Very insane matchup. Her entire kit just avoids your abilities. I personally would go Comet because she can just negate your electrocute combo with her shroud or E. Before 6 it's not half bad, but she is like Fizz and she can just always come back from 2 kills. Make sure you respect her all-ins and make sure she doesn't roam and try not to push into her too much, as that will make it so she can all in you super easy. Build zhonya's early just in-case and use your R when she E's at you.
Fizz
I HATE FIZZ OMG. My personal Perma-ban. You HAVE to watch out for his ult whenever it's up and you can't underestimate his damage, no matter how behind he is. You're going to have to play safe and wait until HE engages, likely with his E. Use your W to get out of there as quick as possible.
Use Comet with Null Orb for the poke and PLEASE get early MR. After he gets his sharky, best thing you can do is just ward river to warn people about his roams. Rush Zhonya's second item just in-case of his shark and just avoid him at all costs mid game unless you know its a 1v1 and you two are even.
Irelia
Irelia is SO annoying to play against. She outscales you and if you don't play safe, can easily kill you. She can also try and avoid your abilities with her Q if she's smart. Plus she can easily stay on top of you so you have to use your W to try and disengage when she tries to Q or E you, whichever you think will help you live longer. DO NOT ENGAGE IF SHE HAS HER STACKS. Don't even try and walk up to trade.
LeBlanc
A BRUTAL matchup. Her dashes and burst potential are crazy and it can be very hard to lock her down. I would say wait for her to waste her dash and recast to engage her, or just play safe and run Comet/FIrst Strike
Viktor
This matchup HURTS my soul. You NEED to dodge all of his abilities or you just kinda are stuck, unable to engage anymore or you just die. Whenever you try and engage, Viktor will just place down his W(?) and the trade will just kinda fail. Try and bait it out and engage when it's down. Try and push in the wave and roam, as it will be your one good counter against a Viktor. If he gets kills, he gets stacks so make sure you try and not give him any. By late game, he probably scaled so just avoid him at all costs.
Fiora
do NOT get close to her at all. she is your NEMESIS. If you get into auto attack range, you're basically dead. Your E and R are countered by her W, so try and bait her W or try to dodge to the side when you E her.
Gangplank
a VERY stressful matchup. He can cancel your CC and can one shot you if he catches you in a barrel, although you can try and auto attack the barrel to prevent it. Overall just a poor matchup, he dominates you in everyway
Kled
Only fought like once but it was hell. Try to avoid his all-ins with your R/W, and just make sure you are begging your jungler to gank you.
Olaf
Perma-ban top lane......... His R and lifesteal makes it impossible to win with your kit.
Katarina
Katarina is a very annoying champ that you have to watch out for at every stage of the game. She can reset really easily and just roam for free kills, so you have to ping for that. Only shove when she leaves but never while she's there.
Only use your E/Q when she tries to go in with her dagger, Otherwise, she will try and abuse your cooldowns. You can outdamage her really early with auto's and Qs and using your MS from W, you can avoid her daggers easily. ONLY ULT IF SHE'S ROOTED.
Lux
Personally, I hate playing against ALL Luxes. She can just outrange you and its just really unfair. Play comet into this one to be safe or if you are confident, you can try and use electrocute and catch up to lux to do huge burst damage. I perma-ban her support.
Orianna
I think this match-up can be very hard, as long as the Orianna can actually play her. She outranges you super hard and can outpoke you really hard. PLEASE run verdant barrier ASAP. The only hope you have is to bully her early, when you have more base damage. If she doesn't have barrier, PLEASE abuse it and be super aggressive. Late game, she scales mega hard so make sure youre safer around her.
Sylas
Beatable, just not easily. You HAVE to avoid his E and make sure you poke him down, or else he just outlives your damage and can stick onto you. If he does manage to E to you, you can try and throw your E to counter it. Just make sure you don't use E at all, as his E1 will counter it and he can just punish you with E2. If the sylas is good, they will use your clone to catch up to you or even heal with W. Build anti-heal and/or just dont clone towards him.
Xerath
SO ANNOYING, he is a SUPER long ranged champ that can poke you with high damage at any point in the game. Best piece of advice, build boots early on to try and avoid his abilities easier and engage when he wastes his stun. Electrocute would be a fine option, with Glacial OR Rocketbelt to catch up to him and his immobility.
