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Well yeah... I know what you're thinking. ADC Nami WTF?? But I just had some thoughts and theorycrafting on this one and I was really surprised with the results. I couldn't find a real point that speaks against an ADC Nami or at least not one she can't compensate for.

First of all her more important stats:

  • A 550 range on Autoattacks which is pretty standard on ADCs
  • A base MS of 340 (which would be pretty fast for an ADC)
  • Base AD of 48.3 and +3.1 every Level (a bit above Average on most ADCs)

Now about her Abilities and scalings:

  • Can buff movementspeed to herself
  • Built in Auto Attack steroid and Slow
  • Ablility to heal herself while doing damage to the enemy
  • Lots of CC

Now basically this means that she has the stats of a normal ADC (a bit less health but more MS/AD), A skillset that doesn't scale with AD itself but it's very viable for an ADC since you can Hunt down an enemy and you can also escape more easily than most other ADCs without gapclosers. Also her Autoattack animation isn't too slow which makes lasthitting easier (it's about 10% faster than a Kog'Maw AAMissle).

I've also already tried it in some normal games and one ranked game and surprisingly I've never lost a lane or game (usually with a supporter which has some additional CC). With leona you can lock down an ADC for about 5-6 seconds if done right.

Now As already mentioned I don't really get why this champion isn't played as an ADC more often?

What are things that speak against an ADC Nami?

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  • A good AD carry requires a few things: A good attack animation, either good AD Scaling skills or ad/attack speed steroids, skills that can be cast quickly. Nami has none of these
    – eyeofthehawks
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 13:25
  • @eyeofthehawks well actually you don't need these things to be a decent ADC. You need the right skillset. The animation is pretty nice (as I mentioned above a bit faster than kog), she has an Instant On-Hit-Damage-Slow buff and a stun which has a good DPET since it stuns for over 1 sec. Also the Heal has quite good DPET because you can cast it while moving (nice for escapes). And Nami is a real lanebully with high all-in potential.
    – Jutschge
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 13:52
  • Why are you going to ask a question if you aren't going to change your opinion regardless. What level are you playing this Nami at?
    – eyeofthehawks
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 13:53
  • @eyeofthehawks because I haven't got an answer that is based off facts. It's not an opinion. There has to be a reason why it isn't considered viable but I can't find out why. I tried Theorycrafting and playing it and those points you mentioned... well take a look at ashe for example.
    – Jutschge
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 14:01
  • She has no natural AD scaling worthy of warranting her to be played as an AD CARRY, CARRY being the key word here.
    – eyeofthehawks
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 14:02

2 Answers 2

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There are already some champions that you can see in games as ADC (ofc not very often) which are originally scaled with AP such as:

  • LeBlanc (you can reposition yourself, juke and catch with your W and Ulti)
  • Kennen (even in tournaments, nice CC)
  • Lux (Good CC & Shield)
  • Lulu (Many mobility, nuff said)
  • Thresh (Great for chasing, catching and CCing, but now range is nerfed)
  • Ahri (Reposition yourself in hard situations in teamfights, charm the enemy)
  • Orianna (Mobility, Shield, CC)
  • Veigar (CC, you will still win AP and your Ult will still be useful against enemy AP Carry)

I've tried all above that I mentioned, they can work nice and fun to do something against meta, and I would love to try Nami when I've got the chance, with all the tools, mobility, CC and buffs that you already mentioned.

And yes, we all can have fun and you can be successful with these combinations, that's why we actually play this game, the fun.

But, here is the most important point. Neither of the champions I mentioned above nor a possible Nami can really replace a real ADC such as Jinx, Caitlyn or Graves. Maybe just Kennen but still questionable. Other than the mobility and CC, your skills which scale with AD, and the tools for a real AD champion will still make them better, in terms of damage.

Real point here is, I am not against experiments, I do out of meta things a lot like playing AP Cho mid, ADC in mid or top, Renekton or Jax at mid, variations I mentioned above like playing AP champions as ADC. We just need to keep this in normal games and friend games. Yes, you will have fun and you can even be successful but in my opinion, this shouldn't be done in a ranked match.

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  • That's along the lines of what I was thinking. It's fine, but the reason it's not viable is more because of how much better other champions are at it than how bad this one is.
    – Invader Skoodge
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 10:42
  • While I see your point I don't think that an AD Nami isn't able to replace a Jinx/Lucian/Caitlyn. For champions without a gapcloser she's a hard counter because of her easy-to-land CC. Also all of the champions you've mentioned above have a completely different skillset. Usually only one or two of their abilities work for an ADC while 2-3 are completely useless on the role. For the others the problem is the reduced range/complete lack of Mobility and insanely high mana cost on AD. And as already said in the question, It's very possible even in high elo (at least from my experience).
    – Jutschge
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 11:37
  • Yea, actually I told that in my answer: you will have fun and you can even be successful. But, again like I said: real AD champion will still make them better, in terms of damage. So, I was talking about the damage done, which can't be replaced. I would love to see these kind of picks in matches like I mentioned :)
    – canova
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 11:42
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Here are a couple of items that make Nami NOT a stellar ADC:

  1. No AD scaling in abilities

  2. Little lane ability (ie, High attack/ability range, wave clear, area damage)

  3. A slow moving CC ULT. Typically CC ults are not very useful for ADC.

  4. Long cast time on abilities

Think of ADCs that do well in Ranked play (Jinx, Lucian, Caitlyn), they have increased range with auto attacks and/or abilities, a damage dealing ultimate, and relatively short cast times (to get back to auto-attacking).

Now think of ADCs that don't do as well (Ashe, Quinn). These champions have little range above their auto attacks, or little wave clear, and ultimates that are undesirable for various reasons. (Quinn's puts you in melee range, Ashe's doesn't deal a lot of dmg because of scaling, etc.)

All of that being said, Nami would be probably be a good substitute for the second list of ADCs, but is lackluster compared to the first list.

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  • 1
    Ashe ult does an outrageous amount of damage, albeit magic damage, but its still ridiculous
    – eyeofthehawks
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 14:28
  • 2
    Twitch and Ashe can do fairly decent, they just require a good team comp unlike the Jinx/Lucian/Caitlyn you mention, who all can do just fine on their own.
    – VanBuzzKill
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 14:28
  • I agree, it definitely depends on team composition
    – Bob2Chiv
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 14:36
  • You had me until you were saying Twitch doesn't do well.... he's one of the OP atm.
    – dphil
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 17:16
  • @dphil Hmm, I haven't played / seen Twitch played in some time; then again, I'm only a Gold level player and I play mostly support.
    – Bob2Chiv
    Commented May 30, 2014 at 17:39

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