Neeko Build Guide by Bouhhsolene

Hey! Welcome to my guide to , the curious Chameleon!
Who am I?

My name is Solène, I'm playing since early season 7 and I play everyrole.
I'm currently platinum 4 and I'm playing mages most of the time. I started playing Neeko when she was released and now I decided to make a guide about her as I think I can share my knowledge of the champion with others players that might want to play her !!

Why play Neeko

Neeko is a pretty fun champ, and she can do pretty good in average elo games. She's also quite easy to learn once you understand the champion. She is also the kind of champion that you won't get bored with even in bad games !

Infos on the guide!

In this guide, you will find infos on how to play in the middle lane, or as a support.
The guide will be most likely to be for midlane, but I will also talk a bit about support, I will say when it talks about support!


Finally, if you want to find the chapters you want here is a little table of contents:

Why play Neeko ?
Summoners Spells and runes
Abilities and how to use them
Item build
Laning and Teamfighting

Flash is obviously a must have for Neeko, being one of the must have on every midlane champion. Neeko not being that much of mobile, it can help her escape ganks, gap close to the enemy, and flashing R in the middle of the enemy team stunning all of them in Teamfight.




I like to play Teleport when I feel like I'm gonna sidelanes, or when I can't kill the enemy laner. I used to go teleport a lot, but as I'm playing more Agressive now, I feel like playing ignite.


I genuiely like Ignite more now, as stated earlier, because I can play more agressively and get more kill potential. But I personally think wether you take Teleport or Ignite depends on your preferences.



Take it as secondary spells against hard cc comp, or against CC midlaner or Jungler such as , , , or



Take Heal against champions with lots of slow, and where it will help you escape.

Exhaust:
Take exhaust on matchups you're not sure to hold, and where you feel like you might die on an all in. I personally take it against Yasuo and Irelia.



Runes

First runepage:

In the midlane, I like to go for electrocute as I like to go for small trades, and Electrocute is perfect for that. It will provide more early damage, and is quite easy to proc with your Combo. It if what you should take against middle ranged matchups, as in those matchups you can freely use E without fearing an all-in. Against Melee champs, such as assassin, I recommend Arcane Comet to be able to do damage without using E. And with Electrocute, you can get ravenous hunter and Minion Dematerializer, who are two runes that are pretty good with Neeko.


With the principal tree, I like to take for the bit of substain in lane, with , for the bit more of damage overall, and finally for the substain that procks on your Q.
If you don't like the spell vamp,you can also take to roam faster with the movment speed.


In secondary, I always take inspiration with : Use it to take 2 ranges and one melee, and once you hit level 7, auto one of the casters once, then q and you will one shot the casters. Then I take either for the free boots, or to tempo. I usually take Stopwatch against assassins like Zed or Talon.

When you play Support, you should take sorcery second with:

Electrocute Playstyle

With the different runes on Neeko, you will have a bit of different playstyles. With electrocute, you will play more agro , so try to get more vision and get backup from your jungler. You can Proc electrocute level 1 with 3 autos against ranged matchups such as Zed or Talon, level 2 with AA + Tangle-Barbs + AA, it is even better if you have your empowered auto attack, you can also start with Tangle-Barbsand then auto attack twice. Finally, you can proc hit level 3 with Tangle-Barbs + Blooming Burst + AA
After procking it, you can also use Shapesplitter to remove minion aggro.
But be careful after you proc it, you will be more vulnerable to gank.
Overall, if you can manage two electrocute procks, the third one should almost all the time kill or force a flash.

Second runepage:

With Glacial Augment, you will have huge slow, with the items . In the inspiration Tree, you should take Minion dematerializer and boots or stopwatch (check the Electrocute build if you want to see why!) and finally as it gives you ms to escape or gap close to the enemy.

In secondary, instead of taking unlike with Electrocute, you will take to get the CDR on your slowing Items, and finally to get the bit of substain it probides !