Yone
STAY AWAY FROM ATTACK RANGE. Otherwise you will die. If he has the wind around his feet AND his E up, W away and pray he doesnt try to engage.
Zed
Zed CAN be a hard matchup. Best thing to do is to run seeker's armguard ASAP and build that into zhonya's after mythic. Make sure you watch for roams in case he wants to snowball off of other lanes.
In lane, you can run up to hit your combo, and then W back to avoid his. After level 6 is TRICKY, play safe until you have stopwatch/zhonyas and only use your ult AFTER he uses his, as they both (kinda) counter each other.
Zoe
She's a long range mage that can burst you down at any point in lane or even late game. You have to play really safe and make sure you aren't bubbled. Build verdant barrier and run comet to try and poke her out, as all-inning will guarantee a bubble from her if she's smart.
Aatrox
Aatrox really ends my world :(. You need to build aanti-heal or else you lose and you need to dodge his Q sweet spots with your W or just by buying boots early. You caan also use W to get out of his W. Aas long aas you counter build, you should have aa fine enough time
Gwen
Always annoying to fight, but never impossible. You want to try and freeze wave at your tower to avoid all-ins, and try to W out of her W and just wait for it to expire. If she Rs anyone and tries to engage them, just E her, it will either let her take your damage or waste HER E.
Illaoi
A big stinker in the top lane. A good Illaoi can ruin the game. Try and get ganks pre-6 because when she gets her ult, she is a teamfight monster. In lane, try and get rid of her tentacles as much as possible and stay behind minions to avoid her E and just freeze wave under your tower. If she ults you, W out and try to R her. If you enter the spirit world thingy and are abt to get hit by tentacles, W out as well.
Nasus
I think Nasus is quite easy, but if you play wrong he will outscale you so quickly. One of the only people I would say that the Heartsteel build would be super good against. Make sure you CC and run away from him if he R's. Try and trick him with your clone and make sure you freeze wave under your tower so he can't get his stacks. Beg for ganks if he gets too strong.
Ahri
Ahri can be really annoying, but is honestly a fine matchup. Take cleanse to avoid dying to an all-in with her E. If you can avoid charm in general, then you win most trades. Try not to ult her when she has her ult, as she can dodge it and then re-engage UNLESS it's her last dash, then feel free. Bully her and shove waves to prevent roams or just to take tower, but make sure to ping when she's gone and get vision.
Akshan
Kind of a boring back and forth lane. Ping ANYTIME he goes missing, especially if a scoundrel is on the map (your teammate kills an enemy). Otherwise just watch out for his E all-in and you should be fine. Even if he does all-in, you can cancel it with E or R. You can counter his R by going behind tower or behind minions.
Anivia
Just a simple farming lane, so take TP. She can easily poke you out if you try and engage, if she uses her abilities and misses, abuse it. Build Rocketbelt to try and get close to burst OR i've found that glacial augment works really nice on CCing her for engages. One of the matchups I recommend roaming with too.
Azir
THE EMPEROR OF THE SANDS.....is quite an easy matchup. As an Azir main, I would actually ban Neeko for a while when she got her rework. He outranges you pretty hard and you can't really have a fair trade against him but if you just shove wave against him and avoid the soliders, you should have no problem roaming and getting kills from that. Just be careful to not let him farm too much and talk to your jungler.
Brand
Always an annoying champion but can be countered easy enough. Dodge his W and dont stand too close to minions because of his E. Make sure to get vision as most brands want to roam after hard shoving.
Cassiopeia
Honestly not much to say, just dodge her abilities and hit yours, and you should win. Try to get ganks pre-6 to ruin her fun and she should be an easy lane.
Corki
Corki is a big snowballer. If you play safe and poke him with Comet, you should be able to deny him some CS and make sure he doesn't get kills. You beat him hard in the early game damage wise, so look for a kill. Post-6, wait for him to use his Valkyrie ability to engage you, and then use your R for free damage. He outranges you late game so just don't engage later and wait for your team.
Diana
This is an easy farming lane. Just poke her out pre-6 with Comet and try and kill her to force her to fall off. Be careful of pushing however, as the jungler will probably be on her side. After 6 its a little harder and you should probably play safer, getting vision and just keep farming. Ping for roams so she can't snowball and make sure you burst her down in teamfights, since you two have similar roles.
