This League of Legends champion may never see the light of day in the professional arena due to Riot's decisions.
In 2023, the community saw the release of 4 new champions in League of Legends, spanning from the beginning to the end of the year. Among them, some names became hot picks, such as Milio and Briar. Notably, Milio even made appearances in professional play, while Hwei, another champion, showed promising potential for high-level matches next year. Additionally, there were 2 Assassin-oriented champions introduced last year, but Naafiri stirred more controversy than others due to both its mechanics and design.
However, despite being released for over half a year, Naafiri has almost faded into obscurity. In a recent discussion on the social media platform Reddit, this champion was considered the most disappointing. Some players admitted that a straightforward champion design with the simplest skill sets for a specific role has long been absent in League of Legends. However, Riot made Naafiri the least favored among the 4 champions released so far.
The reason cited is twofold. Firstly, Riot introduced a peculiar design and backstory for Naafiri upon its release, sparking controversy. But more importantly, after realizing Naafiri's potential for dealing high damage, Riot heavily nerfed this Darkin champion. Consequently, from an unattractive appearance to weakened skill sets, Naafiri vanished as an inevitability. Some players even speculate that this Darkin champion might never appear in the professional arena due to its weakness.
This is an irony because Naafiri is very easy to play. However, this champion lacks any appeal to players and consequently has a poor win rate. Essentially, according to some arguments, if the team is strong or dominating, Naafiri fundamentally has little to contribute other than charging at opponents. And if the team is losing, Naafiri cannot do much to turn the tide.
The fate of Naafiri in professional League of Legends remains uncertain, but with a mere 0.87% pick rate (Diamond and above), it's far from impressive at the moment. Riot might need to take action before their champion fades into obscurity.