Hi, fellow Toplane and Support main ZombieDeathK here, giving you guys my first ever guide on this site.

I've been playing League on the SEA server since S3, getting Silver 2 as my first ever league rank and then gold 4 for the next few seasons. I've been reading guides from Mobafire since then and started learning small competitive bits of the game around mid-S4.

My toplane mains have always been what I think are badass champions, like Shen, Maokai, Nasus, Garen and I decided to write a guide on Nasus because I've been spamming Nasus in ranked these few days because of his late game power.

Nasus was actually an instaban back in the days before the Summoner's Rift visual rework but weirdly as the seasons and years passed people seem to either not ban him nor pick him. I didn't really realize this until around this season and decided it's time to pick this dog up and bring back his former glory as the one who obliberates teams alone.

Armed with just a stupid stick, Nasus is a huge force to be reckoned,ideal for people who love dealing burst damage as a tank and for people who really really hate playing against kite heavy squishies.

This guide is oriented towards people of Silver elo or lower so please do not expect Diamond or Challenger tips to help you climb. This is merely just to help newer players cheese through ranked and actually learn how fun this champion is.

Also disclaimer that there could or might be some cultural differences in champion picks and itemizations and teamcomp shotcalls because of server differences and I apologize on behalf of SEA players beforehand for being a different kind of unique sometimes.

Pros + Godly late game. + Stupidly strong cripple with Wither + Infinite Siphoning Strikes, meaning there is never a point where Nasus stops growing. Think Sion, but damage oriented. + AoE Armor reduction ability. Not many can do this. + Siphoning Strikes are basically free Sheens that stack with Sheens. 2 Sheens! + Burst Tank. Can afford to buy 6 tank items and still burst down ADCs. If you have the time to stack that much that is.

Cons - Super trash early game. - No natural gap closers. You require summoner spells or items like Turbo Chemtank or Youmuu's Ghostblade together with Wither to get into melee range. - Very very boring if you're used to action gameplay champions like Riven, Zed, Ahri, Fiora and such. - Pretty much always requires a gank at least 3 times per game unless the opposing laner is unskilled. - Hard to catchup if behind. Your Siphoning Strikes don't hurt enough to stack fast as the enemy minions get tankier every minute making it difficult to reach the amount of stacks you should reach. - Obvious engages with Ghost. Good players can react and retreat if you look like you're trying to start a fight.

Quintessences Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: Preferrence really, I just felt like the 6 bonus AD kinda helped abit in my early stacking. The AD from these quints become obselete as you reach late game so feel free to swap out for something more long lasting like Armor or Magic Resist or even GP10. Marks Greater Mark of Attack Speed: Attack speed is pretty much why this this champion is fun. You need some anyway as you push turrets. Furthermore your E further enhances your autoattack damage potential when comboed with Attack Speed. Glyphs Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction x6: With 6 of these you reach 5% CDR. Adding up the 5% from the Intelligence mastery you start the game with 10%, and that definitely helps alot in stacking Qs. Glyphs Greater Glyph of Magic Resist x3: Just to fill up the empty glyph slots. Magic damage isn't very very common in the top lane so this is fairly safe to do so. Seals Greater Seal of Armor: Armor is pretty self-explanatory. Physical damage usually runs in the toplane so these are crucial in your already defenseless early item build. Also minions deal physical damage so these stop awkward executions from happening when tanking minion aggro in short duels.

One can seriously never have enough Attack Speed. Also ignoring Fury for a very measly 2% increased damage from Sorcery isn't worth at all.

To help in early game sustain. If you're confident in surviving then feel free to take Expose Weakness as it is very easily procced with Spirit Fire. Fresh Blood is nothing compared to your Q, so it's not worth taking.

Just like Feast, to help with early game sustain. Natural Talent falls off hard in the late game as 10 AD makes close to 0 difference when every champion is level 18. 15 AP isn't worth considering either when your AP skills aren't your main damage skills. Even if you're AP Nasus you probably have 500+AP in your build so again 15AP at level 18 is pretty much obselete. Very bad mastery in general.

