NASUS BUILD GUIDE

 

 

Introduction

This guide focuses on surviving the laning phase of the game with quickness and health regeneration while passively farming. Nasus can and will turn into a Hyper-Carry if you succeed in doing this. Therefore, it’s important to itemize accordingly. This guide will give you the tools by maximizing your CDR without sacrificing tank.

For those not familiar with Nasus: He can best be described as a top lane Off-Tank. The unique part of the Keeper is that he does not scale with attack damage or ability power much at all, but rather farm. Even when built full tank a heavily farmed Nasus will kill and put out more damage than anyone. We could even consider him somewhat of an Assassin. This is because if you are able to locate someone alone on the map, they are as good as dead with little chance of getting away due to Wither and built-in CDR. Needless to say, Nasus is a top notch 1v1 champion. If you are a person that has patience, hope, and a thing for being an unkillable wrecking dog: You need to play Unkillable Nasus!

Summoner Spells

Primary Set

This pair of skills give Nasus a safe early game, and unrivaled kill potential in team fights. If you remove a champions main weakness he becomes strong, and that is what these two do for Nasus.

Teleport & Ghost
This set is an old favorite of Nasus players and for good reason. This is because it synergizes with the type of game Nasus wants to have. There is nothing more important to Nasus than farm, and these summoners give him the opportunity to attain it in several ways. Have you taken too much damage to keep laning? Go ahead to base and teleport back in time to catch the minion wave at your tower. Does your team want to do an early dragon? Nasus' ultimate is one of the best abilities to do dragon with, and teleport makes it possible and still get back to your lane. Remember, Nasus has a weak early game but that doesn't mean he can't help get kills. If you notice bottom lane is pushed with your teams ward behind them, go ahead and teleport gank down and get a double kill. Lastly, this ability allows Nasus to split push the entire game, allowing Siphoning Strike to become overwhelmingly strong. So as you can see, this set has it's uses. However, you won't be quite as mobile as the first set, and taking it against certain junglers can be a gamble. In particular Jarvin and others with gap closers.

 

When to pick Nasus?

I feel Nasus has more laning options than others do, but there's no question that he should be picked with discretion. This is because Nasus has a fragile early game and it can be exploited if you aren't careful. If you aren't sure how a lane against a champion may go, keep these things in mind.

Generally speaking, Nasus prefers a few things in his lane enemies:

1. Melee (To be in range of his attacks/ultimate and have no ranged harass)
2. Mana (Limits the amount of harass that can be given to Nasus)
3. Auto Attacks (Nasus is a direct counter to AA champions with )

It's my opinion that Nasus should always be selected if you have a favorable lane matchup to farm in no matter the team compositions. This is because a farmed Nasus can rip through and shut down any enemy ADC in team fights. This is significant because that is the source of most of a team's damage. Almost every team has to have an ADC, and nothing is more frustrating for them than to sit there not putting out damage.

Having said that, it does help when both teams contain certain team compositions that can help reduce the effect of Nasus main weakness. The important words here are : Crowd Control. Nasus needs all the crowd control and initiation he can get from his team, and the least amount from the enemy team. This is because Nasus can be kited hard in team fights if no one can be locked down. If at all possible, having champions like Amumu in Nasus' team will greatly enhance his ability to kill.

When these things come togethor, you'll notice Nasus has "god-like" games because his ability kit is made for carrying late. Simply put, Nasus is THE counter to all attack damage carries and high HP bruisers.

 

Skills

Soul Eater

Nasus drains his foe's spiritual energy, giving him a natural 10 / 15 / 20% life-steal.

Explanation: This passive is very good, and has only gotten better with the nerfs to life-steal. It allows you to lane against much stronger opponents until you are farmed enough to kill them. If you leave a fight low on health and are confident no enemy is near to kill you, go ahead and keep farming and reach max health in just a few seconds. That works wonders for continual Q-stacking.