Ekko
A decently even matchup, I recommend Comet and just trying to poke him out early game, as you can do more damage than him. Counter his E with your EQ and try to W out of his W or Q. Play safe after level 6 because his ult can just heal your whole combo and ping his roams. Just take plates when he does roam and make more pressure on him.
Qiyana
She isn't TOO bad for an assassin matchup. Be careful of level 3, as she WILL try and engage. Same with level 6. Try to ask for ganks and never shove against her or she will burst you down.
Ryze
I'd say the matchup is even, but he outscales pretty hard. Pushing against him is near impossible later in the early game and he WILL roam, so get vision and try to ping. Try and get ganks when he sits in lane for too long.
Syndra
Personally I take electrocute, and try to engage when she wastes E. Post-6, just play safe until you hit and E, then follow up with an QR and back off with W to avoid getting one shot. Her E CAN counter your R, so be careful about that. She will scale harder than you however, so talk to your jungler and dont let her play the whole game.
Talon
One of the easier assassin matchups, your W COMPLETELY counters his Q, as long as you press it as soon as he jumps. Pre-6 you can kinda bully him, just be careful, as he can all-in you pretty hard if he manages to land that WQ on you and you are pushed up. After level 6, you need to play safer with his ult and his roaming. If the talon is smart he is going to roam after 6 so you can just punish him for it by roaming the opposite lane or pushing for tower. If he ever solo ults you, looking to dive in, you can cancel out a lot of his damage by Wing away and/or ulting in response and trying to hit him when he is no longer invis.
Veigar
Veigar is always an annoying champ. Early game, you do pretty well against him, as long as you go Comet and try to poke him. If the team has other CC champs, then probably go cleanse, otherwise stick with ignite to kill him early. Try to push him in and mess up his early game farming and delay his powerspike until late late game.
Yasuo
A snowbally champion, but fine if he doesn't get fed. Run Electrocute always, as you can just burst him down if he tries to E you. Good yasuo's will try and block it with windwall, but you can just W away from it and bait him in further. Whenever his passive shield is up. give him a little auto attack to cancel it, and then you can use your combo when it's gone. Dodge the tornado, especially post 6, and you will win lane easy. Late game, just make sure he gets cc'd and he won't get a penta and mega scale.
Cho'Gath
If you dodge his knockup then he shouldn't be able to hit you at all, easy enough matchup. Talk to your jungler and try to delay his win because he WILL win if the game hits 35 minutes otherwise.
Gnar
Gnar can easily poke you down but as long as you avoid that and avoid his passive (when he gets angry and feral) you should have an easy enough time against him. Save your E for his Mega form if you notice he's turning soon and get away from walls.
Jayce
Nothing of note here. Try to avoid his orb thingy, it goes faster and bigger when it passes the gate. His ult can ruin your ult as well.
Kayle
Early game you kinda destroy her. Although, if you were going to build AD, i would recommend switching to AP or just run something like PTA. Taking longer fights with her is NOT going to last long post-6.
Kennen
Kennen and Neeko players share the same braincell. Be careful of his stun passive, you can see how many marks you have, which is the lightning around you. Also play SUPER safe when he has R, because it WILL kill you if you are too aggressive.
Mordekaiser
I have no idea where to put Morde this patch. He outscales you but you can just build QSS and leave his ult, W out of his attacks, or just CC him. Honestly just play safe around him and you should be fine? If you are going AD, Serpent's Fang would be a good item to get.
Galio
While he is tanky and has his magic shield W passive, your W kinda counters a lot of his kit. If you see him dash in, you can ult. If you see him charge his W, use yours to run. If you see his Q, try and W closer and engage OR W to the side and escape the big hitbox behind you. Make sure you keep track of his ult and places where he could use it and it will be smooth sailing.
Kassadin
This matchup is pretty easy in the lane. Early game, you can burst him down with electrocute as long as you land everything. If you freeze wave, he either takes your burst or has to give up CS, which will delay his powerspikes. Post-6, he can easily escape you and your R so be careful and only R after you've hit E. Communicate with your jungler so he cant play the game.
Lissandra
You win pre-6 SO easily. She can shove pretty hard but if you get your jungler to gank, she can't play anymore. Make sure you avoid her E(the hand thingy??) because she can teleport to it. If you take cleanse she loses a lot of kill pressure.
