Nami Build Guide : [13.5] 🌊Dotje's in-depth guide on Nami

First time Nami?

Make sure to check out the General tips chapter >>here<<

The basic + page is a perfect start (I still use it too but with attack speed)
Build the meta build and you'll never go wrong.
Unless you're really uncomfortable, I guess is perhaps a little more relaxed to start with.

Build string to paste in client

Nami's E will still proc the items/runes listed below, but will only count once and not all three procs like it did before.

So for example, building together with an item like will make your E an insane buff for your ally. I'd personally suggest using this on an ally that is most likely to burst someone down.

Since the nerf in 12.17 Nami's E can not proc by itself through an ally.
The rune could still be a fun burst to try, since at least one proc of your E on an ally will count.

Careful about applying you E to an ally when owning because this can steal kills! If you do not want to steal kills, don't apply your E on an ally when the enemy is about to die.

˙✰.‧˙﹤Hey fellow summoner!﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Welcome to my guide! This is my very first guide that I will try to update continuously. Before you get started I would like to inform you that:
I'm NOT a pro. Please keep in mind that some of my advice is experience/opinion based!

Everybody has their own play style and opinion, and I try to consider that! Just keep in mind that you have to find out what works for you. And don't assume I know everything or am right about everything! It's also important to consider different playstyles work at different skill-levels.

To get around this now pretty big guide faster you should definitely make use of the navigation bar on the right.
And make sure to hover overin the top right for more information about the item and rune builds!

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Short about me﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Drawn by Rosyre https://www.instagram.com/rinzuri/

Hello I'm Dotje I'm 25 years old and I have been playing league for 5+ seasons now.
Playing league for me is about having fun, despite that I managed to hit masters and play on a decent level. I play on the EUW servers and sometimes on NA. I mainly play support because I enjoy enabling my teammates and because I used to always have internet and fps issues. Recently I have been practicing new champions and roles but support is my go to.

I've played for a lot of seasons now and many considered me the best player they know. After my internet and FPS issues got resolved I still love her because you always have a shot on winning with her, especially below diamond. is really fun to play because of her fun, challenging but also flexible kit. Make sure to at least try her out once :)

Recently (march 2023) started working on this guide again after a year break

Recent guide updates (click here to view)

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤The safe blind pick﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

To give you a better insight into 's capabilities I listed some pro and cons below.
is a very flexible champion which makes it hard to properly counter her strengths. Her flexibility allows her to fit into most team compositions with preferably one fronliner. Even if you had a bad start she will still have a good shot at winning.
Not everybody knows 's true power though and will give up regardless.

Most importantly is fun to play

---Pros---

[+] High mobility
[+] Engage
[+] Disengage
[+] Health sustain
[+] Fits in almost every teamcomp
[+] Can shutdown carry champions
[+] Playable with bad internet/fps

has a lot of mobility thanks to her passive, you can apply it on allies or yourself. This helps with engaging and disengaging as does moving to safety during a trade.
has a bit of everything, and great sustain (except for her mana pool which is fixable) this means she fits every team composition and is harder to counter. Her Q and R can be great to shut down carry champions when needed. Because her ultimate is huge, and at least 2 abilities are on-click you can play her with a bad internet connection/fps.

---Cons---

[-] Needs one frontliner to really work
[-] Squishy
[-] Hard to hit skillshot(Q)

really needs a frontliner to properly work, else she can't set up fights or keep her allies alive. It's possible to make it work but, when your team doesn't have a frontliner, they're often just waiting to get caught and die.
is very squishy, in some matchups it's better to go and . This does make you lose possible lane dominance. You have to really learn how to position if you do not want to feed. The only other bad thing she has is her hard to hit skillshot Q . You can set up a slow to land this ability, but in a stressful situation it's unreliable.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Tips to master Nami﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

When you main a champion you often know a little more about a champion than casual players. This is why I'm adding some champion specific tips in here for people to pick up. Make sure to click on the spoiler at the bottom of this chapter for even more tips.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤General knowledge﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Don't use your Q for no reason! The best pressure is to hold on to it for the right moment/set up.
This doesn't mean you should never try to hit a cheeky bubble.
In teamfights try to always use your W on an ally for the double heal and movementspeed buff!
When trading, try to always use W on the enemy. Doing this will make you instantly heal back the damage they do during this trade. You'll even have a chance to make it double bounce on the other enemy laner for a bit more damage.
If you and your adc are getting low in lane you could try to go for the double heal instead. It's most reliable to cast W on your adc when he's in range of an enemy and then walk up to receive the second heal.
Hitting your abilities on allies gives them a movement speed buff. Which means your Q Aqua Prison too!
Consider not using your W when your ally is ignited, since Ignite takes 5 seconds and your W cooldown is 10 seconds. Ignite will reduce your healing by 40% which could have saved your ally by using patience.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Quick tips﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Use E to get around faster (or to get in lane). The mana cost is low enough to regenerate back before using E again.
Your W has a slightly bigger range when it's bouncing off someone. This means if you self-cast the ability it will hit slightly further. Same with bouncing it off an enemy or another ally.
Use your Q on bushes you're about to facecheck. Your Q reveals an enemy it hits.
Try to always sneak in a basic attack especially while trading with W for more spellthief stacks.
While peeling an ally from a melee champion, aim your Q for your allies position. This will speed up your ally as well give you a good shot at hitting the enemy.

Advanced tips (click here to view)

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Advanced tips﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Spellshields will only block one bounce. This means Ebb and Flow will continue to bounce onto other champions and is able to bounce back onto the champion that blocked the ability.
Trading by casting W on yourself will not attract minion aggro. If the enemy has a big wave it's best not to attract minion aggro to prevent a lot of damage being dealt to you. If you then use an auto attack too you will get the minion aggro.
When aiming a major part of your Q hitbox out of vison (for example into a bush), the Q hitbox will not be shown to enemies. It is visible to you though. This has a great use to surprise enemies that are retreating towards a bush.
Try not to engage with your R. Making your team win a team fight with a good engage is great. It's most reliable to hold your ability for a moment where the enemy is out of position. Some games it's also very important to hold your R for a certain enemy.
Casting E while you or your allies basic attack or ability is mid-air instantly triggers first proc.
Use ALT to instantly self-cast W or E . Use ALT+E for mid air basic attacks if you're planning on utilizing the slow
Consider using attack speed in runes instead of adaptive force or ability haste. Having the extra attack speed helps with a faster ward clear, AA trades and faster spellthief procs. Being able to AA faster keeps you a little safer.
Try to always hit Q after you R . Doing this is the most reliable combo. This combo does leave an opening for the enemy to flash/dash out after the knock-up.
Hitting your Q before your R is the best combo. The stun time from your Q is longer than the knockup from your R. This means that during this combo they can't flash/dash out.
If you're using a lot of basic attacks to trade in lane. You should mostly cast E on yourself. In lane your ad is mostly focused on last hitting minions. You can also more reliably set up a slow for hitting Q. If your ad is caught I often cast E on myself too because of the slow and potential damage.
Time your trades. A good moment to force a trade is when the enemy adc is about to last-hit a minion, especially canon minions are a good opportunity. The same is for the enemy melee support if he's going for a relic stack. If the enemy wasted their abilities like Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab you can also try to force a trade. Outside of this you should make sure you don't overextend when the enemy jungler is around.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Matchup tips:﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

You can lure out spellshield by poking with an aggressive E. Because they're slowed they will be vulnerable and expect you to cast Q Aqua Prison. In some cases it can be worth to bounce off an W Ebb and Flow right before your Q Aqua Prison to pop the spellshield and hit your ability. If a Morgana doesn't level her spellshield you can often outdamage the shield by hitting your W and E.
It's best to stay out of hook-range when playing versus a hook champion. Keep your bushes warded and consider trading when their hook is on cooldown.
Do not throw your abilities blindly into a team with a Yasuo, Samira or Braum. They can block everything so make sure to wait out the ability. You Q cooldown is lower than their block abilities so it's possible to bait it out!

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Tips vs assassins﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Make sure to group up as much as you can to deny an assasin's pick power
Versus champions that go invisible or place traps try to always bring some Control Wards. Placing these on the right spots or at the right moment can turn around a fight.
Build a Zhonya's Hourglass or grab a Stopwatch for an important fight if you're being focused a lot by assassins.
Consider building Locket of the Iron Solari if the enemy assassin is super fed and your team needs a little burst shield to properly fight.
Moonstone Renewer Is a better and more useful alternative to locket, it depends on how much of a save the shield from locket can be.

