How do you play against nasus?

germophobe·Aug 27, 2014·1 votes·871 views

This isn't a rage thread or anything, I just want some advice on how to win lane against nasus. He seems unbeatable to me. No matter what stage of the game it is, he's tankier and outdamages me, no matter who I'm playing (even a level 2 fight as jax normally ends in me dying). Am I doing something wrong?

8 Comments

CatbatAug 27, 20142 votes

it depends on your champion, usually will pick vladimir because Vlad can use his Q and E to bully nasus away from farm and keep his Q stacks low while not putting yourself in danger.

Usually Ability based champions do better than auto attack based ones because of wither's attack speed slow, giving it the least effect on you, and try to bait out his ult by almost killing him and waiting for it to subside.

also below is copied from the wiki: Nasus's strength comes from his ability to farm Siphoning Strike. Try to zone him or deny his chance of last-hitting minions. Building Tenacity will reduce the duration of Nasus's Wither. However, remember that its maximum slow will be applied quicker than usual due to the shortened duration. Nasus is susceptible to crowd control. Ranged champions should invest in a Frozen Mallet or Rylai's Crystal Scepter to prevent him from getting into melee range. Stacking health will only make Nasus's Fury of the Sands stronger. Build armor and magic resist as well. Nasus's early game is also quite weak. Try having your jungler camp Nasus to deny him both farm and to delay his snowballing potential.

germophobeAug 27, 20141 votes

So basically pick a counter or you're fucked. That's uh...fun, I guess.

CatbatAug 27, 20143 votes

well any ranged champ with cc counters him if they keep their distance, most, if not all AP based champs work too, but if you are melee and auto attacky like tryndamere then you are screwed.

MrSc0ttyAug 27, 20141 votes

Uh, no. The thing with Nasus is that he needs to use his main farming tool to trade or he will lose trades, and if he uses it to go even in trades it will end with him not scaling as hard into late game.

Nasus is only good in lane against MELEE, AUTOATTACK based champions. Jax is not a good early laner and relies heavily on autos. His counter strike also doesn't block Nasus' Q. Jax is actually probably literally the worst champion to play against Nasus, and you're better off just free farming and hoping you're more skilled late game as they scale pretty equivalently.

As to ways to beat him? You've got:

Ranged harass, like Vlad. Literally anyone with range who doesn't rely on atkspd and speed boosts to kite (Teemo not so much but pretty much any ranged toplane besides), AP is better than AD because it prevents him from getting mileage starting with Iceborn Gauntlet which most nasuses want to build early.

Melee ability based champs. Anyone who doesn't care about his wither. Garen is awesome. Darius. Renekton if you bully really hard and win early. Shyvana is a great pick, as is Mundo. Singed gives him a super hard time. Wukong works great as he can eat nasuses abilities with his decoy

Champs to not pick: Yi, Yasuo, Jax, Irelia, Fiora, Teemo.

WorgslargAug 27, 20141 votes

You need a very early game champ, as almost no champion stands up to nasus's lategame power. Chose a champ with a very, very good laning phase. Nasus will heal through all poke from his lifesteal passive, and he has a great escape from his wither.

I'd reccomend riven or nidalee.

Oh, and if you dont feel like your soul will die, AP teemo destroys nasus in lane. He cant farm, cant all in, you cant be ganked easily.

Nasus isn't very dominant in lane, but he will outscale anyone but veigar given a farm lane. The only way to win is to deny him that farm lane.

MrSc0ttyAug 27, 20141 votes

Also worth noting that as an AP champion, an early Morellonomicon hurts him incredibly badly.