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LemonNation introduces support Nautilus to the NA LCS

Riot··0 votes·48,785 views
Once again, Daerek "LemonNation" Hart has brought something new to the bottom lane of the North American LCS. Last time, it was support Veigar, but as of Week 8 of the NA LCS, he's been the first NA player to bring out Nautilus support. The Titan of the Depths saw two games of play in the hands of Lemon, so Lolesports grabbed him and chatted about what the big guy brings to the Rift.

The birth of a new support

"I just know he's a good support," laughs Lemon when asked why he and Cloud9 would bring the a champion traditionally played in the jungle to the support role. Interestingly, until recently, Lemon didn't believe he was viable on a competitive level. "He's always been something that can be played, but has never been that great. And then on the most recent patch, he got huge buffs. So that's when I tried him out." The shortened cooldown on his Riptide (E), as well as the damage buff to Titan's Wrath (W), went a long way to helping his support viability, says Lemon. He saw the power of the changes immediately, stating that in his first few games on the champion, "We basically just stomped. Every game I was as strong as a god." His LCS experience hasn't been as dominant, however. So far, he's 1-1 on Nautilus, only winning against Liquid and Chae "Piglet" Gwang-jin on Kalista. "More than any other support, Nautilus eats Kalista," says Lemon. "I just ult her, smack her, and she's gone. That's probably something he hasn't played against. [Piglet] may have just not realized it wasn't an ideal pick at first." Without an easy target in their game against Team 8 though, he struggled to find the same team fight relevance. With Vladimir able to dodge the ability with Sanguine pool, Sejuani too tanky for it to be a good target, Lulu too low damage to waste the ability on, Graves being able to dash away, and Thresh being, well, a support, he simply didn't have a good target for Depth Charge (R).

Dragging enemies to the depths

Even with those struggles, Nautilus is incredibly strong against certain team comps. In lane, "he's so tanky that he can shake [off harrass] for a while. He can walk at them, apply pressure, get a Q on them, or just bop them with an autoattack. It's just him being a big force applying pressure and taking hits to draw pressure from his ADC." Despite the fact that he has one of the lowest base movement speeds in the game, Lemon still believes that Nautilus is a strong wandering support. Therefore, he prefers to pick up an early pair of Mobility Boots. "I get them as a first item if possible," he says. "But you can only do that if you can get wards as well, so it takes a decent amount of money to do that. But once you get Mobi boots, your base movement speed doesn't really matter. It's negligible." In team fights, Nautilus serves two roles: an initiator and a peeler for his team. "In a team fight, what he generally does is build Righteous [Glory]," says Lemon. "So, he uses Righteous, ults the AD carry or sometimes the mid, and if possible, Q's the AD carry. But a lot of times, he just starts peeling." From there, he can use his passive Staggering Blow to root anyone that comes near his team's squishies and keep them safe.

Bringing in the new guys

With the Nautilus pick, LemonNation has set a standard for players looking to bring new supports to their regions. He says, "Even before [Veigar and Nautilus], I was pulling out new things. I pulled out Morgana here first. I tend to be the first one to spam things and pick them up first." It's a risky move to pull out new supports before the region has figured out if they're good or not, but Lemon feels that the payoff is worth it. "I think other people will play it, but they want to make sure it's good and be sure 100% that it's going to work out. So, they'll wait a week or two to find out if it really works, whereas I'll spam it and try to make sure get an advantage that way." "If it's an OP [champion], I'll be the one on them first." To catch LemonNation on Nautilus and the rest of the games from Week 8 of the NA LCS, head over to the Lolesports spoiler-free VODs page.

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153 Comments

Clod40 votes

Ive Mained Nautilus support for two seasons now. They laughed and pointed fingers. Now everybody sees how useful an undying CC Behemoth is thanks to Lemonation. Now he'll probably be getting nerfed a bit too ;-;

fadingblade4 votes

i always main Nautilus support from when he came out

FeedTheBear4 votes

it is so good... you never have to back and you never die

ElJanitorFrank2 votes

Well keep something in mind, the reason Lemon picked up Nautilus support is because he got buffed in the first place. If he gets nerfed again, he'll just be in the same spot.

