Nasus Build Guide: Nihilistic Nasus by jhoijhoi

Idealistic Introduction

My Other Guides

About the Author
Hey guys, I'm Jai (or jhoijhoi) here on Mobafire, I'm currently Gold Ranked for S3 and this guide is about my favourite off-tank, . Nasus was my second ever champion (straight after ), and I initially bought him because he was a dog, as I love dogs.

History of Nasus
My love for Nasus grew when he gained an extra point of damage for (2 to 3) and he became flavour of the month. That died down pretty quickly, and there was lots of talk in the forums about how non-viable and useless he was, easily out-shined by other tanky DPS, like his brother, . Then they buffed him again. He was viable for S2 jungle, his was fixed, his now did immediate damage. Nasus, my beloved Nasus, was finally deemed playable by my elitist group of friends. With the S3 rollout, you may see more Nasus players.

What will this guide cover?
I dabbled with theory crafting, after learning how to build Nasus from the Nasus Master, Hyfe, back in Season One and with collaboration from Warlemming and Patch, came up with my spin on an optimal solo top .

Last edited:
- 17/01/2013

So, without further adieu, welcome to Nihilistic Nasus! Who let the dogs out?!

Powerful Pros / Critical Cons

As all champions, has his flaws/weaknesses and his strengths. If your team is in need of a solo top, Nasus is a reasonable choice due to his natural sustainability via his passive, . He can EASILY out-farm the enemy solo top due to clearing creep waves with level 3 , or stealing last hits with (unless you're denied, but we'll get to that later).

Powerful Pros

+ Snowballer
+ Natural Lifesteal
+ Fun to play

Nasus is pretty straight forward. The only difficulty lies on knowing who to , and who to . He can virtually two-shot any squishy if he has farmed his Q enough, and he's so naturally tanky he's hard to kill. If you acquire , or , your survivability is drastically increased and you become indestructible.

Critical Cons

- Farm reliant
- Easily denied
- Easily poked
- Easily kited
- Heavy mana usage

Nasus' biggest weakness is if he loses top lane and gets zoned out of Q farm he becomes useless late game. He is easily countered by other champions (such as ) and a double AP enemy team set-up hinders his ability to build effectively against a late game AD Carry.

Nimble Nasus' Skill Set

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Soul Eater (Passive): Natural life steal is a fantastic attribute for a candidate who would like to jungle, or solo top. This passive allows Nasus to stay in lane forever, as it requires only one auto-attack, or powered up to boost his health bar. Coupled with and 3x, Nasus' aggressive health regeneration is quite high, allowing him to sustain himself in 1v1 fights.

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Siphoning Strike (Q): Siphoning Strike is a phenomenal ability. It heals you for a huge chuck of health and when a creep, tower or champion is killed with it, stacks damage. So each time you successfully last hit with , 3 points of damage are added to the damage of the next Siphoning Strike. This damage can snowball crazily; on the other hand, a Nasus who doesn't last hit is not going to scale well at all into late game.

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Tips and Tricks

You level up Q first to lower it's cooldown. With an early Glacial Shroud your SS is reduced to mere seconds at final level, which means you can get all those minions with your Q. Farming your Q is the only reason you'd choose Nasus.
Primarily use this to last hit. Basically you want to use your Q for last hits in order to amp up its damage. By wasting it on harassing a champion, you're losing a potential 3 damage for that ability.
This is an "on-hit" ability, so you have to activate it and attack something for the damage to go through.
This ability procs with Sheen.
Can be used on towers (as seen below)
This ability is one of two abilities in the entire game that scales with ~~time~~ FARM - as I mentioned above, a Nasus who doesn't do well with his Qs will not scale well into the end game.

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Wither (W): This ability was the highest level slow in the game until the arrival of Thresh. If you're in a 1v1 fight, pop Wither on the enemy, and their attack speed and movement speed become crippled, giving you the instant upper hand in the skirmish. This ability cannot be used on creeps, baron or dragon.

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Tips and Tricks

In a teamfight Wither the enemy AD champion - the one who will do the most damage through auto attacks. You don't want to panic and Wither the nearest champion you see - unless you know Wither will be back up again fast enough to use when you need to and/or it will guarantee a kill.
Wait for Wither to run out, then Exhaust your opponent. Guaranteed kill. Wither + Exhaust means that you can 1v1 any champion, no matter how fed or over-powered they are. Many people do not want to bother with Exhaust on Nasus, thinking, "But he already HAS Exhaust via Wither." Think of it this way. Just because Kassadin and Ezreal have an in-built Flash does that mean they should never grab Flash? Just because some champions have an ability that give them a speed boost, should they never grab Ghost?
Use this ability to catch up to an enemy, or to escape an enemy.

