16.5 One With The Tides

Table of Contents

Introduction

Pros & Cons

Abilities

Game Plan

Summoner Spells

Vision Control

Stats To Consider

Which Boots & Why?

Itemization

Runes

Rune Shards

Summary

Introduction

Hello there! My name is Demonsedge.

When playing , choosing is really enjoyable because I'm familiar with her setups and combos. In this guide, you'll get a closer look at 's synergies/threats and itemization while also sharing some tips and tricks to help you get the most out of playing her.

Hopefully, you'll find this helpful guide and follow my suggestions to improve your gameplay. So, without further ado, let's dive into my guide on playing as - The Tidecaller!

Nami - The Tidecaller
, Support

Specialties: Poke, Area of Effect, Ranged
Why choose Nami?:
• While not the easiest champion to learn, the payout for the practice is well worth it.
• She has strong poke potential during short trades and is effective at providing sustain for her team, prepping them for upcoming fights. She is also effective at pressuring the enemy on objectives such as , or when looking to take down .
• Can setup nice catch plays or picks for her team, making her an excellent asset to her team.

I enjoy playing , and I hope you will too.

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Pros & Cons

+ Strong laning phase

+ High utility & versatility

+ Grants teamwide mobility

+ Powerful teamfight ultimate

+ Scales well with ability power

+ Lane bully

- Mana hungry

- Squishy and immobile

- Skillshot reliance

- Relies on team

- Susceptible to grievous wounds

- Reliant on positioning

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Abilities

Surging Tides

helps to speed up any of her allies or herself. The added mobility can help when chasing the enemy, escaping combat, and increasing map rotation. Just make sure to avoid spamming skills too often, so you'll have mana for upcoming fights.

Aqua Prison

helps to isolate targets, initiate fights, or create opportunities for your team to engage. Also helps protect your allies from divers, assassins, or other heavy threats.

You can also cast on yourself or your allies, triggering .

Ebb and Flow

heals your allies and also acts as a form of poke in short trades. While the damage and healing per bounce are low early on, they can be modified with more ability power, increasing their effectiveness.

Paired with items such as , and , will help to amplify the amount of healing you provide during team fights and skirmishes.

Tidecaller's Blessing

imbues an ally's or her own basic attacks/abilities with additional damage, slowing the target(s) they hit. While they are slowed, this can help land on them. A great way to engage, chase down, or disengage with her allies in combat.

While underrated, it offers additional burst potential and utility, and helps her or her allies stick to their targets.

Tidal Wave

acts as a great way to start a fight from a safe distance, forcing enemies to scatter and making follow-up abilities such as easier to land.

Not only does it help to zone the enemy but also provides a way to peel teammates who need to escape combat. Pairs nicely with 's or 's .

It can disrupt abilities with channelling effects such as 's , 's , 's , 's or 's .

Combos:

I will share practical and straightforward combinations while playing in Summoners Rift games, whether in draft or ranked modes. These combos could require some patience and timing to land efficiently.

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Tips & Tricks:

Playing As :
• Be mindful of your mana and spell usage as in the early game, as most of her abilities have lengthy cooldowns and high mana costs.
• Using and helps to isolate or trap your targets.
• 's ultimate can come in very handy for cutting off escapes.

Playing Against :
• is a powerful ability, but it has a long cooldown. Take advantage of the situation if misses this ability
• has a very long range but travels slowly; it is easy to juke if you see it coming.
• When you see an opponent affected by , hang back a bit. Since it has a short duration, waiting it out before trading with them can help you immensely.

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Game Plan

As a player, it's crucial to have a solid understanding of the primary objectives for each game stage. Keeping this in mind can make all the difference in your performance. Here are some key notes for each stage of the game.

Early Game:

In the game's early stages, your primary goal should be to gather as much gold (with the aid of your item () and experience, while still providing as much vision possible to keep you and your team safe. Doing this will enable you to purchase your essential items, giving you a competitive edge over your opponents.

Other tactics you can perform to help deny resources from your opponents include the following:
• Freezing the wave
• Open trade/lane fights

Additionally, keep setting up wards around the enemy and your own (if necessary), to avoid any surprise ganks from enemy champions.

Mid Game:

During the mid-game, it's important to group with your team, making sure they are all healed up for upcoming team fights or when looking to secure objectives such as , or .

Continue to place wards around the river/lane bushes or camps when you can. This can be helpful before sieging turrets or preparing for objectives.

