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Nasus will probably be top tier in top lane once the preseason rolls out

HateDaddy··55 votes·9,253 views

As a player with as many Nasus games as me, please take this into consideration and not nerf him anymore than he already has been.

Next patch, buffed up D-shield is going to be really good and d-shield is basically the best starting item Nasus can have (when its good). Ryze nerfs coupled with that and upcoming Gnar changes mean Nasus will have almost no difficult match-ups with top tier top laners (of Gnar is still considered good, this match-up will still be hell). Rumble is challenging until you get a spirit visage and Nasus can actually out-trade rumble levels 2 and 3 so the match-up is difficult yes, but theres room for him to have success there.

So what does that leave? Maokai top is an easy match up. Irelia is a pretty easy match-up. I wouldn't be surprised to see Renekton make a comeback, thats a pretty difficult match-up if the renekton player actually plays him well. Top lane is still in teleport meta, another factor favoring Nasus. Mundo is an easy match-up. Singed is an easy mtch-up (although Singed wrecks Nasus' teamfight).

If Nasus becomes good, look at the circumstances that allowed it to happen rather than catering to QQ and pulling the nerf trigger on him when hes taken pretty much all he can withstand. The top lane roster is abysmal currently, that isn't nasus' fault and Riots promise to buff up other top laners in the renekton bar rather than nerf nerf nerf fell through. There are plenty of top laners who can kick nasus' ass when they are good but almost none of them are. And ignite as a top lane spell sucks now, again something that favors Nasus but isn't his fault.

So I ask, if this happens and I honestly don't see anything preventing it from happening, be proactive in ways to increase top lane diversity instead of nerfing another one into the ground because the top lane cycle has been nothing but nerf city.

Thanks for the read friends

Remember, upvoting or downvoting without bumping/commenting is a crime!

146 Comments

Leafie29 votes

+1 for requesting Nasus doesn't get nerfed again.

Too Ton13 votes

Olaf and darius and good rivens still beat nasus up

HateDaddy11 votes

Olaf and darius and good rivens still beat nasus up

Darius and Olaf yes, Riven no. I consider Riven a pretty easy lane honestly, just avoid her 1-3, have short trades with her 4 and 5, don't be in range of her if she hits 6 before you but once you are both six, you are generally safe. Level 7 you can start out-trading her once you have a glacial and a health crystal/kindlegem and level 9 and onward, you destroy her in all ins.

When trading with her, don't trade while her shield is up and don't force trades at all. Shes going to get the jump on you early so run back into your minions, drop wither on her once she has used her 3 qs and dash/shield and drop an E and AA Q reset and wail on her with autos then back off. If you execute this correctly, you will out trade her and you have sustain and she doesn't. Later on around level 7, just whack her with Qs when she gets in melee range of you because the CD will be much shorter.

Butlike any match-up with riven, watch for ganks because if she gets ahead, its a nightmare.

MrBuffington1 votes

I actually don't know, but aren't Vayne and Teemo supposed to counter Nasus?

Narasimha4 votes

Teemo isn't a 'counter', per say, he just makes Nasus's life hell. It becomes super hard to farm without a jungler camping, and a smart teemo will build item 3165 to force you out of lane more often.

slaverythegame1 votes

Riot nerfed his shrooms making him weak and incompatible for serious ranked play.

Hojo Lodis1 votes

That any champions beats nasus top or not... once nasus gets X farm its when he rolls. You have to keep him under pressure the whole game, for the moment you let him free farms he comes back in.

HateDaddy2 votes

That any champions beats nasus top or not... once nasus gets X farm its when he rolls. You have to keep him under pressure the whole game, for the moment you let him free farms he comes back in.

Not really

If you get ahead, kill him once or twice and roam, you are still going to be ahead of him as well as have a team advantage.

Enraged Piglet1 votes

^^ exactly and it's not exactly that he's "free farming" it's not really free because your taking dragons and mid and bot lane turrets and the like and then some team comps just do well against nasus since they can just kite him.

doubleguac13 votes

I pray to god Nasus doesn't become popular again.

I know a lot of people out there enjoy playing him. And I feel for you.

