hello, my name is Street xprowlx, and this is my Top Lane Bruiser Nidalee guide. I am currently in ELO hell, so I haven't been playing many ranked games, but I have played Nidalee tons of times in normal games. Nidalee is a champion with tons of movement, utility, poke, and damage. She can escape any gank made on her, She can out sustain almost anyone and she can still hit like a truck while doing so. Every carry in game should fear the damage and chase brought into the game by Nidalee.

Follow this guide and you'll hopefully get scores like this



you can choice this off of preference.
Hardcore/metal fans
Power Trip


Harder metal
Hatebreed


This should be Nidalee's theme music, because you can't stop her now, and you won't be able to ever.
Queen


DUBSTEP SUX FAK UUUU

Your a SAD GUY and you wanna QQ more like
American Football


Your a fan of the classics and have the best taste in music ever
Frank Sinatra


for da hoodz, and since Nidalee is a true gangsta
N.W.A


Here are some Pros&Cons of AD bruiser nidalee

• Mid game damage is insane
• Has many outs and can escape lots of sticky situations
• Has a variety of different builds to try
• Can stick to a squishy almost as well as
• Can be a prominent late game tank
• Can catch up to anyone
• Has very strong push abilities
• Has one of the strongest, and safest laning phases in game

• Has very little CC
• Less poke damage with her Javelin Toss compared to building AP Nidalee
• Is very vulnerable until reaching level 6
• Can fall off late game without the right build balance
• Is very vulnerable to gap closers with CC

Reason OneBruiser Nidalee is a very strong top lane pick. She has no hard counter, a hard counter example would be Jax VS Fiora. Jax can just press E and win every engage. There are no Champions that can ultimately counter Nidalee with their kit. You can deffinitly get outplayed, but as long as you play passive, farm, and wait for the right opprotunites to occur rather then just saying fuck it baylife, you should be able to win your lane. An example of playing passive for instance, would be against a Teemo. Teemo can outplay Nidalee with his blind/speed buff anyday, BUT Nidalee can outsustain a Teemo, giving you more time to farm and get gold. After getting a sunfire cape merc treads, and a little bit of damage from say a vamp sceptre or a longsword, teemo can no longer lane against you. you'll be able to tank too much of his damage output, while dealing too much damage to him.

Reason TwoWhere Bruiser nidalee lacks in burst damage, and chunk damage from her spears, she gains it back in her sustain/ability to stay in a fight/and focus the enemy AD/AP carries harder then if you were AP Nidalee. Instead of relying on defensive items to pounce onto an AD such as a Zhonyas for the Active, You can pounce on them and shred them still without having to pop a Zhonyas, just to die immediately after. After an initiate, you can simply pounce onto the AD and hopefully kill him. Because of your item built resistances, you can quite possibly escape the enemy team if needed after killing the AD by spamming pounce over walls and through the jungle to safty.

Reason ThreeNidalee has one of the best level 6's in game for 1v1 engagements. Nidalee's Cougar form gives her three new spells, a pounce the deals AoE magic damage to surrounding enemies, a Swipe that does AoE magic damage to surrounding enemies, and a Q that scales off of how low the enemies HP is. Pair this with her early poke damage, utility, and sustain, and you have one hell of a hard champion to lane against. Not only will you have the means to stay in lane and have it constantly pushed, You'll have the ability to escape most ganks, Easily 1v1 most top bruiser champions, and you'll have one of the safest laning phases in the game.

TL;DR^

• Bruiser Nidalee has no real counter, but she can be outplayed by some champions so play passively against the ones who can.
• Bruiser Nidalee can survive team fights without items like Zhonyas or Guardian Angel, still deal "tons of damage", and stick to the enemy carries.
• Bruiser Nidalee's level 6 is one of the best level 6's in game for 1v1 engagements. She'll have one of the safest laning phases, have tons of sustan, and deal more damage.

I run 21-9-0 on Nidalee for early poke damage and since im rushing a sunfire cape, i need the early AD to be able to snowball my lane, make it alot easier to farm, and give my Q more burst when i hit level 6. If you follow my build, Nidalee should be tanky enough without having tank masteries.
Offensive Tree

• Summoner's Wrath-- I take this for the extra AP and AD benefits it gives when is on Cool Down
• Sorcery-- I put 4 points in Sorcery for extra cool down reduction rather then putting 4 points into Fury, because Nidalee's Gives her a attack speed buff
• Deadliness-- For scaling AD
• Weapon Expertise-- Armor Penetration is a must have for bruisers, since I don't personally use armor pen runes on Nidalee, I use this Mastery instead.
• Havoc-- More damage output? why not
• Brute Force-- Even more damage output? why not?!
• Fury-- Put 2 points into Fury for some extra attack speed
• Butcher-- You can also put 2 points into Butcher for better farming rather then fury for the attack speed since Nidalee doesn't really rely on damage from auto attacks, unless you are poking pre level 6
• Sunder-- More Armor Penetration? Why not?!?!?! After putting two points into Fury, or Butcher, you should put 3 points into sunder.
• Executioner-- deal 5% extra damage to enemies under 50% health scales really well with Nidalee's takedown, since takedown does damage based on how low the enemy champion is.

