Talk:VPBE/@comment-24124762-20150406103846/@comment-1330314-20150407221112

I don't really think the lack of an ultimate is entirely the problem. If anything, Nidalee's rework justified the lack of a "real" ultimate by requiring her to combo with both her forms, and even now she's balanced around all of the abilities she has. It's a common misconception that more abilities or passives mean more power, and I think it detracts from what's causing frustration when playing against her.

While I do agree that and  have design issues tied to overloaded kits, I don't think  (or, who uses a similar mechanic) is badly designed at all: each of her enhanced abilities have clearly different uses, and all of them come in handy in different situations, so her lack of a singular ultimate is justified.

In terms of power spikes, I do agree that it's harder to do on shapeshifter champions, though it's not impossible: Nidalee herself needs ranks in her ult to increase her Cougar Form damage, and Karma/Heimerdinger need ult ranks to increase the strength of their mega-abilities. Despite his overloaded kit, does have good power spikes tied to his ult (its damage increase per rank is humongous), and the main issue with his power progression is how skewed it is towards the early game.