Talk:Nidalee/@comment-80.15.143.26-20120605080425/@comment-109.150.231.131-20120611180801

You shouldn't rush a Trinity Force with Nidalee IMO. Sure, it's good, but Nidalee benefits more from making a Warmog's because she can farm it to maximum so quickly. She also has pretty high base damage on her Q anyway.

My build for Bruiser Nidalee is Boots Pots start, making Wriggle's Lantern and defensive boots for lane, then rushing out a Warmog's. After that, it depends on how well you're doing, but safe items to go into are Atma's Impaler, Sheen > Phage > Trinity Force, Guardian's Angel and Banshee's Veil. End build should look like Mercury Treads/Ninja Tabi, Warmog's Armour, Atma's Impaler, Banshee's Veil, Guardian's Angel, Trinity Force.

Ability levelling is R>E>Q>W, but you take a point in W first for the 'free ward'. Runes depend on the champion you're facing, but since I tend to use her as a counterpick to melee top laners, particularly Jax, Trynd, Darius, Riven and co., armour yellows, blues and quints with AD reds. Take 9/21/0 for masteries, with Flash Ignite/Exhaust depending on the lane.

The item choice is based on the fact that Nidalee is, in my opinion, along with Udyr, Shyvana and Lee Sin, one of the best carry divers in the game. In some ways, she's better than others, because of the 3 second jump, but in order to dive on carries, you need a LOT of health and resistances. This build gives you something like, +150 armour from items, and +80MR, as well as the spell shield. She's particularly nasty around the river areas and in the jungle, where you can jump around and make yourself a complete nuisance, simply by jumping over, Swiping, Q'ing the carry, then Pouncing back out.

Thing with most solo tops is you have to be flexible with your build. Different situations call for different items. Sometimes, a QSS might be more useful. Others may call for Mallet over Warmogs. Don't be afraid to deviate to counter your lane or their team comp. Nidalee's greatest strengths are her lane sustain, easy CS'ing, lane harassment, and of course, MASSIVE mobility. So don't forget to establish lane dominance, make use of her ridiculously good laning phase.