League of Legends: Naafari Guide

Naafiri is currently one of the most powerful mid-lane assassins in League of Legends. As the newest addition to the roster, his well-rounded and beginner-friendly kit makes him an excellent choice for players looking to dominate solo queue. With his straightforward mechanics and ability to thrive in various team compositions, Naafiri has quickly become a staple pick for climbing the ranks.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about mastering Naafiri, including his optimal build, items, runes, and essential gameplay tips. Let’s dive into how to maximize his potential and secure victories.

Naafari Overview

Naafiri is a melee assassin with a straightforward but impactful kit designed to take down priority targets swiftly. His abilities focus on gap-closing, burst damage, and mobility, making him a formidable threat in skirmishes and team fights. Below is a breakdown of his abilities:
• Passive - We Are More: Naafiri spawns Packmates that assist in her attacks, increasing her overall damage output. The Packmates enhance her dueling and wave-clear potential, making her efficient in both solo fights and pushing lanes.
• Q - Darkin Daggers: Naafiri throws daggers that deal physical damage and apply a bleed effect. If a target is already bleeding, the ability deals additional damage, making it perfect for extended trades and finishing off low-health enemies.
• W - Hound’s Pursuit: This ability locks onto a target and charges toward them with her Packmates, dealing significant damage upon impact. It’s an excellent tool for engaging or chasing down fleeing enemies.
• E - Eviscerate: Naafiri slashes in a targeted direction, damaging all enemies in the area and healing herself based on the damage dealt. It provides sustain during fights and allows her to stay relevant in extended skirmishes.
• R - Call of the Pack: Naafiri summons additional Packmates and gains increased movement speed and attack damage for a short duration. This ultimate is a game-changer in fights, allowing her to dominate team engagements and assassinate high-priority targets.

With her versatile kit, Naafiri excels at picking off squishy backline enemies and snowballing leads. Her abilities synergize well with aggressive playstyles, rewarding players who take calculated risks.

Best Naafiri Items

Naafiri’s strength lies in her burst damage and mobility, making it crucial to build items that enhance her lethality while providing the necessary utility to adapt to various matchups. Here’s a comprehensive look at the best items for Naafiri:

Core Items

• Duskblade of Draktharr: This Mythic item is perfect for Naafiri, providing lethality, ability haste, and invisibility after takedowns. It’s the go-to item for assassins who need to reposition or escape after securing kills.
• Ionian Boots of Lucidity: These boots reduce ability and summoner spell cooldowns, ensuring Naafiri can frequently engage with her abilities.
• The Collector: Adds lethality, critical strike chance, and an execute mechanic that fits Naafiri’s playstyle, allowing her to secure kills on low-health enemies with ease.

Damage Items

• Eclipse: This item is an excellent alternative to Duskblade when facing tankier teams. It provides lethality, omnivamp, and a shield, improving survivability during burst trades.
• Serpent’s Fang: Ideal against shield-heavy compositions, this item lets Naafiri cut through enemy defenses and maximize her kill potential.
• Edge of Night: Offers lethality and a spell shield, protecting Naafiri from crowd control and enabling her to dive the backline safely.

Situational Items

• Black Cleaver: A solid pick against high-armor opponents. It provides armor penetration and health, giving Naafiri more sustain in extended fights.
• Maw of Malmortius: A crucial item when facing teams with heavy magic damage. Its lifeline passive and spell shield can save Naafiri in critical moments.
• Serylda’s Grudge: This item adds slow effects to Naafiri’s abilities and armor penetration, ensuring she can stick to and eliminate her targets effectively.
• Guardian Angel: Provides a second chance in fights, allowing Naafiri to re-enter the fray after being taken down, making it invaluable in late-game team fights.

By carefully selecting items based on the enemy team composition, Naafiri can maintain her dominance throughout the game. Prioritize items that enhance her lethality and survivability to maximize her impact in every match.

Best Naafiri Runes

To unleash Naafiri’s full potential, selecting the right rune setup is essential. Her playstyle revolves around burst damage, mobility, and strategic aggression, making the following rune setups highly effective for mid-lane dominance.

Primary Path: Domination
• Electrocute: This keystone enhances Naafiri’s burst potential, allowing her to deal significant damage with a quick ability combo.
• Sudden Impact: Grants additional lethality and magic penetration after dashing or using her ultimate, complementing her mobility and burst capabilities.
• Eyeball Collection: Increases her ability power and attack damage as she secures kills and assists, providing a scaling advantage.
• Treasure Hunter: Boosts gold income from takedowns, accelerating her item progression and snowballing potential.

