Nasus. In my opinion, one of the most underplayed and most powerful champions in the League.

I frequently watch Nasus players fail miserably because they mistakenly think of him as a tank. HE IS NOT A TANK. He is a melee damage fighter! Sure, some extra health doesn't hurt, but at his core, he's 100% DPS. In this guide I'll be explaining how to play Nasus PROPERLY as a damage fighter. This build is also considered an offtank build because of how much HP he'll have by the end of it, but the amount of damage he can deal with these items completely out does Nasus' tankiness.

REMEMBER: Nasus CAN tower dive to get kills but ONLY once he has at LEAST his Giant's Belt or full Trinity Force.

For runes, I usually go with a few HP runes with either Attack Speed, Armour Penetration or Damage runes (or any of their per level equivalents). Since I never have enough IP to get a nice neat and tidy rune page I've ended up using a +69 HP and +26% Attack Speed Rune setup.

My mastery setup is mostly offensive with some points in utility, but any offensive mastery setup should work well depending on your tastes.

Now for the items. This is by far the most important part about playing Nasus well.

- Start out with a Doran's Shield. (The extra HP, HP Regen and Armour really help out his early game and extends his laning time considerably.)
- If all has gone according to plan and you haven't died and have managed to save up at least 1610 gold, recall and grab your Boots of Speed and Sheen (and some mana).
- Next get Phage. The passive is really useful for ganks.
- Now is the tricky part. If you're getting burst pretty hard by any AP casters or nukers, or you're just get harassed a lot, upgrade the phage into Frozen Mallet. If it's the opposite, go ahead and buy that Trinity Force.
- Next up, by another Phage.
- Upgrade Phage into Frozen Mallet/Trinity Force depending on what you chose previously.
- Next you get to buy my favourite item in the game! ATMA'S IMPALER! This will convert a percentage of your HP into raw damage and should increase your damage to around 250. It'll also give you some extra crit (total should be around 30% now) and some armour.
- If the game goes on for longer, you should get a Bloodthirster/Infinity Edge/Black Cleaver or something tanky like Randuin's Omen/Guardian Angel/Warmog's Armour if you're getting hit hard or need some tanky.

Now I do realise I said before that Nasus is not a tank. I KINDA lied, slightly. His purpose is to do damage and get kills, but he can also serve as a tank if necessary. He can't tank all 5 enemy champions without backup, but he can take tower hits and considerable burst.

Basically, you just need to stack your Q as quickly as possible. This will be your main source of damage output. Each time you use your Q to kill a minion, it's damage permanently increases by 3 physical damage. Sheen makes your Siphoning Strike MUCH more effective, which is the reasoning behind rushing Sheen before completely your Mercury Tread's.

Preferably, you should get your Q at level 1, W at level 2 and E at level 3, then prioritize your abilities as follows: R, Q, W / E.

Spirit Fire is super useful for a number of reasons. A lot of people think of it as a good way of farming up minion waves, however, this is often a bad idea because it stops you from last hitting minion with SS if Spirit Fire kills them before you can get to them yourself.

Spirit Fire should be used for its Armour reduction effect, and it's initial damage (rather than the damage over time effect) which is great for stealing kills if you're like that.

Wither is a super-slow. It has an initial slowing effect and a slow-over-time effect which is AWESOME for catching up to people and escaping assassins. In my opinion it has an unnecessarily high cooldown which should be reduced.

Nasus' Ultimate is incredibly powerful and should be saved for major team fights or if you're getting ganked and need some extra beefiness to keep you going. It has an AoE effect and increases your stats immensely. Basically, it's amazing. Don't waste it, and don't underestimate it and don't overestimate it. Work out exactly what it can take and how much damage it can help you give out and adjust your playstyle accordingly.

I use Ghost and Exhaust normally because they're both great for chasing, escaping, and team fights. You could also use Flash, Teleport, Ignite or Cleanse as replacements for either.

Don't underestimate Nasus' power. He is THE beast of the League of Legends.

Here's a video of me beasting with Nasus with this build:
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