2022 has certainly been a good year for unique League of Legends champion designs. Riot kicked things off with the unorthodox, skillshot-reliant marksman Zeri and the life-saving, chaos-creating enchanter support Renata Glasc, then followed them up with the deadly Void queen Bel'veth. So far, League of Legends has been adding champions at a brisk pace in 2022, and it shows no sign of stopping. Riot Games has already teased another ADC, even though Zeri is still relatively new. Her name is Nilah, and she is a melee champion uniquely designed to be played in the bottom lane, making her just as unique and surprising as 2022's other champions.
Nilah's role as a melee ADC isn't all that's interesting about her. Specifically, Nilah's passive is remarkable because it seems explicitly designed to give her synergy with her support, especially if that support is an enchanter. This makes Nilah the second ADC in recent memory to have special interactions with enchanters on her team, since Zeri has something similar in her kit. League of Legends marksman champions have struggled to keep up with other character classes in recent years, but Nilah and Zeri may suggest how Riot Games plans to keep the champion class relevant in the coming years.
Nilah and Zeri's Similar Passive Abilities
Both Nilah and Zeri are explicitly designed to gain special benefits when they're protected by an ally. Zeri gains bonus movement speed whenever she gains a shield, and while this is partially designed for her shield-stealing abilities, she also gains this bonus when an enchanter like Lulu or Janna gives her a shield. Nilah, meanwhile, gets increased healing and shielding from ally abilities, and she also generates extra heals and shields for herself or allies under the right conditions; on top of this, Nilah and her nearest ally earn bonus experience. Nilah's passive is far more dedicated to enchanter synergy, likely due to her melee limitations, but both she and Zeri clearly like to play closely with an enchanter.
It's a little surprising that Riot Games would release two ADCs with a similar emphasis on support interactions in the same year, so maybe Riot is sending a message about League of Legends' future champions. In the last few years, marksman have had a bit of a hard time competing with other high-damage champion types like assassins. Riot could be trying to make up for that by making ADCs significantly stronger when they're playing together with an ally; in other words, marksmen new and old might gain more benefits from supports in the future.
A Possible Future for League of Legends ADCs
If Nilah and Zeri really do indicate a pattern for future champion design, then it'll be interesting to see how Riot designs passive effects for non-enchanter team work. After all, League of Legends supports come in all shapes and sizes. For instance, a future champion might gain bonus movement speed when nearby allies apply crowd control, encouraging them to engage alongside aggressive LoL supports like Leona and Rakan. Alternatively, an ADC could gain extra Attack Damage or Attack Speed when a nearby ally takes damage, encouraging them to counter-attack while a tank support holds the line.
There's no guarantee yet that this is Riot Games' vision, of course, but it would be an interesting direction, especially if this starts to crop up in older champions that get reworked. There are plenty of older ADCs like Varus, Tristana, and Kog'Maw that could get refreshed in the coming years, potentially with the help of new passives that help them work with other champions. Samira's passive ability to dash towards immobilized champions is another compelling piece of evidence implying that Riot wants LoL's ADCs to work with others more efficiently. It'll probably be a long time before League of Legends fans get to see the future of ADCs past Nilah, but nevertheless, she could indicate that teamwork will become even more crucial for this League of Legends champion archetype.
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