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Spirit Fire (E): This ability is not great, to be honest. Like most AoE abilities, champions know better than to stand in it. In lane however, it is very useful for clearing creep waves, and it can help to lower creep health in order to get the last hit with . Since a recent patch, the ability does initial damage on cast, so that has improved it's status quite a bit. At level 3, Spirit Fire can kill the caster minions in a wave.

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Tips and Tricks

Although Nasus' Spirit Fire is a great addition in fights, no one willingly stands in it, just like no one stands in Morgana's Tormented Soil or Malzahar's Null Zone. In lane, it virtually is only good for pushing a minion wave, and by maxing it out first, you're not only increasing it's mana cost, but also increasing it's damage, thus pushing your minions and leaving yourself over-extended, or hugging the tower losing creep kills and experience because it's not safe to be at the enemy tower. Levelling Spirit Fire first does not decrease its cooldown.
Lowers armour, so lay it down on your feet in a fight.
Dissuades chasers.
Keeps melee champions away from allied minions; an effective way to delay enemy farm.
Can be used to check brush.
Can outright kill someone if they're on low enough health, and tower hugging.
After Withering someone, cast Spirit Fire ahead of where they're walking, so they take more damage, or are forced to walk around it.
Spirit Fire is useful in all fights, including those against Dragon, Baron and jungle creeps.

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Fury of the Sands (R): Absolutely LOVE this ultimate. Not only does it make Nasus look uber cool as he suddenly transforms into a HUGE *** MENACING UPRIGHT DOG, but he gains more damage depending on the enemy champions around him and gains a huge chunk of health.

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Tips and Tricks

Pop this if you are in need of a few bars of health.
This ability is best used in the middle of a teamfight.
Use this when taking Baron/Dragon/Buffs. It has a very quick downtime, making it almost spammable - never hesitate to use it.
When the enemy Nexus explodes for your victory, make sure you are visible on the ending screen, pop this, type /d and then /j and you BECOME KING.

Skilling Order Explained

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

> > >

Q: Why max Siphoning Strike first?

// This ability is the whole reason why Nasus is viable. Lowering that cooldown is absolutely vital to grabbing all the creeps he can with it. At lowest level it has an 8 second cooldown without CDR and there's no way you're going to be able to get every creep with it during the laning phase if you don't level it up. A Nasus with no stacks on his Q is a useless Nasus.

Q: But doesn't Spirit Fire do more damage??

// You will only want to level up before if you are being incredibly denied. Remember, the reason why Nasus is a crazy snowball champion is because of the stacking damage he gains with his Q. Nasus and Veigar are the only two champions who currently have a skill that increases their damage, meaning they never reach the damage cap of other champions. Taking advantage of this no-damage-cap hero separates the good Nasus players from the bad Nasus players.

Q: So when should I max Spirit Fire first?

// Only when you are getting raped solo top. It's wise to have at least one level of this once you hit level 3 in order to clear creep waves if necessary. If you choose to max first, and insist on spamming it, pushing your wave to the enemy tower and leaving yourself sucseptible to ganks, then please do so, the less good Nasus players, the better.

tldr: If you max Spirit Fire, you're going to be over-extended 90% of the time and out of mana 90% of the time.

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

C-c-c-c-combo Breaker-r-r-r

With Nasus you will want to the enemy to slow their movement and attack speed (obviously you cannot use Wither on creeps or monsters). Activate as soon as possible after one auto attack (allowing for a little extra damage with to go off from Wither), then smack in the face with a Siphoning Strike. Place in the direction they're fleeing so they're forced to walk around it, or through it, and auto attack as much as possible until comes up. It's up to you whether it's necessary to drop your ultimate, , or if you need to pop after 's duration is up.

Masteries Explained

Masteries

THE OFFENSE TREE
Generally speaking, Nasus is tanky before wanting damage. He's all about stacking his Q for damage and buying items that will bulk him up. As such, the Offense Tree leaves little to be desired on Bruiser Nasus. The main focus to aim for if spec'ing in this tree is . 8% Ar Pen is golden. As we don't buy any armour penetration items during the game, we need to spec for armour pen in the runes and masteries. I wouldn't recommend progressing any further down this tree, as there are more valuable masteries to be obtained in either the Defense or Utility trees.

