Hi, I'm Fuzzmonkey. I've been a League of Legends player since pre-season 4. I've mained Mid lane since season 5 and currently play LeBlanc, assassin's and burst mages in general. I've recently picked up Naafiri and have enjoyed her play style a lot. I've had hundreds of games with her on the PBE server and even used her to get to gladiator in 2v2v2v2's. I am currently Diamond 1 on EUW too. My goal at the moment is to hit Masters on EUW, and will be updating this guide regularly to show you guys that even you yourself can get to where you want to be in SoloQ using my guides.



I currently hang between D3 - D1 on EUW. I stream everyday on my Twitch channel where I teach my audience how to play mid lane in general + have a lot of laughs. I also upload to my Youtube channel as well. Feel free to come over and ask me anything! I'd be glad to answer any questions! ^_^

First of all, dogs. Secondly, packmates. Thirdly, point and click mobility spell which locks you on to the enemy while you go nuts on them!

Naafiri is an easy to learn AD assassin. She has her counters but, for the average player she is not too complex. She is extremely mobile with multiple movement abilities and has a huge steroid buff on her ultimate, which makes her a killing machine for anyone who gets in range of her R+W combo.

PROS:

+ Good mobility
+ Insane burst damage with her 2nd Q
+ Can tank turret shots with packmates
+ Decent waveclear
+ High snowball potential
+ Easy to learn and Master
+ DOGS AND PUPS 🐶🐶🐶

CONS:

- Auto attacking in melee range means you get poked more often
- Falls behind if not farmed up well
- W charge up can be interuptted
- Damage isn't the best without packmates
- Hard to carry with

As with most assassin's it is best to snowball and get an early lead. Playing as aggressive as possible is one way to achieving this. Taking Ignite allows you to have a lot more kill pressure against your opponent. Knowing when to take certain summoners can also depend on the match up. For instance, if I were against Vex, I have a very minimal chance at killing her in laning phase, so I'd opt in for alternative like Teleport. This would then allow me to get back to lane quickly so I can continue to farm without getting behind.



This summoner is not so bad if you are unable to apply kill pressure on your opponent during laning phase. Most will take Teleport if you need to get back to lane fast to continue farming (so you don't get behind on gold early). If you have good map awareness and can make Teleport plays this can be another reason to grab it. Otherwise, as stated above I would almost always take Ignite.



Probably the next best summoner spell after Teleport but only take this if you're really not comfortable around hard CC champions. With the likes of Sejuani, Rammus, Skarner and Amumu in the jungle this summoner can be useful. Also against mid laners such as, Veigar, Morgana and even Twisted Fate it could potentially help you if you're struggling.



As an assassin player, some might think it's "embarrassing" to get outplayed by the enemy assassin (or even high burst laner). In certain match ups like Zed, Syndra, Katarina and other high burst assassins, Exhaust can work in your favour if you're not so proficient with Naafiri's mechanics. Over the kill pressure you have in lane with Ignite it's completely up to you on how comfortable you are in your micro.



Barrier and Heal are just worse versions of Exhaust sadly. Exhaust automatically does a better job at cutting the overall enemy damage, especially in a short time span. Ghost is just pointless since you're a mobile assassin. You have Eviscerate to dodge incoming projectiles and The Call of the Pack if you need a burst of movement speed (yes it's your ult but, it can still save you from death) Personally, I would never take any of these summoners.

Below, you will find the runes that I particularly think are the best runes to run on Naafiri. Towards the bottom of this section I have added an Alternative runes bit in case you want to try a different set of runes.

With any burst type of mage/assassin, this will be your bread and butter rune. You'll need to hit 2 abilites in order for it to proc. This is due to your Packmakes counting for 1 of those procs. This means that even at level 1 your Darkin Daggers can proc Electrocute due to the fact your Q is a 2 part ability. Q1 > Packmates attack > Q2 = Electrocute proc.

This is definitely the best choice of rune for Naafiri. You have 2 abilities with dashes, Hounds' Pursuit and Eviscerate. You will easily be able to proc this.

Again, you need all the power you can get early-mid game, so that you're a monster late game. Naafiri is pretty good at roaming since you get The Call of the Pack for extra movement speed to run down/up the river.

To maximise the damage output of our combo's we'll need The Call of the Pack to be on the lowest cooldown as possible. Having the maximum amount of Packmates when going in for a player, reduces the amount of abilities we have to hit overall to kill someone. So, having our ultimate on a lower cooldown going into mid/late game, is going to benefit us a lot!

