Flowing Nami
Hi, I'm Protegod, and in this Tacter guide, I'll explain how to play Nami with the recent changes. I've named it "Flowing Nami" because the build revolves around the Flowing Water Staff, which is the core item for this setup. I'll explain how it works.
How does Nami's W work?
The first thing we need to know are the recent changes to Nami's W. To better understand this ability, I'll provide an image below explaining how it normally functions.
Nami's W can bounce to 3 targets, but each time it bounces, it loses effectiveness. For example, the ability heals for 150 and deals 200 damage initially, but each bounce reduces these numbers.
Remember that you can also use it on yourself.
What changes did her W receive?
Basically, now with more Ability Power (AP), Nami's bounce no longer loses healing and damage values. In fact, it INCREASES them. Now, buying flat AP with Nami is much better than before as she greatly benefits from it in her healing values. In the items section, I'll explain how to heal up to 1000 with a single W without losing utility at any point in the game.
"Runes Explained"
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Summon Aery is essential since Nami is an enchanter champion who focuses on empowering her allies with her abilities while also trading with enemies using the offensive part of her kit.
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Manaflow Band is mandatory due to the high mana costs of her W as she is always engaging in short trades with at least 2 abilities from her kit. Remember to always trade when the rune is available to effectively charge it.
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Transcendence provides significant ability haste at levels 5 and 8. At level 11, it also refunds a portion of the cooldowns of our basic abilities upon killing or assisting, which is quite useful for a champion who must always be empowering her allies in team fights.
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Gathering Storm passively grants us ability power every 10 minutes. The goal of this Nami is to accumulate as much AP as possible, and after the 30-minute mark, this rune gives us the AP equivalent of a complete support item. The stats it provides simply cannot be compared.
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Font of Life is well-utilized in this build because our Q, E, and R apply crowd control to enemies, and the mark they apply heals our allies. Together with Moonstone Renewer and Staff of Flowing Water, these will always be empowered and constantly healing when hitting affected units.
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Revitalize increases all our healing and shielding sources, which is well-exploited since we have 4 sources of healing and/or shielding (W, Aery, Font of Life, Moonstone).
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We will take 2 Adaptive Force fragments to accumulate the highest amount of AP in the shortest time possible and 1 flat health fragment to not lose trades in the early game during laning phase.
"Skill Maxing"
Remember that at the beginning of the game, you shouldn't level up any ability. Nami's Q is a very useful tool for invades. If this is not the case, start with a point in W at level 1 and play your laning phase like any other. We'll prioritize maxing our W first (level 9) and then our E (level 13). The last ability we'll max will be Q (level 18), and put a point in R whenever available (levels 6, 11, and 16).
"Summoner Spells"
The Flash is mandatory as a support, and Heal will be used as a survival tool for both ourselves and our team, both in laning phase and team fights. We aim to exploit any utility tool in our favor to make an impact in all moments of the game.
"Items"
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The biggest difference between any Nami build and this one is that we won't be taking Imperial Mandate. With the recent changes to Nami in patch 14.7, she benefits greatly from any source of Ability Power, as her W used to lose effectiveness the more targets it hit.
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The Staff of Flowing Water should be our FIRST ITEM. It provides everything this Nami needs: ability haste, 70 AP when activated, movement speed, shield and healing power, mana regeneration. Nami utilizes all the stats this item provides very effectively. To maximize its effectiveness, remember to shield your allies first with Aery using your E, and then, while they are empowered under its effect, your W will be greatly enhanced.
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The Ionian Boots of Lucidity will give us a lot of ability haste and reduce the cooldowns of summoner spells. Having Flash and Heal up early is essential with a fragile champion like Nami.
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The Ardent Censer is the quintessential support item for enchanters, as we will always be empowering our allies with our abilities. This item reduces the damage they take and increases the damage they deal when they are under its effect, which can be applied with your E or W.
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The Moonstone Renewer is a great item in this build because we have 4 sources of healing and/or shielding that are useful in almost every situation. This item ensures that a fixed percentage of all the heals or shields we apply are spread to nearby allies, and since we can heal more than one target at a time, all our allies will benefit. Remember that when you have only one ally nearby, any healing or shielding they receive will be even more potent.
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The Rabadon's Deathcap is the highlight of this build. If you manage to complete it, you can heal up to 1000 for each W that has bounced between an ally and an enemy. Despite being expensive for a support item, if we manage to get it, it rewards us the best. Nami benefits from flat AP, and even having the components like the Needlessly Large Rod, you will start to feel how strong the heals she applies are.
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As the last item, I recommend Redemption to close the build if the game extends to this point. The potential for area healing it provides at this stage is phenomenal. However, if you need a defensive item like Zhonya's Hourglass or Banshee's Veil, don't hesitate to build it. These items also provide 120 AP which is still utilized in this build.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS BUILD
Why not build Imperial Mandate if it still provides 60 AP, ability haste, and mana regeneration without losing damage?
- This build is not focused on damage. While Imperial Mandate remains a good item on Nami, when prioritizing utility, Staff of Flowing Water is the clear winner. It provides more stats that are better utilized and doesn't lose effectiveness at any point in the game.
Isn't Rabadon's Deathcap too expensive for a support to build?
- Yes, it is, but consider that most supports only reach the third completed item in almost every game. However, the two components of Rabadon's also provide a lot of AP, and buying just one doesn't sacrifice utility. While the completed Deathcap is excellent, having at least one of the two rods to complete it is a significant power spike, and even without finishing the item, you utilize the entire build-up process.
Wouldn't it be cheaper to build enchanter items like Ardent Censer, Athene's Unholy Grail, and Mikael's Blessing for shield power?
- Yes, it would be, but the power of healing and shielding without AP is subpar. Increasing a 200-heal by up to 50% with three items in between is not cost-effective. The strength of this Nami build lies in utilizing AP sources as the scaling is immense. With Staff of Flowing Water, Moonstone Renewer, and the Revitalize rune, you already have sufficient healing and shielding power. Therefore, you have the freedom to prioritize AP after obtaining these items without losing utility at any point in the game.
"Matchups by Difficulty"
"Synergies"
"Explanatory Video from My TikTok Account"
"Thank you for reading. If you have more questions, feel free to visit my Twitch channel. https://www.twitch.tv/protegod
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