Hi guys!

My in-game name is snu***z and I've been playing league since season 2. I'm currently in Platinum Elo on the NA server, but I will be in Diamond very soon ;)

I haven't played a ridiculous amount of Nami support yet, but I've watched many challenger level solo que games (link to Challenger Nami Support game here), and read all the good Nami guides here on Mobafire and decided I should make a guide of my own and share the insights I've picked up from playing and what I've learned from others.

Nami is a great champion because she has poke, heals, and great CC. She isn't the best at any one thing, but she is a great all around champion that can really help her team succeed.

My mission with this guide is to cover the most important bits of information that will help you succeed when playing Nami support. The early, mid, and late game sections will tell you exactly what you should be doing at all points during the game in order to win.

Let's get on with the rest of the guide!

"A headstrong young vastaya of the seas, Nami uses her mystical Tidecaller staff to reshape the tides and defend her fellow Marai from danger. The first of her kind to leave the ocean and venture onto dry land, Nami faces the unthinkable with grit, determination, and daring mettle."

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"In the seas to the west of Mount Targon dwells a tribe of vastaya known as the Marai. Long ago, these mermadic creatures discovered a rift in the depths. The rift bore a horrible, creeping darkness which sought to exterminate all forms of life."

"At the center of their village, the Marai placed a glowing rock known as a moonstone, which is said to be infused with the celestial magic of the heavens. Its haunting, ethereal light protects the Marai from the creatures that crawl from the abyss. Every hundred years or so, the moonstone’s light begins to dim. At that moment, the tribe chooses their fiercest warrior and bestows upon them the title of Tidecaller."

"The Tidecaller must plunge into the icy darkness of the rift, survive the horrors within and retrieve an abyssal pearl. If successful, the Tidecaller rises to shore where a luminous wanderer from Targon’s peak awaits with a moonstone to trade for the pearl. It is an arduous ritual that holds the fate of many in its illusive hands, but the exchange has kept the creatures of the dark contained. In the past, the Marai had sent troops of their most elite warriors to collect the pearl, but they learned the more forces they sent into the rift, the stronger the monsters became, as if it fed on their energy. While an army would be annihilated by the abominations below, a single scout – armed with a legendary Marai staff capable of controlling the tides – could potentially elude the dangers of the deep long enough to escape with the pearl."

"Nami had always wanted to be the Tidecaller, but she was impulsive and young. A fierce fighter, she was known amongst the Marai for her stubborn determination, which often got her in trouble. In Nami’s adolescence, the moonstone once again dimmed for the first time in a century. Nami attempted the trial of the Tidecaller. Due to her impulsiveness, however, the elders chose Rasha, a prudent warrior known for his level head in battle, as their Tidecaller."

"Rasha dove into the depths of the abyss. A week passed, then another. An entire month the Marai waited for their Tidecaller’s return, but there was no sign of Rasha. No Tidecaller had ever failed to return."

"The elders waited and argued while the moonstone grew faint, but Nami knew SOMEONE had to take up the mantle of Tidecaller soon, or all would be lost."

"It might as well be her."

"Nami grabbed her mother’s bathystaff and plunged into the abyss. After several days, she returned with the pearl, the fallen Tidecaller’s staff, and a look of quiet horror in her eyes. Though furious at her impertinence, the village elders nonetheless admired Nami’s bravery and officially designated her Tidecaller. Nami ascended to the surface and rode the tide to shore to meet the landwalker."

"The stonebearer, however, was nowhere to be found. Instead, an elderly woman waited on the beach."

"The woman, whose grandparents bore witness to the last Tidecaller exchange, explained that there was no moonstone. The Aspect of the Moon was the only being who could conjure a moonstone, but she had fled Targon."

"Nami was unwilling to accept this. She vowed to find the Aspect and retrieve the moonstone. The lives of her people depended on it."

"Using the power of the mystical Tidecaller staff to summon a perpetual pool of moving water beneath her fins, Nami took to land to continue her quest."

"Determined, the Tidecaller swam into a brand new world."

https://lol.gamepedia.com/Nami

Pros

+ Decent poke with W + Has great heals, which also duo as damage + Great CC + Good engage, and some of the very best disengage in the game + Beefs up the auto attack damage and CC of allied champions + Can speed up allies in order to make plays

Cons

- SUPER squishy like a fishy - Bubble can be unreliable/hard to land - Doesn't do nearly as much damage as other caster supports - Dangerous to ward/check bushes with - Runs out of mana very quickly early - Bad against assassins and high damage champs with gap closers

* Summon Aery is a great choice for Nami support because it adds extra guaranteed damage to your poke, and shields your allies when you heal them.

* Manaflow Band is great for Nami because it will increase her maximum amount of mana, and increase her mana regeneration once you stack it 10 times.

* Absolute Focus is probably the best choice here because the extra AP will increase the damage you do and increase the amount you're able to heal your allies. Transcendence isn't a bad choice here either but you'll usually end up building plenty of CDR on Nami already.