Defensive Tree

• Durability-- Scaling HP for a little tankiness late
• Hardiness-- Extra armor to block some damage
• Resistance-- Magic Resist to block some damage from the AP carry
• Veteran's Scars-- More early HP to take more early damage

Defensive Tree

If you would rather put 21 points into the Defensive tree, these are other masteries you should put in after the 12 points already listed.

• Unyielding-- I would put 2 points into this, to take 2 reduced damage from enemy champions.
• Block-- Reduces 3 damage taken from enemy champions basic attacks.
• Tenacious-- Reduces the duration of crowd control, and stacks with other tenacity items. this will give you 50% Tenacity to deal with those annoying Ults
• Juggernaut-- Increases your maximum HP, for more tankiness!!

Utility Tree

I wouldn't put more then 9 points into the utility tree, you are not a support, you are a bruiser.

• Meditation-- I would only put one point into meditation, for some mana regen and to get into the next level of masteries.
• Scout-- For more ward coverage in lane, remember, map vision=OP
• Artificer-- If you plan on building a , this will decrease the cool down. You can put 1 or 2 points into this.
• Mastermind-- To reduce the cool down of your summoner spells to make more plays! You should put 1 or 2 points into this as well.
• Expanded Mind-- You should put a point or two into this if you are going to need mana against your lane for your

These are the runes I personally take for bruiser Nidalee.

• 9 Flat AD marks, giving me 8.5 extra AD. I take AD on my marks for nidalee to increase the base damage of her poke value, since you will be poking your opponent in lane a ton. It also helps you farm. These can be swapped for Attack speed, or Armor pen runes. You can also mix and match your AD & armor pen runes, you can go 7 Armor pen marks giving you 9 armor pen, 2 ad marks giving you 1.9 AD. If you do this however, you should sacrifice your Movement speed Quints for AD quints to give you 8.65 AD.
• 9 Flat Armor seals, giving me 12.6 extra armor, I don't suggest taking any other seals since you need the armor to defend yourself against your lane partner. Without these seals, you'll be taking a lot of extra damage you shouldn't be taking. Against lane opponents like or you cant afford to take more damage then you already could be.
• 9 Scaling Magic resist glyphs, giving me 24 magic resist at level 18. You can substitute these for Flat Magic resist glyphs giving you a flat 12 magic resist. Since you won't need to worry about taking any damage from any AP (unless going against or), But even when going against AP tops I would rather take scaling MR glyphs.
• 9 Movement speed quints, giving me 4.5% bonus movement speed. You can swap these out for AD, HP, Armor, or Armor pen quints. You should pick these accordingly to your preferences.

Lately I've been taking AD quints for extra early damage and farming help. Also since I rush a , the extra AD makes up for the loss from say, an early

is a good escape spell, and can help you get early kills. I usually always take these, but there are other options.

Can be decent if your support doesn't take it, you can disable AD carries and stick to them harder. It can also be used when you get dove, use on whoever is taking turret hits, then heal and peck away at them in cougar form.

Can also be used to catch up to running carries, and escape ganks.

If you are mostly going to split push takingis a gem. It can also be helpful if you need to be present for taking objectives such as dragon, or a tower.

or are also acceptable if you are up against a tough match up in lane.

Can be useful for navigating your spears, But they don't do nearly enough damage as AD nidalee to snipe someone from a far.

I would only take cleanse if you are up against a team with strong CC like, except it is a rarity that they would target you with their CC

I believe that Ignite is a much better play maker then surge, even though the extra damage from surge can come in use and has a lower CD then , I believe that it is a waste of a summoner spell. Also, if you take the summoners wrath mastery, gives you 5 bonus AD and AP when on cool down, making surge completely useless.

No

This is not a jungle guide, infact, Nidalee isn't a viable jungler.

Unless you want to push lanes harder then you ever have before, I don't suggest taking this.

No

Her passive comes in handy quite often, it makes for a good escape method and chase method. You should take advantage of her passive as much as often, and plan your escape/chase routes around her passive. It works really well for poking as well. You can pop in and out of lane bushes to poke, and pop right back in to A: drop minion agro. B: your opponent will lose vision on you. C: Your can proc your passive once again and go back to poking. Of course, you should never miss farm over poking your opponent.







I recommend not Using Javelin toss, unless you need it to get a kill, or have an early Sheen. Javelin toss is a large waste of mana which you need to heal yourself rather then deal damage. If you are poking enough you will not need to Javelin toss. Her Takedown however, can be used extreamly effectively. It's damage scales off of how much HP your opponent has, so wait until they are low to smash them with it to maximize damage output.







