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Nunu & Willump
Build Guide by Fart igniter
Don't get the yeti angry, u won't like him when he's tanking
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Spells:
Ignite
Teleport
Ability Order
Call of the Freljord (PASSIVE)
Nunu & Willump Passive Ability
Introduction
I play Nunu as a tank ("omg what a noob ltp ffs") and NO AP ("oh now you've done it! uninstall please")....and yes.... that means no rod of ages. With this guide, we'll build a durable tank that your enemies won't be able to ignore if they don't want to be aced ;)
READ THIS FIRST
Before you even think of down voting, please take your time to read the guide and try it, not once but a couple of times.
I'm not saying this is the way


Pros
Cons
- Rides a yeti
- High durability
- Good CC with
Ice Blast
- Great ganker
- Nomnom ability
- Awesome chaser/escaper
- Devastating ultimate
- Nice support with
Blood Boil
Cons
- Mana hungry early game (depends on how well you use
Visionary
- Not the best farmer
- Risky all or nothing ultimate
- Team dependance (because of your tank role with this build)
Pretty standard tank runes:
Note that I pick FLAT bonus in every set of runes, this is really a personal choice. I do preffer FLAT runes because it buffs more your early game and in my opinion, it's when runes shine the most...Believe me, they DO make a difference ;D
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration = Magic penetration. Although I'm not building AP at all, it's just the best one you can pick here. It'll help making those
Ice Blast hit harder early game.
Greater Seal of Armor = Armor. No need for further explanations.
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist = Magic resist. Obvious reasons.
Greater Quintessence of Health = HP. Early game durability.
Note that I pick FLAT bonus in every set of runes, this is really a personal choice. I do preffer FLAT runes because it buffs more your early game and in my opinion, it's when runes shine the most...Believe me, they DO make a difference ;D
As a tank you SHOULD and WILL take damage, so in order to buff yourself even more we are adding the defense mastery tree to your defensive runes. This way you'll start with:
Not bad huh? considering you won't be buying a defensive item to start, such as
Doran's Shield or
Ruby Crystal. Also remember you have
Consume and 3x
Health Potion, so hp shouldn't be a problem.
In the utility tree, we'll pick
Spatial Accuracy
since we have teleport; and
Good Hands
. Why not
Perseverence
? Seriously, have you taken a moment to read and THINK of
Perseverence
??? Probably not (I mean, if you DO picked it you obviously haven't), so here's some math for you guys:
Perseverence
= Increases your total health and mana regen by (2/3/4%). Now, how much is your health and mana regen? (remember it's regen/per 5 secs) 15? 20? I doubt it, but let's make it 30 to make my point clear.
4% out of 30 is 1.2....that means +1.2 health/mana regen per 5
So..... 1.2 / 5 = 0.24 Congrats dude you are regenerating 0.24 extra hp per second (LMAO it's just hilarious).....INSTEAD of reviving 10% faster and go tanking again for your team. Sure 10% seems low, but late game it's around 6 seconds. Have you ever lost a game for not respawning 6 seconds earlier? I think almost everybody has, so now pick
Good Hands
:)
- 671 HP (545 base hp + 126 bonus) (78 from
marks + 48 from
)
- 39 armor (20 base armor + 19 bonus) (13 bonus from
seals + 6 bonus from
)
- 49 magic resist (30 base magic resist + 19 bonus) (13 bonus from
glyphs + 6 bonus from
)
Not bad huh? considering you won't be buying a defensive item to start, such as




In the utility tree, we'll pick





4% out of 30 is 1.2....that means +1.2 health/mana regen per 5
So..... 1.2 / 5 = 0.24 Congrats dude you are regenerating 0.24 extra hp per second (LMAO it's just hilarious).....INSTEAD of reviving 10% faster and go tanking again for your team. Sure 10% seems low, but late game it's around 6 seconds. Have you ever lost a game for not respawning 6 seconds earlier? I think almost everybody has, so now pick

My choices are
Ignite and
Teleport. But this is just a matter of preferences. However there are overall good and bad choices.


