How to Counter Neeko
Neeko is a fan favourite champion in League of Legends, who is played in multiple roles. She is a tough laner as she has sound wave clear and trading potential.
In this Mobalytics guide, we will discuss 5 champions that are good picks into Neeko. If you know you’re laning against Neeko (whether in the top or mid lane), try and pick one of these champions to deal with her a lot easier.
If you’re interested in learning how to play as Neeko, check out Neeko’s champion page. You’ll find their latest builds, runes, combos and much much more.
How to Counter Neeko
- Stand outside of her range
- Opt for 1 armor and 1 magic resistance Rune
- Avoid grouping too closely in the mid and late game
- Stand outside of the minion wave
- Respect her level 6
- 5 Champions That Counter Neeko
- Lissandra
- Anivia
- Pantheon
- Vel’Koz
- Sett
1. Stand outside of her range
When playing as a melee champion, you need to stand as far back from her as possible when you’re not looking to play aggressively. This is because Neeko will use her range advantage to bully you down and harass you.
If you are low on health as a melee champion, you’re going to find it near impossible for you to kill her or go for favourable trades. You must stay back so she can’t abuse you with basic and empowered autos.
2. Opt for 1 armor and 1 magic resistance Rune
Neeko is a pretty flexible pick. She can be played in multiple roles, including top, mid and Support. She can also go either on-hit AD or full AP and burst you down. Most Neeko’s will go AP, though, but some players love to go on-hit Neeko.
When in a losing matchup, don’t be afraid to change your Rune page to opt for armor and magic resistance minor Runes to help you survive the laning phase. Some champions cant do this, however, but if you’re playing as a tank, the assorted defensive items will be beneficial at stemming down her harassment in the lane.
On a different note, if you cannot opt for double defensive Runes, make sure you switch your one armor Rune to the magic resistance Rune instead to protect you from her poke and burst damage throughout the lane.
3. Avoid grouping too closely in the mid and late game
Neeko has a lot of AOE damage with her Q, E and Ultimate. However, her Ultimate and her E are the biggest threats to you later in the game. To make her Ultimate and E less effective, it is a good idea to split up slightly and avoid grouping too closely.
When you’re grouped closely as a team, you’re putting yourselves at a disadvantage as it could allow her to land a multi-person CC chain which could win her team the fight. While you’re CC’d, the enemy can dish out damage for free.
Similarly, you mustn’t fight in the jungle, as teams will usually be grouped closely together in these tight areas of the map. That also holds true when fighting around objectives like the Baron or Dragon.
4. Stand outside of the minion wave
Neeko will often use her Q and E to push the minion wave. With this in mind, try your hardest to stand outside of the minion wave so she cannot bully you down and push the wave simultaneously. By standing outside of the minion wave, you will force her to choose between pushing you under your tower or poking you.
Furthermore, Neeko’s root duration on her E is increased when it hits more enemies, which means you’ll be rooted for longer. This could allow her Jungler to gank you or enable her to go for a favourable trade.
5. Respect her level 6
Neeko’s level 6 power spike is very good. When playing as a champion who wants to get onto Neeko, it will be very difficult for you to kill her because once you go in, she will cast her Ultimate and turn around the exchange or protect herself.
When playing as a melee champion, you need to bait out her Ultimate or reposition to get out of her Ultimate’s range. If you can bait out this ability, then she shouldn’t be able to turn around the exchange.
If your Ultimate offers you a lot of kill pressure, but it’s too risky to use it against her, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to roam and help your team to make use of your Ultimate. Helping your allies get kills with your Ult will be highly beneficial for you and your team.
5 Champions That Counter Neeko
5 champions that counter Neeko are Lissandra, Anivia, Pantheon, Vel’Koz, and Sett.You can find all the matchup tips we use in this guide on the Mobalytics App.
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1. Neeko vs Lissandra
Lissandra has good range on her Q and E. This will allow her to poke and push from afar. Neeko does have a lot of all-in pressure, but Lissandra can counter it with her Ultimate. If she casts her Ultimate on herself when Neeko goes in, she will not take damage from her Ultimate.
4 tips to counter Neeko as Lissandra
- Keep poking Neeko with your Q every chance you get, and try to hit some minions with it as well. Be very careful about getting CC’d by her E though.
- Your all-in combo is devastating, but you will need to know which target is Neeko. A way to mitigate this is to make her bait out her W before going for an all-in.
- Neeko is really jumpy and will cause issues for you if you don’t pay attention in the lane. If she is about to Ultimate you, consider using your Ultimate on yourself to both save yourself and slow Neeko down for the continued all-in.
