NOTICE: NONE OF MY GUIDES WILL NOT RECEIVE UPDATES UNTILL FURTHER NOTICE.

At time of writing (patch 11.6 release) the game is so horribly broken and unbalanced there is no point in writing (or reading) a guide, especially for an off-meta pick. Games are a coinflip right now (at least in silver/gold elo), skill does not matter as roughly 8 out of 10 games are decided by "who has the most broken champs". Of the remaining 2 games, at most 1 is decided by the best player in the match....and the other(s) are decided by the worst feeder. Maybe some sense will return to Rito and I'll get to update these sometime, untill then so long...

Welcome to the Jungle (actually, bot lane)

Welcome to the second installment of "quick and dirty off meta supports" (check out the others on a.o. LeBlanc support and Ahri ADC here). Let me preface this by saying this guide is primarily intended for support mains that want to have some fun. For that reason, I'm going to assume that, as a support, you know the basics of warding, laning, etc. Now, the veterans among us would be quick to point out that Nidalee support isn't actually that strange and it used to be quite common. But, these days it is off-meta so and the greenhorns treat it like an Ashe supp...so we'll treat it as such.

So what are we gonna talk about? We'll have a short discussion about the mindset behind this build and then we'll go through some Nid specific gameplay. That's it, quick & dirty.

GL;HF and see you on the Rift :)

-DutchWolf

PS. If you just want to know the build and start playing (or, you know, if you got auto-filled and panic picked), scroll back up. Got most of the items, abilities, etc. explained in the notes. Give that a read and you should be good to go.

Support Kitty Mindset
Before we go into anything about Nidalee support, I want to give a quick background about how & why I play Nid supp. First things first, I don't actually play LB on my main account. The account I play her on, CHAOS Pyro NL, is my "smurf". Originally, I started this account to play with friends that had not reached level 30 yet (since a level 10 with a Gold V premade makes for pretty terrible matchmaking). Later on when all the noobies I knew had either quit or reached level 30, I used the account to practice the roles I rarely play (at the time I was ADC main with support as secondary, so I rarely got to play anything else).

Long story short, I eventually got into playing off meta supports, most frequently Ashe and LeBlanc...but also including Yasuo and Pantheon a.o. Now, I like playing like a proper support, so no full AP LB, or ADC Ashe with sightstone....but utility Ashe and CC-oriented LB. Some of the veteran players here might go, hang on....Nidalee doesn't really fit that line-up as she used to be a meta-support. True, of course, quite a while ago it was rather "normal" to see a Nid support every 20 odd games or so. But that was way back and now she is off-meta enough to receive "report supp" in champ select. Anyway, imho she is still quite serviceable, since she has nice poke, good roaming potential and a pretty decent heal. As long as you go a bit support-ish rather than full AP-jungle/mid-Nid-sent-botlane, it can be good....not god-tier, but good. And it is fun to play :)

So that's what we're going for with this guide, fun & supporty kitty.

Rawr means "don't touch my ADC" in Kitty
So, like I said, we're gonna skip all the where to ward, how to trade, etc. stuff and just focus on what makes Nida work as a support. To that end I'll briefly go over the item choices and supply some tips on gameplay. As a support main you should really know the rest already.

Itemization
Most of the items on the cheat sheet should be familiar to you as they are the generic AP support items, all of which have a specific application. Odds ones out are Athene's Unholy Grail, Banshee's Veil, Liandry's Torment, Morellonomicon and Zhonya's Hourglass (and, in this build, the damage options of course).

In my opinion, Athene's is what makes Nidalee work as a support . The AP is nice, CDr is always good and the Magic Resist will be useful in 99% of games. But the real kicker is the passive - Unholy Healing. Midgame, a single Javelin Toss will put it at max stacks (or at least very close to...). Since we max Primal Surge second, this makes our little heal quite potent - especially on low health allies (our E works like an execute for heal, scales with target missing health). Couple that with an Ardent Censer or Redemption and you get around 12-20k ally healsz a game. That's Sona-level healing. Just look at this, that's Lucian back in the fight right there:

Zhonya's Hourglass and Banshee's Veil are really just your run-of-the-mill AP defensive options, which can be situationally usefull if you get focused a lot or they have something that justifies the spellshield. Normally you wouldn't get this on AP supports, but since Nida is a bit dive-y it can be justified. Only get them when you absolutely have to, as you will be getting survivability at the expense of utility.

These beauties are also items more generally seen on midlaners instead of supports. They fit two specific roles. Liandry's Torment does extra damage based on target max health, so it can used if you constantly find your spears bouncing off the five billion health Nautilus. Come to think of it, Morellonomicon actually serves two purposes: you either use it to counter a champ with insane self-healing ( Vladimir, Tryndamere, etc.) or to counter their heal based support ( Sona, Soraka). In the latter case, take care to go out of your way to hit everyone in a teamfight (which should be easy with Pounce and Swipe).

In some scenario's you might want to forgo utility / supportiness at least partially. For example when the rest of the team picks AD, making us the de facto APC. In that case I would still recommend starting with Athene's Unholy Grail as it will give some AP and mana-regen, and still allows you to heal properly. Then Luden's Tempest and Lich Bane or Rabadon's Deathcap (or both if you throw proper warding out of the window) can complete the build. We can also mix and match with some of the supportier items, Ardent Censer gives a decent amount of AP as well. If you want to know more about damage builds I recommend having a look at The Top Bear's guide.

