Hunter Nidalee

Play Hunter Nidalee for tempo: an aggressive level curve into an 8-roll-down that needs to find Malphite. Its 4.53 average placement across roughly 37,000 tracked games earns it a Tier A grade this patch.

In the wider field it ranks #18 of 57 by placement — 16th of the 16 boards holding that tier, trailing the 4.43 Tier-A median by 0.11. Popularity is the catch: 2.6% of tracked games feature it against a median of 0.89%, and shared cores get expensive to hit.

Malphite holds item priority, and the standard kit is Crownguard, Gargoyle Stoneplate, and Warmogs Armor (a 4.01 average once assembled). Nidalee is the secondary priority once your main carry is online.

The synergy sheet lists 9 active traits here, topped by Riftbeast at 3; Hunter (2) is the biggest supporting piece. The roster holds 1 unit of Vanguard without activating the trait, so a Vanguard Emblem turns it on at the 2-piece tier.

Among the emblems our model scores against this roster, Vanguard Emblem comes out first, ahead of Hunter Emblem. The inverse view backs that up: it places 4th of 35 comps scored for Vanguard Emblem holders.

Hunter Nidalee is not the only board that wants Malphite — Lunar Aphelios Nidalee and Executioner Malphite star it too, so the lines contest each other's shops; when Malphite copies dry up, that overlap is your pivot map.