Why NO ONE Plays: Nilah | League of Legends

[@raystimphil8280]

Nilah's biggest problem is that rather than giving her a base kit that fits Botlane and let her be her own thing, they used her passive to jerry-rig her into a role she doesn't fit in, and if you try to build her the way that is intuitive given her kit, you are punished by her unique scalings.

[@shadenym5094]

That was the whole point of the champion lol, they wanted a skirmisher marksman. Obviously it would've been much simpler if they wanted to just make her another bruiser

[@kevingriffith6011]

IMO the biggest problem with her is that they designed her to be a late game scaling hyper-carry. If they made her strong early/mid and had her fall off late then I think she'd work out just fine, but she's got to compound her inability to farm effectively without taking damage with her terrible early game. She'd make a great bridge to the world of skirmisher botlaners, which is something we need if Riot is going to keep putting marksmen in top/mid/jungle.

[@D00ML0RD1]

​@@shadenym5094 the problen is they took the turning into a bot laner super hard on her scalling but dint give her a kit that plays nice with most supports. H She also is the only bot laner that can get flat hard coutered by picks. Cait+ poke support shut her down period theres no plating it dafe to get through your just fed

[@shakeemsymonds7362]

My main issue is how team dependent she feels. I don't feel comfortable playing her into a melee comp where we need range, into a selfish support (lux/zyra/brand) because you don't get any extra healing to deal with poke, and I hate playing her with poke comps because you get cc'd and die the second you engage for your team.

[@oishiich.4814]

On paper she would have been a great jungler too but all of those tailored jerry rig scalings just make her so bad at anything but ADC, and even then.

[@raduraiescu2477]

The thing that let Nilah keep all the broken parts of her kit is the fact that no one plays her

[@D00ML0RD1]

Exept nothing in her kit is actully broken. Her xp seems busted but it barely makes up for the fact she can be forced of her farm Her heal powerup req certain supports to work Her q dmg requires 4 items before its a threat Her dash seems op but really arnt do to her atk ranges shes either in there or not Her Dodge has a high cd and dosnt last long And her ults is her 1 way outside of items to self heal and scales off the number of enemys it hits. Ya she has probaly one of the strongest late games but even that has its counterplay. Her cit scale locks her i to subpar items for her playstyle

[@beigaming8403]

2.5 second/longer than jax e = doesn't last long@@D00ML0RD1

[@joaobrito2653]

@@D00ML0RD1her W is absolutely a broken ability and so is her Q. Have you read her Q ability? That shit is overloaded as fuck, and I’m a Nilah player myself. And it doesn’t require 4 items before it’s a threat, it’s already a threat at 1 item. Most people just don’t even know what the champ does and also max the wrong ability first. You are supposed to max E first but most people max q because they can’t read

[@D00ML0RD1]

@@joaobrito2653 ive played her shes git no dmg tell wat larer out aide of a vert good matchup she loses lane

[@phanthanhlam6612]

​@@D00ML0RD1lol just because a champ have counterplay does not mean they are balance, by your logic then every champ is balance then, none of them has ever been broken because they all have counter, CHAMPS THAT CONSIDER UNBALANCE BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO GOOD IN WHAT THEY DO. she only need 2 items to be a threat, 4 item above is like omega threat, her Q is overloaded as f*ck. Her W effect is insane, and her ult is a super ult, it's not the healing that make it strong, it's the fact that her ult is a gigantic zone that group enemy in one place for a wombo combo set up, her ult is one of those ult that just strange up win the combat for you if you land a good one

[@oneofthe12sionmains70]

They have a champ with melee range, fast autos, multiple dashes, high turret damage, a skirmisher type of defensive W and a high damage sustain ult. They took that champ and decided she wouldn’t do damage with her Q or have sustain unless you built crit then also decided that she only has a passive if you force her ADC. Rito did what they always do with champs that go outside the role they “belong” in except this time her “role” was so incongruous with her kit they had to destroy her other roles before she even launched

[@HSE331]

Good. No other lane wants to face something as disgusting as that. She makes Vayne look tame.

[@Taeyeon89]

@@HSE331if you’re gold peak maybe

[@HSE331]

@@Taeyeon89 Don't care. Champs don't have to be OP to be nasty to play against. Look at Illaoi and kangsante.

[@MangaGamified]

That's why Valve always has the better philosophy in 'carry' roles, BKB & Satanic makes sure they can do something² in a teamfight other than dying. ²by context.

[@AnonimoUno-i4p]

she is perfect fo the Laneswap meta G2 is trying to push in

[@Mmoll1990]

Yone players can take what they know and apply it directly to the uninstall button.

[@jadenmoon5065]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@williamfphelps]

Caught me off guard! 😂

[@pengdaw2nd]

Wild Rift completely axes her bonus EXP passive and changes her bonus heal and shield passive to just lifesteal based on crit, akin to Nasus, so she can actually get good value out of an engage support, plus, Wild Rift only need 4 items for 100% crit chance instead of 5, so Nilah gets going faster, and she has the option of building stuff like Guardian Angel or something. Funnily enough this also lets her thrive in the Jungle, I have no idea why.