But he's so frustrating to play against. All Nasus has to do to win a lane is Q minions over and over again. The ball is entirely in the court of his lane opponent: Nasus doesn't need to outplay his opponent to win, all he has to do is play passively and survive.

When I get beaten by a Gnar, I can think to myself: "next time I should pay more attention to his rage bar." Or, "I need to focus on dodging his boomerangs and capitalizing when his hop is down." Or, "my teammates and I shouldn't have fought in jungle, and should have avoided walls better."

When I get beaten by a Nasus, all I can think to myself is: "he pressed Q on a lot of minions, then pressed Q on me. Next time, I need to win faster so he doesn't have so much time to press Q on minions."

Playing against Nasus doesn't feel like trying to outsmart and outplay a player; it feels like trying to beat a clock. If you're playing a melee, at some point in the game, he will outscale you. And once that's happened, there is nothing you can do. There's no skills to dodge. There's nothing to bait. You can't "outplay" him. He's just a brick wall of free stats that's going to shove straight down a side lane and out-duel you if you try to stop him.

SynergyGarenNA5 votes

Quinn Because quinn MasterYi Very few things beat a strong yi Kayle Because Kayle Olaf Brolaf is very very strong in sustained duels Pantheon Passive counters nasus pretty strongly Shyvana % shred tank hurts you long time XinZhao Like mix of olaf and yi, possibly the strongest 1v1 champion in game. Warwick Though hes a very rare top laner, a good ww is another contender for strongest 1v1.

and my favorite destroyer of Nasus Garen. A good garen will absolutely destroy a nasus... why? Because garen does not need farm to win lane, he will just bully nasus out of lane and sometimes ignore farm so that you cant get to it.

Kowe The Ewok4 votes

Half of them... Wither

Asdeft2 votes

Wither wont do anything to Yi/olaf if they ult and it hardly effects pantheon, ww and olaf.

AbiwonKenabi2 votes

Wither slows attack speed, so its not useless against Yi or Olaf. Not as much as it used to, but its the same logic as using exhaust on these two: not to slow, but to decrease damage output.

Asdeft1 votes

Wrong, master Yi and olaf are both immune to all slows while using their Highlander or Ragnarok respectively. This includes attack speed slows. Wither is almost useless on them. Exhaust will decrease their damage (except for their true damage), but nothing more.

HateDaddy6 votes

Quinn Because quinn MasterYi Very few things beat a strong yi Kayle Because Kayle Olaf Brolaf is very very strong in sustained duels Pantheon Passive counters nasus pretty strongly Shyvana % shred tank hurts you long time XinZhao Like mix of olaf and yi, possibly the strongest 1v1 champion in game. Warwick Though hes a very rare top laner, a good ww is another contender for strongest 1v1.

and my favorite destroyer of Nasus Garen. A good garen will absolutely destroy a nasus... why? Because garen does not need farm to win lane, he will just bully nasus out of lane and sometimes ignore farm so that you cant get to it.

Quinn: yes Yi: can go either way Kayle: not really that tough, she auto shoves and doran shield will be good vs her Q now too Olaf: wrecks nasus Pantheon: difficult match up for sure but winnable post 6 Shyv: fairly easy lane if you avoid trading with her early Xin: easy lane, don't get cheesed early Warwick: annoying but his mana pool is easy to outsustain and nasus outduels warwick mid-late game, granted it takes an hour or so for the duel to end Garen: farm lane, nasus wins by default. Garen auto shoves and nasus ult basically counters his.

Not trying to be a jerk, just tellin ya how i feel about the matches

Vellich0r5 votes

garen IS a counter, and it wouldnt be a farm lane, garen doesnt shove if he plays right, and his silence makes nasus a sad doge, that and you cant reactively ult, cuz garen ult.

HateDaddy3 votes

garen IS a counter, and it wouldnt be a farm lane, garen doesnt shove if he plays right, and his silence makes nasus a sad doge, that and you cant reactively ult, cuz garen ult.