Good choices
Exhaust: Always a good choice. It would be best if your carry takes it, but if no one does, it's a nice pick. Ideal to shut down that fed
Xin Zhao or
Miss Fortune
Ghost: Actually i've never picked it as Nunu, since you can chase quite good already with
Blood Boil, but if you like speed, then be my guest.
Smite: A MUST if you jungle, not my case though since i'm not jungling
Teleport: One of my favorite spells with any champion. It has so many utilities:
- go to base and quicly return to your lane
- cover a teammate´s lane while they are dead or shopping
- ganking
- join teamfights
- backdooring
- some people even use it for escaping
- it has a long cooldown though, so you should use it only when necessary
Cleanse: Good choice for any tank since you will (or at least you should) get crowd controlled, while doing your tank job.
Fortify: Nice passive, good for last hitting. A real lifesaver sometimes but has a long cooldown.
Ignite: My second choice. As i said before you are a great chaser, but as a tank you may lack some damage output to make that chase worthy. This baby will give you just what you need. Problem getting that First Blood? problem solved. Problem with hp regenerators (
Fiddlesticks,
Swain,
Dr. Mundo)??, Let 'em burn >:) You may argue that
Exhaust is just as good for chasing, but remember that your foe will be already slowed by
Ice Blast, so no need for more slows, we need damage!
Flash: The most OP summoner spell available, yet it is mainly used for escaping or chasing someone who already flashed through a wall. Since you are quite tanky with this build i really think it's not vital for escaping, yet useful as it always is. The only outstanding use i can think of for Nunu, would be
Flash +
Absolute Zero, but it's a risky proposition, as will be discussed later.
Bad choices
Heal: Noob spell imo, there are far better choices than this. Late game it's no that useful and remember you have
Consume
Revive: Extremely high cooldown makes it unviable.
Clarity: I know
Nunu & Willump is mana hungry early game, but your passive
Visionary exists for a reason you know? Besides, after you get catalyst the protector mana shouldn't be a problem. If it is, then stop throwing
Ice Blast for last hitting...newp
Rally: I won´t even bother writing why you shouldn't take it.
Clairvoyance: good spell, actually really good! but remember you are the tank, not
Sona or
Soraka




Tips and Tricks
- When fighting monsters such as ancient golem, lizard elder or dragon and deal a continuous amount of damage while keeping your hp and mana up, start by using
Blood Boil to trigger
Visionary faster due to it's attack speed buff, use
Consume every time your hp is down, and save
Visionary for
Ice Blast. This way you shouldn't have too much trouble getting those buffs and gold, and make it out alive and fresh for combat.



Tips and Tricks
- You can also eat things like
Summon: Tibbers,
H-28G Evolution Turret and
Jack In The Box! give it a try!
Consume is a good way to regain health in the middle of a fight surrounded by minions. I've won countless of 1 on 1 encounters thanks to this.
- While escaping with low HP remember to bite anything on the way to improve your survival chances.
- You can afford to take some damage early game from enemy minions and champions in exchange for doing some harassment....then simply use
Consume on your way back to regain lost hp. Repeating this process will weaken your opponent while keeping you durable throughout the laning phase.






Tips and Tricks
- You can buff your own minions too! so if no one's around, buff 'em! it's free after all. This is specially useful when pushing a tower on your own with your minions, since a buffed siege minion (the "cannon" minion) will fasten things up a lot.



Tips and Tricks
- Always use
Ice Blast to intiate....always!!! (I really mean it). Whether it's a team fight(aim for the enemy carry) or 1 on 1. This will allow you to throw your next one ASAP giving you more chance of success.
- It's a really good tool for escaping too! Be it yourself or an ally, just ice them and that chase is almost over.
- Beware of it's relatively high mana cost (at least for Nunu's mana pool, specially early game) since it will suck up all of your mana if you just shoot it with no reason. Remember to synergize it with
Visionary

How to land a succesful

I will describe the 3 most common situations in which you will use

Team Fight Absolute Zero
Don't solo rush into the entire enemy team and pop your ult, you will fail. Remember it's just a matter of applying a simple stun/silence/taunt/fear or a knockup like



Now what? there are many possibilities:
- Someone actually saved 1 CC spell for you, and it's over :(
- They focus you down and kill you. Not likely with this build and considering the debuff applied during the 3 seconds channeling; but still a possibility.
- They panic, the bomb goes off and you win :D
1 on 1 Absolute Zero
This is the most easy way to land it, since you are fighting only one foe and chances of getting CC's are low. But still we need to get the guy as close to you as possible. That is why I always fight a little bit before using it. You know, throw an