Zed:

If he used his W as a gap closer before R aim Q behind or on top of your ally.
If he placed his W as backup before R. Try to angle your R to hit both your ally and his backup shadow. If your ultimate is down you're often lucky by placing your Q on his W shadow location.
Save your exhaust for zed if he's fed.
If you're being focused and killed too much build Zhonya's Hourglass or a Stopwatch for an important fight.

Rengar:

Bring control wards to spot him in his ulti
Try to R the direction he's coming from
Place Q on an ally he's most likely going to jump to

Nocturne:

He's very squishy outside of his spellshield, pop this by using W first if possible.
Find his position by looking for his dusk trail which is visible even during the darkness
Try to identify his potential target and stick with them

Talon:

When he uses his R, your best bet is to use your R or Q towards your carry.
His R cooldown is 100/80/60 so lategame you have to use your R wisely.
Some Talon players will try to dodge first, but he's invisible for only 2.5 seconds so wasting his time can be valuable
He will not be revealed using Oracle Lens

Evelynn:

Most Evelynn players will dash towards their target after their charm hit, aim Q onto your ally to catch her and follow up with R before she can escape with hers.
Lategame, consider placing a Control Ward when she marks a target to catch her off-guard

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Support item﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

A support item is a must-have as support, you will lose a lot of gold income and vision control if you don't get one. I recommend for the casual players. Since season 11 is most often the better choice because it grants you more gold, but make sure you're able to proc this. If not, you can safely go for .

Shard of true ice
You buy it as and it upgrades into into as you gain gold. When you attack an enemy it stacks gold and automatically upgrades into an item that can place wards at 500 gold.
*Make sure to attack the turret when you can as this also grants you gold.

Good pick
vs poke/sustain

Bulwark of the Mountain
Consider this item vs hook matchups or matchups you prefer not trading against. This item helps denying the enemy support gold if they have (by not trading). You also can save your mana for heals and ganks.
*Make sure you try to use all its charges on cannon minions and melee minions for most amount of gold.

Safe pick
vs hook and engage
based champs

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Boots﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Always get boots! Consider getting them earlier when you're against a hook lane like because you are able to dodge and reposition faster. Skipping boots for an earlier item is also a strategy, but it does make you much weaker at roaming.

Boots of speed
Movement speed is important for dodging abilities, getting out of a fight and warding. Though if you are able to survive without them, you could use that gold to finish another item faster.

Good early
vs skillshots

Boots of mobility
These boots are always a good choice because you can roam well, position better, and get your wards down quicker. The boots also give quite some pressure and allow you to dodge better too! People tend to rush these when botlane is miserable because you can help the rest of your team better and quicker.

Good pick
for roaming

Ionian Boots of Lucidity
In the current patches getting these boots is meta. You get a little less movement speed than and but the summoner cooldown and 20 ability haste is really useful. I love rushing these boots in combination with . It's also a good combination with because casting more abilities means more procs!

Always
a decent
pick

Boots of swiftness
These boots have always been my favourite. It's now cheaper than and has a consistent speed buff. This makes it easier to get out of fights and reposition. I also enjoy taking these boots into a with or . If you're playing vs a team with a lot/heavy slows it feels pretty great to buy these.

Optional
into slow
teams or lane

Mercury's treads
These boots are a great option when you're playing against a composition with a lot of cc. Getting stunned means you're not able to do anything, or even die. It's best to position a way you won't get hit but there are some champions that are hard to avoid like and and not even the pros can dodge everything.

Optional
into cc teams

Plated Steelcaps
I've bought these boots a lot of times on tanks, but on it doesn't feel worth getting. You could consider it when the enemy is full ad and you gathered some HP, but honestly you better get another kind of boots and stack some armor/hp.

Optional
into full ad

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤The mythics﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

You can only choose one of the mythics to fit your build. As the patches go on, every mythic has started to become a viable option but stays on top, it helps greatly with snowballing. I sometimes sell for another mythic a handful of games because it helps better with teamfights.

Moonstone renewer
This item gives a lot of healing, it sadly doesn't give the mana regen like the old athene's did. But the ability haste and stronger heals are great to have generally. I suggest taking this item when the burst from wouldn't matter as much as sustain in fights.

Good with
long lasting
fights

Imperial Mandate
I think this item is the best when your team is snowballing, especially when your team is good lategame as well. The bonus movementspeed and damage are not to be underrated you and your ally become super deadly! Casting E on an ally makes them trigger ! Keep this in mind, it's very strong!

Good with
pick based
team

Shurelya's Reverie
In combination with a good engage this item will be most useful. Now together with the active movementspeed you can speed up an ally with your E or . I'd usually get this item for a better disengage or position in fights. It's great with a melee team and versus a melee team.

Good if
team needs
more mobility

Locket of the iron solari
If your team has the better lategame composition I'd go for another mythic item. If your team is not snowballing or needs a little more defence against burst, I'd go for this item. I personally don't think it's worth on right now tho.
The shield also procs for your team.

Optional
into burst
champs

Everfrost
This item is a viable option on . It gives you another setup for Q and a great way to peel from engage. It's stats are also great making your mana pool huge and your damage grow. Because I find this item more useful as a defensive item I tend not to choose this.

Optional
with glacial
extra peel

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Optional items﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

To finish up your item build you should always consider what your team needs, the enemy has, or what you need. If your carry unable to do anything due to crowd control, or will potentional be shut down by it, go . Does the enemy team have a lot of healing? Then you can go . Maybe you need to protect yourself? Getting a is a good idea for an important fight. Even getting can be a gamechanger. If your team doesn't really need any of this, you don't know what to build or your team needs a bit more power. Going or is always decent.

Chemtech putrifier
This item is the ideal antiheal item for a support. It has great great synergy with E because it will apply the 40% healing reduction.
Now the 60% heal reduction gets applied when the ally you heal/shield deals damage. It should be easily applied with and together with your W .
The reason you choose this item over is because of the mana regen, ability haste and the way the antiheal debuff applies.

Pick this
into heal
champions
or builds

Staff of flowing water
This item gives you and your ally an ability haste and ability power bonus! I think this is a great general item to have. If you use the rune you can also proc this item's passive by using E . also triggers this item just as it triggers .
I think this item fits great with and .

Pick this
to empower
ap/cd champs

Ardent censer
This item gives your adc a lot more power. If you have an ap champion in botlane you can rush this item later on as you probably have other champions in your team that can benefit from this. It's easiest to proc this item with but if you went it will also be enabled by . If you're getting too you can turn around or empower a lot of fights.

Good with
AA majority
teams

Mikael's Blessing
When your carry (doesn't have to be your 'adc') get's shut down by cc it's great to get a this item also empowers your heals by 20% instead of 10% which should not be understimated. The new now also gives a small heal! I also suggest taking this item if you're in need for some magic resist.

Good vs
pick based
cc

Vigilant Wardstone
If you're facing a , , , or maybe a it can be important to counter them and their traps with control wards. Buying the will allow you to bring 3 control wards and after an upgrade allows you to place 2 of them too!

Because of patch 11.11 the item gives an increase on most of your stats when you're level 13 and have 20 wards placed. It won't give you the movementspeed anymore but it still gives a fair amount of ability haste when it's upgraded.

Pick for
quick power
and vs
invis champs

Redemption
This item gives a big aoe heal that is really strong in teamfights when placed well. Combined with other healing buffs and it can give a huge comeback to fights.

Good for
extra heal/shield
power

Winter's Approach
Been testing this item a lot, so far it seems to make you super tanky when it's turned into . I enjoy taking this item in combination with . Make sure to buy this when your tear is already stacked, else it's not really worth it.

Extra mana
and tankiness

Frozen heart
If their comp based on sticky ad champions like and you can consider taking this item to defend the backline. It gives an aoe att speed slow and makes it possible to shut down an ad.
Just keep in mind the passive of doesn't work on a inside his ult. You choose this item over other armor items because of the ability haste it gives. I rarerly buy this item, but it has done it's job whenever I needed it.

Good into
sticky melee
ad champs

Zeke's Convergence
This item's damage scales with AP and HP with means it's fairly viable for .
Only at the moment this item isn't very powerful over and . This item does have some understimated upsides though.
It's a fairly safe item to build, it makes you tankier, gives 20 ability haste and it's buildpath is decent unlike and

Decent defensive
alternative

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Whenever you're ahead or think it fits better﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Whenever you're ahead, or think this fits your comp even better these are some considerable items. It's important to have fun in your games, especially normal games.

Anathema's Chains
If there's one fed carry (like ) on the enemy team that prevents you from properly supporting your team I recommend . This item will make you a lot tankier, gives ability haste and allows your cc to disable your target longer.

Knight's Vow
This item on seems an alright option. It gives no armor or magic resist but it does give 400hp and a lot of regen.
Because of the change in preseason I'm interested in testing good scenarios for this item. So far I'm not sure if this item is worth it, but testing continues.