Bushwhack will be the first skill you put a point into. This is your main scouting skill, and can be a pain in the ass for then enemy jungle. When they run into these traps, they become visable by everyone on the map for 4 seconds! making laning phases a little less painful if against. This and pounce with Nidalee's heal and passive, is what makes her laning phase so safe. Pounce is a gap closer that can be used in any direction to escape, catch, and deal damage. Farming/lane pushing has never been easier with and , let your lane opponent know he will be dealing with a more mobile singed because of your pounce, and fast clear.







Nidalee's ace card, you will be maxing this first. she can heal herself after an engage, or increase her attack speed to split push her lane harder. Swipe is an AoE attack that deals a bunch of damage to surrounding enemy units. It can be used to farm with your pounce, since both skills have low cool downs.







Changes you from human into cougar. Her cougar form gives her more movment speed, armor, and magic resist then her human form. Don't be scared to change into human form when ganked however, so you can give yourself a heal. The cooldown is very low and with items like and , its even lower.

1. W-- You'll be able to trap your lane and make it safe from early ganks. It's also great for protecting from invades.
2. E-- You'll be able to heal yourself up from any poke damage your lane opponent/minions have done to you. It'll also increase your attack speed by a lot.
3. E-- Heal yourself for more for extra sustain/attack speed
4. Q-- Gives you your spear, use it for long range poke if you need it to get a kill. I wouldn't use it for harass however, because you aren't AP nidalee.
5. E-- Heal yourself for more for extra sustain/attack speed
6. R-- Transforms you into the OP cougar of d00m. Everyone should fear you now.

AFTER 6 max E @ 9 then Q @ 13 then W @ 18. Of course put points into R whenever available.


Maxing E at level 9 is very important for a Bruiser nidalee. Not only will you need it for sustain, You can use it as an attack speed buff for harrasment/engagements. Many people underestimate the amount of damage a pre 6 nidalee can do. But trust me, it can be a lot. So not only, can the heal be used defensivly, it can also be used offensivly. Also! Since Bruiser nidalee has no damage spells pre 6, its important to get as much poke in as you can before going bonkers when you hit level 6. Maxing E will not only Negate some damage, but you'll be able to deal more as-well then if you maxed Q @ level 9.

What to start?
Against champions who poke with lock on spells

Against champions that you need to farm against and out sustain

Against champions with a lot of skill shots you should dodge

Whats next?
These are great items for dealing with champions with a lot of lock on AD damage like Gangplank and Pantheon.

VS AP lanes/high CC
(more damage)or(more sustain)
VS Normal lanes
Y
Your smashing your lane but cant get kills because you have no CC?

Late game
Can possibly save your life from a Karthus ult, or from a team with a shit ton of CC that you need to escape from. Its also a pretty decent MR item
Blade of the i just won this game with this item, This item is OP and i would take it against lanes you know you can snowball against and get tons of kills
same as Blade of the i just won this game with this item
Trinity force replacement, also great for the single target CC
If you are carrying and starting to get focused in team fights
Trinity force replacement, great sheen proc and CC
the enemy team has no hope of winning and built a locket of the iron solari and a aegis? Here you go
Against MR heavy teams, the shield is very useful
Best tank item in game. Gives you armor, a useful slow, hp, and whenever an AD attacks you their attack speed goes down by 20%
Makes your heal better, your life steal better, gives you CDR, 50 MR, and 250 hp. What isnt there to like about this item
a fully stacked bloodthirster will give you 100 AD and 18% lifesteal. Use it to shred everything.
enemy adc fed? he wont be focusing me.
combines Zeal, Phage, and Sheen in one to give you some single target CC, crit damage, movement speed, and the sheen proc which when used with your Q, will make everyone regret trying to 1v1 you.
whered nidalee get so much HP? o..
Great for split pushing against a AP heavy team.
better for split pushing in general.

Early game Nidalee is exceptionally weak. If you get too far behind in your early game you will possibly lose your lane. You will mostly be farming your lane and poking at your opponent when you can, as long as you DO NOT miss a lot of farm in the process. I generally start with my W and run to lane as soon as possible. I put two traps on the opposite sides of Tri bush to prevent any early game jungle ganks to put me behind, and one in river bush. Since I start with a large amount of consumables, sustaining and farming your lane should be quite easy and peaceful, although, it is NOT impossible to lose an early engage. Your heal can really save your skin! You should still wait until level 3 until engaging however. To do so, simply throw a trap under your opponent and let them engage you, put your ignite on them, heal yourself, and auto attack them down. Before they realize it, the shred from your Trap, ignite, and enhanced attack speed has shredded them, and a pre 6 nidalee has flashed onto them to secure the kill while there jungler is still on red.

