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Why you shoudlnt take Nasus in Lower Elo and what to do if you DO take him

Jetjoe··3 votes·2,602 views

  1. My problem with Nasus in lower elo is you dont get to farm as much. Firstly because they think they need to waste every drop of mana on Nasus by poking him. Second your team may just end up being total trash and needs your help to hold the turrets.

  2. Top lane as a tank is very effective in just being a rock under your own turrets when they push, Its also a good engage. If your lanes are all falling apart its a problem since you need to leave lane prior to 20 min when you shouldnt have to, and go save their butts.

  3. In lower elo when you start getting better you should be focusing on ending the game ASAP. Now nasus is a late game champion.

If you do take Nasus

Dont let them kite you, kiting you is the only way to killing you. Youre building Nasus into a rock remember, an offensive rock. If they come close to you, they die, if you chase them, you could die. You want them to come to you for fights. It is very viable at lower elo, depending on their build, you could kill 3-4 of them at once. The more armor they stack though, the more difficult it becomes, HOWEVER, stacks can overcome armor for the most part.

Here is how I would build Nasus item 1027 or item 1029 or item 1028 with health pots depending on who your enemy is as your starting item. Runes you could have 10% cool down which will help but becomes useless later on. That 1 second Isn as important early game. I prefer to get lots of health armor and magic resist runes.

If you can, get item 3057 OR item 3067 first. The cool down plus mana (or health) will be a nice bonus to have at around 4-5 minutes into game, and help you farm.

The build should go along these lines item 3025 item 3065 item 3075 item 3111 item 3083 , If I can I would get item 3068 but if they have alot of Magic damage on their team you may chose item 3102 or maybe even a item 3512 or if they build armor penetration adcs, item 3143 .

The order isn't necessary and you need to adjust it based on which enemy is the strongest. If their AD champs all suck donkey dick youre probably better off getting the magic resist.

The thornmail is really important not just because of the bonus armor amount, the price, but you want to be offensive as much as you can.

If you notice all the defensive items in the build list, are offensive. Spirit isnt "technically " offensive but it does proc the life steal you have as a passive. The iceborn gauntlet is straightforward. Sunfire cape, straightforward, randuins omen reduces speed and damage, sort of offensive, thornmail reflects damage back.

15 Comments

PhantomGG1 votes

nice little guide : P curious what do nasus mains like more now? flash Or ghost

Flash gives you the surprise "lol insta q deletion" ability, but ghost gives you more chasing factor, your thoughts?

Jetjoe2 votes

Ive played a few nasus games in my promos. I personally think flash is better than ghost, although I would prefer to have both since they are still both useful. My deaths in Nasus games have been because my team doesnt even fucking respond, or because I got kited( and by vayne and cait only), never died to anyone else, at least not by kiting.

I particularly enjoy flash because I can do what you said, flash and Q, I can use it if I am getting kited for that final Q, I can use it to get over walls since so many people end up using walls to get away from nasus after he destroys them.

PhantomGG1 votes

{quoted}

Ive played a few nasus games in my promos. I personally think flash is better than ghost, although I would prefer to have both since they are still both useful. My deaths in Nasus games have been because my team doesnt even fucking respond, or because I got kited( and by vayne and cait only), never died to anyone else, at least not by kiting.

I particularly enjoy flash because I can do what you said, flash and Q, I can use it if I am getting kited for that final Q, I can use it to get over walls since so many people end up using walls to get away from nasus after he destroys them.

thanky ^_^

EndlessSorcerer1 votes

I'd say Flash is probably still better. Generally, Wither with 45% CDR and Iceborn Gauntlet/Trinity Force is enough to chase anyone down unless their team is helping them kite you (in which case Ghost won't help much anyways).

Ravenous Howls1 votes

Nasus will probably see his greatest success in low elo due mostly to atrocious coordination of teams at that level of play. That and most enemy laners do not know how to properly harass or zone Nasus.

