How To lane vs Nami?

Ikho31337·5/1/2015, 2:49:59 PM·1 votes·5,901 views

Hello, so I've been playing league for a while but am struggling vs a few champs. After looking all over the place (youtube, mobafire, etc) I finally decided to turn to the boards for help. This isn't a nerf Nami thread, Im just looking for tips on how to lane against her.

First thing I noticed is that she has pretty good poke with her w. I don't know if its a skillshot or a targeted ability (seems to be the latter), but what I have seen is that either way its really hard to dodge. Her bubble and her ult are pretty slow so Im not complaining about them, but dam that w... even at the lower levels it seems to have really good range and take off about 70 hp. Makes it really hard to get close to the minions to farm without getting hit by it.

That, combined with the poke from the enemy adc, usually means I get outpoked even if I start longsword + 3 pots. So... any tips on how to play against Nami?

10 Comments

Deep Terror Nami5/1/2015, 2:56:51 PM1 votes

Bait her W-Ebb & Flow so you can move out of range and not let it bounce. It becomes much more efficient if it bounces, so make her waste that mana for minimal effect.

Learn where she likes to place her Q-Aqua Prison; if you play defensively, she will keep tossing it behind you so you walk right into it. Switch it up by going forward so she can't predict. Also, she can easily bubble you if you're hit by R-Tidal Wave, so try to get into a bush or out of range so she can't follow up with Q when you're knocked up.

She is really squishy. If you wait for her CD's to come back up every time you poke her, she can win her trades; engage her in between the CD's.

Delioth5/1/2015, 3:37:47 PM1 votes

Play someone with just a little damage and CC- Alistar Blitzcrank Braum Gragas Nautilus Volibear Sejuani Maokai Morgana DrMundo Shen .

They're good against Nami because they can either engage on her, which she's pretty bad at dealing with because she's so squishy, or they can sustain through her poke- which is admittedly short if she uses her W a lot to poke. Alternatively, poke her ADC and then don't stand near them. That'll force Nami to heal the ADC and not get any poke from the bounces. ( DrMundo Maokai are especially good at the poking thing. The rest are good for hard engage)

Try to bait the bubble as well- if you can catch her using her W and Q at the same time, charge that mermaid booty and kill it.

tl;dr: Nami's bad against repeated hard engage or decent counter-engage. If she bubbles and W's you without AP, turn it around when they get closer. If nothing else you'll scare them off.

Siyther5/1/2015, 4:08:38 PM1 votes

as a Nami player myself the best way to deal with her is to ignore the adc and kill that ass. she is insanly squishy. Or i will take Morg into her alot if ur adc take morg siver comp wshe will be nearly useless

Commit Sudoku5/1/2015, 4:19:31 PM1 votes

dont just take the poke trade some damage

CrazyHollow5/1/2015, 5:50:41 PM1 votes

Mostly it is up to your support to deal with her. As an adc i would suggest you only move in to last hit since Nami has really short range. She is also very susceptible to all ins because she is so squishy. If you have a support with cc you can easily all in her and melt her down quickly. Other then that its just about positioning your self so that if Nami want to try to use her W she has to put her self in danger of being blown up.

Ikho313375/1/2015, 6:02:01 PM1 votes

Thx so much guys. I guess I'll just have to try to go in when her stuff is on CD. Its a challenge having to focus on poking and last hitting at the same time though... guess I'll just have to practice more.

Drunk Rummate5/1/2015, 6:14:00 PM1 votes

Basically you want to harass the ADC instead of Nami so that she's forced to use her W for sustain rather than harass. If you do that then you can win the sustain battle.

You can also choose to go all in if you have the proper support and you dodge her bubble.

Generally I like to just passively farm against Nami though. Worst case scenario you lose a wave or two to turret when you recall but Nami isn't as useful midgame as many other support picks like Thresh/Leona/Braum/Alistar/Janna. So yeah, it just depends on your support.

Slayer15575/1/2015, 6:38:58 PM1 votes

You want to Nami to be positioned so she is the same distance from you, and your support. When I play Nami, it's all a positioning game so I can get close to my target (ADC or Support, depends on the matchup), and land a AA->W->>AA combo on you, without getting retaliated against by both the ADC and the support. Remember she gets a quick burst of MS when she gets hit by the rebound on W, so she uses that to disengage.

Your support should take a small step forward whenever you go to CS, and then back off. If the ADC is open when he goes to last hit, it's a perfect opportunity to harass, so by your support moving a little bit forward, it zones Nami out. Trust me, it works.

Mistikal5/1/2015, 6:46:40 PM1 votes

She's a lot like Sona in that she's extremely squishy and has no built in blink. If you take someone like Leona. Blitz, Thresh, etc (any hard engage type support) and jump on her when she take just 1 step out of position she dies nearly instantly.

The Chin5/1/2015, 8:17:26 PM1 votes

Nami is one of the few supports that has poke, sustain, and kill pressure so she's fairly hard to counter

She has pretty low range so be mindful of your positioning, if she moves up to harass you make sure you attack back so she doesn't get free poke.

Dodge the bubble... Obviously that's not great advice but that's the only counterplay.

And keep an eye on her mana, her heal especially costs a lot of mana and she'll go oom very quickly if you force her to use it, very important to make her burn her mana before her first buy so she can't harass you so hard.