Guide Details → About the Guide → Why Nasus Mid Pre-Game → Runes → Itemization

In-Game → Early Game → Mid/Late Game

Hello everyone. I'm SurferKiller and this is my Nasus Mid Simplest In-Depth Season 2025 Guide.

I've been playing Nasus since 2015, and been playing Nasus Mid Only since 2021.

This guide is written with the objective to keep information at a minimum, but at the same time, as In-depth as possible. I will organize information on what you need to do and why you need to do it.


WIll make a video update on the guide soon and post it here

Please feel free to use the comments to suggest improvements to this guide if you feel like I can explain any topic in less words than what I currently have.

All the guide changes will be noted in the "Guide Patch Notes" Section at the end of the guide.

Thank you for reading this and if you have any questions either comment on this guide or ask on my stream so I can answer you faster.

twitch.tv/surferkillerhd

Simple Pros/Cons on Nasus Mid:

Pros → Smaller lane than Top lane; → More stacks; → Overall easier matchups compared to Top lane; → Can run back to tower faster; → Harder for opponent to freeze;

Cons → If your mid laner roams before you build Sheen, you won't be able to stop them or follow them; → You lose hard if you get camped by the enemy jungler/support; → Enemy Top can swap with Mid.

Main Rune Setup

Press the Attack Lethal Tempo was brought back, but it doesn't give range anymore so it's not worth doing on Nasus. So I use Press the Attack instead. 2 autos and 1 Siphoning Strike is such a big amount of damage that makes Nasus useful before Level 6, and stronger after it. Take this Rune Setup Vs all matchups except Major and Extreme.

Triumph Best rune out of the other 2 in this branch. Absorb Life was killed early game in 14.17 so it's not a good idea to take anymore.

Legend: Haste Takedowns give you Basic Ability Haste up to 15. Very helpful, specially early on.

Last Stand More damage when you're low. Good for close fights. You will have lots of them.

Second Wind Very good for getting health back early which is your main priority.

Demolish After many patches using this rune, I feel like it is more useful than others in the same tree. Good for splitting and to make the few chances that Nasus has at touching the enemy tower worth more than without this rune. Do not take this rune against Major and Extreme matchups, or against matchups where you end up only using Demolish less than 2 times throughout the whole laning phase. Alternitavely, you can take Overgrowth for a bit more max health, Bone Plating if you want some poke protection, or Unflinching if your matchup has a lot of CC.

Ability Haste

Health Scaling

Tenacity/Slow Resist

---

Secondary Rune Setup

Fleet Footwork Take this rune if you are a beginner Nasus player or if you're up against a Major / Extreme matchup. Stack and run away to safety when laning. With this build, you can get healing from up to 5 sources: Fleet Footwork, Second Wind, Revitalize, Doran's Shield, Health Potion.

Triumph Best rune out of the other 2 in this branch. Absorb Life was killed early game in 14.17 so it's not a good idea to take anymore.

Legend: Haste Takedowns give you Basic Ability Haste up to 15. Very helpful, specially early on.

Last Stand More damage when you're low. Good for close fights. You will have lots of them.

Second Wind Very good for getting health back early which is your main priority.

Overgrowth Gives you a good chunk of max health for the mid/late game. Alternitavely, you can take Revitalize for a bit more healing in-lane, Bone Plating if you want some poke protection, or Unflinching if your matchup has a lot of CC.

Ability Haste

Health Scaling

Tenacity/Slow Resist

---

Other Rune Keystones [Optional / Experimental]

Unsealed Spellbook This rune was big back in season 8/9, and it's starting to make a comeback with recent buffs. It's mostly good for Top lane, but I don't completely reject the idea of bringing it to mid.

Conqueror You can try Conqueror as an alternative to Press the Attack or Fleet Footwork and see how it feels for you personally. I don't really like it. I definitely prefer a rune that procs faster like Press the Attack and that overall does more burst damage

Phase Rush Definitely the current best rune for Top lane, mostly because of the movement speed you get to either chase you matchup down or to run safely back to tower. However, I do not recommend it for mid.

Grasp of the Undying Do NOT take this rune unless you know exactly what you're doing. Many players take Grasp thinking its a good rune because of it's healing/max health benefits, but keep in mind you're playing Nasus and it's most likely that you won't proc Grasp enough times. Only take this if you're sure you will maximize from it.

