The Joy Unbound’s whole kit has been showcased by SkinSpotligts, which means that she will join the fray shortly. Check out Nilah’s Abilities in our story below.
A few days ago, Riot Games released the teaser for League of Legends’ newest Champion, Nilah, the Joy Unbound. In the trailer, fans got a glimpse of what the new melee ADC is capable of. But on June 22nd, Nilah’s entire kit has been fully released, which means that we now know for certain what we have to deal with after she releases.
Passive – Unending Joy:
Nilah’s passive follows the trend of later releases, as she has two passives instead of one. Firstly, she empowers the healing and shielding of nearby allies, and if a teammate would shield or heal her, Nilah shields or heals them back. This works the other way around as well, so if an ally gets a shield or heal near Nilah, she gets a bonus shield or heals as well.
Her other passive is one that should be familiar to old-time players, as it’s very similar to Mordekaiser’s when he was a botlaner before the rework. If Nilah last hits a minion, she and her nearest ally gain 1.5X the experience they would usually gain. These two skills should help Nilah in the laning phase, where she would be behind because of her melee basic attacks.
Q – Formless Blade:
Her first ability also has two parts, an active and a passive one. When activated, Nilah strikes in a line, damaging every foe struck along the way. If she hits, her basic attacks are empowered for a few seconds, causing them to deal splashing damage in a cone. Her autos also deal more damage, while Nilah gains attack range and attack speed for the buff’s duration.
Passively, Nilah’s basic attacks ignore a part of the target’s armor and heal her for a percentage of the damage dealt. This passive scales with critical strike chance and has a Bloodthirster-like passive, as excess healing gets converted into a shield.
W – Jubilant Veil:
Nilah shrouds herself in a veil, gaining movement speed and taking reduced magical damage. She also dodges all basic attacks for the duration, which should be really useful in the laning phase. She can also bestow this gift to others, as touching allies will grant them the veil as well, although they are protected for a shorter period of time.
E – Slipstream:
Her E is her mobility, as this ability let’s her dash through a target unit for a set distance, damaging every enemy she hits along the way. Slipstream also had two charges, similar to Vel’Koz’s W.
If Nilah casts her Q – Formless Blade while dashing, she pulls a wave along her path, dealing damage after a short while and gaining the buffs of her first ability.
R – Apotheosis:
Nilah unleashes a whirlpool by lashing her weapon around, and pulls enemies towards her with at the end of the ability, similar to Diana’s ultimate. Apotheosis heals Nilah for a portion of the damage dealt, and grants her a shield for the excess healing. This also heals with crit chance and is granted to nearby allies.
At first glance, Nilah seems like a good mix of sustain and damage, which should come in handy in the botlane, where she has a natural weakness against every other ADC – her range. Nilah’s melee basic attacks are a big handicap, but Riot gave her a plethora of tools to survive the early game, and in the lategame, she seems very strong. Although she seems to be a Marksman that should be played with an enchanter on her side, so she can get the most out of her passive and other healing/shielding buffs.
Nilah should hit the Rift in the next few patches with her basic and Star Guardian skins!
