I am constantly looking at the changes that can be made to make Nasus a better tank/killer.

With all gear selections please be smart about what you chose as not all gear works for all situations. I have found this item selection has been good for fighting balanced melee/caster teams.

As of Dec 11/11, I am only level 27 and my knowledge is based on playing regular games and not ranked games. The strategy used for Nasus may be different for ranked games.

Please do not use this guide as the be all end all guide as other Nasus guides may be helpful in different ways.

Nasus is a great champion for farming minions early on and then transition into a tank with killer DPS.

Early game Nasus is very squishy. Until you start building some gear it is recommended to avoid direct fights with champions and stick to farming minions until you reach ~2600 hit points.

End game Nasus can be a power house. If you've played right then you should be rocking ~4000 hitpoints and a mean Siphoning Strike that should have a passive ability bonus of atleast 150. Critical hits will run ~1000 when using Siphoning Strike against other champions when things get going which can really ruin their day.

Siphoning Strike is your main attack with Nasus. Spam that Q and try and snag every kill you can to increase the overall killing power. Once you get to higher level and get geared you will be able to hit squishy champions for roughly 25-50% of their health in one hit.

Nasus strikes his foe, dealing damage and increasing the power of his future Siphoning Strikes if he slays his target.
Active: Nasus's next basic attack will deal 30/50/70/90/110 (+) (+ ) physical damage.

Passive: Siphoning Strike permanently gains 3 damage if it kills an enemy unit.
Cost 20/25/30/35/40 Mana
Range 300

Wither is decent for those guys that thought they could take you but then decided to run like a dog with it's tail between it's legs. It is probably the least used ability but can be extremely effective.

Nasus ages his target, decelerating their Movement and Attack Speeds over time.
Nasus ages his target over 5 seconds, initially slowing their Movement and Attack Speeds by 35% and increasing to 47/59/71/83/95% over the duration.
Cost 80 Mana
Range 700

Spirit Fire is the key to success in early game/farming/leveling. One shot of this can grab a full pack of minions and get them to a point where you can easily Siphoning Strike one-shot them.

Nasus unleashes a spirit flame at a location, dealing damage and reducing the Armor of enemies who stand on it.
Nasus unleashes a spirit flame at a target location, dealing an initial 55/95/135/175/215 (+0.6) magic damage.

For the next 5 seconds, enemies in the area have their Armor reduced by 20/25/30/35/40 and are dealt an additional 11/19/27/35/43 (+0.12) magic damage each second.
Cost 70/85/100/115/130 Mana
Range 650

Fury of the Sands is your 'uberkillertank' mode. If you have a group all running into a fight, you're going to want to use this every time without question. The extra life with save you in early game, and make you nearly unstoppable in late game.

Nasus unleashes a mighty sandstorm that batters nearby enemies. While the storm rages, he gains additional Health and drains nearby enemies' max Health and converts it into bonus damage for the duration of the skill.

Nasus becomes empowered in the sandstorm for 15 seconds, gaining 300/450/600 Health. While the storm rages, he deals 3/4/5 (+0.01)% of nearby enemies' maximum Health each second (240 damage max per second) as magic damage and converts it into bonus Attack Damage.
Cost 150 Mana
Range 20

Soul Eater is a decent enough passive ability. If you are low on hit points after a fight it can be useful for just running and killing a few minions to get some of your hit points back up without having to use health potions or having to head back to base.


Soul Eater - Nasus drains his foe's spiritual energy, giving him bonus Lifesteal.

As summoner spells you can go with a lot of great combination but I have found that I personally like to go with Clarity and Surge.

Clarity of course is great if you are low on mana but have your abilities ready for some killing frenzy.

Surge is nice to blow right before Fury of the Sands, laying down a Spirit Fire then smacking the enemies around with Siphoning Strike.

Other good options include:
Exhaust for similar reason to Surge.
Ghost for being able to get away quickly if you start to lose control of a fight.
Teleport for jumping into help a friend in need, or to try and save a tower that is being hammered on.

1. Paying attention to last hitting with Siphoning Strike will have a large impact at the end of a game.
2. If you're solo, Spirit Fire is a great way to farm a lane. It can be bad if you're in a lane with 2 and you push too far. Find the right balance between Siphoning Strike last hits and AE farming.
3. If you have low defenses, people will focus you down even during your ultimate. Try buying some survivability items even in your DPS builds.