Don't judge this build before actual trial! So those of you who are going to come and hate on it, do that somewhere else. I've spent a good amount of time to make this build as clear as possible for new readers, and for people experienced with Nasus. So I hope to make this worth the effort :)

Welcome to my second build here on mobafire, a build for Nasus, the Curator of the sands. This build focuses on attack speed, attack damage, cooldown reduction and critical strikes, allowing you with a well farmed Siphoning Strike to deal insane amounts of damage lategame. It allows him to hit any target for extremely high damage lategame. Even tanks can and might get hit bad if unprepared. Naturally, Nasus is a good chaser too, but as the first option is focused around critical strike and some attack speed and damage, he is fragile.
The second build however is tankier option, for those who like to build him tanky :)

Nasus' base stats are as follows:

Damage 53.3 (+3.5 / per level)
Health 410 (+90 / per level)
Mana 200 (+45 / per level)
Move Speed 325
Armor 15 (+3.5 / per level)
Spell Block 30 (+1.25 / per level)
Health Regen 1.5 (+0.18 / per level)
Mana Regen 1.32 (+0.1 / per level)

Patch changes

Increased base lifesteal of Soul Eater, lets him jungle.


Build changes

Created a third build for more survival in dps build.
Rewrote sections to make it easier to read.
Deleted "Unique Skills" and "Creeping/Jungling" sections as they were uninformative.
Added a tanky option for those who want to build him tanky.
Readded Trinity Force to core items, as it is a good item.
Added Manamune as a situational item, as it adds much ad and mana.
Removed Youmuu's Ghostblade from core items, as it is not a must have. Still a good item!

Build 1

Pros Can deal high amounts of damage if well farmed with Siphoning Strike. Can crit nearly 2000 on minions if built correctly. Can crit over 1200 on champions if they are unsmart enough to not get armor. :p Cons A bit squishy. Needs a high farm to be effective. Slightly mana-hungry lategame.

Build 2 Pros Durable. Can still deal high damage due to Siphoning Strike, but requires more farming. Cons Not as high damage as build 1. More reliant on teammates.

I use the following runes:

Armor penetration will help you cause more damage, while flat armor and magic resistance will help you to farm Siphoning Strike early as you are fragile.
You can switch out flat armor and magic resistance for per level if you want, or anything else you may want to have, but armor penetration is necessary in order to keep the damage output.

21/9/0 on build 1 because Nasus in this case is a AD dps, however a quite fragile once, hence the masteries put in defense.
9/21/0 is what I use, because Nasus in that case is more tanky than dps.
He can still deal damage, but it is not as high as the critical strike option.

These are the core items when playing as the critical strike Nasus. This will leave you fragile, so keep that in mind.

Note that once you got yourself some high AD, Trinity Force is not as effective as the sheen effect is 150% of your BASE attack, so if you already got yourself some damage, you can switch out Trinity Force for anything else, maybe a defensive item if you need! -Note that Trinity Force IS a viable item, and could of course be finished as you have Sheen!-


These are what I go for if I build Nasus as a more tanky champion. It allows him to sustain and keep himself alive for long periods.

Situational

CC heavy team? go ahead!
Need more as and penetration? Black cleaver will help you.
Gives small amount of AD, alot of health and a permaslow.
If they have high armor this can be very useful.
With your attack speed, this can be very useful, also grants some armor.
With a bloodrazor, these might be good.
Heavy ap team, this can help along with hp regen.
Heavy ad team, this can help along with mana and cdr.
Heavy autoattack ad team counter, can make them die of their own attacks.
If you want some mana this will help you, also grants you roughly 70 ad or something.
If you want that extra penetration, cdr and active, this is for you.

Skill order is the following:


A description of the spells Nasus possesses.

Cooldown 8/7/6/5/4
Cost 20/25/30/35/40
Damage 30/50/70/90/110

Your main farm ability, your nuke lategame. it gains 3 damage PERMANENTLY each time you kill a target with it, making this perfect tool to last hit minions in lane with. It doesnt cost much mana at all and is on a low cooldown, very nice skill - maxed first no matter what. :) I once fought evelynn and when she was running away with low health, some other champion from their team came to her aid, she turned back in hopes of killing me, then I used siphoning strike in her face and finished her off. This is what many people don't realise when fighting Nasus, that he hits for insane amounts if he is farmed.