List of Summoner Spells

Ghost Ghost is mandatory for 90% of Nasus builds. It provides the movement speed you need to catch backliners and to chase down enemies before they get to safety.

Flash Flash is good for Nasus mid if you know the matchup you're up against and know exactly how/when to kill them. It's always nice to have this spell so you can use it to kill an enemy that is out of range and low HP, or to escape if things go wrong. Downside to this spell is the fact that you cannot split push most of the time. Some players take Flash with Teleport on top lane. I'm not sure why but it's probably because of Phase Rush, so they don't need Ghost for movement speed.

Teleport Teleport is well used for split pushing. Some games have enemy team compositions where you know you won't win fights 5v5, and that's when you take this summoner spell. It's also good to put pressure on the opposite lane of an objective while it's up (Example: pressuring Bot lane while Baron is alive.)

Spell combinations

+

-OR-

+

-OR-

+

Movement Speed Build

Doran's Shield Best starter item. Got buffed last season. Cloth Armor and/or Beads are not good to build anymore.

Your goal is to recall when you have enough gold to buy your "First Back" item.

---

First back items:

Sheen Best item for Nasus currently. I've tried other builds without Sheen, and nothing is comparable to the damage this boi gives.

-OR-

Negatron Cloak If you're playing vs. an Extreme matchup or you're struggling in your lane, build this against AP.

-OR-

Warden's Mail If you're playing vs. an Extreme matchup or you're struggling in your lane, build this against AD.

---

Boots:

Ionian Boots of Lucidity Best boots for Nasus. Gives you a lot of Ability Haste and Summoner Spell Haste. Build these boots if the enemy team doesn't have much CC and is not full AD.

-OR-

Mercury's Treads Build these boots if the enemy team has a lot of CC. It gives you 30% Tenacity and you can have up to 60% Tenacity if you build Sterak's Gage and have the Tenacity and Slow Resist shard.

-OR-

Boots of Swiftness Alternative boots that you can build. I've seen some players in the Nasus community build this. I've tried them, they are nice. Personal preference if you want this over Ionian Boots of Lucidity.

---

1st Core Item

Trinity Force The best item on Nasus currently. I've tested different items like Spear of Shojin , Sundered Sky , Iceborn Gauntlet and Trinity still feels the best for our dog. We are building mainly tank with full movement speed, so we only need Trinity as our damage item.

---

2nd Core Item

Force of Nature Your main Magic Resist item if there is no situations where you need other items like Frozen Heart. You build this mostly for the movement speed that it gives which is crucial for Nasus at the moment due to heavy nerfs to Ghost.

-OR-

Frozen Heart Build this if the enemy team comp has attack speed based champs (E.g: Jinx, Master Yi, Irelia). Insanely cheap, gives mana and a huge chunk of armor.

-OR-

Sterak's Gage Build this if the enemy team comp has heavy Croud Control (E.g: Shen, Ivern, Veigar, Caitlyn, Brand). Or a Garen / Darius :)

-OR-

Dead Man's Plate Your main Armor item if there is no situations where you need other items like Frozen Heart. You build this mostly for the movement speed that it gives which is crucial for Nasus at the moment due to heavy nerfs to Ghost.

---

Boots Upgrade:

Crimson Lucidity Worth the upgrade in my opinion. More Ability Haste, good passive that comes with it. I'd say go for it.

-OR-

Chainlaced Crushers I would personally save this upgrade for last item. I don't feel like it's worth the passive and stats you get. Maybe if it would give more Tenacity which unfortunately is not the case.

-OR-

Swiftmarch Very worth upgrading Boots of Swiftness into this. You get an extra 65 Movement speed instead of the normal 55.

---

3rd Item

Force of Nature Build this if you already have Dead Man's Plate except when: -You need anti-healing. You build Bramble Vest; -You need anti-crit. You build Randuin's Omen; -The team is Full AD. You build Frozen Heart.

-OR-

Dead Man's Plate Build this if you already have Force of Nature except when: -You need anti-healing. You build Bramble Vest; -You need anti-crit. You build Randuin's Omen; -The team is Full AP. You build Spirit Visage.

