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Choose Champion Build:
Spells:
Ghost
Flash
Ability Order
Prowl (PASSIVE)
Nidalee Passive Ability
Introduction
This guide will feature a build on AP Nidalee with some defensive items.
WHY pick

-Do you like harassing?
-Do you like to play aggressively?
-Do you like to play a support/pusher/carry role?
-Do you like to have a solo lane?
-Do you like to play a fun Champion?
-What about her FRENCH MAID SKIN?
If you've answered YES, then

These are what I usually take with me:
Ghost - The ability to run away or chase down enemies is going to give you a great advantage in the game.
Flash - This is a MUST for
Nidalee. You WILL get ganked at some point and you will need this spell to escape them. Also can be used to chase down enemies through thick walls that you cannot jump through with
Pounce.
Ignite - I always hate it when the enemy runs away safely with only 20 health left. This spell will help me finish them off so I can be completely sure they will die.
Note: Ignite is a great spell to use against someone who can heal such as
Taric or
Soraka. It will reduce their healing.
Exhaust - This spell will sometimes help you to chase down enemies or run from enemies. I cannot stress how important this spell is in team fights. It will reduce their incoming damage and slow them like heck.
Teleport - This spell will help a lot if you are soloing. Can become useful if your allies are in trouble.
Cleanse - This is also great for
Nidalee if she is trapped in a **** load of CC. Very useful at times.
What NOT To Bring:
Smite - Don't bring this.
Nidalee is NOT a jungler until level 6. The only upside I see is that if you DO decide to jungle when you reach 6, making sure that you don't have an ally jungling, then it might help a lot. Also can be used to steal dragon or baron.
Clarity - You don't need this. Greater Seal of Replenishment will give you mana regeneration and besides,
Aspect Of The Cougar does NOT use any mana.
Heal - Really? Ever thought about
Primal Surge?
Rally - This is like an outdated summoner spell now. No one uses it and it is actually completely useless.
Fortify - You do not bring Fortify because it is not your role to bring it. Leave this to someone such as
Taric.
Revive - Obviously, only level 3 Summoners will bring this because they think that they need to live and not die or else it's the end of the world. Death is NATURAL in League of Legends. Dying is NOT a bad thing. (Unless you are feeding.)
Still Deciding Where It Belongs:
Clairvoyance - This is a very great map awareness spell. Sometimes, you might have to bring this for the sake of you and your team. However, I don't really prefer taking this spell with
Nidalee mainly because it is a spell for someone such as
Soraka or a full support Champion. If you do bring this, then it will greatly help your team and probably even get a few ganks going.





Note: Ignite is a great spell to use against someone who can heal such as






What NOT To Bring:










Still Deciding Where It Belongs:



Skill Sequence
For me, my first priority is to max out heal first. Why? It will provide great lane sustainability and allow you to play a little more aggressive.
Why not
Javelin Toss or
Bushwhack first?
Leveling spear first will only cause you harm. First off, they don't do much when you have so little AP. Second, you will not be able to sustain your lane and will have to teleport back and forth.
Obviously, no one level trap first, pretty self-explanatory.
After leveling heal first, I then max out spear.
After maxing Spear, I finally max out trap.
REMEMBER TO MAX COUGAR FORM WHEN YOU ARE LEVEL 6, 11, AND 16!!!
Masteries
I usually go with 9/0/21 because it best suits
Nidalee. Rarely, I will go 9/21/0 for some defense.
Runes
My first set of runes is more of an offensive set. It will give you AP and Greater Seal of Replenishment will give you some mana regeneration so you won't run out too fast.
For the second set, it goes a little bit more into a defensive set. Greater Seal Of Vitality will give you health regeneration. I usually take those runes when I know I will be soloing.
For me, my first priority is to max out heal first. Why? It will provide great lane sustainability and allow you to play a little more aggressive.
Why not


Leveling spear first will only cause you harm. First off, they don't do much when you have so little AP. Second, you will not be able to sustain your lane and will have to teleport back and forth.
Obviously, no one level trap first, pretty self-explanatory.
After leveling heal first, I then max out spear.
After maxing Spear, I finally max out trap.
REMEMBER TO MAX COUGAR FORM WHEN YOU ARE LEVEL 6, 11, AND 16!!!
Masteries
I usually go with 9/0/21 because it best suits

