About Me

HEY GUYS! I'm CommanderSheperd and this is my Jungle Nautilus guide. I have been playing Nautilus as a jungler for quite some time now, experimenting with different builds, techniques, and play styles, and what I have compiled in the form of this guide is a combination of my own findings and what I have learned from other guides, so I'd like to give some credit to every person who has made a Nautilus guide, because odds are I've read it. After reading this guide I'd really appreciate any and all feedback, or any questions you might have. Hope you enjoy and I'm looking forward to hearing from you! So let's dive in (get it? DIVE in...'cause he's wearing a DIVE suit!)

Getting to know Nautilus

Nautilus is, in my opinion, the best jungler in the game for getting your teammates fed. Nautilus is the ultimate team player, and his play-style relies heavily on working with your team. This can be a challenge if playing with others who don't want to or know how to work with you, but is so rewarding because your teammates will praise your play. Regardless of your opinions of Nautilus, he is undeniably a first tier jungler, amongst the likes of Jarvan IV, Zac, and Elise.


invisible text!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!~Awesome Nautilus Rap Below~
invisible text!!Check out Badministrator's Channel Visix for more Amazing League of Legends Raps
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These are a few of my personal results in Ranked Solo Queue games.



I would love to post your results and see how my build worked for you! It doesn't matter if its one game or ten games please send me your results!

invisible text!!!Pros invisible text +Four CC abilities (crowd control) +Extremely strong ganks +Strong teamfight potential +Strong initiation + Dredge Line is a strong utility + Titan's Wrath is one of the best +self-shields in the game +His joke is OP!!!

invisible text!!!Cons invisible text -Extremely weak to pre-level 5 counter- -jungling - Titan's Wrath is only source of -damage -Dependent on teammates -His anchor is slowing him down -Very reliant on hitting Dredge Line -

Nautilus has a very unique kit as it is composed of almost entirely CC abilities, which brings so much to ganks and teamfights. Remember that this guide is specifically for being your team's main tank, not an off-tank or AP Nautilus, so we won't be focusing on the damage aspect of his abilities.




Staggering Blow (Passive): Nautilus' basic attacks deal bonus physical damage and stun his target on hit (can only affect the same target once every 12 seconds). This is what makes Nautilus so scary, because even if he has no mana, even if he has used Depth Charge, Dredge Line, and Riptide, and you're thinking, "Now they have no way to lock me down...hehehehe..." Nautilus walks up to you, and with his measly basic attack that couldn't kill if you had 100 HP, stuns you for a whole 1.5 seconds, allowing his teammate Jax to Leap Strike on your f***ing head and secure the kill. Completely disregarding the 110 bonus physical damage it deals at level 18, it provides a mini stun at levels 1, and 5 (0.5 seconds and 0.75 seconds respectively) and acts as FULL STUN at levels 10, 15, and 18 (1, 1.25, and 1.5 seconds respectively). I can't imagine after creating Nautilus' abilities Riot was like "U NO WAT HE NEADS?? MOAR CC. LETZ GIVE HIM A STUN AZ A PASIVE" (Let's be honest, we all know that's how Riot employees talk).


Dredge Line: Dredge Line is what Nautilus is known for. Nautilus throws his anchor forward and if it connects with an enemy, Nautilus and his target will be pulled to a middle point between the location of each. Nautilus' target will be unable to cast spells or move while being pulled by Dredge Line. Dredge Line can also connect with terrain (turrets, inhibitors, nexus, and walls) to pull Nautilus forward. The timing of when you use Dredge Line is crucial because it sets everything else up for you and your team. You generally dont want to use it immediately when ganking because of the likelihood that you'll end up connecting with a minion instead and because if you can land Staggering Blow, or your teammate can slow or stun first, you'll be able to save it for when your target tries to escape which will usually leave them in the open for an easy Dredge Line to pull them back to you. You also want to be using Dredge Line to get around as its cooldown is cut in half when connecting with terrain, it does not cost that much mana, and can save a lot of time and help you escape.

You're going to want to max out Dredge Line last, maxing at level 18. We max Dredge Line last because it is Nautilus' utility spell and leveling it only reduces the cooldown and raises the mana cost.