Garen counters bad Nasus players, sure

But fun fact about Garens Q silence and Nasus' Q. The duration of Nasus' Q active by lasts longer than Garens silence, even his max rank silence. Garens Q is annoying but nothing you can't outsustain and if Garen wants to drop his spin on you, you force him to do it in minion waves then back off, resulting in him pushing you to tower. Then you farm under tower where garens under tower harass is pitiful.

Garens ult only kills Nasus with full execute, which means Nasus simply needs to know around 30% health he has to retreat. Anything above that, he pops ult after garen silence/ult and lives then garens ult goes on cooldown for a year.

Why is this a farm lane? Generally garen will go one damage item + full tank making it not worth your time to kill him because of how poorly he scales and hes not a threat to you with that build. Garen goes full damage and you literally blow him up because Nasus murders squishy melee top laners.

Trust me, this is an easy match up for nasus, pretty boring actually. I have played this match-up a lot, more recently than you would think and every garen player thought this until they played vs me. Hyfe and NateKiller pretty much will tell you the same.

SynergyGarenNA4 votes

No, Garen Very much so is a counter to Nasus. Granted you may have beaten a garen or two. But of the top 3 rated Nasus counters garen is in most if not in all lists. In fact alot of pro's including TheOddOne, Dyrus, and even Ackerman, agree that Garen counters Nasus. This isn't me saying ooo Garen is cool, no this is professional statistics and experts in the game saying this.

The main reason though that garen counters susan so hard, isn't because of his kit, granted his ult does help. Its mainly the fact that his early levels are significantly stronger than nasus, where in the long run susan will eventually out scale him. Garens goal isn't to hit 90cs by 10 mins, no his goal is make make sure nasus has less than 10 cs per 10 by forcing him out of lane. and he can achieve this soley because he wins early game. Thats why if you do play nasus, junglers tend to gank top alot more often that other lanes. Because if you get Nasus through his weak early game he carries the rest of the game.

And Not to toot my own horn, I've beaten diamond ranked nasus players with garen, and Im no pro, Im silver league last time i played ranked.

Some Champ Counters sites: http://www.championselect.net/champions/nasus http://elohell.net/league-of-legends-counterpicks/nasus-counters http://www.picklol.net/nasus

utDOOM1 votes

Whenever I play Garen against Nasus I take AD runes and masteries and a Doran's Blade, so even if I push the wave, two full Garen spins plus and two Qs will usually leave Nasus with less than a quarter of his HP. I can still go full tank afterwards, so it doesn't cost my team alot late game.

HateDaddy1 votes

Whenever I play Garen against Nasus I take AD runes and masteries and a Doran's Blade, so even if I push the wave, two full Garen spins plus and two Qs will usually leave Nasus with less than a quarter of his HP. I can still go full tank afterwards, so it doesn't cost my team alot late game.

I am pretty sure if you do play Garen into Nasus, you are going to want to run really offensive heavy runes and masteries

Holler at my boy Ouroboro and ask him about DFG Garen

utDOOM1 votes

DFG Garen is awesome :D

And while we're on the topic of fun Garen builds, you ever tried SotD Garen? It makes your whole spin crit.

HateDaddy1 votes

DFG Garen is awesome :D

And while we're on the topic of fun Garen builds, you ever tried SotD Garen? It makes your whole spin crit.

Yeah his E can crit

Why not ghostblade? I feel like the active plus the cdr/armor pen would be so much better

utDOOM1 votes

Ghostblade doesn't give 100% crit.

But then again, why not both?

Vellich0r1 votes

I am used to playing against low skill nasus players, so that may be whats swaying my vote.

HateDaddy1 votes

I am used to playing against low skill nasus players, so that may be whats swaying my vote.

If Garen works for you, continue to play him. In lower elo, people generally don't know how to fight Garen anyway.

And just because a champion doesn't counter Nasus doesn't mean you don't have options to deal with him. Nasus isn't going to be interested in fighting Garen at all early on, push your advantage hard, get a big item and roam with it while Nasus is trying to scale and basically end the game before Nasus can hit his power spike.

Onegarion3 votes

Yea i'm waiting for Riot to make meaningful changes all around. Stop the nerffest and focus on what needs to be done. Are tanks to strong? Well is it the tank or the items the tans use? Same for other roles.