You're a tank with very good resistance stats so taking that puny 1.5% additional damage won't hurt. Battle Trance is largely inferior when compared to Double Edged Sword as it gives 3% bonus OVERTIME whilst Double Edged Sword gives it to you IMMEDIATELY. Take Bounty Hunter if you're confident in killing every one of them. Otherwise I wouldn't recommend as you're supposed to support and peel for your carries afterall. Carry as a last resort.

For you to roam around and walk back to lane faster. Take Savagery only if you're really really inconfident in early game stacking.

Effect pretty much explains why we should take it. A Siphoning Strike costs 20 Mana and munching that last minute biscuit can matter between life and death as it unlocks that one final Q. Assassin isn't anywhere near bad as a choice as you'll be splitpushing often. Don't take it if you find your playstyle more team-oriented. Runic Affinity is for junglers. Only take it if you can steal buffs consistently or your jungler somehow keeps giving you his buffs. Rare case, but possibly beneficial if played around well.

Nasus has serious mana issues early on. with just less than 500 mana you can only cast around 4-5 Es and Ws and bunch of Qs and you're dry. Never take Merciless . You're Nasus. Nasus doesn't need additional damage boosts when it comes to dealing with low health enemies, be it monsters or champions. Nasus Siphoning Strikes them to oblivion.

There WILL be times where your lane gets frozen in unfavorable places and that's what this mastery is for. 1 gold is better than none at all. Plus it's a little more obvious than the EXP notification so you can gauge if you're in EXP leech range. Dangerous Game isn't really recommended by me because he doesn't have mana issues late game due to Meditation or a few Ocean drakes and health is never an issue with his passive. Preferrence matters here. Greenfather's Gift if you're a Rengar top main. I don't see a point in specifically changing your style to bush-auto-bush play for this if you're not.

Where the other 5% CDR comes from. This with the aforementioned CDR runes add up to 10%. 45% CDR on Q is pretty cheesy too. Never take Precision. You are Nasus. Nasus does not need penetration when he has 1000+dmg sitting on his stick. Jokes aside, 6 Lethality at level 18 is very laughable. Just don't.

Also contributes to why Nasus is a sticky champion. Your E>W>Q with combo with a Sheen should take at least 20-30% HP off a regular fighter, and 60% off an ADC with no defensive stat items like Guardian Angel or Frozen Mallet, so this mastery pretty much procs consistently every fight. 75% Slow Resistance is not to be joked around with, as it makes you some sort of Master Yi in a giant dog suit chasing people around. Go ahead and take Thunderlord's Decree if you love to see sparks and stuff. One thing to note is that Siphoning Strike stacks only contribute damage to Siphoning Strikes, and you're not gonna buy much AD and AP to benefit off Thunderlord's Decree 's proc. Windspeaker's Blessing is a big joke on Nasus. Only take it if you're 100% certain you're buying funny things like Redemption, Locket of the Iron Solari, Mikael's Blessing and such.

Gives everything Nasus needs - Attack speed for pushing turrets, Sheen for Q bursts, and Phage movement speed for sticking in your enemies' faces. Most importantly it gives 20% CDR alone, making it 30% if you follow the runes and masteries of this guide.

An alternative for Trinity Force that many people do consider, it gives the same amount of CDR but a different Sheen effect that scales with your Armor. Feel free to pick this over Trinity Force if your playstyle is more peel than elimination.

CC is the bane of Nasus's existence, and this item helps with reducing some of that threat. Standing there reflecting your life mistakes for eternity after taking an Enchanted Crystal Arrow or a Dark Binding isn't fun at all.

Recent changes to this item gave it Grievous Wounds to whoever attacked the wearer, and that's a huge dream come true. You'll most probably be in the center of teamfights and this item helps spread the antiheal to all enemy champions should they try to DPS you. Also slows the attack speed of attackers as well, meaning very very easy 1v1s against enemy ADCs or champions like Yasuo or Riven You don't really have to rush this item first. Getting a Bramble Vest and buying the rest of your CDR items is good enough to help support some early game needed defenses.

Same reason as Thornmail buy this item because you'll be in the middle of teamfights. Sure it does reduce your Siphoning Strike damage, but think of all the nukes and bursts you get to reduce and its all worth.

