The AP Nidalee Guide

Today I will be talking about my favorite champion in the game, Nidalee. This guide will focus on AP nidalee. AP nidalee's far range spears make her very exciting and challenging to play. 

Abilities:

 Her passive Prowl increases her movement speed while in bushes. This skill is very helpful when running away from enemies or chasing a foe. Make sure you use this passive as much as you can, when you see a bush you should try to use it!

 Her Q skil Jav toss/ takedown is the bread and butter of AP nidalee. When using this skill, do not worry about hitting it full range as the rewards may be higher but hitting is better than missing. The shorter the range the less damage, but the applying damage is better than none. This skill can surprise people and even 1shot squishy champions. 

 Although Q is nidalee's bread and butter, this is my favorite skill for nidalee. I absolutely love trapping up my lane and lowering the area my opponent has to work with in lane. If they do happen to step on the trap I will make sure to punish them by harassing with normal attacks.

 Her E is great for farming while in tiger form and can save lives with the heal. Although the only time I rely on this skill is for killing towers faster or objectives faster.

Nidalee's ultimate make her a unique champion acquring 3 more skills and turning to a cougar at lvl 6. While she does not recieve bonus stats from this anymore the skill is still very useful, as described later on.

Masteries:

*LEVEL 1 CHEESE BUILD/FLAT AP BUILD*This is the more traditional Ap nidalee build, I take 2 in extra minion damage because getting cs before 6 can be a pain without ad. I try to maximize my ability power and use this build if i want to cheese starting with an Doran's ring and putting lvl 1 Q. (will be explained later on)

*MY VARIANT BUILD FOR AP NIDALEE* This mastery build focuses on trading with auto attacks despite being an AP focus hero. Many people forget at midlane a lot of damage comes from auto attacks at lower levels. This build helps me cs while maintaining extra defense for when I get caught shoving my lane so hard.

Items:
Cheese build: Dorans ring->Tear->Soul stealer->Sorc shoes->Death cap->archangels->Deathcap-> max cd item

Standard build: Fairy charm, mana pot, 3x hp pots, ward->tear->boots->dorans ring->sorc shoes->Death cap->archangels->max cd->void staff

Skill Order: 

Normally: R>Q>W>E [(first point in W) unless cheesing then first point in Q]

Getting camped/losing lane: R>Q>E>W ( use q to farm)

Runes:
Cheese build

  
Standard build

Cheesing as Nidalee: 

     The term cheesing refers to rushing or trying to get an opponent out of the game early by playing unconventional. The method I like to use when attempting to cheese is by running as many FLAT ap runes, and as much AP I can get from masteries. You should start with 40+ ability power atleast. I get my Q first at level 1 and immediately rush towards middle lane. Now according to what my jungler is, if they start blue or red I will predict where the enemy mid lane will attempt to help his jungler. I will stay within vision and if I spot them I will chuck my spear and as many autos as i can without getting hurt. If I do not see the middle laner I will resort to damaging the jungler to slow his path. 
     Right after that little trick head over to middle lane and auto attack as much as you can(minions or enemy). You want to apply pressure and level up as fast as possible. Whenever you walk up to attack the enemy champion keep auto attacking, if they attempt to juke just keep auto attacking until you feel comfortable hitting your spear. Many people overreact when trying to juke your spear taking free damage from your auto attack. If you play aggressive enough and use your level advantage, and hit consistent spears it should look somewhat like this. 

 As the game progresses and you aquire your tear, you want to spam skills such as your trap around the map and use your cougar form skills(manaless) to acquire stacks as fast as possible. When you get a blue buff do not worry about hitting your target, worry about throwing as many spears as possible, you have no mana to worry about. When you have killed your middle enough, or they are shivering in fear, or your getting camped by the enemy jungler shove mid out and proceed to roam. Make sure to communicate with the team and buy wards everytime you base to invade the enemy jungler and keep tabs on them, or you can get counter ganked!

As the game goes on, make sure to get all your blue buffs and NEVER ALLOW the enemy team to acquire dragons. Make sure you are purchasing as much ability power as possible, death cap into max cd. If the enemy attempts to get dragon, chuck them down with spears or attempt a steal, spam away and make them regret choosing to attempt dragon. When all outer towers are down, or middle tower is down proceed to roam and siege towers by trapping the tower and chucking spears from the side. Slowly widdle the opponent and tower but never dive unless you are sure where everyone is and you are going to get a free kill! 

The Mechanics: Tricks/Tips

Jumping through terrain: Here is the map

First start off by refering to the map yo where you can make nidalee jumps. When you find one that is possible head to the location.

Next click on the terrain which you want to jump over, not the floor, the TERRAIN!(some people like clicking on the floor(make sure your facing the area you want to jump over) and pressing Stop(s))

Now press W to jump over

Congrats!! you just made a wall jump

Spear through minions: By noticing when minions are about to die, if the enemy is behind a minion simply throw your spear as the minion is about to die to hit the enemy hiding behind the minion. If playing Nidalee correctly you should be using this tatic every game, everytime you enter lane atleast one time!!

Jumping catform spear: 
1. Jump back after a spear, by chucking the spear, turning back to catform and jumping backwards ( practice a few times before attempting). 
2. turn to catform, make sure cooldown is ready to transform again. Jump forward or left or right then as your midair transform to human and throw spear. You should be constantly using this after you clear a wave to surprise your enemy throwing spears randomly and quickly at them, giving them less time to react to your spear.

Fog of war Spear, Spearing for dummies: 
1. Make sure to abuse your spear's range and add the element of surprise when throwing spears. Throw spears from the jungle or the sides of the lane to give the enemy less time to react to spears.

 2.Whenever the enemy walks towards the side of a tower, or the corner of the wall throw your spear for easy damage that cannot miss. It can even be worth taking a tower shot for it! Whenever your enemy shoves hard and posters to base, harass them with your far range spear when they attempt to base, being annoying is part of nidalee's job.

Trap vision: Throw traps into a bush before you enter, or use as vision to hit people behind towers or fog of war! 

Trap City: By throwing traps around towers, or lanes, or choking off ramps to prevent ganks the uses of traps are endless. I max them 2nd since they lower magic resist and armor, and show vision when stepped on. This allows for my spears to do tremendous damage when hit while being spotted and helps employ my siege strategy when i trap the whole lane up. Try to avoid throwing traps where minions will travel through as seen in the pictures below , as using it for frontal minions can be a waste. Using traps to clear creeps is also effective at lower levels to shove up and roam/ protect jungle.

Thanks for reading and I hope to see more AP nidalees out there in the fields of justice playing correctly and making me proud!

Authors Note: Remember when playing Nidalee you are playing the game of killing towers and taking objectives, do not be greedy for kills! and when ahead continue to shove advantage not force unnecessary fights! Also in team fights you want to stay in human form throughout the fight throwing as many spears as you can, dont worry if you dont hit the carries, make sure your healing your allies and throwing traps. When you are winning a fight and need to chase or run away thats when you want to use your cougar form, because remember you are squishy.