"Name's Samira. Try not to slow me down."

Peak Rank: Grandmaster 825 LP EUW
Main Champs: Samira, Jhin, Lucian, Pyke

Hello! I'm Sheriff , a Grandmaster Samira main from EUW. The moment she was released back in 2020 I instantly fell in love. You see; I play League for fun. I couldn't care less about playing the meta. Samira's exciting playstyle and fast combos just bring me so much joy. And of course looking stylish while doing it is also important. Because of my love, knowledge and talent for the champion I decided to make this guide. It's the first proper guide I've ever made so any feedback is highly appreciated. Social media follows are very welcome as well because I wanna try streaming somewhere in the future if I get a better internet. A massive thanks to you for reading and I hope that you can find success and fun with Samira! Twitter Twitch

"Virtues? I've got a few. Vices? Heh, a few more."

Pros

- Very fun to play
- Excellent snowballing
- Great in teamfights
- Easy to 1v9 games when ahead
- Good scaling

Cons

- Countered by CC
- Too coinflip, in most games you will either drop 15 kills or 15 deaths
- Gets easily outranged/outpoked by most ranged champs in the botlane
- Very reliant on support
- Useless when weaksided
- Really low base damage without items

"Push my limits! I dare you."

I already rated the matchups and synergies above but I would just like to say a few general words about them. When playing Samira it doesn't matter that much what champion the enemy ADC is. What matters is the support matchup. Let's say for example that the enemy ADC is Jhin. In general he counters you in lane but his support is Yuumi and your support is Nautilus. That means that even though the ADC matchup is not in your favor you should be able to win because the support matchup is. Also I only rated the ADC and support matchups and couple hard counters outside of botlane. In general Samira gets countered by hard CC and tankiness.

"Jackpot!"

Daredevil Impulse (Passive)

Hover over the icon to see the default description.

I assume that you already have the basic understanding of what her abilities do so instead I will just give some extra detailed information about them.

The passive dash range towards CC'd enemies scales from level (lvl 1/4/8/12/16). This means that on earlier levels you have to be close to your support so you don't miss out on an opportunity to engage.

The bonus movespeed is not much but at higher Style-grades (B+) it can allow you to chase down opponents who don't have any bonus movespeed on them. This bonus also scales from level (lvl 1/6/11/16).

Flair (Q)

Hover over the icon to see the default description.

This is just your basic trading/poking/farming ability. The base damage on it is absolutely miserable for the first couple ranks but it scales really well. One small thing to note is that your autoattack comes out faster after using Flair.

Blade Whirl (W)

Hover over the icon to see the default description.

This is what people call " Samira's Wind Wall". It's her most valuable ability since it can block very important spells such as Renata Glasc's Hostile Takeover or Ornn's Call of the Forge God. It obviously has a very long cooldown so I wouldn't waste it on any small poke. It is also the key ability in the one second S-tier combo since it has two slashes that can both give you a Style-grade.

Wild Rush (E)

Hover over the icon to see the default description.

Not rocket science, just a basic dash that resets with takedowns (assuming you damaged them within the last 3 seconds). Always use Flair during the dash when you are going for enemy champions for the fastest damage. During Inferno Trigger it's very important to look for the next target to dash into when you are about to get a reset.

Inferno Trigger (R)

Hover over the icon to see the default description.

This is pretty much the whole point of the champion: massive AOE damage. However you need to have vision on an enemy to activate it, for example you cannot ult Akali when she is in her Twilight Shroud unless there is another enemy champion/minion next to her. Also keep in mind that you're quite slow during the ult since it has a 30% self-slow and it instantly takes away all of your 6 Style-grades. You can also use Galeforce during the ult so you can have multiple dashes when combined with Wild Rush. Sometimes there's even a bug where you can use autoattacks and Flair during the channel but that is not intended.

"Think fast!"

In theory Samira has hundreds of different combos because of her Daredevil Impulse but I will just show a couple examples including the most important of them all: the one second S-tier combo.