Banshee's veil
Againt heavy ap based comp you can consider taking this item. But I recommend taking for the magic resist. If you really need the ability block from this item, or want a little more ap as you get mr, feel free to take this item. Against heavy ap burst I'd still recommend .

Morellonomicon
I'd suggest taking over this one. But if you want more ability power and have good mana manegement, why not. Your E on an ally will proc the 40% heal reduction.

Shadowflame
In theorie this item seems really good with and AP champions. The item really delays your strength and should be carefully considered. I'm still testing this item.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter
My favourite item to build for fun! This items gives a slow on your W which I really like when you're using this ability on your allies to catch someone. It also gives some HP and AP. I do not recommend this item overall but it's fun.

Dark seal
I like getting this item when I'm ahead and in no risk of dying. If you're really far ahead and already have some core items you can upgrade this into

Rabadon's Deathcap
We all know why you will build this item, lots of ability power! Try it out, you'll be very scary, and your heals are even stronger!

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤The basic rune page﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Summon aery
This keystone is the best go-to option on every shield/heal support.
Summon Aery adds more poke to your abilities and basic attacks. It also adds an shield that allows you to proc and .
*This rune gets refreshed when you pick up the sprite so it's cooldown is fairly low.

Manaflow band
Manaflow band is unmissable on most enchanter supports.
Nami is a little mana hungry so this is a great way to increase your mana pool when you trade/poke.

Transcendence
It's nice to get ability haste without needing to buy items.
At level 11 you even get 20% cooldown refunds on takedowns!
I think ability haste and cooldown reduction works great on .
If you're feeling confident without this rune is an amazing alternative that synergises perfectly with 's passive.

Scorch
This rune adds that little extra damage you need to become dominant in trades.
Keep an eye on it's cooldown so you time your trades on ideal moment.

Biscuit delivery
This rune makes sure it's safe to lose HP while trading. This means that if you took you're more likely to gain gold.
*Make sure to eat your cookies in a fight (for mana), it has helped me a lot.

Cosmic insight
This rune is a noticable change for your summoner spell and item cooldown.
You're more likely going to escape squishy situations this way.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤ Tanky and scaling﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Guardian
This rune gives almost more than double the shield as aery does and it scales with AP and HP.
This rune has a higher cooldown than so you have to use it wisely.
Besides standing near your ally you can also trigger this rune by empowering your ally with E and W .

Font of life
It's fairly easy for you to trigger this rune. Your E on an ally will make them trigger this rune themselves. While healing they will also gain benefits from items like and .

Bone plating
If you're going for a stronger laning phase this rune is what you want. It's very hard to be outtraded with this rune. If you're certain you don't need this rune for your trades, is decent alternative, it adds up lategame.

Revitalize
This rune grants more heal and shield power, even more powerful when the target is below 40% hp.
A real life saver!

Manaflow band
It's hard to survive/sustain on without a way to sustain your mana. is ideal if you still want to trade often.

Transcendence
Valid alternatives are , and . This rune is great to scale with, but depending on what you want in your game you may adapt.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤ Burst damage﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Electrocute
Having Electrocute as your keystone requires you to have a bit of synergy with your adc. But also VERY SAFE positioning from you, you're SUPER squishy. Don't take this rune into heavy engage/assasin teams unless you're that confident with your ADC.

Taste of blood
This rune is an amazing tool to win every trade using W. Make sure to keep an eye on it's cooldown to ensure optimal trades.

Zombie ward
This rune also gives bonus AP/AD upon ward kill/assist, and leaves a zombie ward.
*Combined with you can sweep wards for days

Relentless hunter
Being a little more slippery is essential while being this squishy. I personally really like if I assume my ultimate will set up great picks. Depending on your item plan is also not a bad choice.

Manaflow band
It's hard to survive/sustain on without a way to sustain your mana.

Scorch
This rune adds that little extra damage you need to become dominant in trades.
Keep an eye on it's cooldown so you time your trades on ideal moment.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤ Rune alternatives﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Presence of mind
This rune used to be really good for a champion like but right now it feels a LOT weaker, it still gives you back some mana when you trade. So now that Spellthief's Edge more worth it again, it's also not bad to take this rune with it.

Cut down
I used to take before but because I started prefering taking attack spead instead of adaptive damage I think it's better to use . Taking still is an optional choice.

Ingenious hunter
This rune make sure you always have your up for every fight. You can also spam your sweeping lens a bit more.

Ultimate hunter
If you do not like this rune is a great option. You're able to cast your ultimate just a bit more often for powerful picks or disengage.

Glacial Augment
Personally I don't feel like Glacial is a reliable rune, but it's at least very fun to try out. It's a decent combination with because this item allows another trigger. This rune is powerful in theory, so if you can make it work.. why not?

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤What are Nami's abilities?﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

It's useful to know what your abilities are, and how to use them. There are different ways to use them in different team compositions. So keep in mind to think for yourself. I wrote some utilization tips you should know to get started. (I hope they're not too obvious)

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Ability sequence﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

The ability order is displayed below, I recommend maxing W first, after that I most often max E especially now that it procs on abilities too. But if you're great at hitting your Q you could consider maxing this ability before your E because maxing your Q lowers the cooldown, which makes you able to cast it more often in fights. Maxing your E doesn't lower it's cooldown, it just increases the damage.

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Surging tides﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Passive

All allied champions touched by any of Nami's abilities gain 45 (+ 20% AP) bonus movement speed for 1.5 seconds, doubled when touched by Tidal Wave.

Your passive is a bit underrated, the movement speed is very useful in different situations. Use it to get around the map yourself by self-casting E , even your Q is able to speed allies up!

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Aqua prison﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Q

Nami sends a bubble towards the targeted area, dealing Magic damage magic damage to all enemies hit, revealing them,and suspending them for 1.5 seconds.

To utilize your Q the best, you want to use this only when you're confident you'll hit something.
It's often better to rather hold onto your ability than using it without reason.
Situations that give you a better shot at hitting Q can be:

[≋]When you adc is kiting someone
[≋]When slow is applied on an enemy (like with you E
[≋]When someone is cc'd by another ability like your R
[≋]When someone doesn't have vision on you
[≋]When someone is cornered

When you are running away from someone melee, you can often stun them by casting Q on top of yourself.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Ebb and flow﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

W

Nami unleashes a stream of water onto the target champion or herself, which then bounces to nearby unaffected champions up to twice, alternating between enemies, allies and herself.

heal power heals allies and deals magic damage to enemies, with each bounce being 85% (+ 7.5% per 100 AP) as effective as the previous one.

You can utilize your W in various ways like:

[≋]Trading using W on the enemy
[≋]Trading using W on yourself while walking up to an enemy (try using the ALT button for this)
[≋]Double heal your allies by making it bounce onto the enemy
[≋]In teamfights you can bounce W onto an enemy to reach an ally out of range

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Tidecaller's blessing﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

E

Nami blesses the target allied champion or herself for 6 seconds, causing her target's next three basic attacks or abilities to each deal bonus magic damage and slow their target for 1 second.

This ability now counts as your magic damage, this means it will proc the following items/runes:

This is very important, because you can really help a bursty ally getting their kill with this. Your E is now also a great tool to steal kills, when you apply this ability on the last attack for a kill.

You could use your E to:

[≋]Give movement speed to an ally
[≋]Help an ally kite someone
[≋]Use it as a setup for your Q
[≋]Get around the map faster (try using the ALT+E for this)
[≋]Empower an ally's damaging abilities.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Tidal wave﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

R

Nami summons a tidal wave that surges forth, dealing magic damage to all units it hits, knocking them up for 0.5 seconds and then slowing them for 2 − 4 (based on distance traveled) seconds.

You could use your R as:

[≋]Follow up to an engage
[≋]Disengage
[≋]Picks, consider using it after you successfully caught someone with your Q

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Combos﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

There are several combo's with your abilities you can use, here I'll list them. The thing is that you should always consider what's best in every situation.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤The best way to land your Q﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

->

AA

->

This is possibly the most basic combo, a rule you have to hold on to. Use your E on you or your carry, and try to always slow the enemy before you cast your Q . If you need to do a little more damage you can cast your W right after you hit, look at the situation and see if you and your ally needs heals, or just need to do damage.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Utilizing your ultimate﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

->

This is the most reliable way to cc someone. Your ultimate is best used later in a team fight or to peel your carry. It's best cast later in a team fight because people start to usually line up more. The best case scenario is to land a good Q and then follow up with R because during this combo the enemy cannot escape. But if you R>Q they have a small window to flash or dash out.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Another setup for your Q﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

->

Your abilities now get empowered if you cast E on yourself which is why it's not a bad idea to slow someone with your W . This is also a good setup for your Q to land.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Animation cancel﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

->

This combo is not very functional, but it's interesting how it cancels your W animation. This saves a few MS for you to do more. There used to be an ultimate cancel but riot already fixed that bug.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Matchups﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

If you're looking for a little more advice on support matchups, this is where you will find some. Remember, I'm not an expert and things can be based on experience. There are a lot of lanes that will be harder or easier depending on how good you are or the enemy is. The threat level will also variate depending on meta, but not in this chapter.

