How do I beat Nasus?

OutKaste·11/2/2017, 6:07:29 PM·6 votes·4,341 views

I have been playing League for about a year now, and have recently switched my main role to top lane. Most top laners I find I can deal with without to much trouble if I play well, but I never seem to be able to beat Nasus, even though I play against him the most due to his low IP cost. Any tips/tricks/champions you guys have to smash him early to minimize his damage late? Whenever I look online all I get are outdated articles on champions that are good against him, so I am more looking on how to play against him in and even or bad matchups, although good champion matchups will help too. Thanks!

19 Comments

Rebel Fox11/2/2017, 6:11:23 PM10 votes

I have a suggestion. Most good Nasus' players are difficult to deal with because all they need to do is farm to become strong. This means you have two typical avenues to look into. 1- Play a champion who scales along with Nasus. Gangplank can easily out waveclear, harass the Nasus, cleanse his slow, and scales better as a damage dealer into the late game. 2. Play a lane bully. Play someone who constantly skirmishes. Fizz is pretty good at it, but people like Riven, Fiora, Camille, Darius, all kinds of champions are stronger early, and scale well enough to deal with a Nasus. Make sure to fight minions so that you don't tank much minion aggro.

Suggestions for champions to look into- Gangplank, Darius, Riven, Gnar, and Rammus.

DragonShea11/2/2017, 6:30:47 PM4 votes

You need to capitalize on getting an early lead, nasus can't do shit against half the champs in the laning phase but don't allow him to farm, deny him and force him to get desperate enough to use his ult when he reaches Lv. 6, Make him waste his E and then fight him outside it, he can't stop casters with his W as they are not AS dependent and can whack him a few times.

Like many juggs, you should NEVER fight him on his own terms, which means fighting him on his E or when he ults unless you can kill him then or you play as another jugg that can facefight him. otherwise he only got his Q passive and W to harass anyone with.

Trash MammaI11/2/2017, 7:33:45 PM4 votes

Don't play attack speed reliant champs

Don't sit in his E when you fight him. I see a lot of people ignore it and wonder why he does so much damage

His Q is physical damage but his E and ult both deal magic damage. MR is not a bad idea vs him.

QSS so when he uses wither you can get rid of it and easily take him down. A lot of his dueling capability comes from wither making it hard to attack or move.

Trinity is usually their only main damage item. After that it's just hp and resistance. Hp items destroy him

Lane bullies that freeze lane at tower are nightmares for him. Try to force him to use his E on a wave so that it pushes then last hit instead of auto'ing minions to death. He has no real way to escape ganks other than flash

Shiznyte11/2/2017, 6:34:54 PM3 votes

Camp him early / Tower Dive him Pre Six, if you are ADC get a QSS to drop his wither, He needs to be shut down early and you need to win the game fast. If you want to kill him late game take 3 + people all who have CC or he will just kill you. Do not 1v1 him unless you are like god Tier Fiora! He's a literal god on the Rift and needs to be respected. Cheese him early on when hes weak and snowball off his lane. if you can snowball then roam while he selfishly farms it will be 4v5 and he team will prob start to flame him for not helping!

redniwediS11/2/2017, 6:14:07 PM3 votes

My primary method of beating him is picking someone who is a good/decent early to mid game duelist that can effectively use Executioner's Calling. It's going to take some time to learn how to properly trade with him and I found shutting down access to his passive during a trade is really helpful. Keep him low and freeze the lane and he can do nothing besides farm with his E. If your champ scales hard with early items go ahead and kill him, but keep in mind you don't have to kill him to win lane, only push his late game later while your team reaches theirs.

MadViking11/2/2017, 6:21:36 PM3 votes

A champion that can poke and deny his farm is usually best.

Lane bullys work well early on, but they become less effective post 6 and sheen.

Teemo and Pantheon are good picks. Unless Nasus gets JG support you can deny his farm all day with those two champions.

Ashen Rider11/2/2017, 11:32:42 PM1 votes

Play Urgot?

tremck11/3/2017, 2:06:44 AM1 votes

Another thing, you don't always need to beat him directly. Get mid or bot fed, and they will often outcarry him.

Waffletimewarp11/3/2017, 1:48:15 PM1 votes

I play Ornn. Rush bramble vest and catalyst and just bully him away with that sweet 20-33% max health w and passive proc

Dokueki Kenshin11/2/2017, 6:43:05 PM1 votes

Pretty much anything that can deny his Q Stacks hard or zone him hard. Harass is of course the best option. You can also manage to mess him up by manipulating wave management, but I suck at that, so pick a lane bully.

Quinn, my main, is a prime example and possibly his hardest counter. Your passive gives you free damage, which means excellent harass. Your Q reduces his vision, making it harder for him to land Siphoning Strike. Your E is a disrupt, meaning it cancels channeled abilities and even attack animations, meaning you can directly deny him stacks. I pretty much cannibalized the last Nasus I faced as Quinn.

Darkdemon65311/2/2017, 7:42:19 PM1 votes

DO NOT PUSH HIM TO HIS TOWER IF YOU ARE A MELEE CHAMPION

People pushing me to my tower is by far the biggest mistake I see people make. You want to freeze the wave just outside your tower and then zone him away from the wave. If you're ranged, you can push and harass him under his tower. This can be dangerous if he has a good jungler, though, and zoning will always be effective and safe.

Shuriman Curator11/2/2017, 10:28:16 PM1 votes

If you can bait his ult that's a plus, a lot of his power is in his ult.

EkyonKun11/2/2017, 10:53:36 PM1 votes

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Takua Nuva11/2/2017, 10:57:53 PM1 votes

pick trundle even if you let him farm ult him and you win any 2 vs 1 easy late game TF ult him and pillar if he gets close to anyone