Sooo.. is there a reason Nasus players are now refusing to stack Q?

Packun Flower·Nov 13, 2016·15 votes·8,558 views

I dunno what the heck is going on but 4 times in a row I have run into Nasus players who refuse to stack Q and instead Max E.

My last game was 40 mins long and by the end of it our Nasus had a grand total of 50 stacks farmed on his Q. Needless to say he was utterly useless in team fights and we lost because of it. But I have noticed its a running trend now, almost all Nasus players are refusing to stack it and every time I see it happen those very same Nasus players lose, like hard.

Is this an LCS thing or something?

Seriously someone help me understand wtf is going on.

64 Comments

VoidStaresBackNov 13, 201635 votes

Lane pressure Nasus. Exchanges late-game splitpushing and dueling power for a decent laning phase, large amounts of pressure placed on top lane early, and serving in a tank role during the midgame. It's a thing that was popularized recently but I get the impression a lot of these players aren't playing it properly and are thus becoming even more useless than regular Nasus often is.

BlueBilberryNov 13, 20162 votes

{quoted}

Lane pressure Nasus. Exchanges late-game splitpushing a dueling power for a decent laning phase, large amounts of pressure placed on top lane early, and serving in a tank role during the midgame. It's a thing that was popularized recently but I get the impression a lot of these players aren't playing it properly and are thus becoming even more useless than regular Nasus often is.

Exactly right.

DynikusNov 13, 201618 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyQ7SYSLs10 People blindly follow the latest trend regardless of their elo and understanding of it. As a result they do it incredibly poorly. ie: sion or mf support.

Hrd2H1tNov 13, 20161 votes

yesssss finally someone else who knows dong huap

Erractic EickNov 13, 20161 votes

I was Sion support before it was cool. RIP season 5 kickassery.

Darth StepVaderNov 13, 20168 votes

Quas managed to make this ability path work, because of his excellent knowledge of lane/map pressure and of course due to the fact that, the rest of his team doesn't usually troll feed and expect him to carry but, instead they take FULL advantage of him forcing the jungler top all the time, with excellently timed ganks elsewhere on the map.

His ability/build path is quite decent for master/challenger tiers of gameplay, where the match is decided during the first 15-20 mins(during which E max Nasus still has enough power). It is, though, useless for lower elos, where the rest of your team either feeds up to 0/8-in-10-mins levels or has no idea of map pressure(i.e: up to diamond since season 6) and you're expected to not only tank and peel for them but, also deal damage or push towers down fast.

ChargeItDownMidNov 13, 20166 votes

[deleted]

DoktorKaiserNov 13, 20164 votes

Yeah immobile, lets ignore the 99% slow on W that renders 90% of champions to a hardly moving piece of shit and his % hp shredding aoe ulti that gives hp, mr and armor. I have no idea how people find late game Nasus to be bad, he is THE late game monster that is really hard to deal with.

INoble KnightINov 13, 20165 votes

Don't forget wither slows attack speed by half the amount of the slow

SpoofghoulNov 13, 20161 votes

Maybe, but he is so easily kited and even with his 45% attack speed slow adc's still manage to blow him up anyway

Hes utter garbage in lategame like pretty much any tank is since they blow up just as fast as squishies except nasus lacks the hard cc other tanks have

He will not be dealing any sort of damage vs anyone diagnosed brain dead and those ranked above since even brain dead autistic monkeys are capable of kiting an immobile melee champion, especially due to mobility creep in items no nasus damage wotn do much for him lategame neither will his tank stats they become irrelevant lategame

All he has lategame is his E and his slow, which ofc gets cleansed, so pretty much his e is all he will have i lategame

Earlygame he is utterly shite and can't do anything vs most champions unless he maxes E and avoids stacking

Midgame is usually where a stacking nasus can shine but this only works if you don't fall too far behind in lane and if your team doesn't buckle under the pressure from you pretty much being afk for 20 minutes before becoming useful.

And due to last seasons and this seasons changes snowballing goes 15 times faster so you can bet your arse that afk farming for 20 minutes is a guaranteed loss.

So the only option for nasus is to put out a lot of earlygame pressure by maxing E to bully his opponent out of lane and draw attention top

this way you are actually usefull for the first 20ish minutes after which you become a peel bot for the adc

rather then being useless till minute 20 then from 20-25 mins is your moment of power after which ur useless again

RavenMagusNov 13, 20161 votes

The single target slow, which doesn't help him when he too is slowed/cced and can't reach a target.

He is really, really awful in late game teamfights. When the enemy has enough damage (especially via ADC) to kite and kill him quickly, it doesn't even matter how many stacks he has because there's a max limit to how tanky he can be.