A lot of times I see a lot of champion changes, but little elsewhere. Like the current ADC-centric meta with Lucian/Trist at the top (at least a couple weeks ago) wasn't because Trist was extremely strong since she herself hadn't seen much change in a relatively long time, but because the items trist likes got buffs and the extra side effect is that adcs are very strong now. I hope riot takes a better look at how they nerf and not just a simple "they are strong nerf."

I've talked multiple times about the quality of nerfs with the main focus on the problem champs liek Kha and Nid where they always seem to be viable no matter what because clearly the nerfs are not of quality and more just bandages on the big problem. I won't go into detail here as to not derail your discussion, but I hope they find better outlets to nerf instead of just focusing on champs because I really think that isn't the main reason of imbalances for the non trash tier champs. I think Zac is good, but the items he uses are better used on someone else in better ways. He is a great CC tank, but there are others that provide slightly less CC (i'm talking like 15% compared to a 10%), but provide a lot more damage and in turn are better. In these cases I think a role needs to be defined by riot for each champ in which nerfs/buffs are directed in order to push them into that role.

Legostrike2 votes

Bless this post.

HateDaddy2 votes

Thanks friends

360D3GR3SS2 votes

While I agree he will see more play in higher elos, I think because of the nature of his kit he will never be "top tier". He is too easily kited and has a short range slow for gap closing. Something he needs to be "top tier" is a very reliable engage tool or some form of hard CC like an interruption of movement, not just a massive slow that can be countered easily. Not to mention the amount of self peel top tier adcs have now.

HateDaddy2 votes

While I agree he will see more play in higher elos, I think because of the nature of his kit he will never be "top tier". He is too easily kited and has a short range slow for gap closing. Something he needs to be "top tier" is a very reliable engage tool or some form of hard CC like an interruption of movement, not just a massive slow that can be countered easily. Not to mention the amount of self peel top tier adcs have now.

I want to thank you for acknowledging how easily countered wither is, this time last year people acted like it had no counters when mikaels, cleanse, qss and peel/mobility exist.

I don't expect his teamfight to change much - thats a given. But with itemization focusing on split pushing being available, I suspect this will help. The other thing to consider is what the heck is left in top lane? Everything else has been nerfed except irelia, even Maokai saw nerfs.

360D3GR3SS4 votes

I heard rumor's of Irelia nerfs.

EffectFX2 votes

So I will get to main olaf for some fun.

HateDaddy2 votes

So I will get to main olaf for some fun.

ya olaf wrecks nasus

But sadly, there are only two things olaf is good at currently:

Beating Nasus and dying to oxygn when he ults because counterplay.

Vellich0r2 votes

olaf is good at splitpush, dueling, wrecking carries, and beating nasus. his ult just needs to not remove the tanky stats when he uses it.

Rinky Dinky2 votes

I agree, but you did leave out a few match ups. Naturally, if he becomes top tier, his counters will see some play.

Garen will always be my go to champ for ripping up that Nasus b00ty <3

A Retarded Clown2 votes

then Korean Shaco appears

Saskothehunter2 votes

youre a dog, youre lower than a dog.

LittleBlast2 votes

A good AP Nid, like me, can easily beat nasus throughout the game, untill he gets EXTREMELY tanky, and once that happens you just kite for days.Nidalee

Kuroi862 votes

Garen Chogath Jax Kayle LeeSin Malphite Maokai Olaf Pantheon Poppy Renekton Riven Rumble Shyvana Sion Trundle Tryndamere Vladimir Warwick XinZhao

These guys all say Hi.

ploki1221 votes

Phew, someone did list Poppy...

HateDaddy1 votes

Phew, someone did list Poppy...