Siphoning Strike

Cooldown: 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4

Cost: 20 Mana

Physical Damage: 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 (+ 100% AD) (+3 [+6] per enemy killed by Siphoning Strike)

Active: Nasus' next attack within 10 seconds will deal additional damage. Siphoning Strike permanently gains 3 stacked damage whenever it kills an enemy. This bonus is doubled to 6 stacked damage if the enemy killed is a champion, big monster or big minion.

Explanation: This is the ability Nasus is most known for. It starts out being very weak in the early game, and gains strength continually as you last hit minions with it. Always be mindful of last hitting with this ability until it becomes second nature. Siphoning Strike resets your auto-attack, and also damages towers with the farm you've accumulated. Given the low mana cost feel free to use it for counter-harass early, and once damage is attained, harass of your own. With the recent buff it has received Nasus can stack it faster than before and is a viable jungler.


Wither

Range: 700

Cooldown: 15 / 14 / 13 / 12 / 11

Cost: 80 mana

Slow over 5 seconds from 35% to: 47% / 59% / 71% / 83% / 95%

Max attack speed slow: 23.5 / 29.5 / 35.5 / 41.5 / 47.5%

Active: Nasus ages his target, slowing their movement speed by 35% with an additional slowing effect increasing over the duration of the spell. The target's attack speed is also slowed by half the amount, initially slowed by 17.5% and increasing over the duration. If the duration of Wither is reduced, the added slowing effect is applied faster.

Explanation: You're going to love this ability. While Nasus may not have a gap-closer, he does have this amazing slow that allows him to catch his enemies. Wither also happens to make summoners rage about the length and cool down of it. It's very strong and shuts down any auto-attack champion from doing damage. You will need this to survive ganks, so get used to casting it quickly and running away. In higher ranks it can be cast almost continually, as 40% CDR gives you a low 6.6 second cool down on a 5 second ability. There is a high mana cost to this so use it with caution in early game.


Spirit Fire

Range: 650

Cooldown: 12

Cost: 70 / 85 / 100 / 115 / 130 mana

Initial Magic Damage: 55 / 95 / 135 / 175 / 215 (+ 60% AP)

Magic Damage Per Second: 11 / 19 / 27 / 35 / 43 (+ 12% AP)

Total Magic Damage: 110 / 190 / 270 / 350 / 430 (+ 120% AP)

Armor Reduction: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40

Diameter of AoE: 800

Active: Nasus unleashes a spirit flame at a location for 5 seconds. Enemies caught in the area are dealt a burst of magic damage. Additionally, enemies in the area are dealt magic damage each second and have their armor reduced while on there and for 1 extra second.

Explanation: Fairly simple ability that has good team fight potential. It has modest damage, and a good 40 armor shred that will help your carries do damage. Feel free to cast this on someone after you slow them so your Siphoning Strike will hit hard as possible. It's also a high mana cost ability that can not be spammed. It should be saved mostly for ganks and will rarely be used in lane. Remember to use this on brush that may contain enemies if you suspect there could be some lurking around, it will give you vision.


Fury of the Sands

Cooldown: 120

Cost: 150 mana

Health Gained: 300 / 450 / 600

Max Health to Magic Damage Ratio Per Second: 3% / 4% / 5% (+ 1% per 100 AP)

Total Max Health to Magic Damage Ratio: 45% / 60% / 75% (+ 15% per 100 AP)

Total Magic Damage Possible (to a single enemy): 3600

Total Bonus Attack Damage Possible (from a single enemy): 229.5

Diameter of AoE: 350

Active: Nasus becomes empowered in the sandstorm for 15 seconds, gaining bonus health, 50 bonus attack range, and 100 bonus cast range.

Explanation: One of the better ultimates in the game. It gives you health, does good damage, and converts 6.375% of the damage done into bonus attack damage for himself. That damage gain may seem small but I promise you it isn't! If you sit in a crowd of champions with this on you will easily exceed 300 damage. Combine that with your already high damage from farming and you are now putting out carry level damage. If you make use of this skill wisely it can make teams target you before anyone else, and that's a good thing. It is also useful for baiting someone to dive you under tower.