Nilah is a late-game League of Legends champion who needs time to scale into her more powerful, mobile form, so she needs a reliable support with her in lane to reach that point. But, with a meta that shifts with each patch, which supports are best?
Here are a few of the best champions players can use alongside Nilah in the support role to bring out the true potential of the Joy Unbound.
Best Nilah supports in League
When it comes to picking a support for Nilah, you’ll want to choose either an enchanter or a tank. If you can give Nilah plenty of healing or shields, she’ll be able to go in and do the melee damage that she does best.
Luckily, Nilah also has plenty of abilities at her fingertips that allow her to stay alive while dealing immense amounts of damage, including the unique trait of keeping up in experience with her lane opponent while needing fewer minions to do so.
Yuumi
In addition to being totally adorable, Yuumi is possibly the best support for a melee-focused character like Nilah. Yuumi is a healer and shielder, and as long as you’re attached to Nilah using You and Me! (W), you’ll be Nilah’s little travel buddy who offers constant support.
When you’re attached, you’ll want to use Zoomies (E) to grant attack speed, movement speed, and a shield to Nilah. That’s one of the most powerful support moves in Yuumi’s arsenal. If someone’s trying to escape from a scrap with you and Nilah, your Prowling Projectile (Q) is a great way to slow down Nilah’s prey.
Pros:
- Healer and shielder
- Offers constant support
- Grants attack/movement speed and a shield
Cons:
- Has a lower difficulty than Nilah
- Losing a great deal of engage potential.
When playing as Yuumi, it can be tempting to try and keep yourself attached to Nilah or other allies at all times. But this isn’t always the best decision. You’ll definitely spend most of your time attached to friends in order to provide healing and shields, but sometimes a situation may demand that you jump off your friend in order to help them chase down a foe or to provide enough of a distraction that they can get away.
Rakan
Nilah is all about jumping into a teamfight and causing as much havoc as possible in a short matter of time. Not many other champions in League embody that goal in a similar vein quite like Rakan, who can jump right in alongside Nilah with Grand Entrance (W) while keeping her alive and dashing across the battlefield with Battle Dance (E). Together, they have the potential to combine for one of the most lightning-fast duos in League.
Pros:
- When paired with Nilah, gains increased damage output
- Has high mobility together
Cons:
- Nilah does not present much protection to Rakan
- Losing engagement to the sides
Thresh
The Thresh/Nilah combo is one that obviously works really well together. Thresh is able to hold down enemies and gives Nilah just the right amount of time to do enough damage. When Nilah is in a pinch, Thresh is able to peel her if she is about to die with the lantern.
Speaking of damage, having Thresh on the same team as Nilah will offer a small increase to their complete damage output and take less damage. They, together are powerful bot lane intensive as they can deal massive damage and when using The Box (R), Thresh is able to slow down enemies, allowing Nilah to wreak havoc on targets and build her ultimate.
Pros:
- When paired with Nilah, Death Sentence and Flay can be used for high-powered combination attacks.
- Increase in damage output.
Cons:
- Has a lower difficulty than Nilah.
- Will not be able to provide the team with much magic damage.
Milio
There aren’t many champions that Milio doesn’t pair well with, and Nilah certainly doesn’t break that rule. The Gentle Flame has everything Nilah needs to survive and thrive in lane: a heal over time, shields, movement speed boosts, and an area-of-effect cleanse.
Combine that with his ability to increase Nilah’s short range and make her attacks deal extra chip damage, and suddenly a champion that wants to scale as the game goes on turns into an offensive threat that may reach that snowball position sooner rather than later.
Pros:
- Possesses heals and shields that accompany Nilah’s passives
- Increases Nilah’s short-range attacks
- Abilities can cause burn damage
Cons:
- Ult-ing requires Milio to walk up to Nilah
- Constantly nerfed
Senna
Senna and Nilah can combine their skills to make for a high-damage bot lane duo—one that relies on burst damage and fast-paced skirmishes to do away with their opponents. It’s their combined utility that makes the Nilah/Senna combo relatively strong, however.
For example, the combination of Nilah’s Jubilant Veil (W) and Senna’s Curse of the Black Mist (E) can keep the pair relatively safe from aggression or incoming damage at the start or back end of a laning phase skirmish.
Pros:
- Has great combinations of powers including Jubilent Veil and Black Mist
- Has high damage output
Cons:
- Has a lower difficulty than Nilah
- Losing engagement to the sides
Since Nilah won’t often be in range of her bot lane opponents to attack them, Senna acts as a great ranged damage dealer that will ensure most enemies can’t step too far forward. She’s also one of the best scaling supports, meaning if both she and Nilah can reach those late-game power spikes, they’ll become overwhelmingly powerful and difficult to deal with.
Nami
The water-based duo of Nilah and Nami is not only thematically strong, but the pair also has its strengths in lane. Nami is one of the most effective healers in the game, which is great for Nilah, who’s likely going to receive plenty of abuse and general harassment from ranged ADCs.
Nami is a great choice for keeping Nilah alive and quickly moving, as well as for enhancing her damage in team fights and skirmishes through Tidecaller’s Blessing (E). Plus, the CC effects imposed by Nilah’s ultimate, Apotheosis, allow Nami players to easily hit their Tidal Wave (R)/Aqua Prison (Q) combo.
Pros:
- Strong and strategic synergy pair
- Have increased damage output
Cons:
- Takes more damage than when each champion is played alone
- Losing ‘tankyness’
If you ever need a nice engage combo with Nami, you can try using Tidal Wave (R) followed immediately by Aqua Prison (Q). Even if you don’t have your ultimate ready, it’s a great way to start, or finish, a fight.
Soraka
Soraka is a powerful healer, and that’s definitely what Soraka players should lean into when working alongside Nilah. While Nilah is in the thick of things, Soraka players will want to hang back. In fact, hiding behind her allies is Nilah’s specialty. Despite that hanging back, you’ll want to remain close enough to use Astral Infusion (W) for healing Nilah and both Equinox (E) and Starcall (Q) to silence and slow enemies respectively.
As a bonus, enemy champions hit by Starcall will heal Soraka which just makes Astral Infusion ready to go more often. Finally, Soraka’s ultimate Wish (R) will be the icing on the cake for keeping Nilah as healed as possible.
Pros:
- Nilah’s passive shield and heal benefits Soraka.
- When Soraka heals Nilah, Soraka is also heals herself.
- Increase damage output.
Cons:
- Losing engagement with enemy team.
Soraka’s healing move Astral Infusion (W) sacrifices some of her health to heal allies. While it goes without saying, you’ll need to keep an eye on your health to ensure you don’t accidentally do yourself in. Starcall and Equinox are powerful tools to help yourself get out of a sticky situation.