Twisted Fate
He wins trades but you win pokes so go Comet. Just make sure you push him up and look out for the enemy jungler as you do so and he shouldnt be able to roam super easily. Late game if he teleports near you, try to R or E that location.
Vex
Easy enough matchup. Dodge her E and then counter-poke her. You'll do more damage early on (i think).
Garen
Easy lane but has his true damage execute :/. Your W can block it for a little bit, but not for long. Try to keep him away if you're below half health and build move speed items.
Renekton
Easier to lane against. If you take ignite and try to poke him down, he can't really do much against your kill pressure. If he hits any enemy, even minions, with his dash, he can double dash so watch out for it.
Karthus
SO easy. just remember to run away after you kill him and to zhonya's his R if you're low.
Darius
You can easily poke and just win the matchup. Don't get pulled or you'll take damage and otherwise you'll win.
Malphite
This matchup is SO easy. You poke him so much better and your R counters his super easily. Just R right when his R starts and you've got him. You can also W to avoid his disk thingy.
Lee Sin
Adding this here because it's just noteworthy. If leesin tries to go onto you with his Q, just R. You literally ruin his life with it.
Teemo
You literally counter him SO hard. You should be able to land every spell on him easily and then free auto attack him after he wastes his Q. Your W clone can activate his shrooms so you can use that before engaging and then just win.
Naafiri
Naafiri is just like the other assassins, but with a bit more kill potential. If you push too far up the lane, she will W onto and you will lose a lot of your health. Just try to root her if she does W you, but otherwise if you play safe and push wave when she roams and cheat a recall, you should win lane.
The good thing about this matchup, your empowered autos should one shot her puppies and all of your abilities kind of counter naafiri. Your E gets empowered by hitting her puppies and if they die, it procs another bloom. Overall oppressive matchup but you can still win pretty hard if you play right
Amumu
CC MACHINEEE. Both of your ults are huge AOE stuns AND his ganks set up for SO much stuff, he has to be one of my fav little guys for realz.
Elise
Good with everyone, an early jungler that will benefit GREAT off of your CC.
Nunu & Willump
Run winterwonder land skin for instant win.
Jokes aside, nunu is just a good jungler all around, snowball makes kills look so easy.
Poppy
Poppy's W makes it almost impossible to leave your ult AND she has SO much cc that it will make them want to DC.
Rek'Sai
BEST JUNGLER AS OF THIS PATCH (i think) She is SO good at ganking top and bot lane. and even mid with her tunnels. Enemys will also get distracted trying to get rid of one of her tunnels, making for an easy root. Also Rek'sai's knockup and pure damage is just so <333
Sejuani
GOD BLESS SEJUANI PLAYERS. Infinite CC, and tanky frontliner makes it a haven for AD/AP Neeko
Camille
Her ult can lock someone down and guarantee they are hit by your ult BUT, can knock everyone else out of yours if timed wrong. She can engage with you quite easily though.
Graves
Graves is so underrated for NO reason. It always a joy to have him around and to be his cc machine.
Hecarim
He has a big CC ult and can knock people into your ult, but can also knock them away. Usually better than worse though.
Udyr
This dude is SO strong, plus both of your CC and huge damage output will GUARANTEE a kill.
Wukong
His team knockup makes it very easy to go in and start your ult, also having 4 Wukongs on the map is really funny.
Kayn
Will give you the best ganks ever, or the worst ganks ever. 50/50
Lee Sin
A good Leesin will kick someone into your ult, a bad one will kick them out. You just gotta hope.
Nidalee
Will likely take kills or die trying, on top of her having no CC.
Rengar
Only cc is his empowered E and pre-6 you probably wont get ANY ganks.
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Amumu
CC MACHINEEE. Both of your ults are huge AOE stuns AND his ganks set up for SO much stuff, he has to be one of my fav little guys for realz.
Elise
Good with everyone, an early jungler that will benefit GREAT off of your CC.
Nunu & Willump
Run winterwonder land skin for instant win.
Jokes aside, nunu is just a good jungler all around, snowball makes kills look so easy.
Poppy
Poppy's W makes it almost impossible to leave your ult AND she has SO much cc that it will make them want to DC.