• If an enemy is running through a bush aiming Dredge Line at a wall in front of their desired path can allow you to stay with them and land Riptide and Staggering Blow.
• Jungling with Nautilus is all about map presence and movement; Using Dredge Line to move around the jungle can save you a lot of time and allow you to gank more often.
• Although Dredge Line is stated to have a range of 950, its true range is a bit farther than the indicator, so practice landing Dredge Line to become accustomed to when you should cast it.
• Enemies will often stand behind their own minions to protect themselves from being caught with Dredge Line. To catch them off guard and land your hook, smite the minion they are standing behind and immediately follow up with Dredge Line. This takes a lot of practice and good decision making skills. Because Nautilus' hook is quite large, you need to make sure you have clearance and will indeed connect with the enemy champion.

Riptide: Riptide sends out a shockwave of three rings around Nautilus damaging and slowing any enemies hit. Riptide slows enemies by 50% for 2 seconds and enemies can be hit by all three rings if they are moving away from Nautilus, which resets the timer on the slow. Because of the speed that the rings move and that they move outward from Nautilus, Riptide is not ideal for chasing but rather for laying down CC after getting in the middle of their team and for when you land Dredge Line and they will have to run away from you, causing them to be hit by multiple rings of Riptide.

You're going to want to max out Riptide before Dredge Line and after Titan's Wrath, maxing at level 13.

• After landing Dredge Line you want to proc Staggering Blow and time your Riptide so that your target is just coming out of the stun to maximize the 2 second slow.
• If you have blue buff/are going to recall soon/have full mana, using Riptide to clear camps and minions waves is extremely effective because of the AoE damage and because stationary enemies in range will automatically take two rings of Riptide.

Titan's Wrath: Titan's Wrath shields Nautilus for a base amount plus 10% of his maximum health for 10 seconds, and while the shield remains, Nautilus' basic attacks deal bonus magic damage to his target and nearby enemies. Titan's Wrath allows Nautilus to jungle while at low health and allows him to clear camps quickly. From an early level Titan's Wrath can block at least one turret shot, and quickly will be able to block up to 4 or 5 as you level and purchase items. This allows Nautilus to turret dive, but be sure your teammates can provide the damage and follow through to kill, because once Titan's Wrath is popped, Nautilus deals 0 damage. What's amazing is that this is a 10 second shield. TEN SECONDS. And for those ten seconds, if the shield remains, you are dealing a substantial amount of AoE damage. It's obviously impractical to focus Nautilus in teamfights because of his low damage output, but if your enemies leave your shield up, you will end up contributing much more to teamfights than just your initial CC bursts.

You're going to want to max out Titan's Wrath first, maxing at level 9. Because of the buff it provides for your early game jungling, and the increase in damage and shield strength, its per point increase is far more impactful than leveling your other abilities.

• Activating Titan's Wrath actually resets your attack timer, always time it right after you attack to get a free attack in.
• The shield from Titan's Wrath lasts for an incredibly long time, so if you are low on health and are about to recall, don't be afraid to pop your W and clear out the Wraith or Wolf camp, coming out unscathed.

Depth Charge: Nautilus' ultimate sends out a shockwave that chases down a targeted enemy, dealing damage to them and knocking them up, as well as damaging and knocking up all enemies the shockwave passes through. Depth Charge is the ultimate teamfight ultimate; not only is the shockwave virtually inescapable, but it KNOCKS UP all enemies trying to protect your target. This is your gank initiator and teamfight initiator. Once you lock Depth Charge onto the enemy carry, their entire team will either stay to protect him and get knocked up, or they'll avoid the knock up leaving a clear path to that sneaky Ezreal who now is unable to Arcane Shift away for 2 seconds. When ganking you want to lead in with Depth Charge which usually opens up the opportunity to land a clean Dredge Line. The ONLY negative about this ultimate is its insanely long level 1 cooldown of 140 seconds. My recommended end game build features 30% cooldown reduction and at level 3 Depth Charge's cooldown is reduced to 80 seconds so it isn't a problem at later levels, but an 140 cooldown at a time where you have little cooldown reduction is quite bothersome.

As with most ultimates, you're going to want to take a point in Depth Charge whenever possible, maxing at level 16.