BEWARE OF


The Ninja Absolute Zero
The best one <3!!! There are a few times in which you can pop your ult inside a bush and walk away with a kill almost every time.
During laning phase (according to serious statistics, most ninja zero's happen during laning phase), when you are lvl 5 try to get into the bush and lvl up silently inside it. This will help a lot to get your enemies off-guard. Then make your teammate lure and bait 'em for you as he walks into your position....as soon as you realize the enemy fell for it and are chasing your ally pop

I know i make it sound like it's a 1 hit-KO......well it almost is. But if it wasn't enough remember they are still close enough (if they were hit in the 1st place, thay HAVE to be near) so shoot some ice and get that kill
Tips and Tricks
- You can press "R" again to detonate it sooner if you see an enemy about to leave the Area. It will deal less damage though, but hey! it's something.
- I've noticed that when you use
Absolute Zero people really panic. They either run away in every direction or they focus you with all their strenght to prevent the explotion. Either of them is actually a really good thing about this skill, even if they end up cancelling the skill or escaping....i mean isn't that some heavy crowd control aswell? making their entire team panic? It's pure psychology man! READ THEIR MINDSZZZ! Make 'em panic while the rest of your team kill them ;D
Ability Sequence Order
- Your first pick should be always be
Ice Blast since it's the best way to get First Blood if you are lucky enough. Max this one 1st!
- Then go for
Consume. Pick at least two levels before lvl 6, unless your lane is really easy and you don't need much healing. On the contrary, if you happen to be laning solo top 1 vs 2, you may want to get a 3rd point before lvl 6 to help your survival; yet it's NO REASON to max it 1st even on this situation.Max this 2nd!
Blood Boil normally should go last, but it is quite arguable if (again) you don't need that much healing from
Consume. If that's the case then max this one before. Be aware though that since you are the tank you are likely to receive a lot of damage and this situation is very unlikely to happen at all.
- Your
Absolute Zero has the number 1 priority and should always be given it's corresponding points at lvl 6, 11 and 16.
CORE ITEMS
-
: Tenacity is a MUST for every tank, and those 25 MR points will help a lot early game too.
What aboutNinja Tabi? Well, as it may seem a nice choice if the enemy team is AD heavy, IT'S NOT. Not because it's a bad item itself, but think about what you lose if you pick these boots instead. Trust me, you WILL need tenacity, and if you pick these boots you´ll have to build something else for tenacity in compensation, such as
Eleisa's Miracle.....A highly expensive detour from our build, don´t you think?. Just grab
Mercury's Treads and get 2 birds with 1 stone ;)
-
: Another permanent choice as a Tank nunu. Remember we are not building
Rod of Ages so we need to compensate for that HP and mana somehow. Besides it´s the ONLY thing that will prevent your
Absolute Zero from being cancelled.
Always build catalyst the protector first, as it's passive will keep you durable early game. Remember you already haveMercury's Treads so you don't need
Negatron Cloak yet.
-
: More HP and decent armor, plus a really nice passive. You are not the best farmer, so this will really boost your gold income. Remember we took
Teleport as a spell? Well, I'll guarantee you that in many games you'll find at some point a massive wave of enemy minions going for your tower. Teleport there and with
Sunfire Aegis you'll probably save the turret...remember you have no AoE abilities, besides
Absolute Zero of course. But it wouldn't be nice to waste it to save a turret, right?
BuyChain Vest first, unless you don't need too much armor (e.g. AP enemy team)
Summary:
At this point of your build your stats should look like:
- Around 3000 HP
- More than 100 Armor (depending on your lvl)
- 124 Magic resist
A nice start right? And we just bought 3 items! Now there's room for the situational items, the ones that´ll make you look like Demolisher Nunu skin.
As a tank you can´t build your 6 items always the same, you must adjust your build according to the enemy composition! I will begin by describing items one by one, and then make some build suggestions for the most common cases.
SITUATIONAL ITEMS
-
: An overall good and cheap item. If the enemy team is balanced between AD and AP it's a good choice. If there are 2 or more melee carries on your team this is a MUST, since they will get into the fray and get focused.
-
: The perfect one for an AP heavy enemy team. It gives the biggest MR bonus in the game plus 2 nice abilities that will help you chase and survive even more. Grab
Negatron Cloak 1st.
-
: One of my favorites for most games, but it really shines against an AD heavy team. Awesome armor bonus plus 500 mana which is not bad, but this item's value lies on it's passive. 20% CDR and 20% attack speed reduction for sorrounding enemies is just too good. Synergizes with debuffs from
Ice Blast and
Absolute Zero and that CDR will let you shoot
Ice Blast like 1 second faster....which DOES make a difference on a long chase. Build
