A good Caitlyn can be your worst nightmare. Farm safely, don't sacrifice health for minions, wait for lvl6 after that u beat her.
Sivir
She is just so strong at the moment this is the only place she can be. If u are not confident in your dodging skills just ban her.
Ashe
Her difficulty level depending on your support and the enemy support. Don't play too aggressive unless u are ahead.
Zeri
Hide behind minions and she can't do anything
Ezreal
How good he is determines this matchup. Don't get poked down too low and you will beat him in every fight.
Jhin
Not enough testing but safe to say due to his range he is a problem. If you don't let him hit u with his root (W) or his 4th Auto Attack u should win the 2v2.
Lucian
Not tested yet but he should be much stronger than you early game, survive till 1 or 2 items and you should win.
Vayne
You can very safely farm and easily beat her early game. If u are not ahead DO NOT 1v1 her after she has 3 items.
Jinx
Not tested yet but should be the same as Vayne, just a little harder to fight early.
Kai'Sa
Not tested yet, should be able to farm safely and outscale her midgame.
Kalista
Not tested yet but she is a devastating lane bully that should kill you in every fight before u get 2 or 3 items. DO NOT FEED HER, RATHER LOSE XP AND MINIONS.
Draven
Not tested yet but is the exact same as Kalista, but you outscale him. DO NOT FEED HIM, RATHER LOSE XP AND MINIONS.
Blitzcrank
SUPPORT | As long as u don't het hit by his hook (Q).
Karma
SUPPORT | Not tested yet but should be the same as Ezreal matchup, be careful of her poke.
Leona
SUPPORT | Take Cleanse Summoner Spell, do not get CC'd or you lose the fight.
Nautilus
SUPPORT | If you get hit by his hook (Q) you will probably lose the fight depending on enemy ADC and if u are fed or not.
Pyke
SUPPORT | Even if you get hit by his hook (Q) u can just dash away, if he tries to stun you also just dash away or into him.
Rakan
SUPPORT | He feels AWFUL to play into early, but stay calm, don't feed and just dash away from his knockup (W). He becomes a much smaller threat after 6.
Renata Glasc
SUPPORT | Not tested yet but should be a no brainer matchup.
Senna
SUPPORT | Not tested yet. She can easily poke you and heal enemy ADC, but should lose the 2v2.
Seraphine
SUPPORT | She can be your worst nightmare if u can't dodge her skillshots, but if her ADC is not a big threat you can win the lane. If she is ADC just dodge the queue.
Soraka
SUPPORT | Not tested yet but should be easy matchup if you have engage support, be careful of how much she can heal her ADC.
Syndra
SUPPORT | Not tested yet but she is very strong off-meta support, just admit defeat and give up resources if she threatens u.
Twitch
Early game he can be beat very easily and u win every fight. After a few items his ultimate can easily kill you so be careful of his stealth.
Varus
If u survive all his poke u win every fight after lvl6.
Yasuo
Not tested yet but as a fellow melee champion u should be able to poke him with Q and all in when he is low if you have a engage Support.
Zilean
SUPPORT | U only need to focus on the ADC matchup. Be careful of his Ultimate where he can resurrect a fallen ally like Guardian Angel item.
Aphelios
Not tested yet but him range early game and his INSANE scaling late game should make your life hell. He is squishy and weak early so hope you have a engage Support and try to get ahead or you lose.
Brand
SUPPORT | If you cant dodge his abilities you lose, ban him.
Galio
SUPPORT | Not tested yet. He has become more of a off-meta pick over the years, but he shouldn't be hard to deal with.
Janna
SUPPORT | Not tested yet but she should be easy as long as u don't get hit by her tornado (Q).
Kog'Maw
Not tested yet. His poke should make him a annoying matchup, but if you have a good engage Support u should win most 2v2's.
Lulu
SUPPORT | A good lulu will poke u out of lane and if she gets lvl6 first u lose, only fight 2v2 if she doesn't have ultimate available. Pray u get a engage Support.
Lux
SUPPORT | My go to ban she will make your life hell with her non stop poke and ability to stop engages with her Q.
Miss Fortune
Her poke from Bullet Rain (E) can be annoying and if she hits you with a long ultimate she will win, otherwise u should beat her in every fight after mythic item.