Late Game:

You must make strategic decisions to secure victory in the late game. Staying with your carries, making sure they are healthy at all times and you're ready to heal them should they get close to dying. Another good thing to consider is capturing late game objectives such as soul, & that can help to close out games. Staying focused is essential, as a single mistake can be costly at this stage.

Things to Consider:

Before prioritizing objectives like or , one must consider the potential dangers of wandering around the map:
• How much could I gain/lose when roaming compared to staying in my lane?
• What are the risks to me?
• Will I get ahead from roaming, or will I need to catch up?

As it pays to be present on the map when upcoming objectives are spawining and to make sure vision is prepped so that your team won't walk into the area blind.

To maximize your chances of victory as , only engage with , , or once your team is an a position where they can siege or you can create a diversion that can pincer the enemy. Always try to remain in the backline as long as you can while still maintaining good vision of your allies just in case they need healing or mobility to catch a fleeing enemy.

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Summoner Spells

Below is a detailed overview of the summoner spells you can choose from that can improve your success in lane as . It is crucial to assess the enemy team's composition during the champ select phase.

By understanding your opponents, you can choose the best spells to counter potential threats.

Default

Flash

An essential spell for that you should have in every game. Since you don't have access to any form of self-peel apart from landing a clutch or . helps to escape rough situations, allowing you to get out safely, dodging any crucial abilities.

Secondary Options

Exhaust

A useful summoner spell for that helps to deal with threatening foes (, , , , or ) in team fights, skirmishes or duels.

It can give you and your team a chance to isolate or to subdue a fleeing or high-value target.

Be mindful that can't reduce sources of true damage dealt from the following abilities:
• 's (recast)
• 's
• 's
• 's
• 's (3rd hit)

Heal

Provides healing and mobility on cast. When paired with , it gives added sustain and mobility to the ally affected by . It can give you the boost needed to dodge skill shots or help you and a teammate escape a tricky situation.

Remember that subsequent uses of within a short period will reduce its effectiveness. Therefore, if both you and your adc have it, coordinate your use of the spell for optimal results.

Ignite

It helps reduce healing, so you can finish off kills that your adc may not be able to secure them. It's also an effective summoner spell for when looking to secure advantages in team fights. If your adc plans on running (normally ), let them take and opt for another option.

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Vision Control

Below are vision trinkets and consumables that can assist in detecting potential invades or in preparing for the next objective to secure or deny on the rift.

Default Trinket

Stealth Ward

is your main trinket in all games as , revealing units within a target location. With the ability to place a max of three s on the map at any given time, you can create sightlines on essential regions of the map.

It is helpful when setting up vision while split pushing or when establishing deep vision in enemy territory or objectives ( & ).

Secondary Options

Oracle Lens

is your best choice for , allowing you to deny enemy vision around the rift, making it much easier for your team to traverse the rift.

Also effective against champions who plants traps (, , & ) and revealing units that use stealth/invisibility (, , , or ).

Consumables

Control Ward

s help deny enemy vision and reveal champions with camouflage (, , and ). Just note that champions with invisibility effects (, , , , and ) aren't able to be detected by them.

If you can afford to purchase one or two, that will help your team.

Upon acquiring the final upgrade to your item (, or ), you're granted four s, along with a slot for two additional s. You'll have more freedom to place vision in key areas and to make sure you and your team are protected.

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Stats to Consider

In this section, I will highlight key attributes (stats) that can enhance 's effectiveness in battle. It is crucial to consider these during the champion selection phase, as they can significantly impact your performance and strategy.

• Ability Power: It's an essential stat for to acquire in every game, increasing the damage dealt with her abilities. Since she has excellent late-game scaling, it's a must-have stat to acquire.

• Heal & Shield Power: It's one of the best stats to acquire for , increasing the healing efficiency of not only but all other sources of healing & shielding you apply to allies. Always look to spec this into your build when you can.

• Ability Haste: It's a powerful stat to have in every game as . Provides constant uptime on your abilities, allowing you to poke the enemy or to heal/peel for your teammates. Always spec this for an efficient teamfight presence.

• Health: Having extra health in theory helps to make us more durable in combat; however, since is immobile (not a ), though this might not serve us in the grand scheme, as the loss of damage doesn't give us much impact in team fights.

Health options like , , , or are what we'd want to spec into since they act as damage options as well.

• Movement Speed: Increases your ability to roam around the map and dodge incoming skill shots. While not the most prioritized stat on , there are ways to acquire it from our item pool.