^TLDR^
farm early, sustain, to harass hit enemy with trap, let them engage, ignite, heal, auto attack, flash, dead.


your lane bushes are important to have control of with Nidalee. They will give you the best advantage over your opponent if you can keep a hold of them. When pushed out of one, you should throw a trap in the other, so if they try to come at you from one you can still see them and lay down some poke before retreating out of that bush. Remember to always come out of the bush to farm, you should never poke or farm from the bush because then the enemy can see you, and minions can come into the bush to attack you.
Main reasons for bush control

• Stay out of sight so champs with gap closers cannot use them on you
• Going into bushes drops enemy minion agro after you poke your enemy
• Procs your passive for more movement speed

^TLDR^
use bushes to hide, drop minion agro, proc passive.

• Jax has a strong early game, with tons of damage
• Has the only dodge skill in the game, which means if he uses dodge on your cougar form Q, it will not work.
• Has a gap closer with stun
• Deals more damage then you @ 6 because of his passives, ult, & dodge

If you are playing nidalee against Jax, your gunna have a bad time. Your lane will constantly be pushed and if you engage him he will most definitely out damage you. try to harass him without taking any damage back, and attempt to outsustain/out farm. If he dives you, use your heal, and try to kite out his stun. If he misses his stun you will kill him on tower, but otherwise I don't suggest engaging a jax unless he is a complete noob, hasn't farmed, and strictly just harassed/lanepushed. I also suggest asking for ganks to try and get ahead in lane.
difficulty--9

• Strong early game damage
• Has a gap closer with stun, that sets up nicely for ganks from his jungler
• His passives will smash you if you engage/try to run
• Will block your poke, and cougar form Q
• Can dive you efficiently and early because of his block passive

Pantheon is scary against nidalee in the early game phases. He will block your pokes, and respond by smashing you with his gap closing stun, and E. The only thing you can do until mid game, is out sustain Pantheon. Make sure you always have enough mana for your heals since his second passive allows him to dish out more damage to low hp targets. Wait for your jungler to gank, or Pantheon to make a stupid move before engaging him.
Difficulty--7

• Has a safe laning phase so It's harder for your jungler to gank him
• Speed buff to catch up/get away
• His blind will block your poke/Q
• his poke does more damage then your poke, but will also push minions faster so your jungler should try to take advantage of that before Teemo hits 6

Laning against a good teemo can be exceptionally difficult. Neither of you will be able to kill each other if you play it safe, but if you go full out and try to engage him, you will get smashed. You should wait for him to go oom. This will usually happen after he hits 6 because usually, a Teemo will prioritize using his mushrooms for lane protection, rather then saving his mana for more blinds in an engage. If he does not have enough mana for a blind, you should engage him and force him back/get a kill.
Difficulty--6&1/2

• Hurts all game
• Can snowball with only a few kills
• can easily dive you at level 6
• gets sustain from her passive
• doesn't use mana so she can stay in lane forever

Avoid taking burst damage from Akali at all costs, she has low cool downs, and more damage then you. Do not let her snowball in your lane, make her roam to attempt to snowball so you can push your lane and possibly take tower. Out sustain her, and avoid full engagements until you are positive you can win. I advise building for sustain & for her burst. Even if you do get into an engagement with Akali, and seem to be prevailing, she can simply use her W and escape. wahwahwaaaaaaah
difficulty--7

• Strong early game damage
• Hard to gank due to his Decoy
• Easy to mistake his Decoy and focus it if he dives.
• Must not get hit by his ult

Wukong deals tons of early damage, and has a gap closer. Although he doesn't have a stun, he can build a Phage and still bring CC to his gap closer. avoid engaging him, and save your pounce to attempt to escape his Ult. Ask your jungler for ganks. If you can afford it, buy an oracles so you don't mistake him and his decoy.
difficulty--6

• Strong all game
• Has a gap closer with pull back
• Shield can block poke damage
• Long range Q
• Strong passive

As long as you can dodge Diana's Q early, you can out sustain and out farm her. Every time she misses it you should lay some poke down on her since she will have no response, unless she is level 6. It's very easy to get caught in her pull back because of her ult, so try to avoid it. Laning against Diana is all about dodging her Q.
Difficulty--6

• underestimated amount of damage
• true damage
• gap closer with stun
• strong sustain
• good clear with ult

Avoid early engages with Irelia at all costs. She will simply just stun you, and deal a fuck load of damage with her W. She will also heal with her W. Irelia, however, is pretty weak. If you notice Irelia messes up with her Q when farming, make sure to punish her with poke damage since she will have no response.
Difficulty--5

• Sustains harder then you unless you build
• Has a strong CC
• Fast clear, and strong farm.

