A twenty-minute Nidalee practice routine
A concrete practice-tool routine for Nidalee, built around its real cooldowns and ability costs.
Minutes 0–5: the passive, alone
Moving through brush increases Nidalee's Move Speed by 10% for 2 seconds, increased to 30% toward visible enemy champions within 1400 range. Hitting champions or monsters with Javelin Toss or Bushwhack triggers a Hunt, granting True Sight of them for 4 seconds. During this time, Nidalee gains 10% Move Speed (increased to 30% toward the Hunted target) and her Takedown and Pounce are enhanced against them.
Do nothing else for five minutes. The passive is the piece nobody isolates, and it is the only part of the kit that is always available.
Minutes 5–15: each ability, then the sequence
Prowl
Moving through brush increases Nidalee's Move Speed by 10% for 2 seconds, increased to 30% toward visible enemy champions within 1400 range. Hitting champions or monsters with Javelin Toss or Bushwhack triggers a Hunt, granting True Sight of them for 4 seconds. During this time, Nidalee gains 10% Move Speed (increased to 30% toward the Hunted target) and her Takedown and Pounce are enhanced against them.
Javelin Toss / Takedown
In human form, Nidalee throws a spiked javelin at her target that gains damage as it flies. As a cougar, her next attack will attempt to fatally wound her target, dealing more damage the less life they have.
Bushwhack / Pounce
In human form, Nidalee lays a trap for unwary opponents that, when sprung, damages and reveals its target. As a cougar, she jumps in a direction, dealing damage in an area where she lands.
Primal Surge / Swipe
In human form, Nidalee channels the spirit of the cougar to heal her allies and imbue them with Attack Speed for a short duration. As a cougar, she claws in a direction, dealing damage to enemies in front of her.
Aspect Of The Cougar
Nidalee transforms into a cougar, gaining new abilities.
Use the cooldowns as a metronome
Practice tool lets you reset cooldowns, which is useful for learning a combo and useless for learning a champion. Turn the reset off and cast on the real timings — knowing what an ability's downtime feels like is most of what separates a comfortable champion from a new one.
Nidalee is mana-gated, which is the real limit on how often you can contest a wave early.
Minutes 15–20: last-hitting under tower
Unglamorous, and the highest-value five minutes of the routine. Ranged champions have completely different tower-farming patterns, and this is where you find out which one you are actually playing.
Riot's own notes on playing Nidalee
These are the designers' words, not ours — the tips shipped in the client for Nidalee.
- Use brush to your advantage! Moving in and out of brush can heavily alter your effectiveness in battle.
- Start team fights by harassing with your Javelin Toss, and then switch to cougar form to chase down Hunted targets.
- Bushwhack traps deal damage based on their victim's current Health. Set them up in your team's backline before fights break out during sieges to help your team deal damage to the enemy frontline.