Nidalee

Nidalee grew up in the deepest reaches of the Ixtal jungle, far enough from anyone else that tracking became second nature before anything else did. She isn’t fully human and isn’t fully animal either; she moves between both, taking the shape of a cougar whenever the situation calls for it and treating any stretch of territory she claims as something worth defending without warning.

Her tools shift depending on which form she’s in:

• Javelin Toss, thrown in human form, gains damage the farther it travels; as a cougar, the same slot becomes Takedown, a finishing blow against wounded prey.
• Bushwhack lays a trap that reveals and damages whoever springs it, while its cougar counterpart, Pounce, is a leap that damages the landing area.
• Primal Surge heals and speeds up allies in human form; as a cougar, Swipe claws through anything nearby instead.
• Aspect Of The Cougar is the switch itself, turning her from tracker to predator on command.

The Prowl passive rewards her for using the terrain the way she was raised to, picking up speed in brush that jumps higher near enemy champions she can see. Survivors of an encounter with her tend to describe the same thing: sharp instincts, sharper claws, and very little warning before either shows up. She isn’t the only shapeshifting hunter to come out of Ixtal — Neeko answers threats with a different kind of disguise entirely.

Nidalee plays almost exclusively in Mid lane on mana, and brush is central to how she fights: moving through it swings her effectiveness noticeably, whether she is harassing with Javelin Toss before switching forms to chase a target she has already marked as Hunted, or setting Bushwhack traps in a team’s backline ahead of a siege, where they punish anyone already worn down. Because her follow-up damage depends entirely on that Hunted mark, avoiding Javelin Toss and Bushwhack in the first place denies her the opening, and since Javelin Toss hits harder from range, closing the distance early is usually the better answer than waiting to dodge it.