Who
Hello everyone, I'm CpT DiSNeYLaND and welcome to my first guide "Riding the Wave - Support Nami". I welcome any and all feedback, though if negative, please let me know why so I may improve this guide, and my ability to write future guides.
Why Nami?
Nami brings quite a bit to the table, first of all she can shes able to lock up multiple enemies with her Aqua Prison allowing her teammates to dish out damage. Ebb and Flow giver her a heal with decent range, and with proper timing and ally/enemy placement can heal or damage two targets. It also allows her to poke from a substantial distance. While Tidecallers blessing allows you to buff allies damage. However Tidal Wave is the game changer, a long range knock-up and slow can easily disrupt enemies and give your team an edge
What will the guide go over?
This guide will go over strategy for using her abilities, choosing runes, masteries and items that will allow you to keep you, your team alive, help them secure kills, and win teamfights.

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And a big thanks to Jhoihjoi for her guide Making a Guide, dividers, and answering any questions I asked her. Literally couldn't have done this without her and her guide!

Now with that out of the way, lets get to it.

Pros + Lots of Crowd Control for engaging/disengaging + Ebb and Flow can be used to heal/damage multiple targets + Long poke/heal range when Ebb and Flow is used right + Able to speed up ally movement to chase/flee + Able to buff allies attacks + She's a Mermaid!

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Cons - Quite squishy early on - Ebb and Flow can eat up your mana very fast - Aqua Prison can be difficult to land - Weak if caught alone - Often focused

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Surging Tides{Passive}: Any spell used on an Ally increases their move speed. The boost can help an ally chase down an enemy, or escape a pursuer. When combined with Tidal Wave you can grant your entire team the boost.

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Aqua Prison {Q}: With practice the utility granted by Aqua Prison is huge. Though the projectile isn't very quick when compared to Lux or Morgana's binds, it's lobbing motion allows you to chose where you want it to land, preventing it from being blocked by enemy minions. Once you learn how quickly it moves and how people usually react to it you'll be able to land it most of the time, or at the very least keep the enemy on their toes.

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• Use it to check the bush for enemies, if it hits an enemy they are lifted from the bush, quite literally, and you get vision of them for the duration of the stun
• If it hit allies it applies Surging Tides allowing you to speed up a group of allies at a single time.
• Can easily stop a group of pursuers chasing you or an ally
• Is very easily landed on enemies after they've been hit by slows such as your Tidal Wave or a basic attack enchanted with Tidecaller's Blessing
• When stunned makes for an easy target for Pickpocket

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Ebb and Flow {W}: Ebb and Flow is a chain heal/damage ability. It can be chained to either heal two allies and attack one enemy, or heal one ally and attack two enemies, but can't hit the same target twice.

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• Can be jumped off an ally for a long range poke, or jump off of an enemy for a long range heal
• When combined with Surging Tides and Rylai's Crystal Scepter the speed for your ally, and slow for the enemy can easily help close a gap for a kill.
• Try to take advantage of the bouncing as often as you can to get the most healing/damage for your mana
• Keep in mind that Ebb and Flow targets the closest ally/enemy to bounce to, ignoring those in range who have already been hit.

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Tidecaller's Blessing {E}: Add's attack damage and a slow for 5 seconds or 3 basic attacks. But doesn't deal damage to Towers, Inhibs, and the Nexus. At level 5 when combined with a fast attacking ADC can deal a decent chunk of damage quickly. Can be applied to allies and yourself.

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• Can be applied to yourself to slow an enemy from the bush allowing your carry to close the gap.
• Can be used right after Aqua Prison to slow them right after the stun has passed
• If used on ADC not only will they slow the enemy and do bonus damage, they will gain the movespeed from Surging Tides to help them close the gap that much easier
• Can be used purely for the Surging Tides application to speed you or an ally up when heading back to the fight, or to speed up a weakened ally to get themselves clear of danger.

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Tidal Wave {R}: A potential game changer when used right. Knocks up enemies and applies a considerable slow Can stop the entire enemy team in their tracks making them easy targets for other CC from you and your team, or give you and your allies a chance to close a gap and engage in a battle in your favor, or set multiple allies up with an easy escape if things turn sour.

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• Can apply Surging Tides to your entire team at once if aimed and timed properly, but usually not a good idea to use purely for the speed bonus
• Can be used to delay enemies allowing your allies to close the gap and secure some kills.
• Easily dodged if fired straight up a lane, but when it hits both your allies and any enemies, your team can easily close the gap and cinch some kills.

