How to Counter Nilah
Bel’Veth has only been out for a little while, and Riot has already released the next champion! Nilah is the 161st champion to be released to League of Legends. For those who don’t know, Nilah is an ADC champion with a few dashes, an AOE Ultimate, healing and shielding, and lots of damage.
We’ve already made a few different articles about Nilah already, so make sure you check out our how to play Nilah guide for those who want to learn how to play Nilah in League of Legends.
If you want more tips to counter Nilah, play as Nilah, or play any champion in League of Legends, then make sure you sign up for a free Mobalytics account to help improve your climb.
Here are the things we will be covering in this article:
- Play Around Her E
- Beware of Her Level 6 Power Spike
- Avoid Fighting in the Jungle
- Invest in Healing Reduction
- Ban Her at Launch
- Counter Picks
1. Play Around Her E
Her E is a very versatile tool. Like most other ADCs in the game, Nilah has a dash ability; well actually, she has two! Her E can stack up to two times, allowing her to close the gap or escape from ganks easily.
Slipstream (her E) can be used on enemy champions as well as minions. With these things in mind, you need to be aware that she can easily close the gap between you and her whenever she wants to.
If you’re behind, I would avoid pushing the minion wave and stand away from minions so she cannot use her E on you or the minion wave to get on top of you and take you down. If you keep the minion wave close to your side of the map, it will be quite difficult for her to kill you as she will be near your turret when she uses her E aggressively. If you want to learn how to manage waves correctly, check out our wave management guide.
2. Beware of Her Level 6 Power Spike
In solo lanes, champions gain solo experience. Every time a minion dies, they grant XP to champions nearby. When you’re playing in the bottom lane, this XP gets split in half. This is why it takes 9 minions rather than 7 minions to hit level 2 in the bottom lane compared to a solo lane like the top lane or mid.
Due to Nilah’s Passive, Nilah and her allied Support will get more XP in the lane because they will XP that they would’ve lost due to sharing. This may not mean a lot on paper, but it can soon add up and you may find that the enemy is able to hit level 6 before you do due to the extra XP they get.
If you’re level 5, and you’ve noticed that Nilah has too been level 5 for some time, expect her to get the level up before you do. When she is level 6, her kill pressure intensifies and depending on her Support, they may look for an aggressive all-in once they get the level up.
Play safe when she is level 6, and wait until you’re level 6 before committing to any type of all-in as they will clearly beat you if you’re level 5 and they’re level 6.
3. Avoid Fighting in the Jungle
Nilah’s Ultimate has a large area of effect and she can hit multiple enemies at once with it. If you’re close together, it will enable her to hit more champions compared to teams that are slightly split up. Her Ultimate can deal a lot of damage, while simultaneously applying CC to all enemies.
My advice is to stand away from one another, and try to avoid grouping or fighting in close proximity such as around neutral objectives or in the jungle as teams will be grouped quite closely in these areas.
Ideally, try to fight in open areas of the map where your team will not be close together. For instance, in the middle of the map, or away from objectives.
4. Invest in Healing Reduction
Let’s keep this one short and sweet. Invest in healing reduction items that reduce her sustain and healing. Items such as Executioner’s Calling, Bramble Vest or Morellos will apply grievous wounds which will reduce healing.
Nilah has lots of built-in sustain, and she can empower her allies with extra healing. An item that can reduce healing is definitely needed to cut down on her sustain and reduce her chances of surviving a fight.
If you do not buy an item that reduces her healing, you will find it hard to kill her and it may cost you in the long run.
5. Ban Her at Launch
Ban her if you’re trying to climb and play ranked. Players will first time her in your games which will be highly frustrating. The chances of you winning a game with someone who is first timing her on your team is very low. So, you can increase your chances of winning by banning her.
You may ask “well the enemy might first time her instead of my team”! Well, this is true, but then you have the opposite side of the coin. Your team might not know how to play against her and they may feed her.
Furthermore, you never know how strong or weak she will be on launch, historically, most champions Riot releases are released in an overpowered state and are nerfed within a few days.
By banning her and taking her off the board, you increase your chances of winning the game and gaining ELO.
6. Counter Pick Her
Only time will tell who the best counters are to Nilah, but here are some strong picks we recommend you pick against her!
Veigar
- Veigar has AP damage and while she does reduce incoming damage, in the late game he will still be able to one-shot her. Most Veigar’s also freeze near their tower, so he is protected from her all-in early.
Miss Fortune
- Miss Fortune’s Ultimate is incredibly strong when it comes to fighting Nilah. However, you need to try to use your Ultimate from afar so she cannot interrupt the channel with her Ultimate.
Senna
- She has lots of damage and chase-down potential. Senna is also strong in the current meta, which favours her. Senna also has healing in her kit which will help her stay healthy in the lane.
Nami
- Nami has a lot of counter engage which can help you when Nilah goes deep. Thankfully, Nilah’s dash is always telegraphed, which will allow you to easily land your Q on her.
Nautilus
- Naughty Nautilus is always good, but he is good into Nilah thanks to his lockdown potential. Post 6, he can just keep using his Ultimate on her when she overextends. He also has soo much CC which he can layer to take her down.
Final Thoughts
I am surprised Riot has already released another champion to the LoL universe. I expected there to be some downtime before they released another champion, but it’s all good. We hope these tips will help you counter Nilah when she gets launched onto the live servers.
For extra tips and tricks to counter Nilah, head over to Mobalytics!