OMGhowmanytimes6 votes

why is this news? so many people have done this that it is kinda old now......

Lord Obese5 votes

Why is this news? The post isn't about Nautilus support. It's about the LCS. "Once again, Daerek "LemonNation" Hart has brought something new to the bottom lane of the North American LCS. Last time, it was support Veigar, but as of Week 8 of the NA LCS, he's been the first NA player to bring out Nautilus support."** It says he is the first to bring Nautilus to the NA LCS. **

Zxkuqyb8 votes

It's always how it's been. Low elos call you a troll because you didn't pick a FOTM champion. Then suddenly when a LCS player picks that champ and snowballs, suddenly everyone stops saying anything. Meanwhile, the toxic people who reported you for 'trolling' with a trollpick? Probably still gold or silver while you got punished....

This is why you MUTE everyone at ANY sign of flaming and then report them after the game without retaliating. They'll be banned and you'll still get to rock with that nautilus/lissandra/karthus/wukong support.

P.S. ANYONE can be used mid lane but melee champions are worst at mid because the lane is so short, that ranged champions can harass you and farm safely under their tower.

ANYONE can go top lane, but counters are harder to deal with at top than at mid because the lane is too long, so freezes and starving are too hard to deal with if you can't trade hits or wave clear.

ANYONE can support.

ANYONE can jungle as long as they have wave clear or sustain.

You can win even without an ADC as long as the person substituting for the marksman has high damage scaling and wave clear, enough DPS to melt tanks and is not shut down (Karthus anyone?)

Karthus and Cassiopia are getting played to death again because people realized they are VERY good at melting tanks.

cloman1003 votes

ive seen talon adc by accedent and he got so fed bot lane xD ps i do karthus jg just casue the ulti is like OP

QuantumLight1 votes

tell that to bjerg and zed

oden3212 votes

id hate to see a naut nerf seeing how he suffered in the jg. i usto main naut jg and seeing this happen is saddening. i have nothing against him being a support but the buffs were not in the right places. insted of pushing him back into the jg like they wanted they shoved him into support where the e buff is amazing and you didnt care about the w damage. the cinderhulk did almost nothing for him sadly because by the time he gets it he already hit his power spike and has his own clear speed incredible fast. i feel sad that now he will be pushed further down because of this. ;( may naut return to being viable again. Nautilus item 3070

A Draven Main1 votes

ARE YOU CRAZY?? Naut jg is SOOoooo strong right now. I've frequently played him jg for the last two seasons and i must say, this was needed. with the new jungle being stong he didnt have that survivability to get a good gank, or sustain. Now with his boosted W to add some tank and cinderhulkto increase clears is awesome! I <3 current naut.

Darth Joberin2 votes

That's how it is... Meta Zombies have no brains and can only do something once the pros do it I also used to support Naut .. hell when he first came out i used to top him instead of jungle

AllNonsense1 votes

if you "mained him" two seasons now...that's not something to brag about. For the last two years straight they have had to buff naut because he sucked and was overly weak. So, you're bragging about playing someone that RIOT themselves proved to not be a good choice...i.e them having to buff him slightly like 10 times over two years. That said, naut was used more as a support than jungler and top, so,,,"you" didn't main him as much as the majority of players who played naut did as well..

#logic

SystemException1 votes

Just because Riot says they need to strengthen a champion doesn't mean they sucked in the first place. It means the rest of the champions, or the items, or, as in more recent scenarios, the jungle camps have gotten stronger than the champion Riot ends up buffing. Nearly every champion has had a buff or two and a nerf or two in the last two years.

The fact the they have had to "buff him slightly like 10 times over two years" is actually a testament to the inherit strength in kit. Some champions, like Sion for instance, were so far behind and their kits were so underwhelming, that Riot remade the entire champion. Riot prides themselves on their balance levers, which is their ability to make small adjustments to champions when they start to get too weak or too strong. These levers are pulled when the rest of the game changes, not because a champion was built to be crappy.

AllNonsense1 votes

nothing you said is right lol Also, if you played a champion two years ago, that's nothing the same to playing him today. The game itself has changed, items and champs. It's stupid to think it's equatable

OriginShadow1 votes

Exactly, i started maining nautilius support last season, i did great. My friends laughed and said it would never work. LOOK AT ME NOW. Does this make me a hipster? Let it be known, nautilius will destrioy his lane and 1v1 their ADC WITH PRIDE!!!!!!!

