take to offer your lane some extra sustain and survivability. This is a good option as many matchups need to survive. However, the downfall to taking this Summoner Spell is that your kill pressure in lane is lessened. So you’ll need to decide for your self if it’s better for you to take or .

The final option is to take . This is an okay Summoner Spell if you’re against a lane with a really big kill threat or hard engage. I wouldn’t recommend taking this Spell often, but it’s not a bad option when you’re against a double CC duo like and .

In most scenarios, you’ll be taking and . But don’t feel like you have to take this set up every time you play .

Rune Breakdown

There are 2 viable rune setups for Nami. The first is with and the second takes . Each rune set up has it’s pros and cons, and I’ll break down each of the two pages now. In most cases, you'll take the first rune page set up. However, there are some scenarios where the second rune page will be better. So, I've decided to include the two pages that I use when .

The main rune setup takes with . You’ll take this rune set up in the majority of cases. It is good against utility Supports like , and . As it increases her damage output in lane and allows her to be slightly more obnoxious.

As has a heal, synergises quite well with this rune choice. In fact, she can activate the shield on both her W and her E .

In the next line of runes, you can either choose between which will increase your mana pool and help you use your abilities more frequently. It’s a good choice because it will allow you to have more mana overall which comes in handy as tends to burn through mana like no tomorrow. Or, you can take which increases your survivability and gives you a brief boost of movement speed when using a Summoner Spell.

In most cases, I would recommend taking , but is meta and can come in handy when escaping sticky situations. If you’re unsure on which one to take, stick to .

For the next rune, I like to take . This is a really good rune for as she does need a lot of cooldown reduction to help her protect her allies. Once she hits level 10, she gets 10% free cooldown reduction. When paired with , ’s abilities will be on short cooldowns when she needs them most (in team fights).

However, some players like to take . It’s also a good rune, but I feel that it’s super risky and not going to be as useful overall on whereas 10% cooldown reduction can make all the difference when it comes to saving her allies.

For the final rune on her main rune page, I’d recommend . This will increase your AP damage as the game goes along. This is good for as she is an AP champion and while she will not be doing damage per se, the bonus AP will make her W heal more. The bonus healing provided by could make all the difference between keeping herself or her allies alive.

This main rune page is good for every single matchup. It will work wonders against any champion. However, there is one that can be slightly better in certain matchups.

When you’re against champions who can engage like , , , or any champion with lots of poke, you could take the tree as your main rune page: with the keystone being .

is a great rune against champions who can engage as it offers you a slight shield to protect you from some of their damage. Standing near your ADC throughout the laning phase when you have is key when taking this rune.

Additionally, as will only proc once a certain amount of damage has been taken, it will not get used by a rogue skill shot like it used too. Even with its recent changes, it’s still a very good rune choice for and I’d recommend taking it whenever you’re against hard engage or have a threat of dying in lane.

For the next rune, I love taking . As has multiple abilities that can impair the movement of an enemy champion like her , her and even her , whenever an ally auto attacks the impaired enemy, they will get some healing. This can make a huge difference in lane and in team fights if things get close.

You could go , but it is less reliable and you’re not always going to be pushing if you’re against a hard engage Support. will help not only the ADC, but it will help your whole team throughout the game. Unfortunately, will not help you too much though.

The next rune I want to recommend is . This is a really good rune as it will protect her from incoming damage when going for extended trades with the enemy. Unfortunately, it is quite easy to proc just through laning, so make sure you keep an eye on your positioning so the enemy cannot randomly put it on cooldown.

As is a healing champion and as she’ll be buying items that heal or shield her carries, the final rune you should take is . This rune synergises incredibly well with her W and will increase her healing ability. The extra healing is nothing to be sniffed at and I would recommend taking this every time you take this rune page.

We’ve gone over the two rune pages now, but we haven’t discussed the secondary rune choice yet. The secondary rune page of choice is . I love taking this rune page as it suits my playstyle well. If you don’t like , take another secondary rune line. can take many different secondary choices and it’s better for you to take something you prefer.

With that in mind, the two runes I like to take are as it increases my sustain in lane and makes the laning phase easier to handle. Even in the toughest of matchups, can be the winning factor to prevent you from falling behind. Even if you don’t need them- you can sell them for a pretty penny too, which is nice!

The last rune of choice is . This is really self-explanatory, but the 5% cooldown reduction at level 1 will help you massively in the laning phase. It will also cap your cooldown reduction at 45% which means your basic abilities will be on really low cooldowns as the game goes along. As you’ll be buying items that give tons of CDR like and , taking this rune makes sense.

For the last 3 runes, take AP, AP and armor. If you're against an AP Support who wants to poke heavily in the early game like or , you could go AP, AP and magic resistance instead.

To conclude: take the first rune page if you’re in a good matchup. Take the second setup if you’re in a bad matchup or are at threat of dying and falling behind.

Itemisation

When you’re loading into the game, look at who you’re laning against and ask yourself- what are their goals during the laning phase. Are they looking to get kills and snowball? Are they looking to hard engage? Or are they going to try and play safe and scale?

If you’re against an enemy that wants to scale or someone who lacks kill pressure in the early game like or , start with . If you’re against an enemy who wants to hard engage and get kills like or , take instead.

The decision you make for whatever starting item you choose will have a severe impact on your laning phase. You’ll need to complete your warding quest as quickly as you can and if you do not think you’ll be able to stack it quickly and safely, opt for as it will allow you to get gold under your belt regardless of how the matchup is going.

As always, you’ll want to start with 2 s and take a with you on your travels. Once you’ve completed your warding quest, you’ll want to change your trinket.

