Why NO ONE Plays: Naafiri | League Of Legends

Welcome baack to aanother Why NO ONE Plaays video! Todaay we're gonnaa be discussing one of the newest chaampions in the gaame, aand aalso one of the more disaappointing ones: Naafiri!
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#Naafiri #LoL #LeagueofLegends #WhyNoOnePlays

[@kirb1430]

she is just a fighter disguised as an assassin, her consistent damage, the shield on her R, seems like she was built for eclipse and BC but they wanted to also make an assassin

[@СрпскиСорвиголова]

Same with Rengar.

[@psychocat2607]

@@СрпскиСорвиголова I main Rengar and currently playing a lot of Naafiri jungle (16-0) and tbh, Naafiri is a much better diver bruiser version of rengar because she has neutral and better mobility. Issue with bruiser Rengar is that once you jump in, if you don't one shot your target, you are fucked. Bruiser Rengar is fine in the mid game, but in the late game, if games get hard, you become useless af

[@window9213]

@@psychocat2607 deserved for playing rengar

[@СрпскиСорвиголова]

@@psychocat2607 Rengar is a dead character. Deals no damage, worst assasin in the game and he is actually the one that needs damage the most cause he cant escape like other assasins and return with new rotation. Character so bad it has 51 win rate in highest ranks where he should have 56% like he used to his whole fking existence 😭. Unplayable. Worst win rate of all champions in all ranks below diamond.

[@psychocat2607]

@@window9213 not really complaining. just stating as with Rengar current state, hes way better and consistant playing as an assassin than as a bruiser diver. Last time he was good with bruiser build, it was with Goredrinker being so op that you still had enough dmg to kill your target.

[@Hellothere-ss4jq]

The hounds are a huge part of what I would call her "fantasy budget" but Lol doesn't have the systems to support the pack fantasy. She would work better in DOTA oddly enough where you can control the hounds individually

[@evangel1460]

So like lycan, in a way.

[@Hellothere-ss4jq]

More like Naga Siren, Chaos Knight or Broodmother but yeah

[@evangel1460]

@@Hellothere-ss4jq does lycan still not summon wolves? Years ago he did, but I can imagine a rework since it was a bit strange.

[@Hellothere-ss4jq]

@evangel1460 he still does but not to the potentially overwhelming numbers the heroes I mentioned do and I believe numbers are a key factor for Naafiri

[@lamer8310]

small indie company

[@KushKoi]

7:40 “but if her target dashes or uses an ability temporarily then run away, but if her target dashes or uses an ability temporarily then run away” SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK

[@psychocat2607]

eh. It's also very easy to just use ult movement speed, use q and e to kill the target and if they dash way, you use your w.

[@petitpois22]

my level in english doesn't let me understand this phrases bruh

[@Lyrune]

​@@petitpois22The joke is that he said it twice. It's an editing mistake.

[@kevingriffith6011]

Man got the Elder Scrolls: Obilivion NPC treatment

[@petitpois22]

@@Lyrune oh i see thanks lmao

[@ProjectWarwick]

I remember when Naafiri first came out, I quite literally one tricked her to mastery 7, the only assassin that I can comfortably play if I get autofilled to mid lane or jungle. I still play her every once in a while but I mainly stick to support role.

[@akaishuichi217]

hey, sorry to ask but, are you okay? i checked your channel and it said that your life isn't doing good. hopefully maybe it's better now!

[@ProjectWarwick]

@@akaishuichi217 It's been getting better, got a new job and everything so I'm alright

[@akaishuichi217]

​@@ProjectWarwick i am glad! hope everything gets better and better! have a good day!

[@Lan-Lapis]

I pretty much play solely AP mid laners and if I really got no choice I pick naafiri lol

[@squdel9363]

@@ProjectWarwick I jwish you that everything turnes out well for you. Times might be tough but power through! You got that!

[@Dew-b8b]

League players: GIVE US MORE CREATURE CHAMPIONS WE NEED MORE PLEEEEASE!!! (Locks in Lux for the 1500th game)

[@TheLittleBigBox]

That's a fucking dog shiny, that ain't an interesting creature as the void ones for example.

[@leonardo9259]

"please more variety Rito" *Keeps playing Rene top*

[@SangoProductions213]

Basically: No cc (so all pressure comes strictly from damage), limited skill expressiveness (so even the worst nafiris can still get off nearly the full set of damage), and no escape tools (people don't tend to like dying (Baus being an exception, but not even he plays her).

[@psychocat2607]

tbh, really no need for any more escape tool. She already has big sustain with her q and ult shield and if she get the kill, she'll get another big shield. By the time, you have another e and burst of movement speed.

[@kishi8774]

@@psychocat2607 basically you go 10 0 or 0 10 lol

[@psychocat2607]

@@kishi8774 no??

[@Aliens1337]

She also has no pro play presence because of how telegraph her moves are. I mean, her W literally locks her into her target with big visible lines.

[@ANilahAtion]

Assassins usually only have slows as CC...? Talon,Zed, Akali,Khazix and etc.

[@entropy7705]

Everytime I see Naafiri engage I always expect the impact of her and her dog squad to be the same as a fed Talon ulting in with Q but then I see her barely do half the champs hp then walk away

[@m4gh343]

I haven't seen a nafiri in game for so long that i forgot she was in gane

[@justhair17]

Same

[@bigmelon44]

What the dog doin?

[@tiagotakuceoofredacted8802]

Her best

[@Snarflez]

Not getting played

[@Knowwah994]

Not much tbh…

[@davidpavel5017]

Apparently not much

[@Gamer9o]

Murder and Slaughter while being a good dog

[@jakubpruszczak9169]

0:22 Vars' opinion on Yone lmao

[@ThePhaxal]

This needs more likes, I literally paused the video and started scrolling to see if anyone would comment on it.