Make sure to click on the spoilers to reveal the text!

Still updating this chapter

Average threat level: Extreme (click here to view)

Threat level:
Extreme

Pyke
The hardest matchup for this fish is probably the fisherman. You cannot catchup on him and he’s hard to poke down because of his passive healing outside of vision. It’s also very hard to save your adc or yourself if he manages to hook someone. Luckily, a lot of people are not good on him and when he misses his hook you can harass him. His passive makes him unable to gain bonus HP which means he’s fairly squishy. Don’t be afraid to try and go for a kill on him when he used/missed his abilities. You ARE able to outplay this matchup, but if you cannot make sure to respect him.

Later in the game he will have a lot of pressure on the map. He is super quick, has strong picks and can solo kill you or your adc. Make sure not to be alone when placing wards, and bring s.

Go boots early for better positioning and getting caught less
Avoid being hooked by positioning behind your minions
Ping your teammates when he’s missing, his roams are really strong!
Place Control Ward’s to reveal him inside his camouflage, if you place it early after he engages you can prevent his healing when he tries to jumps into his invisibility.
Be careful of his E Phantom Undertow+ Flash combo, it can catch you off-guard
Don’t hold back on flashing his ultimate Death from Below when he misses it he won’t get a reset to use it again.

Threat level:
Extreme

Leona
Be careful if they hit lvl 2/lvl 3 before you her all in in with ignite will kill you. If you manage to level up before she does you can try to poke her down. Make sure to poke her whenever she goes for stacks and when her gap closer is on cooldown.

If she goes in with her adc around, use your Q on her adc to prevent him from dealing damage and proccing ’s passive. Before level 6 is still killable so if she goes in with her adc a little further you could use your Q on her and try to kill her. Don’t be deceiver by her tanky look, with ignite and her W (16 second cooldown) on cooldown she’s definitely killable.

In mid/lategame you want to try and prevent her team from catching up on her in teamfights, using your R the right way can be a real lifesafer and teamfight turner. Be careful when placing wards and make sure to have a teammate around. If engages on you, you can place Q on yourself to keep her in place for your ally to kill.

Go boots early for better positioning and getting caught less
Consider going Mercury's Treads if you get caught a lot, and Mikael's Blessing for your adc.
Standing behind minions won’t save you from her Zenith Blade
Make sure not to clump too close to your adc, because if you’re stunned you cannot save him.
Ping your teammates if she’s missing, Leona often goes for a roam on mid.
Consider placing Q Aqua Prison on top of the ally Leona engages on.
Her ultimate has a 90/75/60 second cooldown so be prepared!

Average threat level: Major (click here to view)

Threat level:
Major

Blitzcrank
If he misses his hook you should punish him by trading/pressuring (for around 20 seconds). Especially in the early game is fairly squishy and you could just engage on him. If he doesn't know what he's doing you can even try to kill him when you do. Because of his passive he gets a little tankier, but when he is low on mana this shield will be smaller, so keep this in mind when going for a pick.

If your adc gets caught, you should try to use Q on his adc, they'll often move predictable towards the hooked enemy, finish it off with a W and E on your ad for the movement speed and hope he still lives. To give your adc a better time farming you can also try to keep the side bushes warded.

If you're the one being hooked, and you magically still live, you could go for a turn. As the enemies abilities are now down. Don't always just run, try to fight back.

Tip: vs engage champions like it's often great to get early boots, because you're able to dodge better.

Threat level:
Major

Thresh
This matchup is close to 's matchup. The only thing different is 's . If you walk too close to he can you which makes is really hard to escape his hook. You should also be careful not to stand to close to anything he hooks, because he can pull himself in.

Be careful of him going in with to then you. This will make his hook very easy to hit and combined with his ultimate you're pretty dead for sure. If you get caught (like this) just blow whatever you can, I usually try to R and then Q to hopefully get them caught into a CC chain so I can do just a bit more before I die, or maybe even live. So if he +'s you, respond instantly with your R before you get hooked.

Tip: vs engaging champions it's often great to get early boots, because you're able to dodge better.

Threat level:
Major

Nautilus
This matchup is close to 's matchup. Before lvl 6 be careful of his damage output. Punish him when he uses his hook, and don't be afraid to try and kill him.

When hits level 6, make sure you position not too close to your ad. His ultimate will knock you both up if you do. When engages on your ad, you're still able to save him, and maybe turn the fight around. I usually try to angle my R so that both and their adc can get hit, then use Q naut if he engages with R , or use Q on the ad after you ultimate hits so he can't follow up.

Tip: vs engaging champions it's often great to get early boots, because you're able to dodge better.

Threat level:
Major

Brand
deals a lot of damage. If you are able to dodge his abilities, go for a small trade. He doesn't have sustain like you do.

When he hit's lvl 6 he can do a powerfull combo. I usually try to go for the pick on him before he goes in. is very squishy and killable with your full combo, that way he's not able to do (much) damage. Make sure you do not stand too close to your team when uses his ultimate , because it bounces back and forth.
If you fail to shut him down, you can consider taking .

I also suggest taking in this matchup so you do not have to do any risky trades.

Threat level:
Major

Rakan
Just like other engage supports it's tough to survive. I find 's knockup somehow easier to dodge, and if you do, don't waste your Q on him, just trade. If you engage on them use your Q later in the fight, there's a chance you'll catch rakan too trying to shield his AD.

After level 6, make sure you position far backwards, but just in range to heal your ad. If doesn't catch you when he engages you can still save your ad, and maybe go for a turn.

Threat level:
Major

Alistar
When is played by a good player, you must be very careful level 2 and beyond. Just like ’s into has an even more dangerous combo. He will in and then you back into his team. This means you should no walk too far forward into the lane when you’re low and lack vision in case the jungler is around. If he has there’s a lot of kill pressure on you.

Don’t be the one he engages on and try not to stand too close to your adc when he does. You can possibly save your adc, but it’s harder to save yourself. Try to hit your Q on their adc when he goes. It’s also possible to go for if his adc is too far away. Before level 6 he is killable, especially with . Later in the game he is still killable, but make sure not to waste too much resources on him unless his team is not able to follow up on his engage properly.

Make sure to harass him for spellthief stacks whenever his abilities are on cooldown.
He can also Headbutt into minions to get in range for his knockup Pulverize
Be insanely careful if he has Hextech Flashtraption as he may use this from any bush

Average threat level: Even (click here to view)

Threat level:
Even

Yuumi
Yuumi is pretty strong again, if the enemy has a good carry that dodges your abilities you can have a problem. The biggest difference between you two is that she is untargatable. If you combo their ad with the R+Q combo Yuumi cannot do much but heal and R.

I let my ad consider getting executioners against her if she's strong. If played well she can easely make a carry unstoppable and help them run you over.

Threat level:
Even

Lux
support is hard to pull off. If you play a little safer, and go for the right oppertunities when she misses her skill shot, you can easily win this lane. I often try to lure out her Q and instantly trade when she misses it. Before level 3 you do not need to be too afraid, you can pull of a good trade even if she hits her bind.

In lategame can sometimes oneshot you, or your ad. Make sure you keep an eye on her, and place good wards. If your teammate gets caught you can often outheal Lux's damage and/or go for the kill on Lux because she has to charge her laz0r. Because she gets caught easily, and you can outheal her damage often, I believe you're great, at least in the lategame.

Because she has no mobility she can be an easy pick, so if you're new on , you should sure try to catch her before she catches you. You are faster, and got more cc. If is the only problem to your team, maybe even in midlane. Don't be shy to buy .

Threat level:
Even

Swain
This guy is being played support? Wow! He's not bad though. As a decent Nami player he doesn't feel like a threat. Just juke his E (to the side), stun their ad if anybody gets caught. Or even stun when he walks up too close. Before 6 you can quite easily kill him.

After level 6 you kite him really well. Try to stay out of his ultimate range. Don't be afraid to use your abilities on him, he's often out of position when he uses ultimate. And thus an easy kill.

Threat level:
Even

Vel'Koz
In lane you need to try and dodge 's abilities. If you and your ad are able to dodge, you can go for more aggressive trades. If the enemy bot is walking over you, just save your mana for heals, because his all ins can be quite deadly even when you dodge.