There are 3 potential first items you can buy on . You may disagree with this statement, but as she is a very versatile champion, I have found great success with her when taking each of these items first in different scenarios.

The first item for should be . This item is really good on her as it offers her extra trading potential and additional stats. As it’s a mythic item, it will also grant your other items additional ability power.

We are buying this item on because it synergises well with our kit. has CC and slows which works wonders with . Allies who deal damage to targets that have been marked by will take additional damage which will help you win trades in lane and throughout the game. I would highly recommend this mythic item.

For your secondary item, I’d recommend a pair of . There are really only two options for which are or . Each is really good on , and you can go either one in most games. I am liking as of late. We’ll discuss the other boot options later on in this guide.

The third item is going to be . Due to the insane amount of healing and shielding there is in the game, getting this item is very important to reduce the enemies sustain. You can always get an early if you're against a sustain lane too.

Your next item on is going to be . This item gives a ton of AP, additional healing power and it also gives her and her allies additional movement speed when she heals them. This is going to be effective during the laning phase as it allows you to chase down the enemy. It is also going to be really helpful in team fights.

The AOE heal from is going to be beneficial for your team especially in team fights. Make sure you use it as soon as the fight starts as it has a small delay before healing your team.

Ideally, you’ll be able to upgrade your by the 10-minute mark: in a good matchup, you can complete it between 7 and 8 minutes. You’ll then hopefully complete it and upgrade it to by the 20-minute mark. If you went for , you should have it upgraded again by the 10-minute mark, with it completed and upgraded to at around the 20-minute mark.

The truth about 's builds:

is an incredibly versatile support and can take one of three items first, second and third. Give each of these items a go when you play her to see what you like best. I swap my set up very often and the more you play , the more you’ll see yourself switching it up too. She is quite like and in this regard as they too can swap their item build order.

Every item we have discussed will offer her CDR which is crucial to keep her allies alive, increased survivability as she is quite squishy, and help her heal her allies more with her W .

Also, don't forget to buy s! You should try and get one on your first or second back, and then buy and replace them as the game goes along. Don't just buy 1, place it and think it's enough.

Situational items

When against full AP teams or enemies with tons of CC, you can go to offer you some protection against their damage, or to reduce the length of their CC.

is a good item on .

Pretty good item. If you have multiple AD champions, get this instead of . Honestly, your last 2 items are personal preference/situational, so try each of them out!.

Abiltiies

’s Passive is

All Allied champions who get hit by or touched by any of ’s abilities will gain bonus movement speed. If the spell that they’re hit by is her Ultimate , the bonus movement speed will be doubled.

Using your on top of a champion will speed them up. Using your to heal a champion will give them some extra speed. Using your on a champion to empower them will also give them more movement speed. If you use your Ultimate to start a team fight, all champions running into the fight through your Ultimate will get sped up.

’s Q is

sends a bubble to a target location that deals damage, reveals enemies hit and CC’s them briefly.

Your is your main source of CC in the early game. While it’s on cooldown, you’re very vulnerable and will be somewhat defenceless. Whenever this ability is on cooldown, make sure you play safer as you’ll not be able to CC the enemy to disengage.

Wait until the enemy has used their main movement tools before initiating a trade with your as the enemy will easily be able to dodge it if they see it coming. Try to use your while their dodging tools are on cooldown.

A good time to use your is when the enemy least expects it. For example, you could set up an ambush from inside a bush in your lane. Or you could hide in a bush behind their tower with your Jungler to catch them out as they walk back to lane.

Regardless of when you want to use ’s , the most important thing is that you land it. Good times to use your are when the enemy is unable to dodge it such as when their dodges are on cooldown (as discussed above), while they’re in auto-attack animation last hitting minions.

To make landing this skill easier, you have to remember that it takes 1 second to land/ CC someone. So, in order to land it, you’ll need to predict where the enemy will be in exactly 1 seconds time. If the enemy is running towards you, then they may continue pathing that way. If the enemy is retreating backwards, then they may path that way.

However, you can also increase your chances of landing this ability by being aware of the current game state. I don’t want to talk about abusing an enemies dodge cooldown, but that is one way!

If the enemy is getting quite close to your tower or your side of the map when trading, it is likely that they will walk backwards soon after. So aiming your behind them is an option. If the enemy has run out of mana or used all of their abilities, they will soon start walking backwards- so aiming your behind them may land in a hit.

Alternatively, you can use your aggressively if the enemy puts themselves in a tight position. For example, if they’re close to a wall, it will reduce their ability to dodge your as they have less room for manoeuvre.

’s W is

splashes herself, an ally or an enemy champion with water which then can bounce up to 2 nearby unaffected champions. heals allied champions and deals damage to enemy champions with each bounce increasing in effectiveness.

Focus on using your heal on your ADC rather than yourself during the laning phase. Keeping them topped up on health is more important than keeping yourself healthy. However, use your own discretion with this one.

In team fights, try and heal whoever is low during a team fight. Unless you’re forced to, use your heal on anyone but yourself to keep them in the fight for longer.

Always ensure you have enough mana to use this ability. If you’re out of mana, you’re an easy target for the enemy. So keeping just enough mana to use this ability will help you out in the long run.

If you stand close to the enemy when using your , it will allow you to deal damage to the enemy and heal yourself at the same time. If you’re near 2 enemies, it could bounce back and forth and deal extra damage.

’s E is

blesses herself or a target champion for a few seconds, causing the targets next 3 auto attacks or abilities to deal bonus damage and slow their target.

You can use this ability mid-auto-attack as long as the auto is mid-air when you self cast your E .

