Ideas for Nasus passive changes
As it is, I feel that Nasus is a very toxic champion who is rewarded for avoiding interaction with other players. Being able to go full-on PvE mode in a PvP game is not only incredibly boring, but very unfair for the people who don't see him for 25 minutes only to get one-shot by him later in the game.
While yes, I'm aware that Nasus has counterplay, I feel that he receives far too much reward for far too little risk, and I have some ideas that could (maybe) fix that. Opinions and feedback would be appreciated.
To start, I'll say that Nasus is a champion who essentially gets a second build worth of stats entirely for free. Every minion he kills with his Q gives him gold, simultaneously increasing his DPS and survivability. Nasus is free to go the entire game without building a single damage item while eventually becoming capable of one-shotting enemy champions. I feel that in a game built around team play, a champion who requires 3 or 4 players to kill should not be able to instantly kill anybody, under any circumstance.
I think the biggest problem lies in Nasus's passive: a simple, boring stat bonus that gives him a free vamp scepter at the start of the game, allowing him to stay in lane and farm indefinitely... making harassing, trading, and dueling incredibly difficult. How do you deal with Nasus? Easy, just stop him from farming! To me, this is an inherently flawed design. It's up to you as Nasus's opponent to beat him by interacting with him directly, while it's up to him to win by avoiding interaction whenever possible.
Here's my idea for a passive rework that will hopefully maintain his identity while forcing him to make meaningful decisions, both with his build and his playstyle. I have no idea what number values would be appropriate, so suggestions for those would be cool as well.
Passive: Nasus's abilities are enhanced by additional effects, depending on the order in which he unlocks them. First unlock: Cooldown; the base CD is reduced for the first ability Nasus unlocks. Second unlock: Armor Reduction; the second ability Nasus unlocks will reduce its targets' armor when used. Third unlock(the important one): Healing; the third ability Nasus unlocks will gain a healing factor. -Siphoning Strike will gain lifesteal, but the bonus would require Nasus to wait until level 3 to unlock his Q, delaying his stack farming. -Wither will heal Nasus by a percentage of the target's maximum HP if they are killed during its effect. -Spirit Fire will gain spell vamp, healing for some of the damage dealt.
So basically, if Nasus starts with Q, he doesn't get any of the ridiculous healing that Siphoning Strike currently gives. If he wants that, he'll either have to wait until level 3, or (god forbid) buy a lifesteal item like the rest of us plebs. If Nasus chooses Spirit Fire at level 3 (or whenever he unlocks his 3rd skill), he can still sustain in lane by E-ing a minion wave, but doing so will force the wave to push and potentially cost him Q stacks, making him choose between healing and stacking.
I had another, different idea for a passive unlock which might fundamentally change the way the champion is played. I'm not sure if it would be OP or not, but Riot could potentially take the stacking effect off his Q entirely, and place it on his passive instead. For example: -If Nasus unlocks Q first, it functions normally as it does now, gaining damage as units are killed with it. -If Nasus unlocks W first, Wither will gain a permanent duration increase if the target is killed while under its effect. This would potentially enable a squishier bruiser/duelist Nasus playstyle which would focus on enhancing his already-powerful CC via champion kills. -If Nasus unlocks E first, Spirit Fire will gain stacks the same way that Siphoning Strike does (though less per minion kill ofc), which would probably make AP Nasus just as viable as his current playstyle.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on the subject, and I'd like to hear those of others, too. Though I hate playing against Nasus the way he is, I think his passive is the one little thing that makes him just too much for most people to deal with. There are much better, more interesting passives that I feel would be much more appropriate, and I hope you guys agree. Do you think the conditional healing passive would be better, or the stacking one? Or some combination of them?