Hello. Welcome to my guide. I'm a gold player that mains jungle. This is my input on how to jungle the beast called Susan. I've been playing League since the beginning of season 2 and was ranked silver in season 2 and gold in season 3. This is my first guide I've written and will probably revise it alot. I used Nasus to carry me from Silver to Gold (before the model rework) and as of recent he's been at a high pick/ban rate in gold.

I'd recommend reading through the guide as it allows more insight than just a standard build.

I apologize for lack of colors/pictures as it's my first guide. But thank you for reading and please rate and leave constructive criticism :).

I am also planning to add a Top lane guide soon.
I will also update this guide regularly for each update as I do play Nasus regularly.

Pros Tanky High Damage output if played properly Super strong slow and attack speed debuff Good to carry out of lower brackets

Cons Difficult to farm Q in jungle Often banned in low elo brackets Not as strong as a pick as or

Nasus works in most team compositions. He's a tanky champion with strong damage if you can farm Siphoning Strike.

You should NOT choose Nasus when

Against a Good counter jungler
Team is lacking in hard CC
Team has no AOE CC
Your team has no AP damage
Your team has no reliable initiation. (Nasus doesn't have a GOOD initiation

The reason you wouldn't want to pick Nasus against a good counter jungler is because if they consistently counter jungle you, you wouldn't be able to farm Siphoning Strike effectively and you'd fall behind.

Nasus relies on his team to have HARD cc as he only has Wither

Nasus doesn't have any AOE cc which is crucial to teamfighting.

Nasus isn't an AP jungler. If your team has an AD mid and an AD top, you're probably going to need an AP jungler. (Not sure why people do this, but they do.)

Nasus doesn't have any GOOD initiation, meaning he can't start a fight as well as Sejuani or Lee Sin. All he can do is Wither and run in like a maniac.

Ghost and Smite are my go to choices for a jungle Nasus.

Ghost is just a good all around summoner spell for initiation and chasing. It's great for ganking.

Smite is necessary for EVERY jungler (in my opinion). It greatly increases your clear time and gives you Dragon/Baron control.

Honorable mentions

Flash is good to replace Ghost if you prefer it.

Teleport may be a good replacement to Ghost and Flash but it isn't as effective. Although I could see how this would be a decent pick

TERRIBLE picks

Revive is a terrible summoner spell. Never get it.

Barrier doesn't work well in the jungle. You're tanky enough.

Ignite not necessary at all unless enemy team has a ton of life steal champs..

Exhaust you have Wither

Heal doesn't heal that much. Not worth a summoner spell slot.

I use Greater Quintessence of Life Steal x2 for sustain and Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage x1 for a little bit of AD. (Life steal isn't necessary and can opt for armor pen instead of AD damage.)

I use Flat AD marks Greater Mark of Attack Damage for the extra AD damage. (Can be replaced with armor pen)

I use flat armor seals Greater Seal of Armor. The flat armor is to make you tanky and it helps alot in the jungle.

I use flat MR glyphs Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist for MR. This is necessary for tankiness. This can be replaced by Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist because you don't need the MR until later in the game.

I go the standard 9/21 masteries because I like the tankiness the defence tree gives you. I usually use the 5% cooldown reduction and AD damage.

For the defence tree I put them to increase resistance and reduce enemy champion damage. The Perseverance is really good in the jungle and heals you for quite a bit.

As for items I prefer tanky items because of Nasus' high base damage by farming his Q. Nasus is often unstoppable due to his extreme tankiness and high Q farm causing him to be able to do alot of damage.

Items such as the Trinity Force is a good option for Nasus because it offers a good amount of damage, utility, and defence in one item. Iceborn Gauntlet is also a great option, but you should only have one of the two. Iceborn Gauntlet often for the better tankiness and slow, but Trinity for the damage.

I still start machete because I usually build the Spirit of the Ancient Golem as a base item, it has really good defences and offers tenacity for a fair price. I usually rush Ninja Tabi right after for armor and because stacking tenacity doesn't work very well. I rush Locket of the Iron Solari right after because it offers a good amount of armor and MR. This will usually cause you to be really tanky.

Items after that will usually be situational and to the player's preference.

In the jungle I max out E Spirit Fire for clear time and armor reduction for ganks. I max Wither next because it's OP and you really only need 1 point in Siphoning Strike for the jungle.

I've been playing ranked with Nasus since the end of Season 2 and found him to be quite the carry. At lower elo brackets such as Silver/Gold i've found Nasus to be an effective carry due to his high damage and extreme tankiness. His Q isn't as strong as a Top lane Nasus but if done correctly can be farmed well in the jungle as well.
I am currently 22/13(62.9% win rate) w/ Nasus in ranked, with averages of 5/3.8/9.5 KDA.
(Picture coming soon)

In the jungle Smite is now a 40 second cooldown meaning you can use it on your first buff. Usually you should get a leash from at least one lane to make it abit faster. Smite the first buff you do at the beginning to ensure maximum cooldown use and so that your laner doesn't steal it on accident.

The jungle route i usually follow is - Blue buff >> Red buff >> golem >> gank a lane
After that I usually clear whats on my path while trying to advance to other lanes. If you can't gank a lane just continue jungling. Nasus isn't that great of a counter jungler in my opinion because he's not as fast as say a Nunu & Willump or Lee Sin.

I thought that this is so crucial to the jungle Nasus that i'd make it's own section.
Farming Siphoning Strike isn't as effective as a laning Nasus but that doesn't mean it's possible.

To farm Siphoning Strike you should usually last hit one of the smaller creeps FIRST, and then move on the last hit the big minion with your Siphoning Strike. If done correctly this SHOULD give you 9 stacks per camp.

Your ganks will usually start with the laner's CC or your Wither. Your armor debuff on Spirit Fire is really good for ganking AD based lanes as it does increase damage output from both you and your laner.

For teamfights you will usually iniate unless there is a better iniation on your team like Elise Cocoon or Orianna Command: Shockwave.

Start by using your Wither on the enemy carry or bruiser. Spirit Fire should be used on the majority of their team and where you will fight. Activate Fury of the Sands when you're near the enemy team as it does make you tankier as well as a strong AOE magical damage. You should focus on peeling for your ADC/APC. But sometimes it's possible for you to go straight for the enemy carry if your team has enough peel as you do a large amount of damage if you farmed your Siphoning Strike early in the game.

Published 12/08/2013 at 12;32AM
Changed a few errors and made rune section more appealing 12/08/2013 3;03AM