Nidalee
With
her oppressively high spear damage and catlike (maybe just cat-ish)
elusiveness, Nidalee's been a contentious low-risk, low-interaction
champion for quite some time. Specifically, old Nidalee's gameplay often
revolved around the question of "when should I stop throwing spears?"
to which the answer was typically "never."Froggen - Amumu vs Jarvan IV - Jungle
To that end, our goals
with this Nidalee gameplay update are to tone down some of her many
frustration points while also giving her more options other than
chucking projectiles. We also saw this as a great opportunity to cement
Nidalee as a real shapeshifting huntress, which meant stronger ties from
her human form to her cougar form. Additionally, by connecting
Nidalee's offense with cougar form, she now has to balance her high
escape potential against her ability to hunt down squishy targets ("Leap
away or leap at their face?").
There's certainly more counterplay (and teamplay for those playing
around Nidalee engages) when a cougar goes flying into the backline
versus a single nuclear-tipped spear.Faker Lissandra vs Ahri
Visuals
PRETTY : New icons have been added for all abilities
CLARITY : Added a new particle to distinguish "Hunted" opponents
CLARITY : Javelin Toss visuals adjusted for better readability
CLARITY : Bushwack ground visual indicator improved to be more noticeable
General
KITTY : All of Nidalee's cougar form abilities scale with ranks in R - Aspect of the Cougar
Passive - Prowl
MOVEMENT : Moving
through brush increases Nidalee's movement speed by 10% for 2 seconds,
increased to 30% toward visible enemy champions within a range of 5500.
HUNTED : Damaging
champions with Javelin Toss or Bushwhack marks them as 'Hunted' for 4
seconds, granting Nidalee vision of them, 30% increased movement speed
toward them (within a range of 5500) and enhancing her next Takedown,
Pounce, and Swipe against them.
Bjergsen - Nidalee vs Ahri
Q - Javelin Toss
Nidalee
tosses her javelin, dealing magic damage. If it exceeds her basic
attack range it gains damage based on distance flown, up to a cap at 80%
of its additional range.
HUNTED : Applies the 'Hunted' debuff to champions for 4 seconds
RANGE : 1500 units (damage caps out at 1300)
MINIMUM MAGIC DAMAGE : 50/75/100/125/150 (+0.4 ability power)
MAXIMUM MAGIC DAMAGE : 150/225/300/375/450 (+1.2 ability power)
COST : 50/60/70/80/90 mana
COOLDOWN : 6 seconds
WIDTH : Missile width 60 ⇒ 30
W - Bushwhack
Nidalee lays a Bushwhack trap. When an enemy springs the trap, they are revealed in addition to taking damage over 4 seconds.
HUNTED : Applies the 'Hunted' debuff to champions for 4 seconds
MAGIC DAMAGE : 20/40/60/80/100 + 12/14/16/18/20% current health (+1% per 50 ability power) over the duration of 4 seconds
DURATION : 2 minutes
COST : 40/45/50/55/60 mana
COOLDOWN : 17/15/13/11/9 seconds
CLARITY : Only affects one target per trap
E - Primal Surge
Nidalee heals a target ally champion and grants them bonus attack speed for 7 seconds.
HEAL : 45/85/125/165/205 (+0.5 ability power)
ATTACK SPEED BONUS : 20/30/40/50/60% attack speed
COST : 60/80/100/120/140 mana
COOLDOWN : 12 seconds
R - Aspect Of The Cougar
Nidalee transforms into a vicious cougar with the abilities Takedown, Pounce, and Swipe. Rawr.
RANKS : Aspect of the Cougar has 4 ranks and Nidalee starts the game with 1 rank in it
COST : No cost
COOLDOWN : 3 seconds
Q - Takedown
Nidalee's next attack deals magic damage. Takedown deals additional damage to targets at lower health, up to 250% total damage.
HUNTED BONUS : The first Takedown targeting a 'Hunted' champion deals +33% increased damage
UTILITY : Nidalee gains +75 attack range for the Takedown attack
MINIMUM MAGIC DAMAGE : 4/20/50/90 (+0.24 ability power) (+1.0 attack damage)
MAXIMUM MAGIC DAMAGE : 10/50/125/225 (+0.6 ability power) (+2.5 attack damage)
COST : No cost
COOLDOWN : 5 seconds
W - Pounce
HUNTED BONUS : The first Pounce directly towards a 'Hunted' champions will have up to 700 range
UTILITY : Killing a unit in cougar form reduces the cooldown of Pounce to 1 second
UTILITY : Nidalee now pounces in the direction of the player's cursor
MAGIC DAMAGE : 50/100/150/200 (+0.3 ability power)
COST : No cost
COOLDOWN : 5 seconds
E - Swipe
HUNTED BONUS : The first Swipe that damages a 'Hunted' champion reduces the cooldown of Pounce to 1 second
UTILITY : Nidalee now swipes in the direction of the player's cursor
MAGIC DAMAGE : 70/130/190/250 (+0.45 ability power)
COST : No cost
COOLDOWN : 5 seconds
R - Aspect Of The Cougar
Nidalee transforms back into a human. Meow.
RANKS : Aspect of the Cougar has 4 ranks and Nidalee starts the game with 1 rank in it
COST : No cost