Get this solely for the Catalyst of Aeons mana regain effect. You'll be taking alot of damage in fights and those damage will be converted into some mana, ensuring you never run out of resources for your skils. Furthermore this item's own effect synergizes with Fury of the Sands's Bami effect.

For those Eurobeat dreams. Get this if the enemy has really really good disengage like Janna or Ekko. Even if they don't this is still a solid buy as it improves your already sticky stickiness.

Pretty much aside from the core items get whichever tank item you favor. Nasus doesn't really mind any of those items as long as it helps him survive wars ambushes.

Ghost: Helps alot in gapclosing, which is what every melee champion needs. Comboed with Stormraider's Surge you'll be the stickiest threat in fights that's both hard to shake off or ignore. Do note that you lose out on flashy things like wallflashes, bushfakes and flash initiates and your engages will be a little too obvious. Unstoppable and scary, but obvious.

Teleport: Toplaner's must-take, even more when you're splitpushing. Always teleport during Dragon fights and try not to teleport back to lane unless your jungler is heading there for an ambush. 300 seconds isn't worth a few stacks when it could be used to secure something bigger like Ocean Drake or 4-man ganks.

Flash: Pick this if you're really used to blink plays. Flash doesnt provide 10 seconds worth of combat Movement Speed that Ghost does, but a well timed E>Flash>W>Q can give a tremendous damage advantage and usually forces the enemy team into the defensive. ADCs usually lose 80% HP to this with very very little time to react, so I guess this is something Ghost can't do.

• Soul Eater
  
  Mini-vampscep. Kinda what every champion wishes to have already embed in them. Turns into a free Bloodthirster without the shield at level 13.
  
• Siphoning Strike (Q)
  
  The reason why Nasus is also a burst champion. Empowers your next autoattack kinda like Sheen, and if this empowered AA kills a unit it permanently makes the next Q deal 3 more damage. Stacks are counted in 3s, so no if you look at your stack counter and it says 120 it does NOT mean you've killed 120 units with Q. Its 40.
  
  It just means your Q now gives 120 bonus damage in addition to its original damage boost. Just to note incase you're not a Nasus player and you're here to learn how to fight Nasus.
  
  Enlarging the next point because of how important it is: Q IS AN AUTOATTACK RESET
  
• Wither (W)
  
  Exhaust. Slows Movement Speed and Attack Speed, which are both the 2 biggest determining factors to an ADC's kiting ability. Severely crippling both of these stats will render an ADC useless, and a mage or tank with mediocre attack speed basically disarmed.
  
  ALWAYS start fights with these. With 30-40% CDR, which you'll probably always reach, this skill goes off on around 10 seconds cooldown, and most fights usually last longer than 10 seconds so you'll be able to wither 2-3 times per fight.
  
  Ever dreamed of a 10-second cooldown Exhaust?
  
• Spirit Fire (E)
  
  Armor-reducing AoE with a tiny burst of magic damage on the start of the duration. The armor reduction doesnt seem obvious to many but it really shines as a booster to your team's physical damage output. Almost always this skill is maxed first when a Zed or Gnar is on our team.
  
  Also *hint* your Q damage is physical.
  
  This skill's cooldown doesn't reduce on levelling unfortunately so max this solely to support your team.
  
• Fury of the Sands (R)
  
  Turns yourself into Ultraman.
  
  Grants a big bonus to all 3 defensive stats as well as 175 attack range. Also applies a better version of Bami's Cinder. And the best part of all, you gain Armor and Magic Resist per second. That's right, resistance stats per second.
  
  This is the reason why Nasus is unkillable. For 15 seconds at level 16 you get at least up to 45 bonus Armor and Magic Resist. Even without items that should make you have around 120-+ resistance stats and if you have items like Thornmail and Randuin's Omen you're reaching around 60-70% damage reduction in fights. Get a Karma or Janna with Forbidden Idol items (*hint* Ardent Censer) and you're a walking building that just won't stop fighting.
  
  The only thing stopping you from 1v5ing is mass CC to stop you in your tracks.
  Morgana's Black Shield denies that possibility. On top of that the total resistance stats you have while you're Ultraman makes the Black Shield more durable.
  
  Also sets your Q to 50% CDR - not add 50%, but set to 50%. Meaning no matter how much CDR you have, your Q will always be as if you had 50% CDR when you're in R form.
  
