The idea behind Nasus

WhamBamBoozler·6/22/2015, 10:26:49 AM·7 votes·1,742 views

So here's a question. Is the idea behind Nasus anti-fun?

Now we all know the idea behind Nasus is to farm up your Q as much as you can and then build tanky. So you pretty much last hit with Q and more often then not lose your lane. However you become such a monster in the late game that you one hit almost anyone that isn't a brick wall with legs. SO you pretty much just negate any advantage that your lane opponent had by beating you in the early game. I know there are a fair number of champs that can punish Nasus for farming early game but what happens if you don't get a chance to counter pick him? Are you just supposed to hope to hell that your other team mates can help you win the game before he has the chance to farm up?

In all honesty if anyone has any ideas on how to fight a Nasus please let me know. Or if you happen to agree/disagree with me let me know why

36 Comments

Only Play Darius6/22/2015, 12:35:38 PM7 votes

But you forgot to mention his hidden passive!

"Passive: you are 50% more likely to have a team that feeds extremely hard during early game, and have the fed enemy camp you the rest of the game as a result"

It's not a joke it's true, go play him.

Hard4Hamsters6/22/2015, 12:01:45 PM2 votes

Nasus's Q is the only real problem with its infinite stacking component. The problem is that if there was a cap put on the Q to where you no longer could stack it after it reached a certain level or if it had diminishing returns after a certain number of stacks, people would rage. People like to play Nasus believe it or not, and I think one part of that is the fantasy of his Q damage; they want to get dem stacks on that Q.

If the Q was capped though, Nasus could get meaningful buffs in other areas of his kit to make him a stronger champion throughout the game rather than a lategame massive tank carry that only exists in the early game to farm.

Pikmints6/22/2015, 4:59:26 PM2 votes

Stonewall talked about Nasus in one of his more recent videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK4ay0sYS8Q

He was made in a time where top laners were not very dynamic and were mostly slugfests. He was designed to focus on farming and directly get more powerful as a result, having non-immediate power in his kit. Ultimately if Riot changed the way his Q worked, they'd be changing his identity at this point and he would need a little compensation, one that I've seen nobody suggest an alternative for.

ZileanUltJesusOP6/22/2015, 3:30:18 PM2 votes

coming from a nasus main, i will give you a couple of tips.

you cannot stop nasus from csing. Ive played every matchup and you just can't. I got lifesteal quints and support and defense masteries so i walk into lane with 17.5% lifesteal cloth armor and 5 biscuits. You will not push me out of lane. It just won't happen. You need to accept this.
you don't need to stop his csing to stop him. Group much earlier than normal with your team and take objectives. Take tp and go to fights that nasus will not be at. Get other lanes ahead. and force nasus to help his team when he isnt ready.
Counter picking him is worthless, he will outscale all of his counters., AP or AD. Oh picking renekton or darius? congrats i rush ninja tabi and frozen heart and have 250 armor. Oh picking teemo or ryze? congrats i rush spirit visage merc treads and laugh at you attempting to damage me. He will find a way to cs it doesn't matter what you do, so fuck it harrass him as much as you can then go destroy other lanes with your team.
If you really want a good pick against nasus, there is one dude that i always have issues with. Olaf, he is the only character in the game i cannot free farm and build for and ignore. Every single time he walks up for cs you E him then w then auto him all the way back to his tower and keep Eing him. It is extremely annoying plus you basically have a free cleanse for his wither so when you are ready to kill him E him and wait for him to wither, ult and slam his face into the dirt. I would even consider taking ignite in this matchup and making it your sole purpose to anally penetrate nasus is hard as you can all game.

FHMarshy6/22/2015, 1:58:14 PM1 votes

See, I think you are confused about one thing. Nasus really isn't about winning lane, it's all about his Q stacks. Chances are, if you can zone him enough, he can't farm Q at all. And if you manage to take all the towers with a kill advantage, go snowball other lanes. With Nasus not farming Q early game, he would basically need to farm every single second to get back into the game, making team fights 4v5 in your favor. if he abandons farm and joins the team fight, then he is an easy target. Without any Q stacks, he is just useless.

All you need to do if you beat a nasus in lane, is to pressure map 5v4 and win that hard. Trust me, even the tankiest Nasus can't take on a fed APC and ADC when they have peels.

Enosetc6/22/2015, 3:58:17 PM1 votes

honestly, the only thing stopping me from pulling the "power without gameplay anti-pattern" card on nasus is the fact that every role aside from support needs farm to be effective

Confron7a7ion76/22/2015, 4:44:08 PM1 votes

There are several ways to beat a Nasus. He has NO mobility and is easy to kite, if you can kill him a few times in lane that will slow his progress significantly, he cant carry 4 other players that all got shut down even if he was fed in lane, The Q damage is mitigated by armor, You can always counter his spit push because he cant be all places at once.

Yes. He turns into a monster. No, You cant really stop that, you can only slow him down. However there are a lot of ways to play around that.

Nanuk Pihoqahiak6/22/2015, 10:55:50 AM1 votes

It's only anti-fun because it requires a minimum of one person babysitting him. This in conjunction with a team that might not do so well early game quickly leads to frustration or flaming if Nasus somehow comes out ahead.

WhamBamBoozler6/22/2015, 7:34:58 PM1 votes

Would having his passive level up with him maybe help some of his early game ability to just shake off whatever damage you can put on him?

Suffocation6/22/2015, 12:26:06 PM1 votes

His passive is the problem IMO, because everyone says you must deny him and wreck him during lane phase but, he'll will build tanky, and he has a natural sustain with his passive so your harass won't hurt him that much. You can't move at mid because he'll afk farm at top and will roll on your team during late game but he benefits more if he stays on lane than you so yeah, I don't really see what you can do against him.

Daxterr6/22/2015, 1:16:28 PM1 votes

I agree, nasus is very far from a fun champ. From the very first stack you get a creeping feeling of inevitable doom. His passive is over tuned at low levels resulting in many factors working against you when you try to stop him from farming. Whither is an absolute joke too, considering the cooldown.

WillHealForHonor6/22/2015, 1:32:46 PM1 votes

I often play mundo vs him.. I can actually outscale him imo.. Ofc in theory he should outscale me.. But the games are NEVER so long he can reach that point.. I just get a thornmail.. and watch nasus kill himself :P