[Champion] Nami

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

March 10 2013 21:56 GMT

Nami, the Tidecaller

And you thought Janna was a tease.

Introduction by Slusher
After finishing up my Volibear guide I actually asked Neo for the opportunity to write this OP as I had been exploring Nami quite a bit and was starting to really like the character, but the more I played her in preparation for this guide the more frustrated I became with the champion. Nami sits in this weird place of balance, sort of like Irelia, she has some really good tools, but in return Riot has left her with a lot of problems, and there isn't much they can do to fix it without her becoming THE support as we've seen with Janna>Sona>Zyra and most recently Taric.
I really feel like it's important to get this thread open not because my views on Nami are the best, but because I'd really like to hear other peoples thoughts on the champion and maybe we can develop her a bit further with discussion but that being said my current thoughts on Nami are as follows
To me Nami has problems in the vein of Jack of all trades master of none, similar to Sona Nami can provide all of the major skills for a support in lane, she has harass, she has heals, she has a stun and she has initiation, but unlike sona who's harass is godlike, she isn't the best at any of them. for me personally I like to pick Nami in lanes where Leona would be good but I don't know the AD, she has really good all in potential, not on Leona's level, but unlike Leona she has the option of maxing heal when behind.

Pros

has flexible skilling options
Strong allin potential at 3 and again at 6
top tier team fight initiate/disengage
perfect for enhancing an ADs ability to snowball a lane
good in both 5v5 comps and 3/1/1 split push comps so first picking reveals nothing
very few bad match ups after all of her buffs

Cons

Her harass is middle of the pack for damage if maxing Q, and lower if W or E
somewhat dependent on shurylea's if you want to use ult offensively
High mana costs if maxing heal
provides no auras or defensive buffs of any kind

Abilities:

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Passive - Surging Tides: When one of Nami's abilities hits a friendly target they gain 40 movement speed for 1.5 seconds.

The only important thing to note here that isn't obvious via description is that this counts for not only friendly spells but also the hit-boxes of offensive spells. This passive is so close to being amazing, it's not bad, it's just goodish. It has good cohesion with Tidal Wave and Tidecallers blessing, making Tidal Wave a decent ult, and E the tool that it needs to be for her to be a good champion.

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Q- Aqua Prison: Nami sends a bubble into the air towards a targeted area. When it lands, it deals magic damage to all enemies in the area of impact and encases them into bubbles, lifting them into the air and stunning them for 1.25 seconds.

CD: 14/13/12/11/10
Mana: 60
Range: 875
Magic damage: 75/130/185/240/295
(+.65 ap)

This spell is Nami's CC, it's a strong stun at 1.5, and it is AoE albeit not the biggest of hit boxes. An important note from the wiki is that while it certainly looks like a knock up, it is not a knock up, as it is cleanse able and is affected by tenacity. This spell can also be used for vision checking, however it only reveals if it hits a target, it gives no vision of the ground or the surrounding area so near miss can be misleading.

A lot has been made over the missile speed on this spell, all I can add here is you get over it, you learn to use it in the right ways. Either using it after a slow from your E has been proc'd or using it to force them to run around it is in a lot of situations good for 1.5 seconds, and in teamfights it's actually really easy to hit after tidal wave.

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W - Ebb and Flow: Unleashes a torrent of water that bounces between allied and enemy champions. This ability can only bounce to each target once and hits up to 3 targets.
On ally hits, Ebb and Flow heals the target and bounces towards a nearby enemy champion. On enemy hits, the tides deal magic damage and bounce off towards an allied champion. it's effectiveness is diminished by 15% each time it bounces.

Magic Damage: 70/110/150/190/230 (+.5 ap)
Heal: 65/95/125/155/185 (+.3 ap)
CD: 9
Mana: 70/85/100/115/130
Range: 725 (875 bounce)

because of the nature of alternating between heal and damage, whichever you choose first is the one you can receive two of, i.e. healing a teammate with the initial target will give the opportunity for 2 heals. Interesting information from the Wiki, if a spell shield blocks the original bounce, Ebb and Flow CAN bounce back to the same target, something it normally cannot do.
Ebb and Flow cannot bounce to targets which Nami does not have vision of, with the exception of units she would have vision of while under the effect of paranoia or graves smoke cloud. This is Nami's main harass tool in lane, even though it has less damage potential than Aqua Prison, putting Aqua Prison on cool down can get you killed, also putting points into Ebb and Flow is still useful should you fall behind.

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E - Tidecaller's Blessing: Empowers an allied champion for 5 seconds or until they have attacked 3 times. During this time, their basic attacks deal bonus magic damage and slow the target hit for 1 second.

CD: 11
Mana: 55/60/6570/75
per hit Magic Damage: 25/40/55/70/85 (.2 ap)
Slow: 15/20/25/30/35%

For me personally this spell is where Nami's true power lies, you will see later in my pairings section that I put a high value on being able to walk down your opponent especially with a lead. it's also important to note that buffing your carry or tank with this spell gives them the 30 movement speed from your passive to help them get that first hit to proc the slow.

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R - Tidal Wave: Summons a tidal wave outward from Nami's position. The tidal wave briefly knocks up enemies that it comes into contact with, slows them and deals 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 duration of 4 seconds.

CD: 140/120/100
Damage: 150/250/350 (.7 ap)
range: 2750
Mana: 100/150/200
Slow: 60/65/70%

This spell is the other half of the reason to pick Nami, it’s a very strong Disengage spell, and if combined with an early Shurelya’s can double as initiation. despite the large hitbox the missile speed is not that fast and the importance of hitting your own team as well as the enemy team can make it a difficult aim. The last important note I have here is that Tidal wave suffers from 0 diminishing returns per unit hit, every unit hit by this spell takes full damage and slow, maybe not the most important of facts but just throwing that out there.

Support Nami
Summoner Skills: Flash/Exaust/ignite. I don’t really have a lot to say about flash other than that I can’t really see a reason to take ghost on her, the start up time on her ult is way too long for flash ult to be useful, while flash Q can work it’s a big risk, I mainly just take this for safety.

2nd summoner as support is basically always exhaust by default unless playing in 5s, ignite I feel like has it’s place if your ad has cleanse and the other team has heals, but stuff like Kennen can also muddy these waters, in solo que, exhaust is the most reliable, however if you feel you can make it out of the lane phase safely without it heal is a beast late game.

Masteries: 15/14/1
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I actually stole these from a friend and I really like them on Harass based supports. Having these masteries basically makes It so you can out trade most Ads before their first major item, even after a dorans they will have a rough time dealing with you

If you are feeling a little more conservative or they pick something that is going to punish you hard for harassment, you can always fall back on more “standard” support masteries like these
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One nice thing about these is he gold mastery, Nami can be really gold thirsty in my opinion mainly because leaving philo stone as philo stone for any amount of time is really a non-option.

Runes:
Marks: Mixed Pen/Armor
Seals: Flat Armor
Glyphs: Scaling MRes/Mana Regen
Quints: Gold

I’d like to take a moment to talk about mixed pen reds. I know most people don’t have the ip laying around to blow 7k on marks, but mixed pen reds are basically free stats on anyone who has mixed damage. For 2 less magic pen you get 8 armor pen for free almost, if you are running my aggressive page, I strongly recommend these, or magic pen reds for the pleebs.

Armor reds pretty self explanatory, magic pen or mixed pen are still pretty good with the more utility oriented page, but if you are really feeling like offence isn’t going to be an option, these are a decent choice.

Mana Seals are a suggestion from Spellsy

On March 18 2013 13:21 spellsy wrote:
oh god no mana regen runes !!!? i think she needs it the most out of any support, her and maybe sona are tied i guess, but at least with sona you could go no mana reg runes --> rush chalice, you cant do that on nami!

I had not thought of this but, he's actually very right, definitely consider these as an option for blues, even vs. magic based harass supports like Zyra or Lux if you run the offensive page, but I might back down on that if I was running a heavy utility page, that said they are a strong option as Nami can chew through mana very quickly.

[7/16] I actually no longer agree here, I say that while admitting you should put a lot of thought into taking my opinion over Spellsy's, I just feel like I go thru a lot less mana now than I did before, I will outline the reasons in the next section.

Starting items and skills

because I am not a fan of the starting gold mastery, I pretty much still use the basic s2 start of charm/3xward/2pot

The more “interesting” part of this section would have to be my thoughts on skills.

Nami’s goal in my mind, is to get to a point where she can stop putting points in W, and start putting them in other things. The Ideal situation for Nami is to be maxing E in a snowballing lane. Granted we all want a snowballed lane, but I think with Nami it drastically changes what tools are good.

First let me be clear I recommend 2 points in W for all lanes, it’s 50% more heal for 15 less mana, if you are already winning would it be nice to have 0 points in heal? Yes, but at early levels the heal is integral to feeling out the lane, initial harass, and all inning.

I usually open all 3 skills beginning with Q at level 1, lvl2 and 3 are 100% interchangeable unless you have like a lee sin who wants to roll in right after red on blue side. I don't ever put more than 1 point in W anymore, the shift to most ADC starting dorans + lifesteal quints has made her heal even more underwelming, I recommend 1 point for easy passive procs, and thats about the only thing I cast it for in lane.

Snowballing lane?
R>E>W>Q

Losing/farming lane?
R>Q>W>E

Snowballing lane, with Ashe/Varus/Trist?
R>Q>W>E

The only thing I’ll add here is Nami’s E stacks [additively?] With slows, i.e. if you and Ashe both have 1 point in slow, it gives you 15%+ 15% for 30% I have not tested this with items, but I did test this personally, so I’m sure of at least this interaction. A lot of people might say maxing Q first even in this lane is a dumb choice, I disagree, 30 % slow is going to get the job done just as well as 70% (or whatever you can get up to I’m sure it starts to diminish at some point or you could stop them). My reasoning is simply Q is Nami’s only spell that does not scale mana with rank, and with almost 300 base damage it is without question her most damaging spell even if an E buffed lane partner gets all 3 autos down. (I'm sure diminishing returns occur at some point or 100% would be possible with the right combo of champions, however I tested this combo in a custom and rank 1 + rank 1 is 30%, which is basically maxed E, so why not max Q)

I realize maxing Q has gained a lot of traction since I originally wrote this but I feel like it's still worth noting.