Yorick has alot of sustain with his E and alot of CC with his W. You should try to gain bush control early to proc your passive and avoid his ghouls. Remember how mana hungry he is before getting his , and try to punish him if he wastes too much of his mana too early.
Difficulty--4

• very resistant to poke
• strong cc that sets up well for ganks
• can steal more movement speed from you if you are in bush
• has a strong initiate with his Ult

Malphite shouldn't be too big of a problem for Nidalee. but he can provide to be one if he builds early armor. You won't be able to kill him, but you will be able to send him back and gain advantage from farm/exp.
Difficulty--4

• two gap closers with one skill
• can parry your cougar form Q to minimize your damage output
• has a speed buff, and AD buff.
• can easily snowball
• can dive you easily with her Ult
• has good sustain from her passive

a good Fiora should be every Nidalee's worst nightmare. She has two gap closers, a parry, a AD buff, a Attack speed buff, and her Ult makes her untargetable, and deals a lot of damage. Avoid getting into fights with Fiora early, and try to bait out her parry with auto attacks before going to cougar form and using your Q. If she builds a phage you should play your lane safe, poke her when you can, and don't get caught up.
Difficulty--7

• Tons of early damage from his Q
• Even more damage if he builds Critplank
• Lots of sustain due to his W
• Can negate CC from his W
• Has a movement speed buff
• Can use his R to steal kills from across the map and snowball your lane

When going against gankplank, you should build early armor with &. This will negate most of his PARRRRRLEY damage. Critplank is all based on luck. Beat him to level 6 and engage him before he can get more Crit and snowball your lane.
Difficulty--5

• Strong damage with passive
• has a pull back
• armor pen with his W
• Short CD on his q
• OP ult

Avoid being pulled in by Darius or else he will easily out-damage you. Bait out his pull, dodge it, and poke him since he will have no response after that. You can bait his R with your heal if you get pulled in to put it on CD for your next engage.
difficulty--3

• Strong sustain
• Very mana hungry early
• high HP
• can dish out alot of damage if he lands his combo with his R
• very hard to dive

Cho'gath is a potentially dangerous lane opponent. You can out poke him, and out damage him at level 6. But this is dependent on wither you can poke him, farm, and dodge his Q/E. If he misses those, he will be at a large disadvantage since they have a relatively long CD for basic spells, and they have huge mana costs.
Difficulty--4

• No mana costs
• Strong HP sustain with his passive/R
• Strong CC with his Q
• Fast clear

Mundo is very easy to lane against, but can become a threat. What you are going to want to do, is dodge his Q's and stand behind minions as much as possible. He can be easy to kill early with & Takedown, but he will get harder to kill later on. If you don't poke/damage him enough, and he builds early armor rather then HP he will be even harder to kill earlier.
Don't let him farm and keep him zoned.
Difficulty--2

• Two gap closers, but no cc without his R, or a phage.
• Has a strong shred with his W
• Is kind of like Irelia without CC
• His E provides great escape, and mobility.
• his Q applies on hit effects like &

Fizz is a lot like Irelia, just without the sustain or CC. He has alot of early game damage and once he gets a he can shred you with his W, and reduce your healing from your . Bruiser fizz makes his R an initiate rather then a finisher, and you should try to avoid it.
Difficulty--5

• No mana costs
• Strong sustain with his passive
• Lots of early game damage with his Spin to win
• has a long silence duration
• Movement speed, armor, and MR buff
• True damage from his ult

you shouldn't approach garen pre 6 with intent to kill him, but intent to stop his passive from healing him. if you do this correctly and efficiently, he will lose XP, farm, and eventually, the lane. Avoid getting silenced and spun on, he can dive you early if you play the lane wrong. At level 6 you should be able to smash him.
Difficulty--4

• strong sustain from his W
• easy farm with his Q
• Movement speed buff from his E
• fear and escape with his R
• Passive can make it hard for you to farm

Hecarim can out sustain and out damage you until later levels if he is played correctly. However it is rare to see him in the top lane, and he will usually be in the jungle. He has strong early damage if he build a with his Q. He can easily be poked down however, avoid his movement speed with his Q by pouncing into bushes.
Difficulty--4

• Strong armor from his passive
• poke damage from his flag
• can knock you up/slow you which sets up well for his ganks
• can do alot of damage early

Jarvan can only kill you pre 6. After you hit level 6 you should be able to smash him by pouncing out of the way of his flag, his ult, his knock up, and just poke him down, before engaging him.
difficutly--2

• can escape ganks with his Gate
• long range poke with his Q
• lots of CC in hammer form
• his W in cannon form can deal significant burst damage

Jayce can out run nidalee with his gate, and out poke her, but has high mana costs. Nidalee can outsustain, and in the long run, out damage any jayce. Avoid diving him due to his Hammer form CC and movement speed from changing forms/his gate.
Difficulty--3

• Strong poke as AD kennen.
• lots of mobility
• Hard to gank
• Lots of damage from his ult

Kennen is ungankable, and very hard to kill when his W isn't on CD. He will simply just escape from any engage, however at level 6 you out damage, and out poke him. Don't be afraid to engage him and force him to run. Buy an early to help you catch him.
Difficulty--4

• Strong early damage with his passive
• Long range poke
• Gap closer
• Easy for him to dodge damage
• Annoying as hell Ult