I am going to not speak on counters because my perspective is massively skewed. I basically don't have trouble with any match up other than Gnar, Darius and Olaf and I honestly believe poppy giving Nasus a free mid game is a death sentence for her because hes a better duelist than she is (she does rape your team however..)

ploki1221 votes

Any Poppy that loses top lane vs Nasus without completely skewed map pressure (aka lots more ganks coming from Nasus jungler/mid laner than Poppy's, ot Poppy roaming while Nasus doesn't) simply doesn't understand how to play Poppy. A goodPoppy will start getting ahead around her 2nd cs. Basically, her Q does more damage than your early on and whenever you will go for a trade, she will trade back, hard (AA+Q). You can choose to Q her but that meas you don't get your stack (and she still outtrades you)

Then. since she's winning the level, she should be able to push you in ever so slightly and get level 2 first. With her level 2 (Q+E),she can kll you from roughly 40-50 % if she can land her sun. Meaning that you will probably miss another few cs there. Once you are both level 2, Nasus can either shove back the lane using Spirit of Fire, or outduel her using Wither. The problem is that he cannot do both. So even at level 2, she will have the advantage, either pushing you in and applying pressure elsewhere or outdueling you (same way as level 1).

Levl 3 is a bit staler, both are roughly even. Level 4-5 you start to raise on top again, since your Q once again outdamages his (by far), and your AAs also deal more damage, leading to better trades unless he Qs more often than you. Level 6, you start "losing" the lane, since he can push you back in and even kill you if you misplay thanks to his ult, however if you played the early phase well, you should be ahead at this point and you should've bought a Sheen already, making the death threat work both way. This become a skill matchup with an edge to Poppy at this point (mostly because of her hybrid damages, where Nasus probably bought Glacial Shroud or is working toward Spirit Visage).

Come late game, by the time Nasus is big, he has to try and outpush a BotRK-Hydra-Triforce Poppy. Sure, he will most probably outduel you if neither uses their ults, but as soon as anyone comes into the lane, it favors Poppy, and as soon as either of you teleports, it favors Poppy (given equally good Teleports). You can try to take another lane, but nothing except Nasus on your team will be able to deal with a Teleport Poppy, and if she ever chooses to group, she can ult your ADc, and wreck your mid laner, while you'Re trying to do the same to hers. Unfortunately, Nasus isn't a great burster, especially not 1v2-3+.

HateDaddy1 votes

Any Poppy that loses top lane vs Nasus without completely skewed map pressure (aka lots more ganks coming from Nasus jungler/mid laner than Poppy's, ot Poppy roaming while Nasus doesn't) simply doesn't understand how to play Poppy. A goodPoppy will start getting ahead around her 2nd cs. Basically, her Q does more damage than your early on and whenever you will go for a trade, she will trade back, hard (AA+Q). You can choose to Q her but that meas you don't get your stack (and she still outtrades you)

Then. since she's winning the level, she should be able to push you in ever so slightly and get level 2 first. With her level 2 (Q+E),she can kll you from roughly 40-50 % if she can land her sun. Meaning that you will probably miss another few cs there. Once you are both level 2, Nasus can either shove back the lane using Spirit of Fire, or outduel her using Wither. The problem is that he cannot do both. So even at level 2, she will have the advantage, either pushing you in and applying pressure elsewhere or outdueling you (same way as level 1).

Levl 3 is a bit staler, both are roughly even. Level 4-5 you start to raise on top again, since your Q once again outdamages his (by far), and your AAs also deal more damage, leading to better trades unless he Qs more often than you. Level 6, you start "losing" the lane, since he can push you back in and even kill you if you misplay thanks to his ult, however if you played the early phase well, you should be ahead at this point and you should've bought a Sheen already, making the death threat work both way. This become a skill matchup with an edge to Poppy at this point (mostly because of her hybrid damages, where Nasus probably bought Glacial Shroud or is working toward Spirit Visage).

Come late game, by the time Nasus is big, he has to try and outpush a BotRK-Hydra-Triforce Poppy. Sure, he will most probably outduel you if neither uses their ults, but as soon as anyone comes into the lane, it favors Poppy, and as soon as either of you teleports, it favors Poppy (given equally good Teleports). You can try to take another lane, but nothing except Nasus on your team will be able to deal with a Teleport Poppy, and if she ever chooses to group, she can ult your ADc, and wreck your mid laner, while you'Re trying to do the same to hers. Unfortunately, Nasus isn't a great burster, especially not 1v2-3+.