The great debate
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vs.

There is quite a bit of disagreement along the lines of what to max first on Nami, General discussion has gone into it on several occasions, I will here post my reasons for E max.

E zones harder in a winning lane.

While Q is more up front damage E through it's superior cc generates more damage over time if your opponent has to disengage. If the opposing support does not have hard cc approaching the minion wave away from tower can often lead to death vs. E max.

E max is stronger gank support.

self explanatory.

E harass is safer than Q harass.

When Taric was dominating lanes everywhere I used to say Taric's stun isn't the problem, the threat that he could stun is. I think a very similar statement can be made for aqua prison can be made, the threat that you can be stunned is the strongest protection that you have as Nami, if putting it on cd does not encourage them to disengage you could be in trouble.

E max makes Q stun more accurate.

hitting a target moving slower is easier.

while Q provides more upfront burst, E generally provides more damage in the exchange if they try to disengage.

A lot of the hubbub surrounding Q max is centered around the increased damage, and while it is undeniable that Q has ~17% more damage up front, if the enemy's first reaction is to disengage, either because they have to live or they just can't out trade (and in most cases they can't if you hit the Q followup) the increased slow from E leads to more autos from you and your adc resulting in more overall damage in the exchange than Q max. Of course to be fair this is moot if you hit multiple people with Q, as the damage has no diminishing returns on multiple targets.

I don't prefer E max with all champions, which is detailed in the pairings section, but when I do these are my reasons. I 100% do not think Q max is ever bad, in fact it is superior for early team fights, but W max leaves you pretty weak in lane due to it's prohibitive mana cost. That said whichever you choose I do think W second is a strong second choice in a team fight where burst mana spending is a non issue, W is a very effective spell when 3 targets are hit, which is fairly easy in 5v5 encounters.

I understand that item builds for supports aren’t that interesting (they are mostly champion independent, and more team based.) so I’ll be brief.

[Core Build]
+ + +

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Yup, that’s it, I feel like as good as Nami’s ult is, it’s significantly better with this item, combined with Nami’s ability to blow mana fairly quickly, the nice mana regen on this item is really nice too. Think of it as an aghanim scepter for Nami.
[Follow-up options]
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Because of your early conversion of Philo stone it can be really hard for Nami to get a lot of gold, so Kage’s is something I’ll go for a lot of the time, lategame, twin shadows is pretty strong upgrade on her, as is morellos if it’s not an option for your mid for some reason, and the enemy team warrants it.

Lucidity boots are a good option if you go this route, as you won’t be completing a lot of items early so the cheap cdr is nice, but sometimes you just gotta go mercs due to team comp.

[Standard support items]
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From here you would just look to build the items you see on every other support depending on what your team needs and what your jungler is building.

I just want to talk here for a moment about items on supports, while I do think double aegis or double locket are really sick if you have an aegis/locket jungler I think 5 stacks of pinks are even sexier, once Nami has boots/Kage’s /shurelya’s/sightstone other items are nice, but they she doesn’t need them to function, strongly consider mass consumable in situations where your team isn’t in need of a specific utility item.

AD Pairings
5-Strongly suggest in all match ups
4-Very good combo
3-Have some synergy
2-there are better options
1-If you win lane with this, you outplayed the shit out of them.

I don't particularly like this pair, but because Nami has the ability to fend for herself at early levels she can help Ashe get through some of her weaker early stages in 2-5. I feel like even though Nami E and Ashe Q can stack it takes a lot of the utility of running a nami lane away, but Spellsy had this to say

Spellsy says: the long range poke + harass potential is crazy, but the real reason (...) is the combination of ults it's the easiest lane in existence for the jungler to gank (...) if you do well 1-5 you can even ult 2v2 and kill them as well

The only other thing I'd like to add is I strongly recommend Q max, maxing heal ~~in a snowballed lane~~ is pretty silly and Q has no mana scaling as well as near 300 base damage at rank 5. Note from the rest of the OP and the rest of my responces in this thread reveal my high value on E as a reason to play Nami, so please while I don't give this combo a 5, Spellsy as well as E doubters (I'm looking at you kiss blade) might consider this a 5
Overall Score = 4

+ Show Spoiler +

At first blush this combo might seem to make a lot of sense, 650 aa range to deliver them Es is pretty nice, but Caitlyn's range also requires Nami to position herself pretty far in front of Caitlyn to do anything at all. Not that this isn't true for a lot of lane pairings with Cait but I think this is why you typically see Cait teamed up with really beefy supports like Taric and Nunu or backline supports like Janna.
I don't think this is a bad lane in the sense that it's extremely safe and cait with E does have pretty strong poke, top the 650 range off with Nami Q and W and basically force a farmfest in the bot lane, this might be a really good pick for teams where their mid lane is going to want to split push late game, but there are other supports paired with Cait who can do similar things in that situation and provide a lot more for her in lane.(combo used to be rated a 3)

The buff to Nami Q was a HUGE buff to this combo as if Cait can now follow up aqua prison with a well placed trap. The rising popularity of 3/1/1 split push combined with Cait and Nami both being so good in such a comp has made this the quintessential lane for running 3/1/1 if you secure these two champions your 3 is better than their 3. I still recommend E max in this lane because Cait is good at auto harass, however the difference in this pairing is as close to minimal as any other pair.
Overall Score = 5

Ok so Nami came out in late december, basically after nobody played corki anymore so , I'm going to admit anything here is mostly theory I have literally never played this lane. Nami E could potentially hold them in gatling gun for full duration, she has a heal, which is always good for low range ADs, post level 6 when Corki gets rockets the poke from this lane is pretty high. I think the combo isn't terrible because corki has really good burst if they get hit by your Q, but I feel like a lot of corki's perceived burst comes from Taric's shred and Leona's passive which Nami does not bring to the table. I'm going to give this a 2 not because I think it's worthless but I just don't see the point of NOT going Taric or Leona.
Overall Score = 2

I know this is going to seem unfair of me to say, she has some synergy with Cait but cait can win lane with a lot of supports so it's not relevant, then turn around and claim that Nami is THE BEST support for Draven. But Nami is actually incredibly strong pairing for Draven. Because the main threat of a Draven lane is taking a spinning axe to the face, give him a character that gives him a slight speed boost on top of blood rush, and now suddenly you are slowed after the first axe, it's brutal. Combine that with the fact that a good stand aside is a guaranteed aqua prison Nami Draven can kill lanes without a stun or cleanse up pretty much at will. Really the only way to stop this lane from getting out of control if you don't have a lockdown like Leona or Taric is to get an early kill on Nami, or to get the lane Frozen near your tower so that Draven can't walk you down, as both Nami and Draven suck for resetting the wave on the tower.
Overall Score = 5

Ezreal is someone I have to try to be objective with, so my dislike for Ezreal aside I'll say this. The poke in this lane with W max is similar but not as good as Ezreal + Sona, although the healing is better than Q max Sona so for what it's worth you are pretty immovable but I feel like a good Sona with Ezreal is also immovable. Because E procs on hit effects, Nami E adds a great deal of burst to his auto-Q-auto combo however the reality of the lane phase is W max to poke with his Q is probly going to be more effective, Ezreal has poor walk down, read: he has to blow his escape to make a non obvious auto attack, something you will notice if you look at my picks as a whole the 5 ratings go to champions who have some sort of movespeed steroid they can use to get an auto attack on the opposing champion, that isn't all in, Draven still has E if he casts W, MF is just retarded fast, Vayne still has condemn etc etc. In this lane poke with W and use all other skills to punish commitments by the opponent, because this is not my style with Nami I still think of Sona as the quintessential Ezreal lane but it can work.
Overall Score = 3

+ Show Spoiler +

Personally I think the rumors of Graves' demise have been exaggerated, that said, I don't like Nami for him all that much. Graves pairs really well with healers because of his poor range and his passive. however here is where the Synergy ends, Graves has poor walk down, even if you use his dash offensively a large majority of the cast can still avoid him, again in this lane your best bet is to max W and poke and use your other spells to counter initiate, however unlike Ezreal Graves has poor poke without a)casting spells and b) pushing lane, I feel like this lane is really dangerous and susceptible to being killed vs aggressive supports tl;dr if you want to play a squishy support with Graves just play Soraka, unlimited mana Graves is more scary than W max Nami.
I just want to take a quick moment to note that this section is mainly dealing in lane play, Graves strong midgame team fights actually synergies really well with Nami's strong midgame team fights, however the lane can get iffy vs a lot of popular combos.
I upped the rating from 2 to 3.

[7/16] I still agree with most of what I posted, and while I do still feel like Nami mabye isn't the best support for Graves, I think Q max nami with graves packs a lot of burst. Again like with Corki, I think a lot of the graves burst you see in Graves kill lanes comes from Leona passive or Shatter, but if you can make this combo work, your level 6 allin is extremely strong as is your midgame 5v5. Graves also has great wave clear/disengage if you want to run a 3/1/1, so this could be a more flexible / less revealing version of Cait/Nami, although lane will (obviously) be a bit more difficult.