• Armor/Magic Resistance: While the added resistances are viable on , you'd only consider this when against assassins or burst threats. If you have any additional health from items/runes paired with this, you'll be harder to kill in combat.

Similar to prioritizing health, are going this route as compared to ; therefore, we'll skip this.

• Attack Speed: Even though we can gain attack speed from or from the attack speed shard, it's generally a stat we wouldn't consider as ; therefore, we will skip this.

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Which Boots & Why?

Boots of Swiftness > Slow Reduction
With roaming being a key factor as , becomes an excellent choice for . Also consider them when dealing with slow effects such as 's /, , or .

Swiftmarch > upgrade
Upgrading to converts all mobility bonuses gained from runes and items into additional damage. With these boots, can get to fights and objectives faster, or reach her allies faster to heal them.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity > Ability Haste
Since loves to cast abilities in combat, this makes a solid pick up for her. Also helps by reducing her equipped summoner spells, granting more uptime on or other spells at your disposal. Always consider them to create more impact plays during the game.

Crimson Lucidity > upgrade
Since 's effect is similar to , it makes it a perfect escape tool when paired with . Though, unlike , you can also trigger its effect by either healing or shielding yourself. The mobility gained can serve as a chase-down tool or, in dire need, as a way to escape combat.

Sorcerer's Shoes > Magic Penetration
are the default pair of taken as for the excellent synergy with your kit. The flat magic penetration gained from these is very effective when dealing with targets with little or no magic resistance in combat.

Spellslinger's Shoes > upgrade
are an excellent choice for , significantly increasing her damage against both squishy and durable opponents.

Be mindful that none of the tier 3 boots upgrades are accessible to us as support, as now if we want them, we'll have to role queue to mid lane and earn them through their specific role quest.

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Itemization

Starter Items

As the default option for , grants extra sustain, along with added gold income throughout the match. As time progresses, it will upgrade into three other unique items and increase your warding capabilities.

Then you might be asking: Well, Demonsedge, how do I complete the support item quest?

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That's a great question summoner, and here's how:

You'll receive your first charge before the first three units perish.

When charges are available, use them whenever possible, as they increase your gold gain and your teammates'.

When executing , or a , you'll gain a fixed amount of gold with each charge. At the same time, your nearby teammate will earn the total value of the executed .

Damaging champions will yield higher gold values (compared to executing ), allowing you to complete your item quickly.

Either strategy is effective for completing your item.

Support Item Upgrades

- is 's best friend for shielding and protecting her carries from incoming damage while also giving them a little extra boost of damage in team fights and skirmishes. Great against burst heavy opponents you'll face.

- is a great way for to provide some sustain to herself and a nearby ally in combat. It's an effective option to consider, as she has multiple ways to achieve its effect. It can be triggered either through the effect of or if she

immobilizes an enemy with either or .

- When you're looking for more trade potential, grab . A great lane bully option if you and your team are more poke-heavy and want to wear down your opponents faster during short trades.

While it's more ideal/correct to build as a healer, there are times where having item options can prove effective in certain matchups.

Below, I will go over itemization options for both potential build paths you can consider on .

Healer Build:

Core Items

- With being efficient at poking down the enemy, having can be an excellent option for her. If you are damaging champions in combat, you can easily apply the effect.

Champions that tend to keep you at a distance, such as or , procing the effect might not be as easy; therefore, being cautious would be the game plan here.

- A core buy for that makes her healing more efficient in combat. also allows each bounce of 's to have individual heal instances, triggering their own chain. When paired with you'll significantly increase her teamfight sustain for all her allies.

- is an excellent core purchase and helps to improve her own healing and can be applied on her allies in a small area. It can also be activated on your enemies dealing damage to all those within it's radius.

Situational Items

- , when paired with carries such as , , or , can make them highly effective in lane. While not limited to ADCs, other champions, such as , , , or , can also benefit from the boosted attack speed as well.

- can be very useful when looking to apply healing to your allies upon killing a target. While the heal effect might be lower at first, once you acquire some heal and shield power, it should have a bigger impact. It also doubles as an excellent % magic penetration to increase your damage in combat.

- is a great option to finish your build. Helps increase damage and healing strength in combat.

When paired with other heal and shield power options such as , , , this will improve 's teamfight and sustain capabilities.

- Provides a constant healing that persists while you are in combat. It can trigger other items like , , and , allowing to buff her entire team more consistently through simple auto-attacks or single spells. When paired with , she provides way more healing for her allies.

- When dealing with problematic

crowd control effects, be sure to pick up . While it won't be able to deal with airborne, blind, nearsight, stasis or suppression, it can help to save your selected teammate and even provide a small heal once cleansed.