[@xlodvig]

​@@ThePhaxalthat

[@fabdvl]

And he's right. Yone is an abomination

[@FjD03]

bro cant go 2 seconds without complaining about yone

[@alec7452]

I'm surprised you didn't mention what I'd consider to be her greatest strength - her dogs block skillshots, making her incredibly annoying to deal with if your only form of CC against her is a skillshot. They even block Hwei EW if you position properly.

[@cupie2255]

He kinda did at 11:06 at least

[@mendedwings6087]

Most of the skillshots they block end up just killing all of your dogs and nuking your damage anyway. Its extremely hard to get your dogs into a position to block things in real play and if you are against some genius of dog management who has them positioned perfectly at all times. Just wait for her to use W, she deletes them all herself so you can hit her easier.

[@soedragons3582]

I'm going to be honest, when I think of the wolfpack fantasy, I don't think of an assassin that just burst someone to death, I think of a tireless amalgam of ferocious and snarling jaws with sharp teeth that prey can't get rid of and it's constantly taking bites at it until said prey can't run anymore and it's just devoured completely

[@SuperSpyKindaGuy]

Warwick exists tho.....and does this way better in some ways.

[@leonardo9259]

Hell yeah I love amumu bro

[@bensparrow3356]

Agreed. If anything I think old Akali's kit was a better version of Naafiri than the Naafiri we got.

[@ibrahim5463]

naafiri is a prof that simple and good desing is not always popular, popular desing is not always simple and good

[@sweetshoez]

Disagree that naafiri is a good design. It’s not a surprise many players do not want to do a giant channel into a straight line targeted dash on a champion. You basically can’t play if you are into a champ who can stop it

[@r1s1mp]

design

[@somtehigngenreic2669]

Simple and popularity are not mutual. A champ can be popular and simple: Lux. A champ can also be unpopular and difficult: Cassiopeia Popularity is usually decided by "is this champ viable", while simple and good design is static, unaffected by meta A design that is good can still make a champ that is unpopular. However if the design is good, all the champ need is a slight buff and people will be spamming that shit for easy lp, on top of people who already maining them, and make that champ appear everywhere. A design that is bad or unhealthy will always be a balance problem, either they will always be too weak to keep in check or absolutely broken in a single patch: Zeri, Kalista, Aphelios, Azir, Leblanc, Zed, Yummi,... Their inconsistency deter people from maining them, only leaving a small few degen that like to play handicaped to challenge themselve and win with a more difficult setting

[@person-pl5gt]

In midlane the more complicated champions are super high pickrate and the simple champs are very unpopular, especially as far as assassins are concerned. Simple mages like lux or veigar or ahri can still be pretty popular but stuff like yasuo/kat/sylas/zed/akali are always the most popular assassins In toplane it’s the opposite, Garen, darius, renekton, morde or whatever are far more popular than any 200 years champ

[@underlinehd16]

@@somtehigngenreic2669 what he said

[@Zoalde]

Today I learned that Zed does, in fact, not have any neutral game and can't just sit under turret waveclearing while also poking and not using mana.

[@G_Kchrst]

Yeah I didn't know that his double Q and E combo with Electrocute that take 2/3 of your health is not neautral gameplay. I mean, the only think he loses is cooldowns.

[@thepinkchicken247]

Punish him for his 20 second cd? Maybe.. dodge the second q? He’s melee with a 20 second cooldown trading pattern, the dog has an 8 second double q that does full damage even through minions.. not even a close comparison

[@Rigele100]

@@thepinkchicken247 yeah because naafiri Q have so much.. range...? sure

[@darklordgrif]

"A distinguishing trait of naafiri, and one that is shared with Zed, is that unlike most assassins she actually has some neutral game." Did all of you just mishear him?

[@flenyoo]

@@thepinkchicken247her range is much much lower as is her mobility in comparison, plus she uses mana, she is much more vulnerable, also zed can w e slow plus the q from the shadow fires at a much closer range to its target than naafiris so it’s much easier to land.. there’s a reason Zed is often played without flash since he is just that safe

[@Liger-Inuzuka]

Item changes and meta changes wouldn't influence popularity that much, because if a champion is beloved their popularity is a lot more stable. I'm not saying it won't change, I'm saying playrate/popularity just will fluctuate less. I played Naafiri since release, and begun to learn her new role just for her. I love assassins. Honestly, its her passive that is "secretly" frustrating and what I believe contribute to her low popularity. She seems inoffensive at first, but the more you learn her the more you realize her packmate passive is a finicky, sensitive, double-edge sword. It is all her damage, yet something you can not control the number of. There are countless weird interactions that are actually against Naafiri, that you have to play around adding an unseen layer of difficulty, while other champions' abilities just work as they are. All that effort the Naafiri has to put into her laning and passive control, another champion in her same role and class would just do the same job, if not better then with easier time learning it. Some examples: Tristana mid explodes packmates leading to perma pushing for her, as you lose wave clear in return. Malzhar poison leaps to packmates then to Naafiri automatically, leading to easy poke for Malzahar. Zilean bombs snap to the dogs, which then you can not dodge for also free poke. Her worst matchup is Irelia, who just uses the packmates as free leaps to Naafiri. Any AOE spell with enough AP can delete all the packmates, even in ult. Imagine using your ultimate at just the wrong time, and its just...deleted. Waste of a cooldown. The packmates flank Naafiri in formation, while cool as hell and can body block skillshots, mean you can not control walking into traps, activating Teemo Shrooms, Jhin traps, even resetting Malignance puddles as now your hitbox is not just Naafiri but Naafiri + 2/3 dog passives. Naafiri is super cool in thematic and fantasy, but the pack of dogs fantasy brings so many unforeseen, specific challenges that only come up when learning her, and in that frustration, a player is likely to drop her and play a reliable assassin AD mid that does her job minus all the intricacies. Riot advertised her as a "simple assassin" but I think it was false advertising haha.

