Naafiri League of Legends season 13 jungle guide: Runes, pathing, ganking strategy, and more

A detailed guide on how to play Naafiri jungle (Image via Riot Games)
A detailed guide on how to play Naafiri jungle (Image via Riot Games)

The meta is expected to shift heavily with the arrival of the new champion and patch 13.4, as the much-anticipated Split 2 of the League of Legends Ranked Season 2023 has begun. Walking alone on the map, squishy champions need to be cautious of Naafiri, the highly anticipated jungle champion in League of Legends. Her high mobility allows for aggressive initiation and swift getaways in tight situations.

Many facets will be navigated through this article, including Naafiri's runes, playstyle, and guide to the new champion.


Naafiri jungle in League of Legends: Runes

Naafiri jungle rune set in League of Legends (Image via Sportskeeda)
Naafiri jungle rune set in League of Legends (Image via Sportskeeda)

The majority of the risk associated with Naafiri is that she's squishy, offers little to no utility, is only really there to deal damage, and often requires high mechanical skill to pull off effectively. The Precision rune set with the takedown bonus can be pretty valuable for playing her. Furthermore, you can fully stack Conqueror and be rewarded with damage and sustain.

Here's a recommended rune set to play Naafiri in the jungle:

Precision

  • Conqueror
  • Triumph
  • Legend: Alacrity
  • Coup de Grace

Inspiration

  • Magical Footwear
  • Cosmic Insight
  • Attack Speed
  • Adaptive Force
  • Health Scaling

Naafiri's basic attack grants two stacks of Conqueror, as she's a melee champion. Additionally, each stack gives Adaptive Force up to a maximum of twelve stacks, and when she's fully stacked, she can heal when damaging enemy champions.

Triumph is a strong rune for her; after she gets a kill or takedown, she can heal 10 percent of the missing health and even gain 20 gold. Therefore, she can gain an incredible amount of additional HP while getting multiple takedowns in a team fight. Also, choosing Alacrity on the Legend point can reward you with permanent attack speed.

Coup de Grace is an excellent choice for Naafiri on the combat row. She can deal additional damage to enemies below 40% health, and it's easy to get damage out and help secure kills.


Ideal itemization for Naafiri in League of Legends

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The item build for Naafiri in League of Legends Season 13 is as follows:

  • Jungle companion: Gustwalker Hatchling
  • Black Cleaver
  • Ionian Boots of Lucidity
  • Serylda’s Grudge
  • Ravenous Hydra
  • Death Dance
  • Guardian Angel

Regarding Naafiri's item builds, purchasing Black Cleaver and Serylda’s Grudge is quite important to use as an assassin/bruiser hybrid jungler. After completing the first item, she'll become exceptionally strong in 1v1, and her ganking potential will also increase.

Naafiri can increase resistance and life steal by acquiring Ravenous Hydra and Death Dance. Additionally, against magic-damage-heavy team compositions, Maw of Malmortius is an excellent alternative. In the late game, Guardian Angel provides an incredible amount of survivability.


Naafiri jungle pathing and ganking strategy in League of Legends

Naafiri's recommended jungle path in League of Legends (Image via Sportskeeda)
Naafiri's recommended jungle path in League of Legends (Image via Sportskeeda)

Naafiri's recommended jungle path in League of Legends:

  1. Blue Sentinel
  2. Gromp
  3. Murk Wolf camp
  4. Raptor camp
  5. Red Brambleback
  6. Krug camp
  7. Botlane gank

Naafiri is one of the most broken junglers in League of Legends right now. She can clear jungle monsters quickly, has great damage and scaling, a dash that does damage and has a low cooldown, a targeted dash that follows opponents just about everywhere, and an ultimate that makes everything she does ten times better.

To utilize her in the jungle role, following a simple but effective path to be a difference-maker in the early-to-mid game and potentially gank the other lanes is essential.

Naafiri's jungle pathing in League of Legends (Image via Sportskeeda)
Naafiri's jungle pathing in League of Legends (Image via Sportskeeda)

To begin with, you can start with the blue or red buff and choose her Q ability. It gives her all that extra damage. She gets two activations of her Q, and then her wolves attack right after. Furthermore, Naafiri's Q has a bleed effect in League of Legends.

Subsequently, choose her E second, as it will heal her wolves and give her a good AoE damage ability. It's important not to let her wolves die while clearing jungle monsters.

Ability breakdown of Naafiri's Passive, Q, and W (Image via Riot Games)
Ability breakdown of Naafiri's Passive, Q, and W (Image via Riot Games)

As mentioned before, ensure that her wolves are alive, so at the beginning, you can try to tank a bit while clearing creeps; after that, let her wolves do the rest. In this way, the jungle clearing is excellent, efficient, and fast, and whenever she uses E again, it fully resets her wolves.

Despite clearing the jungle efficiently, it will not matter if you do not initiate proper ganking strategies. In contrast to this, her W comes in as a handy tool. However, it doesn't work prominently in farming and has a long cooldown.

Ability breakdown of Naafiri's E and R (Image via Riot Games)
Ability breakdown of Naafiri's E and R (Image via Riot Games)

Once you hit the W ability, it will give Naafiri ganking potential with the gap-closing capability. You can lock on to the target using the W and get as much Q damage as possible.

Additionally, once she gets her Conqueror stacked up, she can significantly auto-attack enemies with the help of the wolves. A lot of times, she's going to rely on her auto-attack and wolves' damage to help you finish opponents off in League of Legends.


How to play Naafiri in the mid-to-late game of League of Legends

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The main objective for Naafiri in mid-game is locating the precise angle to dive in and unleash a burst of damage on the enemy's carry champions. With the aid of both the shield and agility, there should be minimal difficulties in eliminating at least one target.

To make the most of your gold lead in League of Legends, ensure you widen the item gap between your foes and yourself. Staying alive becomes easier, and shutting down opponents becomes more feasible with increased damage.

During the final phase of the match, the situation can become more challenging as your opponents will likely have developed some defenses, which will hinder your ability to carry out your lethal duties. Consequently, exercise greater cunning when approaching from the side and utilize vision control to locate solitary objectives.

Don't dive into the brawl without certainty of securing the kill. Patiently bide your time until the opportune moment arises after the enemy has exhausted their key ultimates and abilities. Ensure Naafiri's wolves have been revived before engaging, and most importantly, prevent the foes from eliminating them easily.

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