Eh, im pretty sure Nasus can just outsustain her mana pool early on and then have enough armor/health/mr to avoid her all-un until about 9, where he just rips her apart in all-ins.

What concerns me with this match-up isn't the 1v1, jungle pressure is a biggie and then theres also the fact that a farmed poppy is much better in teamfights. This is a match up where I actually attempt to afk split push and force people top, I don't want to get into 5v5s with a poppy on the other side because theres no way nasus shuts her down early and even if I kill her in solo lane mid game, shes already started to scale well. Theres probably a small window of opportunity to outperform her in team fights at that point mid game, anything after that goes to Poppy.

Enraged Piglet1 votes

most poppies start flask so that they can have bigger mana pool/sustain and the matchup he's talking about is with teleport and most poppies take ignite so that the already good lvl 2 becomes impossible for nasus and so he misses all those cs and lvl 3 and on is still good for poppy because your missing all the cs and you have more kill potential and if pushed higher lvl and if not pushed it's still good since that is good for ganking nasus. Also the person above was talking about nasus having to use wither or spirit fire but poppy can avoid that with her E if needed eitehr by using on minion or on nasus himself. Also poppy can litterally build Triforce/Bork and then pure defense and she will destroy nasus because he builds about all tank but poppies Q does 8% max health damage in magic and then a lot of ad damage as well especially with bork and your wither won't work as well in escaping or chasing 1v1 because of bork active If your jungler ganks all poppy has to do is ult one of you and then pick a target to kill and in most cases is at least a 1 for 1.

So poppy vs nasus looks like this

  • laning phase no farm nasus
  • even with farm poppy wins mid game she just ults someone on your team with low cc and kills either a carry or yourself. Even if she builds all damage unless her target can kill her she effectively becomes an invisible front liner that your carries can't go through. Even if poppy can't kill an enemy carry her Q does so much damage to you and she's still invisible because of her ult so she beats you. Even if your entire team has cc she can still ult you and buy boots of swiftness. You would be forced to fight her and then both teams would be focusing poppy or nasus for the most part and unless you somehow got far ahead of her and can almost instant kill her at best if would be equal teamfighting. Or poppy can get merc shoes and still be fine in most cases. -late game unless as mentioned the nasus somehow got far ahead mid game and shut down the poppy, the poppy just outright wins teamfights with her ult and even if your way ahead she can still do loads of damage to you with Q and peel you of her allies.
Enraged Piglet1 votes

that's bs she has a way better early game then nasus. For instance poppy beats riven pre 6 and she has a lot of kill potential and that's why most poppies run ignite. Her Q litterally beats you face so hard that you wouldn't believe nasus was a dog. I mean all poppy has to do is go either dorans blade or flask (for the manna) and just Q you every single time you get within 5 feet of the creep wave. HEr abilities also don't push which is also bad for nasus since he wants the wave frozen at his tower and then even if you get it frozen at your tower it doesn't really matter after 6 since even if your jungler ganks and you wither her she just ults one of you and kills the other or just tower dives you and even pre 6 her Q hits you so hard it's not worth getting hit for most the cses and if poppy really wants she can take tp and then even if she fails to deny you cs like she should be doing she still does better then you in teamfights.

7dTmfTn8nw1 votes

Top Vayne Vayne Was quite a hard matchup (especially because my jungler LeeSin focused on farming rather than ganking any lane at all). But being careful and NOT getting hit by her 3rd AA ended up as a sustainable lane. I dunno if the good Top Vaynes could shut Nasus down hard. I think they could though.

HateDaddy3 votes

Top Vayne Vayne Was quite a hard matchup (especially because my jungler LeeSin focused on farming rather than ganking any lane at all). But being careful and NOT getting hit by her 3rd AA ended up as a sustainable lane. I dunno if the good Top Vaynes could shut Nasus down hard. I think they could though.