Basic Auto-Q-Auto Trade

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Very simple to use in quick trades, gives you 3 Style-grades (halfway to S-tier).
Play Video
Short Trade Into All-In

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Not the fastest combo but it's pretty easy to start from. Remember that you only have to tap Blade Whirl to proc the final Style-grade for S-tier and you can just instantly ult without even showing the W animation. In some situations it might be wise to hold it for just a moment longer if there's something to block.
Play Video
Jumpscare Combo (B+)

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This combo includes a mindgame: you pretend that you have no intentions of going in and you are just running away. Once you have gathered enough Style you start your Blade Whirl animation and during that animation you Flash Wild Rush into the target and instantly ult.
Play Video
Jumpscare Combo (C)

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Same idea but a bit slower since you are going in with one less Style-grade than before so you need that extra autoattack before you can ult.
Play Video
the One Second S-tier Combo

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Samira's most important and my favorite combo. Extremely deadly when diving enemy ADC's under their turret if they're alone. Every Samira player should know and learn this combo so I highly recommend practicing it in practice tool. You might be wondering why does it only need five different attacks (road to S-tier is six stacks). Blade Whirl has two slashes, one starts before you use your Wild Rush, by the time the second slash arrives you have already used Wild Rush and Flair.
Play Video
Dives with the one second S-tier combo should look like this:
Play Video

"I'm not built to win. I'm built to conquer."

Check the very top of the guide for some example rune pages (7 in total) and their notes for explanations!

Keystone

Conqueror

Doesn't really need a long explanation, Samira simply doesn't have any other consistently viable keystones. It provides her bonus AD and some sustain in longer fights.

Electrocute

If the enemy team is extremely squishy with no tanks/bruisers whatsoever Electrocute isn't actually half-bad. It is still mostly just a for-fun rune and you should just run Conqueror 99,9% of the time.

Primary Tree: Precision

Slot 1:

Triumph

I take this 99% of the time, it fits the "daredevil" playstyle perfectly, allows you to make risky (and fun) outplays.

Presence of Mind

If the enemy team is really tanky (3+ tanks) you might need some extra mana in fights (tankier enemies = longer fights = more mana used).

Slot 2:

Legend: Bloodline

Honestly, this rune isn't even that good because it's been nerfed multiple times in the past but it's still the best Legend-rune for Samira.

Legend: Alacrity

If you feel like you want some extra earlygame power, this rune replaces the 10% attack speed shard and allows you to take double adaptive shards (+5.4 AD). Only downside is that you will feel the lack of Legend: Bloodline later but you can always just buy Bloodthirster. Also a really solid rune if you're buying BT first.

Slot 3:

Last Stand

Just like Triumph I take this 99% of the time, it fits her playstyle perfectly, also at the max damage point (30% HP) your Immortal Shieldbow activates and allows you to turn the fight with some crazy damage.

Cut Down

Decent rune if your team is full of enchanters or you're rushing Bloodthirster (you won't be spending that much time on low HP for Last Stand).

Coup de Grace

Just like Cut Down, decent rune if your team is full of enchanters or you're rushing Bloodthirster (you won't be spending that much time on low HP for Last Stand).

Secondary Tree Option 1: Domination

Slot 1:

Sudden Impact

Offers some solid burst damage for aggressive all-ins. Personally I liked the old version more when it gave you lethality and after the rework I use it a bit less.

Taste of Blood

Personally I almost never use this but if you struggle with lane sustain it can be useful. My main concern is that it feels kinda useless after laning phase.

Slot 2:

Eyeball Collection

A beautiful rune that isn't even in the game anymore but I still wanna remember it.

Slot 3:

Treasure Hunter

Just like Eyeball Collection ,excellent for snowballing, for example helps you get an early B. F. Sword if you kill the enemy botlane.

Secondary Tree Option 2: Resolve

Slot 1:

---

Slot 2:

Conditioning

Very strong defensive scaling for free. Goes well with Overgrowth.

Bone Plating

This used to be good against the Lucian Nami combo but since the Electrocute interaction was removed it's way more situational. Decent if enemy botlane has strong all-in but almost 0 poke ( Tristana Alistar for example). Really good against melee heavy teams in general.

Second Wind

Can help you in laning phase if the enemy botlane has 2 long range poke champs ( Caitlyn Senna for example).

Slot 3:

Overgrowth

Strong defensive scaling for free. Goes well with Conditioning. Good choice if you think the lane is gonna be boring and it's all about scaling. Take this against Heimerdinger because Overgrowth works on his turrets!

Revitalize

Can be good when playing with enchanters, it makes their champions more useful and also increases your Immortal Shieldbow shield, Triumph healing and all your lifesteal.

Unflinching

A situational rune when enemy team has many CC champs. Personally I call it the Ashe counter since it procs from her autoattacks.

