Naafiri Scaling: Grade D
No. Naafiri gets noticeably worse as the game goes long. Grade D, Very bad late, in The Scaling Codex.
Reviewed for League of Legends Season 16 (2026).
Verdict. Assassin with no escape from AoE abilities because she has to commit full combo to do damage later on. Zhonya's and Guardian Angel completely neutralize her assassination attempts.
The combo is all or nothing
Her damage is a package deal. To kill anything at this stage she spends the whole kit, dogs included, in one committed sequence, and the sequence ends with her at melee range inside the enemy team with nothing left to cast. There is no half version and no exit sold separately.
The enemy answers with one button. A stopwatch or a revive does more than survive the all-in. It removes it, because the combo cannot be paused and recast.
Her items and their items scale into the same wall
Every point of burst she adds, the target answers with another second of invulnerability, and finding out still takes her entire kit.
Count the stopwatches before you count the kill. Wait out the first engage and commit to a target with no button left.
Common questions about Naafiri scaling
Does Naafiri scale well into the late game?
No. Naafiri gets noticeably worse as the game goes long. Grade D, Very bad late, in The Scaling Codex.
Why does Naafiri fall off late?
Every point of burst she adds, the target answers with another second of invulnerability, and finding out still takes her entire kit.
What is the late-game rule for Naafiri?
Count the stopwatches before you count the kill. Wait out the first engage and commit to a target with no button left.
How this grade was judged
The grade weighs range, target access, sustained and burst damage, crowd control, mobility, durability, healing and shielding, resets, cooldown structure, objective and formation control, split pressure, and how well the champion survives a long fight. Builds and forms that scale differently are graded separately. This is Vambient's gameplay evaluation of coordinated late-game fights, not a win-rate calculation. Full methodology.
Related champions
- Why Akali is also Grade D
- Why Alistar is also Grade D
- Why Amumu is also Grade D
- Why Bard is also Grade D
- See the full Grade D tier
The grade measures one thing: how much a champion can influence a coordinated late-game objective fight once both teams reach full builds. It does not measure early strength, snowballing, or win rate. A weak late-game champion still wins by ending the game first, which is what the rest of the library teaches. How the grades are decided.