• Depth Charge + Dredge Line + Riptide. Nautilus' bread and butter. You should be opening up every teamfight with this combination.
• Depth Charge is much better suited as an initiation ability rather than a chase-down ability because it does take time for the shockwave to reach the intended target, allow them to escape to a location where you won't be able to follow up the stun.

Counters

As mentioned before, Nautilus is weak to early game counter-jungling, and because of that the best way to counter him is with champions who specialize in counter-jungling.

Udyr: Udyr's Wingborne Storm allows him to clear camps quickly, while his Blazing Stampede allows him to escape most confrontation. His mobility and AoE damage allow him to counter-jungle quite efficiently. Udyr can effectively counter a Nautilus gank, because he brings more damage to the fight than Nautilus does while still being a tank. demolisher nunu Nunu & Willump: Nunu & Willump is the king when it comes to counter-jungling. His Consume acts as a smite, allowing him to clear camps and invade buffs with ease. Nunu & Willump is Nautilus' biggest fear early on because of his counter-jungling potential. Although Nunu & Willump can effectively counter-jungle, he cannot as effectively counter a Nautilus gank, because he does not bring any hard CC to the fight and his ult can be interrupted by plenty of Nautilus abilities. Shyvana: Shyvana is a very mobile jungler, and an exceptional dueler, two things Nautilus is not early on. Her mobility allows her to counter-jungle effectively, and if she is confronted by Nautilus in his jungle, she would have no problem dispatching him quickly. She can very effectively counter a Nautilus gank because of the extreme damage advantage she brings to the fight. My personal recommendation to pick when going up against a jungle Nautilus. Synergies Vayne: Vayne does very well against a single enemy, and she becomes more effective the longer she can target a single enemy. It just so happens that Nautilus' specialty is locking down targets. The deadly combination of Nautilus' CC and Vayne's mobility makes it very hard for enemies to run away and makes it very hard for them to reach Vayne. Blitzcrank: Two hooks. Period. Thresh: Deja Vu?

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Defensive Tree Tier 1 - I take 2 points in Recovery for the health regeneration so Nautilus can stay healthy and continue to gank, specifically in the early game. I take 2 points in Enchanted Armor for the late game buff it provides. Finally, I take one point in Tough Skin to unlock the Tier 2 Defensive Masteries. Tier 2 - I take 3 points in Veteran Scars to give Nautilus some extra health, which also increases the value of his Titan's Wrath shield. Tier 3 - I take 1 points in Juggernaut because my Full Tank Nautilus build relies heavily on building health and gaining a huge shield from Titan's Wrath. I take 3 points in Hardiness and Resistance to make Nautilus that much tankier. Tier 4 - I take 3 points in Perseverance , as I believe this is the most powerful mastery in the game. Because of the massive health a Full Tank Nautilus will have mid- and late-game, Perseverance allows you to back much less frequently and reenter fights sooner than your opponents would expect. I take 1 point in Swiftness so that Nautilus can get to and lock up key targets, and I take 1 point in Evasive because as a tank, most of the initial damage you will take is from AoE spells. Tier 5 - I take nothing in Tier 5, because f**k Tier 5. Tier 6 - I take a point in Tenacious to get to and lock up key targets, as well as being able to escape when needed.

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Offensive Tree Tier 1 - I take 4 points in Fury because of how much Nautilus' damage comes from his Titan's Wrath, which synergizes with attack speed. Tier 2 - I take 1 points in Expose Weakness to increase Nautilus' teammates damage when team-fighting and, most importantly, ganking. I also take 3 points in Mental Force to increase Nautilus' damage. Tier 3 - Lastly, I take 1 point in Arcane Mastery just to top off Nautilus' damage. .

• Greater Mark of Attack Speed: Attack Speed Marks are great for most junglers to help with clearing camps, and work especially well for Nautilus because the AoE damage from Titan's Wrath procs on every attack, allowing Nautilus to get off more attacks and maximizing the damage from Titan's Wrath.
  
