Why Some League of Legends Champions Have Invisible Abilities While in a Bush

Some League of Legends champions have "invisible" abilities that give no indicator when they're about to land if the champion is in a bush, but whether they're visible or not is a design decision based on how damage is applied and how fair it is to be hit by that ability.

If you've been obliterated by a Nunu ultimate when walking near a bush in Aram or get knocked up into the air by a fully charged Sion "Q" from nowhere, you've likely experienced the frustration of getting smacked with an ability with no visual indicator. For the most part, the rule of being revealed when you inflict damage holds true, but for champions who have to charge up their moves, it works a bit differently. Deciding on a charge-up ability's visibility apparently works on a case-by-case basis, according to RiotScruffy who spoke on the topic in an Ask Reddit post.

"Why we would not show an indicator: We think the spell is risky or limited enough that allowing for the element of surprise adds a reasonable use case," said RiotScruffy. "For example, Nunu ult has a significant cooldown and a very long, easily interrupted channel. Allowing Nunu to use brush to his advantage is a strong pairing that we think brings out good use cases rather than unfair ones."

Nunu doesn't get a lot of chances to show off his power or pull off a fully-charged ultimate with how common displacements and CC are, and if he can land a full ultimate while remaining undetected in a bush, he deserves that win. But for other champions, like Xerath, it wouldn't feel nearly as fair to continually be hit by their abilities.

"Why we would show an indicator: When a spell is very low cost, low risk, or high range," RiotScruffy continued. "Some spells would project far too much threat too frequently from brush if they could be cast without a reveal. Xerath Q is a good example here—if he could repeatedly cast invisible Qs from brush, we think it would degrade the overall play experience rather than enhance it."

So the next time you get blown up by an ability that you never saw coming from a bush, you can rest a bit easier knowing that it was intended, not just a series of unfair circumstances.