Hey everyone! Welcome to my Samira Guide! My name is Urason, I'm a Masters, 385LP ADC main/small streamer who is trying to main 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! (Updated OP.GG!!! <3)


RECENT CHANGE LOG
- Added more rune combinations
- Added additional explanations
- Readjusted Build paths with explanations
- More secondary runes added
- My top secret Inspiration tree build is now on here! I will be working on a guide for it just for fun!
- Added Triumph as rune option
- Adjusted a few build paths
- Added more details to other runes and itemization paths
- Did NOT remove any old items or runes. Instead, added explanation of why they're no longer good!
- Added explanations and overall game start itemization
- Added "Urason Specials" which are what I usually do every game
- Added "Urason TLDR" which is how I tend to play Samira in a VERY general case.
- Added Gargoyles' as a final item option.

Pros:
+High snowball potential, if you get a lead, you can take it to the next level!
+Strong Team Fighting Ability
+Her W. You can block extremely key ultimate's, like Ornn ult!
+High skill ceiling which means you can always learn something new!
+Extremely Fun and Rewarding once you master her!

Cons:
-Useless when behind.
-Easily countered by Hard CC. (Aka, Requires Discipline)
-Extremely Hard to Master.
-Tends to be Feast or Famine.

Conqueror is Samira's best rune due to how it synergizes best 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!


Triumph is finally a good choice on Samira! Thanks to the buff on her R, she no longer needs Presence of Mind to function mid to late game. That being said, if you're in a lane where you're looking to trade with your Q or use it to farm often, then you may still want presence of mind. Honestly, I'd say it's preference based but Triumph is finally a viable second option! Feel free to try it out!


Presence of Mind is very useful on Samira since it allows her to harass safely in lane as well as get a really nice refund of mana after a kill. Nothing feels worse than going to a fight and coming back with no mana! Can't push a wave if you're oom! A lot of people underestimate this rune but it's extremely useful! That being said, if you don't want to take Presence of Mind, take Overheal instead.


Legend: Bloodline is free stats that can help you have innate life steal later on. It's a great rune, plus, you don't do that great with the other two. While you may have a stronger earlier spike with Alacrity, you're not looking to use that much attack speed later on regardless so it's a wasted stat. Just take your free life steal investment and move on.


Last Stand is what you tend to take in most games. Last stand is best paired with Ravenous hunter and Blood Thirster if you're going to be taking longer fights! It will empower your healing and allow you to survive and dish out consistent DPS.

If you're not going for Blood Thirster and Ravenous, feel free to take Coup de Grace. This pairs extremely well with Infinity Edge 3rd Item as you're looking to shred fights as soon as possible.


I recommend taking Cut Down if you're versus a team with a few tanks and/or Bruisers. It synergizes EXTREMELY well with Lord Dominik's Regards due to the % HP damage boost you get! If you're playing tank shred Samira. It's a must!

Taste of Blood is a necessity on Samira because it gives her some survivability in lane. Combined with PoM, you can harass with your Q to gain free HP back as the mana will be returned as well.

Treasure Hunter is what replaced Ravnous Hunter. This new rune works amazing at snowballing you as hard as possible ASAP. While I don't recommend taking it every game, it can be amazing in matchups where you know you can farm the enemy. 12/10 way better rune than Ravneous hunter was.

Ingenious Hunter is currently a rune that I think is exceptionally good in a lot of situations. If you're versus a team where you can't engage (think Malphite + Maokai), this is a good rune to take. You won't get much value out of Ravenous in that situation so it's best to take this instead. Also, keep in mind that this rune is even stronger if your team is constantly looking to skirmish due to the reduction for your items! It'll shave off 30 seconds from your Galeforce or Immortal Shieldbow which means you'll be able to use them more often. Keep in mind this works for all actives including wards. QSS and GA! VERY GOOD CS CC HEAVY COMPS SINCE THEIR CC TENDS TO BE 1 MIN SO YOUR QSS WILL ALSO BE 1 MIN!

