Nasus' Q needs a nerf.

CptRageBeard·2/8/2015, 9:52:32 AM·9 votes·7,768 views

I literally cannot stand playing against Nasus because no matter how much I try to harass him in lane, he still always manages to get his Q stack beyond stupidly high. When you, as a champion, are able to 1-shot other champions with a single ability and you've only built one damage item, then it's really time to nerf the scaling on that ability's damage meter. I'm getting sick of losing games simply because there's a Nasus on the enemy team.

A few ideas I have on nerfing his OP-ness:

  1. Scale the damage down - I've literally been hit for 2k by a Nasus that I kept harassing in top, and yet his Q still got a ton of stacks.
  2. Make it so his stack ratio is 1:1 for each minion kill and 2:1 on large minion kills - Nasus is a TANK. He shouldn't be doing SO MUCH DAMAGE IN ONE HIT.
  3. Take his ability to use his Q on structures away - Literally 2-3 hits structures. There is no other champion in the game with that capability. It's so broken. All he has to do is kill me once, and BAM turret's gone.
  4. FOR GODS' SAKES, STOP LETTING IT HEAL HIM!

Any combination of these nerfs would work, but his Q needs to be rolled back. It's way too powerful and easily exploited in low-skill level games.

30 Comments

Kivolan2/8/2015, 10:01:52 AM5 votes

It really is true, no matter how much you try to harass him he'll still get his stacks up to an ungodly level by the 30 minute mark or so.

Removing the heal from it probably would be the best bet, as it makes people think quite a bit more about going in for a q / getting harassed rather than "meh, I'm just gonna heal for whatever they poke me with anyway".

BeatzBoyFTW2/8/2015, 9:59:57 AM2 votes

Scale the damage down - I've literally been hit for 2k by a Nasus that I kept harassing in top, and yet his Q still got a ton of stacks.

This could be ideal for those Nasus mains who are expert in cs-ing their Q stacks, but not too much, as excessive power reduction will only improve afk-farm.

Make it so his stack ratio is 1:1 for each minion kill and 2:1 on large minion kills - Nasus is a TANK. He shouldn't be doing SO MUCH DAMAGE IN ONE HIT.

His stack collecting is fine where it is, and Nasus is a bruiser tank, not pure tank, similar to Darius Garen DrMundo . They are mostly meant to build tanky to defend for themselves, not for their teammates.

Take his ability to use his Q on structures away - Literally 2-3 hits structures. There is no other champion in the game with that capability. It's so broken. All he has to do is kill me once, and BAM turret's gone.

Either take its ability away to proc on turrets, or make it deal 50% damage to structures. I agree having a highly stacked Nasus to deal that much damage to turrets is simply detrimental. Would be worse when he builds item 3512

FOR GODS' SAKES, STOP LETTING IT HEAL HIM!

He is pretty open to multiple pokes, as his E doesn't do too much damage and cost a shit load of mana including his W, and this could hinder his process in Q-stacking. His passive lifesteal is the one thing that keeps Nasus frrom sustain well in lane & stacks efficiently.

CptRageBeard2/8/2015, 9:59:20 AM2 votes

If nothing else, could someone PLEASE teach me how to counter him in lane? I'm really getting tired of losing to Nasus players because it feels like I can't do anything against them.

Spartan Sol3/9/2017, 6:02:37 AM2 votes

nasus isnt that bad. you can harass him and remove all elements of his farm but you can't really leave your lane to assist the rest of the team in ganks/obj unless nasus does also. my go to counter vs him is darius. just hit lvl 3 and walk into him and AA once he withers you use W then E. by the time the animations are finished wither is almost over with. At lvl 6 it becomes brain dead easy to just kill nasus because he cant run from you when using your combo's correctly. if he fights he dies to an instant 5 stack and ult. you also out heal him and W + E keep him from disengaging you. the last nasus i played against with darius went 2-7 in lane and had 190ish stacks at 27 mins. i was 9-4 and took both his towers by 15 mins. if the jungler ever ganked after lvl 6 id always kill one of them if not both jungler was hecarim

Astral Zephyroro2/8/2015, 12:47:03 PM1 votes

If you play draft I am a fan of taking Xin Zhao against him. Force the level 2 advantage and immediately force the engage. Keep him low and when possible keep lane froze at creek. everytime he comes up to get a stack pop the Q and make sure he hurts when he tries to get that Q farm going. Ive had a lot lot of luck with Pantheon also. Keep chucking spears and keep him at around half health. Once you have all your abilities up just walk into him and make the fight happen. Save the w for after he pops your passive so that you can block his Q.

