Nilah Runes and Build Guide: How to Play Nilah ADC (July 2022)

In this guide, we will discuss the best tips and tricks for playing the new champion Nilah. We will also cover how to build Nilah best and some advice on how to play her. If you are ready, let's move on to the Runes and build guide for our new champion Nilah, the ADC.

LoL Nilah Runes and Build Guide 2022? Nilah ADC Gameplay Guide!

What Build Should We Prepare for Nilah?

Nilah is a very hard champion for Riot to balance because she is an ADC that needs enough survivability to be in melee range. That risks Nilah producing rotten parts and becoming overly durable. To prevent this, Riot steered most of Nilah's damage and healing toward building Crit. So even though you can sneak in one or two Death's Dances, she will still mostly need Crit items to be effective. To make itemization easier, Nilah has a lot of healing and armor penetration built into her kit, so she can skip building more attack stats and still survive at the front line.

For items, most of the time you will want your Mythic to be Immortal Shieldbow. This item creates a very good synergy with her short range, and realistically it keeps the heavy playstyle where you would want just Galeforce for the extra movement option instead of Shieldbow. It is worth noting that champions similar to Nilah such as Yasuo, Yone and Samira only build Shieldbow.

After the Mythic, depending on the game, you will want Phantom Dancer, Bloodthirster or Mortal Reminder. But usually Phantom Dancer synergizes best with your kit and the stats you are looking for. The third item will be Infinity Edge 90% of the time. That is a huge damage increase and really hard to pass up. If you do not get it as your third item, you will definitely get it as your fourth. For your remaining items, you will want to choose according to the game you are in. Bloodthirster, Guardian Angel, Navori Quickblades and Lord Dominik's Regards are great options to choose depending on your situation.

What Should Nilah's Runes Be?

For keystones, Nilah definitely wants Conqueror or Lethal Tempo. Nilah gets a large attack speed steroid from her Q, so the bonus AD and healing from Conqueror tend to be worth more. For the big runes, you only want runes that will give you durability and reward you for fighting a lot. The secondary rune page can be anything you want it to be; Overgrowth and Conditioning tend to be worth more because Nilah is really not hurt and lacks survivability and mobility. Presence of Mind in place of Triumph is also viable. Legend: Tenacity and Alacrity are also viable, but Bloodline scales well and Nilah really likes lifesteal.

How Should Nilah Be Played?

Although Nilah's kit is surprisingly simple for a new champion (looking at you, Zeri, Renata, Bel'Veth), you will need to understand her kit in a complex way to get everything you can out of the champion. Nilah is a unique champion because she is meant to be a short-range bot laner. Although her counterpart Yasuo ADC is a notably niche pick that requires specific supports to work, Nilah can be picked by mages and can likewise bring in supports. That makes her far more livable.

Another notable thing about Nilah is that she beats nearly every auto attack-based champion in 1v1, as her kit was specifically designed to take strong duelists like Yone or Camille out of the ADC role. The trade-off is that Nilah is incredibly vulnerable to mages and ability-based champions. She is not only short-range and relatively immobile, but there is also no good item option for MR. So if a mage is a strong threat to Nilah, she is kind of... stuck.

Much like Irelia or Katarina, since she is punished very badly for overextending, learning engagement timing and positioning will be really important. Although Nilah is quite oppressive when she gets into range to hit you, she is still vulnerable to CC, so when maneuvering in team fights you need to keep track of the tools the enemy team has to stop you. Because if left unchecked, Nilah will dominate a fight on her own. Her sustained damage and lifesteal are extremely strong in the late game and will quickly finish off unsuspecting enemies, however many there are.

Our Tips and Tricks for Nilah

As mentioned before, Nilah requires the player to use every piece of her kit to the fullest for the champion to really work. This means you need to understand a few important things:

1. Nilah can auto-cancel with her Q. This means that every time you Q, you use an auto right before it to maximize your damage.
2. Nilah's E has a really long cooldown. Although it has two charges, you need to be very strict about how you use this ability, or you will end up out of position too often.
3. Nilah's W should be used reactively to avoid important attacks such as Twisted Fate's gold card or Camille's Q2. If you throw it out when you are scared, it does not do much good.
4. 90% of Nilah's damage comes from her Q and her empowered attacks. Be very careful to make sure you land it or you will see your damage fall off a cliff. Although trying to use auto attack cancels with her Q is very important, landing it is more important. So if you need to use the EQ combo to have a higher chance of landing Q, that is not the worst.
5. Nilah's ultimate does not deal insane damage; it is more of an AoE CC effect and a mass heal for her team. So use it like a utility, not for damage.
6. Nilah has incredibly strong early trading and good scaling. She is very similar to Yone or Caitlyn in terms of power curves. The lane phase is good, but if she cannot win the lane, she drops off until the late game when she has 3-4 items, at which point she becomes very strong again.
7. Because of Nilah's short range, most of the time you will want to farm in lane with Q. Its mana cost is low enough that this ability can lead to unwanted waves, so do not be afraid to use it often as a farming tool.

Nilah will excel in team fights vs. a group of melee enemies. But with plenty of range and high CC, enemies will fight back. So keep in mind that in the right situation Nilah will be an incredibly solid pick and can take over a game on her own.

Our LoL Guides

Our Champion Guides

• Click here for the Nautilus Runes & Build Guide.
• Click here for the Lee Sin Build & Runes Guide.
• Click here for the Volibear Runes & Build Guide.
• Click here for the Vladimir Runes & Build Guide.
• Click here for the Season 12 Ahri Guide.
• Click here for our article on 3 Top Laners That Will Challenge You on Your Way to Master.
• Click here for our article on Zeri Runes.
• Click here for our article on the 5 Strongest Opponents Against Zeri in League of Legends.
• Click here for our article on League of Legends Zeri Tactics.
• Click here for our article on the 3 Best Top Lane Champions for Beginners in LoL!

Our Item Guides

• Click here for the Eclipse item guide.
• Click here for the Divine Sunderer item guide.
• Click here for the Duskblade of Draktharr item guide.

Our Game Guides

• Click here for our article on 3 Top Laners That Will Challenge You on Your Way to Master.
• Click here for our article on Bronze League Best ADC Champions: Highest Win Rate Champions.
• What Are the Epic Monsters in the Jungle? Click here for 2022.
• Click here for the League of Legends Jungle Guide for Beginners 2022!