[@ZedCoal-ul6qm]

They Axed Jungle Nilah, she deals reduced damage to monsters now 😅

[@blazichaos7181]

Honestly, Kinda interested in Vars doing a video on some of the changes some champs get in Wild rift compared to their PC counterparts. Ive seen a few that are apparently pretty different, like Teemo having a combat roll. Might be interesting to contemplate the changes in design and how it might effect League if they ported said changes over (its not 100% of course, a mobile game HAS to have vastly different controls compared to a normal PC game but still would be an interesting analysis)

[@ervinmendoza5939]

You can jungle nilah it just takes more time to get going

[@roboxenogaming2047]

​@@blazichaos7181 would agree with that too, but we will definitwly need to wait

[@gyrozeppeli00]

wildrift is an entirely different game with different balancing so something that works on mobile maybe wont on pc, see: pyke wildrift for example, he is whatever in the real league but with training wheels on, everyone has nightmares about him

[@Shimadacat]

The issue is that Nilah is balanced around her passive, which gives bonus XP. This means the rest of her kit must be designed around the fact that she is *intended* to miss minions and XP. Remove the bonus xp passive, and suddenly you free up the rest of her kit to give more; more range, longer counterstrike, more damage, etc.

[@P.H691]

The fun part is figuring out what replaces her passive.

[@Shimadacat]

@@P.H691 Indeed a fun challenge, but you could literally have the bonus shielding and healing passive as a full passive. Don't forget she gets that on top of her bonus XP, LOL. Honestly, were I the one designing a melee ADC (this next part's a ton of yapping because I'm into game design, you can ignore it), I would have made a character, something like a hunter, with a bow and a knife, prioritizing skillshot auto attacks as your ranged attack, and who could slowly close in on a target to deliver an executing blow with a melee attack. Now this is, in a sense, not a truly melee range character, but let's be real--melee ADCs don't work in the current bot lane meta. You would need to rework the entire lane if you wanted something like that to be fair.

[@vo1ce147]

Welp if I learn something from nilah wild rift just make her passive to be the current passive on her Q (lifesteal on crit) plus old bt and there you go nilah just out of botlane and become mid / top / junggler, on top of that wild rift still have 25% crit rate so yeah she better in wild rift as non botlane.

[@luiz_aso]

@@Shimadacat you just described Samira LOL

[@allykat5931]

Or jayce​@@luiz_aso

[@AirWeezy]

Ya as a nilah main you right I even feel unstoppable with a soraka or sona support

[@Aaron-cs3xl]

Nothing is quite as fun as duoing as Soraka with Nilah

[@robinwallace5019]

I prefer taric have fun trying to kill that

[@vergilrose851]

imo yuumi is even more fun

[@dicorockhimself]

i also love the Nami/Nilah

[@ender4101]

Ironically, Nilah is my comfort pick for adc. I usually feel vulnerable and not very strong with conventional marksmen.

[@munchiemunchie5226]

It feels like everything you can get from Nilah, you get from Samira but better.

[@Astonthepunk]

@@munchiemunchie5226I prefer nilah’s macro test more than Sam’s micro tests. She’s just easier to execute compared to Sam while still getting good results

[@SaiKisaragi]

Ironically, every time I play her, I just die. I just feel really vulnerable and uncomfortable with Nilah c:

[@ender4101]

@@munchiemunchie5226 I did try Samira beforehand. She is fun, but I didn't enjoy her as much.

[@ender4101]

@@SaiKisaragi That's a shame. She's really a blast. Weird to get used to, but for me, the effort was definitely worth it.

[@antarath517]

It tends to lead to the most atrocious 1-6 grind, but Nilah/Renata is insane once you both hit your 6 spike. Suddenly you've got the most insane engage and peel and you start getting big damage too.

[@noishfanboy1141]

As someone who has been the Renata on a nilah Renata bot duo I will say that you are right. Early game is quite miserable but holy shit when you as Renata get your peel and when nilah gets to scale it's actually ridiculous. All of Renata's abilities are designed around being able to help an incredibly powerful auto attacking carry and nilah is basically the pinnacle of that in the lategame.

[@abaren730]

I would like to also suggest Nilah/Yuumi. 1-3 is unplayable but it’s surprisingly hard for damage to stick after first back. At 6 you become basically a bruiser and once Yuumi gets Moonstone you’re actually unkillable. Main downside being acknowledging that Yuumi exists, but it’s pretty fun to face roll into a full team with 0 life steal and come out with full health and 3+ kills.

[@pasztesnik]

The best support with nilah is sona. that healing from w is insane and super combo from ults

[@molloch5995]

Nilah swain is also very fun. Exspecially if swain builds unending despair. Just chill beside him in the ult and you basically habe a perma heal for each other.

[@dicorockhimself]

Nilah/ nami is a very good combo and nami can help out of the early game pain. also you still get the very nutty 6th

[@GuardianGrarl]

Nilah is a refugee from Inside Out who's emotions were all burned to death except Joy.

[@tonyle4551]

I definitely agree with your points of Nilah needing the supports to know how Nilah works. I’m a Nilah main in Master elo, most players in that elo know how Nilah works. Her lvl 2 spike at 8 minions instead of 9 or lvl 3 at 3 waves instead of 3.5. So people usually play around that, both enemy and your support. The main issue arises from her not being a blindable adc. If shes against a heavy cc comp or long range poke comp or a double range matchup bot, its going to be a hard time. So you usually would need to see the enemy team comp before picking her. However with the swapping introduced in champ select, adcs, sups, and jg usually go first, so you dont see the full enemy comp b4 picking. And newly in S14 with the grubs, supports liked to roam up for it leaving you and the enemy adcs to stare at each other bot for awhile. So your exp passive isnt being utilized until they come back.

