A complete guide to mastering Nilah in League of Legends

League of Legends is still evolving as Nilah gets ready to shatter the community's accepted meta. The new bot lane carry is a skirmisher who gets up in her opponent's face and blows it up, rather than just being a standard marksman.

The latest bot laner in League of Legends, Nilah, possesses a unique style of play. First of her kind, the "Joy Unbound" performs her duties up close with melee strikes as opposed to ranged marksmen.

According to League of Legends lore, a warrior from a faraway land named Nilah, the Joy Unbound, is on a mission to take on the monsters of the deep. She is an epic, monster-slaying hero who is writing a legend of her own, day by day.

On Summoner's Rift, Nilah is a bot lane skirmisher who ramps up like a ranged AD carry but later has all the advantages (and some disadvantages) of melee champions. She is the first of her kind to be dedicated to the role.

For those who want to master the Kathkanese skirmisher, Sportskeeda has the perfect Nilah build, runes and strategies right here.

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Abilities, Runes and Build Items of Nilah in League of Legends

Nilah's unconventional ADC abilities make her one-of-a-kind in League of Legends (Image via Riot Games - League of Legends)

Riot is experimenting with fusing roles and champion archetypes with Nilah, providing players with other ways to dominate the game.

She is weak in the early stages but scales aggressively into the late game, much like an AD carry. This is especially true for a melee champion who depends on her squad to perform some labor-intensive tasks. But there may be no champion better at wiping the floor if she can get her way in a fight.

She does have some resources in her arsenal to get through that early game. As she advances through levels, her passive, Joy Unending, increases the healing and shielding she receives whilst reducing some of the shared experiences lost by killing minions close to allies.

Her W, Jubilant Veil, can rescue her by deflecting auto attacks, while her Q, Formless Blade, allows her to farm from a secure distance. Additionally, her E, Slipstream, is a dash.

Nilah's late game is likely to be the overall strongest if players can get beyond that risky early game. Her ultimate, Apotheosis, has a wide radius and possesses the ability to nuke opponents while shielding one's squad for the duration of their proximity.

Nilah can move quickly through combat thanks to her strong mobility, and if enchanters keep giving her buffs, she becomes unkillable.

The following is the full list of Nilah's abilities in League of Legends:

Passive: Joy Unending

Whenever Nilah will last hit a minion, she and her ally support will gain 50% of the experience that would ideally be lost from sharing with allies.

Nilah will also gain additional benefits from heals and shields. If an ally uses a heal or a shield, then Nilah will grant its benefits to herself as well as the caster.

Q: Formless Blade

Passive: Nilah's attack and ability damage against champions will ignore part of their armor and also heal her. This ability will scale off crit and grant Nilah with a shield in case of overhealing.

Active: Nilah will strike in a straight line and damage all enemies ahead. Nilah's attack range and speed will also be enhanced upon hitting an enemy for a few seconds. Her basic attacks will also splash into a cone and deal additional damage to enemies.

W: Jubilant Veil

Nilah will cover herself with a mist that will provide her with additional movement speed, enhanced magic resistance and also help her dodge basic attacks. If she touches an allied champion, then Nilah will grant them the same benefits for half the duration.

E: Slipstream

Nilah can dash through the target and damage all units along the way. She can also hold two charges for this ability at once.

Nilah can also cast her Q while using this ability to create a wave in her path that deals damage to enemies while also activating her empowered attacks.

R: Apotheosis

Nilah will spin her weapon in an area of effect and pull enemies together towards the common center with her final burst. While doing this, she will also deal heavy damage to the enemy. Simultaneously, the damage she deals will also heal Nilah and provide her with a shield for overhealing.

Healing and shielding will be scaled off as a critical chance, and will be shared with nearby allies.

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Ideal build for Nilah in League of Legends

In League of Legends, Nilah has a somewhat open-ended build path, although there are two core ideologies that a player might choose.

Hard sustain is the first, with Immortal Shieldbow as the focus item. Given that Nilah is caught up in the action and needs to be able to survive, this is perhaps the best possible option. It works well with her passive .

She may snowball rapidly by diving into some early damage with Essence Reaver and Infinity Edge. Death's Dance is also a must-take build item for Nilah because it's just too good for the bot lane skirmisher to abuse with.

However, depending on the condition of the game, players can choose anything from Bloodthirster to Guardian Angel to Lord Dominik's Regards as the final item.

Kraken Slayer offers the second and riskier choice for building Nilah. For a more high-risk, high-reward build, players can add items such as The Collector, Infinity Edge, and Death's Dance in addition to early sustaining items, including Blade of the Ruined King.

Best possible items for Nilah in the current League of Legends meta:

Mythic

• Immortal Shieldbow
• Kraken Slayer (more situational)

Boots

• Berserker’s Greaves
• Plated Steelcaps (if against heavy AD)

Starting Items

• Doran’s Shield
• Doran’s Blade + Health Potion

Late Items

• Essence Reaver
• Infinity Edge
• Death’s Dance
• Bloodthirster / Blade of the Ruined King (if Kraken Slayer is built, players will need one of these for sustain)
• The Collector (if glass cannon is built, all damage)
• Phantom Dancer (for more mobility)
• Lord Dominik’s Regards (for tanky opponents)
• Guardian Angel (for more survivability)

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Ideal runes for Nilah in League of Legends

Ideal Rune options for Nilah in League of Legends (Scrrengrab via Riot Games - League of Legends)

Despite being ranged, several ADCs in the bot lane already use Conqueror, but for the melee Nilah, it's by far her finest keystone rune. With the additional true damage and sustain scaling up twice as quickly, it forms the basis of her finest in-game runes.

Nilah can handle a pretty flexible combination of items beyond that though. Her mana problems can be resolved with Presence of Mind, but for the extra gold, players can use Triumph.

Legend: Alacrity and Tenacity are both good rune choices for League's Unbound Joy, as she is a melee and prone to crowd control. Last Stand will also work well with her "on-the-edge" playstyle to maximize damage.

Resolve is a good choice for secondary runes to help Nilah get through the laning phase. While Revitalize and Unflinching provide her with more late-game utility, Bone Plating and Second Wind are good for countering early-game poke.

The best possible Nilah runes are listed below.

• Conqueror
• Triumph
• Legend: Alacrity / Legend: Tenacity
• Last Stand / Coup De Grace
• Bone Plating
• Revitalize / Unflinching

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Nilah's abilities in League of Legends were formally disclosed by the developers on June 22, 2022. Now, as everything is set for Nilah to land onto the Summoner's Rift, fans will have to wait a few more hours before they can officially get their hands on League of Legends' 161st champion on July 14.