3pha Nunu guide

start machete + refillable
always start topside because you'll end where drake is. start blue buff (blue team) or raptors (red team). start q vs blue buff,
e vs raptors.
smite wolves (blue team) or krugs (red team)
levels 1-4, go 2 points Q (get W level 4). max R>Q>E>W
unless you have blue buff, only use your E if your mana passive is up.
use your Q on the big camp to get the passive bonus
save 2 smites (use only a total of 1 smite through your entire first clear) for the dragon case below

can do dragon at lv 4 as nunu as a response to enemy topside gank, or if enemy jungler is going to recall (they're low)
default move vs. junglers that get low after full clear
the way to kill drake correctly is to auto attack, Q, E, let the dragon fly up, then W, smite. repeat. your Q+smite does 1k
at level 4.
tbh you're not going to be able to do dragon that often against good junglers, but I guess the option is there

i go talisman + boots + whatever else I can buy on recall. I don't like tiamat anymore as it defeats itself late game. I've been trying knights vow as a standard armor item and it's pretty nice; go redemption locket if your team lacks it. some nunu players buy these every game regardless so maybe that's good too

note that I buy whatever maximizes my clear speed based on my gold. trackers knife doesn't really increase clear speed above talisman+machete, so I delay it. from what I've always understood is that jungling is a clear speed hierarchy and then a skirmish hierarchy within such (consistency too if solo q). thus, clear speed is what you should focus on above all. often I build into my t2 boots if I can't buy bamis for this reason. dark seal is good too due to its sell value, sometimes I just randomly buy a rejuv bead if I have the gold because it's pretty much equal to a potion in value and in gold (after selling) I guess on nunu you can actually build it into useful things though

nunu is pretty cool because he's one of the few tank junglers that can clear fast. clearing fast means you're in your lanes faster, at win conditions faster, and can punish bad players faster. you are technically cutting enemy health regen as you appear on the map before enemies reach "healthiness"

green smite because the decision to go another smite means losing out clear speed + heal bonus, which means that you're forcing an opportunity cost onto yourself

blue trinket because in solo queue it's good to be in charge of vision

runes are
9 attack speed reds
9 scaling health
9 scaling cdr blues
3 scaling cdr quints
this will give you 30% cdr at level 18. it makes your early game weaker, but flat runes technically defeat themselves over time
so I avoid them. you would have to use that early advantage for flat to be better, but that's reliant on your opponent's moves
in most cases. Health is better than armor because having armor vs magic DMG threats late game is essentially the same as having no runes at all (other than what you're defending vs jg camps)

actually I basically just took silas' zac runes and thought they'd be good on nunu lol

masteries are 12/0/18, grasp is better than stoneborn because stoneborn loses efficiency for each second you're solo in a fight. basically it's far more specific. also nunu catches people by chasing them with auto + e slow, so you can just proc grasp a lot in fights. stoneborn is better if you're not going to skirmish until mid-late game (permanently grouped), but personally I think grasp is better.

you should definitely take 5 natural talent and double-edged sword to kill raptors on red team and to execute red buff at exactly
400 HP with Q.

gameplay:
all junglers play the same, it's just that nunu can do drake at level 4. to jungle just watch good players play the game
(not specifically nunu)
i recommend longzhu cuzz tarzaned and silas kroeger
and me 3pha

conclusion:
nunu is underrated and good if u have a mouse and keyboard and brain