Overall Score = 3

This is a Decent Lane, the range+Damage steroid on Kog W works well with Blessing as well as his low base range is nice to have a heal with. they have decent Disengage with their abilities combined witch is convient with Kog's low mobility. Overall I'd say it's a pretty good lane that can give Kog space to farm, but in most situations you will not be preventing them from farming either, which is ok since Kog scales as well as anyone, I like this combo despite it not being my style but then again Kog really just does not fit aggressive lanes.
Overall Score = 4

I'm sure I sound like a broken record at this point talking about Tidecaller's every other sentence but, MF has arguably better synergy than Draven with it, but it depends. much like Ezreal, because of her Q applying on hit effects, Nami E adds a great deal of damage to MFs auto > Q > auto combo, but unlike Ezreal, it's pretty easy to just auto someone whenever you feel like it on MF. One Caveat here, if possible it's best to perfom this combo when there are no minions behind your opponent, as the bounce will absorb the 3rd instance of blessing, that said if the support is standing behind them, prepare your body for LoLz as it chunks them really fucking hard, as 2nd portion MF Q hits like a truck and now you get bonus damage to boot. 2v2 their ult synergy is, eh, I mean it's ok, I mean like, they sure as hell have to run, but they usually can run, MF ult is still best used on Aqua Prison'd targets, and save Nami R for ganks, that said in 5v5s they ain't ready.
Overall Score = 5

On May 08 2013 04:55 Cheap0 wrote:
Quinn vaults off enemy carry, pretty much guarantees aqua prison hits with the slow. Follows up with blind after prison ends for even more abuse. Great chasing with Tidecaller's, and Quinn's execution to finish them off is the icing on the cake. You pretty much don't lose trades with this lane.

Also, it helps that it's a really powerful lane against Draven and MF, both champions who typically dominate their lane.

Overall Score = 4 (he suggested a 5, but I'm withholding judgement.)

To be clear, I've never laned with a Sivir in s3, and if someone in front of me picked her I'd be afraid to pick anyone not sporting a shitload of gems, but for for conversations sake Sivir Just like the Other ADs with an attack reset gets, you guessed it, added burst damage from Sivir auto, W, q combo, that said her terrible range makes not maxing W pretty dangerous. Look I'm going to be clear here, I don't think this combo can win lane. I'm tying not to be biased based on Sivir's low pick %, but I'd just rather have Taric/Nunu/Zyra/Lulu/blitz/thresh, like only Sona (surprise surprise) I think is a worse partner for her, that said I'm open to suggestion as I do not speak from experience.
Overall Score = 1

Tristana is a pretty strong partner with Nami, Trist's naked game (pre first shop) is as good as any carry, which synergies really well with Nami, lvl3 Auto E>W>Auto + ignite with nami E on will 100-0 a lot of AD carries, but even if you don't want to all in Nami Q and Trist Jump make the lane pretty safe. I mean like the negative arguments here are Nami has a strong midgame and Trist does not, but their late game synergy, Nami E + Trists ability to peel for herself twice, make Trist Extremely hard to kill with a Nami on her team. So while there lane is just like a B+ thats just kinda Tristana, but because I think Nami has the tools to give Trist space to farm in the mid game I'll rate it pretty highly. This is a lane I would strongly consider maxing Q, as you won't get much milage out of Trist autos 1-9 where she is mostly about burst damage or passive play.
Overall Score = 4

This is not a lane that I have played so I will divert to TL poster Human sensation

On March 17 2013 16:03 TheHumanSensation wrote:
I've played Nami/Twitch a couple times with a friend at low ELO (1200). Nami's E causes just enough engaging ability for Twitch to land 4 autos his W and expunge for max stacks. Might not work on better botlaners who don't just run from fights 24/7, but Nami's great at short trades of similar length to what Twitch wants, in my experience.

not only does his post make a lot of logical sense but then we saw it come to fruition in the NA LCS, this lane is Dangerous capital D intended. Nami E, Stealth (once again able to initiate their own autos) and Cask means if twitch walks into the bush you need to respect that, and that can force a lot of lane wards or just lane dominance, I'm going to go ahead and say this is a top combo for Nami.
Overall Score = 5

Even though Urgot isn't played much this lane combo is decent. It has like this close but no cigar sense of synergy. Like basically Nami's kit looks to have combo potential with Urgots entire Kit, however, the nerfs to Urgots spell ranges last Spring almost require a true stun/root to land his poison, unless your Soraka and he can just throw it out 24/7. Now I know what you are thinking, Nami has a stun you numskull, but thats just not how it works, Nami is a lot like Blitz Q, when it's down you should just fucking walk at her because there is nothing Urgot and Nami without Q can do to stop you, now you might say but Slush we should just E ourselves to garuntee the Q like you have preached, just don't do it, Urgot's range is so bad he's typically near creeps he suffers from a lot of creep block when trying to step up to poison because his model is so huge, this isn't so much a Nami problem but Urgot is really hurting as bad as any other champion from creep block mainly because of his terrible range on all of his non locked on q spells and autos combined with being massive. Also Acid Hunter's don't proc E, it's just, not an amazing combo sorry Urgot lovers (trust me I'm one of you)
Overall Score = 1

This lane is pretty strong, Nami E does give Varus the opportunity to proc triple blight stacks pretty easily, however because Varus has poor walkdown without blowing E ahead of time, this is a lane where using Blessing on yourself becomes a Valuable skill. Their Ults have near 100% kill potential lane synergy and her E allows him to protect himself better in team fights I like this combo a lot, but because of his poor walk down I just can't give this a 5, but it's really close. (vs. short range ADs it's a 5) This is another lane where I would take a strong look at Q max, as Varus has his own slow, which he would prefer to use as a followup after hitting some autos.
Overall Score = 4

Last but not least, my favorite Nami lane, thats right, I like Draven,I like MF, but I love Vayne. TIdecaller's Blessing synergises so well with Vayne passive because if you orb walk/tumble correctly they can't disengage after tide callers wears off, so if you are ahead in the trade better be getting to tower or they are dead. It's also a super safe lane because of tumble, condemn and Aqua Prison, oh and if I haven't mentioned it before, heal supports are nice to have with short range Ads. If you have like, a Doran's blade up on them, Ult combo is a kill vs. any lane without a stun and only if Vayne's cleanse is on cd. It's just such a well rounded lane at the same time as being super deadly, and scales as well as anything into lategame, if you have no t already give this combo a look
Overall Score = 5

Closing comments

I think Nami has a lot of potential to be realized, her kit as whole is pretty strong and though I don’t feel quite as strong as I do on some other supports when I play Nami, I feel like she can make a fed AD absolutely terrifying on a different level than even all in supports like Leona can.

I hope you can understand that I posted some rough guidelines to the champion as is tradition on TL, but I strongly doubt I am the best Nami player in the world or on TL for that matter, I just wanted to get the ball rolling on some Nami discussion, because I think she is a champion worth talking about, thanks for reading.

[7/16] addendum
I've made some updates to the OP as Nami has recived some pretty huge buffs over the last 6 months and I feel like it's improved a lot of her match-ups. I feel like Nami is an ultra safe pick now, and pairs well with almost all of the popular ADCs, she also fits really well into 2 of the most popular styles of play making picking her early very unrevealing. Lastly with the hot debate raging on over what to max I wanted to make my reasonings for backing E as clear as possible I think in most cases she is a strong pick weather you choose to max Q or E, but barring her being nerfed to have to level Q to get stun duration to 1.5, I personally prefer E in most lanes.

Thanks for reading please remember I take all post as suggestions for the OP, up to date and complete as of [7/16/13]

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

March 10 2013 21:57 GMT

Reserved for if I ever find a Viable use for solo lane Nami, currently I don't feel it's useful.

ReachTheSky

United States3294 Posts

March 10 2013 22:19 GMT

Thanks for making a Nami guide.

Cheap0

United States540 Posts

March 10 2013 23:59 GMT

I usually don't rush Shurelia's unless my team needs the additional initiating power. I do agree that it's a very good item on her though. I don't really like rushing Kage's either because I don't feel like she does much with the additional AP. I've never felt very good about building AP on her cause her ratio's are mediocre.

One trick I've found is that since her Ebb and Flow has a longer bounce range than its regular range when targeting an enemy, you can actually heal yourself first and essentially increase the range on it by a little bit (normal range is 725, bounce range is 875). It requires pretty precise mechanics though and can easily be missed.

For runes, I've found that I get more out of flat hp quints, armor marks, gold seals, and mana regen glyphs in terms of effective health. That setup provides better effective health against both 100% physical damage (up until level 7) and a 75%/25% Physical/Magical split (up until level 14), though health quints don't synergize as well with self-healing. The advantage is biggest at the earliest levels though, and I feel that's when Nami needs it the most. AP's pretty meh, Mpen is so so but doesn't synergize with your heal, so if I wanted offense I'd probably run AD marks and switch back to armor seals and gold quints. Overall though, I don't like skimping on the defense since she's already very squishy as is.

I'll grab chalice in lane instead of philo sometimes, particularly if I'm against a high magic damage lane. I'd do it every time if buying chalice didn't force me to buy 25 MR with it, so if I feel like I'm getting a good return on that MR, I'd rather have the additional mana from chalice than gold from a philo. Nami has mana issues during the mid and late game with only Philo/Shurelia's too, so having a chalice really deals with those well.

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

March 11 2013 00:17 GMT

what may I ask is your goal when you pick Nami, I mean to say, when you pick her, what is it to vs, or why did you pick her, because your choices don't sound congruent with mine.

and kage's isn't for ap, it's for gold, twin shadows is a good lategame item on Nami so it's not a total waste.

the only reason I recommend morello's (situationally) is because of the popularity of Jungle Volibear, Nasus and Xin. If your mid can benefit from the stats it is far better on them, I thought I was clear on that but perhaps not.