Once you hit level 2, level this ability and then look for an all-in if you’re strong. If you’re closer to the enemy, self cast your and trade aggressive. Alternatively, if your ADC is a strong early game champ, you can use your on them instead.

Your will make your , and deal more damage if you cast this ability first.

If you struggle to land your , you can self cast your , auto-attack once and then use the slow from your to make landing your easier.

’s Ultimate is

summons a huge wave that surges forward dealing damage and knocking up + slowing all targets.

To get the most out of your Ultimate , try and get as close as you can to the enemy before activating it to make landing this ability so much easier. The further away it is, the easier it will be for the enemy to dodge it.

If the enemy is near a wall, do not aim it directly towards them and the wall. Use it to the edge hits the wall and the rest of the will hit the lane to increase your chances of knocking the enemy up.

Don’t forget that you can use your directly afterwards when the enemy is knocked up to double CC them and keep them locked down for longer.

This ability can be used as an engage tool as well as a disengage tool. Don’t think you need to use it purely to engage with. If the enemy engages on your and your ADC, don’t be afraid to throw it out.

When team fighting in the jungle, aim your so it covers as much of the jungle pathing as possible to increase your chances of knocking up lots of champions.

Your can be used in conjunction with your . Make sure you first though so it deals extra damage.

Skill Sequence

Key points to take away from this ability order:

♣ You can take at level 2 if you have a chance to get a kill.

♣ If your ADC doesn’t have a strong level 2- you should take second. This will protect you in case the enemy looks for a level 2 all-in.

♣ If your ADC is strong at level 2- take so you can look for an early trade. Very good when paired with or .

♣ Make sure you hit level 2 as quickly as you can (the first wave followed by 3 melee minions) so you can play aggressive or prevent an all in. If you’re not going to get level 2 before or at the same time as the enemy, play safer until you hit level 2.

Matchup Advice

Now let's discuss some matchup advice and tips and tricks. Please note, all of this information is taken from Mobalytics and the Pre-Game. If you want all this information and more and your fingertips before every game, definitely check out the site. Here's a quick video on how to use the Pre-Game.

Alistar

» has no real form of poke damage - when attempting to go even with him, look to stay out of him W () + Q () combo range while punishing him for stepping up too far in an attempt to use it. Once the is fairly low, he can't threaten to engage.

» Be careful of the + Q () combo from an if his lane is ahead because he'll be looking to use it. Try to stay on your side of the map when this deadly combo is available.

» Without his Ultimate (), is fairly easy to kill despite looking quite beefy. Take advantage of the 120 second CD and whenever you see him too far forward, look to engage or trade onto him.

» Both Q () and W () have a 14 second or longer cooldown in the early game. If one of them is down, you have a huge window to pressure and harass him.

Annie

» lacks range and will have trouble trading back or dealing any poke damage if you poke her from afar.

» 's has 120s CD, when it's up be careful of her + R () combo. She will normally try to do it with at least 3 stacks of her Passive (), so keep track of it to know when she might try to burst you down.

» Watch out for angry Tibbers! Even if you manage to score a kill versus , make sure you have an escape plan for enraged Tibbers.

» She has strong gank assist - Use her lack of range and waveclear to shove her in and poke her down is a great way to gain an edge on . Be careful though - her gank assist with + stun () can be dangerous when harassing her under the tower.

Bard

» Be on the lookout for when tries to line up his stun Q () on you. Whether he uses a wall, a minion, or even your teammate.

» When playing against , if your mobility spells are on CD or your is down, be careful of his huge catch potential. His R () into Q () combo can be the mean death to anyone not respecting it.

» 's Q () is his only real way to defend himself. If it misses, look to kill him since he's a squishy target.

» Because of 's Meep passive through ('s Passive) , he wins most auto-attack for auto-attack trades. You can bait out his empowered auto attack with a shield, wait for him to waste it on a minion, or bait him to overextend for autos.

Blitzcrank

» Keep side brush warded while hiding within the minion wave so has little options in terms of hooking you while you look to harass or last hit.

» When 's Q () is down, you have up to 20 seconds of free harassing without fear.

» If your is down or you are behind in lane versus a , do your best to keep your minion wave near the tower or else the will zone you out of minions. Even worse, he may use his + Q () combo to kill you.

» His tankiness comes from his Passive (), which has a 90-second cooldown and is based on 50 percent of his current mana. When he is OOM or it's on CD he is very squishy so try to focus him down during trades.

Brand

» 's burst comes from the combination of landing 3 abilities that trigger his passive (). As long as he's not able to trigger (his Passive), he won't be able to kill someone during an all-in.

» Avoid standing close to the minion wave to prevent waveclear or poke abilities like his Q () or his E () from hitting you.

» If he ever uses his Q () for poke, look to immediately all-in or trade into him because it's his only way to defend himself. Bonus points if you can do this away from the minion wave post-6 so his Ultimate () doesn't bounce to you.

» Brand often uses his W () which has a 10 second CD as his main source of waveclear - it's also his main source of damage early on. Look to harass him while it's down.

Braum

» has two ways to engage: jumping onto his allied minions that you're standing next to with his W () or landing a Q () from a distance. Don't overextend into enemy minions to deny him from being able to jump, and hide behind allied minions so that he can't easily land his Q ().

» Try to avoid his Q () poke damage since it can result in his ADC zoning you from farm or the wave. Stay in your wave to make it easier to dodge them.

» Once his Q () is on CD, has no real way of trading besides going for a full all-in using auto attacks to proc his Passive (). Use the 10-second window from his rank 1 Q () to poke him down.