Secondary Tree Option 3: Inspiration

Slot 1:

Magical Footwear

To me this is just a safer version of Treasure Hunter. With Treasure Hunter you can get 450g in total if you get all 5 unique enemy takedowns. You don't have to get any takedowns with Magical Footwear (of course if you do you get them faster) and you just get a 300g item for free by 12 minutes. Good rune for boring games.

Slot 2:

Biscuit Delivery

The old biscuits were more focused on mana and because of that I think they were pretty useless on Samira. Now they're purely just a health rune and can truly save your life when used on low health. Also acts as a mini Overgrowth since you get 90 bonus HP.

Slot 3:

Cosmic Insight

Having lower cooldowns on your summoner spells never hurts. Excellent when the enemy ADC also has this rune (you can match their Exhaust timer with your Cleanse). Also the item haste isn't completely useless, it reduces Immortal Shieldbow's cooldown by 8 seconds, making it 82s.

Secondary Tree Option 4: Sorcery

Slot 1:

Axiom Arcanist

A simple 8% damage increase to your ult. The cooldown refund on takedowns rarely matters but sometimes if you get like a triplekill you get your ult back 1 second faster.

Slot 2:

Absolute Focus

Solid rune when you're planning to rush Bloodthirster. Your lifesteal will keep you healthy which also keeps this rune active most of the time. It is also the opposite of Last Stand so I would pair this with either Cut Down or Coup de Grace.

Slot 3:

Gathering Storm

If you have zero faith in your team and just wanna free scale. I'm not a fan of runes that have no impact in the earlygame but if it fits your playstyle then go for it.

Shards

Slot 1:

Attack Speed or Adaptive if you're running Legend: Alacrity

Slot 2:

Adaptive

Slot 3:

Flat Health or Scaling Health if the botlane matchup looks really boring and you just wanna scale

"Money buys a gun or two. Thrill buys a reputation."

Starting Items

Doran's Blade & 1 Health Potion

This is your default start against pretty much all lanes. The bonus HP from Doran's Blade is very useful in all-ins. The lifesteal also scales pretty well so hold this item as long as you can.

First B / Early Buys

B.F. Sword

Big chunk of AD that builds into Bloodthirster or Infinity Edge.

Serrated Dirk

Solid component that upgrades into The Collector, Hubris or Youmuu's Ghostblade.

Pickaxe

Builds into both The Collector and Infinity Edge which are usually your first items.

Refillable Potion

If you have some extra gold and the game is still in early laning phase (before 10min).

Boots

Grab tier 1 boots if you don't have any damage items to buy or if you need to get back to the lane faster.

Vampiric Scepter

Good sustain that builds into Bloodthirster.

First Item

The Collector

Simply the most reliable first item for Samira.

Bloodthirster

A really safe and solid sustain item that helps you against poke champs and keeps you up in longer fights.

Infinity Edge

A very expensive but also a very strong item. Usually you would be buying The Collector first but if you just have the money grabbing IE is not a terrible idea.

Hubris

Extremely fun snowballing item for fistfight games, just keep in mind that you shouldn't buy it on autopilot every single game.

Second Item

Infinity Edge

If you rushed The Collector or Bloodthirster you usually want this after it.

The Collector

Default second item if you didn't buy it first.

Immortal Shieldbow

If the enemy team has many assassins you might need some safety. Excellent synergy with Last Stand.

Youmuu's Ghostblade

If you already have The Collector, enemy team is squishy and you just have the money for it. Good cheap item for tempo.

Hubris

Extremely fun snowballing item for fistfight games, just keep in mind that you shouldn't buy it on autopilot every single game.

Profane Hydra

You already have good waveclear so this item is not for that, it just gives you really strong damage in combos and all-ins. You can and you should use the active during your Blade Whirl or Inferno Trigger.

Third Item

Infinity Edge

If you still don't have this item BUY IT RIGHT NOW!

Lord Dominik's Regards

About 70% of the time this is your best third item. This is when people are starting to have enough bonus armor for it to have proper value.

Immortal Shieldbow

If the enemy team has many assassins you might need some safety. Excellent synergy with Last Stand.

Bloodthirster

If the enemy team has a lot of poke and you really need some sustain this is very useful.

The Collector

A fine item to close out games against squishy teamcomps.

Mortal Reminder

Before the changes in patch 13.1B this item used to be completely useless on Samira, however with the attack speed removed and armor pen added it is now very good in certain situations. If you are facing many healing champs and your team isn't building any healing reduction this item is highly recommended.