• Greater Seal of Scaling Health: Scaling Health Seals significantly buff Nautilus's mid-late game with a 215+ health bonus which will also fortify the strength of his Titan's Wrath shield, allowing him to tank more turrets, absorb more damage, and deal out more AoE damage with his unpopped Titan's Wrath.
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: The reason I recommend Scaling Magic Resist Glyphs over Greater Glyph of Magic Resist is because most AP champions don't do immense amounts of damage until they are itemized properly and are more of a threat late game. Therefore it is much more sensible to have your MR scale into late game where it's needed most.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: I've said this countless times throughout this guide: MOVEMENT SPEED, MOVEMENT SPEED, MOVEMENT SPEED. That is what jungle Nautilus is all about so naturally Movement Speed Quints are the only viable Quints for Nautilus.

Smite: Virtually a must for all junglers; helps with securing baron, dragon, red and blue buffs, as well as sticking it to those annoying super minions.

Flash: Almost a guaranteed escape, a must for most champions. For a champion as innately slow as Nautilus is, it never hurts to have a more reliable escape than just your Dredge Line.

Mobility Boots: MOVEMENT SPEED. Need I say more? Allows you to fly around the map for ganks. Nautilus likes ganks.

Spirit of the Ancient Golem: Builds from Spirit Stone and is a necessity for any tank-jungler. It provides a nice health bonus to scale with Nautilus' Titan's Wrath. It gives junglers that extra sustain with it's passive and it also provides the tenacity that Nautilus is not getting from the lack of Mercury Treads.

Randuin's Omen: A staple item for most tanks, it provides immense health and armor, as well as an active that slows all enemies within 500 range, perfect for disrupting the enemy team after you get in the middle of them with Dredge Line. Even more CC for the CC king.

Warmog's Armor: Grants the most health in the game and instantly adds 100 HP to the shield from Titan's Wrath. This item instantly makes any champion a tank and its passive is just an added bonus to the massive health boost Warmog's Armor grants.

Banshee's Veil: This build's only magic resistance item. Provides great health, magic resist, as well as a free spell shield which will only help keep Nautilus' Titan's Wrath unbroken allowing him to deal his AoE damage. Plus the secondary passive allows Nautilus to just heal up whatever little damage was dealt to him.

Frozen Heart: The 100 bonus armor is tied only with Thornmail for the most in the game, the 400 bonus mana allows you to dig a little deeper during drawn out teamfights, the 20% CDR greatly helps for Nautilus' long CD ultimate, and its aura reduces the attack speed of nearby enemies by 20%, greatly reducing the amount of damage done by the enemy's DPS champions.

Locket of the Iron Solari: If your support does not pick this item up, it can be extremely valuable to Nautilus and your team. The active can save multiple lives, it provides a nice aura, magic resist and armor, and a decent health bonus.

Spirit Visage: I choose Banshee's Veil over this item for magic resist because Nautilus can't really take advantage of Spirit Visage's passive; he has no self-heals and doesn't work well with lifesteal, but buying this item would not be the end of you.

Thornmail: This item is not necessary on Nautilus and I would only recommend purchasing it if you are facing a fed AD Carry or a fed Master Yi; then this would be a must.

Rod of Ages: An extremely viable item on Nautilus. Health, mana, and AP. I would group this in the same category as Warmog's Armor, a replacement for Locket of the Iron Solari.

Sunfire Aegis: Allows Nautilus to clear camps faster and provides a great health boost and armor buff. If you plan on purchasing Sunfire Aegis make sure to do so early as to maximize it's wave and jungle clearing potential.

Abyssal Mask: While picking up an Abyssal Mask strays a little away from the Full Tank Nautilus build presented in this guide, it can still be extremely viable on a Full Tank Nautilus, provided you are facing a mainly AP team comp.

(Remember this is only a guide for full tank Nautilus, so other items that are viable on Nautilus, but are not innately tanky will not be mentioned in this guide)

In this section I will be briefly going over your role in each stage of the game. For a more on the basics of jungling check out Jungle Miniguide by Embracing, which gives a very brief and basic overview of the jungling role. For a little more in-depth look at jungling check out How To Jungle by Striker.

Starting The Game

You start out by purchasing a Hunter's Machete and 5 Health Potions. You take a point in Titan's Wrath and start at the blue buff camp and with a leash from either your top laner or your bottom laners (depending on your side). After securing blue buff with smite and killing the young lizards you are now level 2 and you should take a point in Riptide. Immediately go to the red buff camp and kill the elder lizard, securing it with Smite. After clearing the buff camp you are level three and should take a point in Dredge Line. You can also go from blue buff straight to your red buff and take wraiths after if you are afraid of a late invade at your red. Now down however many health pots you need to regain your lost health and alert your teammates that you are planning to gank now.