[@doublereel-real]

She is 'simple' in that her kit is very straightforward. Her dogs are poorly implemented, not unintuitive imo. Perhaps they should make them deal less damage and give naafiri herself more power, since they're so gimmicky. Lean into them being a skillshot blocker or something. And I don't mean this as a damage buff or anything, more an adjustment of power from the passive to the base stats and stat growths.

[@minhducnguyen9276]

​@@doublereel-real Yeah . "Simple" and "complex" in League have different meanings. Some abilities have complexity in functions meaning they do a lot of things (like Akshan passive for example) but very simple usage, you just point and click. Then there are abilities with simple functions but complex usage because it's very situation dependent. Like Zed for example, his abilities can be boiled down to making him mobile and deal damage but how exactly you're gonna use them is not simple. Naafiri is also like that.

[@sz_b_zstechnix7523]

Make the dogs have collision against enemies, and apply a stacking slow with each strike that goes up to a surtain max, with the dogs scattering around and closing in the person uppon skillshot hit or connecting with her dash. She isn't the assasin by "i kill you fast enough that you can't use your cooldowns", but i very much can see her being the "I'm not letting you leave, cooldowns be damned" kind of asassin.

[@lyko555]

". Imagine using your ultimate at just the wrong time, and its just...deleted. Waste of a cooldown. " This is how WW's ult feels when the champ I use it against can just buffer their own CC and end my ult immediately, sometimes even locking WW in place in his own ult while they escape. I know it's not the same as what Naafiri has to go through but it's what that statement reminded me of.

[@lucashodges5134]

I seen what you did with the double a thing in the description mr. verum, and i deeply appreciate it

[@arkokroeger9799]

Ok, so let's dissect those points a bit: - It's true that Naafiri is very simple and in fact almost a bit too fair for her own good, but that's partially because she was intentionally designed as a beginner friendly assassin. - This is also why she gets this shield on her R and the Healing on her Q, because in low elo players are just in general way more straightforward. She can facetank usually the few hits that she is gonna take before bursting their enemies down. - It's true that she doesn't have much outplay potential, but her insane engage allows her to play usually outside of enemy threatbubbles until the enemy throws out an important counter ability, which makes playing her coming down to a test of patience. - I think Naafiri is overall less of a classical stat checker like mundo or garen but a class checker: if you have the wrong class, you are gonna die to her. Thats why I used her much during the ADC meta half an year ago.

[@thejestor9378]

Agreed.. against the right class target she does amazing. Put her against a tank and she is boned, artillery mage that gets initial engage boned, etc.. she needs the right class and setup.

[@reyalfa18]

imo it's a huge disservice to her entire kit, the fact that she needs to be extremely simple also makes it so that her passive is just floating extra damage numbers, it gives the appearance of being an important part of her kit but the wolves are basically just extra DoTs

[@leonardoneves6232]

I think it still fails, because low elo don't find her enjoyable. If a low elo wants to play a simple champion, they play another class, not assassin. The whole point of assassins is that you can cheat your way through micro and don't need to learn a lot about macro (for lower elos). Naafiri fails in this aspect and the whole problem is that she isn't appealing to low elo players like mordekaiser, garen, mf etc

[@justhair17]

@@thejestor9378 Even against an adc, who assassins supposed to counter, all you need is a support next to you with some peel and she cant do anything.

[@jackiswellCool]

Never thought of it but you're right, naafiri is the best beginner assassin and whilst she'll never make it in pro play she is great at low elo

[@BlackTheDog]

I legit only play her as a fighter/bruiser go conq with eclipse ,black cleaver, and shojin/stridebreaker and shes feels so much more fun to play imo

[@hoozoohleague8264]

Most AD assassins benefit from your build. The "classic" lethality build has no CDR. (Sorry, I mean HASTE). The build you mentioned barely compromises on damage, makes you tankier and able to spam spells.

[@PotatoSmasher420]

Same and even identical build. Feels hella strong. I play her toplane though

[@vraxo8953]

yeah me too. she can carry a lot harder building bruiser IMO

[@mendedwings6087]

Go comet instead, conq is a bait unless youre against full tank (in that case you shouldn't have locked in naafiri, but prob still go comet.) It has a much better path for her giving mana, CDR/bonus AD, and poke/scaling. Then you can take resolve to lean into that tanky playstyle, domination to if you still wanna cosplay an assassin, or just go yellow tree for more CDR and overall damage.

[@ТомаАндреев-х5у]

There is indeed no AP Serpent's Fang but Riot are sure to add AP Black Cleaver for the new season

[@Dethsoul]

Shadowflame used to be that item, sort of. Granted magic pen if the enemy recently gained a shield.

[@sekira4516]

@@Dethsoul but it was flat magic pen not percentage and it also didnt even remove the shield so it was worthless for it's supposed purpose

[@Gamer9o]

I LOVE how riot is pushing A SHIELD for every champion ...... BUT we have no f way to counter it xD gj riot ... also yeah shadowflame sucked ... there is champs who get temporary like 1k shields .... and you are there like " here have littlebit pene ... its ok"

[@PhailRaptor]

They could also just give the MR drain back to Abyssal Mask instead...