Cheap0

United States540 Posts

March 11 2013 03:12 GMT

Honestly, I pick Nami pretty much every time I support =P. If I played more supports and wanted to be picky though, I'd probably pick her when I want a good team fighting support, cause I generally think she's one of the best team fighting supports in the game right now. I like her on dive comps because I think that's where her kit is most effective. As far as lane matchups go, I think Nami generally excels as a poke-oriented support with the ability to create kills after she's worn her opponents down. She gets stronger as the lane goes on because she has her heal and her poke on the same skill, so you can get both as you level W. Like you said, she's really great when your carry is snowballing (and just when your team is ahead in general). In particular, I think she does pretty well against other poke supports because she can sustain their harass while harassing back, in addition to being able to set up kills while they might struggle to do so. Her hardest lane opponent is Taric IMO since he's got a lot of burst, shrugs off her harass, and can threaten her really well with his guaranteed stun.

Let me clarity, I don't think Kage's is bad, but I don't really like rushing it (unless I'm fed or something). Usually when lane ends, I'll have something like a Philo, Ruby Sightstone, and boots 1. I'd rather grab boots 2 and/or a Kindlegem and either build that into locket or Shurelia's since they provide her with much more than Kage's can midgame. Nami really suffers from her long cooldowns, so I'll usually try to get CDR on her fairly quickly. In particular, I think Aqua Prison is absolutely amazing in team situations when its cooldown is low enough. Lvl 5 Aqua Prison with 40% CDR is a 1.25 second AoE stun on a 6 second cooldown, and hitting people with it in midgame skirmishes and late game team fights is much easier than landing it in lane.

I agree that Morello's can be pretty nice, but very situational. The passive Grievous Wounds is nice, but generally, Morello's is a good item just because it packs good stats for a cheap price. If I have a CDR deficit and I really need 20%, Morello's is my preferred item.

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

March 11 2013 04:01 GMT

My point was simply the items I buy are highly related to the reasons I pick Nami, I think she's super good with ADs that have good walk down, this will be more clear when I finish the pairing section, but I'll make an example.

I always hate to say, such and such champion is really good with Draven, or such and such champion is really good with MF, because they can win lane with almost any support played correctly, so although they are great examples, I really like to pick Nami as a support for Vayne, she has enough poke and sustain to give Vayne space to farm early and her E combined with Vayne passive is a death sentence if they let you wear them down enough. Split pen marks give me the damage to make my harass relevant, and the heal bounce usually leaves me at full health after the trade even with up to 1 doran.

The secondary reason I pick Nami is because I think her ultimate is worth picking her for, and that is why I buy Shurylea's as fast as possible, her ult is good, but combined with this item it's amazing, if park of the reason you picked her was for the ult then this interaction cannot be ignored in my opinion.

And finally this is where Kage's comes in, it's to pay for my sick stacks of wards, Locket and Aegis are pretty good items, but not with 3 wards at a time out on the map, and thats why I get it, eventually upgrading it is icing on the cake territory I really like twin shadows, but I don't commonly get around to making it. I just don't think aegis is more important than lots of map vision if your team has a aegis jungler.

Sufficiency

Canada23833 Posts

March 11 2013 05:17 GMT

Do we even know whether or not Nami's E uses the autoattacker's mpen or Nami's mpen? The wiki doesn't say anything about this, and it's not automatically clear to me as to which way it is.

wussleeQ

United States3130 Posts

March 11 2013 05:27 GMT

On March 11 2013 14:17 Sufficiency wrote:
Do we even know whether or not Nami's E uses the autoattacker's mpen or Nami's mpen? The wiki doesn't say anything about this, and it's not automatically clear to me as to which way it is.

the autoattacker's.

During this time, their basic attacks deal bonus magic damage

THEIR BASICS.

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

March 11 2013 05:33 GMT

#10

my guess is the attacker as well, but I'll test it tomorrow

sylverfyre

United States8298 Posts

March 11 2013 12:20 GMT

#11

I really agree with the jack of all trades master of none / kinda like sona arguments, but I'm not sure why you say you pick her when you would pick Leona but don't have the player synergy necessary with your ADC to pick Leona. It seems like Taric or Alistar would fit that bill better.

Also, slows don't stack like that. Any slow beyond the best (most %) has greatly reduced effectiveness.

Slowing effects follow particular rules when stacking:
If a champion is affected by multiple slows, the strongest one will be fully applied, while the others are applied sequentially with 65% reduced effectiveness down to 35% of its original strength.

I also feel like you should mention that Tidecaller (E) is strong (deceptively so) to use on YOURSELF. I frequently will E myself, go in to harass, toss a bounce onto them and get the heal as they shoot back and back off while they are slowed. If they try to engage me off that, it's usually in a way that I can Q. (If nothing else, I can place Q in front of them, forcing them to stay back.)

I like Nami when I'm playing against Caitlyn and Quinn, who both have abilities that leave them vulnerable to Aqua Prison. I dislike her against Ezreal, Vayne, and other high mobility ADCs who will never get hit by Aqua Prison, even when slowed by tidecaller's blessing.

How do you feel about Chalice? I've considered getting one in the place where you recommend Kage's or even instead of Philo if I'm against magic damage in lane, turning it into a Grail or Crucible in the [very] late game.

Also, why don't you get pickpocket on her? Maybe it's because I harass with E so much, I feel like Pickpocket is made for Nami like it is for Sona.

Finally, I don't really feel like her autoattack is that bad.

Further strengths of nami:
In teamfighting, your heal is SO STRONG because it heals for quite a lot, can heal two targets, and has an incredibly short cooldown (half that of Soraka!)

Janna, goddess slut of assists? Move over honey. Nami's heal bounces around, giving you assist credit everywhere. You can pick up an assist on a frontliner with a W and E, putting some damage down on a target far out of your own cast range (hitting an enemy up to ~1500 units away from yourself!)
Aqua prison or tidal wave hits an ally? That ally is now considered "assisted" as they received your passive. This is also another reason Tidal Wave is very good! It helps your front line get to their back line SO VERY well, especially since their back line is in range of it pretty much no matter where you're positioned.

Sufficiency

Canada23833 Posts

March 11 2013 12:38 GMT

#12

Also I feel there are two items crucially missing even though they are very strong on most supports right now. One is Mana Manipulator, the other one is Chalice.

sylverfyre

United States8298 Posts

March 11 2013 12:45 GMT

#13

I'm not sure I agree with you about Mana Manipulator (though I would agree with you if I have a mana-hungry carry paired with me like Corki or Ashe), but I definitely agree on Chalice. I suppose if I got Kage's, Morellonomicon is probably the best upgrade to it. I've gotten twin shadows, but the item doesn't really give you what you need on Nami, awesome as it is. Shard of true ice has this annoying lack of... anything worth picking except the active.

Sufficiency

Canada23833 Posts

March 11 2013 14:37 GMT

#14

Mana Manipulator is a snowball item that you build when you are ahead.

sylverfyre

United States8298 Posts

March 11 2013 14:40 GMT

#15

On March 11 2013 23:37 Sufficiency wrote:
Mana Manipulator is a snowball item that you build when you are ahead.

I dunno... how does it really let you snowball harder than an early GP10 (I don't like getting gp10s past the ~12 minute mark, personally) or pieces of one of your major support items, or a Chalice?

Sufficiency

Canada23833 Posts

March 11 2013 14:50 GMT

#16

On March 11 2013 23:40 sylverfyre wrote:

Show nested quote +

I dunno... how does it really let you snowball harder than an early GP10 (I don't like getting gp10s past the ~12 minute mark, personally) or pieces of one of your major support items, or a Chalice?

Mana Manipulator on two people is 720g worth of mana regen with 400g. Extra mana -> extra snowballing, and Shard of True Ice isn't even half bad. Chalice is obviously better, but you are investing 400g for 20 MR, which isn't really that useful.

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

March 11 2013 14:57 GMT

#17

On March 11 2013 23:37 Sufficiency wrote:
Mana Manipulator is a snowball item that you build when you are ahead.

Dorans shield

I actually think manipulator sucks now that shroud is gone. Shard of true ice is ass

Wetty

Australia419 Posts

March 11 2013 15:42 GMT

#18

I've played with a shard of true ice on Nami quite a bit, I like it because it keeps the GP/10 and provides some fairly useful stats. The slow is great on a bruiser of your team, or putting it on yourself as bruisers try to dive your carry can give them some extra room as you slow everything.

I really like Nami in general, which is saying a lot because I like support the least as a role - I feel with Nami, its pretty easy to play safe in lane (lots of disengage and a heal), you can be aggressive if required, but basically can sit on some GP/10 into the late game and be absolutely beast (Her lategame teamfights are amazing, I personally feel she has the strongest lategame of any support) Building Shard of True Ice plays into the "sitting on GP/10" strat, as it gives some midgame strength whilst still gaining gold for lategame powerhouse.

Cheap0

United States540 Posts

March 11 2013 15:46 GMT

#19

I think Fiendish Codex can be a pretty decent pickup if you get fed. It builds into Morello's and Athene's, while also providing some AP and 10% CDR for a pretty good price. Chalice is probably better in most cases though, unless you've already got it.

Sponkz

Denmark4564 Posts

March 11 2013 16:06 GMT

#20

On March 11 2013 23:37 Sufficiency wrote:
Mana Manipulator is a snowball item that you build when you are ahead.

No it isn't. If you're snowballing it's actually efficient to buy gp10 and then build into your aegis/locket/shard of true ice.

Why would you want so much mp5 anyways?

KissBlade

United States5718 Posts

March 14 2013 01:41 GMT

#21

I skip her E entirely. I think it sucks and eats up too much mana. Wow 5 second duration =\. It's useful for the speed boost but that's about it. Her Q and W are both quite good so I just level her Q instead of E after W maxes and it's pretty good for laning once your Q starts hitting pretty hard. I recommend everyone giving it a shot since her Q isn't actually too difficult to hit with.

sylverfyre

United States8298 Posts

March 14 2013 13:23 GMT

#22

I started doing a lot better as Nami when I started maxing E second instead of Q, to be honest. The slow on autoattack is no joke. Use it on yourself in lane to harass, use it on anyone else when there's a serious fight going on.

