League of Legends Nami Guide

Nami is a classic enchanter support that plays well on either extreme of aggression vs. defense. On paper she works well with most ADCs and her flexible playstyle makes her really hard to counter. Here's a rundown of what you need to know to start crushing games from the support position.

Nami Guide

Here's a quick science lesson for you: A fluid doesn't have a fixed shape — it will adjust to fit the shape of whatever container it's in. Next time you lock in as the Tidecaller, be like water. Keep an eye out for aggressive opportunities, but always play to fit your team's strengths and weaknesses. If you're crushing lane, fish for kills. If the enemy team has an easy time initiating on your carry, save your cooldowns to peel for them.

Now for her abilities. Nami's passive, Surging Tides, is deceptively powerful. Whenever she casts an ability that hits an ally, it grants them a speed boost for a short period. Use this to help allies engage or get away from enemies.

Aqua Prison [Q] is all about practice. Watch how your enemies move and always aim ahead of where you think they'll go. If the enemy is slow to react, throw your bubble on their current path. If they react to you casting spells, consider that they might try to dodge it. Your bubble technically applies your passive, but that only really matters if the enemy like Leona has hard engaged on a teammate.

Ebb and Flow [W] should always be the first ability you max, and it should be your first skill point in lane 99% of the time. It's your bread and butter harassing tool. You can damage an enemy, heal yourself, and speed yourself up. Against a poorly coordinated bot lane, this will let you take beneficial trades all the time.

Tidecaller's Blessing [E] should be the second skill you max. It's great to use on yourself when trading, since it gives you speed and damage while slowing opponents, and it's a decent boon to your carry when you're going for kills. It's also the most reliable way to trigger your passive since it's a low cooldown, low mana cost, and instant cast.

Tidal Wave [R] is a beast of a zoning tool. You usually don't want to use it at max range, since most enemies can simply walk away, but it's highly flexible as an engage, disengage, or catching tool. Just be mindful of the long cooldown.

Nami's best laning partners fit one of two categories: hard engage carries and sniper marksmen. Carries that get up close and personal, like Vayne, Kai'sa, and Xaya help maximize the usefulness of your W and E, effectively giving you more damage and making it easier to collapse on bubbled enemies. Meanwhile, snipers like Caitlyn or Ashe can easily poke with your E, and they will love you for your ability to keep enemies off of them with your Q and R.

As a general rule, Nami does best when she can freely harass enemies. If the enemy team isn't running a kill lane, test the waters at level 1 and try to sink some damage into the enemy support. Your level 1 and 2 are very strong with W and E, but you have to respect enemies with stuns or early power spikes. If you take a bad fight and the enemy gets a lead, play parallel or just behind your carry so you can keep them healed up and threaten to turn future fights.

Cover Image Courtesy of Riot Games