League of Legends has over 160 champions, but not all of them see action on Summoner’s Rift. One champion released in 2023 has met a terrible fate, with a disturbingly low pick rate in Patch 14.10.
ZYWOO IS CRAZY
Upon seeing Naafiri's pick rate in Patch 14.10, players concluded in a post on League's subreddit on May 21 that her design was completely off the mark. Currently, Naafiri is the second-least picked champion in League, just behind Ziggs. While it's perfectly normal for a champion's pick rate to drop dramatically after launch, Naafiri's popularity dropped much more than usual.
When designing Naafiri, Riot Games wanted her to be a beginner-friendly mid-lane assassin, but that apparently wasn’t what League players wanted, and most of them dropped her after her initial spike in popularity. Her kit revolves around bleeding, and Naafiri is at her best in skirmishes. If you ask League players, it would have been better if Riot had leaned more on the pack mechanic. While she can heal her pack, there’s no real reason for her to do so since she loses mana and damage.
Others believe that Naafiri and Briar should switch roles and that the dog champion would have worked perfectly in the jungle. While many players tried to make Naafiri work in the jungle, her clear was just awful and Riot never addressed it.