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Summoner's Resolve : We take this to increase our health every level when we take Heal, its not a huge amount but with Durability it adds up. Replace this with Summoner's Wrath if your taking exhaust instead. If you went for double mobility with Flash and Teleport place the point where you like, personally I'd put it towards Scout for a short bonus to your wards. Durability : Like mentioned before hand, more health per level, and more health is never a bad thing. This stacked with the bonus from Summoner's Resolve +-- Heal makes for a total of 198, not a bad bonus at all. Hardiness : Gives you a bit of extra armor for dealing with the enemy carry's harass, not a huge amount, but its better than nothing. Replace with Resistance if facing an AP Carry bot, such as Ahri.

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Summoner's Insight : Short and simple we take this to improve our cooldowns, cast time, or effects of Flash, - Teleport,-and/or- Clairvoyance respectively Meditation : Improves our mana regen/5 seconds, the more we can use our abilities, the better we'll be able to support our team. Expanded Mind : Quite literally the same reason we take Meditation , more mana, more supporting. Artificer : Allows us to use ability items more often, this is great for items like Shard of True Ice and Mikael's Blessing. Greed : One of the go-to support masteries, grants you an additional 2 gold/10 seconds, which is important seeing as you won't be getting much, if any, farm early game. Wealth : Improves you intial gold at start of the game, allowing you to buy that extra little bit, be it a ward, or an extra couple of potions. Pickpocket : A aggressive poking supports dream. 3 Gold every time you hit an enemy with your basic attack. Works well if you land Aqua Prison and can drop a quick attack on the enemy carry or support. Biscuiteer : One of the most bizarre masteries in the tree since the Season 3 update. Gives you a cookie that restores a small amount of health and mana. It's not a huge amount but it definitely helps. We mainly take this to get access to Explorer Explorer : A great new mastery added in the Season 3 update, a free 60 second ward. Though it has a short duration, its great for helping the jungle watch for invades at the start, or you can drop it for your carry when you go back to watch for ganks untill you get back with more wards. Intelligence : Improves your cooldowns allowing you to use your abilities more often to support your team. Nimble : 3% extra move speed, helps you move around the map that bit faster, helping you dodge skillshots, and get back to your team after going back to your base.

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These are key masteies that Nami should grab, it allows her to stay in lane to support her team. Extra mana and mana regen allows her to stay in lane longer, while the item cooldown mastery allows her to keep her items ready for the next team fight. While the gold related masteries allows her to generate a good amount of gold while letting her carry keep the farm. Note: These are simply the masteries I use, and believe work well. These are not set in stone, feel free to experiment and if you think you have a way that will work better, feel free to let me know!

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Barrier has now come out of custom games to grace us with it's presence. Barrier grants an average shield for 2 seconds. It's main usage is an extra burst of defense when running and you see an attack incoming ( Karthus, Ashe, and Lux's ultimates come to mind). Not a terrible spell, but also very situational, and often not worth replacing one of your other spells.

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I've been asked in game if I level up Aqua Prison or Tidecaller's Blessing first. Generally I find it depends on the situation and who I'm facing. If its enemies with escape mechanisms or gap clossers,such as Kha'Zix, Ezreal, or Blitzcrank, I recommend Aqua Prison it can allow you to stop them long enough for you and your carry to either close the gap and deal some damage, or escape a gank, pull, or jump. If facing characters who have high mobility such as Vayne I usually go with Tidecaller's Blessing, use it on yourself and land a basic attack to reduce her mobility with the slow, and deal some extra damage, or drop on your carry and give them the speed boost as well so they can close the gap even further.
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space When going in with your team knowing when and how to use your abilities can end up being the difference between a win or a loss in a team fight.
Using Tidecaller's Blessing on your Tank when they initiate will give them a speed boost to close the gap, and a slow to use on the enemy ADC, or APC.
Ebb and Flow is a huge part of your arsenal, you will have to make the judgement call on whether you want 2 shots of health, or damage, but when in doubt, use two heals.
Aqua Prison is to be saved for stunning isolated enemies or runners so your team can descend on them, or to stopping enemies when they go to chase you or your allies.
Use Tidal Wave at your own judgement, be it to stop a group of enemies chasing allies, or in a teamfight your winning to aid your allies to chase down the enemies.

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Note:Now these are just item's that I found work well with Nami,obviously like any champion there's huge diversity as to how you can build a champion, both in regards to personal play style, and the situational nature of each different game., especially after the Season 3 update. If you disagree or find a way you think works better, let me know and I will take it into consideration. I won't be going over the "Aura Item" build in this guide, purely because I personally am not a fan of it and it is not the focus of this guide.
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Ionian Boots of Lucidity Great boots for many champs. Not much to say that I haven't said. The more often you can use your abilities the more you'll be able to support your team.