To me is a bigger problem than lux, I still put him on even. You can cancel his ultimate with your Q if you're in the right position or R . Just like I find and easy pick, especially if they use their ultimates in a vulnerable position.

Threat level:
Even

Braum
is put on even for ONE reason. He can block your ultimate AND bubble. Sad.. But if you simply wait out his shield OR am able to walk around to Q from the side you can easily win. I do not suggest the second one because the hitbox of his shield is confusing, but if it's needed you can try. Harass this guy a lot, especially if he wastes his Q , because then you can easily kite.

At level 6 (and maybe before) be aware of him being able to jump to minions with and follow up with his R . It's hard to disengage his sudden engage because of his shield .

Threat level:
Even

Yasuo
Hopefully you will not see this guy in botlane, but he can still be in your game. has one massive counter: "The almighty ". This ability will just like 's block your everything. The best is to wait it out, and then use your abilities where needed. If your ad is in the middle of his wall just pray for his survival and don't waste your abilities.

If you do see in botlane, make sure to punish his low attack range, zone him from cs, and AA him for every cs he takes. Before level 6 you do not have to be too afraid of him. Make sure to keep your distance, and your distance from the minions when he unlocks his dash .

Average threat level: Minor (click here to view)

Threat level:
Minor

Morgana
kind of counters you because of her . If she maxes her E you can not really do your thing. Unexperienced players ususally don't max it, but when they do you are better off waiting out that ability.

One way to get rid of it is by baiting it out, I often scare people by running up and using my E on myself. When I auto often responds with using her which is not needed by then. Now that it's down you're free to use your other abilities for the next 26 / 24 / 22 / 20 / 18 seconds.

If the is not maxing spellshield, and you're desperate for an engage (or disengage), you can often get rid of the spellshield by using E+W, then make sure to hit another auto for the slow, and hit Q on the target.

Threat level:
Minor

Karma
Karma can be quite the poke champion. She can use her Q on the wave and aoe poke you in there so don't just hide inside the minion wave. Her laning phase is not bad, but later on I find her rather weak. She can speed up her carry out of your pick potentional so it's best to be patient with your abilities.

If you're unsure of this matchup you can consider buying . There's a possiblity she'll walk over you if she has good synergy with her ad.
She will then most likely run to you, use her root , do some damage and have her ad follow up. In lower rankings this is quite unlikely so punish her for walking out of position!

Threat level:
Minor

Bard
can deal a lot of damage with his meeps, try to trade when he used them. He will roam a lot to keep up with his chimes but also to help other lanes. If he leaves his adc alone you can try to go for a pick. If you do, make sure he won’t portal back in with a possible jungler by placing some wards. If you are able to maintain good vision control you can also try to catch the roaming together with your jungler.

A good player can be a problem in lategame, his ultimate is great to catch people with. You grant people movement speed with your passive which makes it hard for him to catch people so make sure to react quickly to speed up your ally or yourself with your abilities. If you’re not caught you can try to disengage by using your R .

If he misses his Q Cosmic Binding bard can be an easy pick
Make sure to ping your teammates when Bard is missing
Don’t recklessly chase a bard, it’s often a waste of time

Threat level:
Minor

Senna
deals damage, heals, grants a good escape and has a root. Her cooldowns are very high though, so try to punish her cooldowns. Her Q 's cooldown decreases each AA, which is not fast enough to resfresh in the early game.

The fact she has to stand still to cast/aa/collect souls is a great oppertunity to slow and maybe use Q on her. Besides that, you probably don't want to get near her too much.
Because even with her abilities on cooldown, her passive has a 4 second cooldown and does quite the damage every time.

Keep in mind senna gets auto's off by collecting souls to reduce her Q cooldown. She can also gains a lot of range by using allies, minions, and even wards to use her Q on.
scales pretty well, which is why you should be afraid of her damage later on.

Threat level:
Minor

Lulu
can be quite annoying, she got a slow, polymorph or speed and a shield. Don't be afraid to trade because you can outheal her damage most times. When she got a carry she can speed up, try to keep your abilities for when the speed runs out else that person can easily dodge your abilities.

Just mind her slow from her being strong and her damage being more than you would expect.

Threat level:
Minor

Zyra
deals a lot of damage, just like other mage supports. Early game you can outsustain her, unless you waste too much mana on trades you don't win. Make sure to dodge her E and AA her plants together with your AD. This way it's impossible for her to deal a good amount of damage.

After level 6 it's kill or be killed. Most of the time you can easily burst down with your R+E+Q combo. Just try to keep distance from your ad, in case goes all in. Then heal your ad, maybe use E for more movement speed out of 's ultimate.

If you're not experienced with this matchup, be very careful! I also suggest taking in this matchup so you do not have to do any risky trades.

Threat level:
Minor

Sona
Who even plays at this moment? Never had a real problem against her. Her stun and damage output can be quite strong tho, your heal is strong enough to outheal that. If you see her walk up you can use W on her to instantly outheal her damage.

After level 6 her ultimate can be a great way to initiate. Make sure to keep your distance from your teammates so you can disengage against that.

Average threat level: Tiny (click here to view)

Threat level:
Tiny

Soraka
If you're able to dodge 's Q you can definitely win this lane. If you're confident, harass her as much as you can for the easy spellthief stacks. She often uses her Q on her max range, so walking up to her instead of away is often a better way to dodge it.

Because lacks mobility you can often go for a kill on her. Make sure who to focus in this lane, because your focus shouldnt always be only as she probably will keep her distance in fights. And her heal has a high cooldown in the early game, especially if the soraka chooses to max Q first.

Don't forget to ping her ultimate to the team so they know what to expect!

Threat level:
Tiny

Janna
In lane you probably want to trade whenever her shield is down. You can often lure this out by auto atacking the first time you walk up, and save your W for later. You outheal her damage, and she outshields yours.
Janna lacks mobility which makes it possible to engage on her, especially if you're able to dodge her Q .

You can cancel 's ultimate with your Q and R . Which is why your engage is often more powerful than her disengage.

Pay attention to the bushes tho, some experienced Janna's will try to tornado from the bush for the full 1,25 second knockup which can become deadly over time.

Threat level:
Tiny

Taric
You can harass a lot in lane, your moventspeed makes it impossible for him to hit any stuns. If does get on one of you, you can have a problem. You can just give movement speed to the person getting caught with W or E . Maybe even disengage with your ultimate or Q . He gets kited quite easily. Just be careful of his E +.

In lategame his ultimate can be really strong, and I think it's best to wait his ultimate out untill you go for yours.

Info choosing a mythic and runes [outdated]

Choosing mythic (click here to view)

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤The mythics﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

[13.4]IMPORTANT NOTE: You go almost always, but I kept this chapter in case you're interested in some older insights.
I personally think it CAN be hard to know what mythic to choose. As someone who really wants to get the most out of her game I think trough what item fits best. If you do not want to think and go a standard build just follow the "full build example" with . You can't go wrong with and 90% of the games you want to go either that or .

But if you DO want to try and get the best fit, I wrote down my personal opinion and experience to maybe help you out. As I don't meet up with every champions and can change my opinion later this chapter shall be edited.

And please see this as an insight and not as something that should make the decision for you.

Consider choosing this item when:

Your team has long lasting fights
Your team does enough damage
To apply Ardent Censer and Staff of Flowing Water more
Your team or the enemy team has a lot of tanks

Don't consider this item when:

Your team dies too fast for this item to do it's job
Your team won't do enough damage to win a fight
The enemy already bought anti-heal or will most likely buy it

Good with ally champions:

Good vs enemy champions:

Consider choosing this item when:

Your team does not enough damage for picks to be made
Your team is pick based
You got a carry that can 'pop off' with this item
Your team will snowball trough a lead into an even stronger mid/lategame

Don't consider this item when:

Your team wouldn't be able to properly proc it

Good with ally champions:

Good vs enemy champions:

Consider choosing this item when:

Your team is in desperate need of more mobility to engage/disengage
The enemy team has low mobility
Your team has a lot of melee's that can stick vs an enemy that can kite

Don't consider this item when:

You grant enough mobility with your passive
When the other mythics are clearly a better fit

Good with ally champions:

Good vs enemy champions:

Consider choosing this item when:

The enemy is super bursty and you need this to survive
The enemy has a fed Diana, Zed or something like AP Malphite+ Yasuo

Don't consider this item when:

You do not need the shield/tankiness

Good with ally champions:

Good vs enemy champions:

Choosing runes (click here to view)

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Runes﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

[13.4]IMPORTANT NOTE: The choice now is very limited, I suggest + but I keep this chapter around for info and possible future edits.
Just as with mythic items, there are some options in the runes. I personally lean a lot towards + as a go to. But that's because most of my games are high diamond and there it can be hard to survive. When I'm playing normals, or on another account I enjoy going a lot more.

