[26.15] Naafiri Mid/Jungle + Arena/Brawl Guides
Build Guide By Makilov
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Naafiri Build Guide By Makilov
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Choose Champion Build:
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Mid Lane
![LoL Champion: Naafiri]()
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Jungle
![LoL Champion: Naafiri]()
Recommended Items
Runes: Electrocute
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+15% Tenacity/Slow Resist
Spells:
Flash
Teleport
Items
Threats & Synergies
Threats
Synergies
Show All
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Diana
Diana is very good at running you down and killing your packmates. Her 
Crescent Strike can be dodged if you stick to the right of her, but it can be hard to get used to. If you get hit by any ability, it applies her Moonlight passive and allows her to dash to you for free, combined with her Pale Cascade she has shields and damage.
If you don't ban her, which I would for the sake of your jungler as well, try your best to dodge her Crescent Strike and play safe.
You can either build bruiser with Serpent's Fang at the end to counter her, or build Serpent's Fang earlier in a lethality build (Ideally second, replacing The Collector) and hope she doesn't get fed. With bruiser the idea is to keep her occupied so she doesn't roam and pick up kills from other lanes.
Naafiri
Like any good player of their respective champion, it is important to know your own weaknesses.
Your We Are More packmates are your lifeline for a lot of mid-lane fights. Many champions can kill you a lot more easily when they are dead. Keeping them alive with dodging, using your The Call of the Pack, and Eviscerate is important. It should be noted that you shouldn't use The Call of the Pack just to save your packmates given the long cooldown.
While it is important to keep them alive, don't be afraid to use them as a shield, as this counters a lot of champs. Ahri, Akali, Evelynn, Katarina, and Lux, to name a few, will have trouble fighting you when they are alive. Your packmates can make a swarm around you if you position correctly, taking skill shots that would otherwise root/stun you.
A key item to look out for is Zhonya's Hourglass. It will more often than not be built to counter your Hounds' Pursuit, as with many champions, you can use Eviscerate and run them down to bait it out before diving.
Enemy champions will do their absolute best to dodge your second Darkin Daggers hit. Expect them to stand on the sides of the minion wave to deny you clear and damage + them to use their own dodge/shield ability to avoid the Q2.
Synergies
Naafiri
Like any good player of their respective champion, it is important to know your own weaknesses. Your [[we are more]] packmates are your lifeline for a lot of mid-lane fights. Many champions can kill you a lot more easily when they are dead. Keeping them alive with dodging, using your [[the call of the pack]], and [[eviscerate]] is important. It should be noted that you shouldn't use [[the call of the pack]] just to save your packmates given the long cooldown. While it is important to keep them alive, don't be afraid to use them as a shield, as this counters a lot of champs. [[Ahri]], [[Akali]], [[Evelynn]], [[Katarina]], and [[Lux]], to name a few, will have trouble fighting you when they are alive. Your packmates can make a swarm around you if you position correctly, taking skill shots that would otherwise root/stun you. A key item to look out for is [[zhonya's hourglass]]. It will more often than not be built to counter your [[hounds' pursuit]], as with many champions, you can use [[eviscerate]] and run them down to bait it out before diving. Enemy champions will do their absolute best to dodge your second [[darkin daggers]] hit. Expect them to stand on the sides of the minion wave to deny you clear and damage + them to use their own dodge/shield ability to avoid the Q2.
Champion Build Guide
Notes and Updates:
29.4.26: With the removal of
Opportunity and the rework of Voltaic Cyclosword, I've had to weak some terminology in the notes. Voltaic Cyclosword in particular seems to have absorbed what Opportunity used to be, so it's an even better item. Hubris and Axiom Arc has been tweaked slightly, but it's a buff for us overall, allowing us to snowball harder. Gluttonous Greaves have been added, a great option for our bruiser build. Endless Hunger has also had its AD scaling improved for ability haste, giving us greater cooldowns.13.05.26: In the recent patch, Naafiri has been nerfed once again. Her
Darkin Daggers do less damage overall now, so our fights will take longer to finish. Voltaic Cyclosword also has gotten more expensive, but not by much so it shouldn't affect our build too much. Gluttonous Greaves have the same scaling as they had in the previous patch, but it takes longer to fully stack now.22.07.26 Patch 26.15 comes out shortly, and with it comes another Naafiri nerf once again. Her ultimate ability,
Hounds' Pursuit, will do even less damage, which is a shame, but we can overcome this with our builds. Since I didn't do an update the last few patches, I'll note that Locke is a threat to us and care should be taken to dodge his Ritual Nails to prevent stacking.