Morgana
SUPPORT | Same as lux but more forgiving since she has shorter range and her root cannot hit you through minions.
Nami
SUPPORT | Untested but should depend on the ADC matchup whether or not she is difficult.
Neeko
SUPPORT | Just dodge, she is off-meta but incredibly difficult to do anything. If you must take cleanse and avoid doing getting in range of her abilities.
Pantheon
SUPPORT | Not tested yet but he is very strong early game, if u don't feed u should outscale and win every teamfight.
Rell
SUPPORT | Not tested yet but if she throws u over her just dash to her so she doesn't stun you with E.
Samira
Take exhaust for her ultimate. If it's on cooldown kill her before she can use ultimate or run, other than that u should win every fight from lvl1.
Sett
SUPPORT | Untested but off-meta. If he gets picked focus the enemy ADC at all costs, u cannot kill him ever.
Sona
SUPPORT | Not tested yet but her scaling and early game poke should make her tough.
Swain
Untested. Do not get hit by his pull (E) if his Support or ADC is close u will die. Run from his ultimate.
Tahm Kench
Not tested yet but is the same as Sett, unless he is ADC then u focus the enemy Support and run.
Taric
SUPPORT | If he misses his stun u win the fight, but be careful he heals his ADC more than you think.
Tristana
Untested. If she plants her bomb on you (E) run, don't let her stack it. Other than that u should win every fight.
Veigar
U need to punish him early game, make sure u dash out of his stun cage (W). Late game his ultimate can do a lot of damage. If he is support pray.
Vel'Koz
SUPPORT | If you can avoid his poke you will win fights.
Xayah
Not tested yet. Her poke can make the lane feel useless, but you should win most fights if she doesn't root you or poke you low beforehand.
Xerath
SUPPORT | Same as Vel'Koz, just be careful of his stun (E).
Yuumi
SUPPORT | Feel bad for the enemy ADC.
Ziggs
Same as Vel'Koz and Xeraph.
Zyra
Support | Untested. She can poke u out of lane and kill you with her ultimate if you all in, but you should win fights if her abilities are on cooldown.
Rakan
A good Rakan can make your wildest dreams come true.
Nami
She can carry the early game while u scale up a bit.
Braum
His passive stuns are a great engage tool, but he struggles into ranged comps same as you.
Pantheon
Any engage support is automatically a good synergy because Nilah is a melee ADC, he also hard carries the early game for you. His stuns are great and he can save u in a pinch with his ultimate.
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Rakan
A good Rakan can make your wildest dreams come true.
Nami
She can carry the early game while u scale up a bit.
Braum
His passive stuns are a great engage tool, but he struggles into ranged comps same as you.
Pantheon
Any engage support is automatically a good synergy because Nilah is a melee ADC, he also hard carries the early game for you. His stuns are great and he can save u in a pinch with his ultimate.
Nilah and her demon of joy, Ashlesh Nilah is an ascetic warrior from a distant land, seeking the world’s deadliest, most titanic opponents so that she might challenge and destroy them. Having won her power through an encounter with the long-imprisoned demon of joy, she has no emotions other than unceasing jubilation—a small price to pay for the vast strength she now possesses. Channeling the demon’s liquid form into a blade of unparalleled might, she stands defiant against ancient threats long forgotten.
As Nilah is a melee ADC she plays quite differently from other ADC's, only simmilar to 2 of them, Yasuo and Samira. She is a high skill champion that requires you to be not only good at the champion but exceptional at playing losing lanes and have good positioning and decisionmaking in teamfights
Who Am I
Here's a Video of me playing Nilah
sound is not working sorry :)
Hi! My name is David and i'm a ADC main...u wanted more? Sorry but i'm no one special. Peaked gold IV on NA currently stuck in elo hell same as you probably (since most people who are reading this are probably Low Elo).
My in-game name is Grondvreter and im playing on EUW if you want to go check out my stats on Nilah or just in general.
I don't advertise my rank because people think that just because u are not high rank u are not good enough to make a guide for a champion. I do not agree with this statement and think that as someone who plays in Gold and below i can give u the best guide on how to play at this level.
I am spamming Nilah as much as I can for the next few weeks so I can finish this guide ASAP and officially a Nilah main now, so I will be updating this entire guide every patch with the relevant changes.