Glacial augment playstyle

With glacial augment, you will try to play around catches the whole game. In lane, you can try and take trades by Auto Attacking, then hitting your spells, as it will be easier when your opponent is slowed. For your trades, you want to take a simple one with Tangle-Barbs -> Blooming Burst and an auto attack when you have Shapesplitter passive up; or Hextech Revolver.
After three small trades, you will be able to go for the kill. You can also add Pop Blossom in the end of the combo if you're really aiming for a kill.
With those runes, you will try to get your Everfrost as fast as possible, and then engage on your opponent with it, so you can be almost sure to hit your spells.
Once you have your two slowing items, try to makes catches from far away with your Twin Shadows. You can also use your Everfrost to slow your opponents and keep them in your ulti.
You won't have as much damage as with Electrocute or Comet, but you will have more utility.

Third Runepage:

Comet is what you should go for if you're aiming to poke, or against melee matchups, so you can poke your opponent without fearing an all-in. As I said earlier, I personally likes electrocute more as I'm more looking for short trades, but if you like more poke champs, you can go Comet.
Also, you should always look to poke and get comet against other poke champions such as Xerath or Ziggs.
With comet, you should start E and aim to hit it level 1, except if you're against an early jungle, as it will make you slowly pushing.
With Comet, I would personally take Manaflow Band for the few mana it gives, but if you want to be safe against an all-in ap champ such as LeBlanc, you can take Nullifying Orb. Nimbus Cloak will soon get nerfed so I wouldn't take it.Then, I would take Transcendence as the others runes on the line aren't that interesting, and the few stats it gives are interesting. Finally, I would take Gathering Storm to have more damage.

In the secondary tree, I would take Minion Dematerializer so I can waveclear better, and Magical Footwear. It's my personnal choice as I'm used to the game with minion dematerializer, but if you like it more, you might as well take Ravenous Hunter and Taste of Blood for the substain.

Comet Playstyle

While playing arcane comet; you will mostly look for poke. To start poking Level 1, you can start E, and you'll be sure to hit your comet, but beware to not push the lane too much, as all your spells are AOE spells, you will push the wave if your opponent don't. It shouldn't be much of a problem in lower elos where people don't have any wave management knowledge, but it might become a problem around Gold/Platinum.
Level 2, you should take your Q and try to hit E+Q, try to keep your CD for when you have your CD up.
You can aim for a kill around level 3 if you already hit around 3 E's and Q's. And level 6, if you hit one combo, and then got your cd's back, you can easily kill if you hit your E !

Ability:
INNATE: Neeko is offered a selection of Champion icon allied champions to take their appearance. Once selected, there's a 2.5 seconds delay before another champion can be selected.

While disguised, Neeko can use basic attacks while keeping her form. Taking damage from enemy champions, or casting either Blooming Burst Blooming Burst or Tangle-Barbs Tangle-Barbs breaks the illusion and puts Inherent Glamour on cooldown.

When disguised, Neeko can select herself to deactivate her disguise, putting Inherent Glamour on a 2-second cooldown.
Play Video
Use:
Neeko's passive can easily be used to trick ur opponent, and here, I will teach you the tricks with Neeko's passive.
Level 1, if you start W, you can easily scare off the enemy jungler, or team by being either your Jungler or a champion with a hook/root such as Blitzcrank or Morgana.
Other than that, Neeko's passive won't be that usefull until level 6.
After level 6, you can disguise yourself as an ally champion, and run to your lane with R if your opponent overextent, and he won't see you r until the last few seconds.
To roam, you can either disguise yourself as your jungler to make them think you're actually the jungler, or as the laner of the lane you're going to to make them think you're that person, and to not make them doubt you.
In late, if they have an assassin such as Zed or Talon, or even any assassin, disguise yourself as your adc to bait them to come and all in you, but if they come, you will be able to kill them if you R before they realise you're Neeko.
To bait, you might as well disguise yourself as a dead ally, as you will appear low hp, and sometimes, people will go flashing on you, not knowing the champion you're supposed to be is dead.



