1. Prerequisites & Setup

This section covers the essential runes, in-game settings, and fundamental mechanics crucial for optimizing your Nidalee jungle clear.

1.1. Runes

The runes used in the videos in this guide are:

• Primary: Conqueror - Triumph - Legend: Haste - Cut Down
• Secondary: Transcendance - Waterwalking
• Shards: Attack Speed (+10%) - Adaptive Force (+9) - HP Scaling (+10-180 HP)

  • Note on Health Shard choice:

    • While videos in this guide use HP Scaling Shard (10-180 HP), the HP Flat Shard (+65 HP) is getting more and more popular, so this guide covers its usage.
    • The HP Flat Shard gives your pet slightly more damage (due to its +3% bonus health damage) and can improve clear consistency. This generally doesn’t change clear methods significantly, except for camps like the Krug camp, where the clear method might need adapting depending on the shard used.
    • Below is a table comparing the Level 2 pet damage difference between the two shards.

    Rune Type	Condition (Level 2)	Damage per Tick	Total on 14 Ticks	Total on 15 Ticks	Diff. on 14 Ticks	Diff. on 15 Ticks
    HP Flat Shard (+65 HP)	2	27.15	~380.1	~407.3	+18.9	+20.3
    HP Scaling Shard (+10-180 HP)	2	25.80	~361.2	~387.0	—	—

See the page below for a detailed explanation of the statistical analysis:

HP Flat Shard vs HP Scaling Shard : a statistical analysis

1.2. In-Game settings

1.2.1. Spear range indicator setup

To optimize your clear, max-range Spears are essential. They improve clear speed (more jungle pet ticks), let you aggro camps earlier as they path toward you, but most importantly, ensure a consistent clear. If you, like most players, use Quick Cast, you won’t see the range indicator by default. Here are the three ways to show the Spear range indicator :

• Option 1: Set a Normal Cast Hotkey
  • Navigate to: Options → Hotkeys → Abilities and Summoner Spells → Normal Cast.
  • How it works: Press the key to see the range indicator, press it again or left-click to throw the spear.
• Option 2: Set a Quick cast with indicator Hotkey
  • Navigate to: Options → Hotkeys → Abilities and Summoner Spells → Quick cast with indicator.
  • How it works: Hold down the ability key to see the range indicator, release the key or left click to throw the spear.
• Option 3: Click the Spell Icon
  • Less practical overall but functional. Notably used by some professional players like Canyon.
  • How it works: Functions like Normal Cast.

1.2.2 Player Stop Position (S-Key)

Before diving into this section, ****I highly recommend watching Phylaris's advanced guide to jungle kiting here: **https://youtu.be/UoYQ8WIdzeE**. It provides excellent visual explanations of the concepts discussed below and is valuable for everyone. If you've never seen it, you're sure to learn something. Proper positioning on Nidalee, especially in cougar form, is crucial for an optimized clear. This section explains how to use the ‘Player stop Position’ command, why it’s particularly useful for Nidalee, and when to use it.

• The Goal: Maintaining max attack range position
  • In Cougar form, Nidalee’s attack range is 125. Staying precisely at this maximum distance is key for:
    • Easier kiting: Creates more distance from the monster, requiring less movement to kite them effectively (e.g, Gromp has 150 attack range; at 125 range, you only need to move >25 units away for it to start pathing towards you).
    • Faster transitions: Allows quicker movement towards the next camp.
    • Consistency: Helps avoid body-blocking on specific camps (e.g., Raptor camp).
• The problem: The “Distance Bug” (as named by Phylaris)
  • General Mechanic: When you right-click a target while your auto-attack (AA) is ready, your champion walks to its maximum attack range and stops to attack.
  • The Issue: However, if you right-click while your auto-attack is on cooldown (often happens during kiting when you stop attacking to move, then re-issue the attack command), your champion behaves differently. Instead of stopping at max attack range, it will move as close as possible to the target until the AA is ready. This can put you in a suboptimal position, requiring more movement to kite, transition to another camp etc.
  • Nidalee's Specific Challenge: This mechanic is especially relevant when switching from Human to Cougar form due to the change in attack range (525 -> 125).
    • If you perform a Human AA, then immediately press R to transform into Cougar while the AA is still on cooldown:

      • If your distance <= 125: Nidalee stays put.

      • If your distance > 125: Nidalee will path as close as possible ****to the target until the Cougar AA is ready. (e.g, lvl 1 Human AA -> R. The AA cooldown is ~1.4s. During this time, Nidalee walks towards the target). Below is a GIF showing how the mechanic works: