League of Legends Naafiri guide: Runes, itemization, laning, and more

Naafiri is the latest champion to be released in League of Legends, a Darkin assassin able to summon packmates to help her on the hunt. She relentlessly hunts down her targets until nothing remains of them and can currently be played quite well in the mid-lane and jungle. Fans can expect a high ban rate in the first few weeks.

If you get your hands on Naafiri, this guide will help you kickstart your road to maintaining the latest League of Legends champion in the mid-lane. This article will list the best runes, builds, and playstyles while playing in the mid-lane.

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Best runes for Naafiri in League of Legends

The most effective rune set to use while playing Naafiri in the mid lane is to run Electrocute along with Precision as the secondary tree. The rune build is as follows:

Naafiri Electrocute rune page in League of Legends (Image via Riot Games)

Domination

• Electrocute
• Sudden Impact
• Eyeball Collection
• Ultimate Hunter

Precision

• Triumph
• Coup de Grace

Rune shards

• Adaptive force
• Adaptive force
• Magic Resist/Armor

This rune page gives Naafiri the perfect tools to have a solid laning phase and snowball an early game lead. Electrocute is perfect for burst trades and eliminating targets quickly. Sudden Impact synergizes extremely well with her mobility, while Eyeball Collection is a staple pick for any assassin.

Finally, Ultimate Hunter will be preferred over Treasure Hunter, which gets picked more often on assassins. This is because Naafiri is a champion who relies on her ultimate to take over fights.

Precision is a solid secondary tree as Triumph gives bonus gold and restores health, which is very valuable for Naafiri. Coup De Grace is an excellent rune for a burst-oriented champion.

Double adaptive force runes provide Naafiri with an excellent AD boost, while Magic Resist or Armor will round out the rune page depending on the lane matchup.

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Best item builds for Naafiri in League of Legends

Naafiri has a lot of variety in her builds due to her immense damage and healing capabilities. The following items are to be considered when going for a pure assassin build:

Naafiri Assassin build in League of Legends (Image via Riot Games)

Assassin build

• Mythic: Duskblade of Draktharr
• Ionian Boots of Lucidity
• Prowler's Claw
• Serylda's Grudge
• Guardian Angel
• Edge of Night

This build gives Naafiri ridiculous bursts and decent tankiness, thanks to Edge of Night and Guardian Angel. Duskblade of Drakthaar will be the no-brainer mythic as it pairs very well with her kit.

Prowler's Claw and Serylda's Grudge are great options to easily increase the burst damage and chase down targets. Ionian Boots of Lucidity reduces cooldowns which is very useful for assassins such as Naafiri.

The second build that Naafiri players can try out is an assassin-bruiser hybrid build focused on sustaining through teamfights while having enough damage to kill squishy targets. The build includes:

Assassin/Bruiser Hybrid build

Naafiri Assassin/Bruiser Hybrid build in League of Legends (Image via Riot Games)

• Mythic: Duskblade of Draktharr
• Ionian Boots of Lucidity
• Black Cleaver
• Ravenous Hydra
• Death's Dance
• Guardian Angel

Duskblade of Draktharr will give Naafiri players a significant early-game spike when paired with Ionian Boots of Lucidity. Ravenous Hydra and Black Cleaver will provide incredible wave clear and can shred through tanks. Finally, Death's Dance and Guardian Angel are great defensive options to sustain longer in teamfights.

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How to lane as Naafiri in League of Legends

Naafiri is an extremely strong laner in the early game against other melee champions. She does well in other melee assassins due to her reliable poke damage and healing. Once the enemy is whittled down, she can pounce on her target to finish off kills.

Additionally, pairing her up with junglers such as Sejuani, Zac, and Maokai will be extremely useful as their crowd-control abilities can make the snowballing easier for Naafiri.

Naafiri, against ranged champions, can hold her own when played right. Players will look to sustain themselves by landing their Darkin Daggers and finally hitting minions.

When there is a window of opportunity to punish a ranged champion, Naafiri can quickly capitalize, as most ranged champions lack good mobility to outsmart her in a 1v1.

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How to find impact in the mid to late game as Naafiri in League of Legends

Like most assassins, Naafiri can struggle in the mid-to-late game due to her squishy nature and reliance on bursting down a target. When going for a pure assassin playstyle, wait for your team to start a fight. When the enemies waste some of their abilities, find the right angle to jump into the backline to put immense pressure on their carries.

When going for an assassin/bruiser hybrid build, you can play more aggressively in the frontline and even peel for your carries by neutralizing enemy threats with your own damage. Alternatively, you can frontline for a decent time and be a constant annoyance as a pseudo-tank.

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Finding a suitable playstyle is up to the players since Naafiri is a very new champion in the game. Experimenting with various builds, runes, and playstyles can open up a world of possibilities to play this simple yet fun champion in League of Legends.