Since her release in League of Legends over two years ago, Samira has remained one of the most difficult ADCs to play as and against. With numerous weapons in her arsenal that provide her with both offensive and defensive capabilities, she has no issue sliding in and out of fights—leaving nothing but carnage behind.
Samira’s unique playstyle, which combines both melee and ranged elements into a single kit, makes her mastery level significantly higher than other ADCs, especially in regard to the supports she pairs nicely with. Players often refer to Samira as the “modern-day Master Yi and Katarina” because with just the press of a few buttons in optimal situations, she could easily secure herself a pentakill with little hesitation.
Outside of her passive-stacking ultimate that makes Samira nearly unkillable, her most powerful ability is her W, Blade Whirl, which completely destroys any enemy projectiles that make contact with it. This ability acts similarly to Yasuo’s Wind Wall, though it completely surrounds Samira yet has a shorter duration.
Therefore, Samira thrives in most situations against ranged opponents, allowing her to snowball leads in ways that make it impossible for the enemy team to come back into the game. But if Samira is locked down before she can attack, players will have no issues breaking through the frailty of the Desert Rose before her antics can begin.
What are the best Samira counters in League of Legends?
Engage supports: Alistar, Leona, Nautilus
Most of the bot lane matchups against Samira will be entirely dependent on the choice of support for your team. Unless an ADC can find the room to poke out Samira while her W is on cooldown, they’ll either find themselves behind or even with her in lane, incapable of doing more than simply farming. Bringing a support capable of keeping Samira immobile, however, can be the best way to avoid this checkmate.
The most efficient way to do this is with Alistar. None of his abilities can be stopped by Samira, with nearly all of them capable of inflicting some type of crowd control on her when hit successfully. Leona is also a strong counter to Samira with how often she can simply walk up and stun her with a Q. But players should note that her E does count as a projectile and can be stopped.
Nautilus is a similar case to Leona since his hook counts as a projectile. But thanks to his passive, simply auto attacking Samira can root her in place, which he can then follow up with a slow or a shield to keep himself healthy. Notably, Samira cannot use her W to avoid Nautilus’ ultimate, making it a powerful tool that can completely take control of fights before they begin.
Players should be wary about options such as Pyke, Thresh, and Blitzcrank to counter Samira because not only can their hooks be reflected, but bringing Samira into your own team might not work out in your favor.
Melee junglers: Xin Zhao, Zac, Rammus
If Samira falls behind, it becomes incredibly difficult for her to be an asset to her team since even stacking her passive to use her ultimate multiple times in succession might not be enough to take a single opponent down. Junglers can often be the most important factor in whether or not a Samira reaches her snowball potential, so picking one that directly counters her kit can be exceptionally important to the trajectory of a game.
Players should avoid junglers that require the use of skill shots or other types of projectiles as their source of engage when playing against Samira since most Samira players save their Ws for them in particular. Options like Xin Zhao, Rammus, Zac, and Wukong all engage physically, making it impossible for Samira to reflect their abilities. Many of these champions also have adequate sources of crowd control, which can stop Samira from dashing in and out of fights.
Crowd control-heavy top laners: Malphite, Sett, Jax, Sion
The easiest place for Samira to quickly gain stacks of her passive and unleash her ultimate on multiple enemies is in teamfights. The more enemies that are around her, the more self-sustain Samira gets, which can lead to situations where she can one-vs-five the enemy team without her team being involved whatsoever.
This is where most top laners can come into play, specifically those that enjoy being in the faces of their enemies. As solo laners, most of the time being ahead in levels of the bot lane while also possessing more items, top laners thrive in teamfight situations where they can prove their usefulness to the rest of the team. And since many currently-meta top laners are tanky and/or have consistent crowd control, they can easily make it difficult for Samira to reach her S-tier without a challenge.
Top laners like Malphite, Sett, and Sion have enough bulk to tank an onslaught of attacks from Samira, as well as remove her from nearly any situation completely thanks to their abundance of crowd control. As these champions are all, for the most part, melee-oriented, Samira will be unable to avoid their abilities unless she expends her Flash and dashes, turning her into an immobile target incapable of avoiding the damage she wished to employ.
