Build Guide by Akyruu

Nasus

Updates

03/29/11 - Removed Ninja Tabi and Thornmail and replaced with Mercury's Treads and Guardian Angel. More Magic resist added

Introduction

Welcome to my first Nasus build! It may not be the best, but it's worked for me in many games and it's quite versatile. This build works towards a Tank/DPS Nasus which will literally be impossible to kill during team fights. I've seen many Nasus' go complete tank in-game and are utterly useless because of their low damage output to do anything but tank. It has come to my mind that Nasus is able to take down anyone in a 1v1 if built properly. The build will be constantly updated as i try new items.

Runes

Greater Mark of Desolation 9 Because you'll mainly be using Siphoning Strike
Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration 9 To stay in lane longer so that you can farm Siphoning Strike
Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction 9 The less CD you have, the better to farm Siphoning Strike
Greater Quintessence of Desolation 3 Same reason for getting Mark of Desolation.

Masteries

I usually go 10/19/1 because it balances both DPS/Tank but it's more towards the tanky masteries. You don't need to follow every mastery i've put in but it works. Going 19/10/1 works too but you wouldn't get the health points from Veteran's Scar.

Items

Starting off with Doran's Shield gives you a whopping 120 hp followed by 8 health regen/sec to help boost your tanking capabilities early game. It's arguable to get Cloth Armor and Health Potion but there's no point when Nasus has a lifesteal passive.

Mercury's Treads - You just got to have these to reduce CC, no questions asked. These may be swapped with Ninja Tabi if you were playing against AD champions.

Sheen - A must. The core item that will help you deal damage. After you get your sheen, you could get Phage if you want that Health boost or a Zeal for attack speed. Either way you'll need to get them both to make a Trinity Force.

Guardian Angel - I replaced this with Thornmail just because the magic resist it gives along with the defense and a second life.

Banshee's Veil - This here, is to remove CC that is used on you. Getting exhausted is so annoying and it's quite irritating to see your opponent run away with 100 health. This also provides you with health/mana and Magic resist.

Randuin's Omen - Why would anyone get this ? Obviously for the 80 Armor, 300 Health, 25 Health Per 5 Sec. The passive is amazing, 5% Cooldown Reduction and 20% chance on being hit to slow the attacker's movement and attack speed by 35% for 3 seconds. This will help a ton when you're 1v1ing.

Atma's Impaler - This is your cookie cutter item. End-game you'll probably have over 3k health points. 3300 x 0.02 = 66 attack. Now you're a true tank/DPS Nasus.

Skill Sequence

You usually want to max out Siphoning Strike ASAP because it'll be your main skill you spam. Secondly you'll want Wither to chase away runners with low HP or simply to save your teams butt. Fury of the Sands is common sense.. get it when you can. Spirit Fire should be your last skill because it just uses up your mana, doesn't do that much damage, ruins your Siphoning Strike farming and it just stinks.

Summoner Spells

Recommended:

Exhaust - A must. Who's gonna get away from your Wither + Exhaust followed by your items that cause slow? Great for survivability and getting kills.

Ghost - This is a great spell to get for Nasus. Although he can slow people down with Wither, that only applies to one person. Useful for escaping ganks or simply to chase someone who cleanses out of your Exhaust/Wither.

Optional:

Teleport - Great to use to get back to your turret faster. Not really used during end-game.
Flash - It is arguable to pick between this or ((Ghost)). In my opinion the distance it teleports isn't that great compared to the amount of time you get to run super fast with Ghost.
Clarity - It is true that Nasus will burn a ton of Mana, but that only applies early-game. Get this if you absolutely don't know how to conserve mana or do not have Greater Seals of Clarity.
Ignite - Great for killing early game, but not really helpful later due to Spirit Fire.

NOT recommended:

Heal - Just.. no.
Cleanse - We got Banshees for that
Clairvoyance - When will we ever need this? Useful to spot gankers or to check Baron, but it won't really benefit your tanking/DPS.
Fortify - No. No. No.
Promote - Never needed.
Rally - What the skill does sounds neat, but it's useless late game.
Revive - The cool down is just too long. 6 minutes? Please, no thanks.
Smite - You are not a jungler Nasus. You are not a jungler Nasus. Repeat after me.

Summary

This guide will be updated frequently as i continue playing him. Feel free to leave comments and correct any mistakes i've made or give me your opinions on how to improve the guide.