Nidalee no longer has the lane sustain that she used to because of the talon patch, for this reason to play nidalee you now have to play offensively.
The way that i play nidalee can be done in any lane but prefferable solo top or middle lane.

I picked these runes (see above) because they give you basically the most damage output. People may think that magic pen isant needed but many players will build magic resistance against a fed nidalee

classic 9/0/21 nidalee inspired by hotshotgg's original build because it still works the same way.

I build 2 dorans ring's for the extra health and mana regen early game, these items could very if you know who your going to lane against. Rod of ages is for the extra health so that you dont drop like a rock in team fights which you should avoid with nidalee anyways. Lich bane is for you Cougar form to do a gigantic amount of damage when you have alot of ability power. NEVER RUSH LISH BANE THERE IS NO POINT IF YOU DONT HAVE ALOT OF AP ALREADY. Void Staff is built for the magic pen when people decide to build Magic resist (usually tanks). Morello's tome finishes your build giving you nice Cooldown reduction and mana regen.

With my build i level spear first so YOU HAVE TO POKE OR THIS BUILD DOESINT WORK. Poking the enemy will make them play defensively calling for easy last hitting. Whenever the enemy champion gets in range you should also auto attack untill you get to level 6 when you get cougar form. Bushwack (traps) should be used as words for when you dont have words in area's where you would be ganked from. To get kills you should always try and throw spears to harras enemy champions untill they are low enough for you to finish in cougar form.

Pros: Great Poke
Can carry a team
Amazing spear damage
Utility from pounce

Cons: Bad team fighter
easy to kill if you get caught
Mana hungry without blue buff

I take flash / teleport so that i can get away from ganks by flashing over walls. I take teleport so that i can get back into lane or travel across the map very quickly.

Nidalee is a very strong champion that can carry a team. The best way to play nidalee is to keep blue buff on at all times possible and snipe people with spears. The main reason nidalee is a good champion is because she can spilt push and almost always get away from ganks extremely easily because of cougar form. Played the same way as the old nidalee build by HotshotGG except you cannot sustain in lane as well. Nidalee is the same champion that she was, just mana hungry if you level heal early game which is still viable but doesint work as well as this build in my opinion.

Comment/vote i made this build in 20 minutes so i dont expect much.