User blog comment:ClariS/Nidalee & Unhealthy State/@comment-4431813-20140418230913/@comment-24420226-20140419040032

It wasn't about Nidalee being underpowered, Her numbers haven't changed much. It's simply that there was a swing in the meta from 'teamfight-centred' comp where people focus on nullifying carries as quickly as possible to a 'siege-centred' comp where they try to win by scaring off the enemy with numbers. AP Spear Nidalee did poorly in the former because she provided no CC and she had a hard time spearing the backline, and using cougar form was almost garunteed suicide. She is popular in the latter because if she can land 1 spear on a squishy carry, or two/three spears on a beefier frontliner, they would be forced to leave; thus the sieging team has a number advantage and can take whatever objective they were posing for without trouble. The 'unhealthiness' is that AP nidalee doesn't need special positioning, a special team comp, or anything else in order to pull this off. All she needs is an Athene's and she becomes a one-man siege ingine. Eventually she will hit someone with a few spears. You could even run a comp that is heavily based around engaging/counter engaging and then just have nidalee for the spears.

P.S. What was that quip about Karma? I don't know if you play her a lot, but I do and her damage is insane.