[@noppakovat]

I always forget about her passive. :

[@ahrae4730]

You summed up pretty much everything

[@itsnotpan.]

She's literally my key to climbing ranked along with Jinx. When she is ahead she snowballs like crazy.

[@Thomas-sy1xh]

@@itsnotpan. Yeah people here tried it once, wasn't easy, "NILAH DOESN'T WORK" those same people will blame anyone else but themselves for not being able to escape "elo hell"

[@filiptruty6367]

Unrealated info from a Soraka OTP: Soraka Q gives her HoT (heal over time) effect. Nilah gets healed whenever Soraka's Q HoT ticks which is like 6-8 visually times and if Soraka uses her W that HoT effect is given to the target as well. The noise that Nilah's passive effect makes when Soraka heals herself with Q so Nilah gets a heal combined with Nilah heals from Soraka QW so Soraka gets healed is truly by far the funniest thing and noise I ever wittnesed in my 14 years with league 😂😂😂

[@francenkovcan5211]

12:44 Nilah can become a more frequent pick if they introduce more melee bot laners, since once critical mass of such characters is reached, they will all go form niche picks that aren't exactly worth it to master, to a main stay it's kind of similar to what Genshin's Navia has to deal with, there aren't enough DPS characters that take up half a rotation to do their damage to compliment her, which lowers her meta viability, because the only other character that fills that role is Ningguang, and she is trash due to being a 4* Geo DPS, also known as the second worst possible combination of attributes a character can have in Genshin, only behind 4* Physical DPS units

[@anthonypalumbo1057]

I don't think I had any idea what Nilah's abilities did before this video lol

[@hellfrozenphoenix13]

I think her main fix will be a simple mini rework, making the healing part of her passive more useful universally. Maybe a way to make her heal herself more so she doesn't require a specific, other champ to make work. I like the idea of shaking up whats allowed in each lane, but they need to be careful how they do it. I still find Pyke an annoying mistake of champ, but I think his existence is good. It shows a willingness to shatter whats normal an what isnt.

[@morr6591]

They did that in wild rift. Her passive is just ” after an attack crits heal for 20% of the damage, over heal gives a shield insted” She don’t need an enchanter and works fully on her own. For better or for worse.

[@DaviVolpi437]

And she still is the less picked adc in the game people where using her a lot in jungle bcs she was working better there then came the huge nerf on her dmg to jungle monster i tried her on mid and the small lane plus too much poke she is not good there and toplane is still a problem and as an adc she only feels usefull with 6 items together with the sup problem plus all adc having a huge range and you with a trynda range makes the her really unfun to play in general everithing is against you

[@hellfrozenphoenix13]

@morr6591 that's a nice start. I still think they need to give her more. For example: better base stats. The compromise for being ranged is less stats, and she is not ranged, so she should have better base stats imo. That or make her able to gain more sustain from her abilities (although that can be risky as well if too good early, if can be too much late). The issue overall is treating a Melee champ like a ranged champ. She isn't, so don't treat her as such. It's akin to treating Urgot like a normal ADC. He's a juggernaut first, and that takes priority for how he's balanced.

[@DaviVolpi437]

@@hellfrozenphoenix13 and that is the problem in wild rift also her early is still bad but late game if allowed she can easy 1v1 a mundo if she is full build and heal a ton her problem in botlane is her "time" i think early game too bad it takes too long to get to a good point with her but when you get to that good point she is too good but her too good comes too late they shoulf balance that i think takes a bit of her late game and put in her early mid she is too much of a problem in general

[@hellfrozenphoenix13]

@DaviVolpi437 yep! They need to straighten out the power curve for her, let her actually have a chance to survive early game but not make her oppressive late game.

[@StonedDragons]

Love the ol' cheese comp of Nilah and Taric, you just play super aggressive into the enemy and win hard due to the extra sustain and once tarics ult comes online, the two together produce an insane amount of damage mitigation.

[@penguinspy3478]

Nilah is like the Kayle of botlane, if that makes any sense 😂

[@Shutaisei1]

Yep that’s a really good way of putting it

[@cameronsmiljan9374]

I always thought of her as Melee Samira tbh

[@orimoreau3138]

AD Diana

[@lowestofthelow.]

I play Nilah botlane a lot with my partner who mains soraka, the moment I have to play to with another support that synergies even a tiny bit less the difference in my ability to survive fights or have meaningful impact is night and day.

[@snekwashere]

As a nilah main I’ve been waiting for this for so long

[@Leahs_Dad]

There are dozens of us

[@bocconom]

So what are your preferences for support? As support main I am truly curious as I have never supported a Nilah once.

[@duneraxd]

@@bocconom I have over 50 games with nilah with 70% wr and the best supports to play with nilah are swain , camille , maokai

[@arkokroeger9799]

Anecdotal evidence but the first time I played her in Aram I was so puzzled. "Wait, isn't she a bot laner? Why is she melee?" Usually I am very bad with champs that require commitment to work, which is why I like to play Lillia or a classical ADC.

[@ashilexx]

as a mid lane main from s13, she was easy to learn after I tried learning other roles with the new map changes. i didn’t mind her weak early game bc i like to play a very safe laning phase. putting her with a enchanter support is fs the best way to maximize her kit. during late game, i was able to dive and kill a whole enemy team with a yuumi support!