Naafiri I have three options which I will use intermittently.The confident start -- I only buy
Long Sword. With our Darkin Daggers we can get health back once you hit your second Q. I combine this with the Heal summoner spell so I avoid spending money on potions.The aggressive start -- I only buy
Doran's Blade. The extra omnivamp helps with trades in the early game. I only get this start when I'm not super confident building Hubris as the first item.The defensive start -- I only buy
Doran's Shield. This option is for champions I have little confidence fighting or those with heavy AOE and CC. At this point you could buy potions with the starting item, but I hold on to the gold personally.
Hubris as the first item will allow us to snowball for the rest of the game. With our Darkin Daggers double hits, we have good burst potential that does more damage the lower the enemy's health is, allowing us to get the kills quickly.Afterwards I follow up with
Ionian Boots of Lucidity; the movement speed and ability haste are important for keeping pressure on the enemy.Next I build
The Collector, not only does it give you extra lethality but it allows you to get takedowns quickly, adding to your Hubris stacks.After this I buy
Serylda's Grudge, the armor penetration combined with the lethality you already have will ensure your victory. The passive slowing effect on the item also applies to your We Are More packmates, preventing the enemy champion from escaping.Finishing off the core build, I buy
Axiom Arc for the Hounds' Pursuit cooldown and lethality. If you use Hounds' Pursuit and score a takedown within those 7 seconds, you can cast it again, and combined with Axiom Arc, your ultimate can be used very often.The final item of the build depends on who you're fighting or how you play. I will often build
Voltaic Cyclosword because we can build energized stacks quickly and it also has a slowing effect that combos well with Serylda's Grudge and Hounds' Pursuit. I will replace it with Serpent's Fang if I'm fighting a strong mid laner with shields like Diana or against heavy shielding support champions like Leona, Lulu, Nautilus, or Yuumi. I buy Edge of Night if I am fighting a lot of AOE or CC abilities, it will save you from being one shot in team fights or catching a stray poke. Lastly, I build Eclipse if I want a little extra shielding and damage which combines nicely with our double cast Darkin Daggers and Electrocute rune.I recommend using the
Electrocute rune for this build, the burst damage is too good to pass up in my opinion. Arcane Comet also works if you're more likely to use your Darkin Daggers often to poke and play conservatively.15.06.26 Update Note: The previous comments on the items all still apply, but I should note here that depending on your match-up, you should replace
The Collector for your second item. Serpent's Fang for shielding champs in your lane like Yasuo, Yone, or Diana. Eclipse if you need a little more survivability, or you can do Edge of Night for the lethality and survivability. Note that items like The Collector, Serpent's Fang and Edge of Night don't have any ability haste attached to them. If you wish to have the maximum about of haste early on, build Voltaic Cyclosword.
Eclipse is a good first item, especially if you aren't confident in getting takedowns early. It allows you to get shields on your double cast Darkin Daggers as well as doing damage itself, combined with the Electrocute rune, you do a decent chunk of damage with just your first ability. The shielding allows you to use Eviscerate safely as well.Next, as with every build, you should build
Ionian Boots of Lucidity. The movement speed and haste are too good to pass up.Afterwards, I build
Profane Hydra, this gives us good wave clear with its AOE attack on top of the active damage it can do.The third item is
Serylda's Grudge, the slowing and armor pen are good for any assassin.The next three items can be switched intermittently in my experience. Sometimes I follow up with
Axiom Arc and then Youmuu's Ghostblade, or other times I skip Youmuu's Ghostblade altogether and grab Edge of Night instead. It depends who you're fighting and if you prefer having high Hounds' Pursuit cooldown, having extra movement speed, or being able to sustain longer.Overall, this build will do you just fine in most matchups. I recommend using the
Electrocute rune set, but the Conqueror set works just as fine.
Hubris is our first item once again, it's good for snowballing into the game and hitting that "shogun" damage once it's stacked.Following
Hubris, we get Ionian Boots of Lucidity. Being able to use more abilities means more crit damage.After, we grab
The Collector, it is our first crit item and it will allow us to sweep up kills.Next, I build
Lord Dominik's Regards for the armor penetration and extra 25% crit chance. It also has the Giant Slayer passive, which lets you do extra damage to those high health enemies. You can swap this item with Serylda's Grudge as usual if you prefer the slowing on it. Note you will only have 50% crit chance if you skip this item by end of build.As with any crit build, the next item will be
Infinity Edge it gives us another 25% crit chance and an extra 30% crit damage. When we dive with our Hounds' Pursuit, our damage will end whichever champion we fight quickly.The final item is
Voltaic Cyclosword, the extra damage from the energized stacks combined with the slowing effect that our We Are More packmates can proc rounds out this build.I recommend using the
Hail of Blades rune with this build. The extra attack speed you get is mainly for your packmates. Each time you auto attack, the packmates follow suit.
