Welcome to my first ever guide for MobaFire. And it's about probably my favorite champion (next to Olaf) Nautilus. He big, he's made of iron, and he's here to drag you to a watery grave.

Let's begin!

Note!

This guide will be changing and evolving as time goes on. So this is by no means a final, definitive build.

2/26/2012:

-Guide goes live!

4/6/2012:

-Added Rylai's Crystal Scepter (recomended by MajorLoL) as an alternative to Frozen Mallet.

-Added Gameplay section, detailing how one should play the Titan of the Depths.

8/27/2012:

-It's been awhile! Revised Masteries, Runes, Item Build, Gameplay and Skill Order.

Pros:
-Slows and CC for days
-Solid solo top
-Titan's Wrath tops out at 500+ HP towards endgame
-Intimidation factor for having the biggest character model
in the game.

Cons:
-Dredge Line is only useful if you're close to a wall
-Utility Champ, so don't expect huge damage
-Large target, vulnerable to offense/CC

Staggering Blow: His passive, and what a passive it is. It's not quite a full second stun when you first get it, but it becomes a full second when maxed. It is not to be underestimated.

Dredge Line: Nautilus' intiate and his escape tool. I've started comparing this to Leona's Zenith Blade. Naut throws out his anchor, it catches and he pulls himself to the target. They met halfway and are right next to him. Using it as an escape works by pulling Nautilus towards any terrain hit, which reduces the cooldown by 50% when used in that way.

Titan's Wrath :Nautilus' bubble. A solid shield that scales with HP, making it gel very nicely with Warmog's, Ryjal's and Rod of Ages. It also comes with a DoT that is pretty short, but does an alright amount of damage given his tanky nature.

Riptide: Nautilus' main damage dealing tool and his AoE slow. At max level, you get a 50% AoE slow that has about a 6 sec cooldown with all your items bought. The downside is that I've noticed the edge of this ability is a bit weird; If you don't get within just the right space, it won't connect with anything. Just keep that in mind if you're trying to catch an escaping champion.

Depth Charge: Nautilus' ultimate. This badboy is great for sending through a large mob of minions and champions. Best way to use this is to aim for someone hiding in the back, because the shockwaves this ability gives out will knock up everything in its wake, interrupting attacks for just a moment. When it hits, it knocks up the target and stuns 'em, allowing you to scoop 'em up and inflict more slows on them before they can get too far.

- Greater Mark of Magic Penetration

- Greater Seal of Armor

- Greater Glyph of Magic Resist

- Greater Quintessence of Health

Fairly typical rune setup here, no real surprises. Flat armor, magic resist, magic pen and health. The reason I go for flat health is that I want Titan's Wrath to be as tough as possible early on, in order to keep lane dominance and allow for greater staying power in team fights, even in the early game. The runes of Resilience and Warding are just for added tankiness.

http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/mastery-tree-planner#&tree1=0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0&tree2=1-3-3-0-4-0-2-1-0-0-0-3-3-0-0-1&tree3=1-0-3-0-4-0-0-0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-0&v=2

Mastery order I go with is 0/21/9. This makes Nautilus very durable and gives him some added mobility, which is he sorely needs. Nautilus is at his best when he can just steamroll into an enemy team and come out alive. He gets a bit of extra movement speed and mana from the 9 Utility, and all the Armor, Magic Resist and Damage Reduction he could want from the 21 Defense.

Note!: It's always best to evaluate who you're laning with and against, and picking the skill that would benefit you both. Consider what you and your teammate have, and work together to secure kills early-game.

-Opening up with Titan's Wrath gives you some strong laning power early in the match. The DoT allows for some easier farming and a bubble to absorb some ranged damage.

-Picking up Riptide next helps keep the enemies close at hand. Or at the very least, forced them to burn Flash or Ghost to get away.

-Max Dredge Line last. It's a utility skill and doesn't need any levels until the very end, when everything else is maxed out.

-And, of course, pick up Depth Charge at 6, 11, and 16.

Sadly I can't record video of my matches so a word picture will have to do for now.

Nautilus is all about starting the fight; He gets in, pops his slows, and has his teammates pick off the rest. The best way he does this is by throwing out his Q, Dredge Line to pull himself toward his foe. Hit 'em with his passive, Staggering Blow and the fight has begun. Good rule of thumb to always have Titan's Wrath on before going in to any fight. The shield is more useful than the DPS gained from his attack, and the more health you have, the stronger the shield.