Any mobile adc top is annoying as shit

Like most immobile melees, you will need jungle pressure. And a jungler SHOULD always camp adc solo lane tops (mainly vayne/quinn)

Kirbunis1 votes

As a player with as many Nasus games as me, please take this into consideration and not nerf him anymore than he already has been... ...Nasus will have almost no difficult match-ups with top tier top laners

Doesn't that mean that he needs a nerf, if he's instantly the OP flavor of the month? I've already seen him wreck lane whenever he's in a game, even when he's directly countered by a champ that should easily shut him down. Part of this could be because people just don't know how to deal with Nasus (still figuring it out here, but I have some ideas for next time), but I think that a big part of it is that he is honestly just a hard champion to scare out of lane due to the tp meta and innate lifesteal he has.

If there is near nothing you can do versus a Nasus save slam into him as much as you can while he farms his q, and risk giving him a kill in the process, then how does he not require a nerf? If a champion has no difficult matchups, but acts themself as a difficult matchup for many, then how is this considered fair and fun to the other guy playing top?

HateDaddy2 votes

As a player with as many Nasus games as me, please take this into consideration and not nerf him anymore than he already has been... ...Nasus will have almost no difficult match-ups with top tier top laners

Doesn't that mean that he needs a nerf, if he's instantly the OP flavor of the month? I've already seen him wreck lane whenever he's in a game, even when he's directly countered by a champ that should easily shut him down. Part of this could be because people just don't know how to deal with Nasus (still figuring it out here, but I have some ideas for next time), but I think that a big part of it is that he is honestly just a hard champion to scare out of lane due to the tp meta and innate lifesteal he has.

If there is near nothing you can do versus a Nasus save slam into him as much as you can while he farms his q, and risk giving him a kill in the process, then how does he not require a nerf? If a champion has no difficult matchups, but acts themself as a difficult matchup for many, then how is this considered fair and fun to the other guy playing top?

This is a good post and I'll explain why it's wrong.

When you break down his kit, let's be honest: is it really OP? Very limited trading early, poor AD, poor base scaling stats, worst mana pool in the game, second worst base mana regen in the game, 10% lifesteal lvl 1-7 basically means he's getting roughly 5-6 hp back per auto, which isn't that good. His sustain early matters, but 1-7, his sustain is mostly HP pot/HP regen based meaning his trading isn't directly sustaining him much, if at all. Easily peeled, easily kited, no mobility. Sure, he has a lot of strengths, but when we break down his kit, there's no way in hell he is OP.

As far as him winning counter match-ups? I suspect people just don't know how to play against sustain lanes anymore, hence all the Maokai QQ. But, in fairness to those people, anti-sustain has become beaten to shit so hard because Riot has nerfed fighters who bully lane (thus, slowing down sustain) or discouraged anyone from picking them at any point.

Point is, Nasus is only in this spot because everything else has been nerfed to the ground that he simply just rises from the ashes once again. This is the nerf cycle that has been top lane for the last two seasons. That was the point of the Renekton Bar, to stop nerfing everything but buffing everything else. That gave J4 and Rumble decent buffs, Zac could probably use a few more and they overbuffed Ryze. Since then, what? How many top laners have been buffed since then? Instead of nerfing over and over again and at what point do you begin asking yourself "are we destroying this lane because we nerf everything to shit that goes up there?" The answer is simply yes, they have gutted an entire class and even nerfed more champions who were already nerfed who went up there (nerfed mid laners who went top like Kayle, Lulu, etc). Again, is that really Nasus fault? No. And if Riot increased the diversity in top lane instead of killing off contenders (like they did with Gragas for no reason), Nasus would be right in the middle of the pack. Singed buffs were welcome but that's not enough.

The next part is itemization and favorable metas. The meta will favor Nasus, nobody in top lane is high in damage currently aside from Irelia and Nasus counters her. TP is really strong. D-Shield will be strong. Here is what happened in the past: riot overbuffed items, spells and masteries. Then riot nerfed champions who synergized well with them, then to kick them in the dick even further, Riot then nerfed the items, spells and masteries, further nerfing that champion. I've seen this before, I suspect it will happen again but maybe this time if we say "uh hey Riot, don't do that shit," maybe for the first time, they will actually think about the shit they do and how it could impact things in the future rather than being "hur dur fire ze mizzle du nerf." Probably not though.

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