Runes
My first set of runes is more of an offensive set. It will give you AP and Greater Seal of Replenishment will give you some mana regeneration so you won't run out too fast.
For the second set, it goes a little bit more into a defensive set. Greater Seal Of Vitality will give you health regeneration. I usually take those runes when I know I will be soloing.
Human Abilities
Prowl (Passive) - This ability will allow Nidalee to move around the map faster than most champs. There are many uses for this passive such as chasing enemies down or running away from a gank. Combine it with a
Boots of Swiftness and she will be incredibly fast.
Javelin Toss - With one of the longest ability range in League of Legends, this spear will deal quite some damage. What's great about this ability unlike any other is that the farther she throws the spear, the more damage it will do. It can do up to 250% more damage at its full extension! The only Con about
Javelin Toss is that it will require some skill to successfuly land this skill shot at an enemy Champ.
Bushwhack - This almost invisible trap will allow you to have great map awareness. The trap will reveal an enemy for up to 12 seconds, easily predicting what the enemy will plan to do. I recommend you put the traps inside a brush or in between crossways in the jungle for it to be very effective. This is also VERY helpfull in team fights! It will reduce the enemy's armor and magic resist by up to 40%! It does little damage, but will surely lower their defense so your teamates can take them down.
Primal Surge - This is one of my favorite ability in the game. It will grant great health to anyone and also give 60% attack speed.
Primal Surge heals a lot. Period. What I also like about this ability is that when you use it, it will give you a HUGE boost in Attack Speed. Heal your AD Carry and his AS will almost guarantee to go 2.5 per second. This ability is why Nidalee is such a great solo laner.
Aspect Of The Cougar - This Ultimate will give you three more abilites WITHOUT costing any mana! Isn't that crazy?! You can stay in Cougar form for as long as you want and still deal insane amounts of damage. With its low cooldowns, this is one of the most OP ults in the game.
Courgar Abilities:
Takedown - What I love about
Takedown is that it deals damage depending on how low her opponent's health is. Also, IT CANNOT BE DODGED like dodge *****s such as
Jax. This ability is why AD Nidalee is very viable.
Pounce - Great skill. Using
Pounce while traveling will reduce the time it takes to reach to a certain destination. Also, it will be used to catch enemies that are trying to run away from you. Even run away from enemies that are trying to catch you. This is your ultimate escape/catching ability.
Pounce will allow you to jump over thin walls.
Swipe - The only great thing about this skill is that it attacks more than one enemy at once. Great farming skill.








Courgar Abilities:







I ALWAYS start off with a
Doran's Ring. This item will give me 100 health, 15 ability power, and some mana regeneration. I don't see why I would not pick this starting item.
I usually farm in my lane until I reach to about 1.6k gold. This will allow me to buy a
Boots and a
Sheen.
I always buy a
Lich Bane before my
Mercury's Treads. Why? You are already fast enough with
Aspect Of The Cougar. Her ultimate gives you a 20 movement speed boost including
Pounce.
Now, you have a choice between
Mercury's Treads or
Boots of Swiftness. I buy a mercury's tread when there is a lot of CC (Crowd Control) in the enemy team. If the enemy's team only CC's are like slows, then I would get a
Boots of Swiftness.
The
Rabadon's Deathcap is quite expensive, so that is why farming is very important for Nidalee. Since it is expensive, I highly recommend you get this item as soon as possible. It will provide a great AP boost.
I then get a
Guinsoo's Rageblade for increased Attack Speed and Ability Power, which stacks. This item is almost always a MUST for
Nidalee because it will greatly help her to farm and attack turrets along with
Primal Surge.
I then go for my defensive item, the
Zhonya's Hourglass. This item will give me armor for those AD Carries and some ability power. With its awfully OP Active, you can just throw yourself into a team fight in Cougar Form and be invincible to everything for 2 seconds. One of the best defensive items for
Nidalee.
The
Void Staff is another great item to give
Nidalee another AP boost. It penetrates 40% of the enemy's magic resistance. 40%!!!! That is almost half of the enemy's MR!
Another defensive item I sometimes get is a
Banshee's Veil. It's great against AP Carries such as
Kassadin. It also provides a shield that will block one negative spell every 45 seconds. This shield may save your life from an
Ashe Ultimate or another crazy ultimate with its heavy CC.
Please note that the item path above is not the path I always follow as I usually follow the path I state below.
My Recommended Item Path
Doran's Ring ->
Boots ->
Sheen ->
Mercury's Treads ->
Lich Bane ->
Rabadon's Deathcap ->
Void Staff ->
Zhonya's Hourglass.