Khazix can deal alot of early damage, and is a very strong assassin. Try not to take too much damage from him early, so he can't dive you, drop turret agro with his R and smash you with his passive, Q, and jumps.
Difficulty--5

• Lots of damage with his farmed Q
• Movement speed&attack speed de-buff with his W
• AoE with his E
• lots of sustain with his passive and R

Nasus is an Anti-kite, which means if you take too much damage from him early, you won't be able to kite him out if he dives you, and he'll be able too because of his ult and passive. However, this shouldn't happen since he has no poke, or escape abilities. just poke him down and engage him when you hit 6 to smash him, you can bait out his R by pouncing, swiping, and using takedown, make it seem like you'll pursue to bait his ult, then just turn and run.
Difficulty--5


YOUR BIGGEST RIVAL AND TOUGHEST COMPETITOR!!!!!!!!!!! SMASH HER AND PROVE YOU ARE THE DOMINATE NIDALEE

• strong early game damage
• true damage with his E
• pokey cc with his Q
• sustain with his W
• movement speed & resistance buff, and negates CC for 8 seconds.

You should avoid engages with olaf early on. And when you get cougar form, pounce away from his Q to avoid being slowed and have damage put on you. You can deal more damage to him with your Q then he can since your Q scales off of how low an opponents HP is, and his passive scales off of how low his HP has to be.
Difficulty--5

• Strong burst damage with her Q
• Movement speed buff, resistance buff
• can set up for a gank with her E
• her passive is too stronk
• her ult is too stronk

Poppy has a lot of early burst damage with her Q and can set up for a gank with her W&E efficiently.
You however, can out poke her, and out burst her when hitting level 6. Should be an easy win right? just wait for her passive and R.
Difficulty--4

• has arguably the best early game
• Has Two gap closers
• Strong sustain
• Has a very potent stun

You should avoid engaging Renekton until level 11, then you will have enough damage to go toe to toe with him in an engage but you should never fully commit. Just damage him enough to bait his R and then run&heal. Poke and farm against him early, but stay out of his range.
Difficulty--6

• Strong CC
• Very tanky
• Strong pressure
• Mana hungry when played wrong

DO NOT CHASE SINGED UNLESS YOU ARE POSITIVE YOU CAN KILL HIM he can easily kite you and throw down his CC to make it harder for you to chase with his Ult and while still damaging you with his poison trail. You should be able to out poke him, but he will pressure your lane too hard for you to engage him early.
Difficulty--5

• High sustain with no mana costs
• Can become untargetable
• Incredible late game
• Can snowball early
• lots of burst damage

Getting in range of Vladimir's Q (transfusion) will provide him tons of early game snowballing. It will send you back early, and allow him to sustain in lane for a long time. For most top champions it's a matter of engaging him early when he doesn't have his W (blood pool) leveled yet, and he doesn't have a lot of damage, or sustain with his Q. For Nidalee, that is a problem because she cannot engage early. Play as passive as possible and wait for him to make a bad move before going in on him. Turn the lane into a farm lane, and be sure to stay out of his Q range.
Difficulty--6

• Has a lot of CC that sets up well for ganks
• His passive can bait out a tower dive
• A lot of early damage with his W
• Very tanky

Volibear can set up ganks extreamly well with his Throwback and Slow. He also has alot of burst damage with his W. His passive is OP and you should make sure its on CD before you can dive him. He is very tanky early, but he is no . You should be able to poke him down easier then Malphite. Your speed buff also makes it alot harder for him to catch you with his Q so it will also be hard for him to get you with that.
Difficulty--2

• Gap closer
• Knock up
• Sustain
• Strong early game

When Xin Zhao uses his Q onto you, It's important you jump away immediately before he can knock you up. If he knocks you up (haha), he won't be able to kill you right away, but you'll take a lot of damage and won't be able to trade with him for a little while. Try to poke Xin Zhao as much as possible, as early as possible. If you can set him back in anyway possible he will have a tough time against you in lane. avoid fighting any good Xin Zhao until level 9, that way your heal will be maxed, and your Q will have a little more chunk when paired with
Difficulty--5

• Sustain
• Gap closer/escape
• stun
• Damage based on your HP spells.
• High burst

Elise is one of the harder tops to go against right now. She has no hard counters, and is fairly difficult to gank. What i dont recommend if going against an Elise, is rushing a sunfire cape. You should instead get a Hexdrinker, Chalice, Or spirit visage to minimize her damage. You should wait until 9 to try to engage Elise, and when you do, be sure to ignite her when she goes into spider form to minimize her sustain from her W. Also remember her E has a high cooldown. If you get her to use it, and you have a Hecarim jungle, or Twisted fate who can ult in on her you can get an easy kill on her.
Difficulty--7



