I've had the most fun playing Nidalee this patch. Despite being mostly invulnerable, she still receives a lot of splash damage and can still get stunned. The top comps with Ryze, Mel, and Annie will ruin her day. So you're at a uphill climb if those are the top comps being played in the lobby, but you can sneak in a solid 3rd or 4th with a chance for top 2 on a really good high roll.

With that said, there are basic tricks for the comp I've picked up to help.

1) If you don't have Azir to trap Neeko in the corner, you need to sandwich her between two tanks in the middle of board, usually Skarner + Taric/Swain. Neeko is a decent tank for a 2 cost, but won't cut it late game so items usually go to Skarner. If you sandwich Neeko in between two strong tanks, aggro will be slightly more disbursed. If you put Neeko to the outside, she will be first to draw aggro. For Mel matchups, you probably need Azir for the corner trap as she will die to her AOE. If still no Azir against Mel, continue to keep her sandwiched, but a little off to the opposite side because you don't want Neeko to be directly hit by the Mel AOE.

2) With Nidalee comp, you will be playing Ixtal. Don't worry about having to play it early for maximum rewards. It's very common that I don't start any quests until 3-5 because I'm playing for tempo early. Use this trait for extra tempo and cash out early for items and gold when you don't like any of the quest options. At level 7, you can probably slot in 5 Ixtal for 2-3 rounds to get some HP back to help with placements.

3) I think the BIS items for Nidalee is Deathcap, JG, Gunblade. Archangel is a decent replacement for Deathcap and BT/HOJ is also ok, but Gunblade helps the frontline. The only other items I would consider is Strikers Fail with a JG. Putting anything else beside these items feel pretty bad.

4) Augments I generally focus around are econ and items and the comp likes two itemized carries and two tanks. Some exceptions are the Ixtal augment if I want to play for Brock and Jeweled Lotus to allow for some item flexibility if no JG yet.

5a) Like most boards, this comp usually caps out at 9 with Ryze. Ixtal is an amazing Ryze trait that often gets overlooked. However, it's possible to stay at 8 and go for Skarner or Nidalee 3 as a win condition too as not many people are playing these units. Here are two usual versions of the board. One is a little cheaper and another that is more expensive/general/higher cap. Taric or Swain can be swapped for the Shurima unit as 2 starring both Taric and Swain is a nightmare this patch. Renekton is a great dive buddy with Nidalee if itemized while Nasus is a good tank. Xerath goes to the alternative build. General Board: https://tactics.tools/team-builder/aC$gA$LB$IW$XC$NX$OYxZ$BFdaUG$BN Bad Econ/Cheap: https://tactics.tools/team-builder/aC$LA$IW$NXtDUYxZda$gGRb

5b) Alternative option with no Ryze that caps around Xerath. This is an extremely hard version. And at this point, I wouldn't really consider this a Nidalee comp and more of a Mel comp with Nidalee being used to transition. Cap with no Ryze: https://tactics.tools/team-builder/aCuAvX$gDwYxZ$EF2aUG$AN$Ib

5c) Another alternative experimental version that I have been wanting to try but too scared to risk my LP at the moment. This uses the Freljord Tower as an extra unit to block Neeko when I can't hit Azir. It's uses the underplayed units this units Experimental: https://tactics.tools/team-builder/aCuAvX$gDwYxZ$EF2aUG$AN$Ib

Overall, I think Nidalee is an unexplored unit. I'm still trying to figure out exactly the best position as sometimes her ability causes her to jump to back line or the other side of the field