Some thought on Nasus and the state of top lane

Nasus has an outdated kit. When Riot calls something outdated they do not define what outdated is. For example there was nothing outdated in Akali's kit, 3 dashes and a nuke yet they reworked and ruined her. When they say outdated they mean a champion has a play pattern that they think is unhealthy. In case of Akali it was an unfettered mobility with repeatable burst. Ok, understandable.

What's really outdated are kits like Garen's Nasus'...kits that involve you running at the enemy. In a high mobility, high cc meta this is what's outdated.

So let's take a look at how Riot manages to keep this kit alive:

• starting level 1 Nasus has a free lifesteal item 12% right at the start. That's a Blade of the Ruined king lifesteal and it gets stronger
• Free damage for doing NOTHING but farming.
• E has 35% armorpenetration level 5. That's a free Last Whisper item like Lord Dominik's
• R on lvl3 gives him IMMEDIATELY 55 resistances and 600 health. Then it starts increasing every second. On top of this his Q cooldown is halved rendering his burst REPEATABLE. Yes...with a push of a button he gets ALL THIS while bruisers are required to dance around an enemy (Fiora), hit skillshots (Camille, Irelia) to do HALF the damage he does.
• W is a point and click stun, that is better than a stun beause you can't miss it and it slows for 5 seconds. You are basically frozen in place and let's not forget about the attack speed slow..good luck dueling that.

All this just to keep this beast alive. The notion of "scaling late game raidboss" is long gone now. The new ult with its overloaded nature is basically an instant 1v1 win tool. I used to deeply respect Nasus players and it was a SKILL to play Nasus and lane the best as you can to reach a point where you are strong. It required careful planning, good movement in lane etc. All this is in the past due to life steal and the stuff listed above.

And you know what? The times of "oh you just have to deny Nasus" are LONG OVER. The moment you harass him is the moment you push the lane. That is exactly what Nasus wants. Nasus' lifesteal means you CANNOT deny him if he just plays back and farms. So you either harass him and push the lane or you don't harass him in which case he is only too happy to free farm.

The champion is clearly dated and needs a rework. The only way Riot keeps him viable is by overtuning. Nasus / Garen / Cho....all horrible kits that are kept artificially alive through buffs that really break them. A champion that has to walk up to you to auto you to death should NOT have 50+% win rate in all elos.

Riot seems to not understand why people hate top lane. Well just look at two tanks farming for 20 mins and maybe you can understand the problems. All this ties into another huge problem called power creep. Because what's gonna happen when tanks push out everybody else from top? Bruiser buffs...just to keep up. Then tank buffs....all this spiraling out of control where these champions feel like they came from a different game.

And one last thought: I do not hate tanks. I think they are essential parts of a game where teamfights occur. The main problem is that they are outright oppressive now in lane while being largely useless in teamfights where they should excel. The traditional weak early game of tanks is completely gone while at the same time they get torn apart by focused damage in bigger fights. Bruisers rush Tiamat just to push the wave and leave the lane as soon as possible. Can't Riot see this?

And if somebody goes "but tanks are bad" well, name me another class that is played in four roles, including mid / top / jungle / support.

Possible solution:

Make tanks scaling champions that control teamfight and soak up damage. Make them stronger late game and weaker early. However Riot seems to be completely ignorant of this.