Biscuit Delivery is one that I wouldn't advise in many situations. It's super strong if you're in a REALLY bad laning phase and just need to survive till the midgame. Don't be afraid to take this as it's better for you to survive till midgame with this than to lose lane so hard that Ravenous hunter/Ingenious Hunter don't matter anyway.

Magical Footwear you can pair this with biscuit delivery if you'd like so that you can save money on your boots. HOWEVER, I wouldn't recommend taking free boots if you're in a lane and/or game where you really need the early Tabis/Merc treads. Otherwise, it's a nice option.

Cosmic Insight is a rune that 95% of players shouldn't take as it won't give much value. That being said, feel free to test it out if you truly like it. The idea behind this rune is that it provides you with a summoner spell advantage over your enemy (specifically the support). The reason I say this tends to be exclusive to super high elo is that it's rare that below Masters+, supports are going to trade Flashes and abuse the cooldown difference for a play. *This was found by watching & asking one of the best Samiras in NA!*

Conditioning is a rune that is slowly gaining popularity for ADCs due to its extremely strong stats that allow additional survivability. Plus, if you end up grabbing something like Randuins, Spirit Visage, or Death's dance later on, it'll only increase the value of the rune.

Second Wind is an "okay" rune for Samira. This is good if you need some trade power since you won't have taste of blood. Honestly, I don't think its that worth it most of the time due to how much better other runes are.

Overgrowth is great in combination with conditioning since it only further increases your survivability. It's one of my favorites whenever I feel like I have to get really tanky in order to impact the game.

Revitalize is a good rune to take instead of Ravenous hunter if you're a big healing fanatic. It's value increases even more if you're someone who builds blood thirster and/or if you have enchanters on your team. Overall, not a bad rune but also not my favorite personally.

Unflinching is a good rune to deal with teams that have low cooldown CC that you can't deal with. It's honestly not something to take often but for those games where you have to face a Rammus, Leona (with other CC allies), Sejuani, etc.

Flash 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.

Heal 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.

Exhaust is a NECESSITY if you're going versus champions like Kai'sa, TRISTANA, multiple assassins, Olaf, 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!

Cleanse if you're versus Leona, Ashe, or Varus, 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 exhaust 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!

Mythic Items

Immortal Shieldbow: This is Samira's most used mythic item and it's for good reason. It's build path is extremely good since you can build an early Vampiric Scepter in bad lanes. Alongside this, you get tankier with the passive and also get a nice shield + extra AD. This item is very good all around. It can save your life pretty often so don't overlook it! With it's changes to providing AD instead of Lifesteal, it's still a really good item overall. Just think about it, you get to use the AD extremely well AND champions like Yone and Yasuo can't abuse the Lifesteal passive anymore. Overall, it's a really good item.

Galeforce: This item provides Samira with some much needed mobility. I wouldn't recommend picking this up in a ranked game most of the time. It's a way different playstyle but it's great at snowballing your lead. Plus, it's a free way to dodge something like a bard ult! That being said, 95% of the time, you won't be building this anyway. HOWEVER, I 100% recommend it vs teams that you know are going to stack Serpent's fang. It'll make sure you get full value out of your mythic item early and mid game. It's honestly no longer that great of an item but it's a ton of fun! Otherwise, stick to shieldbow.

2nd Items

Essence Reaver: Essence Reaver is a decent item vs teams that you simply can't engage into. It used to be a really good option, but with it's nerfs, it's become pretty useless. That being said, I only grab it 2nd item. Give it a try in your next normal game and I'm sure you won't be sorry! (Since you can't engage into the enemy, you'll be an auto + Q robot till an opportunity opens!) *I wouldn't build this anymore in a MAJORITY of my games. It's just not as good anymore*

The Collector: The Collector is the generic Samira item that everyone loves. It's passive is a bit overrated but, it's still a true damage execute. Nonetheless, it's one of the best items she can buy due to its stats. You'll go this most games as a standard 2nd item since it allows you to snowball your lead, delete squishies, plus, there's not that many other options.

Lord Dominik's Regards: Lord Dominik's Regards functions as an AMAZING 2nd item vs teams that have even just a few tanks/bruisers. It deals similar damage to collector with the trade off of additional tank shred. This is your tool to win mid game vs tanky teams (most games don't get to 3-4 items so building it late is useless)! With it's amazing buffs (and even though it's getting SMALL NERFS), it's a really good item 2nd on a ton of ADCs at the moment, including Samira. Don't make the mistake of stalling this out! Mathematically, LDR is almost always better than collector. That being said, Collector will FEEL better even if it isn't. If you're a numbers person, then take LDR second every game (unless they're literally pure squishies that aren't building defensively). Otherwise, I'd say its preference based and won't matter in most games at average rank.

Serpent's Fang: I honestly rarely go Serpent's Fang and kinda dislike it but, it's really good vs shield reliant teams. Things like a lot of champs that stack steraks, Seraphine, Ivern, etc. will give you the full value of this item. Otherwise, don't bother

Mercurial Scimitar: Since your 2nd slot tends to be pretty flexible with Samira, it's a really good place to put your QSS item if needed. As stated with LDR, games don't last that long anymore. Don't lose a match because you decided to greed and wait to grab QSS 4th item instead of 2nd!

3rd Items

Infinity Edge: A lot of people are starting to prefer IE instead of BT and I agree. It provides a lot of damage to your kit (which is necessary for healing + nerfs). Plus, since your escape tool now is to get a kill, you kinda have to commit to killing them. This item is really good in a majority of games if you're looking to wipe teams as fast as possible. Aka, if team fights aren't stalling for super long, this is the item for you! This tends to be paired with Coup de Grace or Cut Down and your choice of Ingenious Hunter or Treasure Hunter.

Bloodthirster: A lot of Samira players love BT because it heals for so much and gives you the classic Healing Samira vibes. Unfortunately, healing has been nerfed for pretty much your whole kit so it's not as good. That being said, it's great for games where you need additional survivability and don't get bursted quickly. This item is still an amazing option if you're playing into teams where team fights are going to be lasting a bit. Be sure to pair this with Ravenous Hunter and Last Stand.

Situationals

Mortal Reminder: Mortal Reminder is just standard Anti-heal. Upgrade the item last, just grab an executioner's calling early on.

Sterak's Gage: If you opted for the Galeforce build and you need additional survivability, here's your option! If you went Immortal Shieldbow, you CANNOT build it. Like, the game won't let you. That being said, this is extremely rare due to Galeforce becoming even more niche than it already was :(( .

Mercurial Scimitar: I mean.... We all know what it does. Be sure to pick this up if the enemy has hard CC that can stop you in your tracks. Things like Skarner ult or Malzahar ult are nightmares to deal with, without this especially because you're short ranged!

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!

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 Zed + Cait + Irelia, this is for you. Otherwise, steer clear.

Spirit Visage: Here's the MR counterpart of Randuin's Omen. I rarely build it but when I do, it's amazing. Assuming this is near the end of the game, champions like Evelynn and Ryze will instantly delete you. This is your option to stop that from happening + it empowers your healing from both Immortal Shieldbow and Bloodthirster!

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 EXHAUST. 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 Kassadin or Karthus 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 Spirit Visage or Force of Nature.

Boots

Berserker's Greaves: A lot of people buying these on Samira but I really like them. These tend to be my go-to unless I really need defense, which also tends to happen often. Keep in mind, you're still an ADC that's autoing quite a lot so these boots still have a bit of value. I especially like this if I need to play back and can't dive in as often.

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!

Plated Steelcaps: Again, here's your armor option. This is really good vs auto attack reliant champs! Champions like Lucian, Rengar, Caitlyn, and even Vayne are dominated by this item until later on. It's a really good choice for some defensive stats early on!

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.

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 flash, especially when combined with cosmic insight.

Combo's are a work in progress!
While I work on new videos to make better combos and explanations I want to make sure there's still something educational here! So, here's my old guide video. (The content is old but all the combo's are still valid! The video link will automatically skip the combo's section <3)

Here are some written out combos! As mentioned above, the videos themselves are still being worked on :(((. Regardless, keep in mind that a lot of these combos are situational, niche, or overall, just too unrealistic to be used often. Most of the time, you'll be autoing and Q'ing before diving in so it's rare you'll have to perform an instant E-S combo.