Masteries

THE DEFENSE TREE
This is where I find myself hemming and hawing about what I should spec. Nasus should primarily be a tank, and you have to decide whether you want to be a passive tank or an aggressive tank. Running 21 in this tree will slot you into the passive tank category, wherein you bulk yourself up with resistances such as ; great for early game survivability. If you're up against a heavy AD top lane, you'll find the extra armour a godsend. Or , fantastic against those AP heavy champions, like or . If you know you're going to come against some magic damage, it's best to spec some magic resist. Some masteries are at odds with this view, like which will allow you to mitigate minion damage. Often top lane you will end up trading blows with the opposition. This mastery will allow you to ignore minion damage and it will perhaps give you the upper-hand in a 1v1 skirmish. If you choose to spec in this tree, I recommend taking specifically on Nasus: , , , , and . With these masteries you will be tank tank.

Masteries

THE UTILITY TREE
As aforementioned, choosing whether to spec 21 in Defense or 21 in Utility boils down to whether you wish to be an aggressive tank or a passive tank. And you could honestly argue each tree to serve either purpose. However, this is how it plays out in my matches: I'll be up against some horribly OP champion who completely counters Nasus. , , . Each have some way of mitigating AND of dealing tremendous damage. The only way to survive their harass is if you can regen it back. Which is why I run Life Steal Quints, grab (more spell vamp for us! Not a bad reason to spec in the utility tree, the more health gained back from our abilities, the better our survivability in lane), spec for (get to level 6 first in order to pop in case of emergencies) and finally secure to help Nasus last-hitting. If you feel uncomfortable spec'ing 21 into Utility, please run a 21 Defense set-up until you feel more adventurous. This is the way *I* play Nasus, and it works for *me*. It may not work for you if you don't know how to abuse his life steal capabilities with Q.

Masteries

09/00/21

UTILITY TREE NASUS

// My main reason for grabbing 21 in utility is the Movement Speed bonus from as I grab Vampirism Quints instead of the Movement Speed Quints + + Pots start I used to run in Season Two. Nimble makes up for the lost movement speed allowing you to last hit with easier and in turn, regain more health through the life steal. The bonus life steal from the Quints and the points in the utility tree make Nasus' laning phase so much smoother, even with an unstacked Q. You can survive harass even from ranged champions like Teemo and Nidalee due to regenerating health through auto-attacks. I like to play Utility Nasus, one that is tanky via health regenerated, rather than static resistances/health. If you run Utility, you really need to know Nasus' limits and how much damage he can sustain in a fight.

Masteries

09/21/00

DEFENSE TREE NASUS

// A 21 in defense set up is favourable if you know you're be up against a particularly hard lane. Grabbing Doran's Shield + + + , you mitigate so much damage it's unbelievable. A tanky Nasus is amazing and a huge presence in teamfights.

Reasonable Runes

Runes

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Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: Always a bonus to have that extra movement. If you start with Boots of Speed and these quints, you walk to lane with just over 400 movement speed. CRAZY INSANE. The reason why Quints of Swiftness are viable on Nasus is because of his low auto-attack range and the fact he needs to farm his Siphoning Strike. You need to be able to get in close to a minion to SS it, then you need to get out before the enemy solo top whacks you with a spell or auto-attack.
Greater Quintessence of Life Steal: Run these quints if he knows he'll be up against a champion that will harass you. The 6% lifesteal + Soul Eater + Siphoning Strike allows you to regain a lot of health with your last hitting, making these Quints viable.
Greater Quintessence of Magic Resist: It's undeniable that Nasus is beat top lane against most AP Casters. To somewhat mitigate their damage I suggest picking these runes. The Magic Resist will allow you to withstand some of their harass early game. Remember, if you lose to top lane once, they become immediately stronger than you - they get more farm, more XP and more gold the longer you absent from the lane.
Greater Quintessence of Armor: Nasus fares better against AD top lane match-ups due to Wither. However, there are times when you will want maximal survival against hard hitting AD champions, such as Tryndamere, Riven or Darius. These quints will help you not only early game, but late game too, against the enemy AD Ranged Carry.

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Greater Mark of Armor Penetration: Always fantastic on a primarily auto-attack champion. These runes mean you don't have to solely focus on Armour reducing items in the game, unless you really need to. These are the only Marks I'd suggest, for lane Nasus. Most opposing AD carries/solo top champions will have Greater Seal of Armor and these marks will help penetrate them.
Greater Mark of Armor: As with Quints of Resilience, the same applies here. The enemy picking Jax is out of your control - to help deal with his extreme damage, make sure you have a rune page set up to deal with heavy AD match-ups.
Greater Mark of Magic Resist: As with Quints of Warding, the same applies here. Champions like Rumble and Vladimir have a field day against Nasus. If you want to rain on their parade, make sure you have a rune page set up to deal with heavy AP match-ups.