You won't be running out of mana with this rune. But you will still need mana during your multiple takedowns in teamfights. It's also a nice little boost to your mana regeneration in lane.

You will definitely take this rune due to how it works with Naafiri's Q2 + Profane Hydra. I go into a little more detail down below in the item chapter of this guide. TL:DR - Both Naafiri's Q2 + Profane Hydra do missing health damage. With Coup de Grace combined, it's perfect for massive burst damage.

A common swap would be from Electrocute to First Strike.

In the Inspiration tree, you would then run > Magical Footwear > Biscuit Delivery > Cosmic Insight. This build is mainly on players who want to passively farm up and scale harder into the late game. First Strike has never been the snowball kind of rune but, it defintely performs better when you've got at least 3 items.

You should still run the Precision tree along side with this build though.
Both Presence of Mind and Coup de Grace still work perfectly with Inspiration.

Other not so needed info - We DON'T need to run the Sorcery tree on Naafiri, since you already gain a better version of Transcendence, through the The Call of the Pack mechanic to reset your cooldowns. Other runes such as Manaflow Band are not needed, as we don't struggle with mana. Sadly, Scorch and Gathering Storm are on the same line, which are the only 2 runes I'd actually take from Sorcery but, not possible.

Below you can find Naafiri's abilities. I will explain what they do, what order to level them in, why and how they can be used effectively.


Darkin Daggers is Naafiri's main damage ability. This is because it has a bleed with the first cast and missing health damage with the second cast. You will also use this to occasionally last hit farm when you're unable to get within melee range. Darkin Daggers will be maxed first.

You should then max Eviscerate second. This will be your main mobility spell, 2-part damage dealer and gap closer.

The Call of the Pack will then be max third by level 16. This is Naafiri's steroid ultimate. You'll be using this when teamfights/skirmishes/ganks are about to happen. This will empower you and your packmates and give you insane bonuses.

Lastly, you will max Hounds' Pursuit. This is your point and click dash ability. It provides a mini-slow to help you stick to your target after jumping on them. It deals the least amount of damage but again, is only used as a utlity skill.

Below, I will be showing you what items you can buy on Naafiri, and give a brief explanation about why the item can be good/situational/bad on her.

As with most melee champions, Doran's Shield is the standard starting item for you're against a heavy poke/bad match-up. You will regen. health every 5 seconds and will regenenerate more health when you get low. This means you can camp under turret for a little bit and poke when needed to stay in lane.

You can take this with a Long Sword if you feel 'ok' about the lane. It refreshes every time you go back to base and it means you never have to buy Health Potion's again. I would not recommend buying this past the 12+ minute mark though. Don't be afraid to sell any leftover Health Potion's that are in your inventory just to buy this.

I can't urge you guys enough to buy one of these every time you back. Wards win games and save lives as they say. Whenever you go back and you have a spare 75g, buy one and just place it somewhere around your mid area. This WILL save your life multiple times throughout many games.

This is your first back item if you're against an equal or AD match up. It gives you everything you need to be able to all-in your opponent at level 6. The early lethality does really well into early game since, a lot of mid laners will refuse to build armour early.

If you are struggling against a burst mage/AP assassin buy this, it will flip the lane completely and will put it in your favour. You get AD, magic resist and a shield to protect you from getting one shot. DO NOT build into a Maw of Malmortius until later. Usually when your AP opponents start doing more damage.

This is the perfect rush item for Naafiri. Both the 2nd part of your Darkin Daggers and Profane Hydra's passive scale with missing health damage. This means, the lower the health of the enemy, the more damage you will do, somewhat like execution damage. The other passive acting like a Ravenous Hydra but for AD assassins. This is extremely useful for fast waveclears which then translate into roams. The fact that you'll also run Coup de Grace means, that when the enemy is below 30% health, you can proc the active which does even more damage to targets. This is an even better case if you're Q2 is ready to be thrown out at this point. Additionally, the ability haste helps keep our abilites on lower cooldowns.

To put it plain and simple, unless we're going to be building Mercury's Treads (vs. a lot of AP champions/CC based comps) or Plated Steelcaps (vs. a lot of AD champions), ability haste on Naafiri is by far the best stat for any AD assassin. This helps reduce the cooldowns of our abilities even more, with only sacrificing a bit of defence.

A good 2nd item for Naafiri would either be this or Opportunity. The main difference between buying this now or later will be due to whether you need the bonus movement speed or not. Personally, since you lack the movement speed early, and don't have all 3 points in your ultimate ability, The Call of the Pack I prefer Youmuu's Ghostblade first. Plus, the damage and utility stats are better going into mid game.