» (’s W) is the main thing that makes so tanky - it has a 14 second CD at rank 1. Look to bait it out with poke damage and once it's used, you can easily kill him or his partner.

Janna

» is very fragile. If you're able to coordinate your damage when you lock her down with CC, you can take her down quickly before she has a chance to push you back.

» Since has no real forms of hard engage, you can safely farm against her and her ADC. Do not get over aggressive and trade into her shield (E ).

» 's main tool in the laning phase is her shield (E ), which has an 18s CD at level one. Pay attention to the duration and engage her slightly before it wears off to give yourself the biggest window possible to punish that CD.

» Do not trade into her, you'll likely lose against her and her ADC. Instead, remember that she doesn't have a very good hard engage, so grab some sustain and look to out farm her.

Leona

» has no form of poke or sustain. If you can poke her down, it should dissuade her from wanting to engage on you and allow you to farm safely.

» Her tankiness comes from (W), which has a 14 second CD, and its extra armour/magic resist for 6 seconds. After it's used, she is squishy - look to turn on her for an easy kill.

» (R) has a 90 second CD, which is quite short for a rank 1 Ultimate. Be careful whenever you don't have because she'll be looking to engage with it ASAP. Do your best to stay out of the middle of it so you are slowed instead of stunned.

» will be looking to engage in the early game, so use this to your advantage. If the engages from too far away from her ADC with her (E), her CC won't actually have any damage to follow it up. This mistake gives you and your ADC an opportunity to turn around and punish her for being overzealous.

Lulu

» Trading into her (W) will often be a losing trade for you. Instead, look to push her into tower since she has low all-in threat.

» Trading into a lane is quite difficult due to her shield (E) () and target CC. Look to safely farm under your tower instead due to her lack of engage options.

» (E) is the main way protects herself or allies in the early game. It has a 2.5-second duration and a 10-second cooldown, so when you see her cast it on an ally, try to trade back as it's about to expire.

» is a champion that makes great trades, but her durability comes through her spell usage instead of natural tankiness. Look to lock her down with CC and take her out before she can save herself with (R) or (E).

Morgana

» She has low threat outside of her (Q), so put the minion wave between you and her while farming to avoid your chances of being hit.

» Whenever she has + Ultimate () and you don't have , she'll attempt to onto you and use (R). Stay on your side of the map whenever this timing happens to avoid the heavy burst of this combo and its 4.5 second CC chain.

» If you see her cast (E)- which has a 23 second CD at rank 1 with a 5-second duration, look to all-in her as it expires - it's her main source of defence pre-6. Alternatively, if you have multiple magic damage abilities, look to use those to break it during a fight and then land your CC for an easy kill.

» has almost zero pressure if her (Q) misses. If it does, go fully aggressive on her for the next 11 seconds, even to the point of walking past the wave since she has no way of stopping you.

Nami

» No need to force trades with a when attempting to farm. Since she has no real way of helping with waveclear, you can shove the lane in. Be careful whenever she has (her Ultimate) up as it can be used for a great gank assist tool.

» Avoid trading with a when behind, Her ability to out sustain and chase you down with her E () is strong. Instead, you must avoid poke until you see a chance to engage on her while she's playing too forward.

» (W) has a 10s CD, look to trade with her after she uses it on herself or her ADC for sustain. She is unable to trade back with you and will be forced to try and land her Q () to disengage, sidestep this and easily win a trade.

» has a plethora of damage, sustain, and CC in her kit. Therefore, frequent, short trades favor her heavily. However, she's extremely fragile and has no real escape. Coordinate well with your ADC and look to bring down in one or two clean engages.

Nautilus

» ' burst damage only really comes from his (his E), which is relatively short ranged and does more DMG the closer you are to him. As long as you avoid his all-in, he won't put out too much pressure on you.

» All of ' early damage comes from his (W). When looking to bully him, don't be afraid to turn and break the shield, once this is done he has no real consistent damage so you can look to kill him.

» It's extremely difficult to avoid ' CC combo when he has his Ultimate (), up (120-second cd rank 1). Stay safe and play passive while it's up.

» Keep minions/walls between you and at all times so that you can harass him when he has no clear way to land an or when it's on cooldown.

Pyke

» Be wary of 's ability to roam when trying to farm out against him. He is one of the best roaming Supports due to the speed at which he can rotate and his many different CC combos. Ward the river when playing versus him and call MIA every time he recalls as well.

» 's Passive, , denies him bonus HP in favor of bonus AD, meaning if his W and E are not up he is an extremely easy kill. Once you are ahead of in the lane, look to all-in him as he can die in one CC rotation. However, avoid shorter trades attempting to widdle him down as he will regain his HP when out of sight due to his grey health.

» is to be feared as he has many ways to secure a kill. He can land a hook with charged up (Q), dive in and onto you for a stun with (E) or dive into melee range for a massive slow using a combination of (W) and instant cast (Q). To avoid these, you'll need to look to freeze the lane near your tower while standing behind minions to avoid getting caught by (Q).

» As long as you do not get caught by 's E () or Q () you will not be harmed by during the laning phase. Stand slightly outside the minion wave and try to bait out his Q () while you poke/threaten him or his ADC, once he misses you are free to bully the lane as much as you like for the rank one CD of 16s.

Senna

» Senna’s positioning in lane is key. If she steps too far forward, she is an easy target to kill. Capitalise on positioning errors by the enemy Senna to gain a lead in lane.

» Senna is vulnerable to hard engage and burst due to her squishy nature. Instead of playing Passive in lane, try to be proactive and engage/fight whenever she wastes an ability or steps too far forward.

