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Nidalee Build Guide by

Midalee, THE Nidalee mid (and top) guide (UNDER S11 EDITS!)

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Choose Champion Build:

Midalee
Topalee

Runes: Spear based (traditional)

1 2

Sorcery

Summon Aery

Manaflow Band

Transcendence

Gathering Storm

Inspiration

Biscuit Delivery

Time Warp Tonic

Bonus:

+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+8 Magic Resist

Spells:

1 2 3 4

Against combative lanes

Flash

Ignite

Items

Midalee (traditional, spear-focused)

Start option #1

Start option #2

First backs

First item to complete

Core

Boot options

last item options (pick 1)

Elixirs

Example final build

Midalee (Combo/cougar based)

Start option #1

Start option #2

First backs

First Item to complete

Core

Last item choices (2)

Boot Options

Example full build

Elixirs

Ability Order Ability ranking order

Nidalee Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Cho'Gath

Extreme

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Champion Build Guide

DISCLAIMER!

DISCLAIMER!
This guide is currently being completely re-done and updated. Last Update on August 10th 2020, finished item descriptions and videos in the combo chapter.

Introduction

Hi there, my name is Dom, and im a Diamond Mid/support main, and i have been playing League since the second week of season 4. My most played champions are Katarina Akali and Nidalee . I have been playing Nid Mid since season 4, and continue to play it frequently. If you didnt know, Nidalee was reworked in late 2014, and remained viable in the mid lane until about season 6, where they slowly transformed her into a jungler. As the seasons have gone by and the meta has been more and more solidified, Nidalee in the lanes is extremely rare. However, that dosent stop me, or anybody else who is a Lane Nidalee player.

My Twitch channel! catch me playing Nid :)

Abilities

Prowl is Nidalee's passive

It has two parts. The first part to prowl, is if Nidalee is in a bush, she gains 10% movement speed, and this movement speed bonus is increased to 30%, if she is facing a nearby enemy champion. This buff lasts 2 seconds after exiting the bush.

The second part to prowl is connected to Nidalee's abilities. If Nidalee hits an enemy jungle monster or champion with Javelin Toss or Bushwhack the target becomes hunted for 4 seconds. While hunted, the target is revealed and Nidalee gains 10% movement speed, increased to 30% if she is moving towards the target. Prowl also affects Nidalee's Pounce and Takedown (will be explained under their description)

Javelin Toss is Nidalee's Human Q.

Nidalee throws her spear in a very long and thin line, dealing more damage the further it travels (from the shortest distance, to the farthest distance, the damage is tripled). Max this ability first, because this is your main damage source, and is what Nidalee mid is played for. Fun fact, Javelin Toss is the highest damage basic ability in the entire game.

Bushwhack is Nidalee's Human W.

Nidalee places a trap on a targeted location, that sets and turns invisible after a short delay. the trap can be triggered by enemy champions, minions, or jungle monsters. When triggered by a champion or jungle monster , the target becomes Hunted . The trap expires after 2 minutes if untouched.

Primal Surge is Nidalee's Human E.

Nidalee heals either herself or a targeted ally champion, and increases their attack speed for 7 seconds (also applies to a personal heal). The heal's value increases the more health the target is missing

Aspect of the Cougar is Nidalee's ultimate (R)

Nidalee transforms herself into a cougar, making her melee and gaining 3 new abilities. When in cougar form, Nidalee can cast this ability to transform back into her human form. It is important to note, that the abilities in cougar form, upgrade with Aspect of the Cougar's rank, not the specific ability's rank.

Takedown is Nidalee's cougar Q

Activating this ability makes Nidalee's next basic attack very powerful. The attack gains 75 more range than her normal basic attack , and deals a large amount of damage, greatly increasing the less health the target has. Additionally, If the target is hunted the total damage is increased by 40%.

Pounce is Nidalee's cougar W

Nidalee jumps a fixed distance in the direction of your cursor, dealing damage around where she lands. This can be used to jump over walls and terrain , if the wall/terrain is small enough. If the target is hunted , Nidalee will be able to cast pounce at an increased range (your cursor must be on top of the target). Casting pounce on a hunted target, or killing a unit, greatly reduces the cooldown of pounce .