Instant S Combos (Super Impractical)

AA | Q | W | E | W2 | AA or Q | R |
AA | W | E+Q | AA | W2 | S |
AA | W | E | Q | AA | W2 | R |

Fast, Yet Practical, Combos

AA | Q | AA | E | AA | W | R |
AA | E | AA | Q | AA | W | R |

MOST Common Team Fight Combos

AA | Q | AA | Q | AA | E | R | (Most commonly used since you'll rarely instant dive in mid-game teamfights.)
AA | Q | AA | W+E+Q | R (Needs lvl 9/Q Max)

Notes + Disclaimers!

- Q, Auto is faster than Auto, Q.
- Q + E has wider arc and *citation needed* more lifesteal than E+Q. However, Both are fine
- There are a ton of other combos not mentioned here but they are beyond the realm of usable in most games. These include using your taunt for a style, using E W through multiple people, Flash canceling with taunt/E/W, etc. There a lot of cool videos that cover things like this! Although impractical, they're still neat!

Early Game

As Samira, 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.

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!

Urason TLDR

If you're looking at this section of the guide, you're most likely wondering how I utilize my favorite runes, items, and overall playstyle. While I can't explain every situation, this is where I'll cover how I GENERALLY play Samira and what are some good answers to certain situations. This isn't meant to be pretty but it should be extremely useful. I'll be breaking down why I do certain things with my "Urason Specials" and things of that sort.

Ability Order: I usually do the generic Q -> E -> W max BUT I've started to really like Q -> W -> E at the moment. With how the meta is, you kind of need every bit of damage you can get because your DPS is kind of low compared to other marksmen. Pair this with the fact that they outrange you and your DPS hits rock bottom since you'll die so quickly. W max second is really good at giving you a powerful mid-game spike in damage since it deal literally double the damage of your E in exchange for losing the attack speed boost. Overall, I wouldn't say it's game changing but it's something I've become more aware of when I play Samira.

Runes: The notes section really describes why I like the runepage that I like. It provides your usual stats which help you spike hard mid-game but it also gives you a TON of free scaling and survivability. Pair this with my love for tank items on Samira and you've got yourself a pretty tanky ADC that is really hard to kill. The only thing I really switch out is Presence of Mind and Triumph sometimes as well as Second Wind and Conditioning.

Starting Items: The longsword with 3 potions tends to be my favorite start of all time at the moment. It lets you play reckless and gain a massive health advantage if the enemy carry goes Doran's Blade. On top of this, it gives you a ton of early game survivability vs poke lanes. Which, in that case, let's you grab a Vamp Scepter really fast so you can survive longer. If you don't need the sustain, then you can just grab noonquiver for some help with waveclear.

Items: While I wouldn't say Shieldbow is my favorite, there's just nothing else to really build on Samira at the moment. For my second item, my decision making tends to go as follows. Am I ahead/do they lack defensive stats? Yes? Then I'm going collector even though I shouldn't. Are they tanky and I need to build tank shred because if not then we will lose mid game? Then I am going to grab Lord Dominik's Regards. Does the enemy team completely lack hard CC and fights will go long? Then I'm most likely grabbing a blood thirster. For my 3rd item, I will either grab IE to wipe squishy teams, LDR to help with tank shred, or maybe some odd item. Afterwards, I'll look to grab either something like IE/BT or opt for a tank item. My favorite tank items are Randuins when dealing with dive-assassins, Chains when dealing with an isolated target of a specific kind of damage, Spirit Visage for heavy AP teams, or Gargoyle's Stoneplate if I'm going to be my team's front line. Yes. That sounds very weird. I don't care it's how I play and you're going to like it. Plus, these defensive items give conditioning a TON of value!

Playstyle: At the moment, I will generally play off of missteps and wait for skirmishes to pick up random kills. If I'm able to get free early kills then I will always go for it. The issue is that nearly everything outscales you so it can be pretty risky to force plays. One wrong move and you're now getting outscaled and outranged with ease. I look to wait for my opponent to mess up and play with my team mid-game or during river skirmishes. Afterwards, I wait for the perfect opportunity to strike and dive in.

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.

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