  Basically your attack sequence is almost always regular AA > Q > regular AA > Q
  
  That's actually very strong late game. Imagine taking down turrets alone in 4 seconds.

Q is preferrably maxed first because it's your core skill unless you're playing AP Nasus. Levelling it reduces its cooldown and increases its base damage for easier stacking, and it reaches 4 seconds in cooldown at rank 5 with 0% Cooldown Reduction.

4 SECONDS WITH 0% CDR.

Alternate between maxing W and E first according to the current game situation. If you face champions that are basically damage-based and autoattacks much max W first. If you find your team fighting alot then E is probably a better choice.

To be fair, W is pretty important no matter the situation so you cant' really go wrong maxing it second.

Do keep in mind that situations where you have to max W over Q exist. Usually in rare games where you're 0/5/0 or just really really behind, having a stronger exhaust over a 20-30 stack Q can be better, especially when your jungler is trying to help you get back into the game. If you find yourself cooperating more with your jungler to earn your gold back, go ahead and max W since Q's damage can already be increased by farming.

Also nothing pisses people off more than Withering them and then Ghosting away to safety.

First few minutes is just a very boring game of crop harvesting. Farm for stacks with your Q and only engage fights when your jungler wants to.

Always last hit beyond level 2. Autoattack minions as much as you can at level 1 as you and your opponent are trying to reach level 2 faster, use 2 skills to severely wound the opposing laner and get that damage advantage. Of course, it's fine to just not contest for level 2 against champions that start with multiple damaging skills like Riven and Darius.

For those who don't understand why I mentioned "multiple damaging skills", a level 1 Riven technically has 4 skills if she learns Q first - Q1, Q2, Q3 and a passive to boost her damage potential.

Darius has a passive that outdamages the opponent at level 1 if the duel is prolonged to the point he gets to pull off 5 autoattacks.

Champions like Yasuo and Shen don't exactly count as their passives are defense-based and do not entirely contribute to their level 1 KILLING potential, not DUELING potential.

Back to the topic, one thing you can do if you find yourself unable to find the sweet spot to Q is to practice auto>Q reset. Autoattack a minion within 20-30% HP to find out approximately how much damage does your autoattack deal. If you find that it takes around 3-4% off you can Q when the minion is at 10-15% HP.

Of course, this is all subjective and very visual. Overtime as the game progresses you're gonna have to mentally remember and picture how much damage did your previous Q deal, taking Sheen into account. Soon enough you'll get the hang of your Q's damage pretty easily and estimating it won't be a problem. This all comes with experience though, and it can't be achieved immediately within a game or 2 if you're really new.

Another method is to always always underestimate your Q's damage when lasthitting. When in doubt only Q when your target minion is at 5-10% HP. Not really recommended unless you're really new because of the time it takes for the minions to reach that low as well as risking them dying, losing you that CS.

Once you hit level 6, that's where the fun starts. You SHOULD be invincible and pressuring at this point. Farm a little more agressively at the same time back off if you see some counteraggression from the opposing laner. Because if they do decide to jump all in on you that's when you show them your true form and make them regret for messing with you.

Know your opposing laner's skills and item actives. If a few crucial defensive moves are down like Riven's Valor or Fiora's Riposte immediately R.

W>E or E>W the enemy laner and then follow up with a Q. There SHOULD be at least 5-6% chipped off from the Sheen + Spirit Fire's Armor reduction and this should surprise the enemy player a little bit. Ghost immediately and start chasing them relentlessly whilst spamming your Q button. Fury of the Sands sets your Q to 50% CDR so it's basically always up when you're in range.

This method should get a kill or 2 if well executed near your own turret as the distance the enemy laner has to cover to get to safety is enough for you to deal sufficient killing damage. Don't be afraid to dive turrets if you are around 70-80% HP and your meal is literally 1 Q away to heaven.

Also don't forget to take into account the damage you took when the enemy jumped on you in the first place. If that put you into 20-30% HP it's best to back off for the moment and lifesteal everything back.

One of the fun parts of Nasus's gameplay is seeing turrets go down in 10 seconds. Nasus does that pretty well due to his Q being applicable to turrets as well (rip old Savagery).