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Greater Seal of Armor: Standard tank seals. Great at all stages of the game and will really help you in teamfights. If you are up against an AD champion top lane, then fantastic, you've already made it harder for your opponent to hurt you with their autoattacks.
Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration: Good for early game mana regeneration, especially if you're planning on spamming a lot of those Qs to get last hits. Some people suffer from low mana regeneration, and if you are forced to use Spirit Fire and Wither often in lane, you'll be glad to have these runes backing you up. However, once you obtain Philosopher's Stone and/or Glacial Shroud, these runes fall off pretty hard.

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Greater Glyph of Magic Resist/ Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: Magic Resist is perfect against early game magic damage harasser champions that you could be up against solo top, such as Rumble or Vladimir.
Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction: Who doesn't love faster cooldowns on their spells? You'll find that these runes will allow you to spam your Siphoning Strike to get more last hits. Flat cooldown is better than per level cooldown reduction. There's only a difference of around 3% at level 18. Early game counts the most.

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The movement speed boost from Quints of Swiftness allows you to dart in and out to grab last hits, in addition to the mana regen seals and cooldown reduction glyphs, mean it will be easier to stack your Siphoning Strike. This sort of set up only works against a champion you know you can 1v1 and beat early game. There aren't many champions Nasus can solo early game and win against, making this rune set fun to use against inexperienced opponents, but it is unlikely you will win your lane with such an aggressive rune page if up against seasoned players. Whilst I would not recommend this rune page against most lane match-ups, it is a good rune page for the jungle or if you and your team are running a gimmicky set-up like + bot lane.

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It's undeniable. As Nasus you may come up against an AP champion. AP champions shut Nasus down. They're often tanky or rely on spell vamp in order to allow them to trade damage in fights. Nasus can't take the spam of most casters, especially manaless ones such as Vlad or Rumble. In order to counter such champions, you WILL need to use this page. It will give you a decent amount of Magic Resist to get you through the first few levels. After that, build accordingly; early Merc Treads, and as you'll likely be spamming because you can't get close enough to minions, grab a .

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, , - these champions will beat you in lane. They will rush damage or armour pen (Brutilizer) to squash you. These suggested runes will mean you will be able to take some of the damage they deal to you. If you also start with a and 5xs, you will be able to negate almost all their damage entirely.

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This is the page I tend to run when I play Nasus blind-pick. The life steal quints give Nasus aggressive sustain when last hitting or harassing with or just plain auto-attacks. The armour pen is a nice addition to any unexpected ganks or 1v1 fights, as is the defensive picks of armour and magic resist. This is a well-rounded page for slightly more experienced Nasus players.

Stupendous Summoner Spells

New Nasus: Teleport + Ghost (or Heal).
This sort of set-up is favourable for newer Nasus players. As you get the hang on how much damage Nasus can take, you'll no longer need to rely on Heal.
Intermediate Nasus: Flash/ Ghost + Exhaust.
By now you'll have noticed that you can deal a lot of damage and there are a lot of people on the enemy team trying to stop you from Q farming.
Expert Nasus: Exhaust + Teleport
I'm serious here. Don't try Exhaust+Teleport unless you're confident with how much damage you can take. I rarely run this set up because if you have no map awareness, Teleport is useless. As Nasus I tend to focus on farm a lot early game.

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Flash: Flash is extremely useful for closing the gap on enemies if they're running away, or for jumping over walls to escape from salivating enemies vying for your blood. Flash is a must on most champions with no escape mechanism. Flash is a fail safe, as well as being a strong offensive tool. Coupled with or , Flash normally can secure a kill.

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Exhaust: Exhaust is essential on to gain the upper hand in any 1v1 fight, or clustered teamfight. Don't tell me Nasus already has via ! Would you not grab on just because of , or on because of ?? Chucking Exhaust on the enemy AD or AP carry immediately shuts them down, and allows you to perform at your full potential. As with Flash, Exhaust can be used offensively, or defensively.

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Teleport: Gives you awesome map control, and being able to to wards, shrooms or Heim's turrets is invaluable when you want to gank. It is also useful for backdooring. For example, if all the enemy champions are dead due to a fight somewhere on the map, you can Teleport to a minion push, destroy a tower and run/recall before they respawn. It is also incredibly useful beyond the fact that you can teleport to things. It allows you to leave lane early for that without punishment, giving you the best sustain in lane.

