Summary
Items
Early game
- Doran's Blade gives you life and AD, ideal for trading in the early stages.
Boots
- Samira buys few attack speed items, so Berserker's Greaves are a good buy to compensate for this.
Core items
- Essence Reaver grants CDR AD as well as mana regeneration. Ideal for chaining spells and charging your passive faster.
- Stormrazor increases your burst potential and gives you a slow to catch up with your enemies.
- Samira has a low range and must jump into the mélée in order to inflict maximum damage. Death's Dance is thus an ideal purchase to survive longer in teamfight.
Situational items
- Infinity Edge increases the damage of your critical hits.
- Rapid Firecannon gives you extra range to charge your passive without putting yourself in danger.
- The movement speed as well as the shield offered by the Phantom Dancer makes it an excellent item against compositions with a lot of burst.
- Manamune / Muramana should be taken as first item instead of the Essence Reaver if you want to focus on a spell centered build.
- Samira also works very well with Lethality, and Youmuu's Ghostblade can make her very effective against enemies with low health and resistances. Same reasoning for Duskblade of Draktharr, but more burst-oriented.
How to play Samira
Samira is a hybrid between ADC and assassin who excels in teamfight. Her kit is special, because your auto-attacks and your Q - Flair change depending on your distance from your target. She has excellent AoE damage, especially thanks to R - Inferno Trigger which can clean up an entire team if not interrupted. But for that, you must first charge your Passive - Daredevil Impulse by alternating your spells with auto-attacks. It is essential to alternate your spells and your auto-attacks, or you will never be able to raise your passive to rank S in time in a teamfight.
- Level 1: Q - Flair allows you to poke your enemy if he's at a distance. In melee, this spell changes to area damage in an arc in front of you. Ideal for killing multiple minions at once.
- Level 2: the choice is situational. You can take E - Wild Rush to pounce on your opponent, if you want to go all-in at level 2, or use W - Blade Whirl if you want to absorb enemy projectiles (ideal against supports with a grab.)
- Level 3: Samira has good trading potential when all three spells are available. You can engage with your support and use the movement speed provided by your passive to avoid the trade-back. Warning: W - Blade Whirl can apply damage twice, once upon activation and a second time at spell end. These two parts increase your passive if you use E - Wild Rush between the two activations of the spell. It's very important to succeed in activating both parts of the spell to maximize your DPS.
In teamfight:
Samira is a hybrid between the assassin and the ADC, so your role in teamfight is quite unique. Start the fight like a traditional ADC by positioning yourself behind your frontlane and attacking the nearest enemy. Charge your Passive - Daredevil Impulse slowly alternating between auto-attacks and Q - Flair.
When the opposing team is using their controls you can then jump into the melee by opening with E - Wild Rush coupled with W - Blade Whirl, which will pass you up to Rank S, giving you the chance to deal massive AoE damage with R - Inferno Trigger.
If the opposing team is still alive after that, reposition yourself in order to charge your Passive - Daredevil Impulse again , in order to throw R - Inferno Trigger a second time.
Match-ups
Tips & Tricks
- Q - Flair is a single target straight line skillshot, if you want to deal area damage with it, you have to hit it in melee. The spell will then transform into area damage in an arc around you. Be careful, if you miss the center of the melee skillshot, the spell will not turn into an area attack and you will miss your target.
- If Samira casts Q - Flair during her E - Wild Rush, she will strike any enemies she encounters for the duration of her charge.
- You can use Flash during Q - Flair to surprise your opponent. For the melee version, you can use the spell on a target in front of you and use Flash to hit enemies behind while dealing area damage. Devastating in some situations.
- Q - Flair has a deceptive hitbox, you can also hit enemies that are slightly behind you in melee
- W - Blade Whirl destroys all projectiles entering the area, but you cannot use your autos during this time. However, you can use E - Wild Rush between the two parts of the spell in order to increase your Passive - Daredevil Impulse by three ranks.
- You can use Flash during W - Blade Whirl.
- You can use Flash during E - Wild Rush to redirect damage dealt and reposition yourself.
- It is possible to extend the range of Q - Flair in melee by using E - Wild Rush during the spell's animation.
- E - Wild Rush has its cooldown reset after a kill or assist.
- E - Wild Rush and Flash Jump can be used during R - Inferno Trigger.
- R - Inferno Trigger can be stopped by a control.
- R - Infernal Trigger interrupts W - Blade Whirl.
- Fastest combo to reach S Rank: QQ> W> E> Q> QQ .
Original content by Olivier "Firefox" Gastaldi.
