Learning Nidalee
As I am writing this... It has been a day since I have fully committed into learning Nid. Honestly... She's probably the hardest champion to play because of her extreme reliance on skill shots. But hey, that's the way it is with Ez, Diana, and arguably Elise (really, if you don't land that cocoon, it's so hard to not get bursted down, especially if you're ganking a lane/laning with a high burst champion... despite still being able to get a good amount of damage down). As of late, I haven't really committed into learning a new champion, honestly, I've just been wasting my IP on champs that I didn't really commit into learning anyways- such as Lucian and Vayne. I'm not too sure why, but I suck at the laning phase if I'm on an ADC. But that's neither here nor there. The point is... Nidalee is a tough champion due to her squishiness and vulnerability to high burst champs. Which is a large margin of typical mid lane champs. It's pretty hard to adapt, since my favorite mid laners (Diana/Orianna) have a reasonably high amount of burst. Arguably you could say that Orianna is pretty poke oriented, and that's true - but Nid's laning phase is nowhere near as strong as Ori's and a Nid's objective is to merely survive laning phase, whereas Ori's is to bully and act as CC throughout the mid to late game. Which brings me to my next point, Nid's kit is super strong when used effectively, but she isn't a sort of "All In" champ, or "CC" champ - she's heavy poke and heavy utility - in the sense that her E in human form is great for sustain and survivability in an extended team fight. Coming from playing Ori, whose kit is heavy CC oriented and becoming always used to having the upper hand in lane and throughout the game, it's hard to adjust when you're forced to play so passively - sometimes it felt like i wasn't doing anything during team fights - which justifiably, Nid isn't really supposed to engage in team fights unless it's for clean up. But in the end, it's a little hard adjusting to Nid because of her weak pre-6 and her liability to the team before she gets going. Overall, I think that Nid is a really fun champion, and if I didn't like her, I think I would have given up trying to learn her when I fed 2 - 9 - 3 to a Yasuo yesterday. It has always stuck to me, that passion ultimately translates to skill, and I'm excited to see that translation when I feel that I am satisfied with my Nid play, as I am satisfied with my Orianna and Diana play. I've just started to read up on Nid, being a little more attentive to streams, and being a little bit more map aware. I'm really excited for what's to come, and I find it really nice that I want to play her all the time. Faker - Senpai, please help me!
- 4/18/14 -
