Low-luminosity type II supernovae (LL SNe II) make up the low explosion energy end of core-collapse SNe, but their study and physical understanding remain limited. We present SN,2016aqf, a LL SN II with extensive spectral and photometric coverage. We measure a $V$-band peak magnitude of $-14.58$,mag, a plateau duration of $\sim$100,days, and an inferred $^{56}$Ni mass of $0.008 \pm 0.002$,\msun. The peak bolometric luminosity, L${\rm bol} \approx 10^{41.4}$,erg,s$^{-1}$, and its spectral evolution is typical of other SNe in the class. Using our late-time spectra, we measure the [\ion{O}{i}] $\lambda\lambda6300, 6364$ lines, which we compare against SN II spectral synthesis models to constrain the progenitor zero-age main-sequence mass. We find this to be 12 $\pm$ 3,\msun. Our extensive late-time spectral coverage of the [\ion{Fe}{ii}] $\lambda7155$ and [\ion{Ni}{ii}] $\lambda7378$ lines permits a measurement of the Ni/Fe abundance ratio, a parameter sensitive to the inner progenitor structure and explosion mechanism dynamics. We measure a constant abundance ratio evolution of $0.081^{+0.009}{-0.010}$, and argue that the best epochs to measure the ratio are at $\sim$200 – 300,days after explosion. We place this measurement in the context of a large sample of SNe II and compare against various physical, light-curve and spectral parameters, in search of trends which might allow indirect ways of constraining this ratio. We do not find correlations predicted by theoretical models; however, this may be the result of the exact choice of parameters and explosion mechanism in the models, the simplicity of them and/or primordial contamination in the measured abundance ratio.