Maw of Malmortius

If the enemy team is AP heavy and you didn't buy Immortal Shieldbow this is your best defensive item.

Opportunity

Just like Youmuu's Ghostblade, a good cheap item for tempo against squishy teamcomps.

Hubris

This is still good as a third item, I wouldn't buy it any later than this.

Profane Hydra

You already have good waveclear so this item is not for that, it just gives you really strong damage in combos and all-ins. You can and you should use the active during your Blade Whirl or Inferno Trigger.

Fourth Item

Lord Dominik's Regards

If you still didn't buy any armor pen and the enemy team is getting tankier, now is the time to do so.

Mortal Reminder

Before the changes in patch 13.1B this item used to be completely useless on Samira, however with the attack speed removed and armor pen added it is now very good in certain situations. If you are facing many healing champs and your team isn't building any healing reduction this item is highly recommended.

Bloodthirster

At this stage of the game Bloodthirster always works if you don't have any other situational items to buy.

Death's Dance

Really good defensive item that also gives you some damage. Helps you carry teamfights, even better against AD heavy teams.

Mercurial Scimitar

If you are playing against uncleansable CC ( Malzahar, Skarner).

Jak'Sho, The Protean

Solid item for long teamfights where you just wanna stay alive to do damage.

Serylda's Grudge

A fun off-meta armor pen option. Makes your Inferno Trigger harder to escape.

Black Cleaver

Excellent armor pen choice against 2+ heavy armor champs, really fast to stack on Samira since it requires 6 attacks (just like S-tier), also great if your team is AD heavy since it shreds the armor for others too.

Frozen Heart

A very cheap armor item against heavy AD comps.

Opportunity

Just like Youmuu's Ghostblade, a good cheap item for tempo against squishy teamcomps.

Last Item

Guardian Angel

Really good defensive item against assassin-heavy comps.

Bloodthirster

At this stage of the game Bloodthirster always works if you don't have any other situational items to buy.

Death's Dance

Really good defensive item that also gives you some damage. Helps you carry teamfights, even better against AD heavy teams.

Kaenic Rookern

Extremely strong item against AP heavy comps.

Spirit Visage

Another strong item against AP, even better if you have an enchanter. It also improves your Immortal Shieldbow shield and all your lifesteal.

Randuin's Omen

Great choice against 2+ crit champs ( Yasuo / Yone + crit ADC).

Black Cleaver

Excellent armor pen choice against 2+ heavy armor champs, really fast to stack on Samira since it requires 6 attacks (just like S-tier), also great if your team is AD heavy since it shreds the armor for others too.

Mercurial Scimitar

If you are playing against uncleansable CC ( Malzahar, Skarner).

Edge of Night

A rare situational choice if the enemy team lacks poke that can easily break the spellshield and if they have some very important spells that can mess you up (great example: Vayne, only actual spell that she has is Condemn that could cancel your ult).

Serpent's Fang

Extremely rare situational item when the enemy team is full of shields and no one on your team can build this item.

Jak'Sho, The Protean

Solid item for long teamfights where you just wanna stay alive to do damage.

Boots

Plated Steelcaps

About 70% of the time these are your boots of choice.

Mercury's Treads

Very simple; against AP heavy and CC heavy teamcomps.

Boots of Swiftness

Good against many slowing champs such as Ashe or Nasus.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity

Decent choice if you value your summoner spells, you are not buying these for the ability haste. If the enemy team has Exhaust with Cosmic Insight, these boots will help you match the timer with your Cleanse.

Berserker's Greaves

Really greedy, if you feel like you already won and don't need defensive boots. Personally I would just never go these if I care about winning.

Situational Buys

Negatron Cloak

45 MR for 850g, amazing buy against a fed AP assassin (or Karthus), can be upgraded into Kaenic Rookern later.

Quicksilver Sash

If you are playing against uncleansable CC ( Malzahar, Skarner). Can be upgraded into Mercurial Scimitar later.

Executioner's Calling

Solid item if enemy healing is becoming a problem, can be upgraded into Mortal Reminder later.

Seeker's Armguard

Stopwatch no longer exists but there might be situations where you really need the stasis effect (enemy Zed or Karthus is really fed), even though you gain nothing from the AP a well used Armguard can literally win you the game.

Elixir

Elixir of Wrath

Usually the default elixir for Samira, the AD + physical vamp just fits perfectly.