» Senna’s Ultimate is a global Ultimate. When she is 6, ping your team so they know she can impact the map and execute/protect her allies.

» Keep an eye on your positioning and the health of your minions. By standing inside or behind the minion wave, you can prevent Senna from fully utilising her as she will not be able to hit you. However, it will instantly root nearby allies if she kills the target (like a minion). Don’t stand near low health minions!.

Sona

» As long as you avoid 's damage (her Passive), she won't be able to do much harm to you. Just be careful of her Jungler coming while she has her ult up.

» Try to trade with while her is down, she does very little poke damage without it.

» (R) is an extremely powerful engage tool with a 140 second CD at rank 1 with no CDR. When she is ahead, she will be looking to + R you, so keep track of its CD and her .

» has no escape and is the most fragile Support but has incredible poke and sustain. Play around this by not giving her the opportunity to do small and efficient trades. Instead, bide your time and stay on high health until you find the opportunity to do aggressive all-in trades with her.

Soraka

» She doesn't have a very good way to stop you from farming, but you should be trying to dodge as many (Q’s) as you can to reduce her ability to sustain.

» Do not be fooled by her Q ’s low damage, dodge! Avoiding them during poke phase and all-ins is very crucial because it enables extra healing for both and her ADC.

» Trading into when behind is pointless because she will just heal it all back with her W . Instead, look to save your CDs and HP for one all-in when you catch her out of position, or for when your Jungler arrives.

» 's laning in the early game is very poor because her (W) and (E) have 8 and 24-second cooldowns with no CDR. This means that she is very susceptible to all-ins before she scales up. Avoid letting her out sustain you and get a free early laning phase by playing aggressively against her and her ADC.

Tahm Kench

» His ability to zone you and your ADC from farm is pretty weak when you're even but you need to watch out for his (R). He will be looking to use it to roam or even on his own lane with his Jungler.

» If misses his Q () which has a 6 second CD with no CDR, he pretty much becomes useless in lane in terms of offensive abilities, so look to poke him down.

» He has a very nasty combo where he can , , and (Q) into (W). If you are away from the tower, be aware of this potential threat.

» 's E () is a big part of what makes him tanky. It cannot be used while stunned so save your hard CC for when he reaches 40% health, and then try to burst him down before he can activate his E ().

Taric

» has no poke damage outside of running up and attempting to (E) you. On the other hand, he offers great gank setup with (E), , into a (R) so that he and his Jungler can dive you under the tower. This combo is likely the only way that Taric can disrupt your ability to farm.

» (R) is 's main defensive tool - note that it has a 160 second CD at rank 1, which is longer than most other Ults. After a fight where both you and use your Ults, start preparing for another all-in. As soon as it comes up, you can look to kill him during this timing window.

» Do not think that you are safe under tower versus a . Due to the large amount of armor from (W) and his Ultimate , he has is one of the best tower divers in the game. Avoid staying at low health under the tower - instead, look to farm safely away from him since he lacks poke damage.

» 's main weaknesses in the lane are that he has melee range and doesn't have any reliable tools to engage, especially since (E) is extremely telegraphed. You can abuse more than other Supports with continual harass with very little fear of retaliation if you can dodge his delayed stun attempts.

Vel'koz

» 's wave clear and poke abilities are amazing and he will likely be able to out shove you in a farming situation. Look out for him using fog or brushes to launch poke from while you last hit under the tower.

» Whenever uses his E () which is a knock-up and his only self-peel option. Look to all-in him during its 16-second cooldown. Once you're on top of him, it becomes very difficult for him to use his ultimate.

» Getting hit by 's (E) knock-up or his Q () slow will result in getting destroyed by his Ultimate which at rank 1 CD is 120 seconds. Grabbing early movement speed to help you avoid getting hit by these combos is strongly advised.

» is a pure skillshot champion. Look to dodge his (Q) by standing in the minion wave and quickly stepping out from the wave to dodge his (W) , which he often uses to heavily push you in. It's a bit of a dance where you dodge in and out of the minion wave but if you get boots early on it makes the whole process a lot easier.

Yuumi

» Small trades favour Yuumi thanks to her that can provide two heals as well as her Passive that provides her with a shield. If one of these two these materials are down, it may be your best chance to engage with the enemy.

» Yuumi has the ability to become untargetable thanks to her . When throwing fists with the enemy, focus the ADC with your skill shots and hard crowd control as it will be harder for them to dodge it. Don’t target Yuumi unless her anchor is nowhere nearby.

» Avoiding Yuumi’s damage is rather simple. As it slows and deals damage to the first target it hits, once she uses it, reposition inside the minion wave and use the minions as cover.

» Yummi is notorious for being immobile without an anchor or her ADC nearby. Focusing down the ADC first will make it easier for your team to kill both Yuumi and the Carry.

Zilean

» Keep shoved into his turret. Before he gets points into (W) and some CDR, he has a hard time getting into range of you and slowing you to land his Double Bomb (two x ). Force him under the tower where he has a hard time CSing unless he uses his (Q), which will give you breathing room from his harass.

» Don't be afraid to all-in , even when he has access to his Ultimate (). You can easily kill him against after he revives if you're ahead or at the very least force him to play scared and miss CS until his Ultimate () comes back.

» Don't get baited by the Timelord. will try to tease you into trying to kill him when you're behind, but Double Bomb and (R) are a lot to deal with unless you have teammates to back you up. Be careful of getting into his (E) range where he can slow you into a guaranteed Double Bomb.

» is slippery but incredibly squishy. Gain an advantage early by bursting him down or calling for ganks before he gains access to his R at level 6.

