Nilah and Rell have been in a predicament with the player base, as Riot explained the circumstances.
Since the start of Preseason 2023, Riot has invested in reworking and retooling champions. In terms of reworks, there has been a plethora of them. There were smaller ones like Azir, Annie, Ashe, Jax, Zeri, Dr. Mundo, and Tahm Kench. All these changes forced players to pilot the champions differently.
Then there were bigger reworks like Aurelion Sol and Yuumi, where both have had a major impact in the last few patches. To top that off, Riot is also coming with reworks of varied scales for Skarner, Neeko, Kayle, Ivern, etc. There were even mentions of significant Zoe changes in the Patch 13.8 patch preview.
A lot more is coming in Season 13, as Riot seems to have amped up their work on champions. There are also more changes coming in terms of ASUs and VOs for several champions. As Riot works that more, Nilah and Rell were mentioned in a Reddit post where Riot Axes talked about both champions. Here is what was said about both champions.
Read More: Riot Explains Why Vayne Top is Not Overpowered Anymore in League of Legends
The Nilah and Rell Conversation
Before diving into what Riot Axes said, let’s provide a bit of context. The topic came out as a branch when a conversation started on Reddit about Vayne not being overpowered in the top lane. That led to talking about ADC when Nilah was brought up and then Rell later on. Let’s break down Riot Axes’ comments in terms of Rell and Nilah.
Nilah
Starting with Nilah, part of this conversation is about popularity, while the rest is about preference. Nilah has not been popular since her release, and it is most likely due to preference. Riot Axes dives into this as he replies to Redditors about how Riot has tried to make non-marksmen relevant in the bot lane.
However, players are entrenched in their preference to play marksmen in the bot lane. According to Riot Axes, this is difficult to understand how they can change people’s minds on the matter. While Pyke/Senna was a thing a while back, Pyke is a cool champion as per Riot Axes.
In terms of the future of Nilah, she might get some kit updates if Riot feels that they can make her better without pushing it too hard. Over-tuning a champion has often led to a lot of problems, and it seems Riot doesn’t want to make that mistake, according to what was said.
According to Riot Axes, while Nilah is not that popular, she still has a small player base. In that regard, a comparison was made in terms of Rell, which players ignore. Overall, Riot Axes’ entire point was about players not willing to pivot to non-marksmen champions for the ADC role and that has caused Nilah’s popularity to be down.
Let’s talk about Rell now.
Rell
While Rell was used as an example to supplement the point, Riot Axes was making, what he said was true. Rell has struggled to find a player base since her release, which is why Riot confirmed a rework for her a while back.
The champion has been considered bland or unsatisfying by most players, so it makes perfect sense that Riot is moving on this. There is no niche player base for her, so Riot reworking Rell is great news. Hopefully, we will learn more about that soon.
Takeaways
It seems Riot is diving into the numbers quite a fair bit and seeing where they can push further. The Nilah topic brings to light a situation that is not entirely in their hands. Sure, Riot could easily buff the mages, Nilah, and such to a point where they are really strong. However, in the same breath, that is not healthy for the game.
It’s a pick-your-poison kind of situation for them, but it is refreshing to see Riot talking about this more openly so people can get an idea of where they are coming from, whether they agree or not. Rell rework is incoming, and potentially a Nilah one soon. However, as mentioned, Nilah is not going to be forcefully changed to fit a prototype to get more players into it.