Q: Why Teleport on Nasus?
______// is definitely personal preference, but if you're going to start regeneration bead and aim for an early by the 5 minute mark, you're going to need Teleport to get it and come back to lane. Additionally, Teleport is fantastic for getting to fights, taking dragon and counter ganking :) For a solo top champion it is an ideal summoner spell. In terms of using it to Teleport back to lane after recalling to buy items - that's not laziness, that's utilising everything you have. Teleport isn't like or where you have to save it for teamfights or special occurrences, it's just an extra ability that should help you get back to lane in the early game, and backdoor efficiently in the late game. In my experience, I have always grabbed Teleport for solo top ^^

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Ghost: If you're not a fan of , or just strongly believe in using + / on all tanky carries, by all means, take this summoner spell. But with our runes and items, Nasus is pretty fast, as with two slows, and , that fleeing person is not going to get away. I run Ghost over Flash because I like the utility Ghost gives me. If you're used to ing to secure kills or escape being out of position, Flash will always work better for you.

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Starting Items

- I truly recommend starting with this item on Nasus. At the start of Season Two I would always start with Doran's Shield on Nasus and reluctantly dropped the habit when Boots + Pots became the BE ALL END ALL start on all champions, regardless of role. But then Season Three changed what Shield did, and it became amazing. You can couple this item with the Defense Tree for a truly tanky Nasus, or you can grab the Shield with the Utility Tree to ensure a smooth laning phase. Try it out and tell me how it goes :)

- For mobility against skillshots, quicker (or safer) last-hits and a bigger health cushion to keep you in the lane if you can't lifesteal. Boots will give you a lot of manoeuvrability and 600 effective health with those potions. Stay near the base at the beginning of the game to grab the extra potion. You will not lose any experience, as by the time you reach top lane, no creeps will have died unless the opposition has been autoattacking. Boots + Pots start is standard on most solo top champions.

or - Provides a ton of regen to keep you in lane without the need for buying and spending money health pots. A "just-in-case" mana pot can double your high-mana period on low-mana-pool champs and allow you to prepare for a gank by gathering enough mana for a full combo. builds directly into . This can be a risky decision if you are up against a high poke lane.

- Unfortunately Nasus can be countered by a lot of solo top AD champions due simply to a higher damage output early game. Nasus has two offensive spells readily available in his retinue: and . In essence, Nasus has poor 1v1 damage early game, compared to say, , , or . If you know you will top lane against a very hard-hitting AD champion you need to grab these starting items to withstand the damage they will deal to you until you can damage them back with a stacked Siphoning Strike.

- Nasus is countered completely by AP top lanes. , , , - these champions will just sit back, spam their spells and then laugh at you as you die continuously. This isn't Nasus' fault, he was created before these other champions and was once considered the most balanced champion in the game. However, nowadays, he's slightly underpowered. He's like an AD ranged carry - he has to farm up and try to stay alive early game. Once he has SS stacked, he's a full blown terror. Until then, you're going to need some heavy magic resist to deal with AP spammy casters.

Dubious Decisions in Detail + Generic Gameplay

Why a Tanky Build?

The mentality behind a tanky Nasus build revolves around three things: a) Nasus will go solo top to free farm, b) Nasus does not need damage items to deal tremendous damage, c) Nasus primarily needs survivability to be of the most use to the team.

On Spawn > Early Levels

Depending on the enemy solo top, buy the correct starting items (refer to "Starting Items" chapter); if you don't know your opponent/don't know the damage they can deal, start with and 3x s - if you wait a little bit longer near the spawning platform, you can purchase a 4th .

Now head off to top lane. As Nasus, you will want to be last hitting every single creep you can with , to raise the damage of said ability, and not pushing the wave of minions. You want to remain safe around your tower/your safety zone, and farm freely; do not attempt to harass the enemy, you are not looking for early kills or to trade damage, all you want to do is farm.

Philosopher's Stone vs Chalice of Harmony.

Every single time the enemy solo top goes to recall, push the wave to their tower with , whack it with and then recall yourself. Buy some items (, s), then (if you have it) back up to your tower if necessary. Save your Teleport for more important matters if possible. If I run Teleport, I tend to tele back up after my first recall to buy an early . Alternatively, you can grab a if you're against a solo top AP champion like , or vladmir. Chalice is a great setup for lane sustain, especially if you use a lot of spells, as long as you can keep your health up with your pots and passive. This item gives great early magic resist and mana regen for a little bit more cost as a . If you are particularly ahead and not planning on buying , purchase an early for the damage boost or for the CDR and flat mana.

Sheen. Sheen. Sheen.

Sheen is an important component of Nasus' build. I tend to buy Sheen after a and before upgraded boots. Sheen is proc'd by , which increases Nasus' damage potential, meaning you can last hit easier and also trade more in lane. Sheen builds into or , either of which IS Nasus' most core damage item (not both).

Ninja Tabi vs Mercury Treads.