(When killing buffs, dragon, or baron, remember to type in the chat which objective was killed and at what time it will respawn; e.g. you kill your blue buff at 2:20, you type "ob 7:20" meaning that "our blue" will respawn at 7:20)



Laning Phase

Look for lanes that are pushed to your side of the map and work with your teammates to see who wants/needs a gank and who doesn't. DO NOT force a gank; if there is no adequate ganking situation continue to farm the golem and wolf camps (offer the wraith camps to your mid laner). If a lane is setup for a gank, you want to ping that you are going in and walk into the lane, moving in the direction of the enemy turret. If the enemy laner is close enough to auto attack, proc your Staggering Blow and immediately after pop Titan's Wrath for that attack timer reset. You should also use Riptide as they are about to flee. When they run or flash out of range of you and your laner, throw Dredge Line to bring them back and try and let your teammate secure the kill. Gank every lane as often as possible, but dont waste time camping lanes, stealing your laner's experience, or worse, stealing their creeps. If no ganks are available go back to clearing jungle camps and recall when you are either low on health, mana, or have enough money to buy your next item.



Team Phase

At around level 8 or higher, you want to look to gank bottom lane and secure the kill on their AD Carry. This will allow you, your AD Carry, and your support to take dragon with virtually no contest. If you are able to kill the enemy support as well, you might want to consider taking the bottom lane tower first, then going to kill the dragon.

This usually opens up the Team Phase of the game, when the Laning Phase has ended. As your team starts to group up, you need to be aware of your role in fights. You need to land Depth Charge on the most important target (usually the enemy AD Carry), you need to activate Riptide so that it hits as many enemies as possible ( Randuin's Omen's active too if you have it) and you need to peel for your AD Carry; Staggering Blow any champion trying to attack your ADC, and you can Dredge Line to pull them away from your AD; you are all about disrupting the enemy team and then protecting your carry. Also any time you are entering a fight pop Titan's Wrath for the shield and AoE damage. If you have Locket of the Iron Solari you have a couple options of when to use it: you can use it to save your Titan's Wrath if it is about to be broken, or you can use it when your team is reaching low health, or when a teammate is receiving damage over time (such as Ignite) and you can see that he/she might not make it.

As previously mentioned, your role is to stick to your carry. Nautilus is not a split pusher, and he does very little damage on his own, so being paired with a carry is ideal; Nautilus can lock the enemy in place while his carry fires away.



End Phase

Type "GG" in the all-chat, and press ctrl+3 to dance before their nexus explodes.

• Nautilus is weak to early game counter-jungling.
• Nautilus brings an incredible amount of CC.
• Nautilus is reliant on teammates for damage.
• Nautilus is a first rate ganker, so spend most of your time ganking, less time jungling.

2013

+August 26 2013; This guide was published for the world to see!!!
+September 1 2013; Changed masteries to 9/21/0 from 0/9/21.
+September 5 2013; New water-themed line dividers in the Abilities section, split up the intro section into one part about me and one part about the champion.
+March 10 2014; Updated Guide for Season 4!
+April 17 2014; Updated to keep with with rune changes, as well as the increase in armor on Frozen Heart.
+May 16 2014; Removed the recommendation to take blue buff smiteless (left over from Season 3).

Frequently Asked

Answers

Q: CommanderSheperd, why are there no questions in the FAQ?

A: Because of Riot, it's totally Riot's fault and definitely not because nobody has asked me any questions :|

I would like to give a HUGE thanks to the amazing and well known JhoiJhoi for her "Making A Guide" guide, which helped me so much to make this, my first guide ever. I used a countless number of tips and techniques from her so please go check her out she has made plenty of in-depth champion guides as well, not just general guides.

WELL, this is my first guide I hoped you enjoyed reading it and learned something from it. If you enjoyed it please leave feedback and up-vote this guide, if you didn't enjoy it please leave feedback as well (and down-vote it I guess...?), and if you just have any feedback or suggestions in general I am more than happy to hear from you, SO PLEASE leave it in the comments! If you have any suggestions for my next guide leave it in the comments as well!