Best Nidalee Build & Guide (2026) — League of Legends

Nidalee is League of Legends' Bestial Huntress — a shape-shifting jungler who hurls massive-damage Javelin Tosses from human form that scale up to 225% bonus damage at max range, lays invisible Bushwhack traps that mark enemies as Hunted for enhanced cougar abilities, heals allies with Primal Surge while granting attack speed, and transforms into a ferocious cougar with Aspect of the Cougar to execute low-health targets with Takedown, leap onto Hunted prey with enhanced Pounce, and claw through enemies with Swipe. Nidalee excels in the jungle with a 51.49% win rate on Patch 16.6 in Emerald+, thriving as an aggressive early-game jungler who invades enemy territory, controls vision with traps, and snowballs leads through relentless ganking pressure. Whether you are a jungle main looking for a mechanically rewarding AP assassin-style champion, an aggressive player who enjoys invading and outdueling enemy junglers, or a climbing player who wants to dominate the early game with one of the highest skill-ceiling champions in League of Legends, this guide covers everything you need to dominate with Nidalee in 2026.

Nidalee Overview

Nidalee operates as an AP assassin jungler whose power comes from long-range poke with Javelin Toss, vision control through Bushwhack traps, and devastating burst combos when she transforms into cougar form to execute Hunted targets. She is currently played primarily in the jungle (51.49% win rate, B- tier, ranked 43/75 junglers on LoLalytics Emerald+). On u.gg, Nidalee jungle sits at a 50.6% win rate with a 2.2% pick rate. Her pick rate is moderate, reflecting her high skill floor — Nidalee rewards experienced players who can consistently land Javelin Toss at range and seamlessly weave between human and cougar forms to maximize burst damage.

Unlike traditional junglers who rely on straightforward ganking patterns, Nidalee wants to land a max-range Javelin Toss from fog of war to mark the target as Hunted, then immediately transform into cougar form and use enhanced Pounce to leap an extended 750 range onto the prey, follow up with Swipe for AoE damage, and finish with Takedown which deals up to 30% bonus damage against Hunted targets and scales with the enemy's missing health. Her passive Prowl grants bonus movement speed in brush and toward visible enemy champions, making her one of the fastest champions at navigating the jungle and rotating between camps, ganks, and invades.

Prowl (Passive) grants Nidalee 10% bonus movement speed for 2 seconds when moving through brush, increased to 30% when moving toward visible enemy champions within 1400 range. Hitting enemy champions or monsters with Javelin Toss or Bushwhack triggers a Hunt, revealing them with True Sight for 4 seconds. During the Hunt, Nidalee gains 10% movement speed (increased to 30% toward the Hunted target), and her cougar form Takedown and Pounce are enhanced against Hunted targets. Prowl is one of the most versatile passives in the game because the brush movement speed makes Nidalee's jungle clear faster as she moves between camps, the Hunt mechanic creates a mini-game where landing Q or W on an enemy champion unlocks a devastating burst combo, and the True Sight prevents enemies from escaping into fog of war or stealth after being marked.

Javelin Toss (Q — Human Form) throws a javelin in a line that deals 70 / 90 / 110 / 130 / 150 (+50% AP) magic damage to the first enemy hit, increased by 0–225% based on distance traveled for a maximum of 210 / 270 / 330 / 390 / 450 (+150% AP) magic damage at max range. Javelin Toss has a 6 second cooldown, costs 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 mana, and has 1500 range. Takedown (Q — Cougar Form) causes Nidalee's next attack to deal a minimum of 4 / 20 / 50 / 90 (+36% AP) (+75% AD) magic damage with +75 bonus attack range, increased by 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75% for every 1% of the target's missing health. If the target is Hunted, Takedown deals 30% increased damage. Javelin Toss is Nidalee's signature ability — a max-range spear hitting a squishy target deals some of the highest single-ability damage in the game at 450 (+150% AP), and because it marks the target as Hunted, landing it from fog of war creates an immediate kill opportunity where Nidalee can Pounce in and execute with Takedown before the target can react.