This is a great item for going into mid game. More enemies will have armour stack and since this item does % armour penetration, it pierces right through the tankiest of tanks. When our Packmates go for the enemy, they will permantely proc the items passive 'Bitter Cold' (which slows the enemy for 30%) which means you'll be able to stick to your enemy a lot easier.

As per my description on Youmuu's Ghostblade, this item can be bought either 2nd or later on in the game. The only real reason why I'd choose this item 2nd would be for the extra lethality you get through the passive. Overall, I personally prefer the %movement speed stat on Opportunity later, since you accumilate a higher base value mid-late game. The percentage stat on top of that will boost your movement speed by a lot more than if you were to buy it early. The passive is incredible for those late game team fights where damage is at it's peak, and it's super important that you can get in and out. If you had to buy other items early (defence items specifically, due to opposing team getting fed or something) build this instead of Youmuu's Ghostblade as your movement speed item later on.

There are a few defence items we can build for Naafiri. Edge of Night will be your standard one. If there isn't much hard CC, and a Blitzcrank hook is pretty much the only form of CC the enemy have, I would definitely take this. You can also take Maw of Malmortius and Guardian Angel as situational items, which I will explain further down.

If the enemy team has a lot of crowd control you can instantly buy these when needed. If you're struggling against an AP burst mage/assassin, buying these can help you in lane too.

These boots should only be built if you notice the enemy team has a lot of AD champions, especially more than 1 AD carry. The passive reduces an additional 12% of all incoming base attacks, which hurts adcs a lot.

I would only recommened replacing your 2nd item with this, if there were to be multiple champions in your game that can set traps. Example being having a Teemo and Shaco in the same game. This would be a very rare occurrence though.

A very good item for negating a bunch of heavy burst physical damage/magic damage. I would only recommend buying this though, if I were against a couple of AD assasins. Example being Talon mid, with a Kha'Zix jungle. It'd be counter intuitive to build this against burst mages since this items base stat has armour and not magic resist.

Building this would be the same reason as to why you would build a Death's Dance. If you feel like you can't handle too many burst mages then this'll be your go-to defence item. Again, an example being LeBlanc mid with an Evelynn jungle.

I believe this item will only be good early to mid game. Shields as a whole, are extremely obnoxious by late game and this item would technically fall off due to the base stats anyway. Only ever build this if the enemy team were to have like 3+ champions that have shields. If there was a Lulu, Sett and Orianna I would take this item.

This item will only be useful if the enemy team is stacking a lot of health. The item has less base stats than Serylda's Grudge so we will only buy this for it's passive. A team composition that included a mid laner that built Rod of Ages, a healthy jungler + top laner and a tank support, would be a good time to buy this. Buy late game though.

The base stats don't offer much but the passive gives you a 2nd chance at life. If you do manage to get caught early in a teamfight, and your teammates are able to stall long enough for you to come back then it can be good. Don't buy until super late game though. I'd still recommend Edge of Night over this if you're more careful.

This item can be utilised more in elongated fights, where you might not be able to simply assassinate someone but, need more sustain to not get one shot. In higher elo this is more the case and could be a 2nd item purchase over Opportunity and Youmuu's Ghostblade. In lower elo, people find it hard to counter Naafiri which is exactly the reason as to why you build full out damage + movement speed.

Below you can find a video of me showing off all of Naafiri's combo's + a couple of tips and tricks!

Laning phase is where you will be attempting your best to snowball the game.
If not, it's absolutely fine, Naafiri scales pretty well in to late game.
The main thing we need to be careful of, is to NOT go for farm that we think, we could take a bad trade from. If you notice the enemy is not backing off when you start to move forward for farm, take this as a hint to not get too cocky, especially if they're playing ranged.
In this instance we should use our Darkin Daggers for securing cannon minions and wait for farm to hit the turret. We should always remain in XP range though, so don't back off too far away from creeps.

I would always advocate going into practice tool, and farming till 10 minutes to practice your average cs/per 10 min. This way you will get use to the damage that your champion does, what you should and shouldn't use to finish minions off whilst farming, and when to force push waves under the enemy turret.
To iterate on the last point. If you need to go back, cause you want to buy or, you're running low on mana etc. always hard push the wave BEFORE the cannon wave. This way it takes more time for your enemy, to push the non-cannon wave and then, the cannon wave under your turret.

Little tip for waveclear: You can clear the ranged minions with Darkin Daggers once you hit level 7 and have a Tiamat.

