Nidalee Build Guide

Nidalee Build

Table of Contents

Abilities

1

Items

2

Skill Discussion

3

Summoner Abilities

4

Strategy

5

Straight Forward Tips

6

Pros / Cons

7

Summary

8

• Abilities

  Prowl

  Nidalee's Passive that provides temporary movement speed boost (of 25%) when in the brushes, and two seconds after leaving brushes.

  Javelin Toss / Takedown

  Javelin Toss - Fires a projectile (Javelin) which deals damage based on a initial amount with a multiplier depending on the distance, particularly useful all game as a finisher/harass mechanism during pursuits or before fights. Takedown - Only available in cougar form, provides a bonus damage hit with a multiplier which is based on targets missing hp.

  Bushwhack / Pounce

  Bushwhack - Plants a trap which reveals the one who sprung the trap as well as inflicting DoT and a debuff that decreases Magic Resist, (Not entirely sure about armor). Pounce - Only available in cougar form, leaps a short distance and deals damage upon landing, useful as a escape/evade/chase mechanism.

  Primal Surge / Swipe

  Primal Surge - Heals and provides bonus attack speed, pretty much when the cooldown is done so is the duration of the attack speed buff. Swipe - Only available in cougar form, deals AoE damage infront of Nidalee.

  Aspect Of The Cougar

  Allows Nidalee to transform into her cougar form, or back to her human form if already cougar. Cougar form provides bonus movement speed and dodge rate, the level of the ability determines the alternative abilities (Takedown/Pounce/Swipe).

• Items

  Initial Items : Boots of Speed+ Health Potion*1 or 2+ Mana Potion*1
  
  First Item : Berserker's Greaves
  
  Second Item : Phantom Dancer - For this build Zeal first, personally right after Zeal I go for Last Whisper, and then Cloak of Agility and Finish as my fourth item.
  
  Third Item : Last Whisper / Vampiric Scepter
  
  Fourth Item : Vampiric Scepter / Last Whisper
  
  Fifth Item : Infinity Edge
  
  Sixth Item : No practical recommendation, a rough idea maybe going for Trinity Force/Second Phantom Dancer/Banshee's Veil, I'd probably recommend this slot for filling up what YOU think you really need e.g. Magic resistance, Health, More damage?

• Skill Discussion

  It'd be wise to get all three skills to fully utilise the Cougar form at the start.
  
  Javelin Toss - This tends to commonly be the skill I max out first, it is most effective earlier than later, It is always good as a safe finisher, and a fairly decent harass skill near the end.
  
  Bushwhack - For the moment Bushwhack can also spring on some traps like Teemo's bombs and reveal them incase you didn't know, it is good as an early gank detector mechanism as well as an anti-stealth through obvious routes, when pushing planting it around narrower routes just proves to be an annoyance to the enemy if they try to counter attack, but always leave enough mana for at least a single use of Primal Surge.
  
  Primal Surge - Sustains your team mates and increases their DPS capabilities through increased attack speed, for the moment personal opinion, its just a version of Tristana's AS boost skill with heal and shorter cooldown, Primal Surge is absolutely essential to Nidalee's for DPS capabilities, the only time you don't use it on yourself is to heal team mates outside of conflicts, during/before conflicts its wise to use it on yourself and pick out vital targets in the opposition.
  
  Aspect of the Cougar - Quickly summarised:
  Note: I leave out Bushwhack/Pounce until I get out of the lane to gank etc.
  
  Pros
  Maneuverability for chasing/escaping/evading/blink mechanism (pounce).
  Increased DPS outpit particularly in one on one situations (Takedown and Swipe).
  Evasive and Movement bonuses
  
  Cons
  Melee DPS
  Easier target for opposition

• Summoner Abilities

  My two personal preferences at the moment are : Ignite and Exhaust
  
  Exhaust is useful to disable opposition DPS as your taking them down, Ignite as another finisher in good use with Javelin Toss may prove fatal

• Strategy

  Early/General Ganking - It tends to be better to gank with a slow/stun, if you have neither, a Lizard Buff works just as well.
  
  The moment you get Pounce/Aspect of the Cougar(which ever is last) is probably moment you should start ganking, but definitely after you get Beserker's Greaves and Zeals.
  
  In between ganks if a lane isn't available/in need of assistance than jungle, the cougar form makes jungling easy, Primal Surge is also useful for jungling as a substitute for early game Life steal, particularly due to it's low manacost.
  
  Ideally its probably best to initiate the ganks with a Javelin Toss and then walk in with cougar form to inflict as much damage as possible switch to human form if necessary for another Javelin Toss or use the Basic attack to finish, if your in that form to fight use Primal Surge to give you the AS and Health advantage.
  
  Note: Its probably better if you use your next pounce before switching back to human form, so your human form has a slight range advantage whether its towards or further.
  
  If your initiating from human form, it is wise to have a slow on your own character e.g. lizard buff, phage, exhaust, before jumping in use Primal Surge on yourself and initiate with a Javelin Toss even if it misses go in with it and begin attacking your target, if you suspect to overpower you in a direct fight, switching to cougar form can change the tide of battle if it already isn't to late, but still becareful when dealing with champions like Teemo/Ashe as it may just make things worse.
  
  Remember to make use of the summoner skills; Using both Ignite and Exhaust on your target or Using Ignite on your target and Exhaust on his/her team mate, to minimize the opposition threat depending on the situation.
  
  Team Battles - Stay back and attack like you would with Ashe or Sivir, my Sivir and Nidalee play styles are very similar, just remember nothing is forcing you to be the Cougar form Nidalee, so take advantage of your Human form's ranged capabilities your not suppose to be a tank anyway, so you shouldn't be the one to initiate, but in human form you can harass with Javelin pre-battle and prepare Bushwhack traps around the area, just switch to your cougar form to use pounce to fall back, just remember to pay attention to your team mates that they don't abandon you.
  
  Remember to use Primal Surge not only for the heal, but the attack speed bonus on who you think it would be most effective on (particularly in DPS output), it's almost pointless to use it on your team's tank during the heat of battle (Unless his got a fair amount of Damage but lacking the speed), but hopefully if he does die he won't die in vain. (Same idea with the Primal Surge preparation before ganking in human form use it before a battle as the duration is practically the same as the cooldown.)
  
  Aspect of the Cougar would be handy if your trying to get around during a team fight, but it may leave you vulnerable to ranged slows, but of course the Cougar can deal substantial amounts of damage with its abilities, probably best to switch to Cougar form if you get blinded to use the abilities to do damage if you can't walk it off.

• Straight Forward Tips

  Avoid initiating most team battles
  
  Stay close but a safe distance from the initiator
  
  Remember to take out their DPS before they take out you & your team

• Pros / Cons

  Pros
  Quick and Powerful DPS
  Self sustainable
  Not as naturally glassy as most dps?
  
  Cons
  Very tank reliant
  Only a single target DPS (Unlike Sivir)
  Still glass~
  Not as fun as an AP Nidalee probably (;.;)

• Summary

  Most of the guide is just common sense in my opinion, but the build tends to work for me in terms of K/D/A this is really a Physical Nidalee, rather than a AP Nidalee, but if you really wanted to play another Click and Kill you'd probably play Twitch anyway.
  
  Feel free to give feedback/criticism, hope this helps some people play better as a Physical Nidalee rather than a AP Nidalee, although I haven't really seen a decent Nidalee of either at the level I play (;.;).