This guide is under construction. Please excuse the mess (the "save" feature wasn't working, so I had to publish to avoid losing changes).

There are few things more heart-warming hearing a toxic, defeated opponent call your champion "broken" when you know you followed your game plan to the letter. But this guide was created for a different reason: to unpack he numerous, subtle variations that come with playing the same champion in the same lane with the same basic philosophy.

Recently, Riot made balancing changes in Patch 5.16 affecting "juggernauts," or "lumbering giants of melee-ranged obliteration." That describes how (most, but not all) Nasus players approach the top lane.

But optimizing Nasus is about more than just buying armor and stacking. It's about working with your team and customizing your build based on the opposition. Hence, this guide. Before we jump right in, I want to clarify what this guide is and is not.

This guide is not meant to be a replacement for some of the excellent work done by folks like NateKiller and QwikPL. I strongly encourage players (especially those new to Nasus) to read those guides (and others) to get a feel for the character. I'm not looking to rehash the fine work of others in this guide. So if you want to read about freezing the lane, the basics of stacking your Q, and specific information on counters, do that first. If you decide you really like playing a tanky top-lane juggernaut Nasus, well...

This guide is meant to be a supplement to the fine work of other writers, by:

• going into detail on potential item combinations based on matchups,
• addressing recent item changes, and
• discussing some of the overlooked elements of using Nasus as part of a winning team.