Nasus's winrate went from 47% in 6.20 to 51% in 6.21

HateDaddy·Oct 25, 2016·91 votes·32,533 views

With an increased play rate to boot. And while it is still early in the patch and the love affair will die down, I actually expect his winrate to stabilize around 50-51%.

This was actually one of the best, most well balanced buffs I've ever seen from Riot. Nasus, I suspect, is exactly where he needs to be right now while still being healthy for the game.

I haven't read too much into PBE for preseason 7 changes but I suspect Nasus will be stronger based on what I do know and the fact we will probably go through an assassin meta, a meta Nasus excels in the best.

220 Comments

RiotMeddlerOct 26, 201636 votes

That buff does seem to have landed Nasus in a pretty good spot so far. Will need to keep an eye on him, see both how pre-season affects him and how strong he gets with build changes optimized around the new ult mechanic (guessing not much change from that, but worth watching).

Jeddy017Oct 26, 201621 votes

You guys got any plans for a similar touch up buff for Garen? Like Nasus, his winrate has been on a decline for a while. For Garen specifically, it's due to nerfs to several of his items & the constant presence of Rylia's.

RiotMeddlerOct 26, 201649 votes

Garen's on our list after urgent pre-season emergent stuff. Going to see if we can find a buff we like for 6.24 or 7.1.

Jeddy017Oct 26, 201644 votes

So we're in agreement that he needs to globally yell "DEMACIA!!!" when he kills someone with his ult. Sounds like a good buff, thanks for agreeing with me : ^).

But seriously, I look forward to what you do with Garen.

Burnt Iron KingOct 26, 20162 votes

Don't want to bother you but what about Mordekaiser?

10TicklerOct 26, 20161 votes

OH GOD PLEASE NO

You'll awaken MM, and summon him here

Malicious MetalOct 27, 20163 votes

You called?

TempistOct 26, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Garen's on our list after urgent pre-season emergent stuff. Going to see if we can find a buff we like for 6.24 or 7.1.

Speaking of buffs, in light of the Nasus buffs could Tryndamere see some love? ;)

In all honesty, since there are now so many counters to the champion (from Nasus to Kennen/Jayce to Darius), he's forced to teamfight more than he has any previous season. A buff to Trynd's laning phase is probably a bit too frustrating for the playerbase, but a buff to his "teamfight", if you can call it that would go a long way in making him feel a bit better.

Just a basic +5 MS and maybe a 30% slow resistance when he ults would, for example, take his teamfight from godawful to just poor - a very welcome change. :)

Critmaster GarenOct 26, 20166 votes

{quoted}

Speaking of buffs, in light of the Nasus buffs could Tryndamere see some love? ;)

In all honesty, since there are now so many counters to the champion (from Nasus to Kennen/Jayce to Darius), he's forced to teamfight more than he has any previous season. A buff to Trynd's laning phase is probably a bit too frustrating for the playerbase, but a buff to his "teamfight", if you can call it that would go a long way in making him feel a bit better.

Just a basic +5 MS and maybe a 30% slow resistance when he ults would, for example, take his teamfight from godawful to just poor - a very welcome change. :)

pls no.

he needs a larger rework imo. i still hate his early crit mechanic and winning or losing lane being completely reliant on rng.

tryns kit has so many issues.

BarakunOct 26, 201611 votes

What about teemo? The new ward is a huge nerf to his ultimate, you Rioters said champions shouldn't be countered by 75 gold item, but Teemo's ultimate is gonna be countered by 50 gold item and a FREE item(Oracle). His secondary role is listed as Assassin. He got nothing during Marksman update and he gets nothing in Assassin update, so what is he?

WipoulouOct 26, 201612 votes

He... is... a... demon

RacoonHunterOct 26, 201611 votes

Could you do something about his slow? It's not fair that with 40% cdr he can keep anyone perma slowed as well as it stacking with Frozen heart to make any champion hit by it unable to attack.

VeltoxOct 26, 20167 votes

Let him be nowadays he can barely approach something without getting blown up.

JnFnRuOct 26, 20162 votes

Just remove his Q Proc for towers and he should be fine, obviously TeamFights much better now with the changes. Last game with Nasus on enemy Team (although they lost) he carried most TF's rather than split pushing.

VeltoxOct 26, 201614 votes

That's like removing Nasus . Get out.

DunkinNoobsOct 26, 201617 votes

Don't get ahead of yourself; Nasus still isn't healthy for the game and never has been. The only way he remains tolerable is if his playrate remains fairly low, just like Pantheon and Rammus top. If they start to get picked too often, then we start to have a serious problem, and Nasus is no exception to his.