Rek'Sai
BEST JUNGLER AS OF THIS PATCH (i think) She is SO good at ganking top and bot lane. and even mid with her tunnels. Enemys will also get distracted trying to get rid of one of her tunnels, making for an easy root. Also Rek'sai's knockup and pure damage is just so <333
Sejuani
GOD BLESS SEJUANI PLAYERS. Infinite CC, and tanky frontliner makes it a haven for AD/AP Neeko
Camille
Her ult can lock someone down and guarantee they are hit by your ult BUT, can knock everyone else out of yours if timed wrong. She can engage with you quite easily though.
Graves
Graves is so underrated for NO reason. It always a joy to have him around and to be his cc machine.
Hecarim
He has a big CC ult and can knock people into your ult, but can also knock them away. Usually better than worse though.
Udyr
This dude is SO strong, plus both of your CC and huge damage output will GUARANTEE a kill.
Wukong
His team knockup makes it very easy to go in and start your ult, also having 4 Wukongs on the map is really funny.
Kayn
Will give you the best ganks ever, or the worst ganks ever. 50/50
Lee Sin
A good Leesin will kick someone into your ult, a bad one will kick them out. You just gotta hope.
Nidalee
Will likely take kills or die trying, on top of her having no CC.
Rengar
Only cc is his empowered E and pre-6 you probably wont get ANY ganks.
Hello!! I am tangerrine and I am a average league player. I know that's concerning, seeing as you're here to take advice from me but, uhhh, #trust??
Neeko has been one of my guilty pleasures as of recently, hpwever I main Azir and Kindred. After I saw Neeko as a part of the Season 13 Mini Guide Contest, I knew I just HAD to make a guide on her. My beginner friends have also started trying out Neeko sooooo this is kinda meant for them too.
What make me qualified to make this guide?
Uh. My cat was named Neiko before Neeko even came out soooooo I'm better!!
Pros and Cons
PROS
+ SUPER fun passive! + Game-changing ultimate! + Good Waveclear AND roaming + Good CC + Easy to pick up + Lots of outplay potential
CONS
- Falls of really bad :( - Struggles HARD when behind - SQUISHY - AND SHORT RANGE?!?
Why Neeko?
Neeko, the Shape-Shifter! Neeko is a VERY fun champ! Using her Inherent Glamour and Shapesplitter you can make amazing outplays AND using her Pop Blossom you can really help out in teamfights, making her fun level worth playing because you (hopefully) won't be inting!
Neeko is a perfect laning champ! She has excellent wave clear AND significant roaming which allows her to have a huge map presence without falling behind in her own lane, helping her teammates and still hurting the enemy laner she is against. Her Shapesplitter's passive makes for easy CSing if you're a newer player and her Blooming Burst and Tangle-Barbs are an easy-to-pull-off combo, that can instantly push a wave under tower if you need it. Using Shapesplitter and Inherent Glamour you can also have a TON of fun while outplaying the enemies. If you ever fall behind, or just straight up fall off, you can easily still make a big impact with your CC from Pop Blossom or just even Tangle-Barbs! [/td]
Runes
SORCERY
Neeko benefits a lot from short trades and poking, which is what Arcane Comet excels at! It offers a hit of extra damage that you can easily land by using your Tangle-Barbs to CC them.
Neeko really needs early mana, and having Manaflow Band REALLY helps get some extra mana every time you land a successful trade (when it's off cooldown)
Neeko scales REALLY well with the bonus AP that Absolute Focus gives over time, and trust me, any little bit counts early game. Transcendence is an alternate option you could run if you like to use your abilities TOO much, as it gives a bunch of ability haste later in the game.
Neeko this is kind of a personal preference, but I like Scorch better. Yet, Gathering Storm is also perfectly viable. With Gathering Storm, it helps you gain a lot of AP in the later game, scaling massively with every 10 minutes. However, I prefer to use Scorch for the 20 extra burn damage every TEN seconds, it really helps with Neeko's early game poking to help you hopefully damage the enemy enough to get a kill or to make them back off, letting you push and roam.
Neeko really benefits from the extra attack speed, as it helps her get out her Shapesplitter's empowered autos faster in the early game. The adaptive force next is just the better option, as you really aren't meant to tank anything. Finally, the last one is up to matchup. Armour if AD, MR if AP, and health if you just aren't sure AND they have a balanced team comp.