Around about now, you should be deciding which boots to buy, and as Off-Tank Nasus, the decision resides only between Tabi and Mercs. This decision is based off the current Northern American Metagame, where the standard team consists of: 1 AD Solo Top, 1 AP Solo Mid, 1 Jungler, 1 Support + 1 AD Carry Bot Lane. As such, that's 2 AP (if the Support builds AP), and 3 AD (solo top, jungler and carry). With this in mind, the best option to mitigate damage is . If the enemy team is loaded with stuns, you'll want to swap them out for .

Q: I'm completely confused, why would you get ? Merc's Treads + Frozen Heart/Thornmail is going to be better because most AD carries have CC.
______// Most teams ARE predominantly AD. The current meta consists of 1 AD (or Hybrid) solo top, 1 AP mid, 1 AD jungler (unless they're Amumu or Cho'Gath or Karthus or some other AP jungler), 1 AD bot, and 1 AP support/1 AD tank bot. Counting up those figures: 2 AP, 3 AD. With this in mind, tanks need to take auto-attack damage, not CC/magic damage. The only time you actually NEED Merc Treads is when the enemy CC prevents you from doing your job as a tank. Most tanky champions take merc's because there's no reason to take anything else.

Early Mid Game

Early mid game is a different story compared to early game; you should no longer be focused on farming, but on participating in teamfights. You want to be the tank, the damage soak, you need to be focused by the enemy AD, and you can take a lot of hurt. Stand in the middle of a fight, throw down , pop and the enemy AD carry. Leave for after Wither, OR, Exhaust the enemy AP carry to significantly reduce their damage during the teamfight. With this in mind, you now have to consider what items you will need.

Trinity Force vs Iceborn Gauntlet.

So, about now, it should be late mid game and it's time to officially boost your damage via one single item. Yes, the Jack of All Trades, Master of None item. Behold, the mighty Trinity Force. is the main reason why we want TriForce on Nasus. It procs with his dealing an amazing amount of damage. In my opinion, this item cannot be swapped out with anything else, as it provides waaaay too many useful stats to give up. You shouldn't be wanting a Trinity earlier than this; you don't want to sacrifice your tankieness for a little tiny bit more damage. The effect will be beneficial in lane, but the will give you the CDR you need to spam s. Remember, we only get Trinity because of ; there's no need to upgrade it any earlier than at this point.

Alternatively... . I cannot stress the amazing qualities of this item. Not only does it build out of AND , two CORE items on early/mid game Nasus, but the slow effect is GUARANTEED. within was useful for a wild-card slow, but Gauntlet guarantees a slow, in an AoE! In my humble opinion, Gauntlet > Trinity. What do you lose though, if you grab this instead? You lose Health from Phage, Movement Speed and Attack Speed from Zeal. It really is a tough decision, but grabbing Gauntlet gives Nasus more team presence in fights.

Late Game > Teamfights

If you've made it this far into the game, the enemy team has made a mistake. Nasus scales with farm, and thus time; the longer you give him to farm his Q, the more dangerous he gets. This late into the game, you're going to desperately want some more survivability, as no doubt the enemy team has noticed you're doing too much damage to their squishies. Generally a rounds off the build well. For a stronger initiation, you can finish off . Below are some options of what you can build to finish the game off - choose wisely by deducing what type of damage you want to negate. If they are a primarily AD team, build an item that gives armour and/or health. If they are magic damage heavy, you'll want some sort of MR item.

Resistances

Banshee's Veil vs Guardian Angel.

Basically you have to decide whether you wish to have some health and mana + blocking a small spell, or if you'd rather have significant armour/magic resist bonuses + reviving upon death. It can be a hard choice, but choose wisely. There was a time where I'd grab both, as it makes me indestructible as Nasus, but you have to build depending on the enemy team. Often it's better to buy "bigger resistances", like for magic resist and / for armour.

Frozen Heart vs Randuin's Omen.

allows for long term sustain in your lane and gives you what Nasus lacks, Cooldown Reduction, Mana and Armor. With it alone you don't need any other armour or mana items. The other option would be . This option is also very favourable, as it also gives cooldow reduction, along with some health and armour.

Frozen Heart vs Randuins is a common argument in my comment section, and ultimately you have to decide between them. The CDR from either leads to more farm and a incredibly spammy . What it comes down to is this: will you benefit more from (CDR, Armor, Mana) or (Armor, Chance to Slow an Enemy, Health Regen)? As builds out of Glacial Shroud AND Warden's Mail, it is often easier to purchase Frozen Heart.

Utility

Surelya's Reverie vs Runic Bulwark.