Bushwhack (W — Human Form) places an invisible trap at the target location that arms after 1.5 seconds and lasts for 2 minutes, dealing 40 / 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 (+20% AP) magic damage over 4 seconds and marking the target as Hunted. Nidalee can have a maximum of 4 / 6 / 7 / 10 traps active at once (scaling at levels 1 / 6 / 11 / 16). Bushwhack has a 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 second cooldown and costs 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 mana. Pounce (W — Cougar Form) causes Nidalee to leap forward, dealing 55 / 100 / 145 / 190 (+30% AP) (+50% bonus AD) magic damage to nearby enemies on landing. If the target is Hunted, Pounce has 750 range (up from the normal ~375) and its cooldown is reduced by 40 / 50 / 60 / 70%. Killing a unit also reduces Pounce's cooldown by the same amount. Bushwhack is Nidalee's vision control and hunting tool — placing traps on jungle pathways, river entrances, and objective pits provides both vision and the ability to Hunt enemies who walk through them, enabling Nidalee to ambush with her full cougar combo even without landing Javelin Toss.

Primal Surge (E — Human Form) heals a target allied champion or Nidalee herself for 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+35% AP) health, increased up to 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 / 300 (+70% AP) based on the target's missing health, and grants 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 / 70% bonus attack speed for 7 seconds. Primal Surge has a 12 second cooldown and costs 60 / 75 / 90 / 105 / 120 mana. Swipe (E — Cougar Form) claws in a cone in front of Nidalee, dealing 70 / 130 / 190 / 250 (+55% AP) (+70% bonus AD) magic damage to enemies hit. Primal Surge provides Nidalee with jungle sustain through healing and grants attack speed that accelerates her clear speed, while also allowing her to heal low-health teammates during ganks or teamfights. The heal scaling with missing health means it becomes dramatically stronger on allies who are near death — a well-timed Primal Surge can save a carry from lethal damage while the attack speed buff helps them fight back.

Aspect of the Cougar (R) is available at level 1 and allows Nidalee to transform between human and cougar form. Cougar form grants 20 bonus movement speed and melee range, with cougar abilities (Takedown, Pounce, Swipe) leveling up at ranks 6, 11, and 16. Aspect of the Cougar has no mana cost and a 3 second cooldown. The transformation is Nidalee's core mechanic — her entire gameplay revolves around using human form abilities (Q, W, E) to poke, trap, and heal from range, then transforming into cougar form to engage with enhanced abilities and burst down Hunted targets, before transforming back to human form for another rotation of abilities.

Strengths

• Nidalee has one of the strongest early jungle clears and invasion patterns in the game because Prowl's brush movement speed makes her navigation between camps faster than most junglers, Primal Surge heals her through camps while granting attack speed, and cougar form abilities deal high AoE damage on short cooldowns with Pounce resets on unit kills — This clear speed advantage allows Nidalee to finish her first clear faster, arrive at scuttle crab or the enemy jungle before most opponents, and establish early map control that snowballs into objective leads
• Javelin Toss at max range deals up to 450 (+150% AP) magic damage, which is one of the highest single-ability damage values in the game, and because it also marks the target as Hunted for enhanced cougar abilities, landing a long-range spear from fog of war creates an immediate kill opportunity that turns a single skillshot into a death sentence — No other jungler can threaten kills from 1500 range with a single ability while simultaneously unlocking their entire burst combo on the same target
• Nidalee's Bushwhack traps provide unmatched vision control for a jungler, lasting 2 minutes with up to 10 traps active at level 16, effectively creating a web of invisible wards that reveal and Hunt any enemy who walks through them — this turns river pathways, jungle entrances, and objective pits into kill zones where any enemy who triggers a trap is immediately marked for execution — The trap vision doubles as both defensive (spotting enemy invades and ganks) and offensive (marking targets for cougar form assassination)
• Nidalee's shape-shifting kit gives her unparalleled versatility in the jungle — she can poke from range in human form, heal allies, and then transform into a melee assassin with gap-closing, execute damage, and AoE burst, all while having R available from level 1 with only a 3-second cooldown — This dual-form flexibility means Nidalee always has the right tool for any situation, whether she needs to siege, heal, assassinate, or disengage

