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In this guide, I will tell you how and why I play/build Nami the way I do. I will try my best to explain why I build the way I do and how my personal play-style is with this champion. I will also explain as to why you should at least appreciate your support because, to be honest, we are very underrated for what we do.


Where do I start when it comes to describing supports and the rules they follow?

Support is probably one of the most important roles, and underrated roles, in the game. They control the flow of the game and a great deal of map control. A lot of things happen behind the kills that most people do not realize or refuse to. As the name implies, this role helps the team to achieve victory by enabling them to get kills and objectives, such as the Rift Herald , Baron Nashor or the Dragon .


As a support, you head to the bottom lane with your AD Carry, and as the name implies, you support them. When you are in laning phase, don't last hit the minions for gold. There are items that will passively give you gold as the game progresses (That being said, you can farm the minions when your ADC is out of lane). Your job is not to take kills, but to set up kills for your team, so try not to kill steal!

Watch whole map, not just your own lane and ping/inform your allies of approaching enemies. Pinging missing champions and maybe even writing in the chat goes to this section and even if your mid doesn't say anything, but the enemy is gone there, you can ping it instead. Remember to buy and put wards and beware of ganks, inform your own jungler of the enemy wards and set up ganks. Remember: you can only place 3 wards at a time and 1 Control Ward. Remind others to ward as well, this is a team game.

Nami is a jack of all trades when it comes to supporting. She can heal, engage/disengage, and CC; but she doesn't excel in one thing. I have found that she is quite a well-rounded support all-together. That means she can go with most teams!

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Pros + High team-fight potential + Strong peel + Strong poke + Heals + Self sustain + Basic Attack buff + Stuns Nami has amazing CC and a decent range. Her E lets her buff or own or her ally's basic attacks to do extra damage. Her heal is one of the best and the stun on her Q makes it easy to engage in lane early. She is a very strong aggressive support, but can also excel when playing passively.

Cons - Squishy - Little escape - Countered easily - Mana reliant - Skill-cap - Team reliant Like all champion, Nami has her downfalls. She is a very squishy support, she has a heal, and outside of her passive, she has no real mobility. That means she's easy to kill with bursty, all-in champions such as Leona.

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Summon Aery is my preferred choice when playing Nami. That is because it can be used defensively or offensively. For example, whenever you heal an allay it grants them a shield that for 35 − 80 (based on level) that lasts for 2 seconds which can be important early game. You can also use it as a poke tool in lane because when you hit an enemy champion with an ability it does 10 − 40 (based on level) damage.

Arcane Comet I have used myself a few times, but I still find it inferior to Summon Aery. I use it when I played Nami full aggressive since it does extra damage when eneimes are hit by your abilities.

I am not exactly sure if Phase Rush is actually used on any champion. It'll grant you up to 3 stacks when hitting enemy champions and will grant you 25-40% movement speed (based on level) and up to 75% slow resist for 3 seconds. I personally don't recommend it.

Nullifying Orb could be useful for when you are facing AP champions, but I found that it generally doesn't give you too much and it feels like a waste in terms of utilization for Nami.

This is probably my favorite option when playing Nami because of the extra mana regen for the early game pressure. It makes it easy to sustain yourself when using Ebb and Flow and trying to heal your allied champions. It's easy to find yourself low on mana which makes this extremely useful.

This is probably my second favorite mastery for Nami. It gives you extra movement speed after you use your ultimate, which is why it makes this a nice second option, especially when you want to disengage from a terrible situation! (Though, I still prefer Manaflow Band of this any day! I love me my extra mana and my mana regen!)

I found that this is an alright alternative to Celerity if you feel like rushing 40% CDR asap. While it's an alright alternative, it's only 10% CDR over the current cap of 30% and it's just a mastery.

This is my current go-to! Nami is a slow champion and could use all the movement speed she could get, even if it's out of her AP. This work well with her passive, Surging Tides.

Now I personally don't use this mastery....at all. I don't feel as it works for a support champion, which is why I did not use this one. [/b][/i]

Poking your enemy is lane is almost a must, but I don't recommend Scorch because the extra damage that it give you is nearly non-existent.

Waterwalking I have noticed is for champions who tend to roam and are in the river area a good amount. I feel as though this is a good option for Nami if you plan on roaming or if you have the ability. I personally don't take it because I don't usually roam.

This is my personal choice when playing Nami currently. It gives you nice AP scaling and the extra AP is always nice for the extra healing potential! (Her heals scale off of her AP!)

This is probably the best choice to get out of the Resolve mastery section. It's nice because you have a stun on your bubble and a knock-up on your ultimate. This will help utilize some things.

This mastery works really well with healing kits because the heals and shields she has will be stronger, even more so when your allies are below 40% HP. Revitalize is basically the reason I consider taking anything from the Resolve track.