Swipe is Nidalee's cougar E

Nidalee claws at enemies in a half-circle infront of her, dealing damage to alll units struck.

Summoner Spells

Flash

is a must have. It is kind of troll to not take flash for obvious reasons. It can be used as an escape, engage, re-positioning tool, juke tool, and is just beyond helpful.

Ignite

should be chosen against weaker lane opponents. Its very good against champions with some kind of healing source (Ex: Vladimir , Sylas , Aatrox , and Irelia ). It should also be taken against combative lanes that will play agressive.

Teleport

should be taken in lanes where the opponent is quite passive, or it is a neutral lane. Taking TP allows you to get back to lane faster and farm, which is essential in these passive lanes. It also helps make plays around the map, and get to essential objectives like Baron and Dragons much quicker than your opponent.

Exhaust

should be taken against lane opponents that are either extremely threatening to you, or your team. Opponents like Katarina , Akali , Zed , and Talon . Notice these are all assassins that have strong laning phases, it is important they do not get a lead in lane.

Barrier

is okay, i tend to stay away from barrier due to its lesser impact as the game goes on. Its good for lane but it feels really bad when you prematurely use it, and then your opponent just kills u after it expires. I prefer SS's that help your team more late game, barrier only helps yourself.

Heal

is a slightly better than barrier, the movement speed and actual heal are much better than a personal shield. But it has a higher cooldown and ignite counters it pretty hard.

Cleanse

should almost never be used on Midalee. The only champion i would reccomend taking cleanse against is maybe Morgana or Lissandra . But even then, they should have a hard time even catching you with their cc so its a waste to take cleanse.

Ghost

... never...

Runes

Arey

provides excellent lane harass with autos and your quick combos. Its power really shines late game however, aery''s damage racks up surprisingly well, and is the only reliable rune that provides extra damage for spear-based nidalee. Addionally, Midalee turns into a bit of an extra suppot the longer the game goes on, as her Primal Surge provides a massive heal, and a desirable attack speed buff. Aery procs with Primal Surge , killing 2 birds with one stone, damage and team utility.

Manaflow Band

provides some very needed mana sustain/restoration. It does take considerably long to complete if your lane opponent is passive and can dodge spears, but eventually you will finish it. Its also important to note that your manaless abilities in cougar form grant manaflow stacks, essentially giving you a free 25 mana.

Transcendence

Cooldown reduction is a blessing on Midalee, as she is very ability reliant. Luckily, all her cougar form abilites are all 6 seconds, her ultimate is 3 seconds, and Javelin Toss is 6 seconds as well. However, Bushwhack is 13-9 seconds, and Primal surge is 12. Late game, you will be wanting to chuck as many spears as you possibly can in fights, and healing allies and yourself as often as necessary.

Gathering Storm

Provides flat ability power every 10 minutes, increasing the longer the game goes on. Gathering storm's counterpart, Scorch is mostly used to accentuate laning phase, Midalee is not a strong laner, so scorch greatly decreases your damage output. Also, once you are full build, there is almost zero other resources to gain more ability power, leaving gathering storm as an infinite source.

Biscuit Delivery

As mentioned previously, Midalee's laning phase is not great, and biscuit delivery's sustain is very helpful. Also, it provides 50 extra maximum mana, this in combination with manaflow band , provide a total of 400 mana. A quick note, to maximize healing in lane, use Primal Surge BEFORE you use any biscuits or health potions , because Primal Surge's strength increases the lower the target is.

Time Warp Tonic

for starters, i recommend getting a refillable potion in the early laning phase, to synergize with this rune. Time warp tonic in combination with Biscuit Delivery , refillable potions and lastly Primal Surge , regenerate an immense amount of health when low.

Items

D-ring is probably what you should be starting 90% of the time. It provides help with farming, mana regeneration, and some useful ability power.