It just makes your Q so much easier to reliably land, too.

Besides, it's getting a duration buff next patch (5->8 sec)

Sufficiency

Canada23833 Posts

March 14 2013 14:24 GMT

#23

On March 12 2013 01:06 Sponkz wrote:

Show nested quote +

No it isn't. If you're snowballing it's actually efficient to buy gp10 and then build into your aegis/locket/shard of true ice.

Why would you want so much mp5 anyways?

Not really. GP10 items are the least efficient when it comes to its bonuses. You get GP10 items when you are ahead because you can afford to, not because you want to snowball.

Sufficiency

Canada23833 Posts

March 14 2013 14:25 GMT

#24

On March 14 2013 22:23 sylverfyre wrote:
I started doing a lot better as Nami when I started maxing E second instead of Q, to be honest. The slow on autoattack is no joke. Use it on yourself in lane to harass, use it on anyone else when there's a serious fight going on.

It just makes your Q so much easier to reliably land, too.

Besides, it's getting a duration buff next patch (5->8 sec)

Reduced to 6 on PBE.

Juicyfruit

Canada5484 Posts

March 14 2013 15:19 GMT

#25

8 seconds might have been too long, since the cooldown starts when you cast it which would potentially allow two near back-to-back use of it.

If you run the numbers on it, it's nothing special, really (255 damage and 3 second 35% slow predicated on landing 3 autos), and it's clearly inferior to something like Janna's Zephyr. I can't help but feel this spell is oddly "weak" for a support spell when you're used to stuff like bloodboil, astral blessing or eye of the storm.

It doesn't mean you shouldn't max it second or even first, though.

Bladeorade

United States1898 Posts

March 14 2013 15:27 GMT

#26

Her E is the best part of her kit...

If I am in a lane I can max E in the lane is so easy to win, or if you get an advantage and leave W at 2 then max E. The bonus damage and slow % is awesome and guarentees you will land your Q. E is also her best skill in team fights for letting your ADC kite, the R slow will likely not last very long at close range. The E slow combined with the passive speed boost is so strong.

Of course if you can land an RQ combo on a lot of people thats awesome but if not she is still great at peeling.

Also I have been doing the mp5 3 ward 3 pot start into philo -> sigh stone -> Shurelias

I find shurelias to be more impactful on her than a lot of other supports combined with her R so I agree with the op there. I then get ruby sightstone, kages and start stacking pink wards. Over time I like to build up Twin Shadows. I really like it on Nami. The long range slow can catch people out. Normally you can't land R over a range but Twin really allows you more options. It's a great late game pickup for her.

At some point I also build Lucidity boots on her and thats pretty much my final build

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

March 14 2013 19:01 GMT

#27

if you don't like Nami E I don't know why you picked this champion.

Cheap0

United States540 Posts

March 14 2013 19:56 GMT

#28

I used to max E. Then I switched to leveling W and I started doing a lot better.

E's more useful for snowballing a lane, I'll agree to that, but overall, I just think W is much better to put levels in earlier on. The amount of impact it can have in a single cast is pretty significant in terms of amount healed and damage dealt. Putting points in Tidecaller's means that when you use it, you need to be able to get the auto's off to make it effective, and in exchange, you still get less damage (and no heal) than if you'd just used a W. You also lose out on the sustain, and take a greater risk.

KissBlade

United States5718 Posts

March 14 2013 22:25 GMT

#29

On March 15 2013 04:01 Slusher wrote:
if you don't like Nami E I don't know why you picked this champion.

When I first picked Nami maxed E. Figured people were just doing it wrong putting it on ADC and instead I just used it on myself to trade etc. Had a sucky time most of the lanes because my heal wasn't enough and the other team just stunned and wombo'd combo because slow doesn't do much if they're committed to trading with you anyway. Characters like Leona or Taric just outright laughed at you. Switched to maxing W then Q skipping E entirely. Won lane ever since even if my adc sucked because the damage during trades swings so heavily in your favor.

Her Q and W are quite good and on very manageable cooldown. Her ult's also pretty useful as a follow up and zone control. Like I said, try RWQE skipping E for last till the skill gets a buff. At the moment a 5 second duration is crap.

Sufficiency

Canada23833 Posts

March 14 2013 22:26 GMT

#30

On March 15 2013 04:56 Cheap0 wrote:
I used to max E. Then I switched to leveling W and I started doing a lot better.

E's more useful for snowballing a lane, I'll agree to that, but overall, I just think W is much better to put levels in earlier on. The amount of impact it can have in a single cast is pretty significant in terms of amount healed and damage dealt. Putting points in Tidecaller's means that when you use it, you need to be able to get the auto's off to make it effective, and in exchange, you still get less damage (and no heal) than if you'd just used a W. You also lose out on the sustain, and take a greater risk.

That's what I feel as well. E's slow is great, but without any other sources of damage, a slow is just a slow - fairly useless. E does not provide an OP amount of damage by itself and requires 3 autos.

kainzero

United States5211 Posts

March 14 2013 22:40 GMT

#31

the reason why you want tidecaller's blessing is because you can force bot lane fights with the slow, and 15% slow just doesn't cut it. that's why if you're ahead you want to get levels on it as much as possible because you can get more ahead by forcing them to fight at disadvantages.

ebb and flow is actually better in the fight, but you can't initiate, you can only react. it's also easier to hit bubbles when they engage on you, whereas if you want to engage on them you generally need either someone else's CC, or tidecaller's blessing.

it's definitely situational over what to level first, some lanes you can afford to be aggressive, other lanes you have to be passive.

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

March 15 2013 00:50 GMT

#32

I'm not trying to find ways to use Nami, so much as trying to find reasons to pick nami, if you just want poke that comes with heals she isn't better than Sona. And for the record I do agree that if your AD isn't halping with the harassment that you should opt to go with W, it's in the OP, I'm trying to state that your goal should be to stop at 2 points if the lane allows for it.

Like when I'm sitting in select and I look at the other team, if my goal is to do the whole W and Q thing and not get any milage out of E, I don't see why I wouldn't just pick Sona every time.

KissBlade

United States5718 Posts

March 15 2013 01:27 GMT

#33

On March 15 2013 09:50 Slusher wrote:
I'm not trying to find ways to use Nami, so much as trying to find reasons to pick nami, if you just want poke that comes with heals she isn't better than Sona. And for the record I do agree that if your AD isn't halping with the harassment that you should opt to go with W, it's in the OP, I'm trying to state that your goal should be to stop at 2 points if the lane allows for it.

Like when I'm sitting in select and I look at the other team, if my goal is to do the whole W and Q thing and not get any milage out of E, I don't see why I wouldn't just pick Sona every time.

Because Q is an AoE stun and your ult is completely different purpose than Sona. You also have answers to all in's a lot better than sona pre 6. Your spells do a LOT of damage once they're max ranked.

Sponkz

Denmark4564 Posts

March 15 2013 08:15 GMT

#34

On March 14 2013 23:24 Sufficiency wrote:

Show nested quote +

Not really. GP10 items are the least efficient when it comes to its bonuses. You get GP10 items when you are ahead because you can afford to, not because you want to snowball.

The bonus gold is what make gp10 worth it. Imagine a scenario, where you and your ad manages to kill both enemy laners really early (lvl 3-4), you get an xp advantage, you build your first gp10, congrats now you're ahead in experience and you generate more gold than the enemy support who most likely got stuck up buying 1 piece of his gp10 or nothing.

Mondeezy

United States1938 Posts

March 15 2013 16:22 GMT

#35

I've almost always maxed W first, the only exception being a lane like Cait that harasses all day.

She feels in an ok place, with strong trading power, and her teamfight utility is pretty great. I've been trying to play her whenever I have to support, and part of me hopes someone will try her out at Dallas..

Seuss

United States10536 Posts

March 15 2013 17:24 GMT

#36

I start off maxing W, but if things are going well around rank 3 I'll start putting points in E. Going from a 15% slow to a 25% slow doesn't seem that impressive, but it's another 30-40 movement speed lost for your opponents (making Q and R a heck of a lot easier to land).

Sufficiency

Canada23833 Posts

March 15 2013 18:44 GMT

#37

On March 15 2013 17:15 Sponkz wrote:

Show nested quote +

Sure, but you are not snowballing with GP10s. When you buy a GP10, you are investing gold into long-term income, that's definitely not snowballing.

To try to snowball you should be trying to build up items with real stats as quickly as possible.

Cheap0

United States540 Posts

March 15 2013 19:11 GMT

#38

On March 16 2013 01:22 Mondeezy wrote:
I've almost always maxed W first, the only exception being a lane like Cait that harasses all day.

She feels in an ok place, with strong trading power, and her teamfight utility is pretty great. I've been trying to play her whenever I have to support, and part of me hopes someone will try her out at Dallas..

I'm kind of hoping the pros don't play her...yet. It's nice playing a champion that receives repeated micro-buffs every patch

Juicyfruit

Canada5484 Posts

March 15 2013 20:46 GMT

#39

Incidentally, gp10 is just so much less important now that sightstone exists.

Sufficiency

Canada23833 Posts

March 17 2013 03:16 GMT

#40

On March 16 2013 05:46 Juicyfruit wrote:
Incidentally, gp10 is just so much less important now that sightstone exists.

Frankly I consider sightstone to be a "GP10".

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

March 17 2013 04:22 GMT

#41

I do wish that somebody played her that was either a pro or a streamer, not because I want her to become more popular, but because all of my recommendations in the OP come from my own experiences, simply because there is no other data out there to gather on her.