DOMINATION
This is Neeko's better build into melee champions. Against ranged champs, you can suffer a lot from going in with your full combo, usually getting chunked because of your small range. However, against melee champs, you have the upper hand. You can benefit from the bonus damage from Electrocute and also take favourable trades because you outrange the melee champs.
Personally, I prefer Taste of Blood, because I LOVE the extra sustain it gives for each one of my short trades, it makes it all the more worthwhile. However, seeing as all of your combos rely on at least one CC ability, I think Cheap Shot would also be an excellent choice if you would prefer the bonus true damage.
In the mid-lane, Eyeball Collection is probably just the best and easiest to stack. However, in support, it's really up to you. In lower elo, I wouldn't recommend using Zombie Ward because you don't know if the enemies will ward at all so it would be harder to stack, and ghost poor (as long as you are actually warding) would be pretty beneficial.
All runes of course are just up to preference, HOWEVER, I think there should be no debate on why Ultimate Hunter is the best for Neeko. As Neeko, your Pop Blossom is just TOO good to not take the extra CDR on your ultimate, since it's the only thing that keeps you from being completely useless when behind or super late game.
Neeko really benefits from the extra attack speed, as it helps her get out her Shapesplitter's empowered autos faster in the early game. The adaptive force next is just the better option, as you really aren't meant to tank anything. Finally, the last one is up to matchup. Armour if AD, MR if AP, and health if you just aren't sure AND they have a balanced team comp.
Spells
FLASH
Just always take flash. Best and most vital summoner spell in every sense of the meta. You can flash to get close to an enemy to land Pop Blossom
IGNITE
Ignite is a very strong spell, giving Neeko the extra kill power she really needs in lane. She can poke the enemies down and finish them off with a little Ignite.
TELEPORT
Teleport is your farming lane and Mid-game spell. You want to run this into matchups where you don't think you'll be able to do much BUT farm, or when your team will need you and your CC in the later parts of the game for every objective. Better for teamfights rather than laning.
CLEANSE
I really only see myself taking this into matchups like Ahri and Veigar because of their lockdown CC and Neeko's short range.
HEAL
Usually I would take Ignite when I'm playing support, but sometimes I like to take Heal if my ADC wants to go Cleanse or Exhaust.
EXHAUST
I've only ever taken this spell as support, when my adc (for some reason) takes Ignite. It gives a good slow down and also damage reduction from whoever you put it on. The only way I ever see this being useful mid/top is against burst assassins.
BARRIER
This is ALSO only good for burst assassins. If you want to take this because you are worried about dying too much in lane, I would just work on playing super safe and farming with Teleport.
Matchups
MATCHUPS ARE ALL LISTED ABOVE
The only other thing I can say is to build against the team, and plan out your runes and spells in draft before you even load into the game.
Abilities
INHERENT GLAMOUR(Passive): Inherent Glamour is an innate ability where you can see a selection of allied champions, and an empty spot in then middle. Selecting any of the champions will set a quick cooldown on the other champions.
While disguised, Neeko can use basic attacks while keeping her form. Taking too much damage from enemy champions, or casting any ability will end the disguise and put Inherent Glamour on cooldown.
BLOOMING BURST(Q): Blooming Burst is a normal spell, where Neeko throws a seed into the target area, bursting up to 3 times, dealing magic damage magic damage to enemies within.
70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+ 50% AP)
If the seed kills an enemy unit OR damages a champion/large monster, it will bloom again after a short delay. This cannot happen more than twice per Blooming Burst.
SHAPESPLITTER(W): Shapesplitter is just really two abilities in one. The passive makes basic attacks (on-hit) gives Neeko a stack of Shapesplitter, up to a maximum of two. At 2 stacks, Neeko's next basic attack is empowered, dealing bonus magic damage and granting her bonus movement speed for 1 second, consuming the stacks.
Activating the ability turns Neeko invisible for half a second, and sends a clone of her current form out in the direction cast. Recasting the ability while the clone is still out will let you control it for the brief moment it is alive.
TANGLE-BARBS(E): Neeko throws a spiral thingy in the target direction, dealing damage and rooting enemies it passes through. When the tangle-barbs hits one enemy unit, it is empowered for the rest of its travel, increasing its size, speed, and root duration.
