Heartsteel Nidalee Build

1. You play Heartsteel Nidalee.
2. You rush Heartsteel #1 and stack as much HP as possible.
3. You build items that scale and benefit from HP, then add Armor and MR depending on the enemy team.

1. You have flexible ability leveling order. You can focus Javelin Toss (Q Human Form) or Primal Surge (E Human Form).
• Max Q when you need to poke or want damage.
• Max E when you want to have more AA damage, sustain or you want to buff your carry.

Getting started

1. You rush Heartsteel #1 unless it is going to be hard to proc it - they are all ranged and just poke you. Then you start slow with Guardian's Horn instead.
2. Guardian's Horn is a surprisingly good item for its price. You can keep it for a very long time (or even have it as 6th item).

Item Order

1. Item Order after Heartsteel is flexible. You need to see what you need in particular game:
• Get Overlord's Bloodmail for more damage and AD.
• Get Warmog's Armor as anti-poke item (helps you stay in lane) and for some sweet HP.
• Get Unending Despair, if there are prolonged fights in which you can stay near enemies (or enemies near you). The items gets better, the more HP you get.
• Get various Armor and/or MR items to counter enemy team.
• Get Titanic Hydra for more fun, more damage and some survivability.

During fights

1. Your main damage and power comes from auto attacks - Grasp of the Undying and Heartsteel.
2. This is auto attack oriented Nidalee build, so do it! Especially if running with Titanic Hydra or Sundered Sky.
3. You can prioritize switching between champions in the fight, just to farm more Heartsteel procs.
4. Remember to consume your Heartsteel procs!

Adapting

1. You need to adapt your items to the game. Enemy team heavy on AP? Buy MR. They heavy on AD? Buy Armor. You need some damage? Well buy that.
2. Sundered Sky is very good damage item for this build (as #2-#4 depending on the game). It scales off your HP. It gives damage and pretty good sustain in fights. Remember to switch targets to maximize the effect!

Runes

1. Second Wind scales off with your HP, so it is going to be powerful sustain rune. You can use it by purposefully triggering it by letting enemies poke you a little or walking over some harmful spells.
2. Triumph is better (heal + gold), but if you want to have easier time with your mana, go Presence of Mind.
3. Remember to consume your Grasp of the Undying procs!

1. You can use your traps Bushwhack / Pounce (W) for bush control.
2. When there's Cannon minion or Siege minion, try focusing it, so an enemy team won't destroy all your traps.
3. For that reason, you can put your traps more behind your position (i.e., if an enemy team has great engage on your team).
4. As Nidalee, you have your ultimate Aspect Of The Cougar (R) since lvl 1. You can lose track of enemy levels and get surprised by their level 6 spike and their ulti. Watch out!
5. You can abuse Sudden Impact rune with Javelin Toss / Takedown (Q) in Human Form! Throw Q, then use switch to Cougar Form. If it hits, they are dealt additional true damage. Same works with Bushwhack / Pounce (W).

Human and Cougar Form interactions

1. Nidalee is treated as melee in Cougar Form and as ranged in Human Form. That means there are interactions with certain runes and items. Examples below.
2. Grasp of the Undying - If you want to deal more damage, get more Health and heal for more with Grasp of the Undying - when auto from ranged, switch to melee (when animation is mid-flight)!
3. First Strike - If you play Nidalee with First Strike rune, if you use Human Javelin Toss / Takedown (Q) and change to Cougar Form, you actually get the melee gold. This way you can farm and earn additional gold per minute by syncing Q with First Strike (beware of Bushwhack / Pounce (W) though!).
• Credit: Nxal
4. Hubris - if you score a takedown when in Cougar Form, you get more Attack Damage (melee effect), than you would get in Human Form.

1. Use brush to your advantage! Moving in and out of brush can heavily alter your effectiveness in battle.
2. Start team fights by harassing with your Javelin Toss, and then switch to cougar form to chase down Hunted targets.
3. Bushwhack traps deal damage based on their victim's current Health. Set them up in your team's backline before fights break out during sieges to help your team deal damage to the enemy frontline.