[@o_psicopato]

i play kayle top, aurelion mid and nilah bot, im all about that endgame baby

[@khalaf_alrashidy]

Unpopular opinion as 300k nilah main : Nilah could be a great jungler if they buff her in many ways : - more dmg on jungler monster + drakes - more resistance from their dmg - buff her when she is near water Because nilah thematic + lore Fit very well in the jungle ! She knows baron nashor and she slays legendary monster's and demons And her abilities depend on water She will have something similar with diana on ganking ( lvl 6 ) Also she will not take much xp When ganking and pushing waves And can give her allies move speed + ghost + dodge auto/reduce magic dmg So she can really be playable as jungle with her currently passive ! Or if riot want to change her passive She can be a good top laner Because her dmg on towers is insane But that will make her unbalance As ADC and will change her alot So i prefer if riot buff her as jungler Because that will be alot easier And will fit her lore accurately 🔥

[@Reidster27]

@Vars, at around 5:30 minutes, you're comparing chanpions that are all in the class. While Nilah does not function like normal ADCs, wouldnt you compare her to Samira often? Melee options, w immunity, e dash, AOE R? Her Q even has an AOE component. Being a recent ADC main swap, I've compared those 2 often.

[@dicorockhimself]

ironically samira counters nilah

[@rosediomond4661]

​@@dicorockhimselfI think you mean the other way around?

[@josuegonzalez553]

as somone who plays every lane i love playing nilah mainly because i was a kat main so i enjoy here dashes and she was the champion that finally got me to play adc since this was the only lane i didn't wanna play since it's play style wasn't really enoyable to me well at least until i got her and started to play her and it was crazy i won my first 5 games in a row either way im just yapping now just wanna say she is very fun and i kinda hope she never becomes meta because she is basically my only adc well her and zeri she is fun too.

[@hurriflame375]

That thumbnail is very nice! I like how it’s more focused and neat

[@e_wok1487]

She's super fun, I just got into league but have around ~300 hours in Smite, ADC has been my favorite role ever since I started playing mobas. It's so refreshing to play such a unique take on it. If they can rework her to keep her uniqueness while making her better suited for the role, that would be amazing.

[@Blu_Moon_Owl]

I have two friends that duo together with me as a third friend. When they both lane together their most successful picks were Nilah/Yuumi. They were unstoppable if they did well in lane. Crazy not a lot plays Nilah than your usual bot champs

[@95metalstorm]

It's been a minute since I've watched your videos. But it reminded me why I used to binge them in the first place! Gonna replay alla them while gaming yeeeehaw

[@ginger_queen8108]

as a supp main, i actually rly like nilah! the champs i play all have some kind of heal or shield so i get value out of that, plus if im playing as a super squishy enchanter like soraka, its nice to have someone who can engage bcuz ur not entirely giving up ur lane pressure. its sad she isnt played more tho. like u said, if u and ur support know what ur doing u can steamroll botlane ez pz

[@hazelnutporcupine]

Honestly, i love how not all champions are meta like nilah zoe and more if theres any, this just shows how the champions vary and every one of them is unique. Mastering off meta champions are what make the game and the characters challenging and unique!

[@Thomas-sy1xh]

Right ? I feel the same way. I'd rather play what I love than what is the strongest meta ATM. Besides.. the growth in learning is unreal. Off meta stil beats 90% of players who will make enough mistakes to punish.

[@hazelnutporcupine]

@ yupp!

[@fishman21-f5b]

but when play rank

[@guifdcanalli]

Nilah biggest problem is that she is meele with ADC stats Her resistances and HP scaling are low and she has only one defensive skill, making her as fragile as any ADC while having no range advantage Also being meele gives her broken stats over items and runes, Riot keep those interactions such as Bork, Conqueror or eclypse and although it looks nice Nylah doesnt need those broken stats on items as most of her Power comes from crit items that doesnt change from meele to ranged Also she is a nightmare to kite, having to land your Q every 3s to do anything on a fight is honestly ridiculous

[@punklingyt]

As someone who has mained ADC for a decade, I found Nilah to comfortably fall into my lineup because, despite seeming like she is a foreign entity, she has a very close sibling in bot lane named Samira. I play a ton of Samira, not as much as Vayne, but enough to understand the ins and outs and her kit is essentially button for button the same. Q to deal damage, just a line instead of Samira's melee swipe. Use it during dash to get a free (almost) guaranteed hit. W to avoid damage when you're getting focused E to dash into the enemy team or out of a bad spot R when surrounded to win the game

[@torappuda]

I don't recognize 0:53 at all. I guess I just don't keep up with skins anymore.

[@lucaschebance3135]

when i seen my support pre-pick senna, i instant choose Nilah cause i know the combo is insane.... but senna didn't know. She gone roam during all the game long then we couldn't abuse of my passiv... Nilah is pretty good but with a support who understand how she work and his powerfull being. Honnestly, in good hands, it's the most insane support. You can just all-in and regen with conqueror, it's insane.

[@harleqynn1250]

Samira was the first champion that I truly fell in love with playing - when Nilah was revealed, I was super excited because I thought she could be my backup for when Samira was banned... but when Nilah released it just felt like she was the far lesser version of something that was already doing just fine...