Also Nasus is more of a Mid Game champion and less so late game due mostly to % max health and true damage overload everywhere now a days.

10% CDR is the only viable start for IBG path if you are going trinity you can get away with more armor or MR. Rush FH, Sheen then SV. Finish TF after you have boots. This will give you the safety of your 40% CDR to constantly Life Steal while you build to TF. The nerf to the sheen proc on IBG really hurt the item as a must buy.

45% CDR Nasus is really not that good. Cunning offers nothing to survive early. Grasp is an ok keystone but encourages trading to regain health which nets minion agro and can ruin your lane freeze. Warlords Blood Lust is better as you can use the heal on minions and monsters and still grab crucial parts out of the resolve tree. The only thing I hate losing out of resolve is the tenacity.

Starting items should always be Cloth +4 against AD or Dorans Shield +1 against AP or Poke heavy champs with an early recall for a cloth or mantle. The Crystals early offer far too little on their own and your are asking for a bad lane with them as a first pick.

In terms of kiting Ghost is far better at alleviating this than Flash. Ghost ramps up over levels now giving you much faster chase or disengage. Flash is still a ludicrously long cool down for an instant blink. True it can get you to safety occasionally or get you a flash kill but ultimately Nasus thrives in the middle of battle and being wise in position and engage. Ghost gives you pressure than flash does not.

Jetjoe1 votes

I am a nasus main/ was a nasus main until May. Ive played him in all elos from bronze to diamond. (Im not actually diamond but Ive queued with 4 diamonds ).

Nasus is very bad in low elo, because of how you mention, how atrocious coordination SOMETIMES is. Low elo isnt as bad as you estimate it to be either though, people do main certain champions and are really good at what they do. For example a thresh and ADC combo can be a nightmare for Nasus. Thresh has the sustainability and intense cc to make sure he cant get to the adc.

Also not sure what ELO you are but low elo is one of the BIGGEST poke elos where they harass and zone Nasus all game. They strongly believe in counters and will take someone like Darius to wreck nasus under his own turret. Low elo doesnt believe in farm.They only believe in kills.

Nasus is a nice tank who can coordinate alot of damage on the enemy team and engage, while the adc and the mage just needs to do the finishing touches.

Ghost is not as efficient because ghost is not like Yi's highlander, slows and cool downs are very effective against ghost.

Sorry but this entire set of information besides the cloth or dorans shield is a bogus post.

Ravenous Howls1 votes

Not even close to "Bogus" but you are entitled to your oppinion. I am a Nasus main I have over 400K mastery points with the champion. I made it to Gold playing almost exclusively Nasus. I've succeeded in any match up you can think of and very rarely lose my lane. These poke champions and zone champion are also very poor at warding and typically and early gank from my jungler will get me or them the kill on them. That's not a strength of low elo it's a weakness.

Everything I wrote in my post is an accumulation of my experience in game and theory crafting with some of the best Nasus players in the world. We disagree on some things and agree on others. But everything I said has relevance and it has worked for me. The only thing you could really argue on is the summoner spells and Keyestons but again to each their own in preference but in my games Ghost has always served me better than Flash on Nasus and Warlords has done wonders against poke champs over Grasp.

http://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=Lazarus+Blade

I have not been playing ranked much lately mostly to time restraints but you can look at my games and clearly see I do know what I am talking about. I have 56% win rate and a (nearly) 4:1 KDA overall. with this champion.

Jetjoe1 votes

56% win rate is not a high winrate with this champion in low elo. When youre in low elo and you want to climb out you need to be able to win 80% of your games. It depends on your luck too. Nasus is not an early game champ so his chances of getting fed early are slim, it takes him about 100 stacks to be able to duel his laner.

Winning lane doesnt mean much, I always win lane, but its not always possible to win the game, and highly depends on your teams ability to at least hold a tower while you split push, if they suck. Nasus does not have an efficient gap closer, so in the climb out of silver either your opponents were entirely bogus, which does happen, or they were not.

