Boards›Gameplay

Could AD Off-Tank Nunu Top be legit?

ABlueQuaker··2 votes·710 views

So I was spectating a game because they had a Top Lane Nunu which I thought was quite curious. It became even more curious when I loaded into the Spectator Game and saw that he had started with a Doran's Blade. He started with Consume and got a quick level 2 off Gromp, recalled, grabbed 2 HP Potions and went to lane. He ended up with first blood as soon as he hit level 4 and he permaslowed the Enemy Irelia with (literally) free Snowballs from his Passive. He eventually backed with roughly 1700 gold, grabbed a second Doran's Blade and a Sheen, took Gromp, and then went back to lane. He got another kill (this time it was a lot quicker because of the Sheen Procs and the good scaling from the AP Ratio on E which he was maxing).

He built these items (in this order): item 3078 item 3111 item 3110 item 3074 item 3065 item 3075 (He sold his Doran's blades and replaced them with Spectre's Cowl and Chainvest then finished Spirit Visage and then Thornmail)

By the late game he was just running at the Enemy Carries and ignoring all of the Enemy peel then consuming for like 1/5th of his Maximum Health on nearby minions. It was dumb. The AD Carry was permaslowed, couldn't damage the Nunu and his attack speed was stuck at about 0.75.

Is this legit or was the guy I was watching a god?

EDIT: Like, he was strong in Lane AND he was a mega tank in the late game from his Q buffs. And from his Consume on Gromp & Krugs 1% of 3500 HP (his Max HP) was ~35 so he was dealing 35 Magic Damage On-Hit with his Blood Boil permanently up so he had like 1.75 attack speed.

18 Comments

ABlueQuaker1 votes

It was like Dr. Mundo but with a point-and-click Slow and actual Damage.

LazyBub1 votes

actual damage from what, his E? Honestly, he'd be more useful as a cinderhulk TP top lane tank. all he has is an AS buff and an AP scaling E. The only thing going for Nunu top lane is his passive that gives him free spells. Even warwick would be better top lane with these items

ABlueQuaker1 votes

Spellblade Auto-Attacks, Soaking up damage with Thornmail, Hydra Passive and Active.

Like I said, it's like Mundo. You Neutralize the Enemy AD Carry and within the parameters of that scenario the AD Carry takes a lot of damage from Nunu. Mundo can hypothetically do the same thing, but the point-and-click nature of Nunu's kit makes his damage more reliable.

I don't doubt WW is a better Top Laner with these items. I used to use (more or less) these exact items on him in the Top Lane on my smurf account last season. Where Nunu comes out ahead, however, is his oppressive Lane Phase. The Attack Speed Reduction from Ice Blast makes trading with him pointless, and the Slow makes running from him equally punishing.

LazyBub1 votes

The thing is, AD nunu is pretty useless in teamfights, your ult is pretty much used for the short crowd control, and you have to get in front of the adc to actually damage him, and late game you don't even have enough survivability to stay in fights. I say drop the Hydra as it's useless on nunu (no i'm not kidding, even bork would be better) and get a health dedicated item like randuins or warmogs because you aren't going to get to auto a lot and neither are you split pushing as nunu.

For sure it'd work in pubs for funzies, but in all honestly, it's just hec/fizz/irelia/jax build pasted on nunu.

ABlueQuaker1 votes

I agree that it's probably pretty niche - but it does have a niche. I'd probably pull it out vs heavy AD or even just to catch a team off-guard.

Don't forget the % HP increase from Consume, too. Even if you only leash Blue/Red for your team mates. As long as you use consume on it you get a nice buff to your Max HP.

xaadus creedus1 votes

Seems Legit.

ABlueQuaker1 votes

Well, yeah. When you break it down, it's really not much different to a standard Bruiser/Off-Tank build but it works really well with Nunu's kit because all of his Abilities are Utilized in comparison to a straight Tank Nunu who would be slower, deal very little meaningful damage, and Blood Boil would only be useful on Allies.

xaadus creedus1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Red Arrow,realm=OCE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=RFWHFtEu,comment-id=00010000,timestamp=2015-04-17T07:11:34.535+0000)

Well, yeah. When you break it down, it's really not much different to a standard Bruiser/Off-Tank build but it works really well with Nunu's kit because all of his Abilities are Utilized in comparison to a straight Tank Nunu who would be slower, deal very little meaningful damage, and Blood Boil would only be useful on Allies.

His build is nice but I don't get the Triforce, its not like he has a ability he can spam every 2 seconds.