P.S. Sejuani Support anyone? just grab some AP runes and max out that Q. You will bassicly destroy their health and your adc can just "pop" them right off the face of the rift.

OptimusChrist1 votes

They laughed because naut was le garbo. He got buffed. Now hes not. End of story. I woulda laughed at you too

InsaneSamurai8 votes

Does this mean people will stop raging at me when I pick Naut support?

Oh right they'll still tower dive as an adc and blame me, nm. Community OP :P

If I had dollar for every pick that entitled ragers have completely gone apeshit over that ended up showing up in the LCS and becoming an accepted norm...

MilleniumFalcon27 votes

I used Nautilus for supporting quite often in Seasons 3 - 4 actually. He is seriously a monster down there. A lot of AD players frowned on it because he is obviously not your typical legend of choice for support. But.... I still love him =) IN fact, I think I'm going to play support Naut at bot lane tonight. Whoop. =)

leftclicktowin5 votes

Am I the only one that has been doing this since beginning of season 4? Ban blitz and leona, then lock Nautilus gg

VelKoz On1y5 votes

Just for clarification Nautilus has been played bot by myself and my little brother since his release. Why is he just now getting shown bot lane! He's great support especially matched up with a Sivir, Jinx, Lucian, or Varus. Way to finally make it bot lane in the LCS Naut I've been pulling for you forever and it's good to see you finally spark up in the pros bot lane comp!

thebootknifer4 votes

Because, everyone feels if it isn't played in competitive the champ isn't worth it. No one can think for themselves and decide if a champ is worth playing or not. You should see my champ pool, it's one of the least "Viable" set of champs lol.

Full Metal Goose5 votes

I've been playing naut support since season 4, and everyone would make fun of me for it... something about too low of a movement speed? Either way, maybe i won't be harassed in champ select anymore. Thanks Lemon!

llamatPride5 votes

I love all the "I used to use this blah blah blah..." comments, when the damned champ in question only became viable in a given role extremely recently.

Essentially, what you're saying is, "I was too stubborn to drop the champ when it sucked, but now you all shall bow to my ability to play bad things until they become viable!"

Kudos to you, brave summoner, for ignoring logic until coincidence proves you right.

Dráze1 votes

Yes some champions are stronger then other champs, but that doesn't mean that a champion is weak or bad. Some champs fit in one comp or another, you'll be surprised. Open up, the meta doesn't mean play xyz champs because their the best, it means champs xyz are really good. All champions when played correctly can be good, think of the meta as a suggestion, not a guideline.

SkeIIy1 votes

cough Urgot cough

Yiu1132 votes

You haven't seen support Urgot yet, but trust me.

You will.

Meepsterplex1 votes

Ive done it, and my adc and I won around 5 games in a row with it. That is most likely due to the fact that I can harass. I didnt do any "supporting" as supportgot, but instead zoned them out with spike damage from targeted acid hunter. The ult was not very strong for support even though it may seem to be, mainly due to its long cooldown. Long story short, Urgot support can do enough damage to stop the enemies from doing much, but he is not a very good support.

Major Smurffula4 votes

love the Article , but introducing support Naut? really Riot? Naut and shen for then win. I love Nautilus , been one of my best and favorites since his patch . Bottom lane me with anyone and you too can experience the PURE POWER of NAUTILUS . so i guess Thank you Lemon for showing /Repn Naut. happy hunting summoners

SirCarrotThe1st4 votes

As someone who mains support this honestly irritates me, now i feel like i cant play Naut support anymore as well as Lee Sin (Works amazingly well) because everyone is going to think I'm on the bandwagon.This community is toxic towards new ideas but if a pro does it then everyone thinks its fine.

Informa1 Glutton5 votes

Who cares what anyone else thinks? Just play who you want to. :-)

Lady Danger3 votes

Nautilus with that helmet....(heart melts~~~~ Nautilus

1 Pair of Pants3 votes

When I first got Naut, all I ever heard was that he was a support. I'd never seen or heard of him jungle. Then when I did find, he became my favorite jungler.