This doesn't mean you should always go in ranked. Because by choosing a different rune you might as well just win your lane and game with it. is a little riskier but it does help A LOT with more damage for you and your allies.

+

Consider choosing this rune when:

Your lane or the enemy lane is poke based
If you and your adc excel at longer trades

Don't consider this rune when:

You're versus a heavy engage lane you know you won't survive

Good with ally champions:

Good vs enemy champions:

+

Consider choosing this rune when:

You're very confident in your Nami skills
You're playing lower than diamond
The matchup you're facing is a matchup you will win easily
The enemy has a weak early game (Like Vayne or Kog'Maw)

Don't consider this rune when:

You're not confident with Nami
You don't know how the lane will go

Good with ally champions:

Good vs enemy champions:

+

OR

+

Consider choosing this rune when:

If you're facing an engaging botlane (Like Leona, Thresh or Blitzcrank)
If you and your adc excel at shorter trades

Don't consider this rune when:

If you want to be able to impact the lane/game harder
Honestly this rune is always good

Good with ally champions:

Good vs enemy champions:

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤What is the support role?﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

There are mixed opinions on what the support role is supposed to be. But as far as I know is your main objective supporting your teammates to empower, especially the (ad)-carry. You achieve this mainly by:

[≋]Protecting your carry/teammates
[≋]Granting vision control
[≋]Engaging teamfights
[≋]Disengaging teamfights
[≋]Roaming to gank/ward or assist your jungler

Also by:

[≋]Keeping an eye on summoner cooldowns for your teammates, maybe even write them collectively down in chat for your team.
[≋]Keeping a good eye on the map and ping wherever necessary
[≋]Buying supportive items
[≋]Shotcalling for your team

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Warding﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

A big part of being a support is focusing on vision control. Down here I will try to go over some tips and insight about what vision control is all about. If you want to know more about this I suggest looking up this guide about vision control because it goes super in-depth for every role. Besides all the info you may gather, experience will surely teach you the most.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Where do you place wards?﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Listed below are some general tips on where you need to place wards. Make sure to expand the spoiler below for more in-depth tips about warding in specific situations.

[≋]Ward to get vision over the enemy. A little straight forward maybe. But it's important to know where enemy champions are to know if you can pick fights, contest an objective or even dive an enemy.

[≋]Ward according to the objectives. It's important to gain vision control over the area you're about to contest. This makes it easier for your team to position for a potential fight and harder for the enemy to contest the objective properly.
[≋]Ward the enemy jungle camps. By doing this you know where he's pathing and your team will have plenty of time to react.
[≋]Ward your own jungle camps. Especially when you're playing from behind it's important to cover your own jungle.
[≋]Place wards where enemies will engage from If you're sieging a turret or contesting an objective. Champions like , , and can set up powerful engages on your team from odd-places.
[≋]Cover a split-pushing ally or fed ally the enemy team will probably send more than 1 champion to kill this ally. Knowing they are around keeps your ally safer and can allow your team to respond by taking another objective.

[≋]Keep in mind you do not always have to ward where the enemy will be, but more likely will pass. Unless you do not pay attention these wards can be more useful.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤When do you place wards?﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Even though you have a lot of free time to place wards, it’s still an art to time your ward placements. You need to make sure the vision is on the right place at the right time so that you have the advantage over the enemy. Here are some things to keep in mind:

[≋]Especially early game you should try not to miss too much xp while going for a ward. It can be a disadvantage to be lvl 6 later than your opponent.
[≋]Don’t leave your carry vulnerable unless your adc is a champion you should make sure your carry is safe. Be ready to instantly walk back to lane if the enemy decides to hard-engage.
[≋]When your jungler is around and possibly invading it’s the best time to place wards. He can back you up, and you can back him up if he plans on making a play somewhere.
[≋]When drake, herald or baron is about to be up and your team is taking control of the river it’s best to go for vision control. You can do it before your team arrives, but you’ll be less safe and the enemy can easily sweep your wards.
[≋]If you’re about to switch trinkets and got an extra ward, just place it wherever. Even if you’re just backing and got an extra ward make sure to place it. Random wards can be very effective.
[≋]Don’t rush dropping your last ward in case you need it mid-fight or for another objective.
[≋]Keep in mind wards last a total of 150 seconds (2 minutes and 30 seconds) Rift scuttler lasts 90 seconds. Think ahead!

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Do not die while placing wards﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Oh man.. The amount of supports that die while warding is tragic. If you know when the enemy support is warding you can often catch them off-guard. Make sure you're not that support! Here are some tips:

[≋]Make sure the enemy doesn't know your position! Some notice you leaving lane or have spotted you with a ward. This is why using sweeping lens during warding is really handy.
[≋]Use an ability in a unwarded bush to be safe
[≋]Know where the enemies are! If they just backed it's the safest moment to slip in some wards.
[≋]Try not to place wards alone. Bring an ally with the assistance ping + a ping on your warding item. This is my communication method. Don't be frustrated when you go alone, teammates often have better things to do.
[≋]Do not go for risky wards. If you do, make sure you have an opportunity to escape. It's often better to place a slightly worse ward, as long it grants vision on the enemy's position.
[≋]Not dying>vision. Keep in mind vision control is just an advantage. Just like a 4v5 is. If you're dead you might give the enemy a better advantage than just vision control.

More in-depth tips about warding (new+under construction)

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Supporting in lane﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

You're also supposed to help your adc in lane. Your role is helping your adc get more farm, and try to get the enemy adc to farm less. You also want to 'win' you lane. I'll cover laning tips in another chapter. But I find it important here to mention how to help your adc control the wave and farm. Here are some tips to cover that.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Farming under turret﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Farming is what your adc does, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't help him doing that. It's helpful, especially when the minions are under turret, to help your adc last hit them. Keep in mind, the melee minions need 2 towers shots and one auto attack to die (so you probably don't want to touch them) and caster minions need 1 tower shot and 2 auto attacks (before your adc bought ad). When you get the hang of this you should try to predict what the wave needs to be killed as optimal as possible. Try to start practising as soon as possible, because your adc will love you.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Freezing the wave﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

You probably do not want to attack minions at all, unless it's your intention to push, or get a level up sooner. Freezing the wave is when you try to keep the minions at 1 position. You mostly achieve this by tanking the minions on the spot you want them to crash. And also by last hitting the minions as late as possible, this is what your adc does. Freezing is best when you need to play safe, or withold the enemy from farm by zoning them while you freeze the wave at your side of the lane.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Pushing the wave﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Another option is pushing the wave, you most often want to try this when the enemy is backing, or not present in lane. You do this by killing the minions as soon as possible. Keep in mind your adc still want to last hit them, so you probably should stop hitting them when they're getting low, or getting a lot of aggro by your minions.

Comparing to other players foy my elo, I have different and maybe even less game knowledge to offer.
I’ll give the best tips I can give and return to this chapter a few times as I learn more. This is a very compact version about game knowledge, I simply hope to give you some insight.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Before the minions crash in lane﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

League of Legends offers a lot of variety each game, which is why you should always consider your priorities in a game. Before the game actually starts is a good time to think about a few things so you can adjust your runes and mindset. For example:

What is my role in this matchup botlane? You need to know how aggressive or safe you can be, and where you should spend your mana on.
How can the enemy jungler gank us? There are a variety of jungler than can gank from unique places, or junglers who are easy to read in their clear. Make sure to know where you need to place your ward to properly cover this and play safe accordingly.
Should I roam to the midlane? There are some champions that greatly snowball from your help. Getting mid ahead means more pressure on the map so make sure to consider if it’s worth helping. Especially if the enemy mid doesn’t have much mobility.

You often consider this automatically, but to be aware of what's going on you'll have better decision making.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Early game﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

In the first waves you should always try to get level 2 before the enemy does, else back off!(level 2 happens when 3 melee and 3 caster minions have died) You can try to hit the minions to help them die faster for this advantage.
When your lane is going well, try to keep track of where the enemy jungler is, ping his starting position. And frequently look at the mini map to help your allies know when to back off.