Secondary Path: Precision
• Triumph: Restores health on takedowns and grants bonus gold, enhancing survivability during extended fights.
• Coup de Grace: Increases damage dealt to low-health targets, making it easier to finish off enemies and secure kills.

Stat Shards
• Attack Speed: Improves her basic attack flow and synergizes well with her quick ability combos.
• Adaptive Force: Adds more damage to her abilities and attacks, ensuring maximum burst potential.
• Armor or Magic Resist: Choose based on the matchup. Armor counters AD threats, while magic resist helps against AP-heavy opponents.

This rune setup emphasizes Naafiri’s strengths in assassinating targets and snowballing games. Adjust secondary runes and defensive shards to suit your specific matchups, ensuring consistent impact in every phase of the game.

How to Play Naafiri

Naafiri is a beginner-friendly yet highly effective mid-lane assassin, thriving on her burst damage and map mobility. Her kit focuses on quick combos and sustained pressure, making her a terror in solo queue. Here’s how to master Naafiri’s playstyle:

Early Game

In the laning phase, focus on farming and poking enemies with your Q: Darkin Daggers. The ability deals significant damage, especially when hitting isolated targets, allowing you to chip away at your opponent’s health. Use your W: Hound’s Pursuit for aggressive trades or to engage after your opponent burns their escape abilities. Stay cautious of overextending since Naafiri’s early-game durability isn’t her strongest suit.

Naafiri’s passive, We Are More, ensures her pack provides consistent additional damage. Use this to zone enemies off the wave or to secure trades. Place your E: Eviscerate strategically to either reposition after a trade or disengage from unfavorable situations.

Mid Game

Once you hit level 6 and unlock your R: The Call of the Pack, you become a roaming powerhouse. Push your wave and look for opportunities to roam bot or top lane. Your ultimate grants extra damage, movement speed, and increased assassination potential, making it ideal for catching squishy targets off-guard.

Coordinate with your jungler for objectives like Dragon and Rift Herald. Naafiri’s burst damage allows her to quickly eliminate priority targets in skirmishes, giving your team a significant edge in mid-game fights.

Late Game

In the late game, focus on isolating and assassinating high-value targets like ADCs or AP carries. Use The Call of the Pack to initiate fights or create picks. Your damage falls off slightly against tanky foes, so prioritize positioning and target selection to maximize your impact.

Play patiently in team fights. Use Hound’s Pursuit to dive into the backline and Eviscerate to escape or reposition after securing a kill. Combine Darkin Daggers with your passive damage for quick eliminations. Always keep an eye on your cooldowns and avoid prolonged engagements, as Naafiri is most effective in short, explosive skirmishes.

Combos

• Basic Trade: Q → Auto Attack → E (to reposition or disengage)
• All-In Combo: W → Q → Auto Attack → E → R (chaining your abilities maximizes burst damage and ensures you secure the kill)
• Roaming Engage: R → W → Q → Auto Attack → E (this combo helps capitalize on the movement speed and damage from your ultimate)

Playstyle Tips

• Wave Management: Push waves quickly with your abilities to free yourself up for roams. Naafiri excels at applying map pressure, so don’t stay confined to your lane.
• Vision Control: Use control wards to maintain map awareness and deny vision. This amplifies your roaming threat and allows for safer dives.
• Target Priority: Always aim for squishy champions in fights. Your kit is designed to obliterate high-damage but low-durability enemies.

Team Fighting

In team fights, Naafiri’s role is to assassinate and disrupt. Use The Call of the Pack to engage and create chaos, targeting the enemy carry. Always have an exit strategy, utilizing Eviscerate to escape after securing your target.

Mastering Naafiri involves aggressive decision-making, precise targeting, and effective roaming. With practice, you’ll dominate games and leave enemies scrambling for counter-picks.

Conclusion

Naafiri’s beginner-friendly yet high-impact playstyle makes her an excellent choice for players looking to dominate the mid-lane in League of Legends. With her potent burst damage, strong roaming potential, and effective team-fighting capabilities, Naafiri is a versatile assassin who thrives in the chaos of solo queue. By mastering her build, items, runes, and combos, you’ll unlock her full potential to outplay your opponents and lead your team to victory. Whether you’re climbing the ranked ladder or refining your skills, this guide equips you with everything you need to succeed with Naafiri. Dive into the Rift, sharpen your claws, and unleash the power of the pack!