NAVI Rhilech: “By the end of the year, I will for sure be top two, and next year I will be no. 1” – LEC Spring 2026 Interview

Following the end of the series with Team Vitality, with a never-ending Game 2, we sat with NAVI jungler Enes “Rhilech” Uçan to catch up with the team, where he thinks he belongs among the LEC jungler, and his own aspirations.

Davide: First of all, that was… I don’t know how to describe it, honestly. The first game was a little bit rough. I guess the second one was in your hands for most of it, but Aurelion Sol and Gwen scaled too much.

What do you think about the match?

Rhilech: I mean, it was a long one. Maybe the longest game this year, I’m not sure. It was like 50 minutes or something. It was a tiring, sweating one, but we lost. It’s okay. It wasn’t our day, and they also played really good. I think they scouted us really well as well. Yeah.

Davide: Did you guys have the chance to talk to each other about what happened in the last fight? Because I think there was a miscommunication at the Baron fight, because you guys were taking the Baron, but then the other three were trying to fend off the guys and you split.

Did you have the chance to chat about it?

Rhilech: Yeah, overall, all team fights after the second Drake or third Drake… After all teamfights for 20-30 minutes straight, there was a lot of miscommunication. We were not on the same page, and we lost. We lost a team fight again. We lost again. We lost again. They had zero drakes; we had three drakes, but in the end, they got the soul and they got the Elder as well.

It’s 25 minutes — four Drakes, an Elder, 25 minutes. So for 25 minutes we lost ultimates, and there was a bit of miscommunication, and we didn’t know how to exactly play against the enemy comp. We have Viktor, we want to play slow, but they have Ezreal, Aurelion Sol, Wukong, Gwen flank, Neeko Flash, and it was hard to communicate. It was a hard day, [but] we will recover.

The final Elder fight for @TeamVitalityLOL! #LEC pic.twitter.com/KKRw5xvPuj

— LEC (@LEC) April 4, 2026

Davide: Overall, though, I think it’s still a good sign, at least from the way I see it, because Team Vitality is kind of considered one of the stronger teams. Even though the first game was a little bit rough, you did actually pull off a good, strong game two to kind of be in a close fight with them. So I still think NAVI is still close to being a top-tier team — although maybe not as good as G2 or KC.

Do you agree with that statement? And also, where do you think you guys as a collective need to improve to get closer to the top?

Rhilech: I think we need to work harder. We need to put more effort in and try to push our kind of weaknesses. We have some weaknesses as a team, as individuals as well, and we need to keep improving on those. But I think we have a good standing right now.

I think Karmine Corp and G2 are the top two teams, and behind them, like KOI, Team Vitality, GIANTX, and us, and we are in the race right now for who’s going to get the third spot and even contest the top two. And I think we are doing good every week, every official. I think we are going slightly ahead, and if we keep going at this tempo and keep fixing our bad habits and mistakes, I think we will even be a top-two team.

Davide: How is your head coach, TheRock, helping you guys out?

What kind of approach does he bring to the practice while you prepare between official matches?

Rhilech: We are not particularly getting ready to play the next opponent. We are just trying to work on ourselves across the board, and I like this approach because it’s not about specific players — it’s just a normal season, and you need to try to be your best. I think only in playoffs do you need to fully try scouting the enemy, and I think he has a good approach to this.

Every week, he comes up with a new idea, new solutions. Every week, it’s going better in every part of the game. At one point, it was the early game, then it was the mid game, and now it’s kind of mid-to-late game we’re trying to improve. Yeah, I like his approach.

Davide: What about the jungle meta right now? There isn’t much diversity aside from the usual AD bruiser junglers.

Do you think you wish that could change, or do you think that’s fine and you just want to focus on showing your best?

Rhilech: I think it is fine right now. I just don’t want to go back to the Sejuani-Maokai meta, and that’s what I hope from Riot Games (laughs). I hope they stop buffing Maokai. They tried to buff Maokai to patches in a row. I hope they stop. I hope they stop the Sejuani buffs. I like the bruiser meta. Maybe there can be more variety if they buff champions like Lillia, AP junglers, so they can be played as well. But right now, I like the meta.

Davide: One more thing about junglers. There has been a lot of talk about how EU is full of very talented junglers. Obviously, you, being one of the rookies, have shown up a lot in LEC, and you’re also doing quite a good job right now.

Where do you think you stand among the LEC junglers? And if you were to choose one player, who do you think would be your number one right now?

Rhilech: I think number one right now is SkewMond, after his performance against Gen.G. Right now, I will put SkewMond, then Yike and Elyoya in the same place, and then me.

“But I think by the end of the split, or at the end of the year, I will for sure be top two, and next year I will be number one.”

Davide: You mentioned G2 and SkewMond. Considering EU’s strong international performance, have there been discussions or ideas about potentially going to Korea to bootcamp, like Shifters did, or like the North American LCS teams will do, in case you don’t qualify for MSI?

Do you think it could be a good thing to do to get that international experience as you prepare for Worlds?

Rhilech: I think it will be really nice to have that extra experience, because that is what we’re missing the most on the team. We have a lot of rookies, we don’t have that much experience, and going to MSI or boot camping, playing against Korean teams, playing against Asian teams, will be really nice. It will be a really good experience for all of us and it will make us improve even faster.

Davide: Is there any Korean player that you would like to go up against in solo queue or scrims?

Rhilech: Canyon. I want to beat Canyon one day.

Davide: I saw your post on Twitter… You guys went and played football a couple of days ago. How did that go?

Can post the full picture now good luck to @NAVIValorant https://t.co/gKzrz2vq5f pic.twitter.com/VYFjNYsLmB

— NAVI Rhilech (@Rhilechlol) April 1, 2026

And among the five players on the team, who’s the best at playing with the feet instead of hands?

Rhilech: Try to guess who is the best player on our team.

Davide: I think it’s either you…

Rhilech: It’s kind of unexpected, because we were not expecting it either.

Davide: Is it Poby?

Rhilech: Yeah, it is Poby.

“We went to the field and he turned into Junior Messi. No one was expecting him to play this well.
It was a cool experience, especially with Poby the GOAT.”

Davide: Do you have any last message? I know you played in the Italian league for DSYRE.

Do you have anything to say to the Italian fans, or even Gine (Rhilech’s previous head coach), who I know has been following you for a long time?

Rhilech: Yeah, he’s in Solary now. He’s doing good. I’m watching because of my brother Aetinoth as well. I think they are doing really good. Gine won a title with BK ROG (in 2025). He’s the GOAT. I like him, he’s a cool guy.

And for the Italian fans who have been following me from DSYRE, I really appreciate them. I really like it when people say, “Oh, I followed you from DSYRE, I was watching you”, this kind of stuff feels really good. I’m really happy with this and I appreciate it.