POP BLOSSOM(R): Neeko channels for about 2 seconds, in which a circle is created around her. (THIS IS NO LONGER INVISIBLE WHEN Inherent Glamour IS ACTIVE)
Once the channel is done, enemies are thrown up into the air, while Neeko gains a shield for each enemy caught in the animation. Once they are brought back to the ground, she deals magic damage and stuns all enemies within the field.
How to Use
| Uses |
The recent rework of this passive is INSANE. Now, you can become ANY entity on the map, from minions in lane to STEALTH WARDS to JUNGLE CAMPS, and even into HEIMER TURRETS OR NAAFIRI DOGS.
Basically, you just want to use this ability to really mind-trick someone and ruin their whole life. Make them paranoid, make them count every minion coming into lane, and make them question everything they've ever thought they saw.
Popular ways to use this ability are to turn into a 4th minion in the wave and catch the enemy off guard when they get too close to CS, thinking you're not there and it's safe. Another way could be to wait for the jungler after becoming one of his camps.
One of my personal favorites is to roam as my jungler, making the enemies all think that the jungler is bot side and ganking, when really my jungler is up taking herald. It really messes up people's jungle tracking.
| Uses |
This is your damage ability. You'll be using this for your trades and your poke. You can also use it to farm on really low health minions, as it will burst if it kill just one or hits the enemy (if they are close enough to the minions).
When you have Arcane Comet, this ability becomes VERY easy to poke with. You can hit the enemy with one or maybe two blooms PLUS your comet. Just be careful of your wave if you don't want to farm it.
Where I think this ability also shines is burst combos. It works best AFTER you use your Tangle-Barbs. If you stun them, especially through minions for the empowered root, you can throw your Blooming Burst and have them take the full 3 blooms AND you can auto attack on top of that, hopefully with your empowered Shapesplitter auto attack for maximum damage.
| Uses |
The hearthstone of the AD build (which sadly I'm not going to talk much about in the detailed guide) and the essence of all the best Neeko clips. Your outplay potential with this ability is crazy. It's essentially a very short Shaco ultimate. Using the ability makes you go invisible very shortly, potential stopping anyone from point and click targeting you, and you and your clone both gain movement speed. You could easily use this ability to escape any scenarios or to chase someone just a little bit more.
You can now control the clone's movements after you cast the ability, meaning it is even easier to fake being the clone and make the enemies chase the actual clone.
Also with the clone, you can send it into fog of war to gain quick vision or even in the way of somebody to block skill shots (like Blitzcrank) OR to block tower shots while you tower dive.
| Uses |
Tangle-Barbs is just a classic old root ability. Someone mispositions? Tangle-barb 'em. You want to burst them down with all three of your Blooming Bursts? Tangle-barb 'em. You want to lock them down for someone else to combo onto them? Tangle-barb 'em. The list goes on. Just use it when you need someone to stop moving for a second (and hopefully send them back to base)!!
| Uses |
This is Neeko's "best" ability. It might not be her most fun (*cough cough* Inherent Glamour *cough cough*) but it definitely is her most impactful. It's an AOE, high damage, and super long CC ability. That's one of the best things a character can really have. This is also where Hextech Rocketbelt really shines, because you can use it before or while you are channeling the Pop Blossom and it will give you a dash to secure you get someone into the blast OR waste someone's flash.
Early game, you want to probably use this after your burst combo, tangle-barbs size+, and it should be able to kill if the enemy was around 60% hp.
Later in the game, you can use it for two things. Either to prevent an all-in, as you can most likely CC them out of their damage OR make them run away, or just straight up kill them. The other way you could use it is during team fights. Using Flash/ Hextech Rocketbelt/a blast cone to jump onto a group of enemies to set them up for your team to engage. If your team is slow or you want to stop dying after you engage, you could also use Zhonya's Hourglass right after the spell is activated, and it will keep going.
Items
ITEMS ARE ALL LISTED ABOVE
I've listed all of the item variations above with detailed notes on each situation you should build them in.
Early Game
LANING
You want to make sure you level Q or W first, as those are what you will be poking with. Also, you want to be focused on trying to get at least ONE kill pre-6, especially against the easier matchups. Try to poke early on and make them waste potions or maybe even spells
You DON'T want to take E level one because trying to poke with it would ruin your wave and make it very hard to continue a slow push.