You basically want to trade, especially if you have . Your sustain is really great and you should use this to have some lane advantage (more HP, XP and a better position). A basic attack could already be good enough, the best moments to try and go for these cheeky auto attacks or trades are:

When the adc is about to last hit a minion, because then she cannot attack you (yet)
Especially when the enemy is going for a canon minion is a good moment to trade (also because the adc will move perdictable, which can be a good oppertunity for your Q Aqua Prison
When the melee support needs to execute a minion for their support item
When the enemy wasted their abilities (and should be afraid of you)

It's also great to get spellthief stacks off turret, when my adc recalls I often drop a few auto's off the turret because I recall as well. These oppertunities are also great to get a trade off, remember you don't HAVE to trade. But if you don't the enemy possibly will.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Getting into mid-game﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Just fighting and chasing it not (always) the way to win. You probably want to try and get some objective control. You get this by not fighting recklessly when you are planning on getting one. It's best to back before you do, get some vision control, and try to be in the right position. Especially in the lower rankings your team doesn't always want to take objectives you so nicely set up, which is fine, it's always a good practice. Place some wards, sweep the area and especially don't die while doing that. (so try to take your teammates with you with the assistance ping)

Defensive wards are important too, this way you can defend better or even turn the fight around. When you notice the enemy grouping/going for an objective like a turret. Just place some simple defensive wards to make sure your team can play around it well.

These are great wards for sieging tier 2 turrets and general vision (creator=Picklepants)

Roaming is very important. I sometimes roam at level 2/3 already when something's up in river. When you're getting used to looking at the minimap all the time your response time is a great oppertunity for some free kills and (deep)wards.
You basically want to roam when:

Your lane is pushed in
When the enemy botlane backed
When the enemy botlane is dead
Maybe even when your ad died and their botlane doesn't move
When you come back from base
Whenever you can follow your jungler
There are more oppertunities, but it comes with experience. Just keep in mind not to miss too much XP and try to protect your ADC with a ward.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Finishing the game﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

It's really important to know how to finish a game, especially lower rankings don't know how to do this. Which is why you probably need to take control and type/ping your team to do certain things. Especially in soloQ it's impossible to control your team, so try to point them into the right direction, but make sure to be nice.

There are few ways to finish a game, it's often decided between taking inhibitors, baron or elder dragon. An open inhibitor gives a lot of pressure to allow you to take other objectives like baron/dragon. You can consider going baron after getting an inhibitor, or back instantly to prevent the enemy from getting it. It is also possible, especially in team play, to have your toplaner split push, take inhibitors or end while you put pressure on baron.

If your team is planning on sieging/splitting for turrets, make sure to get vision in between the lanes. Don't force fights, unless you can easely dive the enemy at the moment because of split pressure. Sieging goes slowly, but surely with patience. If people tend to dive, make sure you live yourself, but try and help your team anyhow!

If your team has control over a major objective like dragon(soul), baron or elder dragon. You probably want to get vision control too, take 2 control wards and make sure the enemy has to risk their life to contest this objective. This could also be just a bait by your team. Your vision control in these cases can be the win for the team. Make sure you position a way so you can quickly help the team if someone engages in a fight. But don't hug your team so you are safe, and thus able to help your teammates better.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Things to think about﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

STILL UPDATING
When getting into fights it's easier to win them if you know what your priorities are. Once you learn to see these priorities, you will have more control over the outcome.
I am no expert, but I hope this chapter will open up your mind to new things to consider.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Ally carry and enemy carry﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

The most important thing to keep in mind is your win condition.
For example: you need to keep in mind if only one ally is powerful enough to carry, you have to protect him with all you got.
If the enemy only has one powerful carry, you need to disable and damage that carry as much as you can.
If there is a fed you need to place that at the right time and be ready to protect his target.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Vision and kiting﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

It's also important to have a set-up for your fight.
Vision control is a way to set-up, but this can't always be perfect.
Keep an eye on where the enemies will most likely be, and know what to expect. For example some assasins like and could come later in a fight when you're out of position.

It's good to know if your team excels fighting on open places or in the jungle.
When a fight breaks out you don't always have to fully commit to it.
Allow your team to kite towards a position in your teams favor for example: with more vision control or after the enemy dropped their cooldowns.

Make sure to know when you need to play around your teammates, or when they have to play around you. What I try to say with this is that you shouldn't die often by your teammates mistakes.

Never be too stubborn with your knowledge
After all, League of Legends is a team game and it's often better to pick a bad fight as a team, than a good fight without one.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Positioning﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Positioning well kind of depends on what kind of game you have. Some games is can be quite impossible to position well and you will die a lot.

You usually want to make sure you know your job each fight, usually it's sticking to your carry. You want to make sure not to be too close to your carry if you can get caught in potentional dangers.
You have to try staying out of range of danger, but in range to help your team.

Is it more important to stay far back and live or more important to stick by your ally? (as they can protect you too!)

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Priorities﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Disengage and peeling﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Some games your team does not want to teamfight, or needs to pick fights at the right moment/location instead.
An example is being in the jungle vs a Qiyana/Anivia/Syndra or other 'zone control' damage champions. Or a teammate is splitpushing, leaving your team weak to a teamfight.

Your R is great for disengaging, it not only speeds up your allies double but also slows the enemy down by a lot.
is also a great item to help your team get into a better position right after/before a fight breaks out.

From a better position you'd want to focus on protecting and peeling your allies.
What's often the threat to your adc? And how do you deal with that?

Make sure to keep R or Q if you expect someone to jump onto your carry.
You should also keep an eye on vision control as you reposition, enabling or placing s to take away vision can be a small crucial play.

You'll probably get the hang of using E fairly quickly. But I want to mention that in some cases, using E on yourself to slow someone may be more useful than using it to speed someone up.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Empowering﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Some games your team may have great snowballers. I would think of , or maybe even .
In these games you kill the enemy before they kill you, and often empowering your ally is the way to go here.
You'll often build or together with or .

In these cases it's important to time your abilities right, and be aggressive/instant with following up. Feel free to use your Q/R to mainly give your allies movementspeed.
(you need to focus on helping your team burst enemies)

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Engaging﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Personally I don't think is best used as an engager, but she is great follow up. In case you do want to engage you most likely want to try it hidden in a bush or corner. The movementspeed from your R may also be an enabler for your team to engage.
(lower elo+even games)

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Vision﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

Vision control during a fight can be crucial, even in laning phase. Smart players will use the bushes to avoid damage and placing a ward quickly in these bushes can be gamechanging.
When playing vs a camouflaging or champion that has traps, placing a mid-fight will make it easier for you and your team to react.

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Play for fun!﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

What I think is important is to make sure you enjoy your games. A good mentality gives the best winrate. Nami gives me a lot of joy in this game, mostly because I don't have to worry about hard counters. This champion always gets you a shot at winning, even if you lose early, hold on for lategame!

I hope you enjoyed my guide on Nami, I've put much work into this over time and I absolutely loved making it. I also hope you gained useful knowledge, and if you did, feel free to give this a like and maybe even a comment! I appreciate you reading the bottom part of this big guide.

Please remember this guide is made out of opinion and experience, be nice if you critisize, opinions are fine too! Feel free to ask any questions, because I didn't cover everything.

Drawn by Biyon

Image sources:

StarryHP(Cut image for banners)
Biyon(Conclusion image)
Rosyre(profile picture and intro picture)
Picklepantslol(Ward image)
Chibiterasuchan(General tips image)

changelog:

‧˙✰.‧˙﹤Changelog﹥˙‧.✰˙‧

17/12/19 Corrected some spelling mistakes, changed title and added an edit note chapter
1/1/20 Added small changes and a "playing support" + rune chapter to get more in-depth
3/1/20 Small changes
8/1/20 Made the guide 10.1 ready and added tips on teamfights. Later added a slightly better look.
12/1/20 Added an abilities chapter, made things look better.
15/1/20 Almost done with abilities chapter
24/1/20 Updated the guide with small changes
30/1/20 Updated the guide with my personal current build. Added leona up the threat as she is feeling really strong at the moment.
31/1/20 Added a few images and a temporary banner
05/2/20 Added the matchups chapter, made lists look better
07/2/20 Updated to 10.3 and working on matchups
11/2/20 Finished the matchups chapter
13/2/20 Working on game phase tips (not published)
15/2/20 Added wave management tips, a few images and minor changes to text
17/2/20 Added Relic Shield as a GOOD option
19/2/20 Updated to 10.4 (nothing really changed, but minor tweaks could be added)
20/2/20 Added exhaust to the options, added game phase chapter I'm planning on making better.
23/2/20 Added more to the game phase chapter, also added an aram tab, going to polish that later.
25/2/20 Added a combo list
29/2/20 Woopwoop leap day! Started updating the item list 1/2
1/3/20 Finished updating the item list with better description too 2/2 Also updated the pros and cons list to something better looking and different description.
2/3/20 Updating the runes chapter 3/3 (will fix guardian spacing later) Also reverted the first rune shown as unexperienced players probably want to choose that one.
4/3/20 Updated it to 10.5 will probably update items if boost of swiftness is viable again
9/3/20 Added Karma and Fiddlesticks in the threats and synergies as I forgot them. Will add a detailed description later. Also corrected minor spelling mistakes.
11/3/20 Started working on a better looking layout for the "matchups" chapter, maybe updating descriptions too. Also changed up some synergies.
18/3/20 Updated the guide to 10.6, will possibly tweak about the changes later
23/3/20 Working on the layout
31/3/20 Correcting some spelling errors
2/4/20 Updated the guide to 10.7 removed fiddle, will maybe re-add him if he's played support but that's unlikely. Will tweak feelable changes later
11/4/20 Added more in depth to the matchup description, changed up some threat levels because it applies mostly to lower rankings. +random tweaks like actually introducing myself
16/4/20 Updated to 10.8
24/4/20 Added Tahm Kench and Galio in the threats and synergies, will describe them better later.
2/5/20 Updated to 10.9 Nami got nerfed! Lower base HP and less movementspeed on passive, won't bring her down tho!
5/5/20 Fixed some spelling errors made some adjustments to the layout to funk it up :D
7/5/20 More layout adjustments
13/5/20 Patch 10.10 is out! Can't edit much beforehand but I will tweak in some feelable changes where necessary.
22/5/20 Added some gifs to the abilities chapter, they're somehow in slow mo, which I will try to fix later. At least it's something!
29/5/20 It's 29 in the Netherlands, so yeah. I updated the guide to 10.11. Not much changed for Nami, but I do think Varus is hard to deal with which is why I added him to the threats.
9/6/20 Minor spelling corrections
10/6/20 Updated the guide to 10.12 guardian got slightly changed. No movementspeed bonus but a bigger shield and better trigger.
12/6/20 Added builds for different lanes, in case you need a break from your usual Nami playstyle. I recommend playing with 5 premade, I will be testing out the builds the coming time and editing it.
17/6/20 Added a build of jungle, actually works out decent.
18/6/20 Fiddling around with builds and enjoying Nami jungle a lot. Testing the ivern one next, then top/mid.
25/6/20 Updated the guide to 10.13! Nothing changed for Nami, but Yuumi should be easier to deal with now. I may need to look into guardian again because of the instant nerf.
22/7/20 I kind of ignored 10.14 but in 10.15 there's a spellthief buff! No idea if it makes it more worth, but I bet the mana regen is nice for Nami.
7/8/20 Didn;t really make a note anymore, but I started promoting my stream. And have been updating the matchup info/scale a little bit. Also updated the guide to 10.16 no changes to Nami but I will ofcourse keep an eye open to noticable differences. Oh and I've been updating the off role-builds because it's too much fun to keep testing.
2/9/20 Updated to 10.18, this patch Guardian has been nerfed, and I will update according to how effective this feels
17/9/20 I swapped Legend: Alacrity with Cut Down because I felt like taking the attack speed instead of adaptive force better. The attack speed early game is just very handy, especially when going for spellthief's edge.
6/10/20 Updated to 10.20 been testing Nami mid and updated the build to that. Still needs lots of testing.
24/10/20 Updated the introduction chapter
25/10/20 Updated the why Nami chapter, can maybe be better.
28/10/20 Removed hail of blades for the adc Nami option, it really doesn't work. Or fails to apply enough damage output.
29/10/20 Updated to patch 10.22 not much changed for Nami, preparing myself for the preseason update tho :)
05/11/20 Added sources at conclusion and added a tank Nami top build. Still need to add Seraphine to the matchups but I didn't have to play vs her yet
11/11/20 Oh no.. The preseason is here! Lot's of updating to do for my guide, I'll prioritize the support build and getting all the item description done. When I get the hang of the new items I'll update the other roles.
12/11/20 Reading everything over to find minor mistakes or things that don't fit in preseason. Almost done with item updates, and possibly most of the guide to make it pre-season ready.
13/11/20 Continued working on the items section. Only needs a visual update and possibly an "mythic" section to order everything. Also I need to figure out which items are core-build for Nami or meta.
15/11/20 Getting closer to done with updating the guide. Items section is almost done, and minor edits are made to the guide
16/11/20 Lots of smaller edits because my friend Rocky is helping me with the grammer/spelling and overal text.
25/11/20 Minor changed to some items and champions like Moonstone Renewer not sure if it's more worth yet
Also updating the item builds temporarily so that they're playable BUT untested.
29/11/20 Added Samira and Seraphine to the matchups for now. I will do an in-depth version of Seraphine later together with an updated in-depth matchup chapter.
09/12/20 Updated the guide to 10.25, there are small item changes which makes me believe the mythic item choice can variate.
11/12/20 Minor spelling/grammer corrections, item edits and added Rell to matchups. Still need to make in-depth for Seraphine and Rell
-Updated the rune change in the chapter Bone Plating became Conditioning
12/12/20 edited a mistake at cosmic insight.
16/12/20 Made new banners, credits to starryhp for this amazing drawing of Nami.
Also added more lines, making them thinner and replacing old #696969 with #522483
19/12/20 Theoriecrafting new builds for Nami in offroles for this season. About to test them too! Added a general tip, Presence of Mind procs 3 times with E Tidecaller's Blessing procs
21/12/20 Tested and updated the off-role builds and minor edits throughout the guide.
08/01/21 The new season started! At least on NA. Nothing much changed for supports, so right now there aren't much edits. Shurelya's Battlesong got buffed though, and I've always wanted it to be more viable.
18/01/21 Added a new chapter to which I hope will help some people who are confused by the various choices you can make. The chapter needs a better look but I will keep it like this for now.
21/01/21 Shurelya's Battlesong got changed into an item you can choose later on in the game, I'm curious if I'll be tempted to build it more. Sadly they did nerf the base hp it adds. It's another item almost exactly like the other 2 but the passive.
23/01/21 Changed a description for runes, and changed the item suggestion for midlane with Everfrost I personally think this is the best and safest fit for Nami midlane.
27/01/21 Edited some offrole builds
06/02/21 Updated the guide to 10.3
Edited the Chemtech Putrifier description.
11/02/21 Published an off-role guide for Nami Click here to see the guide
04/03/21 Minor spelling corrections. Updated the guide to 11.5, nothing really changed for supports. They possibly balanced Seraphine a bit better.
06/04/21 Updated the items and runes in the preview to something I use currently. Few tweaks.
16/04/21 Updated de description for Shurelya's Battlesong and Staff of Flowing Water. Added Vigilant Wardstone and updating general tips.
20/04/21 Working on a major update for the in depth matchups there are also some champions still missing. Added spoilers so I'm free to add as much information as I like. Updated: Alistar Bard
27/04/21 Even though I should be working on updating matchups. I decided to work on updating my warding/support chapter. Writing it I kind of sucked it out of my thumb, and I really want proper useful info. I'm working on the matchups too, and want to get into gamephases after.
Also updated the item build, added 2 more options with descriptions.
Made the introduction look a little better
29/04/21 updated the items section, no more "core build" and more (updated) descriptions.
30/04/21 Added the following support matchups: Xerath, Sett, Shaco, Pantheon, Nami, Maokai, Zilean but still need a description.
Updated the following matchup tips: Leona, Pyke
Also moved around some threats in the threats and synergies to make it more current.
26/05/21 Updated to 11.11 changed Vigilant Wardstone.
29/05/21 Added a very important tip to the "advanced tips" about spellshields.
13/07/21 Made the images in the intro clickable. Haven't been very motivated to work in the guide for a bit but its pretty up to date still.
09/09/21 Added Draven into matchups now that he's played more.
Added Anathema's Chains as an item option.
12/09/21 Decided to publish the new update, I probably missed something but I will edit it asap.
09/10/21 I'm back baby. Electrocute is becoming popular, so I added it to the list of optional pages. Wondering if I should make an in-depth at the runes chapter.
20/10/21 Changed "Important about Nami this season" into "Important notes" so people who will return to the guide know what's important and new.
--Made hidden spoilers easier to spot
27/11/21 Been working on pre-season changes.
-Added a tldr next to item descriptions
-Added Everfrost Knight's Vow, Winter's Approach and Shadowflame to the item list (need more testing though)
-Changed a few descriptions in the item chapter
21/12/21 Wow.. what a date
-Been updating the runes, working towards more useful description
-Changed some stuff in runes/items on top
13/01/22
-Updated items
-Worked on teamfight tips
-Item build changes
-Added glacial rune
06/03/23
Been a while, huh?
-Important notes is now a small introduction to Nami's unique stuff
-Updated introduction+made it shorter
-Why Nami = Updated and shorter
-New General tips+Minor update/edits
-Marked help with mythic/runes as outdated (since it is)
-Synergy tip with Draven
-Few matchup edits
Published the updates to push myself to edit more
08/03/23
Yuumi got changed, not sure what the changes did to her