Ability:
ACTIVE: Neeko propels a seed into a target area dealing Magic damage magic damage to enemies within.

MAGIC DAMAGE:
70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+ 50% AP)
If the seed kills an enemy unit or damages a champion or large monster, it will bloom again after a short delay to deal magic damage. This cannot happen more than twice per Blooming Burst. Play Video
Use:
Neeko's Q is most likely what you're gonna use to do damage. It can have different uses, but in the end, it will always have the goal to do damage.
Firstly, you can use it to farm, if you see 3 low hp Minion, you can Q to get all three minion. You can also wait, when your Q is around level 3 or 4, for your opponent to be in the minions your aiming to kill, to do damage to him as well. Later in the game, you can double auto (or W passive auto) a caster minion, and then Q, to get all 3 caster minions.

Also, you can use it to poke, especially when you have comet. When you use it to poke, you should be sure it is on your opponent, and, if possible, try to aim it for your opponent to be in the middle of it so he can eventually take a bloom damage as well. But care when you do that not to push the wave, if you don't want to push, wait for your opponent to be out of the wave and then Q him.

Finally, you can use it in your combo to burst. When you do that, you might want to stun your opponent before using your Q on him, so you're sure to make him take the bloom damage as well. You can also use it after using your R if you see an angle where more than one person are stunned, or just on the squishiest target as it does a good amount of damage.



Ability:
PASSIVE: Basic attacks on-hit grant Neeko a stack of Shapesplitter, up to a maximum of two. At 2 stacks, Neeko's next basic attack is turned into a Projectile non-projectile, dealing bonus magic damage and granting her Movement speed icon bonus movement speed for 1 second, consuming the stacks.
ACTIVE: Neeko becomes invisible for 0.5 seconds, sending a temporary clone of her Inherent Glamour current form sprinting in the target direction for 3 seconds and up to 900 units away. The clone is Playful untargetable for the first 0.5 seconds.

Both Neeko and the clone gain bonus movement speed for 3 seconds. Play Video
Use:

Neeko's W can have different uses two, but firstly, let's see the passive use, and the active.

Neeko's W passive actually only have one use, and it's to do damage with your auto. You can use the empowered auto on your opponent if you don't have to farm to do more damage to him, or to farm under turret, especially casters, so you don't have to put a first auto before the tower shot to get the minion.

Neeko's W active, can have a couple use such as checking for vision, if you take it level 1, you can use it to check if they invade, you can also make it check the bushes if you don't have wards, so you don't have to face check yourself. You can also use it to cancel minion aggro, like when you auto your opponent.
You can also use it to trick your opponent and escape ganks, for example, go at the other way than the one they might think your going. I know this might not be clear, so I'm gonna give you an example.

Imagine you're getting ganked, and you really need to escape, and they might cc you under your turret to kill you, just like with a Thresh, most of the time, people think you would run to your turret, but you won't: send your clone to the turret, and leave through the bush. Here is a picture to illustrate what I'm saying.
But, try not to do it everytime if you're at least high gold, because if you do it everytime, your opponent will start getting the trick.

Finally, you can use it to run into the enemy team with your R, so they don't see you.





Ability:
ACTIVE: Neeko slings a magical spiral in a target direction, dealing magic damage and Root icon rooting enemies it passes through.If Tangle-Barbs hits at least one enemy, it grows in size and speed, and the root duration is increased.
Play Video
Use:
Neeko's E is mostly used to punish positioning mistakes, especially in minion waves. If your opponent is in the back of a minion wave, you can E and normally it should it if you aim it good. You might not aim it easily in your first games, but it will become easier with time. After using E, you should follow up with your Q.
You can also use it to escape ganks if the people ganking you stay close to each other. Also, you can use it directly if they are in tower range, to root them in tower range.