- An excellent option that makes it easier to enter a team fight as a group or when you're with another ally in the sidelane looking to rejoin your team. Helpful when looking to escape combat or chase down targets to deal the finishing blow.

- is a great alternative to purchase when your team is mostly made up of s or champions with high ability power. It's a great pick up with champions such as , , or .

Mage Build:

Core Items

- Provides damage and survivability for . With the increased mana, you can constantly apply (w) to keep your team topped up during long fights.

The shielding (at low health) is helpful when trying to escape combat, or to survive heavy burst damage.

- Offers good burst and magic penetration that synergizes with her E (), making it a great way to deal with squishier targets quickly. If paired with other magic penetration options such as , or , it improves her damage against .

- With , you'll increase 's (W) and (Q) damage while in team fights and skirmishes. The magic penetration is helpful against squishier champions and against /bruisers.

Situational Items

- allows to deal with squisher targets or when damaging them with any of her abilities. It's an excellent option to consider if you have multiple magic damage sources on your team.

- An excellent choice for , since and a long-range can trigger the revealing effect. Allies who are affected by can apply it when striking at long distances.

The reveal effect is efficient against champions such as , , or who hide in bushes.

- Casting on an ally, their basic attacks or abilities apply a slow. Because is the source of the buff, this slow triggers 's coordinated fire mark. When compared to other supports that need to land their skillshots, can apply the mark from safety through her teammates.

- increases how often 's can use , which boosts the damage dealt to enemy champions upon contact. This allows to become a powerful force on the battlefield, enabling her to turn the tide of battle for her team.

- is a niche pick up for , but one that you can make good use of if you maintain the stacks. This item is very situational and can be game-changing against the right champions (preferably squishier targets).

Situational Items For The Mage and Healer Builds

- spell shield grants protection from the next single-target or

crowd-control effect sent her way. If you're against (using ) or (using ), the shield will be consumed and give you complete vision of your surroundings, allowing you to save yourself or an ally.

- is your grievous wounds option when playing . While it's not a rush option, you can sit on until you have built your core items and then finish it up later on in the game.

It's best used to counter healers like , , , and , as well as items like , and .

- Consider building on when looking to dodge

crowd control or heavy damage threats, such as , , , or . However, be cautious about its activation since you could die right after the stasis effect ends.

Elixirs

Using the grants extra

mana regeneration while also increasing the strength of all 's abilities during team fights and skirmishes.

If at any point you no longer require your support item (, or ) in your match, sell it and buy a situational item from the list above to complete your build path.

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Runes

The following keystone and rune choices are great for and will complement her in combat. Always pay attention to the enemy team comp, plus your item builds when selecting your runes to get the most value in each game.

Keystone Runes:

- It's a strong option that pairs nicely with an aggressive, burst-damage ADC like or , or if playing an aggressive, roaming style. It offers strong early-game kill pressure but tends to be less consistent in mid- to late-game teamfights.

- is an excellent choice for , by providing shielding for your allies, which can help them survive burst damage. Another good use for it is against heavy engage champions like or .

- can trigger from either casting or . Aery's shield, when cast on an ally, provides shielding for the next few seconds or until broken. It is very reliable during short trades in the laning phase.

With , this allows you to apply item buffs like or without using your .

Due to being ready more often, you'll have a very poke heavy lane.

- synergizes with 's lane bully play style by applying additional poke to enemies. It's a great way to wear them down during short trades, making them easier to kill for your allies.

It's also great to pressure foes who don't prioritize healing or shielding effects in their kits, such as , , , or .

Domination Runes:

- grants extra damage against targets who've been affected by

crowd-control effects (except airborne). Since has plenty of ways to trigger this rune, we stand to gain excellent value during team fights and skirmishes.

It's a solid option when paired with champions such as , , , , or .

- Since will focus on setting up vision for their team, can help improve that. It will allow to place more wards in a shorter time frame, giving her team more information on where enemies will be coming from or hiding. It will enable us to spot enemy flanks or ambushes earlier.

While in queues (or other non-rift game modes), will help improve the uptime on all equipped summoner spells she possesses.

- makes it much easier to rotate to objectives or to regroup with your team. Do note that 's effect will be removed once you begin fighting the enemy, and will not be active until you disengage from the enemy.

- With , you'll have more access to , giving you more chances to set up picks or isolate enemies during team fights and skirmishes. When paired with , this will help provide more uptime.