I usually farm in my lane until I reach to about 1.6k gold. This will allow me to buy a


I always buy a




Now, you have a choice between



The

I then get a



I then go for my defensive item, the


The


Another defensive item I sometimes get is a



Please note that the item path above is not the path I always follow as I usually follow the path I state below.
My Recommended Item Path















By level 9, you should at least be done with your
Lich Bane build and working on your
Rabadon's Deathcap. This is when you start to deal quite some damage. Remember to push, push, push and farm, farm, farm! Try to get a blue buff if possible because it will really help with your cooldowns and mana regen. Lay traps in places where you suspect the enemy might gank. Buy some wards to get some map control. Wards win games. All the action usually starts at around mid game so look at the mini-map every 5-6 seconds. It can save your life! Remember, the key thing for
Nidalee to do in mid game is to FARM, PUSH, and GANK.



Start to work as a team now. Heal people who are in need and trap everywhere. Stay together and push together. You are the ultimate key to your team's victory. You should harass the enemy's squishy with your spear and healing anyone that gets hurt. Do NOT think you are like the super carry in your team just because your ult is OP. You are more of a support and pusher role late game. Yes, Cougar form is OP, but AD Carries can still crush you such as
Caitlyn or
Vayne. With a
Lich Bane and
Guinsoo's Rageblade, you will be dealing insane amounts of damage to towers. The only time you can leave from your group is if you have trapped the area you are going to and that the minions have pushed too far into your side of the map. Remember, your main priority now is to PARTICIPATE IN TEAM FIGHTS, HEAL ANYONE INJURED, AND TRAP EVERYWHERE.




By the time you reach level 6, you can really kill anything except Dragon and Baron in the jungle. DO NOT jungle if you already have a jungler. Only jungle if you team does not have a jungler. Also, be sure that your lane you are leaving will be covered by an ally or else it will be a free turret for the enemy. Also, be sure that the ally covering for you is a good solo.
My Jungling Route:
1. Blue Golem
2. Wolves
3. Wraiths
4. Red Lizard
5. Double Golems
6. Repeat.
Counter Jungling:
If you have completed the following steps above and you feel like going into the enemy jungle, then first be aware of a few things. If the enemy team does not have a jungler, then go ahead and jungle in their territory. If they do have a jungler, then be careful who it is. If it is someone such as
Xin Zhao or
Fiddlesticks, then I highly recommend not to go counter jungle and repeat the steps above.
What to do if you get intruded:
If an enemy counter jungles you and you know he can kill you, then automatically run away or if an ally is near, then fight him. Always use Cougar form when running away and use the walls and brushes to your advantage. Don't chase the enemy if you do decide to attack him too far or else other enemies will go for you and you will die.
Have fun and Jungle Safe!
My Jungling Route:
1. Blue Golem
2. Wolves
3. Wraiths
4. Red Lizard
5. Double Golems
6. Repeat.
Counter Jungling:
If you have completed the following steps above and you feel like going into the enemy jungle, then first be aware of a few things. If the enemy team does not have a jungler, then go ahead and jungle in their territory. If they do have a jungler, then be careful who it is. If it is someone such as


What to do if you get intruded:
If an enemy counter jungles you and you know he can kill you, then automatically run away or if an ally is near, then fight him. Always use Cougar form when running away and use the walls and brushes to your advantage. Don't chase the enemy if you do decide to attack him too far or else other enemies will go for you and you will die.
Have fun and Jungle Safe!
Farming is very easy for
Nidalee especially with
Aspect Of The Cougar. All you have to do is to Pounce onto the minions, Takedown the minion with the highest HP, and Swipe the minions in front of you. If basically goes like this:
Auto-attack -> Pounce -> Takedown -> Swipe
Keep doing this until all minions are cleared and you have pushed that lane.


