Nidalee Probuilds: Taming the Wilds of the Rift
Harness the raw power of the jungle's fiercest protector. Dive deep into Nidalee's playstyle, gear, and tactics with our all-inclusive guide.
Welcome to the comprehensive Nidalee Pro Builds guide. Emerging from the heart of the jungle, Nidalee, the Bestial Huntress, seamlessly blends her human instincts with her predatory cougar form. Drawing from her lore, Nidalee isn't just a master tracker, she is also an adept assassin and mage, adept at placing deadly traps and launching swift spear throws. Her primal energy isn't just confined to her story. In the game, she marks her territory in the JUNGLE, ensuring that enemies tread with caution.
In the current meta, Nidalee finds herself at B tier with a 0.9% pick rate. While her 54.2% win rate suggests room for improvement, the high 17.9% ban rate indicates that opponents respect her potential threat. This guide aims to empower both beginners and intermediate players with Probuilds for Nidalee, ensuring you harness her raw power to dominate the battleground. Dive in and discover the Nidalee Pro Build preferred by the pros, coupled with strategies and insights that make her a force to be reckoned with.
Mastering Nidalee's Itemization
Itemization plays a pivotal role in maximizing Nidalee's potential on the battlefield. By understanding the synergy between her abilities and her items, you can amplify her prowess in skirmishes and team fights. This chapter breaks down the ideal Nidalee Probuilds to enhance her capabilities as a fierce jungler.
Starting Items
- Scorchclaw Pup: An essential starter for Nidalee, offering initial clear speed in the jungle and health sustain.
- Health Potion: Provides the much-needed early game sustain to ensure a safer jungle clear.
Boots
- Sorcerer's Shoes: These boots amplify Nidalee's magic damage, making her abilities hit harder against enemies.
Core Items
- Zhonya's Hourglass: A priority item providing both defensive utility with its stasis active and a boost to Nidalee's ability power.
- Void Staff: Enhances her magic penetration, ensuring her spells pierce through enemy resistances.
Situational Items
- Mejai's Soulstealer: A high-risk, high-reward item. Optimal for when you're ahead and looking to snowball your lead.
- Shadowflame: Grants additional magic penetration and ability power, great for dealing with tanky opponents.
- Rabadon's Deathcap: A powerhouse item for scaling Nidalee's damage in the later stages of the game.
- Lich Bane: Enhances her burst potential, particularly after landing a spear or diving in with her cougar form.
Deciphering Nidalee's Rune Choices
Runes form the backbone of a champion's early to mid-game, and Nidalee is no exception. Her rune choices synergize with her role as a dynamic jungler, amplifying her strengths and shoring up her weaknesses. Let's delve into the Nidalee Probuilds runes to grasp the strategic choices behind each selection.
Domination
Sorcery
Primary Tree: Domination
- Dark Harvest: This keystone rune boosts Nidalee's burst damage potential, especially during ganks, ensuring she collects souls and scales into the late game.
- Sudden Impact: Complements her pounce and spear combos, offering bonus lethality and magic penetration upon dashing.
- Eyeball Collection: Increases her ability power as she racks up champion takedowns, reinforcing her carry potential.
- Treasure Hunter: Provides bonus gold and additional utility, ensuring she remains resourceful throughout the match.
Secondary Tree: Sorcery
- Waterwalking: Grants Nidalee enhanced movement speed and combat power in the river, making her river skirmishes and dragon/baron contests more formidable.
- Transcendence: Accelerates her ability cooldowns, enabling her to cast spells more frequently and maintain a high-paced gameplay.
Harnessing Nidalee's Spell Potential
Each of Nidalee's spells, tailored to her versatile hunting style, resonates with her lore as the Bestial Huntress. These abilities not only allow her to swiftly maneuver around the battleground but also to deal lethal damage. As you evolve through the game, following the spell skill priority of
Javelin Toss / Takedown (Q)
- Description: In her human form, Nidalee launches a javelin that gains damage the farther it travels. In her cougar form, her next attack aims to deal a fatal blow, inflicting more damage the lower the enemy's health is.
- Usage: Use the javelin from a distance to poke and initiate fights, while the takedown in cougar form is perfect for finishing off low-health targets.
Bushwhack / Pounce (W)
- Description: In human form, Nidalee sets a trap that damages and reveals enemies who step on it. As a cougar, she leaps to a location, dealing damage where she lands.
- Usage: Place traps in strategic locations for vision and zoning. The pounce in cougar form is essential for engaging, disengaging, or navigating through the jungle.
Primal Surge / Swipe (E)
- Description: In human form, Nidalee heals an ally and grants them increased Attack Speed briefly. In her cougar form, she swipes in front of her, damaging enemies.
- Usage: Utilize the heal to support allies during skirmishes and team fights. The swipe in cougar form aids in clearing jungle camps and dealing AoE damage in team fights.
Aspect Of The Cougar (R)
- Description: Nidalee transforms into a cougar, acquiring new abilities.
- Usage: Switch between forms to adapt to different situations, from ranged poking and healing in human form to close-quarters combat and mobility in cougar form.
Closing Thoughts on Nidalee's Probuilds
In our deep dive into the Nidalee Pro Builds, several key takeaways emerged. Firstly, understanding Nidalee's lore and backstory provides insight into her versatile gameplay, resonating with her jungle JUNGLE. Nidalee, with her B tier status, holds a 0.9% pick rate and a 54.2% win rate. It's crucial to keep these figures in mind while planning strategies.
Itemization is vital for maximizing Nidalee's potential. The right items at the right times, from starting items to situational ones, amplify her strengths. As for her spells, their priority of
The rune choices, echoing the Nidalee Probuilds, cater to her dynamic jungler role. It's imperative to understand the synergy between her runes and playstyle. By adhering to this Nidalee Guide and utilizing Pro Nidalee Builds, players can truly harness the Bestial Huntress's full potential on the Rift.