This is mainly a build, not really a guide. There's already quality guides on the playstyle of nidalee, i just wanted to focus on how to make post patch nidalee still a viable champ.

Pretty straight forward. mana regen cause of her insane mana dependancy with her heal nerf, ap quints to make her earlygame laning good, and cdr blues to make that pounce cooldown feel right again :D

okay this is where it changes from the prepatch nid.
what changed: pounce cd, increased heal manacost, decreased heal ap ratio, removed dodge, increased cougar ratios.


Explanation:
normally you would just go dorans ring into rabadons, but i find im losing lanes to some champs i dominated prepatch. Why? because of her heal. it doesnt heal as much and has a GIGANTIC mana cost. My fix? A philostone after boots. The mana regen helps alot, but its the health regen that keeps me dominating my lane. You wont have to heal as much with the hp/5 so you waste less mana. also the gp/10 is an added bonus, basically pays for itself later on in the game. Also buy a ward or two for your lane and other key spots. From here you can get a mejais soulstealer. Im not a fan of stacking items but really, nid is one of those characters that can stay back and snipe kills and rack up assists in teamfights. She is one of the champions that really shouldnt be dying. This is a good item for people trying to carry themselves out of elo hell becuase you should REALLY be doing well if you think you should be carrying.

Then i move on to rabadons then lichbane, for the ap and lich proc just works well with nidalee imo. If you think that you'll be teamfighting soon, grab a blue pot to maximize your affectiveness. After i check out their team. If it seems the targets you are trying to spear have some mr, get a void staff. If they aren't, build your philo into a reverie. The speedboost is like a mini ghost which you like, 15% cdr which brings your pounce back to normal, and really good mp/5 which helps you heal and poke more. Its just a really good item for nidalee. Keep buying wards for your team, wards save lives, including yours.

If the game goes past this i grab a banshees veil and sell dorans so i dont get oneshot by the high burst mages.

optimal buying sequence
dorans ring> boots 1 and philo stone> mercs and NLR(optional Mejais)> rabadons> lichbane> void staff> shureylia> banshees.

ghost flash. possibly clairo/ignite/exhaust if the team is not carrying any of these or you really like ignite or something. really personal preference.

You will most likely be taking solo top, you should be able to dominate most solotop champions. You will find out on your own/check other guides to see who nidalee is not a good match against. Try to get your jungler to wait till your level 6 before ganking, because you just dont have that much damage pre six. Farm and harass with auto attacks pre six and keep your health at 100% if possible. Everytime you force your lane to b or he goes to gank, PUSH! you are a very strong pusher with your cougar form abilities and can mow down towers with your attackspeed buff from your heal. Your gonna want to take down the tower so your able to roam around and help other lanes, or keep pushing to the second tower if your team is dominating everywhere (ward up tho). I try to steal the enemies buffs as much as possible, i ward around me so i can ditch the jungle invade if i see they are coming. Basically you are farming and pushing till midgame where your team should be gathering and trying to take down mid or fight for dragon.

During Midgame, Try to grab the blue buff and poke as much as you can before teamfights You should have at least a NLR so your spears should be leaving a dent on their squishys. Stay in human form unless you see a good opportuninty to burst down their squishy or nab someone fleeing from the fight. Your team is gonna need your heals to keep them fighting and just throw spears to get some damage in. The same concept runs through to lategame, where your still throwing spears/traps and healing during teamfights. Also know that you are an adept splitpusher, being very mobile and the attackspeed buff on your heal. If you see 5 in the bottom lane and your team can hold 4v5, go ahead and push top/mid. With ghost/flash you shouldnt be getting caught and dying unless you have 0 ward coverage. Also Trap key places whenever possible. I'm usually spamming the trap everytime its off cd.

Im pretty sure my playstyle is the same as other guides on here, but i just mainly wanted to say that nidalee is still a good champion dispite her nerfs.