I feel like thats why both this and the discussion in the GD thread have seen so much disagreement, there is no proven track record out there for anything other than the way you yourself play her.

also I'm really sorry about the synergy section, I ended up working 6 days this week zzz, I should have some time to get on it tomorrow but MLG is on so we'll see (read:mabye by tuesday)

I'm accepting any and all imput for ADs that aren't: Draven, Vayne, MF, Kog, EZ and Ashe, I have little to no experience with the other AD carries as partners so I'd be going purely off theory. (I guess I probly have as much as anyone with Quinn, she's just new/not played much)

TheHumanSensation

Canada1210 Posts

March 17 2013 07:03 GMT

#42

I've played Nami/Twitch a couple times with a friend at low ELO (1200). Nami's E causes just enough engaging ability for Twitch to land 4 autos his W and expunge for max stacks. Might not work on better botlaners who don't just run from fights 24/7, but Nami's great at short trades of similar length to what Twitch wants, in my experience.

Cheap0

United States540 Posts

March 17 2013 08:10 GMT

#43

Yea, Nami Twitch is a great lane. He comes out of stealth with your E on him and gets all his stacks pretty effectively. Too bad nobody plays Twitch.

Sufficiency

Canada23833 Posts

March 17 2013 08:41 GMT

#44

On March 17 2013 13:22 Slusher wrote:
I do wish that somebody played her that was either a pro or a streamer, not because I want her to become more popular, but because all of my recommendations in the OP come from my own experiences, simply because there is no other data out there to gather on her.

I feel like thats why both this and the discussion in the GD thread have seen so much disagreement, there is no proven track record out there for anything other than the way you yourself play her.

also I'm really sorry about the synergy section, I ended up working 6 days this week zzz, I should have some time to get on it tomorrow but MLG is on so we'll see (read:mabye by tuesday)

I'm accepting any and all imput for ADs that aren't: Draven, Vayne, MF, Kog, EZ and Ashe, I have little to no experience with the other AD carries as partners so I'd be going purely off theory. (I guess I probly have as much as anyone with Quinn, she's just new/not played much)

I feel she has no synergy at all if it's not Draven or MF or Caitlyn.

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

March 17 2013 14:29 GMT

#45

Then you haven't played Nami/Vayne, also not all of those are good, like I don't like Nami Ezreal at all, but people choose him so much I end up playing that lane from time to time, and I don't need additional info(as much, obviously anything is appreciated) on playing with Ezreal as I have done it many times. It isn't a list of what I think is good.

spellsy

United States418 Posts

March 18 2013 04:21 GMT

#46

oh god no mana regen runes !!!? i think she needs it the most out of any support, her and maybe sona are tied i guess, but at least with sona you could go no mana reg runes --> rush chalice, you cant do that on nami!

but anyway, to the meat, i agree with a lot of the things you said and i actually am excited that someone shares alot of the more subtle opinions or observations. Like the brutalness of her Q (that if you miss it you die) or the strength of her ult + her passive and such (and the synergy of her ult+ shurelias).

that being said, i think we very much differ in the lane way to play her, and also a bit on how to teamfight with her + thus how to build.

i think she suits best in a lane not as an aggressive approaching offensive force, like you seem to build for her with your heavy offensive page and heavy defensive page. I like her best as a defensive (but not passive) approach. where you wait for them to go up to you then you get the Q (which is easier to hit opposed to trying to chase after them THEN Q), and turn the tides of the trade with a W onto your ADC --> them (opposed to you trying to run up and use W on them and getting stunned and owned or using it on yourself etc).

and so thus to build for this i like to go more CDR focused build and go like 5/0/25 or something and get lots of the more utility stuff like the extra mana, extra busicuit / ward / scout etc. those luxuries you usually skip.

Rukio489

Afghanistan2 Posts

March 21 2013 04:24 GMT

#47

On March 15 2013 09:50 Slusher wrote:
trying to find reasons to pick nami,

Clearly OP has a fetish for a certain anthropomorphic fish. Only explanation for this guide and OP's obsession over Nami.

Cheap0

United States540 Posts

March 21 2013 04:32 GMT

#48

On March 21 2013 13:24 Rukio489 wrote:

Show nested quote +

Clearly OP has a fetish for a certain anthropomorphic fish. Only explanation for this guide and OP's obsession over Nami.

Did you really sign up for the Team Liquid forums JUST to post that?

damahammer

Germany111 Posts

March 21 2013 08:59 GMT

#49

On March 21 2013 13:32 Cheap0 wrote:

Show nested quote +

Did you really sign up for the Team Liquid forums JUST to post that?

i doubt he is new. he just made a new account to post this, without the fear of getting banned.

kainzero

United States5211 Posts

March 21 2013 20:58 GMT

#50

ig.xiaoxiao going R>E>Q>W in a kog/nami lame against cait/sona.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTI5NTQ0MTQ0.html

(there's a four man bubble in there. sick play)

sob3k

United States7572 Posts

March 21 2013 22:51 GMT

#51

On March 21 2013 17:59 damahammer wrote:

Show nested quote +

i doubt he is new. he just made a new account to post this, without the fear of getting banned.

If he thinks that will work I think he must be rather new.

sylverfyre

United States8298 Posts

March 21 2013 23:54 GMT

#52

On March 17 2013 17:41 Sufficiency wrote:

Show nested quote +

I feel she has no synergy at all if it's not Draven or MF or Caitlyn.

Why no mention for Twitch? Bloodwater/DMM made it look like the PERFECT combo, that stealth+Tidecaller power leading to straight up 2v2 kills against Doublelift's Cait + Lulu supporting him. (Even blowing through with a Shen ulti shield!)

Cheap0

United States540 Posts

March 22 2013 02:55 GMT

#53

Pretty much any carry that deals their damage through autoattacks in lane is a good partner for Nami. Besides MF and Draven (who both deal damage with empowered autos), Vayne, Varus and Twitch are all auto-dependent champions that do well with Nami supporting them.

On March 22 2013 05:58 kainzero wrote:
ig.xiaoxiao going R>E>Q>W in a kog/nami lame against cait/sona.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTI5NTQ0MTQ0.html

(there's a four man bubble in there. sick play)

I think that replay shows how powerful Tidecaller's Blessing can be. I think that in that particular game it made some sense because a more powerful slow on Tidecaller's helps deal with an angry Volibear chasing your Kog'maw, while also helping assist a jungler who doesn't have a lot of cc (Trundle) gank. Part of the reason it looked good was because they managed to get kills for Kog.

I still think putting points into W is generally going to be better most of the time though. Kog and Nami got bullied around pretty hard early on, and I think points in W would have helped deal with that. Kog had to go back pretty early on, and Nami anticipated being beaten on by opening with 3 sight wards and 3 health pots.

sylverfyre

United States8298 Posts

March 22 2013 03:49 GMT

#54

On March 22 2013 11:55 Cheap0 wrote:
Pretty much any carry that deals their damage through autoattacks in lane is a good partner for Nami. Besides MF and Draven (who both deal damage with empowered autos), Vayne, Varus and Twitch are all auto-dependent champions that do well with Nami supporting them.

Agreed. Especially those champions who really want to get a bunch of autoattacks in order to make something happen (this is true for all of: MF Twitch Vayne Varus)

And Draven is just a boss who deals a ton of damage.

I still stand by some of my statements earlier - when the carries are busy CSing, don't be afraid to E yourself and auto+W-harass with it (but be mindful of your mana)
Good auto range, and you can probably get at least 2 autos + the W's damage (if you line it up well, you can often have the W bounce off yourself and onto the other enemy champ.)

Other random factoids to note:

Ebb and Flow heals for almost as much on 1 target when you use W offensively as you do when you W defensively (initial hit of W is higher when used as an attack, and it reduces the same amount regardless of whether the first hit is an attack or a heal) Particularly good to know when only 1 person needs the heal.

Tidal wave is much more beastly at level 11/16, where the long-duration slow upgrades from 30% to 50% and 70%. 50% 4sec slow is ridiculously good.

Tidal wave usually makes a poor initiate because its slow-moving and dodgeable, but in the jungle or other areas of restricted movement (baron and dragon pits, for example) it is an amazing initiate because there isn't enough room to sidestep.

Sponkz

Denmark4564 Posts

March 23 2013 14:20 GMT

#55

On March 16 2013 03:44 Sufficiency wrote:

Show nested quote +

It highly depends on the flow of the game. Sometimes, you're better off using your early advantage for gp10, if you have no way of making those 4/5-man team fights happen. If you somehow manage to get fed and end laning early, allowing you and your team to roam around, it can be better to invest alot on vision. And lastly, as you mention, if your team gets an early lead and can apply pressure through team-fights, you can purchase some sort of aura-heavy item.

But mainly the reason why i commented on your mana manipulator purchase, is because you might aswell just get gp10's in a situation like that, instead of buying extra mp5. It wasn't a direct point to "GP10 IS OP" or anything like that.

Elanshin

Australia216 Posts

March 23 2013 15:30 GMT

#56

On March 23 2013 23:20 Sponkz wrote:

Show nested quote +

One thing that Zekent mentioned is hugely important that most supports dont realise. Basically he said that at top tier competition there are alot less gp10s bought (unless you get snowballed) simply because of the power you gain from buying actual items letting you win lane. An extra ruby crystal/ cloth armor early could mean the difference between winning the all in trades or losing by small margins.

Despite that however sightstone is probably the only gold item that is almost mandatory simply because a ruby sightstone is wards and a giants belt worth of health.

Bladeorade

United States1898 Posts

March 23 2013 16:34 GMT

#57

It's 2 Ruby Crystals worth of health for 550 more gold. And you will likely not have one in laning phase. Regular sightstone sure but the Ruby one i dont think so

ticklishmusic

United States15977 Posts

March 23 2013 20:33 GMT

#58

On March 22 2013 12:49 sylverfyre wrote:

Show nested quote +

it also has insane range

plus its really funny to do it from out of their vision (like from brush or something). you just dont expect a tidal wave to appear out of that tiny patch of brush by dragon...