I cannot live without Shurelya's on my tanks. It is such a fantastic initiation tool, gives our tanks the mana and CDR they need to spam their spells, and it gives a nice boots in health. Aegis, and it's upgrade is another viable choice in terms of team utility. As a tank, I am often at the front of the battle, with my allies behind me. Bulwark is a beautiful team item and very worthy of the purchase.

When to get Fratmog's / Atrimog's

Fratmog's = Fr(ozen Mallet)at(ma's Impaler)(War)mog's(Armor).

It is a common build on a lot of tanky dps or off tank champions. There's nothing wrong with Fratmog's, and in fact, most games I'm happy to go simply Atmog's (Atma's Impaler + Warmog's Armor) and not buy . gives a lot of health and a small damage boost. My peeve with is that it's potential is wasted if you already have a .

Atrimog's = A(tma's Impaler)tri(nity Force)(War)mog's(Armor).

Basically Nasus is naturally tanky, and the items we have bought have given him extra health. The main reason why I don't run Fratmog's on Nasus is because we want for the proc and the tiny bit of extra damage the AP component gives us when we use our other abilities. The adds a respectable 40 damage if you have 2000 health (which you will), some critical strike chance, and some nice armour. is a fantastic item for all tanks even before they buy some resistances.

spaace

Tanky Build

spaaaaaaace

Bruiser Build

My Preferred Build

spaace

Heavy AP Team

spaaaaaaace

Heavy AD Team

Confused?

You can choose to build Nasus in many different ways. Most tank items synergise well with him, and if you go for an item that gives health and resistances, like , or , his survivability is increased even more. And if you're really daring/owning, building him glass cannon works well too. My personal build is one I've developed over time and I find it to work well when against a balanced team of AD and AP.

Broken Down Choices

spaceArmour

spacespac

spaceM.Resist

spacespa

spaceHealth

spacespace

spaceDamage

spaceeee

Solo Top - Who will you face?

This section will detail who you are most likely to be facing solo top, and how to counter them. Basically, long story short:

If the enemy solo top is AD, just run the standard build: Ninja Tabi + Glacial Shroud.
If the enemy solo top is AP, buy an early Null-Magic Mantle into Chalice of Harmony to ensure more survivability in lane and mana regen to spam Spirit Fire and buy Mercury's Treads ASAP.
If the enemy solo top is Hybrid, buy an earlier Guardian Angel to balance out your survivability.

Also, always keep in mind the top lane safety zones:

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05/10

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Akali is a melee hybrid champion who has a passive that gives her bonus magic damage with ability power, and spell vamp with attack damage. Generally good Akali's will start with both these passives () and so always be aware she has natural spell vamp. Akali's weakness is that she is an Energy champion. If she tries to use all her abilities at once, she's going to run out of Energy. Another one of her weaknesses is that she's a burst caster/assassin. While this may not seem like a weakness, for tanky dps like Nasus, this is a good thing. You are not burstable material.

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08/10

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Garen is a melee straight AD champion. His passive, allows him to heal up quickly out of battle. Avoid his Spin2Win ability at all costs, as it does monstrous damage. When laning against him, make sure to activate before approaching a creep to last hit, because a wise Garen will silence you to limit you getting that 3 damage per SS.

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05/10

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Irelia is a melee hybrid champion who's passive completely renders her un"CC"able. Try not to waste or on her, as it can hurt to use it and need it later on. She can life steal off all things, including towers. If in a 1v1 fight with Irelia, be wary that she can stun you and gain the upper hand if your health percentage is higher than hers (don't be fooled by the health bar!).

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equipment mastery mastery

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08/10

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Jax is a melee hybrid champion who's passive gives attack speed in a stacking manner, so try not to have a sustained fight with him, or him if he jumps you. Jax will often buy hybrid items like and . Jax is possibly the best 1v1er in the entire game due to his ability to proc a stun.

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07/10

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Pantheon is possibly one of my most hated laning opponents. His passive block an incomming attack, which at first is incredibly frustration. What you need to do is auto-attack him once, to remove the shield, AND THEN him for huge damage. He will harass from range with and . You need a lot of armour against this guy. Always watch for when he goes MIA, as can ruin your allies' day.

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10/10

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Teemo will outright harass you with auto-attacks infused with and fire s. He will wait until you activate and then blind you, so you miss stacking your Q and CS. It is tough to beat or even run even with this lane. The best you can do is farm under tower and take Double Golems/Wolves depending on whether you're Blue/Purple. Just remember that Teemo is uber squish, you can fight him if he doesn't have his Blind up. Watch out for Shrooms.

1v2

Occasionally you'll come across those scenarios when you are solo top against two champions, as the enemy team didn't pick a jungler. Basically Nasus is probably one of the best solo 1v2 champions in the game.

