Riot Games has unveiled their newest addition to the roster of League of Legends, Nilah, the Joy Unbound. She is set to be the 161st champion release and is expected to be released within the coming months. This was quite the surprise from Riot since they had just released Bel’Veth, their latest Monstrous Champion, into the game this past month.
Comparing the previous eldritch horror-esque Bel’Veth to the indomitably happy Nilah is like comparing night and day. For now, we’ll be taking a look into what we know so far and what we could speculate about this mysterious joyous Champion.
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Teaser Trailer
The champion teaser trailer introduces Nilah, a dark-skinned woman, clad in yellow and blue robes walking along a house built over the water, assumedly in Bilgewater. She faces the murky waters and prays to a supernatural force to grant her powers. As she prays, the object on her hip begins to glow and swirl with a cyan hue. Nilah takes a step and is suddenly able to walk on water, due to her newfound abilities.
She performs acrobatic feats, flipping into the air and brandishing her weapon of choice, a whip made of water. Next, it shows gameplay footage of Nilah, displaying her acrobatic and aquatic abilities. The clip ends with her confidently facing a large sea creature emerging from the water, ready to plunge into action.
Nilah, the Joy Unbound
Luckily, not everything was as mysterious as the Champion. The trailer managed to confirm a couple of things. Nilah’s kit includes dashes that make her hyper mobile, a defensive ability that provides immunity, and an AOE ultimate. Other details regarding abilities are only up for speculation at the moment. She also partners with a demon, that is also the lord of waters that grants her water-based abilities such as a powerful whip made of water.
She was also teased in a recently released story of Twisted Fates and Graves, both champions in the game. It mentions Graves meeting a woman bringing a “laughing jar” adorned with many hands. Twisted Fate also comments on how her clothes had a design he had not seen anywhere. From these two statements, it is quite likely that the woman in question is Nilah.
Speculation on Nilah’s Backstory
At first impression, it would seem that Nilah’s design is based on someone of South Asian descent. Her dark skin matched with her multi-layered colorful outfit further reinforces that design choice. It appears that she is a traveler from an unexplored region in League of Legends.
On her hip is an ornamental jar that is used to communicate or store the demon that provides her powers. Despite being a demon, it doesn’t harm her. They are even on friendly terms even going as far as to play with each other.
Based on the dialogue of the trailer, she is also most likely a monster hunter with a strong sense of justice. The type of person who wants to fight evil due to her sense of goodness.
Speculation on Nilah Gameplay
Based on the available Gameplay shown, her kit will most likely be that of a skirmisher. A skirmisher/duelist class champion has the role of being a consistent damage-dealing source that lacks burst damage. This is consistent with Riot Gaming’s recent releases for champions within the past years. They have been releasing more skirmishers to create faster and more exciting gameplay.
Her high mobility and self-defensive abilities are also very much in line with the company’s design philosophies as well. It won’t be any surprise if Riot releases Nilah overpowered. It may require some patches to find the right values to make her a balanced champion.
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“Primordial Demon” of Joy Theory
Currently, there is a theory circulating on social media sites such as Reddit that speculates that the Demon that partnered with Nilah may be more than a regular demon. A much much more powerful demon, in fact. The big theory is that it is a primordial demon, a being that is essentially the stuff of legends. This demon is likely an embodiment of joy, but instead a twisted kind of joy that has been taken to an extreme degree.
So far, the only things in-game that confirm this theory are sound clips from dialogue between the playable champions Zoe and Fiddlesticks. Zoe, a mischievous trickster god, is a character with a key around her neck which Fiddlestick will comment vaguely about. He mentions that the key was stolen, and hints that returning it would be the key to bringing back joy into the world. An ominous message.
Much of what we’ve talked about today is unconfirmed, so take everything with a grain of salt. It is still very much quite possible that Riot could change some aspects of the design and the kit of the champion within the coming months. So for now, you can sit back relax and enjoy, while the Joy Unbound has yet to arrive in her entirety.
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