* Gathering Storm is usually the best choice here. It will give you a ton of extra AP in the mid/late game that will help you deal more damage and offer better heals to your allies. Scorch isn't a bad choice here either if you're playing into an easy matchup and just want the extra poke to really punish your enemy laners.

* Biscuit Delivery will give you extra HP & mana so that you don't get too low on HP or mana while you are in lane (this is very helpful as Nami is very squishy and uses up her mana quickly early).

* Cosmic Insight will increase our CDR by 5% and boost our CDR cap by 5%, this is great for Nami as it allows her to cast her spells even more often.

PASSIVE ABILITY

SURGING TIDES (Passive): "When Nami's abilities hit allied champions they gain 60 (+20% of ability power) Movement Speed for 1.5 seconds. This effect is doubled for allies hit by Tidal Wave." This ability is very nice because it will help you & your teammates to engage fights with the enemy, or to run away due to the enhanced movement speed it gives. The extra movement speed is useful when you or your ally is trying to dodge enemy skillshots, and is also useful to get back to lane sooner. Note, allies hit by Nami's ult will get double the movement speed buff.

Play Video

Q

AQUA PRISON (Q): "Sends a bubble into the air towards a targeted area. When it lands, it deals 75 / 130 / 185 / 240 / 295 (+50% of ability power) magic damage to all enemies in the area of impact and encases them into bubbles. Enemies hit by the bubble are lifted into the air and stunned for 1.5 seconds before being dropped to the ground." This is Nami's main way of setting up kills in the bot lane. If you land a bubble the enemy will be unable to do anything for 1.5 seconds. This skill can be tricky to land because it is slow moving but to enhance your chances of landing it you can use your E and auto attack the enemy to lower their movement speed first, and then use your bubble. Aqua Prision is also crucial when it comes to saving one of your carries that is being dove, so you'll definitely want to practice and get good at consistently landing this ability.

Play Video

W

EBB AND FLOW (W): "Unleashes a stream of water that bounces back and forth between allied and enemy champions. On Ally Hit: Heals the ally for 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 / 160 (+30% of ability power) and bounces to a nearby enemy champion. On Enemy Hit: Deals 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+50% of ability power) magic damage to the enemy and bounces to a nearby allied champion. Ebb and Flow can only bounce to each target once and hits up to 3 targets. The damage or healing value is reduced by 15%(-7.5% per 100 AP) with each bounce." This is Nami's bread & butter healing ability. It can potentially hit 2 allies and one enemy, or 2 enemies and 1 ally, as long as everyone is in range. In lane you'll not want to spam this too much as you can run out of mana very quickly, but its poke is quite effective if the enemy does not have a healing support of their own. Always try to land the damage portion of this ability if you are going to be healing yourself, you can self cast heal quickly by holding alt and pressing W. If you do this while you are in range of the enemy you will be healed and they will take damage, which makes them getting an even trade of damage onto you next to impossible.

Play Video

E

TIDECALLER'S BLESSING (E): "Empowers an allied champion for 6 seconds or until they have attacked 3 times. During this time, their basic attacks deal 25 / 40 / 55 / 70 / 85 (+20% of ability power) bonus magic damage and slow the target hit by 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 (+5% of ability power) % for 1 second." This ability adds damage and a slowing effect to the basic attacks of whoever you cast it on (including yourself). You can use this ability to enhance your auto attacks to slow down the enemy and do extra damage, or you can use this ability on an ally so that their auto attacks do more damage and slow down the enemy. This ability makes landing your bubble much easier, and makes it much easier for your allies to land their abilities as well.

Play Video

R

TIDAL WAVE (R): "Summons a Tidal Wave outward from Nami's position. The Tidal Wave briefly knocks up enemies that it comes in contact with, slowing them by 50 / 60 / 70% and dealing 150 / 250 / 350 (+60% of ability power) magic damage. The slow duration increases based on how far the Tidal Wave has traveled, with a minimum duration of 2 seconds and a maximum of 4 seconds." This is Nami's ultimate ability and it is one of the best forms of engage/disengage in the game. This ability can potentially knock up and slow the entire enemy team, as well as doing quite a bit of damage. Because of the large size of the wave it also serves the additional benefit of splitting up the enemy team, thus reducing their ability to work together effectively.

Play Video

Your job during the early game (aka laning phase) is to try to poke the enemy's ADC and/or support with Ebb and Flow (W). I recommend focusing on whichever is easier to kill, or whichever of the two keeps getting within range of your abilities and is making it easy for you to land your skill shots.

Try not to use your other abilities like Aqua Prison and Tidecaller's Blessing until you get Frostfang as you will run out of mana very quickly. When possible, try to always proc the poke portion of your W when you heal yourself or your ADC, this will ensure you land poke and heals, instead of just one or the other.