[@Yokai_Yuri]

AP is easily countered by barriers. Even if you are a 1.4 Ap veigar and they have a Lulu, Milio or someone else in the enemy team that can provide barrier, your damage is pretty low and you'd take at best 50% of their hp. AD have serpent fangs or champs like renekton.

[@D0P3ST]

I was hyped for Naafiri before release, and I always thought she would have worked better as a full Diver or Bruiser. When she first got released and he E was the best first max, she felt pretty good to build Bruiser in top lane. She would be stepping on Yorick’s toes, but that could be addressed with making the dogs or Yorick’s ghouls deal magic damage or something, and overall would likely find her a better audience.

[@Naafirious]

As one of the only high elo otp Naafiris I agree with literally every point. Literally insane how low her playrate is for being one of the newer champs. Her rework is soon to be though and Im hyped!

[@lueroifan12]

dont think they will change much tho, kinda like how they changed swain

[@SuperShieldon]

I think her W would benetit from a press-and-hold mechanic in terms of skill expression, where you'd only dash if you keep the key down for the entire 3/4 of a second, if not it just goes on cooldown normally maybe at a reduced cd

[@Anony12345]

Saw this vid as soon as I started playing her again

[@Kevbo349]

Same literally just started taking her to the jungle with ghost

[@Darkloid21]

I feel like to cap off how easy she is to read, her only engage tool has a GIANT red line showing where she’s going, so it’s easy to stop her and to know where she’s going. Like you said with Rengar and Kha you can’t tell where they’re going to go or where they’re coming from. Couple that with assassins like Leblanc who are either so fast or mobile your reactions don’t matter or hit so hard even a dodge still chunks you and it’s easy to see how Naafiri falls short.

[@justhair17]

Yeah, she is just so easy to counter. She cant even oneshot an adc, because a support will just cc her while she is jumping on the adc. And while even Rengar is relatively easy to outplay if you just hug your teammates, at least he has stealth on ult, so you don't exactly know where he is or when he is going to jump, so you have to be on edge until the ult is on

[@RatedManatee]

As a toplaner who only plays Fighters, having a good fighter pick in the midlane has made her one of my most picked. Her being simple is also nice for someone outside his lane.

[@Duothimir]

I don't remember her being marketed at all, her cinematic just kind of came and went and then Naafiri dropped and then BRIAR BRIAR BRIAR BRIAR BRIAR

[@ericmantovani1835]

She had a ot of marketing, they even distributed daggers to streamers.

[@Duothimir]

@ericmantovani1835 I somehow missed all of it. But seriously nobody cared once Briar showed up.

[@lavandalavada4228]

Nah, there was a 2 month gap between Briar and Naafiri

[@khaeyaz]

I love how Vars needs to hate on Yone even in a video that is not about him.

[@tokofukawap4055]

Yone is overloaded

[@blazichaos7181]

PTYD, post traumatic Yone Disorder, its a horrible mental issue and you should look out for love ones who suffer a yone panic attack!

[@Yokai_Yuri]

@@tokofukawap4055 Overloaded is an understatement.

[@mecha37000fighter]

Yone is so easy to beat tho. Yas is way more BS

[@atsukana1704]

Another thing that is really odd about naafiri is that she is actually a scaling assassin. Late game she hits very hard and is far more dangerous than she is early on. There usually isn’t that much aoe on assassin kits but thanks to her q she can actually pop teams pretty hard if she plays her cards right. Now rengar is a late game assassin as well but he does not suffer from any delay on oneshotting someone once you reach that point. Meanwhile naafiri gices you a few seconds to prepare

[@surice8928]

While thats true, one thing i noticed while playing her is that she snowballs monstruosly well, but she sucks without a gold advantage, especially un lategame when she cant poke with q before engaging, at least not in a teamfight

[@dylanhelvetios2300]

Rengar isn't a late game champ. His passive bonus AD isn't an extra but a NEED that he gotta complet to not fall off unlike stuff like Veigar or Kassadin who can chill all earlyand mid game and still become monsters in late game.

[@justhair17]

@@surice8928 Yeah, unless she is very ahead, she feels kinda useless. Even as an adc player, Im not particularly scared if I see naafiri, even though assassins are an adcs nightmare

[@surice8928]

@justhair17 More than anything, she sucks at teamfighting, so if your team doesnt exploit the advantage of you being full build at 20 minutes cause you snowballed eventually the enemies are gonna get their items and absolutely destroy you

[@dylanhelvetios2300]

@@surice8928 depend on VS who. She got good hit and run poke with her Q and E compared to other assassins like Talon or Zed(who have too much cd on his W for it.) But vs a team who out range her then yes she feel hopeless...

[@revoltagamer8509]

Naafiri's Q, her main source of lane pressure and only form of ranged damage feels clunky and bad to use, she has close to zero skill expression and has long cooldowns, which leads to awkward moments in teamfights where you burst someone down and have to wait 12s for her W to realistically gapclose again. Pretty much the opposite of what you want from an assassin.

[@ConZedtration]

The female dog is one of the very few hyper carry mid lane assassin's she does so much dmg, mobile, and first-hit abilities can't do much against her

[@strongerthanever2039]

If riot were to rework Naafiri into the fantasy Vars suggested I would love to main her! It sounds so cool!

[@Naafirious]

Also the best way to look at Naafiri is as an AD mage and not an assassin which as you said contrasts her whole kit design purpose

[@GameBreaker1055]

Naafiri is one of those weird hald/half champions. Champions that are designed to be one class, but harbor a lot of mechanics more akin to a different one. She is an assassin with a fighter kit. Nocturne is somewhat similar, as his kit is designed to all-in, sustain and attack a lot. That he works as an assassin is more tied to the sheer numbers on his Q than the rest. K'Sante is a tank that is actually a fighter and with his combat healing, so is Zac really.

