Hey there everyone! My name is McDudles. After Lemonnation provided this inspiration to the world, I decided to pick him up quick. I'm a recent Support main and mostly used Nautilus to carry myself from Silver V to Gold V in about 6 weeks (climbed about a division a week). He's still very underrated as a support, but that only means that you'll have more of an advantage, seeing as people don't give him the respect that he deserves.

ALWAYS take flash. This is not a suggestion, this is a demand. There is no reason that you ought to not take it. It is an INSANE assistance in an engage, retreat, and a safety net for when you misstep. ALWAYS. TAKE. FLASH.

Probably the funniest/greatest time that I've ever had. There are so many bot laners that underestimate the full cheese mode of a Nautilus with ignite. You are able to create SO MUCH lane pressure this way. I've solo'd numerous ADC's as a support in the early parts of the game, hardly taking any damage, while securing kills. It's merely adds to your already overwhelming amounts of damage as a support nautilus. I suggest that you take ignite. 9 times out of 10 it is what you should be taking.

Generally your supports will take exhaust, to make sure that their bursty ADC will not absolutely wreck you before you completely know and understand what is actually going on. The only time that I will take nautilus is if I know that we will not win in a 2 v 2 duel in the bot lane. An example would be something like: Nautilus & Tristana VS Morgana & Graves

Greater Mark of Armor These high amounts of armor will provide you with wonderful defensive stats that will decrease the enemies amount of potential poke against you.

Greater Seal of Armor Similar as above, these runes will help provide you with the damage-prevention needed to make up for your lack of sustain.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist You cant go full armor runes, because that'd be silly. Plus, the glyphs don't provide you with much armor anyway. This will help you out with the enemy mage champs.

Greater Quintessence of Armor Considering that most of the time, the enemy team will have more AD champs than AP, there is a reason that I supply more armor to my champion than I do MR.

Greater Quintessence of Magic Resist Often times,MR items in the game dont provide with with as much magic resist as is desirable. So this should help give you a little bonus for both the early game, and then you'll be able to judge better how much MR you'll be needing for the match.

face of the mountain Mobi Boots are an essential to your build. They provide you with the move speed that is needed to make the initiatons that you're intended to make. face of the mountain The tanky support item. Many people choose not to finish their support items, seeing as often times their effects are not needed at the moment for the cost that they charge. But with CDR, health, and a sizable shield, FOTM is a must finish - seeing as it is useful early, mid, and late game. Providing both health regen, health, and mana, Righteous Glory could almost be a great item with just its base values. But the item's true worth is found in its active: an absolute massive AOE speed up (when running towards enemy champions). This 60% speed boost provides you with one of the greatest/easiest ways to initiate in the game. I shouldn't even have to explain why, as a support, you should get this item.... but there's always those people that question it; or the people that will just upgrade their yellow trinket and call it good... NO. JUST NO. IF YOU DON'T GET A SIGHTSTONE, YOU'RE NOT DOING YOUR JOB AS A SUPPORT. END OF STORY. i mean, free wards? NO charge time? Plus health? And it opens up your trinket slot to get a sweeper trinket. INCREDIBLE item for Nautilus. Being a tanky champion, he gets in close so as to proc off the item's passive. The armor will help it so that your shield lasts longer due to less damage being done to you. The mana boost amount is actually incredibly significant - once you get this item, you should have absolutely 0 mana problems (assuming you were having them before the purchase of FH). The safety net of all items. This will allow you to make your engage and either (a) avoid a single damage spell, or (b) help you prevent the first spell's CC that would prevent you from finishing out your combo. This is most certainly a situational item choice. But on that note, it's never a bad choice of item to pick up - seeing as the runes you take dont provide you with as much MR as they do armor, this helps to make up for it.

Due to the immense damage that Nautilus provides your duo bot lane, you have the ability to ward off the enemy combo with your own presence, now if you choose to add an ADC that also provides immense presence and can duel well and at any moment decide to all-in and blow up the enemy, it makes for some absolutely ridiculous combos. Nautilus works well with all adc's, but i've found that when yo uwork with the bursty ADCs, you can create some serious work down there in the bot lane.

Pros Cons

+ Hard Engage + Tanky + Strong Shield + Immense CC + Low Mana Costs + AOE Abilities + High Damage + Not Difficult to Play + No Disengage + No Sustain + Unable to Give Allied Buffs

Debatably one of the champions with the hardest engage in the game, Nautilus provides your team with the ability to take a fight immediately when you want it. He offers the squad the constant bonus of pressure - which many players will respect. The underrated Titan of the Depths brings to the table CC similar to Leona's, and damage similar to Annie. Due to the low mana costs, you aren't forced to buy any mana items (regen or base increase), giving you more options for the raw defense/ offense items of your choice. The biggest issue with Nautilus is thus: If you go in, there's no coming out. 0 disengage besides an occasional AOE slow makes it hard for you to retreat if you've made a poor choice of engagement timing. With this Nauty support, you'll also find that playing against poke lanes can be fairly difficult due to you not having any sustain - potentially making it difficult to find a time to utilize your all-ins since you could be low on health. On a similar note, you cannot give buffs to your ADC either. Meaning that their ADC may have increased move speed, extra healing, extra attack speed, etc. while your's does not.

