For you players thinking of running Nami due to her appearance at MSI finals...

Deep Terror Nami··80 votes·12,223 views

My best advice is probably to not use your (Q) Aqua Prison wildly; it's best used when your target is either focused on a target and not moving much or at all, or if it's already CC'd, including slows.

Most people react to Nami one of two ways; A) When in range, they retreat directly away from her to avoid the Q, or B) run directly at her going for a kill.

A) This is most common in lane. Aiming just at their back will catch them more often than not. They either don't move and get hit, or they try to retreat and get hit dead-center.

B) If they are fed and/or they are melee, they frequently just make a beeline directly at you. They are really easy to predict, just aim in front of them and adjust for their speed. If they reverse to dodge, then you still bought some time. If it's something already on top of you especially like Yi or Ekko you can toss it right on top of yourself while they are hitting you (Yi is about the worst opponent, you have to wait for him to Alpha, or nail him at max range before he can).

Get used to the time Zhonya's, Bard Ult, Teleport, Panth Ult, Zil Ult, TF Ult, GA, and any other similarly telegraphed abilities take to finish. You should be able to hit every single one of them so that they can't even Flash out. TP is probably the easiest; listen to the audio cues.

If any enemy likes to or has to sit in one spot to do something, watch for it diligently. Pantheon has a whopping 3 abilities that guarantee you can Q him. Many champions have Ults with channel times, none more obvious and easy than Malz, Warwick, and Karthus.

The above applies to your allies too. Not only is Pantheon an easy enemy, he synergizes with Nami as well! Allies with guaranteed stuns are the best, so when they are coming in be sure to save your Q until they lock down the preferred target.

You'll also want to combo Q > R often. Tidal Wave is easy to hit, so can guarantee you to an Aqua Prison; the more, the merrier.

76 Comments

Worst Kench NA31 votes

Shit, I was hoping no one was going to play her in MSI. I guess I better get ready for the nerf bat huh?

Deep Terror Nami25 votes

She's pretty balanced. I don't think there's any threat of that.

therealdragon2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Deep Terror Nami,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=K3BXEfAE,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2016-05-15T09:48:48.084+0000)

She's pretty balanced. I don't think there's any threat of that.

Everyone thought that of Sol and other mages too. Its a 50/50 chance though. Nami doesn't fall under the mage class as well as well....mages. So she may not be nerfed due to being classified as a support.

Then again lulu was a support and she was nerfed. But she was used continually so who knows lol.

The Governer8 votes

{quoted}

Then again lulu was a support and she was nerfed. But she was used continually so who knows lol.

Lulu wasn't just played as a support. She was utility carry at mid/top lanes.

ahferroin72 votes

Which is funny, because the nerfs hit support Lulu just as hard if not harder than solo lane Lulu.

Bisaknosp2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Deep Terror Nami,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=K3BXEfAE,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2016-05-15T09:48:48.084+0000)

She's pretty balanced. I don't think there's any threat of that.

i can remember when she was nerfed just because they nerfed other supports and they feared she would be too strong she was good at that time (kind of like she always is) but nowhere near overbearing or something like that to this day i still think these nerfs were dumb af

EndlessIsolation2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Deep Terror Nami,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=K3BXEfAE,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2016-05-15T09:48:48.084+0000)

She's pretty balanced. I don't think there's any threat of that.

I agree... I'm more worried Sona is gonna get nerfed (again) for no reason lol.

RiotRiot Sotere38 votes

There were a lot of supports ran at MSI. Wouldn't be too worried. :)

BetaDude4077 votes

Confirmed: Riot is nerfing every support in the game.

Now where did I leave my Kappa...?

Yuzuki Yukarin12 votes

I would believe it, Rito has a game-long history of discriminating against the support class, particularly Jag and Meddler have shown rage-inducing levels of hatred. They've both even publicly stated they would personally gut any support that gets picked(regardless of performance), if it's not one of the Rito-approved #LC$BigPlay$ champs.

Articality8 votes

Can we get some evidence/source? Id really like to spread that around.

