Hello! Welcome to my first guide, on Nidalee. Nidalee is an excellent champion, and is very easy to get used to. This guide is focused on her spear throw ( Javelin Toss / Takedown). THIS GUIDE IS NOT AND I REPEAT NOT FOR SOLO LANING. I DO NOT RECOMMEND USING THIS FOR SOLO LANE. NOR SHOULD THIS GUIDE BE CITED IN RANKED GAMES. IT HAS ONLY BEEN TESTED IN NORMAL GAMES SO FAR. You want a good AD-based lane partner. I find Nidalee's spear to have great synergy with Gangplank's Parrrley. Now without further ado, I present to you my Nidalee guide. Enjoy!

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Pros + Has one of the strongest burst attacks in the game + A hot lady that can turn into a freakin' cougar + Very fun to play + Very good and cost-efficient champ (only 3150 IP) + Relatively easy to learn + Self-sufficient, great for lane sustain

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Cons - Not quote tanky enough to be considered an off-tank - Gets focused in team fights - Has no way to counter crowd-control effects - Has a difficult skill-shot that can take some getting used to - If you aren't HotshotGG's skill levell people will call you a noob

The masteries I take are 0/9/21. The reason I have points in defense as opposed to offense is that Nidalee is often harassed early game, and can be very easily focused in team fights. With the extra 2% dodge chance and 6 armor, early game will be a hell of a lot easier. the utility I have set up give Nidalee some extra CDR and mana regen. You'll be surprised how much it helps early game with your double Doran's Ring. Make sure to get 2 points in the Utility Mastery , since the Ancient Golem (blue) buff is VERY important.

• Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration: The magpen helps immensely with your spear. You'd be surprised how much more damage just 3 of these things adds to the table.
  
• Greater Mark of Armor: Gives Nidalee a bit more armor to tough out some of that huge damage champs like Tryndamere or Caitlyn do.
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: I've died to an Annie with low health one time too many to not bring magres runes with me.
  
• Greater Seal of Ability Power: Early game AP = early game kills. Get the spear kill before minions spawn and you'll be wrecking with the giant javelin until late game.

Flash: Excellent for getting away or just repositioning yourself for a spear throw. Many kills have been had and avoided with this spell and in my opinion it's a must have.

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Ignite: If your spear leaves them with barely any health an ignite dive is never a bad idea.

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Clarity: It can help with early game mana issues, but I never seem to use it all that much. My 2 doran's rings give me enough mana regen to sustain without it.

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Ghost: I guess if you need to get away or catch up this is alright, but isn't that what cougar form is for?

• Prowl: Moving through brush increases Nidalee's movement speed by 15% for 2 seconds.
  VERY VERY VERY good for jukeing and overall chasing. Pop into the bush (removing enemy vision), and run back the opposite way in cougar form for an easy getaway. Great for chasing, too. If an enemy runs through a bush to get away, then they just gave you a buff. Consider it like Vayne's passive, but in a bush.
  
  
• Javelin Toss / Takedown (Q): Human: Nidalee tosses her javelin dealing 55/95/140/184/230 (+65% of ability power) magic damage upon impact (deals up to 250% damage the further away the target is).
  Cougar: Nidalee's next attack deals 40/70/100 (+1.0 per attack damage) additional damage, with a damage multiplier based on how low her opponent's life is. Damage multiplier is equal to 1+ (percentage of target's health missing/100). This attack cannot be dodged.
  
  Your coup de grace, and also your opener. Using the spear to initiate a team fight can pretty much guarantee a hit for about 1/4 of the enemy's health, unless it's an 8,000 hp Sion of course (in which case 1/16 of their health). Quickly turn into a cougar after tossing the spear and run after them. Wittle their HP down a bit and then use the other version of this ability, Takedown, to finish them off. After Guinsoo's Rageblade, you should have close to 150-200 Attack damage, in which case you can kill them from about the 500 health range (assuming they have around 2500 max).
  
  
• Bushwhack / Pounce (W): Human: Nidalee lays a trap that deals 80 / 125 / 170 / 215 / 260 (+40% of ability power) damage over 2 seconds, reveals the target, and reduces their armor and magic resistance by 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40% for 12 seconds. Traps last for 4 minutes.
  Cougar: Nidalee lunges forward, dealing 125 / 175 / 225 (+40% of ability power) magic damage to enemies around her landing area.
  