[@gokushivum]

Yeah, it is the same thing. I would think that I would love to play Nilah because she is a late game hyper carry, but she kinda feels souless compared to playing Samira. It also feels like I can't even have her as a backup because I need to permaban Nilah because she is by far the most horrendous matchup against Samira, it feels like if I play against Nilah as Samira, I just lose, there is nothing I can do because her W just straight up makes Samira useless.

[@Samuel-wl4fw]

Nilah is one of / if not my favorite champion. I feel like a god fighting other marksmen lategame, and against melees in general. Tank fighting with passive lifesteal and armor pen is also great.

[@SirLANsalot]

HOWEVER once you DO figure out and pick up Nilah, she is very fun and very strong. She is very matchup dependent however, if shes matched against most of the long range ADC's, shes going to lose. She can win/beat most mid to short ranged ADC's, but her weakness are long range ones like Cait. Also her support is important (as outlined) but the support she is against is also key. Shes a good champ, but far too narrow in what matchups she wins.

[@phichultes1]

Vars could tou judge my rework idea? - Auto attacks (ADJUST): she should have only her Q cone ranged attacks as AA and she can move while attacking, so she can have more room to trade with other ranged champions. - Passive (NEW): each 6 whip slash hits (auto attacks, Q and Ultimate) towards enemies, she gain a temporary barrier that could stack into a certain limit. Exceeding barrier will be converted to heal Another possible implement: If has nearby allies, her passive barrier and passive heal will be share/divided for all of them. - Q : same Empowering: more range and brief stun all the enemies hit in the area - W (NEW): same , but she use only in herself and gain temporary attack speed. Passive: absorb some enemy damage dealt to her, converting into energy to her orb, empowering her Q - E: same (but change her q interaction animation... Instead a wave could be a whip slash) - R (NEW): a violent whip slash sequence in a rectangular or cone shape, that damage all enemies in area. It has a long range and she could move during the cast. Each hit per enemy counts as 1 whip slash. After cast she gain temporary attack speed. Can be interrupted by CC abilities.

[@EddyConejo]

I've been playing Nilah and I feel like the hardest thing to pick up is knowing when to go in and learning her trading patterns. She's so fking strong once she gets a couple of items but that's because she pretty much HAS to be in range of everyone to do her thing, while building no defensive items. Also her laning is hard, especially against champions that want you to go in on them like Karma, Thresh, Alistar, etc; or long range marksmen like Ashe and Jhin.

[@RetroRoarKnight]

Trading? Whats that? (nilah main here)

[@aidbotwoody939]

I gotta be real I feel like a HUGE impact on her is that the character itself has been a victim of champion bloat. She doesn't quite FEEL as unique or grounded in the setting as previous champions because she's from a new region but it doesn't feel like Riot actually cares about her lore so she doesn't connect as well in that regard. Her personality is also a bit of a challenge because I don't think she quite has the unique appeal that you get from champs like Illaoi, or Kled, or old Aurelion; its not terrible or anything but it can't carry her in the way that some champions manage. I'd say its the combination along with a relatively high skill floor and many of the issues you mentioned that's all combining to really hurt her popularity. Unlike a champion such as Qiyana who's personality can be so genuinely unpleasant but still hold a small player base because her mechanics are genuinely exceptionally fun to play and execute. Nilah fits along with the cast of Yasuo, Yone, etc, of somewhat faceroll champions but lacks the popular trope, carry capacity, and frankly brain-off gameplay that the archetype really thrives on which means that the only reason to play her is mechanics and her only "broken" mechanics are essentially just down to duoing.

[@cormactaylor9539]

Before I watched this video I felt that Nilah was the adc that least relied on their support. You can be the one to enguage and your support will usually follow up. The most annoying thing is that you freeze with nilah far more that onther adc's and your support randomly breaks the freeze most of the time.

[@osoichan]

4:38 as a fiora and gwen player I guess i have to try Nilah

[@solastrr]

I love how theres some people on youtube literary speak for a huge community in a right way just by oberserving the situation. Great content man

[@xVibra]

Is that Tales of Symphonia music playing in the background? Reminds me of one of the dungeon themes. It sounds so familiar.

[@eduardocardenasmoreno6705]

dwellings of the ancient gods, its from the game fire emblem three houses

[@xVibra]

@@eduardocardenasmoreno6705 Oh yeah, you're right.

[@trafalgarlaw8373]

The struggle is that she has all these major problems, and things you have to know and play around as the Nilah, while praying your support knows what they're doing, And then, when you do all that successfully and can use your strength lategame... suddenly everyone complains that Nilah is broken, no-skill etc. Well, the lategame 1v3s, 2v5s and pentakills make up for it.

[@metrux321]

I mean, as she is? No, she'll never be meta, and if she does somehow get there, she'll get turbo nerfed like ryze used to be. No, to make her work as something "reliable" you'd need to change one or several aspects of her. Which can probably be done, but I don't know riot has any interest in that.

[@malaklu9159]

As a top main she is my go to if i get autofilled adc, the playstyle is definitely familiar, you just need to communicate what you need with your support, if they are any good they catch on pretty quick

[@vannoah]

I love this champ but I’m also a deranged mofo that learnt adc by playing kayn bot in s10 when I opted him. And nilah just played like kayn did where u chill untill u get a wave bounce or an opportunity to all in. It’s fun and I love it

[@Thomas-sy1xh]

Nilah is very strong with the right knowledge. You can do a ton of dives without taking damage at all if you play it right. Nilah early game is crucial to understand you need to scale. Punish those that overextend and have patience. Which is a key word here.. if you get your first items, man..

[@jamesballard9964]

I knew this day would come :(, I just didn't know when. I love some Nilah.

[@TheNitrean]

In my experience. Nilah works better with an engage or poke support than enchanters. Regardless of what you do in the lane you will get poked out if you just cs. So going on the offensive and going for the kill is more efficient than trying to farm under turret. Nilah is really strong early and late but has a massive dip in the midgame

[@ch113d3]

I feel like Nilah is statistically meta already and her being a sleeper pick only helps. I get so many botlane duo's that basically have no respect for my dmg or its scaling so by the time they realize that i can 1/4 their health with a Q it's already way too late and Ive slammed the lane no problem. You can play around poke and you can still have massive presence 3 items deep. She's definitely not in a bad place at all I think its legit just a community diff overall

[@OG_Fireflare]

I decided to main her a month before the last season ended. Never had as much fun AND success on botlane. It's a bit delicate to make your support understand to play around you though :,)

[@katama_1]

FINALLY AFTER A LONG TIME. I remember the day I commented on one of your Twitter posts about this and it's now happening YIPPIE

[@dannycowgranados]

I love playing Nilah, you definitely need to do it with a duo. As long as the enemy support locks in a melee support me and my duo insta lock Nilah Taric, it’s a very oppressive lane and you can basically drain tank through everything

[@fergusonmobile1812]

I learnt Nilah and I thoroughly enjoy playing her. I’ve already got 23 penta kills this season alone on her and ranking up is so easy because I 1 shot the enemy team late game. You just need to farm well and be confident enough in your ability to scale to let a dominant matchup win early without killing you so you are still able to maximise your gold.

[@kirb1430]

her passive should gain a shield when a nearby champ CCs an enemy, gives her more synergy

[@paultru8600]

I picked her up lately she is so op but none plays her so rito doesn't nerf she has a similar play style as Samira both EQ and can all in at early levels but nilah feels more difficult to deal with when she gets ahead cause the. She has 3 lvls ahead everyone or if she behind she can easily catch-up she isn't feast or famine like samira I'd say she is Samira but better

[@GlowyVelvetCake]

As a Nilah player I took that personally

[@rydervp]

bot stole your comment and got 5x the likes😜

[@Magisean11]

Every time you post a “no one” plays I get the sudden countercultural urge to play the hell out of them, so thanks for the Ls my guy 😎

[@onnivinpelzel6368]

Nilah is an incredible split pusher AND has absolutely insane team damage. She's only bad if literally nobody on your team does their job. If your support isn't getting farm trades and going 1 for 1 on spells, you're at a disadvantage to begin with no matter who you're playing as or against. If you leave her unattended by mid game she'll walk right through towers even if she's behind and if you send anybody except the VERY strongest duelists she brutally stat checks them or just walks away. The first time she wins a duel in sode lane the game is over. She'll be at full health by the end of the wave, they'll have to send someone else to defend the side lane, and now your team cross-maps them for everything they've got

[@matthewdavis3421]

In my experience, the main thing holding Nilah back is her passive. Because of that bonus healing/ shielding, support players will alter their picks to try and get more value out of that. This is a trap. Not only do supports, because they're unfamiliar with Nilah lane, pick champs to increase her passive value, but they tend to do this despite not being well versed at those champs themselves. It's great that they are thinking about stuff like this, but as I said, it's a trap. She needs engage support, not healing and shielding. She has adequate sustain to deal with some pretty rough matchups on her own, between Q and early life steal (and conqueror in fights), so the support providing heals and shields is just redundant. What really helps is engage support. Someone who can go in with her and set her up. She has no cc outside her ult, so something to help her stay in range is great. If the support goes in too, her W has more value, and that is much more important than getting bonuses off her passive. What that passive does do, however, is give her an easy level lead. It's pretty rare that she's pushed off out of xp range, and every minion last hit is bonus shared xp. You know who likes xp leads? Melee engage champs. Nilah is actually decently strong early compared to enemy ADC. Every time I pick her up again, it's like "hooooly shiiiiiit, why am I not playing this more".

[@sinofsloth_2121]

I definitely agree with the main point that Nilah is unlike any other "marksmen" out there and that it would be tough for that environment to get used to her playstyle. But I also think that that mainly applies to people who play JUST marksmen. The majority of the playerbase, or at least the vast majority of people I know, have a pretty wide champion pool with all very different playstyles, ranging from marksmen to bruisers and tanks. People obviously have their preferences, but I don't think that for people who switch their playstyle a lot it is THAT much of a challenge to adapt to the scenario with Nilah on the botlane. There could definitely be some tweeks made to make Nilah feel more familiar, but I also still like her the way she is :).

[@RetroRoarKnight]

The problem is there is hardly any nilah players to learn from, and normal adc guides dont work for nilah the same way.

[@kevingriffith6011]

What really kills me about Nilah is that she *didn't* have to be this way. She's two things right now: skirmisher marksman and a late-game hyper carry... but you can have a skirmisher marksman that isn't a late-game hyper carry. She could have easily been the midpoint between a traditional marksman and a bruiser botlaner: kind of like botlane Jax but actually designed for the role. If she was strong early-mid and fell off toward the late game then it'd be a whole different story: She'd make a great complement to marksman top/jungle/midlaners who have the late game DPS part covered while having her own niche in the botlane.