Ability:

ACTIVE: Neeko Channeling iconwinds up over 1.25 seconds, creating a zone around her. The zone is invisible to enemies while she is Inherent Glamour disguised.

Neeko then Hybrid resistances icon shields herself for 2 seconds, increased for each enemy champion nearby, as she leaps into the air for 0.6 seconds.

Upon landing, Neeko bursts with spiritual energy, dealing magic damage and Stun icon stunning nearby enemies for 1.25 seconds.
Play Video
Use:

In early, you might wanna use it, after hitting at least one E+Q combo, then run into your opponent with it on, and after, hit your different spells. It has a lot of damage, so normally, if you use it when your opponent is around 75% hp, you should be able to kill them. When you roam, you should run into the one your aiming to kill with it on, and possibly flash or protobelt onto them, to either force a flash or kill.

Later in the game, you can use it if one of your opponent all in you, to be able to kill them 1v1. It has quite a small cd, so you can use it in 1v1. You can also use it when your opponents are grouped, if they disrespect you with your flash, flash into all of them with your R. If your team is correct, they should easily be able to follow up on your engage. You can also use it if they have different melee that come near you, to zone them.

I will do with sections for the core build depending on the situation, but for the situationnal it will be the same for all and you will find them at the end of the chapter!

Midlane electrocute/comet build


Starting items: + 2


When you're playing in the midlane with , your core build will consist of , against teams with dashes, or and HEXTECHagainst not moving teams. You don't want to get a protobelt against a team with dashes as they will dash out of your R + Protobelt anyway, but against teams without dashes, you will easily be able to reach them with your R with protobelt.


In early game, you may want to back with 1375 gold to grab a and a , no matter wether or not you get a Protobelt, you always first back lost chapter, then you want to back with 850 golds if you can to grab a if you're playing luden's, or 1050 gold to buy an , because after you get your lost chapter, you want to directly start building protobelt. It's not that expensive, so you can still get it quite early . If you can't first back with a lost chapter while building Luden's, just grab a , and if you're playing Protobelt, just grab some Lost Chapter components. Later, you should back firstly with 800 gold to grab your boots, either Sorcery, Mercurys or Tabis depending on the game you're having. You can't grab them before because you have the runes that give you free boots. Then you should back with 1125 gold to grab your and a , or with 800 gold to buy your Kindlegem if you're building protobelt. Then back with your 650 gold to grab your finished item.

Out of laning phase, you should grab either a if you're playing protobelt, or if you don't have enough for an .
Then you need to wait to get your Luden's Echo if you're playing Protobelt, or you need to get either an oblivion orb if you didn't have one yet, or a blasting wand, then complete your morellonomicon.
After this, you should go for the situationnal items.


Midlane Glacial Augment


Starting items: + 2
When you're playing in the midlane with Glaical Augment, your core build will consist of ,and Twinas they both give you big slow with your rune.


In early game, you may want to back with 1375 gold to grab a and a , then you want to back with 1125 gold to grab a and a . If you back to early, you can just grab one or two or a
Then once you have your Revolver and your Lost Chapter, you should back with 885 gold to grab your and an .After, you should back with 800 gold to grab your boots, either Sorcery, Mercurys or Tabis depending on the game you're having. Then, out of your laning phase you should see what you can get with it to update into your Twin. After this, you should go for the situationnal items.


Support(electrocute or comet, support overall)

Starting items: Spellthief's + 2


As when you're playing support, your main items are (obviously!) , Hextech Protobelt.
You should back with Frostfang on your first back, then rush an , then a and finally the Hextech Protobelt. Don't forget to buy pinks when you have enough gold! If you're really fed, you should go Luden's Echo, then for the situationnal items. Else you should just go for the Situationnals items.