Cooldown 15
Cost 100
Slow percentage 35% + 3/6/9/12/15% per second for 5seconds.

Your slow and anti-as spell. slows by a initial 35% and then slows 3-15% more each second for 5 seconds , great spell, just is a bit mana costly, so dont overuse it unless you are chasing/escaping. It can also be very useful against champions with high attack speed like Xin Zhao and Jax.


Cooldown 12
Cost 70/85/100/115/130
Damage 55/95/135/175/215
Armor reduction 20/25/30/35/40
Damage over time 11/19/27/35/43
Ratios Initial damage: +60% Ability Power, Damage over time: +12% Abiliy Power
AOE spell, low-moderate damage but lowers armor of targets inside the area by 20-40. Great to use with Siphoning Strike to deal increased damage, and gives you also some lane control for the duration, can be used to scout bushes as far as I know.


Cooldown 120
Cost 150
Health bonus 300/450/600
Damage 3/4/5% of enemies maximum hp for 15 seconds (max 240per second)

Ultimate ability, drains a percentage of their hp, converts the damage done from the drain into extra attack damage, and also gives you some health! what's not to like? It might be useful to use this when in a teamfight at the start for best effect, can also be used if there is a large minion wave where you are pushing, as it adds damage for you that can allow you to do that tiny bit more damage needed to get that tower + inhib down or something.


Effect Grants nasus 10/15/20% lifesteal. lifesteal amount increases at level 1,6 and 11

*Innate*

Passive, grants lifestealing from your attacks, great for sustaining in lane for a long time.
When you are geared up, this and bloodthirster can heal up 30-40% of your health on a critical hit, which is nice. Allows you to do 1v1 even easier.

I use Ghost and Exhaust as my summoner spells because with ghost, it gets hard to get away from both ghost and wither. Exhaust lets you fight 1v1 easier due to your low durability without def. items.

Other spells:

Useful Ghost Enables superb chasing. Exhaust Lets you go 1v1 with people much easier when being fragile. Ignite Enemies escaping with no health? This finishes them. Teleport Lets you stop pushing or come to an ally's help. Flash Escape mechanism, fits almost every champion.

Ok Smite you can jungle, sure but this is mainly a lane build. Cleanse Heavy cc remover, but if you are focused, you are probably dead anyway. Clarity If you feel oom all the time this can be useful. Heal Heal is somewhat viable now, but you have passive lifesteal.

No Surge Doesn't fit Nasus. Revive For feeders, maybe but you are going to get fed! :) Clairvoyance Support spell, not for you.

Always last hit with Siphoning Strike as much as you can, you can never do enough last hitting with it because of your +3 damage / kill. Don't engage them until you know you can take them on, rush a Sheen as quick as you can and try to get your ionian boots of ludicity quick, that will help your farming and can let you do some killing in lane.

Note: if you want, you can use Tiamat to be able to build up your items a bit quicker, although it will hurt your siphoning last hits because Tiamat doesnt make Siphoning Strike get more damage from minions killed from splash, sadly.

I usually work on a Infinity Edge first and Bloodthirster then Phantom Dancer after getting sheen. If you want, finish Trinity Force where it fits. Often I build Black Cleaver as well.

Nasus is a great pusher on turrets as his Siphoning Strike applies to turrets. Siphoning Strike along with Sheen or Trinity Force makes Nasus a very strong turretpusher, he can easily take off over 200-400 on a turret with only one sipnoning. I think his lategame Siphoning strikes hit for 400+

Teamfights, use ult once it starts to start draining their hp and getting more ad and go for their squishiest champion, if fully equipped you can probably do 700+ criticals, I believe I've done over 1100 critical on a Master Yi which will probably take off more than 60% of that champion's health. Also use your active on ghostblade if you have and Spirit Fire for that armor reduction, Wither their carry so they will be nearly useless durning the effect, maybe Exhaust them too, its up to you.

I hope you have a great time playing this build on Nasus and crit people to their deaths ;) Please try it out before voting! And I hope you enjoyed reading this build for nasus, the curator of the sands!
"The cycle of life and death continues... we will live, they will die."