Bears Dont Care2/8/2015, 5:06:06 PM1 votes

You need to freeze the lane near your tower or middle of the lane. If you freeze it by his tower, he'll just farm the minions with Q easily. Freezing it by your tower means you can poke at him while farming, and the jungler can easily gank him.

SleepyLionCub2/8/2015, 5:10:30 PM1 votes

Stop pushing ur lane like the bronze player you are.

Sirin Gioro2/8/2015, 5:13:56 PM1 votes

Do you know that you can actually counter Nasus in banning phase assuming that you're playing draft?

EndlessSorcerer2/8/2015, 5:23:01 PM1 votes

It really depends on what champion you take against him and how you play the lane.

  • When you play against Nasus, I would highly recommend getting several health potions on your initial buy (Cloth5, LongSword3, Flask3, Doran's Ring, Doran's Shield) since you need to be able to heal off the damage dealt by Nasus's minions when you try to trade with him.

  • In addition, one common mistake I saw my opponents make was that they would push the wave unnecessarily trying to harass the Nasus (Darius would Q me and the wave, Riven would use Q to try and trade, etc). This allows Nasus to wait under tower for the CS to come to him without exposing himself to much danger. You have to get a bit of a lead, manipulate the minion wave to begin pushing to your tower, and then freeze it and zone Nasus from gold and experience. Just make sure you ward when you do this, since Nasus is likely to call for a gank.

  • A lot of people try taking a champion commonly known to counter Nasus (such as Teemo or Darius) without knowing how to play the champion or the matchup. If they don't know how to play the lane or know their champion's strengths and weaknesses, they make mistakes and Nasus can win.

  • Be very careful about picking a squishy champion or one who depends on autoattacks against Nasus. If you are too squishy or lack a good escape, after a certain point Nasus will just wither you and kill you. Alternatively, he may just wither you for a gank.

  • WhileNasus has pretty good base damage, he can't really buy armor penetration without leaving himself extremely squishy. I'd recommend getting Ninja Tabi, a Chain Vest, or Warden's Mail at some point after your first damage item to severely reduce his damage to you.

I would recommend trying some of the following champions: Trundle Swain Akali Darius Gnar DrMundo JarvanIV Heimerdinger Olaf Azir

They can severely hurt him early game, they can bully him off of farm, and they can fight him reasonably well at most stages of the game.

Meiden9/10/2015, 6:57:13 PM1 votes

In my opinion nasus is too strong. His q do tons of dmgs in late game. But don't forget his slow... At rank 5 the slow has a very low cd and no one can escape from him.... REWORK!

ErebusRecarnated3/9/2017, 4:41:56 AM1 votes

Nah screw the early laning phase, you can choose Vayne and kill him early on and get fed but even then, by thirty minutes in you have a Nasus that's one shooting you with 300+ stacks. I think that his q should as said earlier either nerf his ratio or max the amount of stacks at 150 or 200 other wise they can just get Armor penetration and still one shot a support. And if anyone says otherwise then play a adc and have a nasus flash e you, there's no choice of you dying then. And also anyone who likes nasus or mains him has no say in this because your just gonna want him to stay the same.

Cantea3/9/2017, 5:23:40 AM1 votes

Olaf is his hardest counter. The key to beating Nasus is letting him push the lane early. I don't even minion farm until hes pushed. He's really weak early game and a smart nasus will build tank Items. Olaf beats him on every front. The true damage poke isn't defendable and you will literally push him out of lane. Try to hold the lane right at your tower. Like I said, hes super weak early.

TrentBatNA2/8/2015, 10:24:40 AM1 votes

Play a lane bully, and try to kill him early, and snowball off the lead. :) Simple advice, but I hope it helps!