[@murphygay6924]

the reduced viability due to her passive is HUGE. But I also think about part of why she suffers is that her gameplay is super linear. Her E and W exist mainly to support her being melee in bot lane. So her Q has to carry the bulk of her damage and gameplay, but since its just a simple skillshot and Cone AA's shes not very exciting. U hit Q, ok thats all u gotta do then. Im surprised she doesn't also seem to pair well with Bard or ivern , but ig Taric and Rakan are just much better combos

[@ThefirstGuardianYT]

As a yone yasuo 2 trick I picked up nilah on pbe before he release and she immediately became one of my best champs I already had adc experience from playing aphelios

[@BraveLilToasty]

I really like how they made Nilah in Wild Rift. While not absolutely perfect, it gets rid of the trash passive she has and allows her to be played in jungle.

[@hims1245]

I think the way nilah xp work is it make the xp shared -1. Meaning that 2 people gaing xp like there were alone. 3 people gain xp like the were 2people sharing, etc. Cause the way xp share work in league its not linear. Its no like if 1 person will get 100xp, 2people will get 50xp each, they get something like 70xp each.

[@azizkash286]

Nilah is one of many riot's failed champions. But in this case failed in a bad way not failed as in being broken like yone samira and others

[@munchiemunchie5226]

I mean I don't think Samira is broken, I think Nilah is what they were going for with Samira but then they doubled down.

[@cindermagus]

She's such a meh champion in everything she is. Meh appearance and design, meh lore, meh kit. She isn't much of anything. Also her voice is annoying

[@gusionproplay6412]

based opinion @@munchiemunchie5226

[@gaston3905]

She has the highest win rate bot…

[@esriku]

Nah i love Nilah

[@notlazyturtle]

I main mid and jungle, but when playing with friends i was sometimes forced into adc role, nilah was absolutely perfect for me

[@Someonecalledluiz]

One thing that I don't see being mentioned but bothers me deeply is the "enhanced" auto range that feels more like you're being punished for not having it than empowered by hitting your Q. Most of the time it's not a issue, cause your Q has low CDs and it's easy to hit. But the mere existence of it makes her feel extremely clunky to play for me. It's the same thing for old Ivern, that had to enter bushes to get range, but on a champion far more relying on autos.

[@Someonecalledluiz]

The only other adc that's somewhat close to this is kog, but on him you feel like your enhanced range makes you extremely powerful for a couple of seconds. For Nilah, the extra range feels like your normal power state and when you don't have it you're just not existing.

[@Seveneris]

How is this compared to the Nilah on Wildrift? Her kit there is reduced such as xp and healing on her passive as well as other effects on skills such as Q other effects. Would it be best to say that its the more balanced version or much weaker if ported to pc?

[@dcd3lt4]

4:10 Vars: ADC mains My hear: AD Semens 🤨🤨

[@kbenameashna5473]

2:05 90% of the time my supp is tring to shot me down not the enemy adc

[@justanordinaryKite]

I will say, with the new crit changes, she's a lot more relevant! Now you hit your full potential at 4 items instead of 5 or 6, and you become relevant significantly earlier.

[@Vickiraytive]

Lowkey curious though. what happens if you put zilean and nilah in bot together?

[@FlaminVictini]

great video but small correction: her dashes are not free target, you need to have an enemy or ally unit in range to click on in order to use it

[@KD-_-]

Nilah launch was nuts. I watched one 1v1 a jax who had an item and a half and multiple levels on her by standing still and pressing every button. Most 200 years shit I've ever seen.

[@SouvyL]

Hey Vars! I've been watching you for a long time and I was waiting for this video for the longestttt time, as a Nilah main, thank you. I was afraid you were gonna mention how she should get nerfed into the ground because of her godlike late game.. She's my favorite champion and she will always be meta in my mind ^_^

[@raf12171]

Good thing with Nila: she pairs with enchantment supports who where buffed and pushed into bot by Riot. Bad thing with Nila: that random support is suppose to pick op enchantment supp that works with her and know whats going on. Or play all in tank, next thing thats always good. Everytime i played Nila i got Lux supp, true story.

[@manhattan550]

I was thinking how I should start opt again since that's the best way of climbing but then I also remember they keep changing items and runes making some champs just go useless

[@Kheirongale]

Ironically Riot trying to rotate ADC meta is like an all you can eat restaurant changing the dishes at the counter. Different foods for those hungry solo laners to feed on, and not get bored of killing the same champs

[@Aaron_Arjona]

>Duo lanes are born of the duality of marksmen and supports, where supports don't need as much gold and marksmen must not be alone as a tradeoff for dealing damage at a safe distance, aka, first move advantage. >Build a melee champion with the disadvantages of a marksman, yet not their fundamental boons. >She is difficult to balance and play around.

[@H_D_0000]

Nilah is clearly support reliant. I have played her but only duo because she requires a lot of communication to get going and for the support to adapt to her playstyle and matchups. The fact she is so low ranged makes early kills only possible if you play around your passive level up, play perfectly or you have a very consistent aggro support but not getting these opportunities delays her impact on the game more. In earlygame, her dashes are good part of her dmg and if she gets zone out and cant use them on the enemy champions she loses dmg and conqueror stacks. She is melee but she plays like an adc, builds like an adc and has the stats of an adc. She is a really nice champion but no wonder why most adc mains wouldnt play her whereas bruiser players wouldn't really play duo bot and be abused early game playing in hard mode

[@justashumaiko5818]

I play a lot of Samira. Nilah for me is basically Samira w/o the gun. Both need to know when to go in so they can Ult w/o hindrance. I'm winning a lot with Nilah thanks to me playing mostly Samira. But! Only when I know my support can use my passive. Atleast a Nautilus or Pyke for a hard engage.