Auto-attack -> Pounce -> Takedown -> Swipe
Keep doing this until all minions are cleared and you have pushed that lane.
Here is where a lot of Nidalee players make their mistake. They just ult and dive in trying to deal as much damage as possible and HOPEFULLY to get out. That is wrong. This is what you are supposed to do:
1. Keep poking with Spears so you try to get their squishy as low as possible.
2. Heal your carry.
3. Drop your trap in the middle of the battle.
(Remember, the traps reduces an enemy champion's armor and magic resistance by up to 40%.)
4. Wait for the ultimates to burn off such as
Absolute Zero. Especially the large AOE ults from tanks. Avoid any CC's.
5. When quite some damage has been done, ult and hop on in.
6. If anyone tries to escape, it is your job to chase them with Pounce with
Flash with/or
Ghost.
Remember, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT hop in with your ult in the beginning of a team fight!!!!!!
1. Keep poking with Spears so you try to get their squishy as low as possible.
2. Heal your carry.
3. Drop your trap in the middle of the battle.
(Remember, the traps reduces an enemy champion's armor and magic resistance by up to 40%.)
4. Wait for the ultimates to burn off such as

5. When quite some damage has been done, ult and hop on in.
6. If anyone tries to escape, it is your job to chase them with Pounce with


Remember, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT hop in with your ult in the beginning of a team fight!!!!!!
Yes, this may sound a little strange, but it actually works!
Your
Lich Bane will allow your auto-attacks to deal hundreds and
Guinsoo's Rageblade will add some attack damage and attack speed. Top that off with
Primal Surge and your attack speed will be very high. Each turret should take about 10 seconds. DO NOT go into Cougar form to attack the turrets. Why? Mainly because it is not convenient and you are wasting time. It takes about 2-3 seconds to use
Primal Surge, change into cougar form, and go up to the turret and start attacking. While in Human form, all you have to do is use
Primal Surge and start auto-attacking. 2-3 seconds is actually quite a long time when you are backdooring because every second counts when your team is loosing that team fight or when someone is coming to kill you.
I only recommend backdooring if you were somehow in the right place at the right time. (e.g. You are in the enemy jungle grabbing blue when your bot lane minions are pushing quite far.)
Your





I only recommend backdooring if you were somehow in the right place at the right time. (e.g. You are in the enemy jungle grabbing blue when your bot lane minions are pushing quite far.)

Akali is VERY annoying. She is also going to be hard to kill. I highly recommend that you play defensively if you happen to lane against her, unless its a 2v1. Her


Difficulty: Hard

Alistar doesn't deal a lot of damage but has quite some CC. Do not underestimate him because when someone is going to gank you,




Difficulty: Medium

As being one of the strongest tanks in the game, he can deal quite some damage with his


Difficulty: Easy

I have two words to say to you: Good Luck. Her




Difficulty: Hard

Annie is a nuke that will really tear you apart if you are not careful. When she does charge up her stun, try to stay out of range of her abilities until she uses her stun on a minion. Harass her with Cougar form when her stun is not up. The only way she can kill you is if she has

Difficulty: Medium

She is VERY squishy. She is so squishy that she is the MOST squishiest champion in the game. Just keep harassing with you auto-attacks and try to not let her farm. If she gets farmed, then she can do quite some damage to you. Once you are level 6, you can literally kill her. Just be careful of ganks because if you do get ganked,


Difficulty: Easy

The only real annoying thing about him is his

Difficulty: Medium

He is quite annoying if he lands his


Difficulty: Medium

I find her quite easy to lane against. You won't really be able to damage her until you reach level 6. Just remember to dodge her

Difficulty: Easy

Her harass is VERY annoying. You will to be a very good dodger if you don't want to get hit by her Noxius Blast poison. Because of her passive, she can use her abilities without having to worry about running out of mana. When against her, stay a little far from her so she's more likely to miss her harass.
Difficulty: Medium

