EPT![[image loading]](http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121205221735/leagueoflegends/images/thumb/8/8a/Nami_KoiSkin.jpg/640px-Nami_KoiSkin.jpg)
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.
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:
![[image loading]](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121128060705/leagueoflegends/images/f/f4/Surging_Tides.jpg)
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.
![[image loading]](http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121206111248/leagueoflegends/images/a/a7/Aqua_Prison.jpg)
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.
![[image loading]](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121128060756/leagueoflegends/images/7/73/Ebb_and_Flow.jpg)
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.
![[image loading]](http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121206111015/leagueoflegends/images/0/0c/Tidecaller%27s_Blessing.jpg)
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.
![[image loading]](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121128060837/leagueoflegends/images/9/9c/Tidal_Wave.jpg)
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
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/J1uQFy4l.jpg)
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
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Qjxhs2Cl.png)
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!
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.
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
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]
+ + +
![[image loading]](http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121116055933/leagueoflegends/images/3/3c/Ruby_Sightstone.gif)
![[image loading]](http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110404102721/leagueoflegends/images/3/37/Shurelya%27s_Reverie.gif)
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]
![[image loading]](http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091016144160/leagueoflegends/images/1/10/Kage%27s_Lucky_Pick.gif)
![[image loading]](http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110105233938/leagueoflegends/images/1/10/Ionian_Boots_of_Lucidity.gif)
/![[image loading]](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091014183237/leagueoflegends/images/2/2a/Mercury%27s_Treads.gif)
![[image loading]](http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121116055934/leagueoflegends/images/0/00/Twin_Shadows.gif)
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]
![[image loading]](http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120131031014/leagueoflegends/images/7/7a/Locket_of_the_Iron_Solari.gif)
![[image loading]](http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121116060558/leagueoflegends/images/9/96/Runic_Bulwark.gif)
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.
![[image loading]](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120519052511/leagueoflegends/images/4/4a/AsheSquare.png)
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
Overall Score = 4
![[image loading]](http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120619163731/leagueoflegends/images/e/e6/CaitlynSquare.png)
+ 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)
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
![[image loading]](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120719162349/leagueoflegends/images/3/3d/CorkiSquare.png)
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
![[image loading]](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120602063341/leagueoflegends/images/d/d7/DravenSquare.png)
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
![[image loading]](http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120801131527/leagueoflegends/images/c/c3/EzrealSquare.png)
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
![[image loading]](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111019094521/leagueoflegends/images/2/26/GravesSquare.png)
+ 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.
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
![[image loading]](http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110504164440/leagueoflegends/images/e/ed/KogMawSquare.png)
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
![[image loading]](http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120912044339/leagueoflegends/images/9/9d/MissFortuneSquare.png)
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
![[image loading]](http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130222051131/leagueoflegends/images/7/7c/QuinnSquare.png)
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.
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.)
![[image loading]](http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110413000115/leagueoflegends/images/e/e1/SivirSquare.png)
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
![[image loading]](http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091218195502/leagueoflegends/images/0/06/TristanaSquare.png)
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
![[image loading]](http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110301211120/leagueoflegends/images/7/79/TwitchSquare.png)
This is not a lane that I have played so I will divert to TL poster Human sensationOn 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.
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
![[image loading]](http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100821202315/leagueoflegends/images/8/88/UrgotSquare.png)
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
![[image loading]](http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120425041214/leagueoflegends/images/c/c2/VarusSquare.png)
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
![[image loading]](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110511160405/leagueoflegends/images/9/95/VayneSquare.png)
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 lookOverall 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]