In a teamfight, Naut is always making sure that every enemy is slowed, and doesn't get away. Charging in with Titan's Wrath and throwing down Riptide in the middle of a group is a great way to cause some panic. And at lvl 6, Depth Charge is unlocked and the fun begins anew. Now, you can launch this bad boy into a group, knock 'em up and stun the target you've selected. It also has a nice AoE on impact, scaling with his AP. A fun tactic I like to use is pop this on a fleeing champ. While his/her allies try to cover their escape, Nautilus can fire this bad boy, knock the other champs into the air, allowing him to continue the fight and slow them down for a little longer. At worst, they're forced to burn their escape spells to avoid getting scooped up by the Titan of the Depths.

Ghost: A very handy spell for the iron giant Nuatilus. Gives him a nice speed boost and allows him to move through those minion waves with ease thanks to his large size. For a better escape opening, pop Riptide first before using this, just so the enemy is slowed and has to work harder to chase Nautilus down.

Cleanse: I feel like Nautilus NEEDS Cleanse, just because he has no way to shrug off CC of any kind. And in a teamfight, when he's getting hit with everything skill and ultimate, popping this and Ghosting will save his metal hide and deny the other team the kill.

Heal: Strangely, I really like having this skill on Nautilus. It's helpful early on, and in teamfights. It looses some of it's power I feel once Nautilus has some health regeneration on him. Still useful in teamfights, just don't burn it on him alone.

Flash: Since they nerfed this spell, I don't think it's that useful on a character with no dedicated escapes. Just the one situational, skillshot one. The cooldown is even longer, and you don't get whisked as far away as you used to. Still a good spell on anyone, but I prefer Ghost to Flash on Nautilus.

Boots & Health Potion x3: My personal opening build. Gives Naut a bit more speed to dodge skill shots and CC, and allows him to stay in teh lane for longer.

Heart of Gold & Philosohper's Stone: Naut loves his GP/5 items. Gives him nice income early on, and Heart of Gold builds into Randuin's Omen.

Sheen: A great item for makign Nautilus more of a threat in fights. Titan's Wrath and Riptide with proc Sheen, and combined with his auto-smack stun, gives him that edge to make his ganks a bit scarier. Also builds into Lich Bane late-game.

Mercury Treads/ Ninja Tabi: Go with whatever the enemy team has more of. CC and AP, you want the Merc's. AD heavy, go for the Tabi.

Warmog's Armor: I LOVE this item for any tank/off-tank champion. Gives him a bit of health regen and over 1200 health to put towards Titan's Wrath.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter: Another big boost to health and AP. The slow isn't really nessecary since he has an AoE slow, but everythign else works in his favor.

Rod of Ages: This is one of those items that gives Nautilus everything he craves. Health, Mana and AP. Makes Riptide hurt a bit more, and makes Titan's Wrath stronger.

Lich Bane: A wonderful item for Nautilus. Mana, AP, Magic Resist and some movement speed. Recommended to buy this item last, since Naut wants to focus largely on being durable. It's a nice way to end a match after you've made yourself a rolling ball of iron and ocean spray.

Randuin's Omen: Gives Nautilus much needed armor towards the mid/end game where the enemy is starting to build their more powerful items and is wearing down your bubble faster. A nice perk with this item is the active, giving Nautilus yet another slow; Attack speed as well as more movement speed reduction.

Nautilus is an AP/Utility, tanky champion. He has decent ratios on his attack spells and he feels like the slowest champ in the game because of his size. But, if you build him right, he can be a serious threat in any teamfight, against multiple team compositions thanks to that bubble, and the items listed.

In teamfights, you wanna go in with Titan's Wrath active and throw out Dredge Line and smack your target with your passive to stun them and inflict the DoT from Titan's Wrath. Pop Riptide and start wailing on them, pulling them back into the fight with Dredge Line when they get too far. (If you have Frozen Mallet, you've already inflicted a slow before Riptide has even been used.) Depth Charge is best used at enemies in the back of the pack, so the shockwave hits everything in between.

That's all the info I got for now. I'm planning on making a pure AP Nautilus build in the future, so keep an eye out for that. Until then, any feedback is appreciated as this is my first guide. So I'm always looking to improve.

Thanks for Reading!