Shuyin178Nov 13, 20166 votes

A smart Nasus stacks his Q, but maxes his E 1st. You don't get much more base stats when you level your Q because most of Q's power comes from its stacks, but your E gives initial damage + DOT if they remain in the area as well as receive shred.

TwinkieProNov 13, 20167 votes

The reason Nasus generally maxes Q is cooldown. A second is shaved off for each extra point, down to half of what his starting cooldown is. Your ability to stack faster is very powerful. If your goal is to stack Q, max Q, otherwise you are trading a strong mid game for a strong early game and asking for ganks from pushing power.

ZepperNov 13, 20161 votes

Isn't that why some nasus players get CDR runes?

It Hertz When IPNov 14, 20161 votes

Most I see also rush Gauntlet/Frozen Heart for the CDR too.

TwinkieProNov 14, 20161 votes

Some usually do, around 10% depending on enemy comp, plus most usually grab the 5% bonus as well, combined with iceborn and spirit visage.

However, since the recent ultimate changes, some are opting for triforce in the early game, but that depends on how easily you can CS in general as it is very expensive.

VesemirNov 13, 20161 votes

A smart Nasus maxes Q for cooldown not E. A smart Nasus doesnt push the lane with maxed Spirit Fire.

Shuyin178Nov 13, 20161 votes

Who said anything about pushing with E? You use the E to trade and kick the enemy laner out of the lane. You still try to keep wave control near you tower as usual, but this gives you a better trading tool because if they're building armor to block your Q then your E is going to destroy them, and if they build MR then your Q stacks are going to chuck them. It's very simple logic that a lot of higher tiered Nasus players have been doing to give themselves advantages.

Ha1manNov 13, 20161 votes

This is smart in bronze. Not very smart in Challenger. You will be counterpicked, destroyed in lane, repeatedly ganked, and snowballed.

Which is exactly the problem this thread addresses: whether a build is good or not depends primarily on the environment. What use is lane pressure if your team is staffed by inane tools who can't take advantage of it and lose the map 4 vs 3 while enemy top and jungle are glued to your lane?

FioraWillCarryNov 13, 20165 votes

I maxed E once on Nasus. No thanks. That shit costs 100+ mana at max rank. I'm never playing him like that again.

Photos of GhostsNov 13, 20162 votes

item 3027 item 3151 item 3152 item 3165 problem solved

AeszarckNov 13, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=Photos of Ghosts,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=6U8tTEpe,comment-id=00070000,timestamp=2016-11-13T13:34:19.727+0000)

problem solved

The ARAM Nasus build minus Luden's Echo.

EndlessSorcererNov 13, 20162 votes

When they max E, they generally buy two Doran's Rings for mana sustain.

FioraWillCarryNov 18, 20162 votes

{quoted}

2 dorans rings, meditation mastery, and corrupting potion is required.

Oftentimes you'll kill 6-7 minions, each refunding 8 mana, which significantly reduces its cost.

{quoted}

Yeah I did it with 2 doran's rings and corrupting potion start, had 0 mana problems after my first back. Seemed legit, the main problem is that you push the wave so you can get ganked easier or have it frozen against you. But you can 1 v 2 a lot earlier than Q max nasus.

{quoted}

When they max E, they generally buy two Doran's Rings for mana sustain.

Went up against a Heim who was zoning me hard as you can imagine. Decided to give it a try. Holy shit. Zero mana problems. Not only that, it enabled me to eventually out farm him, which is saying a lot since he had a massive CS lead early on. I was also able to take complete control of the lane in a short space of time. I didn't just beat him. I made him my bitch. He couldn't do shit. It got so bad for him that his turrets became a liability. Instead of providing him with zoning, it provided me with a source of easy stacks. Hell I fuckin tower dived him twice, with his big turret up and with him having Zhonya's. I was able to kill him and walk out with quarter health.

I've faced Heimer before as Nasus and always had to give up my tower. I never ever thought it would have been possible to win that lane so fuckin hard. E max really is powerful. I would have never thought to buy two Doran's to make it work. Thx guys.

RisenDarkKnightNov 13, 20161 votes

Yeah I did it with 2 doran's rings and corrupting potion start, had 0 mana problems after my first back. Seemed legit, the main problem is that you push the wave so you can get ganked easier or have it frozen against you. But you can 1 v 2 a lot earlier than Q max nasus.

FioraWillCarryNov 13, 20161 votes

{quoted}

When they max E, they generally buy two Doran's Rings for mana sustain.