Why? Because he's virtually unkillable. Now, you have to first look at the team composition. If in the loading screen you notice they have no jungler (and they're not pulling off something stupid like no- Warwick/Shaco/Nunu) and you'll be solo top against 2 champions, you need to plan ahead.

Generally you'll be up against 2 AD top (this is what I've found when in those games, you'll be against a full AD team or against a team of tanky DPS) and you'll need to build immediately to counter this. You can start and 4x potions for the 600 effective health, or really speed up your health and mana regeneration with a / + start for tan early .

Against two champions you are going to have to either max first, or max it equally with . Funnily, Nasus does fantastic against two champions as soon as he hits level 6. Many people will be baited into targetting him, but because of his lifesteal and his ultimate, Nasus can easily 1v2, especially as most likely you'll hit level 6 faster than they will ( + the fact you're a solo lane) and get a double kill.

Succinct Summary

My Other Guides

I ****ing love Nasus. Can't get more succinct than that :P

______I hope this guide helped you with your endeavours to nimbly neutralise with Nihilistic Nasus. Please don't hesitate with comments and/or suggestions regarding anything I have outlined above. I will happily respond to any queries.

______Sincerely, jhoijhoi.

______Here ends Nihilistic Nasus. Thank you for reading!

SIDE NOTE: Tell me what you didn't like, what could be changed. I reply to every single comment individually, and I always alter the guide in some way to reflect feedback. Those of you who know me, know that my guides are incredibly receptive to good suggestions, and I aim to provide the best possible guide through collaboration with the community. :) Thank you.

Hall of Fame > successful games as Nasus

Credits/References

Many thanks to these websites that I have sourced information from:

Special Thanks to:

You, for reading all of this :)
NicknameMy - for prompting a rework
PsiGuard - for picking up on a million idiotic mistakes I somehow made, wtf, how were there so many mistakes mfg o.O
BarbJ - for the Strength of Spirit math!
ShadowNet - for his QWER buttons.
RosePhoenix - for the awesome suggestions
Andonikam - for prompting discussion ^^
Khazem - prompting me to add more optional resistance items
Gunnarownsu - reminding me to add in some banners (lol I fail)
Rcclyder - making me change summoners for less experienced Nasus players
Changed the main build to reflect feedback from a lot of people, mainly Nameless, Jeffy, Khazem (more to come)

	Miniguide: Nasus Jungle By Gott der 7 Meere
	Unkillable Nasus By NateKiller
	Nihilistic Nasus By jhoijhoi
	Jungling with the Jackal: How to jungle Nasus By The_Nameless_Bard

	MOBAFire Community Cup NA May Registration Open
	Dominate Dominion #57 Finished
	Dominate TT #10 (NA) Finished
	Dominate Dominion #56 Finished

Nasus Build Guide by jhoijhoi

Nihilistic Nasus

Champion Build: Nasus

Recommended Runes + Notes

Spawn + Notes

Early Game + Notes

Mid Game + Notes

Health

Magic Resist

Armour

Alternative Damage

Example end game Build + Notes

Ability Sequence + Notes

Masteries + Notes

Offense: 9

Defense: 0

Utility: 21

Idealistic Introduction

Powerful Pros / Critical Cons

Powerful Pros

Critical Cons

Nimble Nasus' Skill Set

Skilling Order Explained

Q: Why max Siphoning Strike first?

Q: But doesn't Spirit Fire do more damage??

Q: So when should I max Spirit Fire first?

C-c-c-c-combo Breaker-r-r-r

C-c-c-c-combo Breaker-r-r-r

Masteries Explained

09/00/21

UTILITY TREE NASUS

09/21/00

DEFENSE TREE NASUS

Reasonable Runes

Q u i n t e s s e n c e s

Q u i n t s

M a r k s

M a r k s

S e a l s

S e a l s

G l y p h s

G l y p h s

Stupendous Summoner Spells

Starting Items

Dubious Decisions in Detail + Generic Gameplay

Why a Tanky Build?

On Spawn > Early Levels

Philosopher's Stone vs Chalice of Harmony.

Sheen. Sheen. Sheen.

Ninja Tabi vs Mercury Treads.

Early Mid Game

Trinity Force vs Iceborn Gauntlet.

Late Game > Teamfights

Resistances

Banshee's Veil vs Guardian Angel.

Frozen Heart vs Randuin's Omen.

Utility

Surelya's Reverie vs Runic Bulwark.

When to get Fratmog's / Atrimog's

Solo Top - Who will you face?

1v2

Succinct Summary

Credits/References

Nasus

The Curator of the Sands

This Week's Free Champions

About the Author

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