Gameplay
I'm going to highlight some of the more important aspects of playing the cougar, rather than go through it all. In my mind, this is what makes Nidalee support work.

Use bushwhack for gold income & vision.
So, you probably already realized you can use Bushwhack as a temporary solution when Stealth Ward is on cooldown. It's also great as an alternative to facechecking without having to ward every bush on the map. But in lane it can also be used to proc Spellthief's Edge (or Frostfang, but that goes without saying). Just place it in any spot that the minions won't cross. Ideally, put it in place that is not ideal for you to pounce on (like far behind their line). That sounds counter-intuitive, but if we just want the gold it is better. The other support will be attracted to it like a moth to a flame, and they will be very pleased with themselves since they successfully cleared your cunningly placed trap...while you rake in that oh so sweet cash.

Kitty form is your friend.
Aspect Of The Cougar allows you to get around the map quicker (for instance to clear the blast cone in red team jungle if you are blue side). Pounce also comes in handy to dodge skillshots, although it is a bit lazy. But you know all these things already, the one extra thing I do want to point out is that Aspect Of The Cougar also helps conserve mana, since your Cougar-abilities don't use mana and it is less tempting to spam stuff.

Use the brush & know where to jump.
With Prowl you gain MS by moving thru the brush. Not really a make-or-break-the-game thing, but use when possible (for instance, there is a little brush next to the inner turret on the way to bot lane if you move through that you'll be in lane .1 sec quicker). On the same note you want to know what walls you can and can't jump, which comes in handy both when roaming and whilst being chased down by an angry Vi.

NB: Most of the skillshots in this vid are terrible and strategically "greeding for kills" wasn't the best idea at that point, but hey it does show some basic jungle running.

Here's a little map I found found on Imgur that shows what walls you can and can't jump:


Roam, a lot.
A good support will roam in general, but for Nidalee this is really something you MUST do. Whenever you push them out of lane (and you really should be pushing them out of lane quite consistently), go for a stroll. See if you can annoy the enemy jungler or say hi to their mid. You don't need to get a kill. It isn't even necessary to actually hit them. Of course, a proper gank resulting in a kill or some blown summoners is ideal, but just tossing a spear in the midlaner's general direction is also worth something: you are reminding them they better ward and keep a close eye on the map, or they might get Pounce'd on (more on that later). And instilling that fear into the enemy is good enough. So get those Mobility Boots, get out there and make them nervous.

You can solo-drake.
Most supports can't. But Nidalee is a bit of a jungler so we can, not at level 3 tho - around mid-game-ish. It is a risky move, however, as you will get quite low in the process - so pick your moments. Basically you want to alternate between Cougar and human form, attacking drake and healing yourself. A video is worth a thousand words.



You'll steal kills and that is OK.
So, you shouldn't be stealing kills on purpose, sometimes you will have to take one either because the others can't or to save someone...but here's the deal: between Javelin Toss and Takedown, chances are you'll be taking some kills even when you don't want to. Takedown is an execute, as in damage increases based on target missing health. So when we go all-in, we have a high chance of nabbing the kill. ADC's don't appreciate that, but there little we can do about it. Javelin Toss's damage increases with distance, so lending a hand from a far can also result in "report supp ks". The safest way to pick up an assist on a kill that is otherwise secure is Primal Surge heal, but if you have to go in - you go in...and if you take the kill....you take the kill.

Pounce on dat Ashe.
I saved the best and most important bit for last. When you hit that Javelin Toss, you Pounce on dat Ashe like a sailor that's been at sea for too long. You don't have to kill them, pounce & bounce if you have to, the point here is to get in their head. So you pounce on them like Harvey Weinstein on a vulnerable actress. You want them to be constantly worried that the crazy Nid is gonna jump on them and ruin their day. Make them understand that in botlane, p...y grabs you. Needless to say, only do so when you can comfortably get away with it. Taking some damage is fine, but you don't want to incur a significant HP-disadvantage (although we can heal some of it back relatively quickly). Get that mindset into your head: pounce on them like a Priest on an unsuspecting altar boy. This goes double when they are alone. If the other support is forced to recall (or stays when his ADC is B), that's when you want maximum aggression. Either kill them or force them to back as well so we can roam and they lose XP and minions. Also, when they all-in you want to dive the ADC as well. The only real peel we can provide is either healing with Primal Surge, Exhausting or killing/scaring the offending party. So you pounce on them like a dingo on a baby. If you've done things right so far, getting in their face will make them reconsider their life choices for a second - a second that can mean all the difference for your poor ADC. Then Flash out and walk away like a boss. So if you are going to take anything away from this guide let it be this: Pounce on dat Ashe - constantly.

Closing thoughts
If you are reading this: thanks for going all the way through, please leave a like if you liked or a comment if you have any suggestions. I hope it has been obvious that I'm being half-serious in this guide. Let me put it this way: you can play this and have some great games, but whatever you take away from this don't let it be that Nidalee is a god-tier support, because she isn't. In Season 8 I used my second account to see how long I could get away with picking Nid regardless of teamcomp or match-up. Got me Gold V :)

That all being said, it's time to head out to the Rift and have fun,
Thanks for reading,
-DutchWolf


PS. If you are looking for more off-meta stuff check out my other guides here.