If you bought Frozen Heart or Sterak's Gage build either one based on which type of damage is the strongest on the enemy team.

---

4th Item

Jak'Sho, The Protean Build this if you already have Dead Man's Plate and Force of Nature. If you're missing one of them, then build them first. If you are building full Armor/MR, make sure you have these items: Full AD: Dead Man's Plate / Frozen Heart / Bramble Vest (If you need anti-heal); Full AP: Force of Nature / Spirit Visage.

---

Last Item

Sterak's Gage If you already have this item, check if you're missing Dead Man's Plate / Force of Nature or Warmog's Armor. If you have all of them, refer to the "Other Items" section and do whatever is most appropriate for your game.

---

Other Items

Armor Items

Dead Man's Plate Your first armor item if you need one. Check if you don't need Anti-heal/Anti-Crit or Frozen Heart. This item helps with movement speed which is really good for teamfights.

Frozen Heart If you need Mana or if the enemy team comp has attack speed based champs.

Thornmail If you need Anti-Heal. Don't finish the item until it's your last. Buy only Bramble Vest.

Randuin's Omen If you need Anti-Crit.

Magic Resist Items

Force of Nature Main item if you need MR. It's better when combined with Dead Man's Plate.

Spirit Visage 2nd MR item if you need it.

Kaenic Rookern Another MR item if you need more.

Abyssal Mask If you have a fed AP champion in your team. It will reduce enemy's magic resistance and make them do more damage. You also get more MR for each enemy with reduced MR.

Other Items [Optional / Experimental]

Hullbreaker Build this if you get ahead in your lane and you're split pushing. Every 5th attack will give you good damage for towers and champs. Keep in mind that having Teleport helps with splitting/helping with objectives.

Warmog's Armor You can build Warmog's as a replacement for Sterak's Gage or Jak'Sho, The Protean if you want.

Experimental Hexplate A good item when combined with the full movement speed build. You can replace Sterak's Gage with this if you want.

Black Cleaver You can do this if you're fed and need some extra damage. Black Cleaver helps you with a bit of armor pen which is nice.

Sundered Sky Good item when combined with Trinity Force. Ideal for a full bruiser Nasus build if you want to go for it. I would not recommend this for Mid lane. Probably better in jungle.

Fimbulwinter I see some Nasus Mains do this. I think Frozen Heart gives you the mana you need, and the health you get from this isn't worth it. You're also forced to buy Tear of the Goddess early.

Blade of the Ruined King Build this if you're smurfing in Plat or below. It's fun :)

Press the Attack/Fleet Footwork Setup

The First 10 minutes will decide your laning phase. Here are some essencial rules you should follow:

1st: Don't attack minions besides last hitting with your Siphoning Strike. If you've played Nasus Top, you already know what I mean. Keep yourself under tower but don't let all the minions crash into it except when you're losing a lot of HP for it.

If you are running Fleet Footwork, walk up to a minion, stack and run away, as you get the movement speed to back off to safety. That way you don't get poked as much.

2nd: Get 100 stacks in 10 minutes. The higher the better. 200 Stacks at 10 minutes means you can kill most of your matchups as soon as you have Sheen.

3rd: Don't leave mid until you have Sheen + 100 Stacks + Fury of the Sands. No matter if your jungle is getting invaded, no matter if your mid laner is roaming early. Every time your laner leaves, tell your team right away. Push the wave with your Spirit Fire. Try to crash it into the tower. Fall back afterwards. Back to last hitting with Siphoning Strike.

(If you are running Press the Attack and you're experienced with Nasus, you can ignore this 3rd rule.)

4th: Don't let your jungler gank you before level 6. It will go wrong 90% of the time. If you still get ganked, use Wither and Spirit Fire and back off. Some junglers can win the 1v1.

5th: If you are low HP, it's better to be safe and recall, even if you don't have enough gold to buy anything useful. You will lose XP and Gold of course, but you don't give a kill to your enemy mid/jungler.

Recall as soon as you have enough gold to buy the correspondent "First back" item mentioned in the "Itemization" section. Remember to check the "Threats" section of this guide.

Do you have Sheen built? 100 Stacks? Check your matchup in the Threats Section of this guide. You might be ready to kill them. If you do, wait until they do the same mistake, then kill them again.

