Since Nasus has become a topic of QQ here on boards, allow me to remind y’all of a few things

Hello. Season 2 Nasus player here. Lots of games. Much play. He jugado much del perro conocido como Nasus. Two languages. Impressive. Wow.

So, I’m going to avoid the topic of whether he is “OP” or not because the reality is that the game is so different between low elo and high elo and given that this board is mostly lower elo spectrum, their perspective is warped. As I’ve talked to many higher elo players about Nasus since I’m no longer in that area myself, they’re saying he’s really not that great. Lower elo, of course, begs to differ. I’m not here to smear anyone, but there’s a clear difference of opinion and if I argued whether he’s OP or not, it would just fall on deaf ears.

SO.....

Instead, I want to take the time to debunk some rather outrageous claims I’ve seen regarding Nasus recently. Many of these things are things that have always been true or are cases of extreme exaggeration. So let’s go over a few:

The most common one I see is:

Once the game reaches 10-15 minutes, nobody can duel nasus

This is absolutely false on a few fronts. Number 1, by 10-15 minutes, nasus has always been one of the best duelists at this point. Ever since his Q CD reduction buff on his ult, very few champions can facetank him. If you choose to sit there and melee him for 15 seconds straight during his ult without kiting or disengaging, that is your mistake. Number 2, there are many champions that can beat him in duels at this point assuming equal footing. Darius, Aatrox, Yi, Jax, Trynd, Cho’Gath and a few more all have the capacity to beat him. Nevertheless, this claim simply lacks truth. Nasus has always been a strong duelist at this point, so this isn’t anything new. And it’s also false in that there are definitely people that beat him.

Another claim I’m hearing:

Free passive lifesteal wtf do dumb

Okay, so I had this conversation earlier but I’ll restate it: this statement is dumb. There’s no such thing as a “free passive.” It costs him his passive. Yes there are power budgets to consider but I would much rather have a passive on him that helps him deal with being kited or boosts his durability, or makes him less susceptible to cc. His healing early game just isn’t that great. Certainly it helps, but other things contribute more. He gets more value from runes and Doran shield regen than he does his passive. Yes, sheen boosts his healing quite a bit but if he builds sheen, he’s still incredibly squishy and prime lane bullies will eat him alive for rushing this. In addition, there are many champions with much better healing passives, Cho’Gath being one of the most notable ones. Vlad also heals much better and it costs him virtually nothing. Irelia still heals on her Q, which also gives her wave control. Mundo’s passive laughs at Nasus early game. GAREN’S passive laughs at Nasus’ lifesteal early game. The fact is, it’s a design put in place to help him survive but it often doesn’t offer a huge swing. Either nasus is denied so hard that he can’t go near minions to sustain off of, or he’s able to farm and become strong enough to fight you off and then sustain - in both cases, healing isn’t what’s determining his success, it’s your gameplay and the potential for jungle intervention that does in addition to champion match-ups.

Let’s move on:

Nasus has 130 cs but 500 stacks!!!

This is just demonstrably false. This was a thread on the top of the page, and what happened was Nasus got lots of kills. I’m assuming this player messed up. He also picked a champion that Nasus is very good against (Ryze). Nasus ended this game 14/5, so if we assume he last hit every champion with Q, which isn’t likely but let’s just say for the sake of the argument he did, then Nasus would’ve gained 168 stacks from that alone. So in other words, a champion snowballed and did ridiculous things. Yes, that never happens in league of legends. Let’s also look at how absurd this claim is: 130 CS to 500 stacks. Even if he last hit every single one of those with Q, you’re still only looking at 390 Stacks. Obviously cannons factor into that, but I don’t have to tell you he didn’t last hit 20+ cannon minions out of that 130 cs, which would be required to exceed 500 stacks with 110 minions all being last hit and 20 cannons. And this is assuming, again, that every last minion he last hit was with Q and I don’t have to tell you that this is impossible. In other words, this is an outrageous claim that may have happened but it only did because Nasus had lots of kills and got over a 3rd of his stacks that way.

Nasus perma slows me and I just can’t fight him

Qss is a thing. Nasus explodes in teamfights easily. Nasus is prone to chain CC. And if nasus gets ahead and split pushes, heaven forbid he be allowed to be good at the one thing riot has balanced him as: a split pusher. Let’s also remember this doesn’t happen until much later in the game now. It is much more common for Nasus to max E second, which means perma-wither isn’t happening until late levels like 16+. At that point, split pushers all have ridiculous individual sticking power (Jax Q/E, Trynd W/E, Riven’s kit, Aatrox’s Kit, Irelias kit, etc). Why should nasus not have the same capacity when, unlike the aforementioned champions, he doesn’t have mobility at all.

So, there it is friends. Just a few things to remember when discussing Nasus. Thanks for your time. ¡Tengan un buen día!