You are going to want to start D-shield into counter match-ups, and annoying lanes. I start D-shield into Katarina , Talon , Zed , Akali , Teemo , and Malzahar . D-Shield gives health regen when attacked, and this bonus regeneration is larger when hit by melee champions.

Buying an early Refillable Potion maximizes the bonuses from Time Warp Tonic .

This item is what really makes Javelin Toss do heavy damage. It also helps with waveclear which is very helpful.

You're going to want to get these boots about 90% of the time, magic pen is extremely important and is always useful.

This is a good choice if you are going against heavy AD comps.

This boot variation is great vs ap heavy teams, or heavy CC teams.

Rushing this item is going to make your Javelin Toss really hurt, and your Primal Surge heal a lot. Getting this item immediately after Luden's Echo is crucial to really amp up your power

A great source of Magic Pen . At the time of the game you should be getting this item, you will already be chunking squishier targets, so you need to deal with tankier ones. This item is the answer.

Morello is almost a most have in the current state of the game due to the insane amount of healing, but the reason you buy it for Midalee is the flat magic pen . This helps with both tanks and squishies.

Zhonya's is ussually what you're going to want to go as a last item, its great for baiting and a bit of defensive stats are helpful. Its really good vs opponents like Zed , Rengar , Vi , Kayn , Vladimir , Talon , Darius , Kha Zix , Garen , Rek Sai , and Pyke .

This is an alternative to Zhonya's Hourglass , Going Banshee's is good vs AP heavy compos and is great vs CC heavy comps as well.

Athene's gives a great boost to your Primal Surge and is very cheap, so its nice to buy if you are falling behind.

This along with Athene's , is great for a more supportive role if you are behind. It boosts Primal Surge's healing and attack speed buff. At max level 18, Primal Surge plus Ardent Censer grants a 90% attack speed buff to an ally.

Purchasing Mejai's is a very high risk but is also a high reward, Nidalee is very safe so its a bit more of a viable option. Your heals and spears will be extremely amplified.

Lich bane procs on Nidalee's cougar Q Takedown , its also good for easy lane harass. The mana, cdr, and movement speed are pretty helpful as well..

NOTE: If going the lich bane/archangels build, grab tear of the goddess before starting to build lich bane. Archangel's/Seraphs is great for this style of Nid because it provides a clear power spike and a defensive active.

Combos

Early Laning Phase

Roaming

Playing from Behind

Team Fighting

Nidalee top- Stacking Grasp

prideandjoy Nidalee Guide

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Midalee, THE Nidalee mid (and top) guide (UNDER S11 EDITS!)

Runes

Items

Combos

Nidalee top- Stacking Grasp

Midalee, THE Nidalee mid (and top) guide (UNDER S11 EDITS!)

Midalee, THE Nidalee mid (and top) guide (UNDER S11 EDITS!)

Choose Champion Build:

Runes: Spear based (traditional)

Spells:

Flash

Ignite

Flash

Teleport

Exhaust

Flash

Barrier

Flash

Items

Ability Order Ability ranking order

Prowl (PASSIVE)

Javelin Toss / Takedown (Q)

Bushwhack / Pounce (W)

Primal Surge / Swipe (E)

Aspect Of The Cougar (R)

Threats & Synergies

Ahri

Akali

Annie

Anivia

Aurelion Sol

Azir

Brand

Malzahar

Cassiopeia

Cho'Gath

Corki

Diana

Ekko

Ezreal

Fiddlesticks

Fizz

Galio

Heimerdinger

Irelia

Jayce

Karma

Karthus

Kassadin

Katarina

Kayle

LeBlanc

Lissandra

Lux

Morgana

Neeko

Nidalee

Orianna

Syndra

Taliyah

Talon

Teemo

Xerath

Yasuo

Zed

Ziggs

Zoe

Zyra

Vel'Koz

Veigar

Aatrox

Amumu

Camille

Cho'Gath

Diana

Elise

Evelynn

Fiddlesticks

Gragas

Graves

Hecarim

Ivern

Jarvan IV

Jax

Kayn