Zyra

» Make sure to avoid getting pushed in when trying to stay even with . She has an easy time poking and landing skillshots on you when you're forced into the small space around your turret.

» Keep her away from her tower. Her lack of mobility means that if she's remotely far down lane, it's easy to chase her down and kill her when you're ahead. Diving under the tower is risky unless you have CC. She has a lot of CC to try to get the trade kill on you.

» Try and Bait her (E) - One mistake can be costly when playing against a fed . Bait out and dodge her E ( before committing. No matter how far ahead she is, she's still squishy and slow until she purchases / so don't be afraid to chain CC her and burst her down if you have the champions for it.

» is incredibly squishy early on and has no escapes. She's vulnerable to ganks and aggressive all-ins.

Combos

Trading and learning ’s combos are part and parcel of her kit. In this section, I’ll go over some of the basic combos for and detail how to execute them. Take note that these are not the only combos for and in fact, there are some unique things you can do with her kit.

During the laning phase, trading is very important, but you shouldn’t really commit to trading when you have no stacks on your as you’ll get no gold back from the trade. Depending on the combo you wish to use (like a trading combo), I would advise that you look to trade when you have all 3 stacks available to proc. However, if you’re going for a team fight combo, it doesn’t matter how many stacks you have.

AA > Ebb and Flow > AA

Standard trading combo. You should try to auto-attack first before using your W to get more damage down on the enemy champion. This will also help you get more stacks on your warding quest. However, take note that going for an auto then W can be risky, so you can just go for a W > AA.

AA > Tidecaller's Blessing > AA

Auto-attack the enemy once and then activate your . Activate it while your auto is moving to the enemy so it deals extra damage and consumes a stack. Make sure you auto-attack again or use another ability to deal more damage.

AA> Tidecaller's Blessing > Ebb and Flow

As soon as your auto attack leaves your champion, self cast your while the auto-attack is going towards the enemy champion. The extra damage will go through. You can then use your W to deal empowered damage to the enemy champion.

Tidecaller's Blessing > AA > Aqua Prison > AA > Ebb and Flow

Using your E first will make landing your Q easier as the enemy will be slowed. While they’re CC’d with your , auto-attack the enemy once and then use your W to deal extra damage. If done quick enough, you can get all 3 stacks from your .

Tidal Wave > Aqua Prison

You can use your R from out of vision or whenever you’re close to the enemy. Once they’re knocked up by your , use your Q to extend the CC chain. This is a good combo when you want to initiate a skirmish or set up your Jungler.

Early Game

The laning phase for can be very simple. However, depending on the matchup you are in, you may find it quite easy or very difficult. It depends on who you are against, and who you are laning with.

As soon as minions spawn buy the starting item that will help you the most and be the easiest to stack. If you are against an enemy who has long-range or who can hard engage, take . This item will allow you to earn gold and complete your warding quest without putting yourself in a position where you can die as soon as you walk forward to harass. If you are in a good matchup where the enemy lacks the range and cannot hard engage, you can take .

After buying the items you need, run directly towards the bottom lane and move to the river. From there, you can see if the enemy tries to invade. It's better for you to scout at level 1 to prevent or at least spot the enemy if they try to invade. However, if the enemy is good at invading, you may wish to place an early ward to spot them so you don't put yourself in too much danger.

If you are leashing for your jungler, leave no later at 1:38 to ensure that you get the level two to before or at the same time as the enemy. If you leave any later, you are risking losing out on XP.

At level 1, try to harass and be as obnoxious as you can without putting yourself in danger. Make sure you hit level 2 first- which is the first minion wave followed by three melee minions one of the second wave. If the enemy is a hard engage champion like or , take extra care at level 2 as they may look for an early all-in.

Up until the laning phase is over, you should try to be obnoxious as possible and poke the enemy as much as you can without putting yourself in danger of being killed. is a poke heavy support but she is squishy. So if you are defenceless and without , you have to play a slightly safer.

Ideally, you would complete your quest between 7 to 10 minute. Any later than this, you are delaying your first item and your warding quest. In these cases, you should have opted for the alternative item.

Mid Game

Once the laning phase has ended, you need to stick with your team and protect them at all costs. If you have won lane, stick with your ad carry and try to take objectives and towers in alternative lanes. If you haven't done so well, leave your ad carry alone in the bottom lane while you team up with your mid or jungler and move around the map.

If you are to do this, make sure you have vision in the bottom side of the map so your ADC can farm without fear of being killed by the enemy bot or jungle.

During this stage of the game you need to have vision around the map to help your allies spot the enemy as they move from one place to another. Make sure you never swim too far away from any of your allies as as is incredibly Squishy and can be killed very fast if she's caught out of position. That means if you are going to ward, make sure the enemy's are nowhere nearby you when you go to ward.

Your mid-game is very simple and can be summed up quickly. Stick with your allies and keep them protected with healing from your W . If you are ahead, try to further your lead to get more kills. If you are behind, leave your ad carry alone and try to get things done with your other laners.

Having in the mid-game is key as you will be moving around the map a lot. So having tier 1's or having them upgraded will be very useful.

Late Game

Your job in the late game is to keep your carries alive. Stand towards the backside of your team so you are out of danger so you don't get killed at the start of the fight. Do not, and I repeat, do not ever be alone in the late stages of the. This includes going to ward.

Unless you know where the enemy is, you should never go to ward alone as the enemy may be setting up an ambush and trying to kill you. As is incredibly squishy, she is an easy target for a team trying to cheese. If you die to this ambush, the enemy may then take the objective shortly afterwards or try to start a fight with the numbers advantage. All of this can be avoided by not going to ward alone.

