Guide · ADC

Nilah Guide

the Joy Unbound

Fighter

Assassin

Nilah, the Joy Unbound, is a fighter and assassin champion that is demanding to master. Across our 141 analysed ranked games, Nilah is mostly played as ADC (100% of its games), with a 52.5% win rate in that role. Nilah's damage is mostly physical (97%): armor is the best defensive answer against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 56.0% in medium-length games (25 to 35 min, 84 games) versus 44.9% in short games (under 25 min).

Updated Oct 10 2026 · Patch 26.21

Average KDA

7.5 / 6.4 / 5.8

ratio 2.1

Damage / min

719

CS / min

7.7

Gold / min

500

Kill participation

47%

Vision / min

0.58

Averages measured over 141 ADC games played with Nilah, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

How to play and combo preview

Written guide · based on the official ability texts

Nilah is a support fighter-marksman: her passive gives her more experience on minions and strengthens and shares nearby allies' healing and shields. Formless Blade increases her attack range, Jubilant Veil makes her dodge attacks, Slipstream dashes her, and Apotheosis deals damage and pulls enemies in.

Nilah's strengths

Gains more experience on minions (passive) and shares nearby allies' healing and shields.
Jubilant Veil makes her dodge every attack and gives the same effect to the allies she touches.
Apotheosis gathers enemies around her, which helps her team's area damage.

Nilah's weaknesses

Has to be in contact to express her power: Formless Blade only extends her range briefly.
Jubilant Veil has a long cooldown (22 to 26 s): it cannot be used on a loop.
Depends on allies who heal or protect to benefit from her passive.

Role in team fights

Nilah is a melee marksman: she joins the fight with Slipstream, places Jubilant Veil to make her team immune to attacks while the mist lasts, then Apotheosis pulls the enemies toward her. She is better when her allies heal or protect her, since she strengthens and shares those effects.

The trade

Q AA AA

E AA AA

When: An enemy is within range.

Formless Blade deals damage in a straight line and increases your attack range; Slipstream dashes you in enthusiastically and damages along your path.

Team protection

W AA AA

When: Your team is engaged.

Jubilant Veil raises your movement speed and makes you dodge every attack; any ally you touch during the mist gains this effect too.

See all 4 Nilah combos: key order, when to cast them, cooldowns →

Laning phase

Take minions to gain more experience. Formless Blade increases your attack range for a short time.

Common mistakes

Casting the ultimate without being in contact.
Using Jubilant Veil with no ally to touch.
Neglecting your allies' healing and shields.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Infinity Edge, Lord Dominik's Regards, and The Collector (32 games, 59.4% win rate).

Infinity Edge

Lord Dominik's Regards

32 games · 59.4%

22 games · 77.3%

Lord Dominik's Regards

Immortal Shieldbow

The Collector

14 games · 64.3%

First completed items, in order

The Collector

Infinity Edge

18 games · 55.6%

Laning phase (averages)

At 10 min: 3935 gold, 74 CS, 3886 XP. At 15 min: 6338 gold, 114 CS, 6132 XP.

Summoner spells

Flash + Barrier47.6% · 84 games

Exhaust + Flash58.3% · 24 games

Flash + Ghost62.5% · 16 games

Most-played runes

Conqueror + Inspiration

54.1% · 85 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph99%

Legend: Alacrity66%

Last Stand69%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Cosmic Insight75%

Cash Back72%

Shards

Attack speed94%

Adaptive force100%

Health52%

Conqueror + Sorcery

55.2% · 29 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph79%

Legend: Bloodline76%

Last Stand100%

Secondary tree · Sorcery

Gathering Storm100%

Axiom Arcanist76%

Shards

Attack speed76%

Adaptive force76%

Health scaling76%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Nilah's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Balanced enemy team50.7% · 75 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Infinity Edge 54.7% ▼

The Collector 51.1% ▼

Yun Tal Wildarrows 53.6% ▲

Lord Dominik's Regards 45.8%

Immortal Shieldbow 61.9%

Death's Dance 53.3%

The item that stands out most is Yun Tal Wildarrows: 53.6% win rate, +4 points versus its usual win rate.

Nilah ADC: what our games say

Laning phase against the ADC average

Measure	Nilah	ADC average	Gap
Gold at 10 min	3935	3863	+73
CS at 10 min	74	75	−1
XP at 10 min	3886	3552	+335
Gold at 15 min	6338	6448	−110
CS at 15 min	114	115	−1
XP at 15 min	6132	5813	+319

Measured over 31 Nilah games with a timeline; the average covers 49 champions played ADC in our ranked games.

Win rate by game length

short under 25 min44.9 %49 games

medium-length 25 to 35 min56.0 %84 games

Best result: medium-length (25 to 35 min). Only groups of at least 30 games are shown. A gap of several points shows the phase where the champion is the most reliable.

Abilities

PassiveJoy Unending

Nilah gains increased experience from last-hitting minions along with the ability to enhance and share nearby healing and shielding from her allies.

QFormless Blade

With a snap of her whip-blade, Nilah damages any enemies she hits in a straight line in her chosen direction. This action extends her attack range for a short duration.

WJubilant Veil

Nilah envelops herself in mist, increasing her movement speed and allowing her to gracefully dodge all incoming attacks. Any allies she touches during the mist's duration will also gain this effect.

ESlipstream

Nilah enthusiastically dashes toward her target, dealing damage to any enemies she passes through on the way.