{quoted}

Yeah I did it with 2 doran's and corrupting potion start, had 0 mana problems after my first back. Seemed legit, the main problem is that you push the wave so you can get ganked easier or have it frozen against you. But you can 1 v 2 a lot earlier than Q max nasus.

Hmmm. Ok, I'll give that a try.

Shuriman CuratorNov 14, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Hmmm. Ok, I'll give that a try.

I recently found the quas build on the nasus mains subredit and I really like it, makes trading easier and tbh its a lot more fun. Go to the second thread from the top I think it's called "guess helpthread" and gives you runes and masteries. You will have 0 mana problems by going double dorans rings and corruption potion.

Pierce The VealNov 13, 20162 votes

{quoted}

I maxed E once on Nasus. No thanks. That shit costs 100+ mana at max rank. I'm never playing him like that again.

2 dorans rings, meditation mastery, and corrupting potion is required.

Oftentimes you'll kill 6-7 minions, each refunding 8 mana, which significantly reduces its cost.

The DeckownerNov 13, 20165 votes

just stupid sheeps blindly following Quas.

VesemirNov 13, 20163 votes

Its so stupid. I play Nasus a lot. He is my main since late s1. You are talking about Quasus. Maxing E power pushes the lane making stacking impossible and making Nasus open for ganks. Nasus cant tank without sustain thats why stacking is crucial. He is a sustaining juggernaut and the only reason you pick Nasus is to split push and reach to a point where you become a raid boss. 1 point on Spirit Fire already pushes the lane maxing it is a terrible idea. If you don't have the stacks you wont heal much or do any damage. This is why i dont like when a youtuber says its better like he actually knows Nasus. And everyone will support his idea and not listen to people who actually plays Nasus. If you push and then get ganked give the enemy top laner a pre9 kill you WONT comeback easily.

Sir FuzziNov 13, 20162 votes

AP Nasus? That's all I can think of, and they think they don't need to.

FragglerocNov 13, 20162 votes

Dong Huap youtube video.. also it's logical

DoktorKaiserNov 13, 20162 votes

I know! I heard of that new playstyle and decided to try it. Needless to say that I got buttfucked by enemy Poppy, the E damage is pathetic unless you take full AP runes and start dorans ring and I didnt know about the runes so I got utterly destroyed, by the time I maxed Q for damage or W to actually have a chance to not get kited, it was too late and my team didnt do any better so we got rekt. My playstyle with Nasus has always been to either max Q and W together or max W first so that I literally cant lose lane and make ganks in my lane extremely easy and I will never abandon my playstyle for some meta shit ever again!!!

101100111000Nov 13, 20162 votes

As a budding Nasus player, I've been building item 3056 on him.

item 3056 is love.

item 3056 is life.

Take your trusty item 3056 and shove it up a turret's blowhole,

So it can't tickle you while you slaughter your foes.

Sire HippingtonNov 13, 20162 votes

If nasus goes for an ap-ish built, he can be really strong without max stacks, and maxing E gives strong poke+trades+easy waveclear. thouhg usually you still try to get some stacks, and 50 stacks at 40 min are rather low even for ap-nasus(unless you really needed waveclear from his E that game.

Anyway, ever since his ult buff, ap-bruiser nasus is quite strong, with just rylais and maybe voidstaff, you reach~ 10% maxhealth/sec on your ult, and since the changes you get tanky enough to stay in the fight with that ult even if building somewhat agressive. And that E really hurts. It grants alot early lane preassure and strong midgame teamfights, but falls of a bit later.

CabruhNov 13, 20161 votes

I play a lot of nasus, i still hardcore farm with q my friend. 500 stacks at 25 minutes is a real monster, split pushing or in teamfights.

VesemirNov 13, 20161 votes

Its funny when they pick Illaoi or Yorick then wonder why you have 600 stacks at 20 min.

RottedApplesNov 13, 20161 votes

i've heard rumors of a new nasus build about pressuring lanes really hard but come on, even when i do full ap nasus and kill all the minions in 1 tick from e i have more than 50 q stacks at the end of a game.

Need Gold 4 TentNov 13, 20161 votes

I'm a Nasus main, and I can see where this is going. Depending on the early setup (25% level 1 CDR is a different story), Nasus doesn't have much CDR early in the game. In fact, he gets it very gradually because sometime he needs to counterbuild.

Ideally, rushed IBG components is an instant cheap 20% but sometimes visage needs to come first, and starting with the shroud, not the kindle gem. Combine that with his high Q cooldown at early levels... he doesn't actually get to stack much early on in the game. The bulk of the stacks actually come from midgame farming when one of the top turrets is down (the typical no interaction Nasus phase) because this is about time when his Q is level 5 and he has about 30% CDR - allowing him to Q every single minion in each wave.