[@andrescd9327]

It's funny how I deadass forgot this champion existed. I remember champions that came out while I was taking a break from League, but Naafiri came out when I was actively playing and I forgot about her existence until I saw this video today.

[@PanRawr]

I love her to death, but I absolutely get what you're saying. Part of the issue I imagine is that they were initially wanting her to be a beginner-friendly jungle assassin, and then they hard-swerved away from it while leaving her kit basic and friendly. It's what people look at as the Talon problem of being too-honest of an assassin, but unlike Talon who rotates, like you said, she's only really good as a counter pick when any other assassin would do just fine.

[@SL-zj9bb]

pretty sure naaf rotates too and can roam just as fine

[@jackiswellCool]

I love naafiri jungle, she's my favourite champion that has been released in the last 5 years and I feel like everyone else is just missing out

[@Uelibertiga]

Honest question. Why are you not playing nocturne instead? I feel like they have the same identity, but nocturne is better at diving with his ult.

[@alexandersokolov2567]

Any of your usual builds to play her jungle?

[@psychocat2607]

Currently playing Naafiri in the jungle, with a bruiser build. Atm, I have 16 win, 0 loss. I honestly believe bruiser build fit her better with a hit and run playstyle than full assassin. I personally find her gameplay super fun to play with a lot of versatility to adapt to enemy comp. Hard to get counter as much as a Rengar. She can play slow and she can all in. Of course, her apparent simplicity and the fact that shes a dog doesnt help her popularity. But she do be strong atm, in the jungle at least.

[@food7479]

Naafiri only and I mean only gets picked when I play Blitzcrank. Dunno why, but the second I pick him she manifests into existance.

[@oriweiss8043]

Give her the option to use W during her ANIMATION and if she is dashing in more then 180.dg. she will be able to exit the dash from her E (or even buffer the W into a quick assassination).

[@mikavandrunen6275]

Thank you for the double a-thing in the description of the video Vars ♥!

[@thorne3648]

These videos talk about issues with champions yet you do it so unbiased and well that it's actually how I grew interested in my most played Champs (kayle, kled, rakan, and now naafiri probably) incredible videos. Now we just need one for my first main, fizz lol

[@_l-_-l_]

"Unbiased" Unless its yone.

[@omarmourad2254]

And this, my friends, is why you play bruiser Naafiri.

[@captainmurphy4949]

Nah those dogs make her so much more interesting than the very simple kit she’s been given

[@Phaxlie]

Tekken music is a nice touch

[@k00ij]

If only naafiri could ewgf

[@Skyshadow1]

Thats why rengar falls off so hard in late game if hes not extremely ahead. His ulty gives out warning to all the map, usually late game teams are grouped, so their cc is grouped also. Your options are either splitpush or wait for an enemy softie mistake.

[@Yanataa]

A scaling assassin sounds awesome. Landing constant daggers and getting kills with them increases packmates in ult? And make her W an assured lock on where it can't be body blocked and she might be awesome to play along with that insane amount of packmates overwhelming you kind of fantasy she displayed on her trailers!

[@ExiledSummoner]

I just want to say I love this video series. This and the, "why everyone plays".

[@lolxdlolmfaololxdd8879]

naafiri being simple and easy is needed because she’s meant for new players to try out the assassin role

[@airbots4789]

Naafiri jungle definitely felt like the best way to play her. Naafiri was the first champ i gained in the jungle, until it eventually got nerfed into oblivion. Now she has the problems already stated. But her kind of confused personality between diver and assassin worked really well when you were specifically ganking an enemy. Punishing an over extended mage always felt amazing, but now you don't have the positioning to really do that, unless you're roaming back from a gank bot or top, which tends to be rare.

[@xXlizamaXx]

I love Naafiri, I will never stop playing her, I will singlehandely raise that popularity percentage by 0.1%

[@adcyuumi]

Naafiri built to get her ultimate back online quickly is a different animal than the one people usually see/play. All that ability haste also makes her Q and E spammable within even shorter fights, and it makes her E into a useful "engage then escape" tool. Assassin players are used to going for maximum burst, but that's not how Naafiri operates. She's much more of a harassment champion, built to stand and fight you like a bruiser or fighter might. Except thanks to her short cooldown E, able to get away from the enemy team after killing you.

[@mr.vagomaestro1035]

I love how Vars never misses an opportunity to hate on Yone

[@ngirimc]

Hey vars! Love your content. I picked up Naafiri a while after she was released, after most of the rebalances and immediately went on a rampage. For me she does play like a diver, but not quite in the way you described. She's more of a punisher, using her daggers to farm safely then using W to engage. I also only use E to recall the wolves after having them stack ignite on a target so they don't die. I should clarify I usually play her mid, where chanpions tend to have a weak exposed state and use a lot of abilities to farm.

[@rydekk-4644]

First minute in; Riot is more careful since 2023 AND THEN THEY RELEASED AMBESSA WHO SCREAMS OVERLOADED.

[@KushKoi]

Naafiri sounds like a demacian with how fair she sounds lol 11:20

[@justhair17]

Yeah, cuz Garen or Vayne are known as very fair champs

[@minhnguyenphanhoang4193]

​@@justhair17 Garen is a fair champ, he only has 1 move. Either you olay around him or you are dumb enough to tank his hold rotation. Vayne is fair since her invisibility is an ultimate - she still needs to auto and of an assassin focuses her, she will just evaporate

[@justhair17]

@@minhnguyenphanhoang4193 nah, both are definitely outplayable with clear weaknesses, but it isnt exactly fair

[@rischmoller1]

I think is interesting to see that most of her play likely comes from a bruiser jungle build

[@hozimina]

She used to be too good, until they added minion mods onto Q she could just 1-shot minions.