The best way to climb low elo is not to focus on late or mid game but to focus early game.

I have had great success with Volibear , who I personally think is a HORRIBLE carry late game, hes a great asset to the team, but his damage ratio to the enemy starts to fall off. I typically ban Trundle and then rickroll the enemy team with ganks dives pushing turrets. Lately as my other account climbs out of silver to gold it is slightly tougher to end games at 20 but typically my voli games are over in 18-30 minutes tops. 24 being the average.

Ravenous Howls1 votes

Unfortunately Nasus is not a great solo carry, so yes some of it is luck in regards to the team you get. Winning lane is actually huge in regards to your competency with a champion. It's how you know if you are doing well or poorly with a champ. Also if you play a champion almost exclusively you tend to have a pretty middle of the road win percent.

Also 56% is not bad considering Carnarius, the best Nasus player in the world has a 59% win rate with Nasus and got to challenger almost exclusively playing Nasus.

I played against some bad teams, and great teams my ability to climb was not based solely on luck as you are trying to say. I know how to play Nasus very well and I don't split push all game like so many might. I group, take objectives and win the game with my team. I itemize properly and look for opportunities to get my team an advantage.

None of your points are indicative of facts to prove anything I said as bogus or that I didn't legitimately climb based on my own skill. It is merely the pandering of a rather arrogant opinion.

Jetjoe1 votes

Pretty much your first sentence is what I am trying to get at, he Isnt a solo carry. I used to like him because of the insane damage he does but the way low elo games go , your team mates have a very high chance of being bad. this is due largely to the matchup of loss ratio MMR and not the actual skill of an individual player. I have met several low bronze players who are quite decent in their mechanics and game knowledge and honestly just need one queue partner to climb with.

Back to why I dont like Nasus anymore, his Q is a specific amount of damage over 3 seconds. Thats really all he has. A late game xin zhao or Jax can easily crush a Nasus with slight amounts of tankyness. All they need to do is build armor and some health and nasus becomes slightly useless since his armor penetration is simply not that high .

Further, back to point 1, since your team sucks so much dick, chances are they are going to be losing lanes and feeding left and right and need that help from a tank to get past certain pile-ons. Nasus doesnt have that much free time to waste helping his team in team fights until after 20 min. Or he easily gets out damaged since Nasus is based on farm and not gold.

Nasus typically gets around 250-300 armor and 3000-4000 health late game. Which also becomes bogus.

Quepha1 votes

Points 1 and 3 are completely backwards. The best way to start climbing out of lower elos is to get better at farming and wave control so you can accumulate a gold lead over players who misplay while trying to be aggressive in the early game. Players in low elos are also AWFUL at closing out games cleanly and you can very easily farm your way back into a game while they fail to properly apply early pressure.

Point 2 is debatable, but every single lane shouldn't lose every single game, or even half of your games on average, you just have to accept that no one wins every single game.

I don't know if Nasus is good or not right now, but your points have nothing to do with that.

Jetjoe1 votes

No they are correct as they are, and your current rank at silver 2 is probably why you dont understand.

You can farm all you want, you need to be ahead in gold as you remark, that is correct. But you also need to keep focusing on objectives as you play.

I have found it very effective to keep reminding in chat we need to end, and unless the player is a total dickhead, I can carry the shittiest of players by closing out games early, all they have to do is follow my lead. Quick examples are, I gank bot lane we kill both laners . The enemy mid and top are too preoccupied to come down, but my team is low. I tell them to push, not recall. Most low elo people would recall and waste that advantage.

Teaching low elo players willing to listen makes it 10X easier to close the game out early.

In either scenario Nasus is still useless because you cant apply pressure during early and mid game unless your enemy laner is stupid and dies to you. Hes got a decent mid game which doesnt last very long depending on how bad your team is.

