A hidden gem has been found in the League of Legends bot lane. Some champions are added into the game and only months after their initial release will players realize just how strong the pick truly is.
Some League of Legends champions are extremely OP, but players won't notice until months or even years into their existence. Take the most hated champion on the planet for example – Yuumi. She was released in 2019 and it wasn't until two years later that players truly started playing her in professional matches.
Last year, Riot tried to bring a new spin to the bot lane by introducing Nilah to the League of Legends roster. While she was a cool new addition, players didn't latch onto her right away... until now that is.
LoL: Nilah Rises In Popularity
When Riot designed Nilah, they thought of creating a designated bot lane champion similar to Yasuo. We've all experienced the horrid Yasuo bot lane and with Nilah, Riot wanted to target those exact players, giving them a mobile, short ranged ADC.
Until recently, she's been pretty much forgotten though, with even Riot stating that she hasn't landed as well as they had hoped. All that could change though. Throughout the last few patches Nilah has risen in popularity, as well as with her win rate.
While Nilah has had quite a lot of success in the bot lane, she is currently one of the best choices for ADC players. Why? Because she is just insanely strong against late game scaling mages like Swain, Karthus or Seraphine who have also seen a spike in play in solo queue.
Add in the fact that she has been picked more often in pro play as well, even getting the spotlight in one of the LCK Playoff Finals matches by young Gen.G bot laner Kim "Peyz" Su-hwan, and you've got the recipe for a popular champion.
While Nilah is far from being the most popular pick in the bot lane, she is gaining more and more players each day thanks to her strengths. Will we be seeing her at the 2023 World Championship, or is she a mere solo queue pick? That will remain to be seen.