He doesn't do too much damage, but has a hella CC. Avoid his

Difficulty: Easy

This champ is not going to be easy to lane against. The good thing is that basically all of his abilities are skill shots. He'll become really powerful once he reaches 6 and gets

Difficulty: Hard

He doesn't do a lot of damage, but has great health regeneration. You can try killing him, but once he reaches 6, he'll just use


Difficulty: Easy

Because of her




Difficulty: Easy

This Champ may be a little annoying. His


Difficulty: Easy

This champ is not going to be easy to lane against. His



Difficulty: Hard

His



Difficulty: Easy

The most annoying thing about him is that he can remove ANY CC with his




Difficulty: Hard

Garen is actually quite OP in his early levels.


Difficulty: Medium

Do not underestimate him, as he can really hart you with his


Difficulty: Medium

I would say about 50% if him damage comes from his

Difficulty: Easy

She is one of the champions that you should be very careful of. Her passive is awfully OP and her abilities will tear you apart. Try dodging her

Difficulty: Hard

She is literally a full support champion. Her only basic attack is

Difficulty: Easy

He has a carp load of HP and his

Difficulty: Medium

He is what I call the "Carry Destroyer''. His


Difficulty: Medium

She has become quite unpopular but the recent guide by Egyptian_Lover has probably brought her popularity up again. She doesn't deal much, but can really support others hardcore. She is quite easy to kill, but



Difficulty: Easy

Karthus is a very good harassing champion.




Difficulty: Medium

Kassadin is the Anti-Nidalee.





Difficulty: Hard

She is what I call the silent killer. She can just


Difficulty: Medium

Kayle is actually a little bit similar to Nidalee. Her auto-attacks harass and her


Difficulty: Easy

He is VERY annoying and will deal lots of damage to you if you are not careful. His



Difficuly: Hard

He has one of the longest ranges in the game. His auto-attacks can really hurt you a lot and



Difficulty: Medium

All of her abilites used all at once will result in a one shot nuke on you.

Difficulty: Medium

This guy is one of the most annoying champions in the game. If he attacks you, then you basically have to fight him unless you can somehow run away. All of his abilities combined will allow him to constantly harass you and even if he turret dives you, he can still make it out alive by using Safequard. Don't get hit by

Difficulty: Medium

Her huge load of stuns will really get annoying.

Difficulty: Easy

She is actually quite easy to lane against. Her

Difficulty: Easy

He may be a little hard to kill because of his


Difficulty: Easy

This guy is very annoying. He has great zoning abilities and will cause great damage to you.



Difficulty: Medium

The only real annoying thing about this guy is him

Difficulty: Easy

Since you don't really have any CC affects, this guy can really kill you even when you reach level 6.


Difficulty: Medium

Her early game harass will really hurt you mainly because of her


Difficulty: Easy

His


Difficulty: Medium

She is quite annoying at times. Her passive





Difficulty: Medium

His






Difficulty: Medium

May the best Nidalee win!!!

He has a deadly combo when harassing and can easily take you out in the first few levels.




Difficulty: Medium

He rarely lanes, but if he does, then watch out.




Difficulty: Medium

This guy can really hurt you if you play too aggressively.


Difficulty: Medium

You can easily kill her when you reach level 6. Just try dodging her ball and harass with auto-attacks until then. She may be a little hard to catch because

Difficulty: Easy

This guy is not going to be easy to kill mainly because of his




Difficulty: Medium

Make sure you are not near a wall when you are close to her or else she will


Difficulty: Medium

The really annoying thing about him is his Puncturing Taunt. If you get ganked, then this taunt will really kill you. He also has high armor, so your harass won't do much to him. Just let him the way he is and it's not worth harassing with your auto-attacks.
Difficulty: Medium

His stuns are quite annoying when you try to harass him, but he won't really do much. He shouldn't be too much of a threat unless he really farms.