If you're ahead, look for fights outside of mid. Look at other lanes, check if they need help. Fight for objectives. Always keep an eye on your stacks and make sure you hit 400 by 20 minutes.

If the lane didn't go well for you, keep playing safe under tower and wait for some time. As soon as you see the opportunity, move to a sidelane and start scaling there. When my laning phase doesn't go well, I see myself swapping with my botlane most of the times.

Press the Attack/Fleet Footwork Setup

Mid/Late Game will depend if you got ahead vs your matchup or not.

If you did get ahead, stop for a second and take a look at the enemy team.

Is someone insanely fed? Do you have a 10/0 Jinx in botlane? If so, time for you to start building against them. Try to limit test yourself into killing them, you most likely can, specially against ADCs. Save your Wither only for them. You most likely won't split push if you're winning, so just focus on objectives and teamfights. Stay close to your team.

If your laning phase didn't go well, then it's time to start split pushing. If you brought Teleport, it's gonna come in handy if you want to help with objectives. You don't have to mainly focus on stacking anymore, so try to use your Spirit Fire more often to clear the waves faster. If you have Flash, then keep an eye on objective timers so you can be there when they spawn, and be with your team more often.

Focus on 1 lane at a time, for example, choose Top, and try to take the tier 2 tower. Look at your map every 5-10 seconds, look for the enemy team, if most of them are missing, they are most likely coming for you. Fall back, recall if it's not safe, if it's just 2/3 people coming, fall back to a bush and when they leave, go back to split pushing.

After you take tier 2 tower of that lane, try to take tier 3 + inhibitor. If you're struggling, switch to another lane, apply the same principle.

Remember, make sure you always have Ghost and Fury of the Sands ready. You're gonna need all these if you want to participate in a team fight. Flash will help if you have it, but you can fight without it. Always focus on the easy targets first (E.g: ADCs, Squishy Champions, Back-liners). If you brought Teleport, save it to go to objectives when you're splitting.

Late Game

For late game, it depends on what elo you're in. If you're at Platinum or below, I think Nasus is the strongest champion in your game. If you're at Emerald+, I think the opposite. I personally think Nasus falls off past 30 minutes. So the only thing I can advise you is to keep your focus on objectives. Elder Dragon and Baron are your game winners.

[25.10]:

Definitely keep an eye out mages this patch. Their items have been changed. I am currently playing the game and finding out if there are any harder/easier matchups. Will adjust the "Threats" section if needed.

-Added Optional / Experimental Rune Keystones in the "Runes" section.

-Changed "Other Items" category to "Optional / Experimental Items" in the "Itemization" section.

[25.09]:

-Simplified Guide and clarified text to keep the guide simpler.

-Changed priority of summoner spell combos. Flash Ghost is now the most recommended;

-Changed Revitalize to Overgrowth in the Fleet Footwork setup;

-Added Warden's Mail / Negatron Cloak to the "Itemization" Section as an early item for Extreme matchups;

-Removed Boots of Swiftness / Swiftmarch from the "Items" section and added it as an optional choice for boots in the "Itemization" section;

-Removed Hullbreaker from the "Items" section and added it as an optional item for split pushing in the "Itemization" section.

-Adjusted prices in the "Itemization" section.

-Updated text to match latest patches information in the "Early Game" section.

-Updated Zed text in the "Threats" section.

-Changed Lux matchup from Even to Minor;

-Changed Annie text in the "Threats" section. She is now treated as an Even matchup at Emerald+

[25.08]:

-Changed Zoe matchup from Minor to Even (Extreme if in Diamond+);

-Changed Lux matchup from Minor to Even;

-Changed Aurora matchup from Extreme to Major;

-Adjusted order of mathups to show the harder ones first in each category;

-Made Press the Attack the main rune setup and left Fleet Footwork as a secondary for Major/Extreme matchups or for beginners;

-Changed main rune from Revitalize to Demolish in the Press the Attack setup;

-Added optional/alternatives rune Unflinching and Bone Plating instead of Revitalize in the Fleet Footwork setup for hard matchups that have cc;

-Adjust text in the "Runes" Section of the guide to clarify alternatives to Revitalize.

-Changed text of Frozen Heart in the "Itemization" section, removing the need for 40 Ability Haste.