Dang, Nidalee has been benched for a long while hasn't she?

{quoted}

She's only barely sub-50% winrate. She can work, but I've only really seen her used by people who main her. Gauntlet and ROA can make her pretty tanky, but she just doesn't do what she used to.

i would hardly call 45% win rate "barely sub 50%" yes it gets to 49% in diamond+ but that's only because, nidalee REQUIRES team co-ordination to function properly. as she relies heavily on them for CC. you dont need to be very good at nidalee to be able to hit a CC'ed target on a gank.

i can tell you in lower elos.. the laner will CC the target for your gank properly about 1/20 times. the reason why in season 6 LCS she was soo good was because... guess what? 5 mans team with voice chat? nidalee provides VERY high burst at a low level.. but its come with VERY high risk because if your spear misses your gank failed u did ZERO damage. except your gank is never GOING to fail in LCS because the instant your arrive the enemy is going to be CC at the perfect time and the perfect angle for you to spear them.

the fact is riot's nerfs toward her where balanced around THAT happening... but that NEVER HAPPENS outside of voice chat and high elo coordinated teams. what riot effectively did was balance nidalee as if her spear was guaranteed to hit the target like ice ball. which of course in LCS that is effectively how her spear works.. but for for us mere mortals... its a skillshot... a 60 width skillshot that can be blocked by any minion, monster or champion.

the closer you get the LCS the more likely your teammates are going to HELP you land that skillshot. and the less talented the nidalee player has to be to land said spear. which taking into account a 20 game diamond player is going to be better at nidalee than a 20 game silver player, then ALSO take into account the skill of his teammate nidalee's winrate can ALMOST reach 50%.

but the fact is she is still trash,

she is the only assassin that needs to land a skillshot. and riot is " balancing" her as if her spear was point and click.. and until riot realizes that's what they are doing .. she is going to remain trash...