Landing your Aqua Prison can be quite difficult to do as it is a very slow moving projectile, and champions movement speed tends to be to quick. What you'll want to do to ensure you land your Q is to use your E and auto attack the enemy before using your Q. Your E applies a slow (the slow increases as you level up the ability and as you gain AP) so if you attack someone with your empowered E auto attack they'll get slowed and it will make landing your Q much easier. Another good time to try to land your Q is to wait until the enemy ADC goes to last hit a minion, especially a cannon minion, as they will almost certainty try to last hit the cannon minion, which makes predicting their movements and landing your Q much easier. Trying to land your CC when the enemy goes for a last hit is one of the most guaranteed ways to get kills in lane (as Nami or any champion with CC), be sure to try to use and abuse this strategy to win your lane. When you land your Q you and your ADC will be able to unload tons of damage on the enemy.

Once you get level 6 you have even more great CC opportunities/options from which to choose from. You can use your Tidal Wave (the closer you are to them the easier it will be to land since your wave moves fairly slowly) and if the Tidal Wave hits you can follow up with your Q. You can also wait for the enemy ADC to go for a last hit, use your bubble, and then finish with your wave. The last option is to use empowered E auto attacks to slow one of the enemy laners, use your bubble, and then if it lands follow up with your wave (you could also do wave first, then Q). Nami's great CC will give your bottom lane many opportunities to get kills if you're able to use it effectively.

Don't be afraid to leave bot and roam mid once you get mobi boots, assuming they have a slow, easy to gank mid champ like Karthus and you have an ADC that can farm safely like Sivir or Ezreal.

Make sure you always have vision of Tri-Bush if you're blue side (blue side is the team that spawns on the bottom side of the map), or vision of the river bush if you're red side (red side is the team that spawns on the top side of the map).
Ping your ADC to ward river bush if you are out of wards. Always get at least 1 control ward on your first back and every time you back after that.

So in summary, early game for Nami support is about poking the enemy laners with your W, keeping yourself and your ADC healthy, looking for opportunities set up kills with your CC, and maintaining good vision control to avoid ganks.

Now let's go onto the Mid-Game.

You still want to poke the enemy but it's not worth getting caught out and killed for the relatively little poke damage you'll be doing. It's typically best to let someone beefier/safer get closer to the enemy, and then bounce a heal off of them in order to poke the enemy.

Get your team good vision control with your Frostfang, and clear out the enemy's wards with Oracle's Lens. Unfortunately it's very difficult for Nami to safely check and ward bushes, so be sure to be very careful and pay attention to the mini-map. If you see that 3-4 of the enemies are M.I.A. it might be better to not go place a ward even if it would give your team great vision. Vision is great, but it's not worth serving them fish for dinner.

You should always have a control ward up somewhere on the map. One tactic you can use when looking to get a pick is to use your sweeper to clear a bush, place a ward over a wall, and wait for a champion to come along and fall into your trap. With burstier support champs like Zyra and Vel'Koz you can do this by yourself, but with Nami you'll need at least one ally to come help you. You can even place a Control Ward out in the open which will often bait the enemy into clearing it which gives you a great opportunity to land your bubble when they go to auto attack it.

Always be looking to get wards into good positions in the enemy's jungle so that your team can more effectively take towers. If you know their top laner is rotating to mid because of a ward you placed in top side jungle your team will have the time it needs to fall back, and thus not die when trying to push and take turrets. (but be very careful when in the enemy jungle)

Siege towers with your team, try to poke as much as you can and keep your team healthy. Don't be afraid to use your ult to force back enemies so that your teammates can take the turret, not getting kills is often fine as long as your team is able to get the turret. In the mid-game your ult's cooldown will be around 1 minute so use it liberally. (Also, don't be afraid to use your ult on dragon/baron to secure the dragon/baron kill, or on the enemy to scare them away from your team as they are getting the dragon/baron)

Be wary of assassins now that you are roaming around the map, they will be fishing (no pun intended) for kills on you.

Nami's mid-game and late game objectives are very similar. Poke when you can, keep your allies healthy, and try to catch people out with your CC. Always be very careful to get caught out or deleted by assassins.

It's very easy to get caught/flanked by an assassin once a big team fight starts and pulls all of your attention, so try to always keep an eye on your mini-map and play very very safe if you don't see the champions that can dive and 100-0 you in .18 seconds.

Don't be afraid to use your ult to help secure baron/dragon more quickly for your team as your ult will have a very low cooldown at this point (sub one minute), and does pretty decent damage. Also, Nami can steal Dragons/Baron from a pretty safe distance, so don't be afraid to let one rip if you know the enemy is doing Baron but you don't want to get too close, or don't have vision.

Stick with your team as they push turrets, continue to poke, heal, and look for opportunities to catch people with your CC. Help your team to take objectives (dragons/baron/towers/inhibs) and win the game.

Here is a great video guide to playing Nami by a Challenger level Nami player:

Play Video

That's it! Thanks for reading guys!

Don't forget to hit that like button at the top of the page if you learned some useful information here :)

Try out Nami support for yourselves, she is a fun champion, and you just feel like a good guy/gal after a win playing as Nami after all the healing and CC'ing you've done.

If you have any additional questions, or want to see me play live, then come join us on the stream.

That's it guys, peace!