Starting off,
Eclipse is the item to go for. Shielding and damage is a go-to for any bruiser playstyle. Ionian Boots of Lucidity for the movement speed/hate. You may need to swap these for Plated Steelcaps or Mercury's Treads if the enemy team has high AD or high AP/CC damage respectively.Next, I build
Endless Hunger for the omnivamp and tenacity. More often than not, you will face an enemy with some amount of cc. As an assassin champion, Naafiri is weak once she's rooted or slowed, so having the tenacity is very good to have. When you get a kill with Endless Hunger it also boosts your omnivamp for 8 seconds, this is excellent for long teamfights.Your armor pen item this time is
Black Cleaver. The armor reduction damage applies to your teammates, allowing you to contribute more to a teamfight. The extra movement speed you get from doing damage is nice for dodging attacks as well.The next item I build is
Spear of Shojin. Another good item for long fights, the stacking ability damage buff on hit makes you a lot harder to kill while upping your damage. The ability haste it gives you is also good, espcially for your The Call of the Pack. If you'd prefer a little more sustain over doing damage, I would build Sundered Sky.The last item I build is
Sterak's Gage. It gives us a nice damage boost and sustain in the form of a health shield. It works well with our previous items as the damage boost scales off of your AD, and the shield scales off of health, and every one of our items gives us both.For our supplimentaries, you can replace your last item with
Death's Dance, Maw of Malmortius, or Guardian Angel, depending on the enemy comp. Death's Dance is very good if you can takedown enemies, given it heals the damage you took during the fight. Build this when fighting an AD opponent you struggle with. Maw of Malmortius is similar to Sterak's Gage in that it gives you a shield to block damage, but it also gives you more omnivamp in combat, which is good for teamfights. Build this when you're fighting an AP opponent you struggle with. Guardian Angel is an armor item that lets you revive yourself every 300 seconds. It's not very good if you're by yourself, because you will often still die once you're revived, but it's good for stalling or in teamfights.I recommend using the
Conqueror rune for this build, the extra healing from this set will keep us alive to do more damage.
Hubris for example, only stacks damage when you get a takedown for that round only, so it only takes its effect for one champion per round. The goal in Arena is to take down the enemy as quick as possible so they don't revive or so the circle doesn't close in on you.Prismatic anvils to look out for in Arena in order of priority would be,
Duskblade of Draktharr, Prowler's Claw, and Regicide. Duskblade works tremendously in arena as it allows you to dodge all forms of damage for a few seconds. Prowler's is good for your teammate, as the extra damage taken applies to them as well; plus stacking damage percentages is always good. Keep an eye out for the Apex Inventor augment as this decreases the cooldown on Prowler's Claw by a lot. Regicide is a good item to stack with Hubris as it also gives you permanent attack damage increases on takedown. It also gives you a refresh on your Hounds' Pursuit and extra movement speed. Non-lethality prismatic items to look for are Divine Sunderer and Hemomancer's Helm for your bruiser builds, and Gambler's Blade for your attack speed on-hit builds. Gambler's Blade also procs with your We Are More packmate's on-hits as well, letting you gain quite a bit of gold if you win your rounds.Other items you can build in Arena depend on your opponents as usual. If I'm fighting a lot of tanks or high health enemies, I will build Hellfire Hatchet in place of
The Collector. If you decide to build bruiser, it is important to note that the augment, Apex Inventor, will help you dramatically. It allows you to gain the effects of Eclipse, Sterak's Gage, Sundered Sky, and Hellfire Hatchet quicker than usual.Brawl follows Lethality Build #1 for me personally. I skip out on boots because the map is so small, freeing up my final item for a sustain item to keep me in the teamfights like
Eclipse, Edge of Night, Death's Dance, or Maw of Malmortius.Tips for playing in Arena: As the assassin playstyle goes, you should focus the lowest health champion first. Keep an eye on their armor/magic armor values however, with Arena's augments and stat anvils, they will often be higher than you expect. High movement speed is also desired, as it allows you to dodge the inevitable onslaught of AOE and CC abilities.
Tips for playing in Brawl: Your early game will be weak fighting five people at once. Take the time to attack the jungle monsters and farm gold. Your teammates will get upset with you if you only farm in the jungle, but once you get a few items, you can sweep the enemy team. Once you start teamfighting more often, use your
Darkin Daggers to poke out the enemy before diving in.
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