Cheap0

United States540 Posts

March 23 2013 21:06 GMT

#59

On March 24 2013 05:33 ticklishmusic wrote:

Show nested quote +

One of the things I really like to do if I'm on blue side is hide behind that little ridge near your tower leading up to the tri-bush and launch my ult from there. It really helps with connecting it since they see the wave suddenly appear and don't have a lot of time to react. It's also really nice if you're trying to assist your jungler in ganking.

EDIT: Just realized that that's pretty much what you just suggested anyway. Lol.

sylverfyre

United States8298 Posts

March 25 2013 16:55 GMT

#60

On March 24 2013 01:34 Bladeorade wrote:
It's 2 Ruby Crystals worth of health for 550 more gold. And you will likely not have one in laning phase. Regular sightstone sure but the Ruby one i dont think so

If you've already spent the 475 on upgrading a ruby crystal into a sightstone, you can't complain about the ruby sightstone upgrade being 2 ruby crystals for 550 more gold. That's a massive fallacy.

If you have a regular sightstone, the ruby one is an additional ruby crystal's worth of health, without taking a slot + Show Spoiler +

slots are gonna be a problem around now because you have 1-2 slots for wards / pinks, a sightstone, probably some potions, and components for a team utility item.

You're buying at MINIMUM 1 extra ward and an item slot - you're basically paying 50 gold for an item slot if you only used it to place ONE SIGHT WARD EVER.

If you like ruby crystals at all, get a damn ruby sightstone. If you relaly need to stack health early, I don't care if your build path is Ruby Crystal -> Ruby Crystal -> sightstone -> ruby sightstone.

Another reason why it's so good to cast Tidal Wave from out of vision is that the cast animation and cast time are really long and obvious. Nami like, twirls her staff and slams it down, and THEN the wave comes out. You're giving them at MINIMUM 0.5 sec less time to react if they can't see you cast it.

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

March 27 2013 01:50 GMT

#61

Hey guys the Pairings section is complete, until any major balance changes happen to bot lane, that said if you have any feedback I am open to suggestion, while I have played all the lanes I didn't specifically say I haven't, I still play the ones I gave a 5 significantly more often as thats when I typically choose Nami, or I request those AD if duo.

ticklishmusic

United States15977 Posts

March 27 2013 02:47 GMT

#62

holy

im not going to lie, this little fishy is beginning to grow on me. i basically rush ss and then build ad on her and it works hilariously.

sylverfyre

United States8298 Posts

March 27 2013 06:17 GMT

#63

I really like all your matchup grades. Don't know much about quinn either, so no input there (I don't see any major synergy in the pairing, though.)

AD Nami? Sounds pretty goofy but there are worse.

ticklishmusic

United States15977 Posts

March 27 2013 06:24 GMT

#64

basically with all your cc, a small attack steroid and a heal (and exhaust) you can 1v1 the enemy adc and huehue away from pretty much anyone else.

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

March 27 2013 06:28 GMT

#65

sounds sorta like AD Janna which can be lulzy as well.

Sermokala

United States13931 Posts

March 27 2013 15:49 GMT

#66

Man I've played her a couple games and I absolutly love her.

I shall call her tidecaller.

Cheap0

United States540 Posts

March 27 2013 20:52 GMT

#67

I know AD Nami sounds kind of Lulzy, but it's actually pretty decent. It's kind of like AD Sona, but a little better IMO since she packs so much CC into her kit.

Also, I think AP Nami is completely terrible. You might think she'd make a decent roamer, but she waveclears worse than almost any other mid champ in the game. Mid-lane pretty much everyone can out-push her because if you use your Q to waveclear you immediately become very vulnerable. Also, if you max Q for waveclear, you're 100% dependent on it to deal any damage at all in lane. It makes your primary damage source pretty unreliable, AND its .65 AP ratio is pretty bad considering how hard the skill is to hit.

Maxing W (or at least putting some points into it early) is a little better since it gives you a good harassment tool and more reliable and damage and sustain. You just get pushed into the tower by everything though, since you can't hit minions with W.

Maxing E could work against some champions, but it makes your movements really predictable and a lot of champions can take advantage of that to deal more damage to you than you do to them. It also helps you farm. Gotta land 3 autos just to take advantage of a combined .6 AP ratio. This might be the best option, but it's still pretty lackluster.

To cap it all off, AP Nami's scaling with gold is mediocre compared to most mids. There really isn't any reason to give her a lane's farm.

AD Nami, on the other hand, can function decently as an AD carry since she has fair range, a decent autoattack animation, and good utility and self-peeling. If I find myself in a situation where I'm getting a lane's farm (say a teammate dc'd), then I'm going AD instead of AP. I figure that if your early game in a solo lane is going to suck, might as well select the option that gives you good scaling instead of crap scaling.

Anyway, this is my experience with solo lane Nami. I've experimented with it a bit, and it always feels terrible.

Cheap0

United States540 Posts

May 07 2013 19:55 GMT

#68

Ok, having played with a Quinn, I'd consider it a 5 star, or at least 4.5 star lane.

Quinn vaults off enemy carry, pretty much guarantees aqua prison hits with the slow. Follows up with blind after prison ends for even more abuse. Great chasing with Tidecaller's, and Quinn's execution to finish them off is the icing on the cake. You pretty much don't lose trades with this lane.

Also, it helps that it's a really powerful lane against Draven and MF, both champions who typically dominate their lane.

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

May 09 2013 07:24 GMT

#69

I put 4 for now, keep in mind you are suggesting that Quinn is better than Trist/Varus/Kog (4 = Very good combo)

and as good as Draven/Vayne/MF/Twitch (5 = strongly recommended in all match ups)

just confirming that was your intention

I don't do half points on principal, for the same reason I don't like 10 point scales.

Sufficiency

Canada23833 Posts

May 09 2013 10:45 GMT

#70

Like scarra once said on stream, Riot spent a lot of effort to make sure AP Nami is not viable.

AD Nami sounds kind of stupid though. There is nothing out that to justify playing her as AD beside her 550 range. Also her attack speed growth isn't that great.

Dark_Chill

Canada3353 Posts

May 11 2013 16:58 GMT

#71

On May 09 2013 19:45 Sufficiency wrote:
Like scarra once said on stream, Riot spent a lot of effort to make sure AP Nami is not viable.

AD Nami sounds kind of stupid though. There is nothing out that to justify playing her as AD beside her 550 range. Also her attack speed growth isn't that great.

Well, an auto attack steroid which slows the target and deals a bit more damage, a ms boost and a ton of cc don't make her a true ADC, but she can do well enough as an unconventional one. She survives a lot better than many other ADs, and her laning isn't exactly completely terrible. Her lack of mobility in the form of dashes or blinks makes her dangerous late game, but she still adds all the stuff that support Nami would add to the fight. Now that I think about it, if you had another damage source maybe top or jungle, AD Nami might actually work as a high utility AD carry.
Just based off of theory, might be cool if someone actually tested it.

HAL9OOO

United States176 Posts

May 17 2013 18:23 GMT

#72

I think you guys should try playing AD Nami. I have played her about 20+ times now (>75% winrate) and it's fun and pretty viable.

I max R>E>W/Q.
I run AD marks, Armor yellows, MR blues and Lifesteal Quints.
I run 19/0/11 - with these masteries you start out with 9 percent lifesteal, start with a d-blade and you have good sustain early game.

Your basic harass is to self cast your e, which procs your passive letting you gap close just a little bit to start slowing the enemy. Once you have slowed the enemy your q is a lot easier to land, letting you get free damage off. The magic dmg on nami's e actually lets you do quite a bit of damage to enemies. Once you hit 6, your cc combined with your supports usually nets in a kill. Nami + Sona is pretty ridiculous in damage and cc.

For items I have been mostly getting blade for the extra burst on the active + the fact that nami doesnt have ad scaling, but rushing BT or IE and zeal also works.

Plus you can spam /l which adds to lane dominance through psychological warfare.

sylverfyre

United States8298 Posts

May 17 2013 19:54 GMT

#73

On May 18 2013 03:23 HAL9OOO wrote:

Plus you can spam /l which adds to lane dominance through psychological warfare.

Support Lulu + AD Nami?

SagaZ

France3460 Posts

May 17 2013 20:30 GMT

#74

What I really don't like about this champion is that I find it hard to start action with her bot. I feel like she is extremely powerfull when you get engaged on, or when your ad engage on them (Q easy to hit, Win range for triple bounce)
But if you are playing soloqueue and your ad carry doesn't want to go on them (understandable, I don't play agro as adc in soloqueue either) you don't have alot to do exept maybe auto harrass... Q is very hard to hit to engage, if i wiff it they have a free card to zergrush my adc, if I E myself for an easy Q, unless the opponent is bad and the Q hits 2 persons, there's not alot i can do to keep the agression, all my shit is down, adc gonna get raped if he goes in too hard...
What i feel is she is very good at defense, but that's not something you look for too much in soloqueue

Aldrovandi

United States211 Posts

June 01 2013 02:25 GMT

#75

It's easy to start fights with Nami - E yourself, hit whoever you want to die with an auto, Q them and let your adc pick up a kill. The time to use W is when they're floating in the air and you and the adc are wailing on them so you can guarantee 3 bounces.

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

June 11 2013 20:11 GMT

#76

Bumping because Nami is on Sale, Thru Thursday, after her recent buffs she is so strong right now, I'm probly going to do an update to the OP shortly after 3.8 once I get a chance to test some Doran's shield opens.

Veloh15

United States161 Posts

June 13 2013 18:38 GMT

#77

Great guide, really well organized! makes me want to play Nami again!