Cons / Pros
Cons
- Melee champion - Need to play very good to be useful - Early game is eaily punishable - Long cooldowns - Still a ADC so she is easy to kill
Pros
- Extra XP gain from passive - Very Mobile - Built in Healing and Armor Pen - W gives MR and AA Dodge - Strong Mid- and Late-Game - Relies less on Support than others - Can innitiate fights
Abilities
Joy Unending(Passive 1) RANGE: 1000 COST: - COOLDOWN: -
Whenever Nilah kills a minion, she and the nearest allied champion gain an additional 50% of the experience they would have lost from sharing.
- The total XP that you and your Support get is the normal amount of XP that botlane gets + half of what u lose because you are 2 champions in botlane. - This means as long as u are not too far behind in farm u will always be the same level as the enemy botlane.
Joy Unending(Passive 2) RANGE: 1000 COST: - COOLDOWN: -
Whenever a nearby allied champion uses an ability to heal or shield either Nilah or themselves, they both receive a bonus amount equal to 7.5% of the healing or 15% of the shielding after a 0.5-second delay.
-Bonus shielding lasts as long as the shield that triggered the effect, up to a maximum duration of 4 seconds. - Healing and shields granted by items, runes, and summoner spells will not trigger the increased amount. - This means that your Support almost always has to have some sort of healing or shielding ability.
Nilah gains 0% − 33% (based on critical strike chance) armor penetration. Her basic attacks and Formless Blade heal her for 0% − 15% (based on critical strike chance) of the post-mitigation damage dealt to champions, converting each heal instance beyond maximum health into a shield that last 6 seconds.
- Post-mitigation damage is the damage dealt after all the modifiers (like armor) have been calculated. - This ability works like Overheal.
Formless Blade(Q) RANGE: 600 COST: 30 COOLDOWN: 4
Nilah cracks her whip-blade in a line in the target direction that deals physical damage to enemies hit, increased by 0% − 100% (based on critical strike chance). If Formless Blade hits an enemy, Nilah empowers herself for 4 seconds: gaining 125 bonus attack range and 10% − 60% (based on level) bonus attack speed, and causing her basic attacks to strike in a cone that deals 100% AD physical damage to enemies hit. Against secondary non-champion targets, this is reduced to 33% AD for minions and 10% AD for monsters. On-hit effects are applied only to the primary target.
- Formless Blade can hit structures. - If Formless Blade is cast during Slipstream, Nilah leaves behind a wave that is sent towards her location at the end of the dash, dealing the same damage to enemies hit. - This ability will cast from wherever the caster is at the end of the cast time, so u can buffer it before using Flash or Galeforce. - Parrying effects ( Counter Strike, Spirit's Refuge, Blinding Dart) will negate Formless Blade's empowered attacks only as the primary target.
Nilah envelops herself in mist for 2.25 seconds, during which she becomes ghosted, gains bonus movement speed, reduces all incoming magic damage taken by 25%, and dodges all non-turret basic attacks.
- Allied champions she touches will also be enveloped for 1.5 seconds, gaining the same effects. - Allies may only be affected by Jubilant Veil once every 6 seconds.
Nilah dashes a fixed distance in the direction of the target enemy or ally, dealing physical damage to enemies she passes through.
- Nilah periodically stocks a Slipstream charge, up to a maximum of 2. They can be cast 0.5 seconds after one another. - Slipstream resets Nilah's basic attack timer. - Formless Blade and Apotheosis can be cast during the dash.
Nilah whirls her whip-blade over 1 second, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies every 0.25 seconds. She then bursts to deal physical damage and pull them 250 units towards her. Each hit also slows targets by 10% for 3 seconds, refreshing on subsequent hits.
Nilah heals herself and nearby allied champions for 30% − 45% (based on critical strike chance) of the post-mitigation damage dealt to champions, reduced to 10% against non-champions, converting each heal instance beyond maximum health into a shield that last 6 seconds.
Nilah is not the most mechanically challenging champion that riot has put out, she is actually pretty easy in comparison to recent champs like Zeri or Bel'Veth. What makes her hard is that she is melee, so your positioning must be very good or you will get poked so low u can't engage or you will get blown up in seconds because despite being a melee champion, she is still a ADC.
