This is the best build for new marksman champion Samira

The newest addition to League of Legends, the gun-toting Samira, has recently hit live servers and now players are starting to figure out the most optimal builds for her. 

While Samira is a fairly complex and innovative champion on Summoner’s Rift, her builds seem to be straightforward. The new marksman scales very well with flat attack damage, which is why her build follows a very damage-heavy path. 

Her runes can be changed up a bit depending on the matchup, but there is no way to get around Conqueror as the keystone.

Let’s take a look through the most common build path for Samira.  

Samira thrives with heavy damage builds

There are currently three important core items for Samira that are built in most situations. There are obviously other ways to build Samira and a lot of testing still has to be done, but this build should be the safest one to start out with. 

Essence Reaver

The first item to prioritize will be the Essence Reaver. Samira relies a lot on her Flair (Q) to deal most of the damage. Flair has a very short cooldown, so it’s an ability that players will end up spamming a lot while playing her. The cooldown of Flair will be all the way down to two seconds when maxed out. 

Essence Reaver will help with all the stats needed to spam Flair while also giving Samira some flat attack damage. The cooldown reduction and mana refund on hit are enough to keep her mana afloat. Attack damage and critical strike chance are a must for a marksman.  

Infinity Edge

After the Essence Reaver is built, Samira wants to go straight towards the Infinity Edge. Marksmen would usually look towards an attack speed item, but Samira doesn’t necessarily need a lot of that due to her constant damage from Flair and Inferno Trigger (R). 

Death’s Dance

The last core item for Samira is Death’s Dance. The item in itself is really strong on many champions because of its sustain. Samira will benefit from all of its stats, making her a bit more tanky with the armor and magic resist. Samira will be in melee range in many situations, so a bit of tankiness doesn’t hurt. 

The healing passive on Death’s Dance is what makes it incredibly good for Samira. The two previous core items give Samira a lot of flat damage, which means that the heals coming in from her damage output will be scary. 

Phantom Dancer, Guardian Angel, Mercurial Scimitar

The final two items for Samira will be a bit more situational.

For an attack speed item, Phantom Dancer will be the best in pretty much every situation. Its passive Lifeline gives Samira a valuable shield to save her if she goes below 30% health, which can be important when Samira dashes in and out of fights. 

Guardian Angel and Mercurial Scimitar are both great items for Samira, but it depends on the situation. Mercurial Scimitar is best against opponents with a lot of crowd control, while Guardian Angel can be picked up against damage-heavy compositions.  

Samira is still a new champion, so the item priorities are likely to change in the coming weeks. By now, several professional players are already experimenting with builds that include Muramana and Black Cleaver.