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- FLASH: This is must have on every champion, support or not. Since Nami does not have the best mobility, taking this spell will be a life-saver! EXHAUST: This I find is a must on any support champion! Not only does it slow the enemy champion affected by 30% for 2.5 seconds in order to help secure your carry a kill, you can use it to get out of a sticky situation or disengage if need-be. IGNITE: This is not a spell I perosnally use or would reccomend, but that does not stop me from seeing other people take it for some reason. I would still personally recommend Exhaust and Flash.

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PASSIVE ABILITY

Surging Tides (Passive): This is her passive. When Nami casts an ability that hits an allied champion it grants them 60 (+20% of your Ability Power) movement speed for 1.5 seconds. This can be useful when roaming or applying pressure in lane.

Q

Aqua Prison (Q): This is a good CC ability and is great for denying enemy ganks! The biggest issue (other than its cool-down time) would be the skill to time it. It takes some skill to learn, but I think the practice is well worth it!

W

Ebb and Flow (W): This is probably my most used ability on Nami. When laning, it'll give you a lot of sustain. What's good about this ability is that it will jump between you, your ally, and your enemy depending on how it is cast. When cast on an enemy first: Enemy ==> Ally ==> Enemy When cast on an ally first: Ally ==> Enemy ==> Ally

E

Tidecaller's Blessing (E): This I feel like is self-explanatory. The ability empowers your ally's basic attacks for 3 attacks. I tend to use this ability more when my ADC and I plan on playing super aggressively or to try and secure my ADC or jungler a kill.

R

Tidal Wave (R): This is quite an engage when used correctly! This ability is incredibly wide when cast and it does damage! This knock-ups enemies when they are hit, which is nice for champions like Yasuo who need knock-ups to do certain abilities. While it's nice, it is a bit slow, so keep that in mind when casting it.

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#1 Tidal Wave 6 / 11 / 16 #2 Ebb and Flow 1 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 9 #3 Aqua Prison 2 / 8 / 10 / 12 / 13 #4 Tidecaller's Blessing 3 / 14 / 15 / 17 / 18

> > > Alright, so to be clear I tend to vary on my skill sequence, but I always tend to start off with my W. A lot of times I don't completely ignore Tidecaller's Blessing, but it always depends on who I am playing with. With burst ADCs like Ezreal I tend to put more points into it early game than with others. I will always max my Ebb and Flow first due to it's healing and the fact that it bounces between champions if you are in range.

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This is an alright item on Nami in my opinion. It would be purchased mid to late game and can be utilized when you are being focused and are being killed easily. I would consider it a mandatory item to buy when playing against champions like Zed and Fizz, but that being said I don't always buy it. I mostly buy it when I am the focus and being killed.

This item is good for its raw healing power in a single item slot and also for its active, which cleanses CC from an ally. That makes it great for teams against heavy CC! Though, I feel like it should be taken only if you don't plan on taking Athene's Unholy Grail for reason that I will state when I get to that item.

If I use this item I usually run this after I run Redemption in my build order. This item is amazing for a couple of different reasons! One reason is the fact that it has the ability to convert your mana regeneration to ability power--which increases your healing power! What's better is that when you do damage you get stacks that will heal your alley for additional HP! BONUS HEALING! So in short, Athene's Unholy Grail will increase your potential healing ability!

This is an alright situational item. I have seen it from time to time when playing games, but I personally don't recommend it. I can see this being viable in heavy AP teams and you become the target and are dying easily, but other than that I would say skip it and purchase something a little bit more useful.

This is alright all things considered. I've seen this in some games throughout the years, but it's not one I can personally recommend for Nami because I feel like there are better items for her. Most games I don't see a use for it for this champion when some people already built it.

This is the best red that I've ever seen; it's perfect in every way. That being said, this hat will amplify your ability to heal due to it increasing your AP. I almost always shoot to buy this last.

This. This is a good situational item all around for almost every--if not every--support in the game in my opinion. I buy this when I know I'm going to be needing to play more defensively and I need to keep everyone alive in team fights.

This item I find to be more useful on champions like Sona than Nami in my opinion. This item will give you AP equal to 1% of your maximum mana and will refund you 25% of the mana you spend. It has 40% cool down reduction which is nice, but excessive in my opinion. Still a good item, though.

This item can come in handy if used correctly. Once you activate it two cute little ghost dudes will come out and look for nearby enemies. If they find them they get slowed and you will have vision on them--even if you don't have vision in that particular area. While it's not ideal in every situation, it is in some. I use it on Nami due to her romaing potential!

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This is where I'll talk about how I usually play as Nami. Please, keep in mind that you can either play this champion or any champion, aggressively or defensively--but here I will focus on my aggressive play-style!

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