As described in the combo video above, the main combo's you will be doing during laning are:
To all in you will usually - Darkin Daggers > Hounds' Pursuit > Darkin Daggers > Eviscerate + Flash/ Ignite to finish off.
To poke you can - Darkin Daggers > Eviscerate (to gap close if needed) > Darkin Daggers
Remember, you can easily proc Electrocute with only 2 abilities, since your Packmates count as 1.
Remember the more Packmates you have, the more damage you do overall. So wait a bit for them to spawn if needed.

Roaming on Naafiri is quite easy when you have The Call of the Pack. Once you've hard pushed a wave, you can start to move through the river and towards the lane you want to gank. When you get past half way (just past where scuttle gives vision) activate The Call of the Pack to gain a burst of movement speed and use your all-in combo as stated above on the enemy you believe you're most likely kill. This will allow you to get a reset and, kill others if needed.

You should have your Profane Hydra by 8 - 10 minutes. This is a huge powerspike as it allows to do A LOT MORE DAMAGE, and will allow to go untargetable and invulnerable if you manage to misposition.
I wouldn't recommened teamfighting until you actually have this.

As with most assassin's they prefer small skirmishes and 1v1's but teamfights isn't too bad when you have resets + Opportunity. These can both be used to navigate the outcome of how far you dive into a fight or whether you need to get out. As long as you get a 1 for 1 you've done something.

Positioning and patience is key on Naafiri since she is a melee assassin. Knowing when to pick someone off or, to hold back, be patient and wait for your front line to engage, tank a bit and then jump in can easily determine the outcome of a teamfight.

As Naafiri would say: "Do not confuse feral, with stupid."

If you notice a teamfight breaking out, you can use The Call of the Pack to move yourself faster to the fight. Try to find an angle where you can easily jump on to a carry or someone who is low health. Use one of the combo's above as mentioned in the video

If you come across a healthy/tanky enemy composition, you can use your poke Darkin Daggers > let Packmates proc the Serylda's Grudge passive > Darkin Daggers combo. Once they are low enough you can activate The Call of the Pack and attempt to combo the rest of their health, whilst getting the reset to then trying to kill the rest of the enemy team. Again, take your time, don't rush in when there is a chance of you getting CC'ed to death.

If it's getting towards that time when you're possibly going to contest a baron, don't hesitate to use The Call of the Pack for the area vision. This could save yourself let alone a teammate from face-checking a bush with an enemy team in it. You can also use this extra to get Control Ward's down.

So with Naafiri, Riot added a more interactive interaction with the lady herself.

You can intially pet her, stroke her neck, which then tips her onto her back, then finally rub her tummy, cute af!
To do this yourself, do the following:

HOLD 'CTRL' through this whole sequence
Then:-

Double tap '1' on your keyboard (fast).

Press '2' once the first hand animation finishes.

Press '3' at the end of the second hand animation.


I have a video below which also explains it when I first found out:

Apologies for refering to Naafiri as a dude in this TikTok. At the time I was looking after 2 male dogs, (1 being a puppy) and was getting a little too used to saying "good boy" 😅. Hope you enjoy nevertheless!

That just about sums it up for my Naafiri guide. I hope you guys learnt something from this, and I will definitely be adding to it very often to keep it up-to-date.
If you have any questions please feel free to post them here and I'll get back to them as soon as possible.

If you'd like to see my Naafiri gameplay you can follow my Twitch channel. I stream everyday from 12pm GMT onwards! I play her most of the time on stream whilst answering all of your questions in chat!

I also have a Youtube channel (uploading every so often) and TikTok (upload everyday) which I upload to very often, don't forget follow and subscribe!
GLHF on the rift! <3

Updates to show you guys when and what I've added/removed from the guide:

24/07/23 - Added another item set for summoners who struggle hitting their Q2's. Serylda's Grudge can be built to help with accuracy.

15/08/23 - Added another chapter 'Pet the dog' which showcases the secret interaction with the lady herself (this should've been done at the start of writing this guide lol)
Also added another item set to the 'standard item sets' at the top of the guide. Black Cleaver should be built if enemy runs early armour.

25/11/23 - Added Eclipse to situational items. Please read since I've had a lot of questions regarding this. I will upload a video regarding this as soon as possible <3

11/01/24 - Completely changed up the build for the new Season 14! Item builds changed, descriptions have be re-written and all links that had the previous season items in them have been removed! Enjoy! Also added Hwei to match ups, sorry it took so long 😅.

13/02/24 - Added Eclipse to situational items.

20/03/24 - Added a build path for Eclipse. This focuses on getting your ult back up for sustained fights and utilizing Eclipse correctly. Forgot to add this previously, thanks for letting me know <3