Nidalee - The Primal Gaurdian
Nidalee has been a long time favorite of mine and I've never been completely satisfied with how she gets balanced and reworked. Her current kit has been heavily gated to the point that she is so niche she may as well not exist. Changes to gold gains across the team, changes to runes/masteries, items, and the jungle have made being a Nidalee player a very hard thing to do. In a game where Ndialee used to be a strong laning pick and then became a strong jungling pick before dropping off the face of runeterra it would be great to see her be the strong flexible jack of all trades she used to be again and this rework has every intention of matching her thematically and also allowing her to feel like you can take her anywhere based on the strengths and synergies in her kit you want to focus on. I hope you guys like it
Nidalee Rework:
Prowling Predator(Innate):
Prowl(Innate):
'Hunt' - When moving through brush or towards enemies Nidalee gains 8% movementspeed. Damaging enemies marks them enhancing several of Nidalee's abilities against them, granting true sight on the target and 8% additional increased movementspeed towards the target. This effect stacks up to 4 times increasing the effects further. Stacks last for 2/3/4/6 seconds(based on number of stacks) and decay to zero if not refreshed
'Prey' - At 4 stacks targets are marked as 'Prey' Granting an additional enhanced effects to Several of Nidalee's abilities.
Q1:Enchanted Javelins:
Javelin Toss:
Projectile speed: 1500-2000 (Current - 1300)
Projectile width: 60 (Current - 40 units - pre-rework - 120 units)
Cooldown: 6 Seconds
Cost: 80 Mana
Passive: Nidalee's basic attacks deal 5/10/15/20/25/30(+40% AP) Bonus magic damage.
Active: Nidalee enchants her Javelin with primal magics and hurls it as far as she can. The enchantment gains increasing power as it travels dealing more magic damage based on distance traveled (Max: 300% total damage) Applies on hit effects(doesn't apply Q passive) and applies stacks of hunt equal to distance traveled (+1 additional stack per 400 units traveled)
Damage: 5/10/15/20/25/30 (+100% AD)(+40% AP) to 15/30/45/60/75/90(+300% AD)(+120% AP)
'Hunt' Enchanted Javelins become attracted to hunted units and will slightly shift in their direction based on stacks. (effectively increases hitbox radius of spell by 15/30/45/60% on hunted targets)
'Prey' Javelins move 33% faster towards 'Prey'.
Q2: Takedown:
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Passive: Nidalee's basic attacks deal 5/10/15/20/25/30(+40% AP) Bonus magic damage
Active: Nidalee attempts to bring her target down with her powerful jaws dealing increasing magic damage based on how low the targets health is.(+75 attack range Max: 200)
Damage: 5/10/15/20/25/30 (+100% AD)(+40% AP) to 15/30/45/60/75/90(+300% AD)(+120% AP)
'Hunt': ignores 25/50/75/100% of damage reduction.
'Prey': Surviving 'Prey' are revealed giving Nidalee 'truesight' on them for up to 4 seconds after their mark wears off.
W1: Bushwhack:
Cooldown: 12 Seconds
Cost: 35/40/45/50/55/60 Mana
Active: Nidalee holds a reservoir of up to 3 visible traps. When triggered traps deal damage overtime. Triggering more than 1 trap within 8 seconds of another causes traps to have bonus effects.(No trap placement limit)
1 Trap: 20/40/60/80/100/120(+20%AP) magic damage and 2/4/6/8/10/12%(+1% per 50 Bonus AD)current hp physical damage. Traps cannot be placed less than 400 units from each other.
2 Traps: Target is slowed by 20/25/30/35/40/45% for 2 seconds
3 Traps: Target is snared 1 second
'Hunt': No effect.
'Prey': Traps deal true damage.
W2: Pounce:
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Active: Nidalee lunges towards the target location dealing magic damage upon landing
Damage: 5/10/15/20/25/30(+40% AP)(+100% AD)
Killing units resets pounce cooldown
'Hunt' Pounce becomes a targeted dash with massively extended range per stack on hunted target. Using pounce on hunted targets reduces its cooldown by 20/40/60%
'Prey' Cooldown is reset after use on 'Prey'.
Range: 375-700/720/740/760/780/800
E1: Primal Surge:
Cooldown: 12 Seconds
Cost: 50/60/70/80/90/100 Mana
Passive: Nidalee heals based on her damage dealt. Damage to health: 5/6/7/8/9/10%
Active: Nidalee doubles her passive plus increases her attackspeed and that of nearby allies by 30/40/50/60/70/80% for 6 seconds(allies receive half)
'Hunt' No Effect
'Prey' No Effect
Swipe E2: Cooldown: 5 seconds
Active: Nidalee violently claws at enemies in front of her dealing magic damage.
Damage: 5/10/15/20/25/30 (+100% AD)(+40% AP)
'Hunt' Reduces damage dealt to Nidalee by hit hunted targets by 8/12/16/20%
'Prey' Nidalee shreds through flesh and defenses dealing 20% of the targets health as magic damage
R: Aspect of the Cougar:
Active: Nidalee morphs into a vicious cougar/Nidalee reverts to her Human form.
Passive: Tooth and Nail: Enchanted Javelins and all of Nidalee's cougar abilities apply on-hit effects to targets hit.
Alternate skills:
1. Primal Surge 1: Nidalee Heals herself(only) and increases the attackspeed of herself and nearby allies for 6 seconds.(allies receive half the effect)
Stats: moderate base:moderate scaling.