Difficulty: Easy



Difficulty: Medium

This guy is one of the strongest nukes in the whole game. He has impressive cooldowns and has tons of HP and mana. If you get trapped by his


Difficulty: Medium

He has great lane control mostly because of him


Difficulty: Medium

Do not underestimate him, for he does quite a lot of damage early game. He also has


Difficulty: Easy

This guy and his poison will leave you loosing a lot of HP. If he uses


Difficulty: Hard

His


Difficulty: Medium

Her



Difficulty: Easy

She really doesn't have any skill-shots, so her abilities are easy for her to harass you. Just heal yourself if you get harassed and kill her when you reach 6. Her

Difficulty: Easy

As the super annoying healer, she will heal herself until she runs out of mana herself. She doesn't do much and her only CC is a silence. Easy to lane against, but awfully annoying heals. Only harass with auto-attacks, not spears.
Difficulty: Easy

He may look a little hard at first, but then he gets easier. The only way for him to really deal some damage to you is for him to trap you in his


Difficulty: Easy

This guy is quite unpredictable as he can teleport to you and deal some heavy damage. Stay out of range of his


Difficulty: Medium

The only thing I fear about him is his stun. Whenever you get the chance, harass him and harass as much as you can. He can easily heal himself, so that's why harassing him with auto-attacks is so important. One thing I like to do against Taric is "non-stop attack". Go into Cougar form and keep chasing him down until his health s quite low. Make sure there are no ganks coming before you do that. When he has like 2 bars left, try to hit him with your spear. The faster you take him out, the better.
Difficulty: Easy

His poison will deal tons of damage over time to you that even your heal may not heal enough.



Difficulty: Medium

Since her range is so long, she can easily attack your turret at a far distance. You want to push her minions so that she won't be able to reach your turret.

Difficulty: Medium

He can really harm you early game, so try staying away from his

Difficulty: Medium

He's actually quite easy to kill until he reaches level 6. His

Difficulty: Medium



Difficulty: Easy

This guy is the most annoying of the three stealthed champions. Be very careful when he goes stealthed, for he can really damage you a lot with his high attack speed and Expunge. The more

Difficulty: Medium

This guy has no ultimate, but is awfully hard to lane against. You can't kill him, he can kill you, and if you harass him, he will gain all his health back. With super fast attack speed early game and great movement speed, he can surely rip you apart if you are not careful. Don't waste your time harassing with auto-attacks and focus on farming. If he does start to go for you, then I suggest you run.
Difficulty: Hard

His


Difficulty: Medium

She is extremely annoying as she can easily harass and get away from you at the same time. Her



Difficulty: Medium

This guy feeds on your AP. The more AP you have, the more damage he will do to you. He is really squishy though. Right after he uses



Difficulty: Medium

This guy is probably impossible to kill.


Difficulty: Medium





Difficulty: Medium

This guy is OP even at level 1. His






Difficulty: Extremely Hard

The gravedigger deals some damage early game, but can really hurt you once he reaches 6. One thing I recommend is for you to not harass him until you reach level 6. Yes, you can kill him, but it will come at a cost with lots of mana for healing.

Difficulty: Medium

His



Difficulty: Medium
Overall, Nidalee is a great champion to use but requires some skill to play. Remember that Nidalee is NOT a super carry and that there is only so much she can do.
If you have any suggestions for me or my guide, please feel free to comment below. You can also add me in the game with my IGN name: Brisingr296. Thanks for reading my guide and you may upvote or downvote if you want. It is entirely up to you. I also want to thank GeneralWiser on his Youtube channel for uploading lots of Nidalee videos played by HotshotGG. I really learned a lot on playing Nidalee by watching those videos. If you are interested in watching, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/user/GeneralWiser
Hope you will have fun playing with Nidalee!!!
If you have any suggestions for me or my guide, please feel free to comment below. You can also add me in the game with my IGN name: Brisingr296. Thanks for reading my guide and you may upvote or downvote if you want. It is entirely up to you. I also want to thank GeneralWiser on his Youtube channel for uploading lots of Nidalee videos played by HotshotGG. I really learned a lot on playing Nidalee by watching those videos. If you are interested in watching, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/user/GeneralWiser
Hope you will have fun playing with Nidalee!!!
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