Nidalee Moonrise
A flexible level-8 AP board around Nidalee inside a four-Vanguard, three-Invoker shell — filed as standard because the early game deliberately plays whatever is strongest, including a Coven cash-out detour, before converging on the final board. The guide even fields a second Nidalee via the Adaptor mechanic, with Alune as the drop-in replacement. C tier like everything this early: there is simply no results data to rank against.
When to commit
Pick this line when your item bench turns into AP components or econ augments show up. It needs no specific opener — that flexibility is the point — but it does need you to hit four-costs at 8, so keep 50 gold going into stage 4.
Endboard
★★
★★
★★
★★
★
★★
★★
★★
★Glowing ring = carry, border color = unit cost, stars = target star level.
Four Vanguards form the front so the trait's defensive bonus covers the entire wall, with Taric center as the item tank. The Ancient Sentinel stands in row two behind the wall — big enough to catch leaks, disposable enough to peel divers. Both Nidalees and Kog'Maw share the back line but are split across columns so a single cleave or dive cannot hit the whole damage core; Morgana sits closer to center where Void Staff shred overlaps both carries' targets.
Active traits
Carries & items
Nidalee★★ target
AP carry
Nidalee swaps between forms, so she wants items that work in both: Deathcap boosts every spell, Shojin fuels the caster form, Guinsoo's carries the attacking form. The alt items build the crit version when a second copy or better components appear.
Alternatives:
Morgana★★ target
AP carry
Morgana is the sustained-damage Invoker: Void Staff strips magic resist so both AP carries hit harder, Morello shuts down enemy healing, and Shojin keeps her casting through long fights.
Taric★★ target
Tank
Taric is the end-game main tank — pure survivability plus his Emerald Aspect team utility. Until he is upgraded, the Ancient Sentinel wears the tank items and the frontline job.
Route to the board
Stage 2-1Level 4
Open with anything that holds AP items. A Coven start (LeBlanc plus friends) is a legitimate detour: gather essence and aim for a stage-4 cash-out, then convert into this board.
Stage 3-2Level 6
Level to 6 and keep playing the strongest board. The instant any final-board four-cost appears — Nidalee, Morgana, Sentinel — it goes in, upgrades be damned.
Stage 4-2Level 8
Hit 8 with rolling gold and find your two-star carries. Ancient Sentinel main-tanks until Taric is upgraded, then hands the job over.
Stage 5-5Level 9
At 9, an upgraded Alune can replace the second Nidalee for a bigger cap — same Lunar-adjacent role, more raw power.