Angra Mainyμ3 votes

Patch 5.6 We noticed Nautilus can be played as a support, so we are making his ult a non champion targeting skillshot with reduced damage and now slows instead of knocking up! We also decided to change his E and make the animation slower by 50% We feel that this would make the champion more FUN.

Honor4Honor3 votes

Ditttooo. I started playing Naut support when i bought him because I mained support at the time and always take champs there as a comfort choice when i want to first learn them.

Another really great support? Kennen. I can play kennen any lane, any role, any day. I prefer jungle, but in order for that to work well you need a team who can hold their own until 6.

Just goes to show. There is no meta.

Riskit2 votes

I have been using Nautilus support since Season 3 he is my main support in season 4 ranked. You guys are just finding out about it now? Ketch upitem 3174 C9. But seriously the best player you could possible play anywhere is obviously the one and only. Urgod MidUrgot item 1056

Cripple Oracle2 votes

Yeah I main support, and I tried Naut before he was played by Lemon. He's a good support. Period. Even before he got buffed, he was good. Just not my style, so all you Naut supports, go smash dat bot lane! Nautilus

Blood Reaper2 votes

Now that support Nautilus is known by the lcs how much longer till someone tries top lane with him in it.

Futbol Luva1 votes

They probably won't. Top lane Naut is a pretty shaky position to start with, and these recent patches really make it unviable.

BurningLynx1 votes

that is actually a fun role for Nautilus because of the trades with his e. you just gotta play smart same with any champ or role. though a wrong/missed q and you are left out to dry like a Naut out of water

Alex Of Daventry2 votes

New support? BULLSHIT! I did this back in season 3.

SkeIIy2 votes

So many champs hated on in lane that i play suddenly become amazing as soon as an LCS player tries it. will Gragas jungle also be commonly played now, too?

About107Gnomes2 votes

Sooo.. I'm from NA and I've done this for the past two or three seasons. Where is my post calling me the first? Pretty insulting to read this saying he's the first when it was already a thing.

Dritz D272 votes

To be totally honest, I was surprised at how LemonNation played Nautilus for most of both games. He spent a lot of time wandering around behind his carries, that's part of why they lost the second game, he was wandering behind Corki (partially Corki's fault) the team. Corki got hooked and blown up stranding Naut. This led to him dying as well.

Even in the laning phase he basically never roamed even though the Naut pick power is potentially really high. And, even though he stayed in lane, he didn't really go for any 'Thresh-esque' plays for the vast majority of the time (even the casters were talking up the 'kill-lane' potential).

Honestly, it felt like he was, for the most part, playing Nautilus like he would play Annie, and, honestly, at that point I feel like Annie would have just been better as he wasn't fully capitalizing on Naut's kit.

All that being said, I like Lemon's play overall, and he is obviously more skilled than me, but in LCS or out I haven't been a big fan of his Naut play. Still, credit to him for doing what I considered impossible this split and pulling Naut out of the depths. Nautilus

Futbol Luva2 votes

Pretty frustrating to be sure. If you are going to tell people Naut support really is as viable as he is then don't play him like a second jungler.

Oh well, it'll separate the true Naut supports from the copy cats when the copy cats can't figure out why their roaming Naut sucks/falls behind on exp/never has enough gold

welplayd1 votes

MAAAAAAANNN...........Ive been playing Nautilus support since last season!!! Edit: And every game I went up against a Thresh support in ranked, I won us the lane, no matter how many times he hooked my adc.

Futbol Luva2 votes

Thresh gets eaten alive by support Naut. It really is pretty funny how frustrated Thresh's get when they experience laning against a Nautilus for the first time.

SÅMUEL1 votes

LOL i played a ranked game againt Riot Robotayco, and he was support naut, destroyed us

BurningLynx1 votes

You sitting on me? one of my fave supports along with the Shen taunt machine. is making it into the LCS. i feel like a trend setter right now however wrong that feeling may be.LOL nothing like a good anchor to pull that one sheep out of a retreating herd.

D33PSTAT31 votes

Naut has always been a good choice for support. He has a kockup, stun, grab, and slow...

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