Weaknesses

• Nidalee has one of the highest skill floors of any jungle champion — her effectiveness is heavily dependent on landing Javelin Toss, a relatively narrow and dodgeable skillshot, and if she misses Q she loses both the Hunt mark and the majority of her burst damage, making her significantly weaker than if she had landed it — This means inconsistent Javelin Toss accuracy directly translates to inconsistent game impact, which is why Nidalee's win rate varies dramatically between skill brackets
• Nidalee falls off significantly in the late game compared to scaling junglers like Karthus, Viego, or Kindred because her burst relies on landing a skillshot to trigger the Hunt combo, and in late-game teamfights where enemies group tightly and build defensive items, finding isolated targets to assassinate becomes increasingly difficult — If Nidalee cannot snowball her early-game advantages into a significant gold lead, she risks being outscaled by junglers whose kits function reliably regardless of whether they land a skillshot
• Nidalee has no hard crowd control — she cannot stun, root, knock up, or suppress any enemy, meaning her ganks rely entirely on landing Javelin Toss for damage and the Hunt speed boost to chase, which makes her ganks significantly less reliable than junglers like Elise, Lee Sin, or Jarvan IV who can lock targets down — Lanes with immobile enemies are the only reliable gank targets, and against mobile champions or those with dashes, Nidalee's ganks often fail to secure kills
• Nidalee is fragile in cougar form — despite being in melee range to use Takedown, she has no defensive steroids, shields, or damage reduction, meaning if she commits to a cougar combo on a target that survives, she is vulnerable to being collapsed on and killed before she can transform back and disengage — This glass-cannon nature means mistiming an all-in or engaging without the burst to kill is often punished by death

Recommended Runes

Jungle — Dark Harvest (Domination)

The highest win rate and most popular rune page for Nidalee jungle is Dark Harvest with a 51.49% win rate on LoLalytics Patch 16.6. Dark Harvest synergizes perfectly with Nidalee's burst assassin playstyle, stacking damage throughout the game from jungle camps and champion kills.

• Dark Harvest — Damaging a champion below 50% health deals bonus adaptive damage and collects a soul, permanently increasing Dark Harvest's damage. Dark Harvest is ideal for Nidalee because Javelin Toss and the cougar combo are designed to burst enemies below 50% health, where Dark Harvest triggers for massive bonus damage that scales infinitely as Nidalee accumulates souls from ganks and skirmishes. Each successful gank or invade kill adds more damage to future Dark Harvest procs, creating a snowball effect that rewards Nidalee's aggressive early-game playstyle.
• Sudden Impact — Dashing or leaping grants lethality and magic penetration for 5 seconds. Sudden Impact procs every time Nidalee uses Pounce in cougar form, providing free magic penetration that amplifies the damage of her entire cougar combo (Pounce, Swipe, Takedown). Since Nidalee Pounces multiple times per fight, Sudden Impact is essentially always active during combat.
• Grisly Mementos — Grants adaptive force for each unique champion takedown. Grisly Mementos rewards Nidalee for ganking different lanes and getting diverse kills across the map, synergizing with her roaming jungle playstyle that prioritizes visiting every lane to build advantages.
• Treasure Hunter — Grants bonus gold on unique champion takedowns. Treasure Hunter accelerates Nidalee's item power spikes by providing bonus gold when she kills different enemy champions, which is natural for a jungler who ganks all three lanes. The extra gold helps Nidalee reach Lich Bane and Sorcerer's Shoes faster, maintaining her tempo advantage.

Secondary — Sorcery

• Transcendence — Grants 5 ability haste at level 5 and 5 ability haste at level 8, plus resets 20% of remaining basic ability cooldowns on champion takedowns. Transcendence provides valuable ability haste for Nidalee's combo-dependent kit and the cooldown reset on takedowns means scoring a kill immediately brings Javelin Toss and Primal Surge closer to being available for the next target.
• Waterwalking — Grants bonus movement speed and adaptive force while in the river. Waterwalking enhances Nidalee's river control by providing extra AP and movement speed when contesting scuttle crab, rotating between lanes through the river, and fighting over dragon and baron — all situations where Nidalee frequently finds herself as an aggressive jungler.

Stat Shards

• Adaptive Force — Extra AP increases Javelin Toss, Takedown, and all cougar form ability damage for stronger clears and burst.
• Ability Haste — Reduces cooldowns across all abilities, allowing more frequent Javelin Tosses and faster form-swapping combos.
• Health — Bonus health improves survivability during early jungle clears and skirmishes.

Recommended Item Build

Based on data from ranked Nidalee matches tracked across multiple stat sites on Patch 16.6, here are the highest winrate build paths.

Jungle Build

#### Early Game (0-10 min)

• Scorchclaw Pup — The red jungle pet starting item that provides a burn effect on abilities and attacks. Scorchclaw Pup is the optimal jungle start for Nidalee because the burn damage adds to her already fast clear speed and provides additional damage during early ganks and invades, helping her secure kills.
• Health Potions (x2) — Two Health Potions supplement Primal Surge healing to keep Nidalee healthy through her first full jungle clear, ensuring she is at high enough health to contest scuttle crab or invade the enemy jungle.