When split pushing always ward the enemy jungle. That's obviously where enemy players go through to ambush and catch you as you push too deep.

Nasus is built to fight multiple champions at once, so you're still fine if you're caught. Simply Fury of the Sands Ghost Wither Spirit Fire and start wrecking stuff.

Don't expect to survive the entire ordeal and kill every single one of them though. The reason why you stay and fight is because you want to buy time for reinforcements - your team, to arrive. If your team is busy doing something else more important like baron nashor or dragon it's best to R Ghost W someone mobile and run for your life.

One of the main reasons why you splitpush is because you want to distract the enemy players to come to you so your team can do the aforementioned things like another turret in another lane or some high bounty target that's caught out without worry of enemy reinforcements.

Stay distracting, stay dangerous, and of course, stay alive.

When enemy players start ignoring you, group up and run it down mid and your team of 4 other players are having it tight on their hands it's time for the dog to go down and handle the issue himself.

Always poke with E before teamfights start. Getting a few or at least 1 enemy champion to below 50% HP is important as it opens an opportunity for ally assassins or champions with resets to start their work.

When a fight starts, always ult immediately. There will be times where you're the one caught and CCed first and Fury of the Sands's resistance stat and HP increase will help you survive incoming bursts and nukes as well as buy time for allied healers and supports to mend you back.

For the rest of this part, always remember to E when it's up. You don't really have to try very hard to aim - just throw it in the middle of the battle when it's not on cooldown.

Once you're active and ready, take a second or 2 to observe the ongoing fight. Ask yourself: who's currently the main threat?

It could be the enemy vanguard, who has been intercepting skillshots and making sure none of his allies get CCed. It could be the enemy assassin, popping out of nowhere every time and ensuring every fight to be a 5v4. It could be the enemy ADC, constantly unleashing flurries of projectiles gunning down your allies one by one.

Find out who's the main reason their team is competent here, and W that champion. A crippled tank can't move around as agile as he could to block for his friends, a crippled assassin can't get back to safety after a commitment, and a crippled ADC fires like 3-4 shots in 5 seconds. Cancelling out an enemy champion's fighting potential and purposes is crucial in winning teamfights.

After applying Wither to a chosen target it's time to look for squishies to kill. Eliminating numbers is also very important in teamfights. Look around for champions with low HP pools and start Ghosting towards them. This is of course alot easier if your target is the same as the one you Withered. Take them out with repeated Siphoning Strikes and move on to the next closest target or next biggest threat.

W has a short cooldown as well so be sure to throw it at enemies like your E.

You're gonna be big and distracting due to Fury of the Sands, and that's fine. Your role is to tank as well as be a threat to their team, so don't back out in the face of damage. Take it, Lifesteal, and fight on.

Enemy players are most probably gonna spend most of their resources and important spells and skills on you if you continue being in their faces and hurting their people. Running away is what THEY want, as you're personally lessening their stress. They don't need to kill you - they need to kill your ADCs.

You are supposed to take those nukes and bursts for your team. Always always die fighting and never die running. This is very important.

In short, Nasus plays around being really really powerful starting around minute 30 at the cost of a mediocre if not terribad laning phase. Nasus's true strengths will be unlocked regardless - it's just a matter of how fast can the player achieve it. Inexperienced players reach 400 stacks at minute 40+ when everyone else is pretty much full build while good players can probably reach 400 in 25 and closing the game at 500.

A well-stacked Nasus is a dangerous Nasus. Having low stacks basically means you threaten no one in teamfights and enemy players can safely ignore you first and deal with you last.

Always remember that damage items aren't anywhere close to priority. Nasus has built in atrocious damage and buying more AD doesn't really value more than buying defensive items. Simply put, buying that one extra Youmuu's Ghostblade doesn't make you kill anyone faster than ever. It does make you die faster though.


Huge thanks to everyone who've survived this long reading this. This is still my first ever written guide so I hope to improve abit in my next few ones if I do feel like doing so.

Also huge huge thanks to whoever created this post as I got tons of informative help from it.

https://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/making-a-guide-101506

I apologize for the text wall, I'm still learning on how to work with the image embedding and stuff.

Feel free to comment anything or let me know where I could've done better.