TotalJerk20 votes

his ass

Darkvaine2 votes

loged in just to upvote lol

Rozzeta5 votes

LoL Wiki had the patch notes affecting specific champions, for reference.

Since mid season 2/early season 3, Riot was using ADC as a way to increase the pace of the game, and in order to grant them control over the lane, they nerfed pretty much all supports. Healing skills were nerfed at least twice globally, only one of those instances involved compensation buffs.

Soraka first lost the ability to self grant mana (which I do agree was quite retarded), damage on her e, lower silence duration at early levels, and multiple hits at W "compensated" with buffs in Q damage, aka the skill only mid Soraka leveled first or second.

Janna was once called by Xypherous as the role model of supports (basically because she had no heal othe than ultimate), and even then saw rreduced damage on Q, knockup scale over time, reduced move speed and damage on W (and pasive W lost on usage), reduced base shield, considerable reduction of push in ult and removal of additional effect which slowed enemies moving towards Janna during channel part of spell (that said, it eventually gained more healing on channel, as people were completely disregarding it).

Sona saw her auras gutted in half at level 1, constant damage reductions in Power Chord damage and the reduction of diminuendo effects and time active as compensation nerf for bugfixing (this really happened), reduction of base defensive stats to lowest or second lowest HP at level 1, reduced Q scaling (altough mana cost improved at the end of season 3), reduced scaling and base in W, along with reduction of active bonus armor/m res component after cast (which was, ironically, a compensation buff over W healing reductions), considerable increase on W mana cost, E pretty much stopped being a skill unless it was lvl 5 thanks to Morello not wanting one point wonders, and reduced damage and increased CD on R (got to say, it did help that they made the skill do burst damage instead of DoT, since damage was being reduced with Tenacity).

Until recently, Taric was pretty much neglected, but they did change his passive 2 times (originally it gave back mana for Autoattacking, then they took E CDR mechanics and implemented as his new passive, but only cast-able after doing a skill), made his W deal damage based on armor (original values didn't last through the preseason 4, and he was sub par again on season start) and added a HP scaling on his heal. Not much in the realm of nerfs (actually mostly buffs), but barely worked on until recent rework. Additionally, there was this infamous case of his compensation buff after second global heal nerf being increased attack speed (due to his E reducing CD per auto), but it was so barely noticeable that the patch notes video had to include a dagger in his inventory.

Karma was pretty much deleted as we knew her. She was the first to have %HP healing mechanic, and her shield had the highest base in the game.

Alistar and Lulu received a lot of nerfs as well, but mostly out of performance as Jungler and top laner, respectively.

That's as much as I can remember. Probably I'm missing something. Also, I can't really speak for changes before Brand's release.

DeathBurst3 votes

You could do such a biased presentation of balance changes for every role, and it would look just as bad as for supports.

This list proves nothing, and especially not that Riot is hating supports.

Rozzeta7 votes

To say if they hate or not supports is debatable. They do, however, had a pretty defensive game in which first blood would come at 30 minutes, and their efforts to make it more dinamic mostly went toward empowering ADC. One of those changes, unfortunately, involved giving them power in lane by weakening supports.

Battlecast Sona3 votes

there are supports that have seen nothing but nerfs for YEARS. Not a few, but like the majority of them. Sona hasn't seen a legit buff since her initial rework where she got nerfed a bunch shortly after the rework. Janna has been nerfed time and time again. Janna too. Soraka just basically got rekt - nerfed for GW change, change is reverted but Soraka is left alone.

They're supports, so they still end up seeing play (Monsoon, Crescendo, and Wish are still amazing spells, they still provide a lot of utility, etc), but supports have a pretty long history of getting nerfed over and over again. Additionally, any time new mage support or AP support items are put in they're almost immediately nerfed because another lane starts abusing them. =/

Rozzeta2 votes

Not entirely correct. In season 3, after a considerable nerf to her auras and Power chord, and 6 months to have Morello acknowledge she had been reduced to a walking ultimate, they reduced the mana cost of Q and made it Power Chord have an autoattack reset (I think they also made her Ulti do burst damage rather than DoT at that time, but I can't remember). The reason that lead to that situation however, was the increased pick rate resulting from prior nerfs to Soraka and Janna.

