Maximizing Your Jungle Potential: A Guide to Nidalee's Skill and Talent Investment in League of Legends
With her unmatched mobility, unparalleled harass and burst damage, and ability to shred objectives with ease, it's no wonder why Nidalee is a common pick for skilled junglers in League of Legends. However, despite her strengths, her kit can be a bit tricky to fully understand and maximize. In this guide, we'll dive into Nidalee's abilities and talent investments, breaking down what skills you should prioritize when playing her in the jungle role.
Abilities Breakdown: Understanding Nidalee's Kit
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of talent investments, it's important to understand Nidalee's kit and how it works. Nidalee has two sets of abilities; one for human form and one for cougar form. Her human form abilities are ranged, and her cougar form abilities are melee. Depending on the situation, you'll want to switch between her human and cougar forms to maximize her kit's potential.
Her basic Q ability - Javelin Toss for human form, Takedown for cougar form - deals heavy damage in both forms. However, her human form Q is a long-range skill shot that can hit enemies from a safe distance, while her cougar form Q requires her to be in melee range. Depending on your playstyle and the game's situation, you might want to spend more points in one of the Q abilities than the other.
At level 6, Nidalee gains access to her ultimate ability, Aspect of the Cougar. This allows her to instantly switch between her human and cougar forms, making her even more versatile in any given situation. With this ability, you can more easily chase down enemies or escape from difficult engagements.
Talent Investments: What to Prioritize
Now that we've gone over Nidalee's abilities, let's dive into how you should be investing your talents. As you level up, you'll have to choose which abilities to put points into first, and which abilities to prioritize. Different players will have different strategies, but here are some suggestions that might help you maximize your jungle potential:
Level 1-5: At level 1, you should invest your first skill point into Nidalee's W ability, Bushwhack. This will allow you to set traps in the jungle that will reveal and damage enemy champions, neutral monsters, and even wards. After that, you should prioritize Nidalee's human form Q ability, Javelin Toss, since you'll be in human form most of the time during the early game. Investing points in Javelin Toss early on will allow you to clear the jungle faster and gank more effectively, since you'll be able to poke enemies from a distance before jumping in on them with your cougar form.
Level 6-11: Once you hit level 6 and gain access to Aspect of the Cougar, you should start investing points in Nidalee's cougar form abilities, such as Takedown and Pounce. These abilities will give you more damage and mobility in melee range, which will be helpful when you need to chase down enemy champions or clear the jungle more effectively. However, you should still prioritize Javelin Toss, as it will be your main source of poke and harass during teamfights.
Level 12-18: At this point, you should have maxed out your Q and W abilities, so the question is which ability to prioritize next: E or R? Again, different players will have different playstyles and preferences. However, generally speaking, I recommend putting more points into Nidalee's E ability, Primal Surge. This ability allows Nidalee to heal herself or an ally, making it an invaluable tool during teamfights and skirmishes. However, if you find that you're always in cougar form and don't need the healing as much, then investing points in your ultimate ability - Aspect of the Cougar - might make more sense.
Conclusion: Mastering Nidalee's Jungle Potential
At the end of the day, Nidalee is one of the most versatile and powerful jungle champions in League of Legends - if you can master her. By investing your talent points in the right skills and understanding how her abilities work, you'll be able to clear the jungle faster, gank more effectively, and be a force to be reckoned with during teamfights. We hope this guide has helped you better understand Nidalee's jungle potential and how to maximize it!