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Rod of Ages. Untill Nami I never thought about RoA on a support character, however once I tried it, it became part of my base support build for every champ. Once built and charged, it provides you with decent AP, health, and mana, all of which helps you stay in lane longer with your team allowing you to spend more time supporting and less walking back to the battle after recharging yourself at base.

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Shard of True Ice. A great item for just about any support. Giving you a bit of AP, a mana regen aura, and GP/5. The true use of this item is the blizzard you can apply on an ally champion or minion slowing nearby enemies. Great to apply to your Tank when engaging, or on a passing minions wave when running from pursuers.

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Runic Bulwark. A great upgrade to the often used Aegis of the Legion. Giving you more more health and more magic resist for you and your team, the upgrade can be put off if you find yourself strapped for cash during the game.

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Ruby Sightstone. The Sightstones are one of the best new items for supports in the Season 3 update. Giving you 300 health, and 5 free sight wards, with a limit of 3 placed at a time. Lets you replace buying wards and gives you a bit of survivablity as a bonus.

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Mikael's Crucible. A great item added in the Season 3 update. Not only does it up your magic resist, mana, and mana regen, it effectively gives you the Cleanse ability to use on you or an ally in a sticky situation while also healing them for a decent amount of health.

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Mecury's Treads. Personally I prefer Ionian Boots of Lucidity, the CDR allows you to use your abilities more often to support your team with CC and healing. However against a CC heavy team Mecury's Treads are a must have for the Tenacity and the MR is a nice little boost as well.

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Rod of Ages. Untill Nami I never thought about RoA on a support character, however once I tried it, it became part of my base support build for every champ. Once built and charged, it provides you with decent AP, health, and mana, all of which helps you stay in lane longer with your team allowing you to spend more time supporting and less walking back to the battle after recharging yourself at base.

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Ruby Sightstone. The Sightstones are one of the best new items for supports in the Season 3 update. Giving you 300 health, and 5 free sight wards, with a limit of 3 placed at a time. Lets you replace buying wards and gives you a bit of survivablity as a bonus.

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Rylai's Crystal Scepter. One of my personal favorite items to take with Nami. If used with Ebb and Flow to bounce on two allies and a enemy will slow the enemy, and apply Surging Tides on your allies (or yourself) allowing them/you to close the gap to grab another kill, or escape a situation turned bad. The extra 500 health also adds a decent boost to your survivablity.

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Abyssal Scepter. Grants you a decent chunk of AP while improving you survivablity against magic damage while reducing nearby enemies magic resist at the same time.

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Zhonya's Hourglass. Gives you another nice boost to your AP and a decent armor boost giving extra survivabilty against physical damage. The active on this is often forgotten in the midst of battle though it can save lives. Because Nami has no abilities that require her to be right in the thick of things you may not use it as often as other champs such as Morgana or Fiddlesticks but when an enemy such as Katarina, Amumu,or Nunu & Willump jump in and drop their ults it can save your life if used properly.

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Note:None of the items above are set in stone, they are simply recommendations and to be changed as the situation calls for it, if you find yourself focused more survivabilty is likely in order.
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Zhonya's Hourglass. A great item made of pure survivability. Giving you a spellsheild with a 45 second refresh time, with the bonus of a modest health and mana boost. A great choice against a bursty or CC heavy team.

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Guardian Angel. A useful item, defence against both magical and physical damage though you're shouldn't be in the middle of a fight so it's passive may not see much use. Though not a terrible item, I'd recommend Banshee's Veil over this.

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Will of the Ancients. A great item on a team with lots of ability usage or a AP heavy team. Not a terrible buy even if only you and your APC are making use of it. A great buy if supporting a APC in bottom lane.

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Ohmwrecker. Another great item added in Season 3. Allows your team to dive a turret and shut it down for 2.5 seconds when activated while also adding armor, health, and mana for more survivabilty/sustain. Note: I've yet to test this item in early game to see it's viability. Any opinions/knowledge/experience that you have is very welcome.

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THE END! Thats it! The end! I hope you enjoyed this guide and find it useful. Hopefully it helps you keep your team alive and secure some wins. If not let me know so I can make it better! ___ Once again this is my first guide, so any and all comments, both positive and negative, are appreciated. I just ask that any complaints/issues brought up are constructive so I can improve the guide and my ability to potentially make future ones. ___ Once I have found/made them I will attach further strategy videos/images as soon as I have the time to do so. ___ And a second big thank you to jhoijhoi for her guide on making a guide, line divider's, and some formatting questions I asked. Everything looks much better thanks to her.

Changelog

16/12/2012 - Guide Published

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To-do List

Test viability of earlygame Ohmwrecker
Add counter picks
Add good/bad lane partners