Elixir of Iron

If you need some tenacity and survivability.

"I fight on my terms."

Flash

Doesn't need to be explained, Samira is unplayable without Flash, always take it no matter what.

Cleanse

I take Cleanse 99,5% of the time, main reason being that out of all ADC's Samira suffers the most from the effects of Exhaust and they share the same cooldown. if the enemy team doesn't have Exhaust you can focus on Cleansing some hard CC or Ignite.

Exhaust

Good against assassins or burst champs. Remember that Exhaust doesn't work on true damage so it's kinda useless against champions like Camille.

Barrier

In patch 14.10 Barrier got some big buffs and is currently used by most ADC's. Really good summoner spell when the enemy team has no CC.

Heal

Decent if the enemy team has no burst or CC, however I would still personally almost always go Cleanse in the case you are playing against Exhaust.

"I'm bored. Fight me!"

Earlygame

First thing you need to understand is that what comes to base-stats Samira is one of the worst pre-6 ADC's. Even though she is known to be a snowball champion that doesn't mean that she actually has an easy time creating a lead early on. Try to land some easy poke with Flair but don't spam too many abilities since you wanna save some mana for all-ins. Only use your Wild Rush and Blade Whirl for waveclear if you know for a fact that there are no enemy champions nearby and you just wanna shove the wave and recall. On hard lanes giving up some CS is completely fine as long as you get XP. Hitting level 6 is crucial because that's where most of your damage comes from. I already mentioned this in the ability order notes but I will quickly say it again: hold your first 3 level-ups until you are actually planning to use an ability. There will be situations where for example you might need Blade Whirl on level 2.

Midgame

This is when you wanna start participating in teamfights and getting objectives with your team. Usually play for midlane since that's the closest to all other objectives. Ideally you should have 2 items right now and that is your first spike. If you are the strongest member on your team you have to be ready to teamfight because that is where your champion excels. If your team tries to take a fight without you, just try to ping them back as much as you can. Don't get poked too much so you're not forced to recall. Try to only recall for big items (let's say items that cost more than 1000g). Also make sure to ping that you are recalling for an item.

Lategame

Pretty much like midgame but with less recalling because the objectives and fights are becoming even more important. With many items you are extremely strong damage-wise but you are still playing ADC so 1 simple mistake and the game might be over for you. In teamfights you need to understand what abilities can mess you up and you have to wait for them before going in. Against some comps you could just slowly poke them with Flair and gather Style-grades but against long range that just isn't possible. If some enemy walks too close you could surprise them with Flash into the one second S-tier combo. Usually patience is key, wait out the important abilities and go for the cleanup.

"Don't hold back. I won't."

Q: Best champion to ban if you're onetricking Samira?

A: Your biggest ADC counter is Nilah but she's just too unpopular and therefore not worth a ban. You can ban what you want but I would recommend getting rid of some tanky hard CC champ like Vi or Alistar.

Q: Is Samira mid/top viable?

A: Not really, she can work on those lanes in a good matchup but in midlane she cannot lane against most mages and in toplane she gets destroyed by most bruisers/tanks.

Q: Best Samira skin?

A: PsyOps with obsidian chroma.

Q: Should I sell boots for a sixth item?

A: I would only replace boots with Youmuu's Ghostblade or Phantom Dancer (if you don't yet have 100% crit). If you have Cloud Soul then I would just buy any item even if it doesn't have movespeed in it.

"The term's PsyOps, short for Psychic Operations. My name's Samira, short for styling on idiots."

PsyOps: 9/10 - Overall just a really good skin, even better with the obsidian chroma!

Soul Fighter: 8.5/10 - This skin would easily be 10/10 if it was legendary. As cool as it looks it's just not worth 3250 RP. Still, if we ignore the price and just focus on the skin itself, it's definitely one of the best ones.

Default: 8/10 - If you don't like spending money on skins, don't worry; Samira has one of the best default skins in the entire game!

High Noon: 7.5/10 - Only reason I'm putting this under default is because her default skin is already very close to High Noon and default doesn't cost you any money. Overall the skin is very decent and has some cool chromas too.

Masque of the Black Rose: 5.5/10 - Not a terrible skin but also just not very high quality. In my opinion it's just a downgrade from the default skin.

Space Groove: 0.5/10 - Absolute disgrace of a skin, I have never even played with it and I never will (unless you pay me). Everything about it is just ugly and there is not a single bit that I like.