Basic poking
Your Q Formless Blade is a Auto Attack reset, so in theory you should Auto Attack before using it, but that isn't always possible due to your short range. It works well enough by Q Formless Blade'ing a enemy, Auto Attack them and immediatly back off. They won't expect the sudden range and damage you get so if timed right u can easily get free poke in, or atleast trade back some of the poke they put on you.
EQ Combo
If you cast Q Formless Blade after using E Slipstream it results in your enhanced Auto Attacks being delayed as seen below. Your Q Formless Blade can be cast during your E Slipstream to maximise your DPS. I find that spamming Q while u are dashing with E Slipstream can help league detect the ability needs to be used during the current ability cast.
Basic Lv3 trade Nilah has 2 dashes that can be used as a engage and disengage at the same time. As seen below u can E Slipstream on a enemy get a quick spell rotation off and E Slipstream back to your support for a big chuck of damage that the enemies won't easily trade back. Just be sure to let your support know u are only trading so they don't commit to a all in 1v2.
Pre-Lv6 all in Nilah has a very good engage with a support after level 3 due to W Jubilant Veil dodging all Auto Attacks and having 2 dashes. If you W Jubilant Veil you and your support before E Slipstream'ng into the enemies (Remember to EQ as shown above) you wil deal a nice chunk of damage while taking little to none in return thanks to W Jubilant Veil. If you are even in HP or ahead you will win most 2v2's.
You can also engage alone but that is only recommended if you are in a very easy matchup and far ahead.
Post-Lv6 all in Nilah has the strongest level 6 spike of all the ADC's, and because of her passive Joy Unending she and her support will almost always get level 6 before the enemy. Use this spike to engage and try to 2v2, as long as you are over 50% hp you win every 2v2 even with a support that can't engage, unless ofcourse u get hit by a lux Q Light Binding or another ability that will stop your engage.
You can also Flash during your Ultimate Apotheosis if the enemy gets out of range. See ability rundown for all items that can be used during Apotheosis. You can also use and ally for distance with your first charge of E Slipstream to reach the enemies like in the pre-6 engage.
Teamfighting
Teamfighting is where Nilah shines in my opinion, yes she can 1v1 a lot of champions in a sidelane, but like Diana, Nilah's Ultimane Apotheosis can completely change the tides of a fight. That's where a good Nilah player gets seperated from a average one, how you use your abilities in teamfights.
For starters you can use your W Jubilant Veil on the engage champions when the fight starts to protect them (it can completely shut down a Jinx) and then E Slipstream and/or Flash into the enemy and land a big Ultimate Apotheosis. You can use Flash during your Ultimate Apotheosis cast so you land on the enemies with the pull in part to CC them for your team to kill.
The way I prefer to teamfight when u have someone to engage the frontline is to E Slipstream or Flash towards the backline and focus on killing them, but this is not always possible so just attack whoever you can.
Runes And Spells
SUMMONER SPELLS -
FLASH: Flash is used on almost every champion, it has been meta since the start of season 1 and is basically the cornerstone of League. It allows you to dodge spells and attacks, change positions and use it to make flashy plays.
Heal: Heal is the most common summoner spell for ADC's since it helps you and your support, it is also easy to use and you don't have to choose who to heal as it automatically heals the lowest health ally if you're cursor is not on someone. I rarely take heal as the other 3 summoner spells work better in specific situations, if you struggle with the others or just don't know if they will be worth it, take heal.
Exhaust: Exhaust is very underrated on Low-Elo ADC's because they don't bother learning how to use it. It can completely shut down champions like Zed or Master Yi who can one shot you. It also helps with diving ADC's like Vayne or Tristana. It can help if you struggle with the Samira matchup. Just note that in higher Elo's where enemy ADC's take Cleanse a lot more than lower Elo's, Cleanse can remove exhaust.
Cleanse: In higher levels of play, Cleanse is used a lot more against botlanes with cc like Ashe or Leona. It is a more selfish rune since you cannot heal your support so if the eenmy doesn't have dangerous CC in the botlane it is usually not worth it since you can just buy a Quicksilver Sash for something like a Nether Grasp or Realm of Death. Very useful into Varus, Ashe, Leona, Nautilus or Seraphine
Ghost:
Work In Progress
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Item Set
Copy this and import in "Items"
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The ONLY role Nilah can play guide | 12.13
Build Guide By Grondvreter
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