Do you remember the good old times when HotshotGG played Nidalee and managed to get rank 1 in solo Q? Before the nerf to Nidalee's heal she was very strong as AP because she had so much sustain in lane. However, after the nerf many people says she is useless because she cannot be compared to the other strong toplaners in the game. Do you remember when TheRainMan managed to get to rank 1 with his teemo? After a a short time, Riot nerfed teemo aswell.
I like to compare AD Nidalee with the teemo back then. Some genious came up with this idea to build Nidalee with Wriggles lantern. With wriggles she gets invincible in lane. Everytime your opponent trys to kill a creep, just land some auto's and your opponent will get low in no time.

First of all, Nidalee has great harass from lv 1-5. Take advantage of your range. Use your bushes to "hit and run" back and forth to proc her passive. When you hit lv 6 is where the magic happens. Your Q ability on your Cougar form scales with ad. It does suprisingly much damage. At level 6 you will also have the fantastic ability to escape. One little hint I can give you, is to check the enemey's redbuff and put a trap at the camp. Depending on their jungler you can figure out when it is about to spawn. When you have bought your wriggles there will be no problem to kill it and then escape afterwards.(unknown embed type)http://www.own3d.tv/RoElementz#/watch/338737

The runes I have chosen is what I've had most success with. Also, almost every high elo player use this setup for nidalee, such as Okamura and xHazzard etc.

Pros
Strong harass
Good escape
Doesn't have a real counter at toplane
Strong pusher
Can kite easily with red buff
Can jump all over the map

Cons
Hard to play for biginners
Some will think you are trolling them
Probably going to be nerfed soon

Depending on whom you will face at toplane and also what you feel is the best for you. More utility or more defence. If I pick heal on my nid, or clence, I would rather go down 9 points defence, so I can improve the clence/heal. 9/12/9 Also works.
I have tryed many things, but this is what gave me most sucess and I'd like you to try it aswell.

I go for rageblade sometimes, because it's very strong midgame item. Otherwise the following items above will be your core items. Depending on, if you are facing hard physical damage or alot of magic damage, your item build should be different. I go for frozenheart sometimes, it really hurts the enemey carry. If they have alot of AP I would consider a Force of Nature. I like it alot since it gives 8% movmentspeed and alot of HP regen. Combinded with Warmogs you will have crazy regen.

I start with my W ability first. I use to put some traps down river and some in the bushes near. I level Q and E. I don't waste mana on throwing spears but I level up it anyway because when in cougar form, the Q ability deals massive damage.

You can choose either go Heal, Clense, Ignite, Flash, Ghost, Exhaust. What you feel is the best for you. I would recommend heal acctually. With the new update, heal is very strong. I use to bait my enemey by running around with low hp. ~Suprise! I got 600 more hp!

Nidalee is very strong, absolutley among the strongest toplaners in the game. Try this build before you vote please, I hope you enjoy!