Unless your allies are going to help you ward or if you know where the enemy team is, do not ward alone in the late game as it will cost you a lot.

Prioritise keeping your carry or the most important player alive for as long as possible so they can dish out damage and win the team fight. Prioritise healing them over yourself unless you are very low.

If all goes well, you'll be able to out-sustain the enemy in a team fight and come out victorious. Remember, positioning is key for and you need to ensure that you're always positioned correctly so you don't get killed at the start of a team fight.

How to team fight

Teamfights are really simple for . All you have to do is position in the backline and next to your carrys. Your goal is to keep them alive for as long as possible so they are able to dish out damage and win the team fight for you. If you position too far forward, you may get caught out and die at the start of the fight which may cost your team the victory as they need you to heal them with your W .

If the enemy is playing very safe, you could initiate a teamfight by casting your Ultimate aggressively and try to knock up multiple enemy champions. In most cases though, you will be using your Ultimate as a utility tool to help you disengage and protect your allies. It can also be used to lock down and prevent an enemy assassin or fighter from taking you or an ally down.

Team fighting on is very simple and she benefits from a huge variety of fighting locations. She can fight inside the jungle as her Ultimate is roughly the same size as a jungle path which allows you to knock up the entirety of the enemy team if they fight inside the jungle. She can also team fight inside a lane or even around major objectives like the Baron or Dragon.

Overall, as long as you team fight with a lot of Mana, watch your positioning and prioritise keeping your allies alive with your healing W for as long as possible, team fighting will be simple and easy for you.

Team fighting for Utility Supports is pretty straightforward. First of all, you need to be in as many teamfights as possible. You should not be alone, nor should you be without your team when a team fight occurs. This means that you should be with your Carries at all times during the mid and late game. As a Utility Support, dying at the start of a fight is a big no-no. For obvious reasons, it will make the team fight uneven and your team will miss out on a lot of healing and shielding. So it is crucial that you stay alive for as long as possible.

One way of saying alive for longer is by watching your positioning. You should always be positioned in the back line very close to your AD Carry or Mid. You should never be positioned in the front line as the enemy can easily take you down. Standing near your AD Carry allows you to provide them with lots of heals and shields, as well as protect them from engages by assassins or the enemy front line.

This image is taken from my indepth team fighting guide which you can find here.

Here is a brief image of where you should be stood in a team fight. While it is not always possible or realistic for each team fight to work this way, by continuingly standing next to your ADC or very close to them while you move around the map- when any team fight occurs, can you will be in a position where you can peel them.

Early game Warding

Warding in the early game is very simple. It doesn’t change much and you’ll usually ward the same places, but you will have to adapt as the game goes on and as the laning phase develops.

You will not usually place any wards early, unless you’re getting invaded or if the enemy has a strong level 1. As an example, you could ward the bottom lane tri-brush if you’re the blue side and the enemy has a strong level 1 combo like or . Many champions will try to cheese at level 1 and kill you while you walk to lane. You could ward here to spot them, and then take an alternative route, or you could just take a longer route to lane to save your ward.

Other than that, you will not need to ward unless the enemy has a strong level 2. A tri-brush or river ward early could be very helpful if you’re scared of a level 2 gank. If not, then you can just wait until level 3 before warding. There’s no exact timers to warding, so you shouldn’t be too precise about when to ward.

This image is taken from my in-depth warding guide. It shows where you can ward as the blue team when you're even in lane.

For your first set of wards, you need to ask yourself- what do I currently need? Is the enemy pushing you under Tower, you might need a defensive tri-brush ward (for the red team) or you may need a river bush ward (blue team). Sometimes you will need to have wards in the closest bush to prevent ganks when being pushed under your Tower.

If you’re pushing, you can have offensive wards such as in the river bush (as the blue team) or a tri-brush ward as the red team. These wards will help you when it comes to preventing enemy ganks and give you enough time to escape. Remember to never have 2 wards on your Trinket as you’re missing out on valuable information that can help your team win the game.

Once you have your warding quest completed, you should continue to use the above image to ward, but you will have a lot more options on where to place extra vision. You may wish to place it into the enemies jungle (with help from your teammates or when you know that the enemy Jungler is not nearby) or near their jungle entrances. Deeper wards inside the enemy jungle should not be done alone or without assistance from your allies.

I can’t really give you too much more information when it comes to basic warding early as it is pretty self explanatory and pretty simple, but I have created a very indepth warding guide for all lanes that can help you out. Matter of fact, it has every ward you’ll need regardless of champion/matchup, so I would highly recommend it if you want more information.

Let’s move on to s. s are expensive right. That means you need to get value out of them. As a bot laner, you have a few choices to where they should go. You can either place them in the nearest bush in lane when you’re pushing, or inside the river. You shouldn’t place a in the red side tri-brush as it will not give you much information. Nor should you place a in the blue side tri-brush if you’re losing or being pushed in. The reason for the latter is because you do not have priority in lane and the enemy can just clear it which results in you losing the ward and wasting a lot of gold.

This image is taken from my in-depth warding guide.It shows where you can place s throughout the early game.

When you’re pushing, you can definitely ward the river and the closest bush. This prevents the enemy from getting vision and can help you escape if the enemy Jungler shows up. In addition to this, it can also allow your Jungler to lane gank or fight the enemy when they over extend. This a really good way of getting your team ahead, but it does require some cooperation.

When you’re unsure of where to place your , a good place to put it is inside the river near the mid lane. This can provide your team with a lot of information, and shouldn’t be cleared quickly by the enemy bot. The best time to ward this is when you’re returning to lane as you will not miss out on XP or gold and your ADC will not be left alone and potentially die because you’re gone.

