Nidalee vs Locke Counter Pick

Four hundred units of range separate these two — 525 for Nidalee, 125 for Locke — and the 56.6% she holds across 797 games on patch 16.13.1 is largely a statement about that gap. Javelin Toss gains damage the longer it flies, so the further Locke has to travel before Silver Stake can add its on-hit magic damage, the more expensive his approach becomes.

His kit does have answers. Ashen Pursuit teleports and then dashes onto a target, and Soul Ignition grants attack speed and move speed on top of a 340 base that already beats 335. The cost is health: the ability damages him through its duration and returns only part of it at the end, a poor trade against an opponent hunting for a wounded target. Purgatory can execute, so dropping low is genuinely dangerous, and his durability — 655 health and 32 armor at level one, 2,508 and 103.4 at eighteen, against 610 and 32 rising to 2,463 and 117 — is not what settles the outcome.

Locke’s damage is physical, so the armor curve toward 117 is the relevant defensive line, while Nidalee’s mixed output splits his resistances in two directions. The difficulty ratings, 8 for Nidalee against 5 for Locke, mean the winning side is also the more demanding one to pilot.