- Keep the wave in the middle of the lane and the brushes around your lane warded. Another thing that you can do is use the fog of war to catch Neeko off-guard when she tries to roam.
2. Neeko vs Anivia
Anivia has good wave clear and good survivability in lane. Post 6, she can keep the Neeko pushed into her tower. Furthermore, most of Neeko’s damage is burst damage. It is impossible for her to kill Anivia twice in a row. Her Passive offers her a lot of extra protection in this matchup.
Learn Anivia’s best runes and builds by checking out Anivia’s champion page.
4 tips to counter Neeko as Anivia
- Your Q > E combo is going to be devastating provided you manage to catch Neeko. A good time to do so will be when her W is down or when she is about to auto-attack a cannon minion.
- Getting your Ultimate will be a huge power spike. You can completely block off Neeko’s escape now and will be able to burst her down quickly.
- Never let Neeko get too close to you. This is mainly because Neeko can decimate you if she manages to deactivate your Ultimate with her CC and then turn you into an egg amidst the enemy team.
- Keep the wave in the middle of the lane for as long as possible. This will let you farm and scale up quickly, while proper warding should prepare you for any ganks.
3. Neeko vs Pantheon
All-in champions are pretty strong into Neeko, and that includes Pantheon Pantheon can all-in her frequently, and use his shield to protect him from Neeko’s damage.
4 tips to counter Neeko as Pantheon
- The best time to fight Neeko is once she uses her Q on the minion wave. This will make it harder for her to trade back with you. Ideally, try to go in when her E is down as well though as it will be easier to chase her down as she cannot root you and escape.
- At level 6, fighting Neeko is going to be difficult because of her Ultimate. Do not commit to a fight with her unless you can bully her down prior or unless your Jungler is nearby. If you can bait out her Ultimate you can play aggressively while it’s on cooldown. Take note that she also gains a shield on her Ultimate. Take this into account when using your Ultimate.
- Keep the minion wave closer to your side of the map early. This will protect you against ganks and will making farming much easier as she cannot use her superior range to harass or zone you away from farm
- Try to keep the minion wave closer to your side of the map early on. This allows you to chase her down the lane and fight her. Don’t let her push you under Tower if you can help it.
4. Neeko vs Vel’Koz
Vel’Koz has good wave clear and a lot of burst damage. Neeko’s E is also a root, which means Vel’Koz can use his Ultimate without fear of her cancelling it. However, she can still use her Ultimate to interrupt it.
4 tips to counter Neeko as Vel’Koz
- Keep the wave in the middle of the lane and make it a point to harass her regularly. If she tries roaming, don’t follow and warn your laners while you shove the wave into her tower.
- Her E becomes empowered if she passes it through enemy minions before hitting you. Don’t try to hide behind minions or else you will lose a lot of HP. If unavoidable, try to ENeeko before her E hits you so that she can’t follow up on the CC.
- While laning against her, make sure that you don’t get hit by her E. CC is your worst enemy and will make you take a lot of damage from her follow-up Q, auto-attacks and Ultimate.
- Try to play a bit aggressively when Neeko’s E is down. Also, keep a track of her in the lane as she may use her W to disguise as a melee champ and then all-in you with her Ultimate.
5. Neeko vs Sett
Sett is similar to Pantheon to some extent. He has really good all-in, a strong laning phase and he can chase the Neeko down if she overextends. While Neeko does have the range advantage, most players will not be able to kite away from the Sett running full charge at them. Bonus points for the flexibility of this matchup!
4 tips to counter Neeko as Sett
- Be prepared to sacrifice CS for XP. If you get chunked down, you’ll find it hard to trade or fight the enemy. Do not let them bully you out of lane otherwise you’ll fall behind and you’ll not be able to kill them.
- Wait for the enemy to use their crowd control ability before engaging. If you go in when they have it up, they will just interrupt your combo and trade back with you. Try and bait it out first and then use the cooldown to play aggressively.
- Extended trades work in your favour so try your hardest to go for long trades when possible. Wait for the enemy to use an ability and then go in for a trade.
- The enemy does have the range advantage so they will probably try and auto-attack you frequently. Stand back and out of range so they can’t auto attack you for free. Try to constantly adapt your positioning to reserve health. If they walk forward, walk backwards if you’re not looking to trade.
Conclusion
It hurt me writing this guide because I absolutely love Neeko. But, we hope that this guide will help you play against Neeko in the future. Try and pick one of these champions to make it very hard for her to snowball and win the game.
For more tips and tricks for Neeko, check out Neeko’s champion page on Mobalytics!
If you have any questions or want to learn more, check out PicklePants’s stream.
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