Nasus Build Guide by KyoGrey

Introduction

Hi! I'm KyoGrey, though I'm better known by my summoner name, DerpingSniper (I didn't say how much better). I main top lane, and Nasus is my favorite of all the champions I play, followed closely by Mundo, Jax, and Malphite.

Generally, Nasus does best as a solotop, because he relies heavily on farming. Without the CS, Nasus falls off after level 8 (if you're lucky).

Pros/Cons

Pros

+ Huge amounts of damage with Siphoning Strike + Great sustain with Soul Eater + Great utility with Wither + Armor reduction with Spirit Fire + Fury of the Sands keeps you alive in many different cases + Siphoning Strike works on towers

Nasus is a great pick if your team needs a tank or a carry. His Siphoning Strike deals massive amounts of damage with larger stacks. His Wither grants him a great escape, or a way to catch up to those pesky Rammuses. Rammusi? Oh, whatever. You get my point.

Cons

- Siphoning Strike is reliant on farming - Melee champion - Countered by several common top-lane picks, including Riven, Garen, Pantheon, and Garen. Did I mention Garen?

As per every champion, Nasus has his drawbacks as well. Common champions in the top lane like Riven and Darius bully Nasus. They're like those bullies that walked around high school looking for some little nerd to pick on. Nasus also has no real escape. It doesn't really bother him much, because of Fury of the Sands and Wither, but sometimes it kind of sucks to have to burn your Ghost to get out. Because Nasus relies so heavily on farming his Siphoning Strike, zoning him out is a surefire way to defeat him. It happens more than you might think.

Spells

Soul Eater
// Gives percentage lifesteal
// Nasus drains his foe's spiritual energy, giving him a natural 10/15/20% Lifesteal.

Siphoning Strike
// Nasus strikes his foe, dealing damage and increasing the power of his future Siphoning Strikes if he slays his target.
// Nasus's next attack will deal an additional 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 (+100% AD) physical damage. Siphoning Strike permanently gains 3 damage whenever it kills an enemy.
Wither
// Nasus ages his target, decelerating their movement and attack speeds over 5 seconds.
// Nasus ages his target, slowing their movement and attack speed by 35% and reducing it further by 3 / 6 / 9 / 12 / 15% each second for 5 seconds.
Spirit Fire
// Nasus unleashes a delayed spirit flame at a location, dealing damage and reducing the armor of enemies who stand on it.
// After a brief delay, the target area becomes desecrated. Enemies in the area have their armor reduced by 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 and are dealt 20 / 34 / 48 / 62 / 76 ( 0.2 per ability power) magic damage each second.
Fury of the Sands
// 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.

Synergies

Code:

Amumu's Synergy Amumu is an amazing jungler to have on your team as Nasus. His Bandage Toss and Curse of the Sad Mummy can lock down an opponent for 3 seconds! As Nasus, this is pleny of time to either get a kill, or Wither the opponent to make sure the kill is secured.

Aatrox's Synergy Aatrox is a strong champion all-around, but when paired with Nasus, he can very easily get fed. His Dark Flight, Blades of Torment, and Nasus's Wither provide 2 slows and a knock up, totaling 7.75 seconds of slow, and 1 second of knock up. That's a LOT of CC.

Nautilus's Synergy Nautilus's Dredge Line, Riptide, and Depth Charge provide huge amounts of CC. In other words, exactly what Nasus needs to be a godlike champion.

Champions with high amounts of CC work extremely well with Nasus.

Laning

Now to the most important part of the guide: Farming. Farming with nasus is pretty much the same as with everyone else, except with Nasus, you should hit your Q before you last hit. When your Q is on CD, hack away. Every time your Q comes off CD, and you can kill something with it, pop that Q. Continue in this way until you reach about 250 stacks.

At this point, you can start playing a little more aggressively, because your Q will just smash anything that gets in front of you. When you hit 500 stacks, you can 1v1 towers. When you hit 1k stacks...well....you shouldn't. Because by then, the game should be over, with you one-shotting the towers, then smashing the nexus with one mighty swing of the axe....stick...cane thingy.