#### Core Build (10-20 min)

• Lich Bane — Grants AP, ability haste, movement speed, and a Spellblade passive that empowers the next auto attack after using an ability. Lich Bane is Nidalee's optimal first item because the Spellblade passive synergizes perfectly with Takedown — after transforming to cougar form and using Pounce, the Lich Bane proc adds massive bonus damage to the empowered Takedown auto attack. The movement speed helps Nidalee navigate the jungle faster and chase targets, and the ability haste reduces her Javelin Toss cooldown for more frequent poke.
• Sorcerer's Shoes — Grants flat magic penetration and movement speed. Sorcerer's Shoes maximize Nidalee's burst damage by penetrating enemy base magic resist, making her Javelin Toss-into-cougar combo significantly more lethal against squishy targets in the mid game.
• Shadowflame — Grants AP and magic penetration. Shadowflame provides the flat magic penetration and raw AP that amplify Nidalee's burst combo, ensuring that her Javelin Toss and cougar form abilities cut through enemy magic resist for maximum assassination potential on squishy carries.

#### Late Game (25+ min)

• Rabadon's Deathcap — Grants massive AP and increases total AP by 35%. Rabadon's Deathcap dramatically amplifies Nidalee's burst damage by multiplying all her AP, making Javelin Toss at max range deal devastating damage with a 150% AP ratio and Takedown's execute damage even more lethal against low-health targets.
• Zhonya's Hourglass — Grants AP, armor, ability haste, and an active that makes Nidalee invulnerable for 2.5 seconds. Zhonya's Hourglass is essential for Nidalee because she must enter melee range in cougar form to execute targets with Takedown, and the invulnerability active protects her during the vulnerable window after diving in, giving her team time to follow up while she survives.
• Stormsurge — Grants AP, movement speed, and magic penetration, with a passive that deals bonus damage when Nidalee's abilities deal enough damage within a short window. Stormsurge synergizes with Nidalee's front-loaded burst combo — landing Javelin Toss followed by Pounce, Swipe, and Takedown in rapid succession easily triggers Stormsurge's damage threshold, adding a burst of bonus damage that helps finish off targets who would otherwise survive.

Ability Priority

Jungle: Q > E > W (R at 6, 11, 16)

1. Javelin Toss / Takedown (Q) — Max first. Levels at 1, 4, 5, 7, 9. Each rank increases Javelin Toss base damage from 70 to 150 and max-range damage from 210 to 450, while Takedown's minimum damage scales from 4 to 90. Maxing Q first is critical because Javelin Toss is Nidalee's primary damage ability for both jungle clears and ganks — the damage increase per rank is enormous, and since Takedown's cougar form damage also scales with Q rank, maxing Q amplifies both her ranged poke and melee execute damage simultaneously.
2. Aspect of the Cougar (R) — Level at 6, 11, and 16. Each rank upgrades cougar form abilities (Takedown, Pounce, Swipe), increasing their base damage and enhancing Pounce's cooldown reduction against Hunted targets from 40% to 70%. Level 6 is a significant power spike because all three cougar abilities gain substantially higher base damage, making Nidalee's full combo lethal enough to one-shot squishy targets.
3. Primal Surge / Swipe (E) — Max second. Levels at 2 (or 3), 8, 10, 12, 13. Each rank increases Primal Surge's base heal from 50 to 150 (max heal from 100 to 300), attack speed buff from 30% to 70%, and Swipe's damage from 70 to 250. Maxing E second provides better jungle sustain through increased healing, stronger attack speed buffs for objective-taking, and more cougar form AoE damage from Swipe for teamfight skirmishes.
4. Bushwhack / Pounce (W) — Max last. Levels at 3 (or 2), 14, 15, 17, 18. One point in W early provides the trap for Hunting enemies and Pounce for mobility and damage, but additional ranks primarily increase Bushwhack's trap damage and reduce its cooldown, which are less impactful than Q damage and E sustain. Pounce's damage scales modestly with ranks, but the enhanced Pounce cooldown reduction already improves through R ranks.

Summoner Spells

• Smite — Smite is mandatory for jungle Nidalee as it is required to purchase jungle items and secure objective last-hits on Dragon, Baron, and Rift Herald. Smite also synergizes with Nidalee's invade pattern — combining Smite damage with Takedown execute gives her unmatched objective steal potential.
• Flash — Flash is essential on Nidalee because it extends her already-strong gap-closing potential. Flash-Takedown on a low-health target secures kills that would otherwise escape, and Flash is Nidalee's only reliable escape when caught in cougar form without Pounce available. Flash also enables aggressive Javelin Toss angles from unexpected positions.