Battlecast Sona4 votes

[{quoted}](name=Battlecast Janna,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=K3BXEfAE,comment-id=00000002000000000000000100000002,timestamp=2016-05-16T03:27:16.960+0000)

there are supports that have seen nothing but nerfs for YEARS.

{quoted}

In season 3

...how was I wrong again?

Rozzeta2 votes

My bad, I intended to addres to this particular point...

[{quoted}](name=Battlecast Janna,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=K3BXEfAE,comment-id=00000002000000000000000100000002,timestamp=2016-05-16T03:27:16.960+0000)

Sona hasn't seen a legit buff since her initial rework where she got nerfed a bunch shortly after the rework.

... assuming that by initial rework you meant the one Shurelia did on her Power Chord.

DarkRitual3 votes

Removal of the mastery where you get exp for being near a higher level champion.

Yuzuki Yukarin4 votes
Profirix1 votes

Best reply ever.

Gnart Even Close2 votes

I'm assuming this is something you guys are very happy to see? strategic diversity from season 5 somewhat of a reality at least for supports

FourVsFive2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Riot Sotere,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=K3BXEfAE,comment-id=00000002,timestamp=2016-05-15T19:41:13.261+0000)

There were a lot of supports ran at MSI. Wouldn't be too worried. :)

Except for Soraka? Or they using the prenerf soraka?

Average Bard1 votes

Oh crap, who brought the Fuzz? Everyone scatter, don't let the Gestapo take you.

Tobias Brackner14 votes

<3 love it when people use this board to give advice instead of just random complaining.

Jeddy0177 votes

Here's my PSA to people thinking about playing Nami: Urf Nami is best Nami! Also if you're maxing your heal (W) 1st, don't spam it because you will go OOM real fast.

71883083DEL14 votes

Is nami the snake thing that relies on slows in top lane

Bhagswag9 votes

Nah, Nami is the fish thing that can buy shoes. The snake can't buy shoes.

Captain Aishi10 votes

you mean the fish that buys a hat, because snakes can'T wear hats anymore?

Partholonian2 votes

No, snakes can still wear hats, anyone can. (I can't think of any truly headless champions anyway, at least Vel'koz could balance it on top of his main eyeball or something.)

Fish can buy shoes whether they have feet Fizz TahmKench or not Nami, scorpions and spiders and birds and bears and centaurs can wear the same shoes as everyone else, tentacle monsters and dragons and even trees and rocks can buy shoes, but one particular snake now can't. It really highlights the arbitrariness of an item system where, e.g., buying a big sword makes your arrows, gunshots, or even spitting at people do more damage.

Captain Aishi1 votes

I was referring to the part where typing 'hat' into the shop used to bring boots of speed when playing cassiopeia and nami

Dataless3 votes

First piece of advice for people looking to play Nami after seeing her at MSI....

Don't.

Excalibait1 votes

So when you already open this: Can you tell me, why Wolf maxed her E second after her W? I always thought the maxing order for her was R > W > Q > E. Ult is obvious, W for sustain, Q for cooldown, E is just a free MS ability on short cd. I don't get why he left Q on one point..

iHerring2 votes

Normally I would level like you do, but E is much more than a speed boost.

If you put rank 5 E onto your ADC, for next 3 attacks they get 2 free BF swords and slow by 35%, making it much easier to land your Q. (And it's actually better then that with some AP scale).

The CD boost on Q is nice, but I guess when you have such good teammates and you get a big slow from E, you should only need 1 bubble ;)

LadyRenly2 votes

{quoted}

So when you already open this: Can you tell me, why Wolf maxed her E second after her W? I always thought the maxing order for her was R > W > Q > E. Ult is obvious, W for sustain, Q for cooldown, E is just a free MS ability on short cd. I don't get why he left Q on one point..