[@Weerknuffelbeer]

Despite her being one of the few assassins with a neutral game I still feel like she's a jungler shoehorned into midlane. Naafiri's biggest advantage is her extremely long ranged reliable engage that is offset somewhat by the dash having a fairly long channel time. Where does her engage being telegraphed not nearly matter as much as in mid? That's right, the jungle. Only problem there is her rather slow first clear. Many people also just don't use her to her full potential, Hail of Blades has INSANE value on her because her puppers' AS fully scales with her own AS (and pup attacks don't consume HoB charges) but it's almost never used.

[@MyNameIsZelo]

Meanwhile waiting on when Naafiri will be good in the jungle with those promised jungle buffs from way back when.

[@NoLuckJustSkill1337]

Her Dogs blocking skillshots and her E, a small dash which jumps over walls on Low Cooldown makes her actually kinda ok for disengage in my opinion.

[@hypergiantstar1834]

7:40 imagining him saying it a second time while staring at a low elo player that thinks naafiri is impossible to deal with

[@devilkingaming4619]

She does pretty okay building like a fighter/skirmisher.

[@p.gy.7597]

Vars is so good, he knew that today I was just thinking about how forgotten this champ is. I have forgotten this champ since it came out.

[@idontknowwhattous3]

The best thing the balance team can do for Naafiri is just full commit her to the Diver class

[@dtxas1]

As a Naafiri main, that plays her in jungle, top and mid, i almost always player her bruiser, unless i really need that quick burst before they lock me down. If they want to make her assassin, they need to either give her a brief invis after a kill in her ult, or w refresh, because it's a telegraphed one way ticket jump, where you either die or get a kill and try to walk away, since you can't catch anyone else, unless you have a stridebreaker as w will be at 15s cd remaining.

[@jonathanabgrall6075]

I'd be playing her a lot if she was able to Jungle. Making her a mid was likely Riot's mistake, gonna sound a bit stereotypical but i do think people who main specific lanes like specific champ archetypes. And for mid its either mages or cool anime-style assassins. Junglers like to play as monsters, tops as brawlers, ADC duh and support either tanky bois or enchanters as they're the closest thing to a "healer" in League. I really think reworking her into a jungler would benefit her immensely as she'd likely find more of a playerbase among them, specially since accessible AD Assassins are pretty few in the role.

[@trymbruset3868]

I would love to see them pivot her to a AD drain fighter by moving numbers around. Make shojin and Steraks core items, more tanky small dogs that have a life steal boost when you ult. Increase base stats, decrease scaling and add one more thing in terms of defense. Make it about casting, preventing the small dogs from getting picked off and have them do most of the work while you worry primarily about positioning and engage dogs with Q/disengage dogs with E dynamic. Lean into the "Better Yorick" angle

[@GlowyVelvetCake]

I don't know why no one plays Naafurry but no one playing her makes me very happy

[@EzOddz]

Actual furries play sett and nasus but they don't see themselves that when then why actually are

[@shamrockgaming9505]

​@@EzOddz actual furry here, naafiri is extremely attractive and anyone that doesn't admit that isn't a real furry

[@firetehfox5764]

Im actually a furry who does play Naafurry and ngl she is alright but there are times were you feel like you’re doing nothing, tbh Ill still play her because she just cool sucks she not good

[@acidthewolf2242]

@@shamrockgaming9505 Bro what?

[@shamrockgaming9505]

@@acidthewolf2242 tell me the voice isn't bad af, not warwick or kindred levels of hot, but the voice makes it

[@zenjoysusanoo9402]

1:50, theres a REALLY simple solution. If ranged -> item passive weaker OR none at all.

[@TheVibeDalai]

This is the 3rd champ this week alone that i didnt know existed. Ksante and aurora are the other 2

[@DillonMeyer]

I've been playing Naafiri a lot this week and been finding mostly only success. Matches that are mostly slaughters with 10 or more kills as either Mid or Top lane, with the best this week being closer to 20. First item Cyclosword due to its lower price and high value, with more often than not, Synchro Soles fully built before it. The main ban is Singed because not only is he hard for her to fight in general due to his grounded effect stopping half her kit, but he passively can just kill the dogs which is a major source of her damage and farming potential. The main playstyle I've been going for is roaming assassin after hard shoving the wave a few times. She has a kit designed around getting over obstacles and onto a single unit very quickly, which is perfect for an assassin. Her ultimate reveals enemies with true sight, so characters that could normally escape or hide like Akali are now at disadvantage, and also grants her a great boost in movespeed AND restores all her dogs + gives her extra ones increasing her total damage. Because we have Soles, we generally move faster than the rest of the map and can outrun them to get in range to W. If you need to run away, you have tools for that as well. Her second Q on the same champion target heals her based on her own AD, not the damage, meaning you can hit a tank and heal for it without having any of it be mitigated. It also does this heal multiple times if multiple champions are hit at once. She is an assassin that's allowed to fight from mid range safely, engage from far away, excels in close range, and escape fairly easily or even turn a chase into her own due to the healing. Very fun and I am surprised not as many people play her, because she IS strong.

[@revyrev28]

She was one of the champs that were getting changed like with theswain update but we never heard anything more since june

[@AzureFides]

I love to see Riot tries different things than making a “popular" Yasuo 2.0 K’sante and ambessa. If the champion offers a new way to play or a different flavor that is already a success.