Playstyle Tips

Early Clear & Invading (0-6 min)

Nidalee's early jungle clear is about maximizing clear speed through form-swapping, landing Hunt marks on camps for enhanced cougar abilities, and finishing the first clear fast enough to invade or contest scuttle crab before the enemy jungler.

Start with Javelin Toss at level 1 for maximum camp damage. On each camp, the optimal rotation is: Javelin Toss from range to mark the monster as Hunted, immediately transform to cougar form, Pounce onto the Hunted target (which resets Pounce cooldown by 40%), Swipe for AoE damage, then Takedown for the execute damage that deals bonus damage against the Hunted target's missing health. Transform back to human form, heal with Primal Surge for sustain, and throw another Javelin Toss for the next camp.

Nidalee's first clear typically follows a 5-camp path (skip Krugs) ending at scuttle crab at around 3:15-3:20. Her Prowl passive grants bonus movement speed through brush, making transitions between camps faster than most junglers. After clearing scuttle, look for gank opportunities or invade the enemy jungle — Nidalee's level 3-4 dueling power with a landed Javelin Toss is among the strongest of any jungler, and catching an enemy jungler at low health from clearing is often a free kill.

Place Bushwhack traps on the enemy jungle entrances and river pathways during rotations. These traps provide vision for tracking the enemy jungler's position and create Hunt opportunities that can lead to picks throughout the game.

Ganking & Snowballing (6-14 min)

Mid-game Nidalee with Lich Bane and Sorcerer's Shoes is a roaming assassin who hunts isolated targets with Javelin Toss from fog of war, controls vision with Bushwhack trap networks, and leverages her movement speed advantage to be everywhere on the map before the enemy jungler can respond.

The ideal gank pattern is: approach from fog of war or brush where Prowl grants bonus movement speed, throw Javelin Toss from maximum range to mark the target as Hunted, immediately transform to cougar form where Prowl grants 30% movement speed toward the Hunted target, Pounce at the enhanced 750 range to close the gap instantly, Swipe for AoE damage, then Takedown to execute the target. With Lich Bane, the Takedown auto attack deals Spellblade bonus damage on top of the missing health execute, often killing targets in a single rotation.

Prioritize ganking lanes with immobile champions who cannot dodge Javelin Toss easily. Nidalee struggles to gank mobile champions with dashes because missing Q removes the Hunt mark and dramatically reduces her burst damage. Look for overextended laners, especially those at 50-70% health where the full combo will kill.

During this phase, aggressively contest every Dragon, Rift Herald, and neutral objective. Nidalee's fast objective-taking (Primal Surge's attack speed buff on herself plus Takedown execute on Epic Monsters) combined with her trap vision around the pit makes her one of the best junglers at controlling objectives.

Late Game (25+ min)

Late-game Nidalee is a poke-and-pick champion who throws Javelin Tosses from safe range during siege situations, heals low allies with massive Primal Surges that scale with missing health, and looks for isolated targets to Hunt and assassinate before teamfights begin.

In teamfights, Nidalee's primary role shifts from assassin to a hybrid poke-healer-assassin. Before fights begin, throw Javelin Tosses from maximum range at the enemy team — a max-range spear with Rabadon's Deathcap hits for over 1000 damage on squishy targets, chunking them to the point where they cannot engage the teamfight. Use Primal Surge to heal the lowest-health ally for up to 300 (+70% AP) while granting them 70% attack speed, which can turn an ADC into a sustained damage machine.

If a Javelin Toss lands on a priority target, immediately transform and execute the Pounce-Swipe-Takedown combo to eliminate them before the teamfight truly begins. If the fight has already started and the enemy team is grouped, play around the edges by throwing Javelin Tosses, healing allies with Primal Surge, and only committing to cougar form when a high-value target is isolated and low enough health for Takedown to execute.

Position Bushwhack traps behind the team's position and on flank routes — these traps provide vision of flanking assassins or engage champions and can trigger a Hunt mark that allows Nidalee to turn on a flanker with enhanced cougar abilities.