Aldrovandi

United States211 Posts

June 17 2013 08:10 GMT

#78

I didn't see it mentioned elsewhere in the thread but Nami's ult has ridiculous synergy with Pantheon's ult. If the Pantheon ults slightly behind the enemy team, Nami ult is going to guarantee he hits almost every single one since by the time the skyfall circle shows up the wave has already reached them.

Sandster

United States4054 Posts

July 16 2013 21:03 GMT

#79

There have been a lot of Nami discussion on general discussion thread. Here's the condensed (and biased, since I max E first) version:

You need a lot of synergy to use E on your adc to set up an engage. Maxing E first is by far the safest to play solo queue, or with an adc you don't have amazing chemistry with. Use E on yourself, and your zoning power is almost unmatched by any support in the game, because landing an auto with high rank E slow is almost guarantee Q, which your adc can follow up on. Any adc with high damage (Draven, MF, Twitch, Vayne) or their own cc (Varus, Ashe) will crush trades and usually blow summoners or get a kill. At 6+, E>Q>R combo is devastating. Nami's passive + E slow is also great for chasing or kiting.

Many TLers like to max Q, because the lower cd (14s->10s at rank5) often lets you use it twice or more in fights. It also has the highest damage increase, can hit multiple targets, and mana cost remains at 60, so you won't run into mana problems. It's the strongest ability to max first for team fights. Of course, it's only viable if you're adept at landing Q with only a minor slow on the target.

Maxing W is usually the least effective strategy, as the mana is insane (130 at rank5, meaning you are oom after using ult and about 3 spell rotations at level 9), and maxing either Q/E lets you trade much more effectively. Having to max heal first implies you are getting thoroughly pounded on in lane, but because it's so expensive you can't even sustain for long. Namis that are constantly oom are probably maxing W first and healing reactively instead of using E/Q to zone/trade.

sylverfyre

United States8298 Posts

July 16 2013 22:23 GMT

#80

I've been trying out 3 points in E pre-6, but from 7-10 I'm leveling QQQQ so that it's maxed out in teamfights. So far, I've had some success (Noticably more Qs in the midgame teamfights where everyone else is 11-13 and I'm like, level 9 or something)

Also, I prefer E>R>Q as the laning all-in, as opposed to E>Q>R. It's basically guaranteed to land the Q after doing R, and the other way around may be a little tricky.

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

July 17 2013 00:32 GMT

#81

The OP is really outdated, I'm going to be working on it tonight. The changes to her Q have changed the pairings section a great deal as most of her old bad pairings are now good because of the Q buffs. I also never put two points in W anymore, players starting dblade+lifesteal now has made her heal even worse than it already was.

I do plan to post a detailed reasoning as to why I think E max is the best with the majority of her good pairings, if someone wants to write a counter point of 1-2 paragraphs I'd put it in the OP with credit of course

for now I'll just give you the main points
-E zones harder in a winning lane
-E is safer harass as missing Q leaves you quite naked
-E is better gank support
-while Q provides more upfront burst, E generally provides more damage in the exchange if they try to disengage.

Regardless of what you choose to max I do think W second is superior in almost all scenarios it is actually her strongest ability in mid-game team fights where the mana cost is irrelevant, W is actually a really strong spell when it hits 3 targets and when mana conservation is a non issue.

(While you are welcome to leverage the non-scaling mana cost on Q if you want I don't feel it's relevant to this discussion unless you are trying to advocate W max, while 130 mana is prohibitive in lane, 75 @lvl9 is not)

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

July 17 2013 02:35 GMT

#82

update complete. Still interested in a Q post you can put it here or PM me.

Skithiryx

Australia648 Posts

July 17 2013 04:08 GMT

#83

On July 17 2013 11:35 Slusher wrote:
update complete. Still interested in a Q post you can put it here or PM me.

Not a Q post but further chiming in on the Quinn+Nami being a 5, If Nami uses a similar setup to your agressive one it's actually hard for this lane to not outtrade anyone Quinn' increased attackspeed + blind + slow alone makes her hard to trade then you couple it with Nami E+Q and you're putting out alot of punishment, you also have the fact that Quinn E is enough of a MSpd slow to 100% land your bubble outside of Flash/Ezreal E/etc and once you both hit 6 it's very very easy to 100>0 someone in the blink of an eye, about the only weakness the lane really has is to a level 1 all-in from a Draven/Thresh or Draven/Sona but if you hit your Q as either Quinn or Nami and have Exhaust as backup it's not a great issue.

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

July 17 2013 04:12 GMT

#84

Draven's level 1 damage isn't even that scary anymore, it's really high but a lot of his level 1 kills came from the bleed.

Wetty

Australia419 Posts

July 17 2013 08:53 GMT

#85

on Aqua Prison (Q):

The idea behind leveling Nami's Q as a primary skill is to benefit from the cooldown reduction. Each of Nami's other abilities not only have scaling mana costs, but also no reduction to the cooldown. Whilst the increased slow on her Tidecaller's Blessing is significant, the benefit of having a second Q in a fight far out ways the extra slow. Most of the argument for maxing E over Q revolves around missing your Q. Missing your Q is bad in any case, and whilst the slow from your E can help you land critical Q's, you still have a slow on E, and the slow on your ult to help land Q's.

In mid game team fights, people may miss the Nami bubble in the chaos, or, ideally, you can use your Q in conjunction with your allies CC so that you hit it. Having a low cooldown on Q allows you to potentially get off an extra one, having lower mana costs overall in a draw out fight helps, and maxing Q first helps to bring the cooldown in line with her other spells, instead of having a cooldown almost 50% longer than her other spells.

Not only does Q give better damage gains per level than E, the fact that its mana cost doesn't increase and the cooldown decreases, along with the fact that the stun can hit multiple people, makes it her most game changing skill and therefore maxing it first is a priority. Maxing E may win you lane, but maxing Q will have a greater impact on teamfights. You have much more control over your Q and hitting multiple people multiple times in a team fight is amazing (People could potentially run away during the duration of your E, and not use all 3 charges)

oZe

Sweden492 Posts

July 17 2013 22:14 GMT

#86

Personally I max R,W,E,Q. The heal is nice in fights. I do get first point in Q with 2nd W 3rd E. Nami sees a lot of play in high elo so she must be as good as I think ;-) If carry don't go ls quints I prefer sona though. If I think the carry is good I play leona. If the team makes me think they're a bunch of tards I go teemo ;-) But overall nami is one of my main supports. The swizz army knife helps out in many spots even though she may not be overpowered in any one area.

I have something against SR maybe only because I always forget to use the active. On most supports I build SS,aegis & mercs. Zekes I feel is underused and strong on heavy ad teams. On heavy ap I switch it for the spellvamp thingy.

Ps. Why do supports get so much blame and so little honor they're the most team oriented role in a team game...

miicah

Australia2470 Posts

March 13 2014 16:14 GMT

#87

Damn nami is still strong if you hit those bubbles.

Q -> W/E -> E -> E -> W -> R then max Q

Spellthiefs edge is OK, but I really think Nami shines with the talisman.

4/12/14 or 5/9/16

drkcid

Spain196 Posts

March 14 2014 07:56 GMT

#88

I´ve found out that Q should be maxed last, it´s better to max R>E>W>Q on aggresive bot line and R>W>E>Q on defensive.
The reason behind this is that Q it´s hard to land, so It´s better to keep the Q ready for defensive purposes, ie: it´s easier to use Q when the jungler is heading to your adc or when they waste a gap closer to go melee combat with the adc.
A good Q use means to go back to your tower safely.

Nami is such a good champ, you can do awesome plays with all her kit, and as a sup nobody cares xD. BTW solowolf made a couple of videos on youtube of Nami top lol.

Bam Lee

2336 Posts

March 14 2014 12:19 GMT

#89

On March 14 2014 16:56 drkcid wrote:
I´ve found out that Q should be maxed last, it´s better to max R>E>W>Q on aggresive bot line and R>W>E>Q on defensive.
The reason behind this is that Q it´s hard to land, so It´s better to keep the Q ready for defensive purposes, ie: it´s easier to use Q when the jungler is heading to your adc or when they waste a gap closer to go melee combat with the adc.
A good Q use means to go back to your tower safely.

Nami is such a good champ, you can do awesome plays with all her kit, and as a sup nobody cares xD. BTW solowolf made a couple of videos on youtube of Nami top lol.

Tbh i feel like maxing out W outside of the laning phase is a waste. I would much rather have more bubbles up for fights. W is nice for early laning depending on how hard the lane is, but outside of it i feel like the CDR can be crucial. Mid-fight Bubbles on bruisers are sooo op

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

March 14 2014 23:28 GMT

#90

W max is actually only bad because it's lackluster in lane (and it's actually a lot better in s4 because chalice rush is not hard/builds into a great support item) when you are guaranteed to get all 3 bounces, like in a teamfight, the efficiency (damage done + healing) is actually really really high as compared to a lot of other rank 5 spells. Granted it can be hard to compare this to cc, since there are so many outside factors to how valuable your bubble will be, but weather you max Q or you max E for lane I've always been an advocate of going W second for the reasons I listed.

And I still contend that Nami is best to play maxing depending on the game, Q or E can be better depending on what champion you lane with.

I don't want to get to much deeper into it just because I dropped her almost completely during the doran's shield phase of support so I'm a bit rusty but I think she is strong again now so I might have more to say soon.

VKCA

Canada391 Posts

March 15 2014 02:29 GMT

#91

curious, does rylai's treat her w as a multi target for the slow (that is to say that it only slows 15% instead of 30% or whatever?)

miicah

Australia2470 Posts

March 15 2014 06:18 GMT

#92

On March 15 2014 11:29 VKCA wrote:
curious, does rylai's treat her w as a multi target for the slow (that is to say that it only slows 15% instead of 30% or whatever?)

From lolwiki:

Applies spell effects as an area of effect ability.
Spell vamp is reduced to one-third effectiveness.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter will apply a 15% slow.

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