Nunu & Willump’s full kit has finally been revealed which tells us a lot more about how he will be played and where he will be viable. Although Riot has primarily kept him as a jungler, he might have some potential in the support role. You might also still be able to take him to the solo lane although his AP values haven’t been revealed yet so it’s uncertain if the AP Nunu meme can persist.
Passive: Call of the Freljord
If you damage a nearby enemy, large monster or structure, Willump will receive cleave on your auto attacks whereas allies gain a boost to attack speed. The ability prioritizes the ally with the highest attack speed which means that in the late game, your AD carry should always receive the buff from this passive. It’s also what might save him in the support role as giving your AD carry extra attack speed in the early game could lead to some lethal trades.
Q: Consume
The ability remains the same as before, except that he can also take a bite out of enemy champions, which does AP damage. This gives Nunu & Willump another source of AP damage which could potentially make their AP build stronger, although it depends a lot on the values on his abilities. Since consume also heals, the champion is now a better duelist as well since you can heal in the 1v1.
W: Biggest Snowball Ever
Yes, that is the actual name of the ability. This ability also looks like the most fun you can possibly have in-game. It’s really as simple as it seems, Willump starts rolling a snowball that gets bigger and bigger. You can either roll it directly in the enemies face or aim and release it and watch it roll down the lane. When hitting an enemy they are damaged and knocked up. The damage and knock up duration increases depending on the size of the snowball. This ability will be a useful tool for the Nunu & Willump’s ganking potential, which they was severely lacking before. It can also help him in setting up teamfights.
E: Snowball Barrage
Nunu fires up to three snowball volleys to nearby enemies. When enemies are hit they are marked by snowbound. After Nunu’s snowball barrage has ended, any enemies hit that are still in his vicinity will get stunned. This is another great tool that helps Nunu with ganks and gives him a stronger laning phase as well. If you knock up your enemies with his W first you should be able to stunlock them, making his ganks potentially devasting.
R: Absolute Zero
His ult has remained completely the same except that Nunu & Willump now receive a small shield when casting the ability. Besides this, the ult still slows all enemies, still does a ton of damage when fully channeled, and can still be cast from the brush without revealing Nunu & Willump.
The champion is primarily designed to fill a supportive jungle role but they could definitely have potential as a full-blown support, due to the large number of crowd control abilities that they have.. You want to set off ganks or fights by rolling a giant snowball into the enemy’s face. This will often cause them to use flash or get knocked up. Next, use your E to give them snowbound and then cast your ultimate. The slow from the ultimate means that enemies will have a harder time escaping the stun from your E. This could lead to them taking the full channel damage from your ultimate.