Matchups

Jungle

#### Favorable

• Ambessa — Nidalee wins 57.2% against Ambessa in the jungle. Nidalee's range advantage with Javelin Toss keeps Ambessa at a distance where she cannot engage effectively, and in the jungle where encounters often happen around brush, Nidalee's Prowl movement speed and trap vision give her superior positioning. Ambessa's melee-focused kit struggles against a champion who can poke from 1500 range and disengage before Ambessa closes the gap.
• Malphite — Nidalee wins approximately 56% against jungle Malphite. Malphite jungle has slow clear speed and no sustain, making him vulnerable to Nidalee's aggressive invades. Nidalee can steal camps, place traps in his jungle, and fight him at any point in the early game because Malphite's damage is too low to threaten Nidalee through her heal. Malphite's Unstoppable Force engage is predictable enough for Nidalee to Pounce away.
• Jayce — Nidalee wins approximately 57% against jungle Jayce. Jayce jungle lacks sustain and clear speed compared to Nidalee, and his kit is not optimized for jungle dueling. Nidalee can invade Jayce freely, outpace his clear, and fight him at any stage of the game because her burst combo with Hunt exceeds Jayce's damage output in a 1v1 jungle skirmish.

#### Even

• Lee Sin — A skill matchup where both champions have strong early games and invade patterns. Lee Sin's Safeguard mobility and Dragon's Rage disengage can neutralize Nidalee's cougar form all-ins, but Nidalee outranges Lee Sin with Javelin Toss and can poke him down before he finds an engage. The matchup is decided by who invades the other's jungle first and whether Nidalee lands her spear before Lee Sin dashes in.
• Elise — A mirror-like matchup between two AP junglers with human and spider/cougar form transformations. Both have strong early ganks and duel potential, but Elise's Cocoon stun gives her more reliable gank setup while Nidalee's long-range poke with Javelin Toss gives her better sieging and pre-fight damage. The winner is determined by who executes their combo first in skirmishes.
• Graves — Graves' tankiness from True Grit armor stacking makes him difficult for Nidalee to one-shot, and his Quickdraw dash lets him reposition away from Javelin Toss. However, Nidalee's range advantage and heal sustain allow her to poke Graves from distances where his shotgun attacks are ineffective. Both clear camps quickly, making this a matchup decided by which lanes each jungler successfully influences.

#### Unfavorable

• Nunu & Willump — Nidalee wins only 43.01% against Nunu & Willump, making this her worst matchup. Nunu's tankiness, sustain from Consume, and reliable ganking with Snowball engage make him difficult for Nidalee to duel or outgank. Nunu can eat Nidalee's traps without consequence, his Snowball ganks are more reliable than Nidalee's skillshot-dependent ganks, and he outscales her in teamfight utility with Absolute Zero.
• Ekko — Nidalee wins only 45.31% against Ekko. Ekko's Phase Dive dash and Chronobreak ultimate give him the mobility to dodge Javelin Toss and escape Nidalee's cougar form all-ins. Ekko can trade aggressively and ult back to full health if the fight goes poorly, while Nidalee has no such safety net. Ekko also outscales Nidalee in teamfights with his AoE stun from Parallel Convergence.
• Udyr — Udyr is one of Nidalee's hardest counters because his tankiness, sustain, and movement speed allow him to run Nidalee down in melee range where her Javelin Toss cannot reach max damage. Udyr shrugs off Nidalee's poke with his shield, clears camps just as fast, and in a 1v1 duel at close range Udyr's sustained damage and crowd control overwhelm Nidalee's burst-oriented kit.

Recent Patch Changes

Patch 25.24 (December 2025) — Bug Fix / Nerf

Nidalee received a significant bug fix in Patch 25.24 that addressed her Javelin Toss dealing more damage than intended at close-to-mid ranges.

• Javelin Toss (Q): Bonus damage beyond 525 range corrected from 30–125% to the intended 0–125%. Previously, a bug caused Javelin Toss to deal 30% bonus damage at 525 range (where it should have dealt 0% bonus), inflating her mid-range damage significantly. This fix reduced Nidalee's effective burst at close and medium ranges while leaving her max-range damage unchanged.

Earlier Season 15 Changes

Nidalee received several adjustments earlier in Season 15 that shaped her current state:

• Base health increased to 390 from 370
• Base armor increased to 17 from 15
• Various jungle clear optimizations and monster damage bonuses to improve her viability as a jungler
• Pounce cooldown and Hunt mechanic tuning to balance her aggressive invade pattern

These changes collectively improved Nidalee's durability in the early jungle clear while the Javelin Toss bug fix ensured that her damage was properly gated behind skillful long-range spear accuracy rather than being inflated at mid range.

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