So, what does this mean? It means... maxing Q doesn't really matter if you are efficient with your stacking. Use the E to farm gold for CDR, get Q stacks whenever possible with that level 1 Q, You lose a bit of stacking, which can be easily gained back from the easily farmed gold in the form of CDR. Better than being zoned and have no stacks AND no CDR either.

The bad part about this is, it means you will be maxing W last which I find not great, since that is your only source of utility to the team. Overall, it can be considered for lanes you are expecting to lose, but if possible, always go R>Q>W>E.

p.s. 40 minutes is a long time, even an E maxing Nasus should've had max Q and some CDR for about 20 minutes now. 50 stacks??

VesemirNov 13, 20162 votes

i have special rune page for Nasus which gives me 11% CDR and 4,5% Mov Speed combined with ArmorPen and defensive runes. This Quasus fad is just a torture for Nasus mains

RisenDarkKnightNov 13, 20161 votes

E max Nasus is a thing now, since he does very well in lanes that standard Q max Nasus struggles in (for instance, against ranged champs). However, he should still start stacking heavily after the first 10 mins of the game or so, so 50 stacks at 40 mins is trolling.

But yeah E max Nasus gives up around 100 stacks in the early game in exchange for lane pressure, and often extra CS and potentially kills in the top lane. You're supposed to max Q second and get early CDR items and stack up for the mid game though.

RisenDarkKnightNov 13, 20161 votes

Also he really does have a lot of lane power with the right setup. Take thunderlord's decree for your keystone, hybrid pen marks, and start doran's ring. Back for a second doran's and a corrupting pot and you have lane dominance in most matchups.

The downside is you delay you stacks and core items, but you generally just get way more CS with this setup than the standard Q max.

Imperial JapanNov 13, 20161 votes

{quoted}

I dunno what the heck is going on but 4 times in a row I have run into Nasus players who refuse to stack Q and instead Max E.

My last game was 40 mins long and by the end of it our Nasus had a grand total of 50 stacks farmed on his Q. Needless to say he was utterly useless in team fights and we lost because of it. But I have noticed its a running trend now, almost all Nasus players are refusing to stack it and every time I see it happen those very same Nasus players lose, like hard.

Is this an LCS thing or something?

Seriously someone help me understand wtf is going on.

Quas abused it to chellenger twice

MunchCrunchLunchNov 13, 20161 votes

max E nasus isn't bad. am guessing your jungler had no pressure on lanes. max E nasus forces enemy jungler to come top over and over as i dont think any top laner can outpush. but in low elo people don't understand how to punish lane pressure

Ha1manNov 13, 20161 votes

50 stacks at 40 min is exceptionally low. I tried this build and averaged like 200 stacks at 28-30, 350-450 at 40.

However, the amount of stacks is behind the point, which is, did he do his primary job with this build, aka did he push successfully and provide his team with openings elsewhere on the map?

If he didn't then he just failed to play this build properly. If he did but the team failed to take advantage of it, then it's the team's fault. But if you are in bronze 5 and can realistically expect your team to be bad, then it's your fault for playing the build that is clearly beyond their ability and that doesn't fit the team comp.

MorgManBasherNov 14, 20161 votes

It actually works really well if you play it right. You still want to stack when you can, but I agree e max is the way to go unless you know you can survive the lane and stack without any trouble.

If you e max with double doran ring and rush zzrot you are going to put so much lane pressure it's retarded because e max Nasus instantly clears waves.

AdamFrostyBeastNov 14, 20161 votes

ap nasus... it's actually quite strong now with the latest changes to his ultimate... you can build full ap prioritizing items like roa/rylai's even liandri's among with abyssal/zhonyas and when you turn on that ultimate you become quite tanky especially at level 16 while dealing lots of damage with E + the ultimate's aura... also since you are maxing E instead of Q your laning phase becomes much safer and from bullied you become the bully + even tho the number of stacks you get through-out the game won't match that of a traditional nasus you can still do some considerable damage if they don't focus you down and it only gets better if you have the gold to get a lich bane

Stupid GuyNov 18, 20161 votes

Everyone should just link a video of Dong HuaP's video on Quas Nasus, everything would then make sence

Swiftstrike4Nov 18, 20161 votes

The thing is Nasus' win rate went up after the ultimate changes, before the E max strategy started. Q maxers and E maxers are winning at the same rate. I actually still think Q max is a lot better in lower Elo because the E Max requires the team to not feed and that the laner knows what he is doing. The early pressure is useless if your team can't capitalized on it and then you become useless at about 20-25 minutes.

Because you invested in your gold in this item 1056 item 2033 and not items that build anything.