Once you reach level 2 with Arcane Comet or level 3 with Electrocute, then you wanna start using your full combo, to chunk the enemy even more.
Try to keep farming, as that's how you will earn your gold. Don't push up into the enemies tower unless you plan to recall or to roam, which is kind of a bad idea pre-6
POST-6, Hopefully you have your first item component, either Lost Chapter or Hextech Alternator, and you can do a real chunk of damage, try hitting them with one or two combos, and then on the 2nd or 3rd one, engage with your ultimate. That should secure you the kill if it's safe to engage.
TRADING TIPS
When trading, if your opponent has a dash, or is smart and can use flash wisely, try and bait out their dash and then next time the get too close (when the dash is off cooldown), use your R in your combo and they just can't escape.
ROAMING
To roam, build up a slow push and crash it into tower, as you crash it into tower, you should be free for a very quick roam or a recall. You can use this roam to place vision, try and gain the "essence" of creature to turn into with [[inherent glamour, AND/OR gank a lane.
If your enemy does this to you and roams, best thing you can do is ping for it and farm in your lane. As Neeko, you have an AMAZING ability to take towers with Shapesplitter's passive, so use it to your advantage. Also with Shapesplitter, you could use it to escape tower range if your person reappears in the lane!
If the enemy laner makes a bad roam, (roams when the wave is still at their tower), then you COULD counter-roam, and gank the side they are ganking OR gank the opposite side, but tower platings could be very important so I recommend just taking those.
Mid Game
As Neeko, you should be taking towers in a sideline. Its almost no contest. Shapesplitter's passive in the mid-game is SO strong at taking towers that it might as well be your 9-5 job. Just make sure jungle is warded so you can escape quickly if someone tries to interrupt your money-making. Speaking of interrupting money-making, if you want more CS or just want to ruin the enemy jungler, TAKE THEIR CS! It prevents everyone else on the enemy team from taking it and if you are already there, you might as well!
A good rule of thumb when split pushing is to "mirror pressure," Essentially if you notice your top laner is pushing super hard in his lane, you could push bot lane, forcing the enemy team to split up to focus both of you, leaving the jungle and objectives wide open, OR they group on one of you, leaving the other to take the tower in their lane.
Another good way to "mirror pressure," is to push the lane OPPOSITE of the current objective everyone will be focusing on, especially if you have Teleport. This will make it so you can take a tower if the enemy team goes to take baron/dragon, OR the enemies try and stop you from taking the tower and YOUR team gets the baron/dragon.
(If you want to learn more about split pushing and "mirroring pressure," watch the Shen main xPetu or read one of his guides.)
If you notice your team is setting up for an objective, make sure you are getting there. In the mid-game is where Neeko is the strongest, and you can make sure you kill at least one person with the CC you provide and the burst damage you can give. (BIG TIP: TARGET THE JUNGLER WHEN TAKING DRAGON OR BARON, SO YOUR JUNGLER DOESNT HAVE TO WIN A SMITE BATTLE)
Late Game
The late game on Neeko is VERY tricky. Your damage kind of plateaus, while everyone else's damage and tankyness keep scaling up. You have to look to play with your team. You shouldn't really be going solo anywhere because you lose the ability to 1v1 in the late late game.
You have to try and position really well, because if you push too much to try and land your short-range abilities or overstep trying to hit an ult, you could very easily die for no reason and potentially throw the rest of the game away from one stupid play (probably not that bad in lower elos, but still.)
Try and use Inherent Glamour or Shapesplitter to trick the enemies. Notable methods are entering a team fight disguised as a minion, getting close with your team, and popping your Pop Blossom. OR sending your clone at the enemies to condition them, make them let their guard down, and then one time you fake being the clone and run at them, popping your Pop Blossom
Overall, just stay with your team and try to use your CC to help everyone live or to help them secure the kills.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!!!
This guide was SUPER fun to make. Actually using the coding skills I learned and applying them to this website, and learning how to make a guide like this was SUPER fun and I'm so happy that I made it.
I hope this guide was somewhat coherent and people can understand it, and I'm sort of hoping to win the challenge, I don't even care if I do at this point because I just had so much fun learning how this website works. When I can, I am totally going to make a guide on more characters.
I look forward to seeing some of you again and thanks again for reading my guide! <3
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