[@koenyboy500]

Lovin the "Moonlit Wilderness" soundtrack from Tekken

[@jonathanbatista7481]

I played her bruiser top and did well. She takes bit to ramp up since she is squishy, but black cleaver into stride breaker and round it out with steraks and shojin and she hangs with the best of them. Most top laners can't answer her in lane if she plays like a mage until she has health. Runes are what you'd run for a scalling bruiser top. Conqueror primary and resolve secondary with the health scaling per minion kills. I hope you try it out in a norm and share your thoughts. It's fun.

[@JoniJiro22222]

Idk if I agree with this video. I spent a few months learning naafiri and watching Raveydemon. He takes ghost (or used to) that stacks with his ult move speed making him impossible to run from and he applies neutral in the team fight and forcing them to use disengage or peel tools before he even uses his W and then he has a 100% window to jump in. I think Naafiri is just a niche play style but by no means a bad champion. She also has so much cool and weird tech with her dogs like blocking skill shots or getting vision with them by spreading them with blast cones.

[@ametrinel]

Shes honestly a pretty good bruiser ngl. I wish that, in her upcoming rework, they keep the assasin fantasy, since shes suppsoed to be the 'easy' ad midlane assasin, but they also take into account how she also plays as a bruiser well, sometimes even ebtter than an assasin. My proposed changes is making it so dog's hp scales with ur max hp and they heal you a portion of your max hp to incentivise logner fights and keeping them alive

[@SovGary]

She is one of my three mains and i love using her, in the top lane i feel dominant enough on her without geeling broken

[@Talito999]

You sound like the guy who made a video cooking "Tapatío" and i cannot unhear it.

[@leviburton2467]

I truly love this champion and think she is fine the way she is. If you know how to set up ganks, the red line on the w doesn't matter all that much. I think she does a good job of introducing you to the assassin archetype so when you go to another assassin its a bit easier to do. There are plenty of mechanics in the game where you see where an assassin is going, for example, Akali E marks the target with a shuriken above their head. What makes Akali and others like her so hard to deal with is they have more burst damage while Nafiri is more of a poke type champion.

[@leviburton2467]

Though if I was to change anything about her, it would be how the pack follows her. I would have them spawn in an area around Nafiri. Like a pack of wolves that are stalking their prey. They still attack on Q mark and retreat on E cast, and honestly I'd rework W to allow you to move one of the wolves around the map to have a bit of scouting ability. With R still calling 8 of them to you and changing your w to allow you to dash to a target with a reduced cooldown for more engage.

[@matiasaleo5498]

Naafiri is my favorite midlane champ. I really like her playstyle, and it's kinda sad that she's so unpopular. I mean, demon dog with a lot of blades and a cool cinematic was reeeeeally fire. I encounter funny to use, because oneshooting a ADC with a band of rabid dogs of hell it's always cool... but yeah, she could be better. If the enemy team have a way to stop your W you're forced to build Edge of Night, and that even doesn't work sometimes. But I hope she doesn't get fully reworked, throwing her daggers (although I have horrible aim to throw them) and landing W + E to kill the enemy it's always good.

[@MissChambersxo]

I honestly think it’s because she’s quite simple with not that much depth compared to other assassins. I’ve mained Akali ever since her rework and I still find new ways to approach fights, and there’s so many cool tips and tricks and things you can do as that champ. Same deal with like Kat, LB, Zed, Yone, hell even Talon has a lot of different ways to approach a fight. Which lends themselves to being champs you can play for tons of games and still be learning new things and having fun. You don’t see massive mastery point Naafiris like you do with every other assassin, or hell even some mages like Ahri Zoe or Syndra. By contrast, as Naafiri, you don’t really have that crazy mobility and outplay potential, and from the few games I’ve played with her as someone who loves assassins it’s a bit like… I R then, then W into someone, land the Q, then save E for escape or maybe to gapclose again if the R move speed doesn’t do it. It’s very samey and there’s also not much of a fun ‘see you later’ option like you get when you R2 out as Akali, or pop back as Zed or LB. She’s a simple assassin kind of to a fault.

[@ashwinhalepet7487]

I would love that mechanic of more and more dogs spawning on kills, but I don't know if the client could handle that many entities (specifically where they would attack if they glitch on each other). I think the only way to do that would be to change the dog AIs to be able to split up and attack all surrounding entities and I don't have enough faith in riot to be able to change her that much without causing SO many bugs.

[@TopCurls]

I do actually love playing her like a bruiser. Still eclipse, always eclipse, but Hexplate for more ults and chase, Black Cleaver for dog shred, Sundered to sustain for longer fights. It’s definitely worse but it feels so much more right to me

[@hqhuy931]

i saw naafiri like once or twice and only when she just came out. she feels like a more stat-checky talon with less of his tempo that unironically makes him more complex despite relatively easier skillshots. as an adc/artillery mage player, she was a godsend and an advantage whenever played in an enemy team. if they don't plan on reworking her to be more darkin-like, perhaps a pivot to being a full-on stat checker like a garen-level assassin for beginners could really work in her favor. In the current iteration she's either turbo broken in high elo for laning or (no pun intended) dogshit everywhere.

[@The5lacker]

I feel like Naafiri's role is her biggest problem: there's a reason Yorick, the only other champion with such a focus on minions of their own, is a Fighter, and that's because commanding a force of small support units who exclusively deal damage over time kinda pushes you to needing sustainability. I feel like pushing her more towards a bruiser-diver will put her in a healthier state overall. Something like Vi, where you just fling yourself into the backline and shred knowing full well you have no escape, and just hope you can survive until the end of the fight.

[@sakalaath]

I reaally enjoyed the video Vaars!