ABlueQuaker1 votes

Actually, at 30% CDR Ice Blast has a 4.2 Second Cooldown (3.6 secs @ 40% CDR). Combine that with the occasional Consume (6.3 secs @ 30% CDR) and Blood Boil (10.5 secs @ 30% CDR) and he can actually proc Spellblade fairly regularly.

EDIT: Not to mention the % Movement Speed from Zeal, and the On-Hit Movement Speed from Phage. Combine that with Blood Boil (which is permanently up with a 12 second duration and 10.5 second Cooldown) and the Tenacity from Mercs and your sticking potential becomes really good.

xaadus creedus1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Red Arrow,realm=OCE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=RFWHFtEu,comment-id=0001000000000000,timestamp=2015-04-17T07:30:34.688+0000)

Actually, at 30% CDR Ice Blast has a 3.6 Second Cooldown. Combine that with the occasional Consume and Blood Boil and he can actually proc Spellblade fairly regularly.

Hmm, I'm gonna try this this then.

ABlueQuaker1 votes

Yeah. I've personally only tested it in a Custom bot game, but I mimicked what the guy did in lane phase and got the gromp for an early lvl 2 and just ran at the enemy with rank 2 snowballs, rank 1 blood boil and consume at Level 4 and got myself a kill fairly easily.

pE4CbxDPQO1 votes

Link to game? I just don't see it killing anyone in lane. Just wanna see runes and masteries.

ABlueQuaker1 votes

I had names off, but when I tried it in a Custom I had 21/9 Masteries, AD Marks, Lifesteal Quints, Scaling Armor Seals and Scaling Armor Glyphs. Full Lategame AD Setup basically.

It only works because of the point-and-click slow and the early level 2 from gromp (I'm sure if you were really sneaky you could try to steal an enemy red/blue) and because he stays really healthy with consume (which his passive makes effectively free).

And because Ice Blast has a 100% AP Ratio you end up dealing decent damage with E and Auto-Attack chaining once you get a Sheen.

pE4CbxDPQO1 votes

I'll give it a run maybe. Thank you.

Hard4Hamsters1 votes

I would maybe swap Hydra for BoRK, but that's just a personal preference. You would have anus busting AS and BoRK outdamages Hydra later in the game (on single targets). Problem would be you would have no waveclear.

Change Triforce to IBG and have a Sunfire/Cinderhulk instead of FH? Yeah. I could play around with this.

ABlueQuaker1 votes

I wouldn't recommend those changes tbh. You already end up with about 3.5k HP. Switching to Sunfire significantly lowers your Attack Speed Reduction, your CDR and your armor. IBG is also fairly pointless when you already have Iceblasts. In fact, without the MS from Zeal and the On-Hit MS from Phage your sticking potential is far lower.

As for the Hydra, it's there to provide not just waveclear, but constant AoE damage in a teamfight on an otherwise fairly low AoE champion. Ulting as AD Nunu is more to disrupt enemies and force them to use their CC on you. That said, a typical Nunu build doesn't usually have any AP in it anyway (MAYBE a RoA at best).

Hard4Hamsters1 votes

Yeah I took that into consideration. Tri is better than IBG in almost every way, but I was just thinking about how you could play with the build to do different things. For instance, if I was looking to peel for my team instead of diving the carry. Another option would be considering the new BC with Hydra to shred the armor of multiple opponents.

These are thoughts. I'm not claiming that my ideas are better, but thank you for the feedback.

ABlueQuaker1 votes

Starting on an Enemy Red or Blue buff is actually pretty risky. Be careful. It comes down to runes and luck. Start chugging a potion as soon as it hits you.

More from Gameplay

3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay764 comments
7,167
votes
3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay156 comments
3,510
votes
UPVOTE FOR URF
Gameplay606 comments
2,440
votes
Yes plz.
Gameplay456 comments
1,721
votes
3 Refunds per season, up vote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay114 comments
1,716
votes
When is ANYONE at riot going to address the awful new player experience?
Gameplay634 comments
1,383
votes

More by ABlueQuaker

Thank god Fallout 4 just came out.
Gameplay94 comments
197
votes
Killing a Tank is like running through a glass pane.
Gameplay112 comments
106
votes
If the Sejuani Rework is representative of what Riot thinks a 'leader' should play like
Gameplay134 comments
106
votes
Dear Support 'Mains', don't be a Luke.
Gameplay62 comments
102
votes
Don't make new players unlock shit.
Gameplay56 comments
92
votes
Practice Tool has been a huge success.
Gameplay16 comments
77
votes