Well, Riot has annihilated Nami in one swoop. 52% to 48% in one patch. Snap. They nerfed enchanters overall, touching her keystone rune Aery and her support item quest selection dream maker. But potentially most importantly, Imperial Mandate has been worked into an item that no one can really use. Support-mage stats with a tank set of passives.
So now what do? Is the fish fried?
I’ve built a tool for us Nami enjoyers to craft our way out of this mess. It took some time. There are a lot of interactions and ways to think about combos and trades. However I am comfortable with my assumptions.
https://machineloling-hub.github.io/nami-calculator
I evaluated some of the main contenders for Nami post-mandate, namely Staff of Flowing Water and Echoes of Helia.
The edge cases for these items are interesting. In an isolated 1v1 W-E trade they are near identical because neither passive triggers without allies. In a short 2v2 trade it gets interesting. Staff triggers rapids the moment aery hits the ally from Tidecaller’s Blessing, giving a massive 40 AP and 15 AH infusion. This boosts damage and healing from Ebb and Flow. But Helia, IF FULLY STACKED, will always outperform in that trade given its 80-250 flat base healing that will be done. In a lane where mana is limited and autos are woven, getting max helia value seems reasonable.
However in an extended fight, stacking Helia between Ebb and Flow becomes near impossible if you aren’t landing constant autos and bubble or ult. As the game goes later and autoing becomes far less safe, fully stacking Helia becomes even harder. This makes it hard to estimate Helia’s true Heal Per Second value. I spitballed it as 2 autos and a W damage bounce. It could be more, but it is fight dependent.
Meanwhile Staff just scales better. It has heal amp which performs better and better as other items are purchased and its passive is amazing and easy to proc. And I am not even factoring in the bonus value allies get from 40 AP and 15 AH. I think Staff is the easy rush choice.
Note: No other item competes, you can try them yourself. Moonstone is dog without Helia to amp. New Mandate is worse Staff of Flowing Water. You can’t rush Mejais because you need mana regen. Ardent is inferior.
Item 2
Ok, so after rushing Staff, is it Helia next? Well, let’s get a few bad ones out of the way.
- Moonstone remains dogwater and Helia blows it away item 2.
- Ardent is theoretically valuable only if that attack speed and on-hit is doing work, but Nami isn’t the best applier and the item doesn’t do a ton for her. Part of what makes Staff so good is that the ally’s benefit is really just a bonus, Nami uses it so well you don’t care if you aren’t applying it perfectly. Ardent MUST be applied to make it worth, and that’s not what Nami is about.
- Shurelia’s is underwhelming stat-wise but find if you need the passive.
And for support items, that might be it. Most of them are about their passive’s, and Nami is about her ratios. Redemption isn’t shown here but it’s equally ass stat-wise with a great passive. So build it on Lulu, not Nami. We can’t afford to waste her ratios.
So let’s talk about the real Helia competitor: Mejais. Now I know, stacks are scary. But really, when you complete this you’re in mid game, and mid game Nami should not die. What she does post-lane is so safe. Sit back, spam W and E, use Q and R for safety (mostly, I know good ones know when to break these rules). So keeping stacks is surprisingly easy. And the item is dirt cheap, 1500 gold.
At just 10 stacks you’re getting 70 AP and 10% bonus MS and already competing with Echoes.
At 20 stacks you are cooking.
Now Helia is still winning when it comes to healing, but the slows and damage Nami is getting for Mejais are not trivial. And it’s cheaper. I think it’s a legitimate rush item 2 and should be core for Nami.
Item 3
Now it gets interesting. You can go for a support item if you want, but let’s compare a straight item 3 deathcap rush to the Staff->Helia->Moonstone Staff->Helia->Dawncore paths. Moonstone suddenly becomes relevant again when it has Helia’s Heal to buff. As for Mejais, I’m going to use 15 stacks for simplicity, but feel free to explore.
Moonstone outperforms Dawncore by a ton for a lot less money. But interestingly, Moonstone and Deathcap are much more comparable. One provides healing, one provides damage and utility. Ultimately Deathcap’s price and build path make it a harder sell, but 7,250 g is achievable. And if you go gathering storm, which you really should, it gets even better.
But Staff->Mejais->Deathcap and Staff->Helia->Moonstone are the only two builds that are even remotely competitive here. I think both have a place in different situations depending on how alive you feel you can stay. If you feel like you won’t be under threat mid game and that 10% MS bonus with giga slows and passive speed can keep you alive, you’ll be hard pressed to beat a 25 stack Nami.
Other Notes
Dream-maker is probably still better than Sleigh, despite what the stats say. So many people are building Nami wrong right now that it is throwing her stats into the blender. I think Dream-maker will recover.
That’s all for now! Enjoy crafting a new Nami!
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