[@TigerKirby215]

There's two ways I could see them taking Naafiri: 1. Make her work like Phantom Lancer from DOTA 2. Every few hits (not RNG b/c League doesn't like RNG unlike DOTA) a dog will spawn, and the max cap (both with and without ult) is increased overall. Turn the dogs doing a Get Down Mr. President into an intended feature (not just "a nice bonus") and rebalance her kit around that. Make it so when she uses her Q it summons dogs on every (non-minion) target hit, and instead of just getting a second knife afterwards you can swap places with one of the dogs for a few seconds like LeBlanc. This gives her engage more counterplay (dodge dagger so you don't get dashed on) and can also rebalance her sustain in lane so she has to teleport and hit a champion for the lifesteal (if she HAS to have lifesteal because "something something Darkin.") Give her a new W and E that can be used to both for offense and defense: basically give her Phantom Lancer's W (become untargetable for a few seconds, all summons reappear in area you mini-dashed to) and a new E. Can keep her ult the same. 2.Rework Naafiri into a Fighter / Diver. Keep all her abilities more-or-less the same (maybe give her some CC instead of her current W) but buff her health and decrease her damage. Rework passive so that it gets more dogs as you fight for longer, serving as the bulk of her DPS and keeping to her Darkin identity of wanting to take drawn out fights. Either way Naafiri has a more defined role as a character who's strengthened by long fights. Either she's an assassin who can snowball off one kill with her pack or she's a bruiser who gets stronger as you fight her.

[@acidthewolf2242]

Oh god please no, we don't need a cancer lancer in LoL

[@liucanthewhitewolf1198]

hubris is another problem item in her in which if she gets advantage with it, just pressing 2 buttons R+target dash can kill instantly, inf scaling champions are a problem and now they make items like that.

[@Talthain]

I love Naafri and think she is overall in a good position. I currently love playing her mid and jung. Through your vid I learned terms I did not know or have words for but I agree that her "neutral "is strong. I love to pick at opponents with her Q ( I find the bleed dmg and packmates along with the scorch rune is effective ). She is a simple champ but he has some nuances. I love her pack mates. while not intentional they have saved me by body blocking for me when running away.

[@Rickkhry]

How to fix: make E give her 2s of invisibility that is canceled only by auto or using Q. E can have lower cooldown too or have cooldown reset by hitting 2 Q's Or make her a lane bully again, revert all nerfs 12:10 that would he cool if it was stacking like veigar passive but based on champion takedowns/ epic monsters/ every 6 minions

[@Growvilye500]

Naafiri is the only assassin champion I play as she's the only one to ever be enjoyable for me. Being my third overall main, below MF and Neeko. Also love how her eternals motivate me to dodge skillshots with E instead of walking to the side lo.

[@doodles8748]

She was made with the idea of players learning to play assassin. She's supposed to be the noob starter of assassins for players. In her dev blog talking about Naafiri, they even explain while they want her to be assassin noob friendly, they wanted her to be very readable for the noob players going against her, so they can learn how to read assassins. But they made her too fair/readable. You know when shes gonna throw out q, you know when she's gonna dash on you and have enough time to prepare for it, unless you're just a immobile squishy mage. You know exactly what she's gonna do, and all her animations are super readable. She has no escape tool for when she jumps on you, so when she jumps on you, she HAS to kill you, or the enemy team just shows up and blows her up. It's definitely weird to say, but she's just too fair. They made her too noob friendly for the players, and the enemy.

[@Иван-к9ь1у]

She's a counter to skillshot-based champs. Any champ with hook gets tilted in the champ select upon seeing naafiri.

[@synkro234]

Funny enough, note I am a casual player I don't play ranked really at all and haven't tried to climb in years, I play league every now and then, and Naafiri is the entire reason why, I absolutely love her voice, skins, lore, gameplay, I just want to play her whenever I play, she just FEELS good to play to me, smooth combo risk and reward, I just usually try to make up for the lack of conventional assassin strength of stealth and speed by taking a talon mindset, approach from unconventional angles and blind side enemies as chaos breaks out, my ult and w make it easy to close gaps over surprisingly large walls so I usually have some success in jump scaring and mauling Squishies. I know these don't save or justify her weaknesses, but I just absolutely love her flaws and all, and if they reworked her I don't know what I'd do, id pray she wouldn't get as drastically changes as another character I used to love playing, Aurelion Sol.

[@placek7253]

when i play naafiri i build her as a skirmisher so ye, vid checks out

[@nathanielskinner6868]

Naafiri is one of my top picks when I get mid lane. That being said, I feel this commentary a lot. Her w and ult just dont make the impact they advertise. Her w does less or no damage if it gets body blocked. There also seems to be a weird partial second of lag from when her w makes contact to when you can fire your first q, and as Vars mentions the target isnt locked down so you have to potentially reaim your q mid strike. The ult is the worst part though. It has a small delay/channel before the vision and speed boost kick in. It is very much a preattack move, not a react move. Once you are in a team fight it really doesnt help. I tend to save it for getaway or chasing, but its not good at either of those. Her favorite condition is an attack from fog, but that doesn't happen as often as it would seem on paper.

[@amirashtari4721]

Love the tekken 5 theme in the background

[@CalaTec]

I mean the problem of AP assassin items that could be exploited by mages also happens with Ad items meant for assassins. To be precise, lethality items exploited by ADCs or fighters, thus why most assassin items are rubbish, because other roles were abusing them.

[@jaredolsen5143]

A couple things to fix her would be too make her pack targetable in her w, so they get hit first. Still makes her vulnerable to piercing CC and damage. Alternatively, give her Rengar's, Kha's, and Akali's ability to use a skill during W, so she can cancel or buffer her first Q. Really, she just has minimal outplay on either end. If the enemy has a counter, she loses, and her lack of disengage or evasion goes counter to standard assassin design.