How to beat Naafiri

Common role: Mid / Jungle

The best counter to Naafiri in Jungle is Nocturne: 56.2% win rate over 2,592 ranked games on patch 26.17.

A packmistress of blades whose hounds shred isolated targets.

What makes Naafiri dangerous

Naafiri hunts with a pack of hounds that leap on her targets, throws twin missiles that mark and re-cast for missing-HP damage, dashes through units, and her ultimate super-charges the pack with vision, speed and shields for a committed dive.

How to play against Naafiri

• 1Kill the hounds with AoE — the pack IS her damage.
• 2Never walk alone mid-late: she deletes isolated squishies.
• 3Her dive is all-in: survive the first rotation and she's toothless.
• 4Exhaust/armor blunt the whole pack burst.

Weaknesses to exploit

• ✓AoE melts the hounds and her damage with them.
• ✓Predictable one-rotation assassin pattern.
• ✓No CC at all — pure damage check.
• ✓Grouped teams starve her isolation hunts.

Abilities & how to counter them

What each of Naafiri's abilities does — and how to play around it.

• P
  We Are More

  Naafiri spawns packmates that attack the targets of her attacks and abilities.

  Strong: her hound pack leaps and shreds alongside every spell. Weak: hounds die to AoE — clear them and half her DPS vanishes.

• Q
  Darkin Daggers

  Naafiri hurls up to two daggers, each inflicting bleed, or each inflicting bonus damage if the target is already bleeding.Packmates leap to attack the first champion or monster hit by this skill.

  Strong: twin daggers — the second detonates for missing-HP damage. Weak: both are straight lines — one sidestep beats the pair.

• W
  The Call of the Pack

  Naafiri becomes Untargetable and empowers her pack, spawning additional packmates and gaining increased Move Speed and Attack Damage.

  Strong: a long dash-through with the whole pack — her gank opener. Weak: a telegraphed straight line with a wind-up; CC her mid-flight.

• E
  Eviscerate

  Naafiri dashes and damages enemies in an area around her, recalling her packmates and fully healing them.

  Strong: a short dash-slice that resets pack aggression. Weak: tiny range — kite her between casts.

• R
  Hounds' Pursuit

  Naafiri and her packmates dash at a champion, dealing damage. Naafiri reveals nearby enemies if she scores a takedown and can recast this Ability once. The second cast grants a shield.

  Strong: super-charges the pack with vision, speed and shields for the dive. Weak: it's still just stats — survive the rotation and she has nothing left.

Itemization

Group, AoE the pack, hold one defensive tool for her rotation. She can't peel or CC — just survive the leap.

This guide covers Naafiri's core kit and playstyle — advice that holds up across patches.