HateDaddyOct 26, 20166 votes

{quoted}

Don't get ahead of yourself; Nasus still isn't healthy for the game and never has been. The only way he remains tolerable is if his playrate remains fairly low, just like Pantheon and Rammus top. If they start to get picked too often, then we start to have a serious problem, and Nasus is no exception to his.

Eh, I don't suspect his play rate will go up much and if he becomes a bit too strong, all riot has to do is adjust the numbers on his ult since he wasn't good at all prior to this change.

He won't ever be a good pick competitively

agbudarOct 26, 20169 votes

as if Jayce Kennen Rumble Quinn Teemo arent a big problem

sure lets all be ranged champions now.

DunkinNoobsOct 26, 20165 votes

I will lane against any of those champions before I lane against a Nasus.

SpôôkedOct 26, 201614 votes

I would rather lane against Nasus than any of those champions.

DunkinNoobsOct 26, 20168 votes

I'd rather lane against a Bronze 1 Nasus too. Unfortunately, higher elo Nasus players dont just let you kill them over and over.

Jet SettOct 26, 20166 votes

Good Nasus players make those guys look fun

MrWasjigOct 26, 20162 votes

Nobody was claiming he was healthy, and infinite stacking is something a lot of people are (or at least, they should) be a little iffy about. Veigar still has easily infinite stacking AP, and that hasn't gotten any less bullshit regardless of his pickrate :P

DunkinNoobsOct 26, 20162 votes

Infinite stacking is probably the healthiest part of Nasus's kit, tbh. His passive, W, and ult are all far more problematic than his Q is.

MrWasjigOct 26, 20162 votes

Personally I disagree. But being unable to come to a matching conclusion does make one thing obvious...Nasus is problematic, period.

CarameI FrappeOct 26, 20162 votes

I'd rather fight a Nasus than Kennen anyday of the year.

Least our beloved dog relies on mana and needs to farm to get strong. The other has energy, can zone you for days, and one ult can kill 4-5 people. Trust me, Nasus is fair.

MarshbouyOct 25, 201610 votes

And i'm just here hoping he can ever have some sort of strategy to him besides just spamming Q. Fuck me right?

HateDaddyOct 26, 201626 votes

{quoted}

And i'm just here hoping he can ever have some sort of strategy to him besides just spamming Q. Fuck me right?

There's plenty of strategy to Nasus. Sure, it's mostly simplistic and boring but it's there.

MarshbouyOct 26, 201620 votes

That strategy being? Just Q the minions for the first 20 minutes of the game, inevitably out trade your opponent, get a tower or too, dominate until later in the game, fall off really hard, go complain about how 2k stacks on nasus can't carry.

I'd rather have his stat stick abilities be changed to give him more stuff to do. The only thing i like on his kit is his E, at least it's a zone of power for him.

HateDaddyOct 26, 201625 votes

{quoted}

That strategy being? Just Q the minions for the first 20 minutes of the game, inevitably out trade your opponent, get a tower or too, dominate until later in the game, fall off really hard, go complain about how 2k stacks on nasus can't carry.

I'd rather have his stat stick abilities be changed to give him more stuff to do. The only thing i like on his kit is his E, at least it's a zone of power for him.

You're assuming he can freely Q those minions for 20 minutes straight.

MarshbouyOct 26, 20169 votes

No, he cannot freely spam those Qs. He can be denied CS like any other melee top laner. You cannot deny every CS, you cannot keep him from freezing lane under his turret, you cannot always have a jungler there to pressure him. He will get stacks and once he gets enough, you will inevitably lose lane. He is far from the most anti-fun, but he is so binary that it hurts me.

HateDaddyOct 26, 20166 votes

{quoted}

No, he cannot freely spam those Qs. He can be denied CS like any other melee top laner. You cannot deny every CS, you cannot keep him from freezing lane under his turret, you cannot always have a jungler there to pressure him. He will get stacks and once he gets enough, you will inevitably lose lane. He is far from the most anti-fun, but he is so binary that it hurts me.

He is binary a bit, I don't deny it but there are things you can do to him to delay his power spikes long enough for them to be significantly less impactful than normal and theres always free roams available against him since he's looking to farm.

But if we are being honest, most melee champions in this game have a touch of binary to them given the way ranged vs melee works and the fact that the most dominant class is ranged.

MarshbouyOct 26, 201612 votes

He is not a bit binary, he is incredibly binary. There are some more binary champions than him, people like trynd or xin zhao. sure he's not OP but i just can't stand how his kit is just stack>push>dominate>fall off

HateDaddyOct 26, 20166 votes

{quoted}

He is not a bit binary, he is incredibly binary. There are some more binary champions than him, people like trynd or xin zhao. sure he's not OP but i just can't stand how his kit is just stack>push>dominate>fall off

He falls off in teamfights, he doesn't fall off in duels. And he has a really strong ability to recover from a bad early game. That makes him significantly less binary than you're claiming he is.

