Nautilus Build Guide by shaderlucker

Hello, i made this guide for Nautilus players that would like to know to balance between durability and damage output and its aimed to people looking for varieties to play Nautilus on crystal scar. I created this guide based on my personal taste and experience and may not corespond with yours, so keep that in mind. I welcome any constructive criticism. This is also my first guide, pelase let me know how i did.
(sorry for possible grammar and language mistakes, english is not my native language)

PROS

- 3 types of cc.
- Very disturbing so he cant be ignored.
- Nautilus can save your teamates and chase-secure kills due to his cc.
- He can stand 1v1 damage exchanges due to his W Titan's Wrath.
- With Barrier and W Titan's Wrath can nautilus stand low hp fights very well.
- Great defender, he can buy a lot of time defending capture points against 2 enemies.
- Great escaping tools.
- Awsome gank potential.
- With stormshield (middle buff) can nautilus make enemies instantly run :D
- He can fly.
- A lot of fun to play

CONS
- Very high cooldowns Early game (around 20 second on Q and W) - TIP: use your spells wisely.
- His Q Dredge Line can be easily disturbed by minion waves or terrain.
- Worthless basic attacks without W Titan's Wrath activated.
- Low damage output without damage focused items.
- Low base attack speed... TIP: Greater Mark of Attack Speed
- Low base movement speed... TIP: Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed, Wanderer masterie and Runic Affinity masterie for mvs rune duration.
- there are still a bit better picks for this role like Amumu or Malphite.

Greater Mark of Attack Speed - This increases nautilus's base attack speed (which is very low) and takes place whole game. In combination with Greater Quintessence of Ability Power grants great W Titan's Wrath early game damage output.

Greater Seal of Armor - Important to counter adc early game. I chose this instead of Greater Seal of Scaling Armor to get more armor early game because this build doesnt usualy start with any armor item (until Glacial Shroud bought).

Greater Quintessence of Scaling Magic Resist - Granting nice magic resist mid game when i barely get strong magic resist items.

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power - in combination with Greater Mark of Attack Speed grants nice damage output on W Titan's Wrath early game.

4x Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction and 1x Greater Quintessence of Cooldown Reduction - These 5 runes will give you 5% cooldown reduction than will make totally 20% cooldown reduction in combination with Ionian Boots of Lucidity.



Optional runes:

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration - good for any AP based champion.

Greater Mark of Armor - Early game defensive posibility if you are ok with base attack speed.


Greater Seal of Scaling Health - Very good due to W Titan's Wrath profiting from maximum health.


Greater Quintessence of Health - Very good early game defensive alternative for your W Titan's Wrath in combination with Greater Seal of Scaling Health.

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed - Very good rune on crystal scar overall. However, not than effective on nautilus due to Runic Affinity and Dredge Line.

21 in defense

Self explaining overall. I focus health boost and tenacity. I recommend safeguard masterie to reduce turret damage when diving them.

9 in utility

Wanderer - move faster out of the fight.

Improved Recall - to make recall great escaping tool.

Meditation - just to get necesarry 8 points for Runic Affinity

Mastermind - way better than Expanded Mind , you dont need extra mana regen on crtstal scar.

Runic Affinity - absolitely sweet on Nautilus. Very important for stormshield that is needed on this champion (explained in Tips and Tricks section). Also boosts movement speed runes around the map.

Garrison is necesarry for any defender. It can be used to protect CP (capture points) from huge minion waves or interruping multiple enemies from capturing to get some time until reinforcements will come. It is also very good tool for situational turret diving.

I choose Barrier which is helping survive low hp fights in combination with W Titan's Wrath (explained in Tips and Tricks section).

Revive is very recommended in combination both with garrison or barrier.

Exhaust is also great choice for reducing damage, not for slowing down enemies due to season 3 update. Great alternative for barrier.

! Be construvtive in your item choice and load order. Buils above are just examples of most universal buils against AP, AD and mixed enemy type. Use your own head to figure out what to build and when!


Giant's Belt - basic starting item for any tank, can be great health source most time of the game.

Mercury's Treads or Ninja Tabi? Both are very good option depending on enemy type.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity - Very good choice for early cooldown reduction if building Nashor's Tooth late game or not building it at all.

Frozen Heart - Absolute need for any tanky caster against AD opponents.

Nashor's Tooth - Great fully offensive item for this champion due to ability power and attack speed bonus both affecting his main ability W Titan's Wrath. Cooldown rediction is key to make this build succesfull. Deadly in combination with Frozen Heart, Abyssal Mask and/or Frozen Mallet.

Frozen Heart + Nashor's Tooth - Base idea of this build. It grants great amount of armor, ability power, some attack speed for his main W ability Titan's Wrath but mainly 40% cooldown reduction. In detail it means 10.8 seconds cooldown on W Titan's Wrath allowing to have your shield active almost all the time (if not disturbed) and 6 second cooldown on Q Dredge Line which is very disturbing for any enemy/ 3 second cooldown if used on terrain as mobility tool ON LEVEL 18!!.

Frozen Mallet - Best health source on crystal scar. It is also making your basic attack way more valuable. Helps placing your basic attacks when R Titan's Wrath activated.

Randuin's Omen - Can be also built from Giant's Belt. Very good alternative for Frozen Mallet if u need extra armor. However, it grands less health. Better against ranged ADC than Frozen Mallet. Can be also used with Frozen Mallet for extra HP, CC and durability instead of Nashor's Tooth.

Odyn's Veil - Best defensive magic resist item on crystal scar since Force of Nature removal or maybe even before.

Abyssal Mask - Offensive alternative for Odyn's Veil if you need more damage than durability. Can be also built with Odyn's Veil to get extra advantage against AP oponnents instead of Nashor's Tooth

Thornmail - Become their woodoo doll.

hextech sweeper - Use this against stealthy sneaky rats and ninjas. Also very good alternative for Nashor's Tooth if you need hp and utiliti more than damage.

Regular build

Probably most universal build in this guide. Starting with solide cooldown reduction and both physical and magic resistance and finishing with extra HP, CC, and attack speed to increase dmg. Once Frozen Heart and Ionian Boots of Lucidity bought, you get maximun cooldown reduction in combination with 5% cooldown reduction from runes which can be key to solve most situations...


Alternative build

This is very good choice if your team is able to stand damage exchange without strong tanker. Focused on supporting your team with auras and fast movement between capture points.


Alternative build 2

More focused on damage than "regular build". Choose to build this way if your team is tanky enaugh and need more dmg and cc than durability.

1: Pick nautilus only when you have team mates that dont rely on cooldowns that much.
2: Use Staggering Blow passive to prevent low hp from escaping and ADCs reaching your teamates.
3: Use Q Dredge Line and Depth Charge to stop dangerous enemy actions during teamfight as AP Master Yi's healing or Katarina's R Death Lotus and so...
4: Use Q Dredge Line on terrain to move across the battlefield.
5: Use Q Dredge Line to stun enemies even in close fights, mainly under turret.
6: Help your teamates by using E Riptide to slow chasing enemies.
7: Save your R Depth Charge to teamfight or to save both your and/or teamate's life.
8: Use recall to escape from behind capture points due to Improved Recall when there is no way out.
9: Pick stormshield often and use in combination with W Titan's Wrath. They need to take down stormshield first to take down your W Titan's Wrath shield. That makes you very durable.
10 Use Barrier when fighting with low hp against low hp in combination with W Titan's Wrath for the same reason as in tip no. 9.