DISCLOSURE: Maxing W will provide you with the more defense for your laning phase. It will give you the most damage for an extended period of time. BUT YOU CAN ALSO MAX E !! If you max E , you're doing it so that you have high burst damage. Generally, when I fight against another tanky support, or a disengage support, (Ex: Braum, Thresh, Alistar) I will max my W because it provides me with more damage over an extended period of time; obviously you're fights with other tanky supports will be longer than if you fight, say, a sona. SO ONTO MY NEXT POINT: when to max E . When playing against a high burst bot lane or against a high sustain or an all poke comp you have the opportunity to max E . I will not max E unless I have certainty that I will not be in danger of 1: being super bursted (I can dodge most of their skill shots, endure their initial burst with my W at level 1, etc.) or 2: I know that by maxing E I can burst them down faster than they can me. Times this is an applicable option: vs Lulu, Sona, Soraka, Annie, etc. When youo work with bursty ADCs, it's also a good idea to max E, as it compounds their damage.

Early Game

Nautilus is similar to most supports in the case that: It is difficult to win a fight at level 1. So, if possible, hold off on an incredibly early fight. Wait until level 2 or 3 for that kind of thing. If you're starting to get ahead in lane, try to pick a fight. If you're behind, play a little more passively and capitalize on their missteps and misplays for your opportunity to catch up - a good time for this is when their main abilities are on CD, or if your jungler is nearby and ganks well. IF YOU ARE BEHIND EARLY then you will, presumably be stuck under, or near your turret. Making it difficult for you to make an out play and also meaning that their jungler doesn't really have the greatest opportunity to gank you. So your first buy in this scenario should be boots. IF YOU ARE AHEAD IN LANE then you'll be pressing or freezing their lane; which will generally cause too much pressure for their jungler to ignore and he'll be called upon to ease up their stress. So if you're ahead, then you have the option to either pick up a sightstone or boots in this scenario - which will be determined upon thus: are you wanting to roam and help get kills/pressure in other lanes? OR are you trying to maintain your pressure in lane while keeping an eye for the jungler and/or mabye wanting to get a couple deep wards down.

Mid Game

Mid game is the time of the game where you will generally win or lose the entire match. By this time, you should have boots, Sightstone, and face of the mountainFoTM. These items will allow you to roam well, get deep/essential vision on the map, and provide you with a potentially life-saving shield. What you want to do at this point is to group - since Nautilus is such a nasty team fighter. You don't want to force a fight, but you want to catch them off guard. This may take some time, but times that you want to pick a fight include, but are not limited to, the following: ADC is in range for anchor toss, ANYONE on the enemy team has misstepped, or if they have a team member that is gone (visible on the map though), or if you ABSOLUTELY KNOW that you can win a team fight. Another role that you have during mid game is to HELP TAKE OBJECTIVES. Of course you're not going to be the #1 damage dealer on your team, but that doesnt mean that you cant help organize/secure objectives. You are the one that provides the vision around the objectives. And once your team has begun the dragon, baron, etc. then it is your job to peel. It's not hard to do this. You just need to make presence around your team. Force the enemy away from it. That does not mean to fight; all you need to do is let them know that you are there and that you've got the backup that you need so that they don't feel like they have the opportunity to fight. KNOW YOUR LIIMITS: this goes for all matters of the mid game. Dont fight when you are skeptical. Dont try to peel the enemy off of the dragon too hard - i.e. don't get pointlessly trying to do your job. PLAY SAFE AND PLAY SMART!!!

Late Game

The separation of the weak and the strong willed comes out here. Team fights orrupt you should have at least added an armor added ( Frozen heart or Randuin's) and an MR item ( Locket or Banshee's). This means you're very tanky at this point in the game. Obviously you don't have the damage capability to single-handedly ward off the enemy or to peel for your entire team at an objective, so your main task now becomes to peel for your ADC. DO NOT FORGET THIS!!! It is your job to keep him alive so that he can spit out as much damaage as possible. YOUR ADC'S LIFE IS MORE VALUABLE THAN YOUR'S. But along with that, your job isnt to simply shun the rest of the teammates and only care about your adc's life. You need to be able to help out the entire team. If you think you can leave your adc for a sec and help out a teammate to keep them alive, go for it. Just try to keep as many people alive as possible. Carries > jungler > top laner.
As in the mid game, you should continue to ward - deep warding if your team has the upper hand and defensive warding if you've been placed on the back foot. This should be the difference between: (a) securing an objective, and not. (b) being caught out, and catching them out. (c) a free tower lost or gained. (d) Free pressure placed on them, or on you. KNOW THIS NOW: WARDS WIN GAMES!