JusticePauldronsOct 26, 20168 votes

You are 100% correct, everything you have said here is something I have said and never gotten a counter argument too. Nasus is simply a ticking time bomb. The only counterplay you have to him is delaying the point where he detonates.

HateDaddyOct 26, 20165 votes

It's almost as if that applies to every scaling champion

Dextix LTOct 26, 20168 votes

It does not, because those scaling champions cannot build full tank. Furthermore they have their damage limits and you can actually leave the lane to roam with them (You can't with nasus, because you will auto lose the lane).

Edit: And to add on to that, those scaling champions are easier to punish, as they, unlike nasus, do not have as much sustain. Because of nasus 15% lifesteal (That also afffects his q) it will be incredibly hard to push him out of the lane.

JusticePauldronsOct 26, 20168 votes

This 100%. If you leave Nasus alone, he will dominate the lane gain a metric ton of damage and still be able to build full tank to laugh at your team. His method of farming has a low cooldown, cannot miss and is nearly costless after first back. The real issue is that the amount of damage he gains with each stack is pretty bananas if you look at it.

He gains three additional damage to a skill that already has a 100% base AD ratio and a 4 second cooldown. Most Susans will easily hit 200 stacks minimum during laning phase (to give you an idea that is only 67 cs, less if you include cannons). With just 200 stacks his ability is doing 200 damage, before considering the base damage and AD scaling (which I would like to REALLY emphasize, is based of his TOTAL AD, meaning his can still build tank and let the AD bonus from leveling up improve the skill further). That is insane.

DunkinNoobsOct 26, 20165 votes

{quoted}

You are 100% correct, everything you have said here is something I have said and never gotten a counter argument too. Nasus is simply a ticking time bomb. The only counterplay you have to him is delaying the point where he detonates.

This is precisely what you should NOT do. The only counterplay to Nasus is making the game uncarriable for him by the time he detonates. Doesn't matter how huge the Nasus is if you can just 5v1 him every time he tries to do anything.

Dextix LTOct 26, 20163 votes

So basically you have to dominate the enemy or you lose? How nice.... Good and interactive gameplay.

SpôôkedOct 26, 20164 votes

Nasus takes a lot more to play than you think. Its not just pressing Q. Hes very, very weak early game, and if you die once early it could mean you lost the game because it takes so much to catch up with all the stacks you miss from respawning and walking to lane.

Not to mention how easy he is to kite. If the enemy team picks Ashe, then you practically cant even do anything because shes gonna kite you all game.

Nasus has enough in his kit to give him stuff to do. Im MR 7 with him, and every game Ive played with him was fun (except against a Teemo). He takes way more than you seem to think.

AninLegions777Oct 26, 20163 votes

Nasus falls off hard? HAHAH ..... HAHA. HA... HAHHAHAHA. HA. Nah man. Stahp playing. Teamfight starts, Nasus flanks enemy team from FoW with 600 stacks and Triforce. Twoshots ADC. Proceeds to get triple kill. I've played him enough and Watch SirChez play him enough to know that in teamfights, he's a major threat.

oSEXYPLATYPUSoOct 25, 20165 votes

but as long as jayce , kennen and rumble are strong in top lane nasus will always be the odd dog out

HateDaddyOct 25, 20163 votes

[{quoted}](name=MrFawknSunshine ,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=MshTErzd,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2016-10-25T23:44:22.055+0000)

but as long as jayce , kennen and rumble are strong in top lane nasus will always be the odd dog out

Eh Jayce and Kennen are easy to deal with

Rumble is annoying but begs to be ganked with the way he's forced to play against Nasus. Running flat MR helps in this matchup a ton, too.

oSEXYPLATYPUSoOct 25, 20161 votes

personally i do better vs teemo as nasus then i do jayce i just feel no way to really do anything to him other then sustain his poke and farm and ignore him

HateDaddyOct 26, 20163 votes

Farm out an armor item, tabis + sheen and ghost at him with ult and enjoy the easy kill.

SchàdenfreudeOct 25, 20162 votes

Totally agree. Riot did a really good job on the Nasus ultimate change. Instead of giving him useless attack damage, they gave him resistances instead, which is what a Nasus really needs.

hunterspecOct 25, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Totally agree. Riot did a really good job on the Nasus ultimate change. Instead of giving him useless attack damage, they gave him resistances instead, which is what a Nasus really needs.

really? Before it came out and was on pbe all I heard was "nasus main here these "changes" suck please don't do them"

HateDaddyOct 26, 20168 votes