Precision Runes:

- is a great way for to maintain enough mana so that you can damages enemies with your abilities. You can also gain back a portion of mana when acquiring takedowns. It's a great way to ensure you always have mana.

- is a great way to have increased ability uptime. When paired with , you'll have more access to and in fights.

Resolve Runes:

- Upon trapping or

immobilizing your target(s) with either , or , will grant healing to you and a nearby ally. While the sustain is small, it can be the difference maker if you are fighting tooth and nail with the enemy.

- provides adding durability, which can help when against matchups such as , , or .

While it's not our first priority as , the minor increase provided can go a long way to survive during team fights and duels.

- is a solid option for , reducing the next three sources of damage from the first champon that hits you.

When against teams that consist of or other heavy burst comps it would be adventageous to pick this up.

- Your bread and butter rune to increase your healing with , and also improving the strength of all shields you apply.

also gains more effectiveness when paired with:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

You'll also gain increased shielding from the soul.

Sorcery Runes:

- is a must have rune for for additional mana. When paired with /, you'll receive extra value from the mana gained. Once stacked out, you'll gain increased

mana regeneration.

- is a great way to increase 's all-around pressure in fights and duels, so long as you remain healthy by casting on yourself or restoring your health with around the map. The extra damage will definitely help improve and in combat.

- enhances our damage output from autos and abilities against targets and continues to increase indefinitely. When paired alongside , it provides additional burst damage against targets.

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Rune Shards

When choosing between offensive or defensive rune shards for , you need to keep in mind certain factors to make the right decision.

Offensive Shards

• Do you require extra attack speed? Since we aren't worried about farming, we'll skip this option.

• Do you need additional adaptive force? Since adaptive force shards convert into extra ability power, it is appealing for in most games, so ensure you have at least one at all times. Consider grabbing a second shard should you need more.

• Do you require ability haste? As , it's a fantastic shard to obtain, as then you can cast any of your abilities whenever you need them. Ensuring your healing and damage spells are always up and ready for combat. Since we don't value the attack speed shard, this should be our next priority pick.

Defensive Shards

• Do you need more movement speed? Having extra mobility can be very effective for . It can help her dodge skill shots or reposition during team fights.

• Do you need tenacity & slow resist? Since is very squishy, if a

crowd control effect strikes her, there is a good chance it will lead to certain death; therefore, even a minor resistance boost to

crowd control effects doesn't benefit her in the long run.

In short, she's better off taking another shard that will provide more lasting value.

• Do you need health? With two health options to choose from as , knowing which one to take is crucial to your survivability. For longer games, the scaling health shard is a good choice. On the other hand, if you are looking for a more early or mid game option, the flat health shard is more suitable.

Both options are effective on , helping her survive and deal with mixed-damage enemy teams.

Always pay attention to the team compositions you are fighting when mixing and matching the rune shards listed above with your and items. It's a sure way to improve your overall survivability in games.

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Summary

Upon reading this guide, I hope it has helped you understand how to build . By explaining which abilities, items, and runes work well together, you should now be able to make the most of her kit. If you found this helpful guide, please share it with your friends and fellow gamers.

If you have any questions or thoughts you wish to share, feel free to contact me in the discussion section. I'll be happy to discuss anything with you and help you find the answers you need to the best of my ability.

To view my other guide click on the following link below:

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16.5 One With The Tides

16.5 One With The Tides

Choose Champion Build:

Recommended Items

Runes: Summon Aery

Spells:

Exhaust

Flash

Flash

Heal

Flash

Ignite

Items

Ability Order Standard

Surging Tides (PASSIVE)

Aqua Prison (Q)

Ebb and Flow (W)

Tidecaller's Blessing (E)

Tidal Wave (R)

Threats & Synergies

Alistar

Amumu

Bard

Blitzcrank

Brand

Braum

Elise

Galio

Janna

Karma

Leona

Lulu

Lux

Malphite

Maokai

Mel

Milio

Morgana

Nautilus

Neeko

Pantheon

Poppy

Pyke

Rakan

Rell

Renata Glasc

Senna

Seraphine

Shaco

Shen

Sona

Soraka

Swain

Tahm Kench

Taric

Thresh

Vel'Koz

Xerath

Yuumi

Zilean

Zyra

Aphelios

Ashe

Caitlyn

Corki

Draven

Ezreal

Jhin

Jinx

Kai'Sa

Kalista

Kog'Maw

Lucian

Miss Fortune

Nilah

Samira

Senna

Sivir

Smolder

Tristana