  One thing I have to say is: l2trap. Although I recommend getting this at level 4, it is still very important to know how to do. If you think about it, you get level 4 around the 6-ish minute mark. That leaves you (in a 30 minute game) about 24 minutes to be placing and replacing traps. If you put 3 traps in each bush in and around your lane, you will be ungankable. And THAT really pays off. After the laning phase, trapping every bush you ever see your enemy walk into is a necessity. Who knows, they may have a ward there and tele right on top of your trap. Pounce is also an EXCELLENT skill. I call it "the rageblade stacker". While returning to lane after recalling, mashing the W button gives you an easy 8 stacks (48 free AP and 32% bonus attack speed). This is also the ultimate gap closer. With a 2 second cooldown, short wall hopping capabilities, and small damage added, it will help you get in range to ignite or otherwise proceed to wreck shop as a cougar.
  
  
• Primal Surge / Swipe (E): Human: Nidalee heals an ally champion for 50 / 85 / 120 / 155 / 190 (+70% of ability power) and grants them 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60% bonus attack speed for 7 seconds.
  Cougar: Nidalee claws at enemies in a cone in front of her, dealing 150 / 225 / 300 (+40% of ability power) magic damage.
  
  Your insane heal that also gives a TON of attack speed. Remember to use this on your carry (or yourself) when pushing a tower. It makes it go up to 60% faster. You should try to use your heal if you're below 60% health, ESPECIALLY if there is an enemy Warwick prancing around in the jungle. You don't want to get caught being blood scented by one of those big bad wolfs and get ganked all the way to kingdom come (then again, if you laid 8999 traps, ganks wouldn't be a problem). You shouldn't get used to spamming your heal, since your Javelin would be the better use of your mana (considering you can hit it) if you are dominating your lane. Health potions during the lane phase are a much better investment than using primal surge three times just to heal for 200. As a cougar, Swipe is the best way to clear a minion wave. Make sure you align Nidalee's head in the proper direction so that you hit as many minions as possible, else you'll end up hitting half of them and taking a bit too much damage from minion aggro.
  
  
• Aspect of the Cougar (R): Passive: Each additional rank increases the effectiveness of Nidalee's cougar abilities.
  Nidalee transforms into a vicious cougar, gaining a new set of abilities, 10 / 15 / 20 bonus armor and magic resistance and 20 movement speed and losing 400 range in the process.
  This is probably one of the best ultimates in the game, if not the best. Not only does it make Nidalee an almost unstoppable 1v1, but it gives her some of the best creep wave clearing powers out of any champion in the game. Your cougar abilities have no mana, meaning you can switch between forms, spam your cougar abilities, and have no penalty. This is probably why I think Nidalee is the most fun champion of all. Remember to stay in cougar while on the move, it gives you bonus move speed and your W can be spammed. I tend to stay in my cougar form until I need to heal, in which case I heal, throw a spear, and switch back to cougar form until I have enough mana to do it again.

• : Magic penetration? As in our op gg spear will now ignore 20% of their magic resistance? Count me in. Why not CDR boots? Because Nidalee doesn't have enough mana to spam her best skill, and if you can't spam it, why not make it stronger?
  
• : Excellent hybrid item. Gives AP and AS, and is very easy to charge up with Nidalee's spammable cougar abilities.
  
• : Excellent synergy with your Takedown. Pretty much doubles the damage output, letting you hit turrets for a lot of damage. It's the same thing of getting Sheen on Nasus for HIS Q. Except Lich Bane gives mana as well, which Nidalee needs.
  
• : No AP champ can be complete without it.
  
• : OMGWTFBBQ an OP spear that slows too. And why is that Nidalee so tanky? Oh hey it's the Rylai's!
  
• : For those long-*** games where the AD carry is wrecking you in like 4 hits, get tons of armor and a bunch of AP to wreck them back.

Thank you so much for reading/reviewing my guide! Please vote for it and comment on it to tell me any ways I can improve the format or the actual guide itself! In future updates I plan on including a solo top guide, and adding how to manage Teamfights as well as farming in lane. Thanks again, and I hope your spear shots are aimed well!

Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.