Around eight months ago, League of Legends introduced its latest monstrous champion, Naafiri. Nearly a year later, players have started discussing her performance in solo queue.
Naafiri, known as The Hound of a Hundred Bites, has maintained a decent win rate of around 51 percent in Platinum ranks and higher. However, her play rate in the mid lane remains relatively low, sitting at only 2.8% in the same ranked distribution.
LoL players don’t like playing Naafiri
While the champion seems strong based on statistics, many players feel that her kit lacks diversity and excitement, making her less interesting to play. Some players on the League subreddit have described her as “baby’s first assassin” and “extremely boring” due to her straightforward gameplay mechanics and lack of complex ability combos.
“Cause most assasin players want to play high skill fantasy champs or at least one with high outplay potential, naafiri doesn’t have either, she is a very simple and statchecky assasin with her only “outplay” spell being her short e dash which is minor(she also heals/shields a decent amount but that’s a bruiser fantasy rather than an assasin so she also has that problems“
Unlike other assassins like Akali or Zed, who offer exhilarating outplay potential and fast-paced gameplay, Naafiri’s gameplay is considered too simple and linear. This simplicity may not appeal to players seeking more engaging and challenging champions.
“I have tried to play her a couple games and just find her extremely boring. ”
It’s worth noting that the developers designed Naafiri to be one of the easier champions to learn in the assassin role, which may deter experienced players. She relies heavily on her passive ability, which spawns a Packmate and is integral to her various abilities and strategies.
Additionally, her appearance as a monstrous champion may also contribute to her lower popularity. Riot has stated that non-human champions tend to be less popular than humanoid champions, further impacting Naafiri’s appeal to players.