Glacial Shroud 1st.
-
: Another excellent choice for almost any match. It has so many utilities (all of them useful to
Nunu & Willump) but it's active is something else: a 2 second AoE attack speed/movement speed slow, that scales 0.5 secs per every 100 armor/magic resist you have. Grabbing this item will get you nearly 200 armor, plus your 124 base magic resist (from core items) should add at least 1.5 seconds. Should I even mention it synergizes with
Frozen Heart,
Ice Blast and
Absolute Zero? If you know you'll be getting this item build a
Heart of Gold early game to get some extra gold. If that's not the case, then grab
Warden's Mail 1st.
Note: usingRanduin's Omen active will cancel your ultimate's channeling. Make sure you use it just before
Absolute Zero for maximum utility
-
: Only good against heavy AD teams, with autoattackers such as
Tristana or
Master Yi. Anyway I still preffer
Frozen Heart for it's other abilities, but some people just love
Thornmail so grab it if you are a fan. Try not to get both of them unless the enemy team is really heavy on AD.
-
: Nice defense buffs, moderate price and a literally "lifesaver" passive. High cooldown though, so don't die on purpose just because you have it. Some players may argue that tanks shouldn't buy this item, since you won't be focused...but trust me, you'll be such a pain in the *** for the enemy that you won't be ignored, and if you still are, LOL!! pop
Absolute Zero :troll:
-
: I rarely get this item, yet if your early game happens to go unexpectedly well it's a nice choice. With 8 stacks this item provides 430 hp just as
Giant's Belt, but with a huge potential of achieving those dreamed 20 stacks. If you can actually get to this point you almost won, because added to the
tenacity mastery you'll be blocking 19% of all incoming damage. People will hit you and you'll be like:
As this is a snowball item, you may not tank as you should in order to protect your stacks. If that's the case then get aGuardian Angel or don't buy
Leviathan at all. Grab it only if it looks like an easy game, where stacks won't stop you from doing your job.
-
: Not an item you would expect in a so called "tank build", but hear me out first before you complain :P! First of all, 700 HP does sound quite tanky to me, and second, the passive is just too awesome for Nunu. I mean, if someone actually had a chance escaping from you before...now it's definitely GG. Seriously, you will slow them permanently and turning them into an easy prey for anyone on your team. Build
Phage 1st.
Note: get this only when you are confident enough with your actual defense. It's an expensive item you should only get when you know you can have fun chasing people and winning the game soon.Frozen Mallet has no room in your build in close games
-
: I think i bought this item only once. However if the game is going badly it's a nice pick for early game, and can be replaced afterwards if you are actually able to make that losing game last that long (lol)
BAD CHOICES
-
: Huge HP/HP regen bonus, but it's too expensive. Besides you have to build it quite early to stack it completely and this is heavy negative impact for your build. Apart from that, do you really need THAT much HP? I mean almost every item I listed before gives HP aswell. Also considering that Nunu has one of the highest hp gain/per lvl, I see no reason at all why I should get an item that gives ONLY hp, and no extra benefits.
Then whyLeviathan is above? Well, look at the price. Besides I did not encourage to get it often. The point is, there are some situations suitable for
Leviathan, but there are none for
Warmog's Armor
-
: Simply because it's not as good as the "situational items". You can
Blood Boil a teammate for a speed buff and you already have plenty of slows to throw at the enemy, so i see no need
Shurelya's Battlesong active either.
-
: This is where my build will be different from almost every other
Nunu & Willump build out there. RoA is just too expensive and YOU DON'T NEED THE AP FOR THE TANK JOB! so i'm not paying 3k to get just hp and mana. You will get much more benefits from the passive and extra abilities that the items provided above give you. ***** please.... with 3k i'm getting
Randuin's Omen and start owning.
-
: Again with the AP bs??? ffs dude.....You want MR? get
Force of Nature. Leave this to casters.
-
: Another recurrent choice on
Nunu & Willump. Well if you read carefully my guide you noticed that
Absolute Zero is something you can't rely on 100% (if you ask me I would say that only 50%, maybe 60% of the times I land it correctly) so don't even count this skill for the item's passive.....what´s my point you ask? Well if you are paying another 3k to add a slow to only ONE of your abilities (
Ice Blast, which btw already slows good enough) you are damn wrong. 500 hp is no good deal for 3k, and don't even mention AP, I think i was clear about it.
Do not get me wrong though...I really love this item, but it's just not suitable on the tank we are building.....save this one forKennen,
Akali,
Vladimir,
Brand, etc.
As I said, these are just suggestions. It's up to you in which order you are buying those items. You may preffer to get