MORE LANE MATCH-UPS TO COME WHEN I HAVE MORE EXPERIENCE & INFO AGAINST THEM

Remember that bush control is handy in situations against gap closers. Come out to last hit when possible. If they want to attack you they have to ward, or facecheck the bush in which case you can land multiple auto attacks upon them and pounce away



If your lane is pushed, and you aren't confident that you can dive your opposing champion, you should roam into their jungle and steal their buffs to put the opposing jungler behind. You can also, if your opponent is too low to fight off of turret, go behind it, but out of range, spam /laugh, and farm that minion wave. That way, your minions have no opposition and can continue damaging, either the tower, or the opposing champion any more. If you have spare wards, you should also ward the enemy jungle, so you can know where the enemy jungler is, what he is doing, and what buffs are avalible for you to take when your lane is pushed, or the enemy champ is mia. If the enemy jungle isn't warded, and he hasn't shown up on the map for a bit, you shouldn't go into their jungle. It's a good way to get caught and killed by Top and Mid lane and will put you behind in the game. You can also gank mid lane to try and get more kills, and to put your mid lane ahead of theirs by dealing some extra damage to the opposing APC



Warding your lane is one of the most important things to do. Without wards you wouldn't be able to see when you are getting ganked for the enemy jungle, or mid. You basicly be giving up either a free kill, or letting your lane get ahead of you. Depending on how many wards you have. You shouldn't ward just river bush every now and then, Every time you go back to lane after base you should sacrafice 140 to 215 gold for 2 or 3 wards, just to keep your vision up. Map awareness and vision=OP. If you have one ward, i suggest warding in river near the tri brush, not in it but near it. This will give you vision on river and if someone trys to gank you from tri brush. If you bought two wards, but one further down river, and one in the tri brush. And if you bought Three wards, you should put it in their jungle near Red or blue buff depending on which side you started on.


As bruiser nidalee you want to avoid any committed engagements with intent to kill your enemy until level 6. Most tops will just smash you due to your low amount of damage output in Human form. Bruiser nidalee's human form is more for utility rather then killing. So before hitting level 6, the only thing you really want to do is farm, and if you can, lay down some poke damage on your enemy. Once you hit level 6 you can start engaging your enemy and deal a considerable amount of damage. If you are low hp, you should use and poke at your enemy with the attack speed buff until it expires, if they commit to an engagement, go to cougar form, use W, E, Q, E and W to get away if you feel like you cannot kill them, but just wanted to show them your new found lane presence at level 6. Another thing you can do is if they are auto attacking minions rather then farming, try hitting them with one of your traps, this will reduce there armor and magic resist for a little bit making them more vulnerable to your cougar form burst damage. At level 6 your combo should be this. W-trap E-Heal AA AA R-cougar form W-pounce E-swipe Q-takedown W-pounce away unless you can kill them with another W-pounce and E-swipe. Why do I say to use your heal first if you are low health rather than after? Well, your heal is on a relatively short cool down, around 7-10 seconds depending on how many times you've upgraded it. If an engage goes poorly, and you take more damage they you wanted, your heal will be off cool down by the time the engage is over and you are retreating. If an engage goes poorly, you should pounce away after dealing as much damage as possible without giving your enemy lane the possibility of killing you, preferably into your lane bushes so you can proc your . You can toss down a trap in your path because they will most likely follow if they think they can kill you, so they will take a little more damage, have their resistances debuffed, and you'll have vision on them. When you get into the second bush, you should use your heal, and after that if you are confident you can kill your chasing opponent, turn on them. wait for them to get into the bush to land your E-swipe Q-takedown and W-pounce and get your onto them for a kill. Only use your Q-Javelin toss, if you can kill your opponent with it after an engage. Otherwise it's just a waste of mana.

Right now is the time where the opposing team will feel the threat that is Nidalee. Your lane will be pushed harder then or can lane push if you got an early . Getting the early sunfire cape will not negate any of your damage output because of your cougar form. In cougar form you will constantly be harrasing your opponent with W-E-Q combo, the extra damage from sunfire cape in that 2-5 seconds will add on another 80-200 damage, that amount of early true damage is incredible, and can be compared to Olaf's E without an HP cost. Since your cougar form spells come free of cost, you will not lose out on any mana from constantly harrasing in cougar form so I suggest doing that often unless you need to keep your distance from your opponent.

^TLDR^
major trades in cougar form come from W-E-Q, early maximizes damage and lowers your probability of dying


Your mid game presence as Nidalee is superb. A lot of people underestimate the capabilities that a mid game bruiser Nidalee can bring to the team. If you use your presence can be brought into dragon plays, tower dives, and tower saves. Mid game Nidalee's target in a team fight should always be the AP or AD carry, whichever one deals more damage at the time. You should be able to fight & kill nearly anybody with your 3 core item of If you take you should put it onto the AD carry, and focus down the AP carry since the AD will be crippled by . Mid game engagements in lane should follow the same pattern as shown above, but for a longer period of time.

