@Meddler Is there any chance Nidalee could be balanced around solo lanes again?

Personally I think post-rework Nidalee's kit is more healthy for the game as a solo laner; she's been a balancing headache at high elo and competitive play since she became a jungler. But as a solo laner, IIRC, she was pretty okay. It's just after all the nerfs to try and restrain Nidalee jungle mid and top Nid has been reduced to a very mediocre niche for only the most dedicated Nidalee mains.

Honestly I don't expect her to ever not be a jungler primarily again, whats done is done and thematically the jungle suits her well(but I still think her kit and strengths are innately unhealthy for the jungle). It's just I wish Riot could acknowledge that she is on the cusp of being at least viable as solo laner again.

AP solo lane Nidalee effectively lost its viability on patch 5.15 with these changes:

Javelin Toss

• Cast time increased to 0.25 seconds from 0.125.
• Minimum damage reduced to 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 / 130 from 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150.
• Maximum damage reduced to 150 / 210 / 270 / 330 / 390 from 150 / 225 / 300 / 375 / 450.

The base damage nerfs hurt sure but the cast time change, while very much deserved for jungle Nidalee, killed solo lane AP Nid. Yet I don't think it was a bad nerf at all, because honestly Nidalee's old cast time on her spear was so short in most cases you couldn't even see the animation especially if she covered it up with another animation like an auto or form change. My problem with the change is that Midlane Nidalee got no compensation, and has effectively been rendered unviable.

The reason I'm bringing this all up is because last patch the 2 second root on jungle monsters that initially started jungle Nidalee back in early season 5 has been reverted, and if jungle Nidalee is at a nearly balanced state, could we maybe start looking at giving buffs specifically for solo lane Nid? I know it sounds challenging trying to buff one champion role without making the others overpowered (looking at you Lulu) but I think it actually is possible in Nidalee's case.

For example, buffing her spear slightly.

Missile Width: 40->45 Min damage at level 5: 140 Max damage at level 5: 420

These buffs would help give her spears a bit more consistency, as currently they are too easy to sidestep when you have vision of her throwing it.

And/or giving her trap a better ratio(from .2 to .4?) or just reworking the thing entirely so it is a bit more interesting than just a passive proc.

I think this is a fair change given how hard the cast time nerf hurt Nidalee's spear consistency if her opponent has vision of her throwing the spear(something jungle Nid doesn't have to worry about a lot). Of course these changes might make jungle Nid too strong again; in which case maybe making her takedown do reduced damage to monsters could adjust for the new power of her spear, or something along those lines.

What do you guys think, should Nidalee get some buffs to her solo laning if it is possible to keep her jungling balanced? Is this even possible?

Edit: I'd just like to add my reasoning on Nidalee jungle being less healthy than solo lane Nid. Jungle Nid's primary strength lies in the fact that she has an amazing early game with fast healthy clears, great skirmishing, situationally strong ganks(with CC or over extended opponents). Her most unhealthy aspect of her kit as a jungler however is the way she counterjungles. It is very low risk, with generally high reward. Since Nidalee has low CD mobility, sustain, and scouting tools, there is no reason for her not to counterjungle, while she still retains the dueling power and clear speed of other early game junglers like Lee or Elise. Moreover, Nidalee has a much clearer path to victory/ way to consolidate her lead with her seiging and great neutral objective control w/ poke, sustain and heals.

(Old) Solo lane Nidalee has more healthy gameplay because she can be shut down in the early game relatively easily and compared to other popular midlaners like LeBlanc Zed or Lux I think her poke and mobility is within healthy game standards. She's very skill dependent and offers a lot of poke/pick potential but she has clearly defined weaknesses in her laning phase, no safe waveclear and dependency on hitting spears before/during teamfights.