Please keep in mind that during most games you'll get at most 4-5 items in total making it almost impossible to complete the build. Considering this fact, it is really important you DO get the Core Items 1st and in THAT order



If i were to change one of core items....I would get


Early game (laning)
Start with
Boots and 3x
Health Potion. During the laning phase try not pushing your lane, because it will leave you vulnerable to ganks. Instead just last hit to charge
Visionary. Harrasing your enemy with
Ice Blast followed by a few autoattacks is a good idea specially after you have
Consume since you can eat a minion on your way back to regain any health lost in the process. Try to let your enemy push your lane at least a little bit, like this:

My advice here is learn to spend your mana. I've seen lot of people doing an overextended harrasment with
Ice Blast just to end up with no mana and without a good result either (nunu's mana pool is not high, and using a mana regen item won't speed things up enough to sustain that rate of pushing). Instead, use
Visionary as much as you can (autoattacking enemies and last hitting). If it's impossible due to hard enemy harrasment, then just retreat and turret hug. It will make easier to last hit in a safe position. If you play like this it is likely some enemies take a turret shot eventually, be sure to keep an eye for it and throw an
Ice Blast ASAP and follow with autoattacks. If your partner is quick you may end up getting the kill.
Another common situation, mostly when going solo top against 2 enemies, is when i'm turret hugging and they are attacking my turret with a big minion wave. If you are lvl 6 it is the perfect moment to pop
Absolute Zero (remmember to
Ice Blast one of your foes 1st). If they focus you to stop the ultimate they'll get turret aggro, and take damage anyway...and if they don't they'll take serious damage from you, which can be easily followed by a chase with
Blood Boil,
Ice Blast,
Ignite and autoattacks for a double kill ;D
Remember you have
Health Potion so save your mana mainly for
Ice Blast, and don't go eating minions needlessly.
Buy
Mercury's Treads followed by catalyst the protector (build
Ruby Crystal 1st if yuo don't have enough gold). Also get at least 1 sight ward with your remaining gold to prevent a gank from mid or their jungler. The best place to put a ward is on the edge of the river bush (image below), this way you get the most vision to the river and to the side entrance nearby:

Mid game
By this point you should have at least your
Banshee's Veil and be on your way for
Sunfire Aegis. Team fights are just around the corner and your team needs a tank. Do your best to be on every important fight, even if you have to
Teleport or stop pushing a lane or getting a buff.
After completing the core items, look for the enemy team biggest threat and get the corresponding counter item for him (check situational items section).
About the buffs
They really help
Nunu & Willump, but as a tank you0ll hardly be N°1 priority for them. Make sure nobody else needs/want them before taking one. Instead I almost find myself saying "hey brand! let's go get you a blue buff :D"
Late game
Having at least 4 items now, working on the 5th, and causing some serious mess around, people will definitely fear you. You can easily chase people, giving them the death mark as soon as you
Ice Blast them, letting your carries take 'em down (ALWAYS let the carry get the kill, during the whole game....i mean whenever possible, obviously)
If there are 2 or more teammates with you, and an enemy turret standing alone then there's no need to wait for minions. I simply tower dive, taking all turret aggro while my team destroys it.....BE MANLY! TAKE DAMAGE, WIN THE GAME. Sometimes the enemy is tower hugging with their turret having 200hp left! If you know you can own them on team fights then initiate, take that turret and let your team follow with devastation. Who cares if you die? Acing the enemy is much more important. Please commit suicide for 5 assists.
With time you'll learn to judge situations better. I may sound like I'm tower diving the entire game, but it's not like that. You are the tank but are quite team dependant too. You need them to follow you up. So it's up to you whether your team enganges or not. Just keep in mind that you should be the 1st in line, the one that checks bushes, the one that intercepts
Ace in the Hole, the one that tanks turrets, baron, and the enemy of course. You SHALL NOT RETREAT and leave your teammates alone, unless your team is CLEARLY going to win without more of your help. Please do not initiate, take damage and run without even considering how's the fight developing. The time it takes for the enemy to focus and kill you will always improve your team chances of winning....Of course nobody wants to die, but if someone has to die it has to be you, not
Xin Zhao,
Teemo,
Annie or
Miss Fortune, get it?
Start with






My advice here is learn to spend your mana. I've seen lot of people doing an overextended harrasment with



Another common situation, mostly when going solo top against 2 enemies, is when i'm turret hugging and they are attacking my turret with a big minion wave. If you are lvl 6 it is the perfect moment to pop





Remember you have


Buy



Mid game
By this point you should have at least your



After completing the core items, look for the enemy team biggest threat and get the corresponding counter item for him (check situational items section).
About the buffs
They really help

Late game
Having at least 4 items now, working on the 5th, and causing some serious mess around, people will definitely fear you. You can easily chase people, giving them the death mark as soon as you

If there are 2 or more teammates with you, and an enemy turret standing alone then there's no need to wait for minions. I simply tower dive, taking all turret aggro while my team destroys it.....BE MANLY! TAKE DAMAGE, WIN THE GAME. Sometimes the enemy is tower hugging with their turret having 200hp left! If you know you can own them on team fights then initiate, take that turret and let your team follow with devastation. Who cares if you die? Acing the enemy is much more important. Please commit suicide for 5 assists.
With time you'll learn to judge situations better. I may sound like I'm tower diving the entire game, but it's not like that. You are the tank but are quite team dependant too. You need them to follow you up. So it's up to you whether your team enganges or not. Just keep in mind that you should be the 1st in line, the one that checks bushes, the one that intercepts





If i had to summarize my guide, these would be the key points:
Here's my last game with
Nunu & Willump, as you can see i took the most damage, proving that i really tanked :P

Here there are some scores from previous games. Usually my K:D:A ratio is 2:1:3

I will try to keep this guide updated as much as i can. I'll be recording my games with
Nunu & Willump to provide more videos and images aswell ;)
Finally, i want to thank my readers and those who use it. I tried to make it as detailed as possible, with a lot of effort so i hope you appreciate it.
Greetings to my clan "Feed No Moar", for being so awesome and having so much feeding sprees. I love you guys <3
My last words are for jhoijhoi for creating a guide about how to make a guide :D Most of the templates i used come from it, so credits to jhoijhoi. Here's the link for anyone who wants to do their own guide.
How to make a guide, by jhoijhoi
- Spend mana wisely during early game
- Make a good use of
Visionary
- Don't push the lane just because
- Ward your lane
- Build the core items
- Adapt the rest of your build to the enemy composition
- Don´t miss team fights
- Let the carries get the kills, whenever possible
- Tank turrets if necesary
- Die if it you must to win a team fight
Here's my last game with


Here there are some scores from previous games. Usually my K:D:A ratio is 2:1:3

I will try to keep this guide updated as much as i can. I'll be recording my games with

Finally, i want to thank my readers and those who use it. I tried to make it as detailed as possible, with a lot of effort so i hope you appreciate it.
Greetings to my clan "Feed No Moar", for being so awesome and having so much feeding sprees. I love you guys <3
My last words are for jhoijhoi for creating a guide about how to make a guide :D Most of the templates i used come from it, so credits to jhoijhoi. Here's the link for anyone who wants to do their own guide.
How to make a guide, by jhoijhoi
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