Mid-to-Late game Warding

Once the laning phase is over, you need to continue to place wards as you move around the map. As there are plenty of wards you can place and which all depend on the scenario you’re in, I would like again to remind you of the in-depth warding guide. I’ve created as this and more will be on there. I’m not going to go too in-depth in this section as it is all in there…

As the game develops, you need to continue to buy s and place them throughout the game. Regardless of if your first is still alive, you need to place it somewhere else. As the game has moved on, the likelihood of the enemy walking near your first is reduced compared to a fresh new ward.

As a general rule, all the wards you place in the mid and late game will be according to your current position and the games state. For example, if you’re playing around the Mid lane, you would place wards around the Mid lane. If you’re losing, you would have more defensive wards and if you’re winning, you would have more offensive wards. If the game is rather even or you’ve just come out of the laning phase, you would have more even wards in the river.

Where you ward depends initially on the situation, but for the most part you should ward in areas that have high priority or what I like to call high traffic areas. These include: jungle bushes, river entrances, on buffs and around objectives. On the image in this section, you can see more high priority areas.

Regardless of game state, you should always have objectives warded if they’re up or are coming up. A nearby or a plain ward on an objective can come in handy and help your team out a lot- so keep an eye on objective timers and the map at all times so your team can move into position if the enemy starts to take it.

This image is taken from my in-depth warding guide. It shows where you may want to ward when trying to take an objective as the red team.

In the later stages of the game, you should not ward alone as if you’re caught out of position- the enemy may use the advantage to force an objective like the Baron or the Elder Dragon, and they may even try to end the game from the advantage and pick up more kills. So it’s important that you do not ward alone.

Team up with a buddy and go to ward major objectives together; or you can go alone if you know that the enemy is not anywhere nearby. If the enemy is nearby, then you cannot ward unless your whole team is together with you. If no one is in a position to ward- then do not do. You cannot ward alone when the enemy is nearby, so just don’t. Wait patiently for your team to come to you and then go and ward together.

Tips and Tricks

Now I will go over some tips and tricks for . Take note that I will be adding more tips and tricks as I find time.

♣ Go in matchups where you're going to find it hard to poke without being engaged on. Taking this item will allow you to earn gold without dying for it.

♣ Go if you're in good matchups and can play aggressive.

♣ Go if you're in a matchup where the enemy will be looking to all-in you often. The shield from will help protect you from all-ins.

♣ When playing against melee champions, make sure you abuse and harass them as much as possible at level 1 without putting yourself in a position where they can on you and turn the skirmish around.

♣ Make sure you get level 2 first which is the first wave followed by 3 melee minions on the second wave. You can then look for the all-in or be reassured that you're in a safer position to prevent an all-in.

♣ Do not use your aggressively if the enemy has a dodge ability. While this ability is on cooldown, the enemy may look to play aggressive as they know you're defenceless. Only use it when you're 100% guaranteed you're going to land it.

♣ Whenever you use any of your abilities on an allied champion, they'll gain a boost of movement speed. This can help them escape sticky situations. You can also throw your directly on them to speed them up.

♣ If the enemy isn't wanting to fight, you can use your Ultimate aggressively to start a team fight.

♣ Try and auto-attack before using your W so you get extra damage down on the enemy. If you've taken , this will help complete this quest quicker as well.

♣ You can lock the enemy down with CC for a long period of time if you cast your Ultimate and then cast your on them once they're knocked up.

♣ You can use your E mid auto attack to get the empowered auto on the enemy and deal more damage to them.

♣ When taking , using both your and on you or your ally will provide a shield.

♣ As your E will empower abilities and auto attacks, you can self cast your E and then auto attack and use your W and deal a lot of damage to the enemy in a skirmish.

♣ is super squishy. A good time to go and harass the enemy is when they’ve wasted a key ability as their damage output will be lessened. If you’re against a champion like or , waiting for them to use their Hooks is good.

♣ In team fights, try to keep your allies alive for as long as possible with your W . Prioritize topping up their health over yours.

♣ Do not go to ward alone in the mid and late-game unless you know where the enemy team is. If you don’t know where they’re, do not ward as you may die and the enemy may abuse the fact that you’re not there to take an objective or win a team fight.

I hope that some of these tips have given you more insight on how to play and they will help you on Summoners Rift.

Pros and Cons

Every champion in League of Legends has their pros and cons and is no exception. In this section, I will discuss some of the things that make a good champion but also go over the things that I dislike about her and would consider a problem.

Pros

♣ has good poke in lane thanks to her basic attacks and .

♣ She has a heal on her which will increase her and her ADC’s survivability in lane.

♣ Both her and will proc . This will help with trading in lane as it offers a shield that can protect you from poke.

♣ Is an early game dominant Support who has lots of good duos in the bottom lane. This makes her a very versatile champion.

♣ Can take different Runes depending on the matchup.

♣ Can take different Summoner Spells depending on the matchup.

♣ Can take different starting items depending on the matchup.

♣ Can build different items depending on what she needs in the early game. Her first 3 items can be switched up depending on the in-game state.

♣ Good gank set up with her and .

Cons

♣ Squishy and easy to kill. Make sure you limit your time spent overextended and in a position where you can die.

♣ Bad against hard engage or Hookers. Champions who can engage on her or pick her off are hard to play against food .

♣ Gets out traded easily by more poke oriented laners.

♣ She is team reliant. requires lots of team coordination and good allies to perform well with. If her allies are behind, will not be very useful.

♣ Her is a skill shot that isn’t too easy to hit. Only use it when you’re 99% sure you’re going to land it.