W E Q is actually standard Nami, I think. Q is a one point wonder, there really is no reason to level it other than it gets a lower CD, E second makes her bubble autos more effective

Malicious Fury1 votes

Off topic, but: Hopefully FEK 5.0 will show arbiters' titles and other Riot volunteers.

Deep Terror Nami2 votes

You could ask Tundra Fizz about it. I don't feel any particular need for it, but it probably wouldn't be hard for him to do something, except having to manually tag each volunteer.

Average Bard1 votes
Deep Terror Nami1 votes

It's only for the PB&M and Misc. boards.

Average Bard1 votes

Ah, ok. So are you like a cop, or more like the KGB/Gestapo?

Average Bard1 votes

By the way, what skin do you want?

Deep Terror Nami1 votes

Death Blossom Kha'zix please :3

Average Bard1 votes

mk

Malicious Fury1 votes

Yeah it's really not needed. I feel people put more weight on what you say if they see something official. Then again people that use FEK more than likely have memorized every person with a title by the time they install it. XD

CoffeeDave1 votes

I was worried about the nerf bat too. I've noticed that they want you to build AP on Nami, but she doesn't have the scaling to take full advantage of it outside of her passive. Why not have her utility scale up with AP? Like have her Bubble grow bigger with AP? I only ask because her bubble is a pain to land in the first place and gets harder as your opponents buy boots or any kind. She's half-way there with her Passive, and the slow on her [E]. Her [W] kinda has it too , starting off with losing damage/healing with each bounce until she hits about 200 AP.

Part of me feels like she just got these powers and that's why her kit is unreliable. She's still learning her skills. By building AP her kit should become more reliable because she's getting the hang of it...but that's just my head cannon

Battlecast Sona1 votes

Nami has... 7? AP ratios right now. She's towards the top as far as AP scaling on supports goes. It's like... passive MS, Q damage, W damage/heal, W bounce reduction (which scales into % healing and damage increase... her strongest ratio imo), E damage, R damage, and R slow? I think that's right. She gets a lot of benefits out of building AP already - I think adding more utility scaling than she already has would overload her kit with hidden power, which would then lead to nerfbat.

Partholonian1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Battlecast Janna,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=K3BXEfAE,comment-id=000f0000,timestamp=2016-05-16T03:29:23.649+0000)

Nami has... 7? AP ratios right now. She's towards the top as far as AP scaling on supports goes. It's like... passive MS, Q damage, W damage/heal, W bounce reduction (which scales into % healing and damage increase... her strongest ratio imo), E damage, R damage, and R slow? I think that's right. She gets a lot of benefits out of building AP already - I think adding more utility scaling than she already has would overload her kit with hidden power, which would then lead to nerfbat.

It doesn't affect E slow? I would have expected that before R slow.

The damage ratios won't matter as much because she probably won't build magic pen, though. So her damage will effectively fall off regardless of AP built, just from people outleveling her.

But anyway, like a lot of supports, she also has great CDR scaling (up to the cap, anyway). I don't think "wanting you to build AP" necessarily means a deathcap luden's build anyway. AP is only one of several useful stats for Nami and that's fine; it's also valuable to pursue auras and other item abilities (passive and active) like item 3060 item 3174 item 3050 and the item I always wish I could fit into healish support builds but usually can't, item 3504.

Battlecast Sona1 votes

Well, the damage scaling isn't super important but a lot of times you're still dealing pretty decent damage to squishies. The 2 most important scalings (heal amount of reduction %, at least imo) also don't really rely on mpen.

Normally I'll do a supportAP build - I like item 3174, but I generally will do something like item 2301 item 3174 item 3009 item 3190 to open for CDR/the athene's passive, and then stack AP unless the team needs something specific (since I'm CDR capped, more AP is the best bet unless I need a specific defensive stat). That build can vary wildly, but in general that's what I go for. I'm pretty greedy with my support builds though...

More from Gameplay

More by Deep Terror Nami