AD Nidalee Vs. AP Nidalee

[Deleted]

I'll be honest, I've seen hella lot of AD nidalees recently, and less and less AP (Only seeing AP Nidalee's in tournaments nowadays)

What makes AD Nidalee so strong? Her only scaling AD ability late game is her Q, and she has hella short attack range.

I've found myself running AD Runes (ArP Runes/Quints, Flat armor Seals, Scaling MR Glyphs) yet going for an AP build, getting Rod of Ages/Deathcap/Void Staff/Lich bane.

I do however see people going Wriggles/Atmogs/Guinsoo's. So the question is, why? And how much more viable is to compared to AP?

[thoukaia]

When the team is super squishy you need your toplane to be tanky. CLG recently lost a match (cant remember if it was in IEM NY or China or otherwise) because they were running 3 squishies, AP HotshotnidaleeGG, and a semi-tanky jungler, so they had trouble initiating. I'm guessing that bruiser Nidalee is the attempt of Nidalee players to fill the role of the tanky AD toplaner, while still playing Nidalee, like jungle Xin is the attempt of Xin players at being useful (just face it guys, Xin sucks in lane and he sucks in jungle, stop playing him).

[sam86]

an initiator need cc + survive, what will make enemy team attack nidalee at all if she builds tanky?
It reminds me with a game I played Heim, I got focused every attack even if I built him tanky (for lols) and had very low ap, they still focused me (he has racial taunt as long he is alive I guess), no I didn't try to initiate fights or even go front, I guess they were that stupid

[Deleted]

Never seen any successful AD Nidalee, personally I facepalm each time I see one, I simply dont get it -.-'
If you wanna be tanky you can just build 50% AP and 50% defensive stats which makes you able to keep your long range damage and heal + cougar form damage since 2/3 cougar form abilities scale with AP

[nixlov]

AD nidalee gives up everything in human form xcept traps to be a really tanky ad with alot of mobility and Q ruining squishies

early game when you get wriggles you cant really be pushed out of the lane unless they 2+ man tower dive you

mid game you can jump in and survive most of the aoe and focus while doing alot of dmg

late game, ive honestly not seen ad nidalee late game or gotten to that point

[Edge-]

It can work, but it's a gimmick build like AP Trist/AP Cait/AP shen ect. She does give up a TON of stuff (spears are worthless, heal doesn't heal for anything, and her pounce/swipe hit for nothing) but her Q hits insanely hard and when she pops a heal on herself she can put out some mean damage. Personally I would NEVER play AD Nidalee, but it can work, it's just rarely ideal.

[Lysah]

AD Nidalee is faster.
AD Nidalee has a stronger cat form.
AD Nidalee can't do anything but melee.

I play Nidalee AD on dominion, because damage is so damn high and the game is so movement based that you don't really have time or need to harass with spears, nor doing healing do anything at all. Youmuu's, PDs, build like a Yi or any other melee AD carry. With her passive, the extra speed from being a cat in the first place, and speed modifiers, she can chase down just about anything. Her Q will hit like a truck, and she has good damage from her W/E/autos as well.

I have played Nidalee AD on SR as well, though I don't think she has a place in any team this way, I usually just do it when bored and trolling. Many other ADs can outshine her because all she has is damage, damage, and movement, where other ADs have CC, much more bursty damage, and otherwise utility such as stealth/built in flash/massive range nukes/etc.

With an AD build you're trying to capitalize on her excellent mobility. This is great for dominion, but does nothing for team fights late game in SR. In the games that weren't outright slaughter, that I went AD Nid, I usually spent team fights sitting in a brush hoping someone would split from enemy team off by himself so I could kill him without being hardcore focus stomped.

[Deleted]

i actually tested AD nida earlier today on SR, and i must say it was really nice. was also semi tanky since out only other tank was xin. I just took some random items i could use an ended up with: AS boots, triforce, Atmas, Banshees, manamune, starks. Used heal for the AS bonus and it was really nice, the only problem was that the enemy team liked to focus me and i had some insane lagg spikes.

[Myutwo]

When the team is super squishy you need your toplane to be tanky. CLG recently lost a match (cant remember if it was in IEM NY or China or otherwise) because they were running 3 squishies, AP HotshotnidaleeGG, and a semi-tanky jungler, so they had trouble initiating. I'm guessing that bruiser Nidalee is the attempt of Nidalee players to fill the role of the tanky AD toplaner, while still playing Nidalee, like jungle Xin is the attempt of Xin players at being useful (just face it guys, Xin sucks in lane and he sucks in jungle, stop playing him).

how dare you diss stonewall's favorite jungler? l2play xin and maybe you'll realize he's boss.

[Deleted]

Ive NEVER seen a AD nidalee O_o maybe I havent played long enough..

[Sugar275]

how dare you diss stonewall's favorite jungler? l2play xin and maybe you'll realize he's boss.

I thought he moved onto Jarvan? Anyways, I have never seen an AD Nidalee O_o. She would be very easy to deal with though as she would have almost zero healing capabilities and her spear would not hit for much, she would be cc'd every time during team fights.