Nidalee Build Guide by IndianaGoof

The Defensive Chapter/ The Spellkit

Defensive Items

Banshee's Veil

Banshee's Veil is one of the most used defensive items on nearly every champ.
While it is mostly used to make poke useless, this isn't that useful on Nidalee since your Primal Surge can protect you from most pokes.

Still Banshee's Veil can be used on Nidalee to protect you from all in Abilities like Charm ( Ahri) or Rocket Grab ( Blitzcrank)

Spirit Visage

Spirit Visage - this is the Banshee's Veil on Nidalee :D
It makes your Heal stronger, so nearly nothing can poke you. Additional it gives you CDR what helps you to heal others and gives your poke a higher duration. I love this item, if you have no idea what to build, build this. its good in at least 75% of all games.

Iceborn Gauntlet

Iceborn Gauntlet is very situational. Its strong in laning what makes it a nice early item, but i would only build this vs heavy ad enemys like Zed or Kha'Zix. What you definitely like at Iceborn Gauntlet is the CDR. Cooldown reduction skales very well on Nidalee since she is one of the strongest Pokers of the game.
Still i dont like Iceborn Gauntlet that much, because it gives mana (what you mostly don't need in late when you get the blues or if you have Morellonomicon), its not that good if you poke that much, cause you can't use its passive and if you want to engage early, a Lich Bane might be a better item. Iceborn Gauntlet really depends on your gamestyle and i wouldn't recommend it if you are new with Nidalee. If you really need Armor on Nidalee better get a Zhonya's Hourglass.

The Spellkit

Javelin Toss - The main spell of Nidalee: You will max this spell. Always. Even if you feel harassed a lot and want to max your Primal Surge. If you don't max your Javelin Toss you will make yourself invisible for the enemyteam.

Bushwhack - Jump, Jump, Jump. You may start with that spell if you want to get some traps in the enemy jungle before the enemy team arrives. I still prefer to start with Javelin Toss because your spear will hurt much more at level 1 than your trap, and you can poke your enemy on lane before you reach level 2 where you can skill your Bushwhack to engage into a halflive poked enemy and get fb or force him to go back to base.

Primal Surge - Your sustain spell + Jumping into a minionwave with Pounce and using your Swipe will mostly clear the minionwave instantly. Dont forget that Primal Surge has very high manacosts so don't take free damage in lane. If you are halflive and your enemy is full live, better throw 2-3 spears on him to make him as low as you are instead of healing you up. He will play more safe if both are low since your cougarform does more damage when he is low.

Aspect Of The Cougar - your ult.... you start with it. Don't play aggressive in Human form with CD on Aspect Of The Cougar because you are extremely hard to gank as cougar and even within this 5 seconds Cooldown you will be easy to kill for a lot of enemy Junglers like Kha'Zix or Master Yi e.g
Don't forget your enemy will get a new spell at level 6 while you don't. Your level 6 is quite weak i think but its a great time to start roaming.

Cool Items for cool players

Lich Bane

Strong engage item - even more painful for towers.
Still don't build this if you are good with your spears cause you will do much more damage.


Athene's Unholy Grail

In my opinion this item sucks.... only for newbies who need the MR


a 2nd Morellonomicon

Much better than Athene's Unholy Grail if you have Manaproblems - also gives you Maximum cooldownreduction and Tonns of AP. Don't get Spirit Visage if you build this


Zhonya's Hourglass

More effective Health, a lot of AP and a nice active if you want to engage a fight of if the enemys have Abilities who need some time to deal damage like Zeds Death Mark or Syndras Unleashed Power. Be sure to get Lich Bane if you build this to do strong engages.


Void Staff

Always. Nida has awesome base damage so you need a lot of Penetration


Sweeping Lens

Get this as soon as you get your Morellonomicon because you can "ward" with your Bushwhack and you can trap the enemy jungler when the buffs spawn the 2nd or 3rd time.

Masteries & Runes

You can also use Expose Weakness instead of Double-Edged Sword . Spell Weaving is very strong if you harrass with AAs before you engage with a spear.


This is a all around runepage, you can use that in every matchup.

Some better but situational pages:

Vs AP enemy:
Vs AD enemy: (or flat ap runes if you want)

You can use MS Quints if the enemy is skillshot reliant, but even i don't do that usually.
You can use AD Quints if you want to poke a lot with AAs.

Pros and Cons

Pros

+Strong early game/ good waveclear +Strong Poke +Nice Roam + Ganks +High Mobility/ hard to gank +Great sustain/ antipoke in late

Nidalee is a poke champion combined with an all in champ. Her Javelin Toss will allow you to turn around games. Her mobility allows her to roam a lot and your Javelin Toss combined with your Takedown will make your ganks as deadly as fast. Your heal allows you to take down a tower down very fast in late, since it gives an AS buff for a pretty long duration. Additional it heals up you and your team to delete nearly every poke from the enemy team.

Cons

-No CC - hard to gank for your own jungler -spears easy to dodge if you have vision on Nidalee -deep wards protect you from her strongest part (roam) -squishy

All in all nuff said... Additional the no cc factor makes it hard to roam if you are hardly behind and if you have no damage to onecombo an enemy. This gets even harde if your suppoerter has no hard cc (something like Soraka support). You have to clear a lot of wards in your games with Sweeping Lens or you gonna have a hard time. Its most important for you that your jungle is unwarded cause you have much more mobility there.

Position in Lane

Part One: The Early

The Early game is sequenced in 3 differend sub-parts:


Level 1:
If you start with Pounce your level 1 is simply clearing waves fast, so that you can use most of your time for spamming your Bushwhack.
You will have much more fun at level 1 if you start with Javelin Toss. Vs Melee opponents you want to push your lane, so that you can throw some free spears on the enemy when he tries to get some farm under the tower. A good example for such a lane is Kassadin. It's easier to dodge spears under tower for ranged enemys. I prefer keeping my wave on the mid of the lane so that i can stand a bit out of the wave for some spears and AA harrassment.

Level 2 will be updated soon