2. Primal Surge 2: Nidalee Heals an allied champion and grants them bonus attackspeed for 6 seconds.
Stats: moderate base:moderate scaling.
3. Primal Surge 3: Nidalee heals an allied champion for an increasing amount based on missing HP and grants them bonus attack speed for 6 seconds.
Stats: Low-to-High Base:Low-to-High Scaling.
4. Primal Surge 4: Nidalee heals herself and grants bonus attack speed to herself and nearby allies for 6 seconds(Allies receive half the effect). - Scales off AP and 10% of missing HP
Stats: Moderate Base:Low-to-High Scaling.
5. Swipe 1: Nidalee violently claws at enemies in front of her dealing magic damage.
Passive: Basic attacks reduce the cooldown by 1 second.
'Hunt' Enemies with their backs to Nidalee are slowed by 10/20/30/40% for 2 seconds.
'Prey' Slows enemies regardless of orientation but enemies with their backs to Nidlaee receive twice the slow.
6. Swipe 2: Nidalee violently claws at enemies in front of her dealing magic damage.
'Hunt' Increases Swipe damage to targets by 15/30/45/60%
'Prey' Reduces targets damage to Nidalee by 20%.
7. Swipe 3: Nidalee violently claws at enemies in front of her deal magic damage.
'Hunt' Allows Nidalee to ignore 15/30/45/60% of the targets resistances.
'Prey' Reduces targets damage to Nidalee by 20%.
8. Bushwhack 1:
Active: Nidalee holds a reservoir of up to 3 traps. When triggered traps deal damage overtime. Triggering more than 1 trap within 8 seconds of another causes traps to have bonus effects.(No trap placement limit)
1 Trap: Damage: 10/20/30/40/50/60(+20%AP) magic damage and 1/2/3/4/5/6%(+1% per 50 Bonus AD)current hp physical damage. Traps cannot be placed less than 400 units from each other.
2 Trap: Traps deal Double Damage.
3 Trap: Traps deal true damage.
'Hunt' Target is slowed by 10/20/30/40% for 1 second.
'Prey' Target is snared.
9. Bushwhack 2: Active: Nidalee holds a reservoir of up to 3 traps. When triggered traps deal damage overtime. Triggering more than 1 trap within 8 seconds of another causes traps to have bonus effects.(No trap placement limit)
1 Trap: Damage: 40/80/120/160/200/240(+40%AP) magic damage. Traps cannot be placed less than 400 units from each other.
2 Trap: Target is slowed by 20/25/30/35/40/45% for 2 seconds.
3 Trap: Target is snared.
'Hunt' Targets resistances are reduced by 5/10/15/20% for 4 seconds.
'Prey' Traps deal True Damage.
This is a hell of a lot to take in and digest so bear with me.
Nidalee is a hunting champion and that was the ultimate target I had in mind when thematically redesigning everything.
Her passive is all about chasing, tracking, and bringing down her prey.
The base damages and scaling on Basic attacks, Enchanted Javelins, Takedown, Pounce, and Swipe are all exactly the same. Her Base damage and base AD are the new base damage values. I have a Lite simpler version of this that uses the current 'hunt' with changes to the bonuses if this seems to be overloaded or too complex.
Javelins are her main weapon in Human form so it only makes sense for them to be amplified by all types of damage she acquires but Nidalee is also an unnatural amalgamation of Nature and Primal Magic so her abilities retain their magic properties while also having physical attributes. Her basic attacks are magic and physical via the Q passives. Javelin Toss gains utilities with her hunted innate that makes it easier to hit marked targets. Pretty much the same skill with upgrades but overall less damage in exchange for more utility and synergy.
Takedown is basically the same skill plus minus the old base damage and double damage amp which has been changed to instead instead make mitigating it's damage and escaping alive harder.
Bushwhack is a split damage skill that slowly makes a target prey if triggered but also punishes anyone that steps on multiple traps. They have their HP shred back but the damage is split between flat magic damage and Physical HP shred. Mixed damage insures that the base trap is hard to itemize for and against and that their overall effectiveness is increased to threatening levels when multiple are triggered but ability to abuse is limited by spacing limitations of the traps and visibility of them. Also because the hp shred is armor it's easier to build defenses against and taks won't bit hit too hard unless they are already prey.
Pounce is essentially the same skill with less damage for more utility. This skill will be a powerful chasing tool at max rank when a target is prey and nidalee can now utilize kills to gain a leap frog effect.
Primal Surge is now a small area team buff on activation that allows Nidalee to heal based on damage dealt in a way similar to lifesteal but it accounts for her magic and physical damage like gunblade. It requires her to be in combat to utilize it so it'll be riskier for her to pull off and not allow her to flee and heal like she can now. Her sustain is completely combat oriented now.
Swipe is now an actually interesting skill with numerous powerful effects tied to it. It has high synergy with on-hit effects, gives her dueling capability with Prey, and allows her to shred the health of tankier foes if they become prey.
Aspect of the cougar is ultimately unchanged but states the on-hit effect bonus.
Let me know what you all think, good or bad, and feel free to share your ideas. This ultimately looks like an overloaded/overcomplicated kit but Nidalee has never been a simple champion and everything about this makes sense... to me at least.
Everyone that plays Nidalee has their own idea of what Nidalee should be, would be, and could be... This is mine