Point being that you CAN end games very early. I find it super effective to take someone like Volibear , ban trundle. And just gank the lanes quickly. I usually gank top since its easy to kill the top laner as theres so much distance for them to cover. After I gank the enemy top laner twice and make him irrelevant to the game (I also pink and ward the shit out of the enemy jungle during this time), I proceed to bot lane to finish their lane off and get them ahead. Once we dive and kill both laners we push bot atleast one turret out.

My focus as volibear early game is to end early. The longer you drag out a low elo game, the higher chance you have of throwing. Which is not a good idea. The best way is to close out games early.

when you wait for late game youre usually at a stalemate of an equal number of towers taken down and youre counting on a successful team fight to close out that game, which may or may not happen. When youre focusing early game on objectives taking out towers, getting gold (taking towers generates alot of globalgold), you are creating too much pressure for the enemy to recover from. youre denying them farm, youre opening up windows for other weaker lanes of your team to push. You destroy them

the only time I lose as volibear jg in low elo, is if they have trundle or if I make a mistake.

karruck1 votes

{quoted}

  1. My problem with Nasus in lower elo is you dont get to farm as much. Firstly because they think they need to waste every drop of mana on Nasus by poking him. Second your team may just end up being total trash and needs your help to hold the turrets.

  2. Top lane as a tank is very effective in just being a rock under your own turrets when they push, Its also a good engage. If your lanes are all falling apart its a problem since you need to leave lane prior to 20 min when you shouldnt have to, and go save their butts.

  3. In lower elo when you start getting better you should be focusing on ending the game ASAP. Now nasus is a late game champion.

If you do take Nasus

Dont let them kite you, kiting you is the only way to killing you. Youre building Nasus into a rock remember, an offensive rock. If they come close to you, they die, if you chase them, you could die. You want them to come to you for fights. It is very viable at lower elo, depending on their build, you could kill 3-4 of them at once. The more armor they stack though, the more difficult it becomes, HOWEVER, stacks can overcome armor for the most part.

Here is how I would build Nasus item 1027 or item 1029 or item 1028 with health pots depending on who your enemy is as your starting item. Runes you could have 10% cool down which will help but becomes useless later on. That 1 second Isn as important early game. I prefer to get lots of health armor and magic resist runes.

If you can, get item 3057 OR item 3067 first. The cool down plus mana (or health) will be a nice bonus to have at around 4-5 minutes into game, and help you farm.

The build should go along these lines item 3025 item 3065 item 3075 item 3111 item 3083 , If I can I would get item 3068 but if they have alot of Magic damage on their team you may chose item 3102 or maybe even a item 3512 or if they build armor penetration adcs, item 3143 .

The order isn't necessary and you need to adjust it based on which enemy is the strongest. If their AD champs all suck donkey dick youre probably better off getting the magic resist.

The thornmail is really important not just because of the bonus armor amount, the price, but you want to be offensive as much as you can.

If you notice all the defensive items in the build list, are offensive. Spirit isnt "technically " offensive but it does proc the life steal you have as a passive. The iceborn gauntlet is straightforward. Sunfire cape, straightforward, randuins omen reduces speed and damage, sort of offensive, thornmail reflects damage back.

I like all of this...however I do like him jungle if i want a tanky hitter item 1401 +item 3748 +item 3078 is a very nice combo with the addition of easy Q farm.....your thoughts on this.

Jetjoe1 votes

I liked nasus jungle as well, his gank pressure is al ot lower, but at 7 minutes I can manage 100 stacks.

I would probably go item 3706 , item 3067 or item 3057 then finish item 1401 , grab item 1001 , finish item 3065 , burst into item 3075 , then get item 3748 . Nasus stacks are extremely important.

karruck1 votes

IKR...up to 200 stacks by the 20min mark and tons of health good survivability and a good front with his ult to help turn back a hard engage...truthfully one of my favorite champs....was one of my first as well.

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