Why the current PBE nid nerf is bad,

regardless of the fact if you think nid needs a nerf or not.. let me explain why the CURRENT nerf on pbe.. will have the opposite effect of what it is trying to do

first ill start with the nerf

Nidalee Pounce (Cougar W) Cooldown increased to 7/6.5/6/5.5/5 from 5 at all ranks. [Hunted target reset adjusted to 3.5 - 2 seconds from 3-1.5]

now to those of you who do NOT play nidalee, and have absolutely no understanding of how she works. when you land a spear on a hunted target.. if you pounce in and land on them the cooldown of pounce in reset down to its "reset level"

so right on on live nidalee pounce is always 5 seconds.. but when you land on a hunted target after pouncing to them it gets reduced to 3/2.5/2/1.5 per level of your ultimate

now for those of your who remember season 3 pre-rework nid, you will know that when nidalee sits back and throws spear all day... she is a freaking bitch to fight.... you can never get in range to kill her

now as much as you might hate nidalee right now, nidalee rework gave her VERY clear counterplay. that she DID NOT HAVE before her rework

because now and ever since her rework, instead of ALL her damage coming from her spear, post rework about 30-40 % comes from the spear and the other 60% comes from the pounce in swipe and takedown.

MEANING if nidalee was to deal any sort of decent damage she NEEDS to pounce in.

so based on this data it would SEEM that that patch changes are fine

the longer she is in melee range the more opportunity she has for counterplay.. simple. and in fact that is true...

but the PROBLEM is.. that ISN'T what is going to happen if this change goes live.

because when im playing nidalee. if i land a spear on a target.. great, i did a chunk of damage.

but AFTER the spear lands.. the nid player has to make a choice. do i stay back and stay safe and try to throw more spears to get them lower? or do i pounce in now and try to deal as much damage as i can and (hopefully) kill them and get out safely.

now right off the bat.. ANY melee champ with any for of CC means im not pouncing in if its a teamfight with a bunch of player groups i am likely not going to pounce in.

but the major thing right now is.. you just added a half second to the amount of time i will be in range if i pounce in before i can get out so IF i pounce in i will have more counterplay, but now that i am more likely to DIE if i pounce in.. i am NOT going to pounce in as much.

as guess what.. when nid DOESN'T pounce and and just throws spears all day ... we have season 3 nidalee again.

so while it may SOUND like we are giving nidalee MORE counterplay by increasing the time she is in melee range after a pounce, we are instead LOWERING the time she will be in melee range. because guess what.. i DIDN'T pounce in.. so instead of increase my counterplay time by .5 seconds. you now have at last 4 seconds before i can land another spear and decide whether or not to pounce in again, and that for season is assuming that i have 40% cdr.. (which i dont normally have) it is assuming that i throw the spear the instant it comes off cooldown.. (which no one does) and it is assuimg i LANDED the spear.. (which isnt always easy)

by nerfing nidalee's escape after pouncing in, in an attempt to give her more counter-play, you are acting REMOVING her counter-play because she is NOT going to go in as much because it isn't SAFE anymore.

so regardless of whether or not nidalee NEEDS a nerf or not... THIS nerf will have the exact opposite of the intended effect, and DECREASE her counterplay instead of INCREASING IT