Champion Guide

Nilah Guide

By LoLSuggest

ADC

Nilah is a melee ADC who wins through experience leads and snowballing. Play her like a bruiser-assassin: follow up on your support's engage, weave autos between abilities, and shred tanks and objectives once you have crit.

Recommended Setup

Our recommended Nilah build

Our recommended runes, summoner spells and items. Compare build win rates on the stats page.

Items

Starting Items

Core Items

Situational Items

Conqueror with Triumph, Legend: Alacrity and Last Stand is the primary tree in both setups. Secondaries vary: Sudden Impact and Treasure Hunter for gold, or Cash Back and Biscuit Delivery as an alternative. Flash with Barrier is standard; Ghost is a strong alternative, with Exhaust for 2v2s or Cleanse into heavy crowd control like Braum. Start Doran's Blade, or Doran's Shield into long range. The main build is The Collector (or Yun Tal Wildarrows) with Mercury's Treads, then Lord Dominik's Regards and Infinity Edge, finishing with Immortal Shieldbow and Bloodthirster. An alternative standard path is Essence Reaver, Immortal Shieldbow, Boots of Swiftness and Death's Dance, keeping The Collector for burst lanes. Guardian Angel, Maw of Malmortius or Spirit Visage are defensive options. Put three early points in E, then max Q.

Runes

Primary Tree

Secondary Tree

Summoner Spells

Skill Max Order

Strengths

Great at creating leads — Joy Unending gives your lane extra experience.
Good scaling, and excellent at killing tanks and objectives.
Strong follow-up engager with a playmaking ultimate.

Weaknesses

Easily bullied in lane and weak into poke.
Easily kited and not very bulky; Ashe, Caitlyn, Tristana and Smolder are hard lanes.
Support-dependent and difficult to learn.

Laning Phase

Levels 1 and 2 are your weakest, so stay in experience range without taking hard trades. Use Joy Unending: last-hitting minions with your support nearby gives both of you bonus experience, so you can hit level 2 a minion earlier and level 3 by the end of the third wave. All-in mainly when you're a level up, especially at 3 and 6. Nilah takes towers very fast, so hit plates with Formless Blade whenever the enemy is forced to recall. In poke lanes, farm safely, and use Jubilant Veil to dodge auto-attack trades.

Mid & Late Game

After lane, rotate mid and keep farming crit items. In teamfights, weave in and out instead of starting the fight: Apotheosis is your biggest playmaking tool but it's telegraphed and easy to Flash out of, so cast it after an ally engages or when enemies dive your teammates. Apotheosis and Jubilant Veil also heal and protect allies, so you can use your support as bait and save them. Don't push without your team, and buy Farsight Alteration at level 9. You're melee, not a tank: don't stand at the front.

Key Tips

Weave an auto between every Formless Blade and Slipstream cast for maximum damage.
Flash during Formless Blade's animation to reposition its hitbox.
Enchanter shields and heals on you are amplified by your passive.
Best partners are tanky or healing supports like Nautilus, Taric, Rell, Rakan or Soraka.

Matchups

Matchups and synergies

Our picks for difficult opponents, favorable lanes and strong allies. Compare matchup win rates on the stats page.