If you are fed and don't want to push your lane too hard because you cannot fight the top, jungler, and probably mid at the same time, kill 1, and manage to escape, then you can do what I do, and HUNT THE ENEMY JUNGLER, this will not only set him behind, but you can also take there buffs if you make them go to fountain. There is also nothing funnier then stealing an enemy buff with a simple max range Javalin toss and then spamming "/all trololololololololol ty for blue buff", you can keep an eye on the enemy buff timings with your Traps. You should also roam and gank other lanes as much as possible if needed. Team work is OP.

Objectives are very valuable to teams because of the global gold it gives, taking a tower, snagging an assist because of your heal/trap, getting dragon, or getting early baron if you have a on your team, can improve your teams chances of winning, even if they are behind in there lane. Helping your team do well, is better then just doing well yourself because you can just get focused, or get caught in jungle by yourself while split pushing, or re-grouping with your team. To maximize your chances of snagging objectives, be sure to scout often with your Traps to be weary of any enemy suspicion.

^TLDR^
Global Gold=OP get objectives, focusing squishies in early fights, team work OP, if fed and pushed lane hunt the jungler, scout often with W


By now you should have a few items, and more then enough damage to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy squishies. Try to poke at enemies whenever you can with your movement speed, and Javelin toss. Scout where ever you can with your Traps, and don't be afraid to lay down a ward or two. Every little bit of vision on the map can give you an advantage over your opponents. By this time in the game your team should consider team fights, or dragons. Depending on your lane situation you should join them, or try to push while your lane opponent is helping them. If you completely shut down your top and your team is going to have no problem handling them, stay and push. If your team has good outs, tell them to get dragon and get out. If your team is fed as f*** tell them to get dragon, and kill everyone, while you push and get more objectives. Only join them if your tower has little damage done to it, or you are lane pushed. You should NEVER lose a tower intentionally to save a persons life. remember, that GLOBAL GOLD IS OP.

^TLDR^
scout more, remember objectives, force team fights when you can, steal jungle, split push if able.

Late game Nidalee's damage falls off a little bit scaling wise, but with this build it balances it out and makes her OP AS HELL. it makes her a strong presence still, but not as much so as she was mid game. You should still try to focus the squishy carries, at least keep them zoned out of the fight and if you have to lose your , just to keep them out of the fight. Unless you have a or you wont have much CC either. Always get dragon, baron and objectives whenever you can. Force fights and poke people when you can.

Remember to always focus the squishies! Champions with good disrupt like should be kept far away from your team before they can disrupt them. In the case of a sona, try to focus her down and keep her away from the fight so she cannot ult and her initiated tanks have nowhere to go but back to the nexus pool in another 40-60 seconds. You should also place exhaust on the AD carry if you brought it along. This will minimize there damage output.

^TLDR^
win

As Nidalee, unless you have the right items, you should never focus the tanky characters, for example. or, you should try to focus the squishies that the opposing team has. You should get to the ADC, or APC, depending on which has more damage output. For example, a with his ult up will deal alot more damage to your team then a who can only auto attack. So you should try to prevent the from using his ult on your team, and then switch to the who will be auto attacking.

If the enemy team has asquishy support that can bring alot of disrupt to the team, for example, and, you should attempt to zone/kill them before they can use their disrupt/heals. A timed ult can really put your team in a bad spot that you don't want to be in, it can in the long run, do more then a fed ADC and can be a set up for an ult from champions like and that can put a ton of damage on the whole team. If however, the enemy team has a or you should focus them immediately before they lay out tons of damage onto your team. A full combo from can take any champion from your roster out of the fight, and an unfocused can bring the hurt onto your entire team.

You shouldn't be the person initiating a team fight, because as Nidalee you don't bring much disrupt to a team. The best initiate for a team fight I would say, Is . If you have a Malphite on your team, you should wait for him to initiate the team fight. After he Ults in, you should pounce onto the back line carries, use your to slow the entire team, and just burst down either the AD or AP considering which one will do more damage. If you have the only initiate from your if you built one, then I suggest pouncing in and using it.

^TLDR^
focus the squishies and maximum amount of DPS/disrupt

Have fun playing Bruiser AD Nidalee! I hope my guide helps you all, and/or inspires you to play Nidalee in ways other then AP Nidalee! Have fun and win tons of games! If you are countered top, you might have given up a kill or two, & lost a bit of farm. But don't let that discourage you. Everyone has bad games Just play out through the game too your best extent, know your role, fill that role, and do what you need to do for your team. Remember you should never stick to a strict build just because it worked for you in one game, those same champions will most likely not be in the next game. You should always build according to your enemy team comp, and the role you need to fill for your team, to your best extent.

^TLDR^
have fun, enjoy yourself, I hope this guide helped you/possibly inspired you to try AD bruiser nidalee, or made you re-think bruiser nidalee.


SMASH YOUR ENEMIES