SITUATIONNAL ITEMS

: You can use Zohnya while R, without cancelling it. Against DPS comp or against heavy assasins like or you should go Zhonya's first item (against assassins) and third or fourth item against dps comps. If the enemy midlaner is an ad assassin and he's fed early, first back with a then go for your normal build (except for support when you still need Frostfang first).

: You should take it 4th or third item against heavy ap comp, cc chain, or when there is champs like or in the enemy team. Also if your opponent is an ap carry and he's starting to grow strong you should get it as it allows you to dodge cc, be tankier, and so let you be alive longer.



: Build it against heavy tanks comps, or when you need hp, around 4 or 5th item.



:To build last items when you're almost full build and don't need a defensive item. You can build it earlier if you're fed.

Void: To build second against comps that build directly MR, else you should go Morellonomicon=30 first and maybe void later.

In lane, you are most likely to aim for a kill against even matchups, or even against hard matchups suchs as Fizz for example, you want a kill pre 6.

Level 1, most of the time you will want to poke with your W empowered AA, or if you start E, you might want to poke except if you don't want to push.

Level 2, if you play electrocute you will try to proc it with E + AA + AA, if you play comet, you should try to hit your E + Q, and with glacial augment, try to AA + E

Level 3, you might wanna hit combo E + Q + AA (maybe empowered)

If you manage to take those trades already, you should be able to put your opponent low, and possibly kill him after he uses his potion, and if you manage to hit another all in, or get a gank, you should be able to kill them, but be careful of ganks yourself, wards the bushes in the river, or on the side of the lane, or let them push you decide.

Before 6, you will just try to hit E + Q if you're aiming for a kill, else you will just farm.

Once you get 6, you should already have your Lost Chapter if you farmed well, so try to hit two E+Q, on the second one you hit, R, and aim for a kill or force a flash, but, before doing that, make sure of the enemy jungler position.
If your opponent plays too safe, try to push and roam toward either bot or top, depending on how the wave is set, if the wave is too pushed toward their tower, it will be impossible to roam. If you can't roam, try to get some vision on the enemy jungler.

If your opponent roams, and you can't facecheck, for example if he's an Ekko or any kind of assassin, or if he roams while you're not in position to follow up, just push the wave and get plates, Neeko can easily push towers with her W passive.

If your opponent only has one dash and uses it on you, without killing you, like a Fizz without E or an Ekko without R, R them and aim for the kill once you have your Luden's.
Once you have your luden's you should be able to one shot any squishy target if you hit your complete combo Q + E + R and possibly Ignite if Needed.

When playing Glacial Augment, you will avoid going for one shots like that, and try to make catches, may it be on your own lane, or in the jungle, hit your GLP and then try to hit E + Q and possibly R. You can have 1v1 potential, but it's better for teamfights, as you want to help your team.





I wrote teamfights, but it's most like, out of laning phase.

Out of laning phase, if you can match your opponent, you will possibly side lane and try to take the t1 that are up, but try to stay on the side of the objective you might wanna play, for example if dragon is up in one minute, go bot, and if it's baron, go top.
If you can't farm, or if the lane is too pushed, move around mid, take vision, and possibly try to take some kills in the jungle/mid.
When it come to teamfights, Neeko likes more places where people are grouped like in the jungle, and especially Pits, it's better as you can Easily hit your R on all of them, dealing damage on all of them and stunning them, giving your team free dps on the enemy team. But the problem is once you used your R, you won't be that useful, except by doing some burst, but you're not that important. Your R can easily decide a teamfight if you use it right so be sure to hit !
Also, if you see an opening for an E, use it ! But don't throw your W at random places, as they can easily punish you for it.

Thanks for taking the time to read this build :) Hope you liked it, if you have any advice or things to add, feel free to tell me and if you liked it I would appreciate if you could give it a vote :D

If you wanna check some Neeko streamers I can probably link you some to check out:
https://www.twitch.tv/neeekoneekoniii
French streamer who mostly streams support Neeko:
https://www.twitch.tv/okonaye

Have a good day !!