[@madcicada]

she is so fun and cool! i played nilah when she was free (vs bots) and i wanted to main her IMMEDIATELY. but a bitter surprise awaited ahead. eh, i wish they would rework her for another line or smth...

[@huntinghunter1001]

I duo bot lane with Nilah and my sup spams Pyke. In low elo, it’s the freest lane combo ever if Pyke spam engages

[@Iasgo]

Leaving the explanation aside, I always thought that the reason people didn't play with Nilah is because they expected a role breaker champion like Senna or Pyke, instead she came as a niche champion like Ivern or kindred who need to play by their own rules to achieve success.

[@ainimation1757]

I got my first Penta with Nilah, but yeah a lot of the things said in this video is true. I even hated when I can’t cs properly when the enemy duo goes poke.

[@SquidBow]

As someone who played adc when I still played league I absolutely hated playing against nilah. It always felt like she got all the broken parts of a skirmisher without any downsides. Thank God she had a small pick rate

[@sareku8491]

another example that shows how Bot lane understanding each others champions is so important is the story of Yuumi, literally the champ with worst win rate in the release and this si because even if it the most basic champions without brains that exist is so weird to adapt when you always have another player in your lane and know it's just comething attached to your body PD outside of the theme: And for me this case would be always the example of why it is better for riot to see proplay to make balance changes, because if it was for the results SoloQ that thing would ended up really buffed

[@adamadi3036]

idk but the passive feels like it's only there so that an enchanter sup is not an instant loss nilahs range is so short that without an engeage champion she just gets kited by adcs and literally cant touch mages even with ghost and enchanters like sona soraka nad yumii, while they make you immortal late are garbage at feeding you early so you dont even rach your powerspikes with them

[@IzayoiRabbit]

the problem is that nilah also needs her support to stick by her side but in current league the support leaves for vast portions of the game to secure both grubs and roam which hurts nilah even more than most other adcs unless shes ahead enough to 1 shot the enemy adc

[@cookiesarelikeaboss]

Hey Vars, I enjoy your champion analysis videos like these, they’re great 👍🏻 I wanted to say my one gripe with them is the title “Why No One Plays”. I know you clarify in your videos that you don’t actually mean “no one” plays them, but viewers still unconsciously remember the title - “No One Plays”. The issue is that players start to get the false impression that there’s no one worth mentioning who plays the champion, while in reality there are players playing them - however few there may be. I believe what you’re doing (unintentionally) is leading to players discounting the validity of Niche Champions and their players. I think that this is the kind of thinking that started jokes like “there’s only 5 Asol players total”, which led to the Aurelion Sol gameplay rework where the champion’s kit was completely scrapped to the dismay of many Mains/OTPs; in favour of making the gameplay digestible for everyone else who thought that the old kit was bad and “No One Plays” him. I believe in an effort to respect the players who enjoy Niche play styles and champion kits, you should change the name of your series from “Why No One Plays” to “Why it’s Niche” (or something like that) moving forward. Again, great videos keep it up 😊

[@cookiesarelikeaboss]

I don’t mean to tell you how to make your content, I just think the change of title would alleviate misconceptions. Labelling the players of these champions “NO ONE” makes them non-existent in the minds of the community, and that’s bad because then they’ll think no one would be affected if the champions gameplay is scrapped completely. By changing your title to reflect that these are “Niche” you support the importance of variety and uniqueness in the game which keep League interesting. Riot can always make new champions players want to see instead of homogenizing the ones they have and disregarding the existence of Niche Players.

[@baltosstrupelos302]

Last year, the idea was Nilah would be too powerful because of XP scaling; like one of the Old Mordekaisers. Any ideas for what differed for her vs him?

[@LSephiroth]

You left off the biggest downside to Nilah: Being a lategame hypercarry in a world where games end in 15 minutes because League players have no mental fortitude. You've got the best damage at full build? Congrats, you'll never see that.

[@noksura6312]

Nilah is a solo laner with parts of her kit taking power in a duo lane... very good design as always.

[@phantomsnare5925]

It's the passive that Gates her from getting leverage for a better Playstyle, The point of her design as a skirmish marksman is there, But there's Limitations and it's too stupid of a Limitations that she's almost unplayable on 50% of the supports out there.

[@guiliguilde]

Out of the 10 best support with Nilah, 10 of them are either Engage or Poke (Maokai, Brand, Renata, Leona, Tahm, Zyra, Swain)... This video is kinda talking shit, she works just as well if not better with engage and poke supp than with defensive enchanters.

[@lambdadeltasfanclubmanager9078]

@@guiliguilde literally though. Nilah is super strong even from her early game (2 AA resets with E charges) but she's often locked out of that snowball potential cuz people have assume that just because her passive seems enchanter-oriented, she should always be played WITH enchanters. P.S. Pyke is my fave lane partner with her.

[@eonarose]

As a Fiddle jg main, Nilah is my favorite adc. She plays somewhat similarly so she’s easy to pick up.