With the recent release of Neeko and a patch change to one ability, she still retains an overall balanced power level. Neeko is currently one of the most solid support picks in the current meta, as it is currently shifted towards mages taking the mantle of carry. Her playstyle is tricky and it will take you a few games before you find the best way to play her. In this article, I'll give you a strong build path to follow as you try your luck with the Curious Chameleon.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Neeko's strength lies in her ability to set up perfect engages on the enemy team. Her snare is one of the strongest as it passes through every target and after the initial targets, the snare time gets longer. This allows you to safely harass the enemy marksman/support with no fear of retaliation. Her ultimate is another strong CC which can be combined with Zhonya’s Hourglass, Flash, or her passive disguise. The second part of her ultimate also shields her, allowing for follow up damage or snares should the fight continue.

Neeko has very few weaknesses but they can make or break a support Neeko player. Her resistance and health pool are very low, just like Sona or Nami. This means you can easily die should you make a mistake and be caught by a CC effect. Her other weakness is the rather steep learning curve in using her passive or clone abilities to successfully set up ganks or engages. The playstyle will be linear at first and be easily countered but, after some practice, will be stronger than other supports.

Ability Progression

E --> Q --> W

OR

E --> W --> Q

The difference in ability max progression is based on your own playstyle. The first set-up is geared to those who wish to do damage on targets caught out by your empowered snare. The second set-up is for those who only want to set up the engages and use the added movement speed from max rank W to position accordingly.

Item Build

 OR

You don’t have to complete the Spellthief's final upgrade unless you want the extra health pool early to stay alive longer. It is still optimal to take Rylai’s early, as you get the added slow and extra health buffer to stay in fights. The Abyssal Mask is an interchangeable item where if you aren’t faced with much AP damage you can substitute it for Void Staff to counter any magic resistance the enemy may be building.

Rune Build

OR

Each build is again based on whether you want to be the damage dealer and win through strength or want to act as the engage machine for your team. Dark Harvest is a suitable choice if you are confident in your fighting ability in a lane and can constantly stack when possible. Otherwise, I recommend taking Arcane Comet as you can always guarantee a hit when you snare an enemy through the minion wave.

Tips and Tricks

As Neeko, you flourish in harassing the enemy team from a safe distance. You can freely fire your root through minions and snare enemy champions allowing you to follow up with a max damage Q. This allows you to easily stack your support item faster than most enemy supports.

One of Neeko’s major strengths is using her clone to fake out and pull abilities from champions. If an engage requires the enemy to waste a spell shield or other defensive abilities, then you can make that happen with a clone fake out. Sending a random clone can confuse enemies into panicking and wasting spells on it.

Finally, with her passive, Neeko can psyche out enemies by pretending to be a different champion. If you had a teammate who is dominating, you take the threat presence by taking the guise. This also works another way where you can take the form of a low threat target and slip by to change the course of a fight.

Conclusion

Neeko is a devilishly strong trickster that can make a teamfight change in almost an instant. Her true strength is flying under the radar and sneaking in to cast her ultimate or disrupt the enemy carries. Her kit is something to work on and will be a bit difficult to master at first but, the result will be worth it in the end as you carry the game as a support. I suggest you take to the practice tool to get a feel for Neeko and let me know how the games go on Twitter!

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