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Nautilus Revamp (or remake, touch up, kit change, etc.)

Caetoma·12/24/2014, 7:33:32 AM·4 votes·1,465 views

Ok, before I begin, I'm going to say right now this thing is going to be split into 3 parts. The good, (My favorable aspects of the champion,) The bad, (The problems I see with the champ,) and the ugly, (oodles and oodles of numbers, rework ideas, and all the stuff viewers just scroll on past when they want to either rage or praise the discussion)

The Good

Nautilus is by far my favorite champion in the entire game. He was my 5th champion that I saved up to get (6300 IP takes A LONG TIME to accumulate when your still grinding to lvl 30). Hes big, hes tanky, and any time i come to a lane to gank with his lumbering gait, you better believe if they don't have any good escapes or hard cc to use on me, they will run in the opposite direction of me every single time.

He has more cc and utility in his kit than any other tank in the game (I'm looking at you Mr. Chain Thresh for days.) During late game, anything short of a big burst can't pop that shield of his and if you get anchored, get ready to look at a grey screen for the next 40 secs cause he wont let you get away while his team comes by to give you hugs of death. He maybe be a rip off of Big Daddy, but that CC king will come like the tides and wash you away.

The Bad

His utility and cc are his Achilles heel to this indomitable bipedal submarine. Each of his abilities are on long CD timers and missing his primary engage end up putting it on a fairly long CD compared to other line hooks (Mr. ChainThresh again and Beep punk BoopBlitzcrank )

One of the largest problems I found with him is that without his shield up, Naut has among the worst wave clear for a champ compared to other tanks. This is even further amplified as Naut is generally a JG champion who needs that damage to sweep the camps. No shield, the more hurt Naut receives.

The AoE of his E is almost unnoticed by majority of the other champions in the league as they all have some form of escape to run away from his slow (or if they are slowed, just hop away from Naut as hes soooo sloooooow.) His ultimate has some good utility as a secondary engagement tool for a TF, but falls off quickly against mobile teams who can just run away long enough to avoid the Freight Ship with legsNautilus, as well as everyone else who decided to accompany him when he wanted to catch people out of place.

His large frame and low move speed hampers him greatly when HES the one getting caught out as all projectiles seam to get caught into a gravity well that he somehow projects when he lest wants it to happen. Q drags, slows, and knock ups only work as long as they dont get in front of your Q and or ignore all CC you might try to escape with, (Yellow road runnerMasterYi, The ulti train that gots no breaksOlaf, and all cc shieldersMorgana Sivir Nocturne really enjoy facing Nauts)

And the Ugly

Now we get to the 'IMO' rework portion of this long post, wooooh boy.

First off, all the stats he currently has are unchanged. They don't look like they need any improvements as far as I can tell and so they will stay.

Now lets start from the top with the ideals behind these touch ups, which is Naut's back story.

Naut origins point to him being a man in a diving suit who was dragged from his boat and crew by a mysterious darkness that warped and changed his entire being into a hulking Titan from the sea. So his kit should be an extension of this dark sea born Champion yeah? Currently his kit looks more like a cross between sailor and beach monster (Where are the deep sea aspects? and no, Depth Charge are located far above deep deep waters.)

So lets takes the aspects of the deep dark sea (Churning waters, Endless pounding against the shore, Unexpected currents that drag you to the sea) and compact them into a 15 foot diving suit that is pointed in your general direction and see what happens.

Passive

Staggering blow: Roots target for .5/.75/1/1.25/1.5 seconds every 9/8/7/6 seconds 8/7/6/5 seconds and deals 2+ (6x Naut's level) physical dmg

Reason: Ok, this one can stay as this just makes Naut's kit alot easier to land and use. Just a single second shaved off helps with basic trades and puts a slight more 'omph' into his basics for clears. Not quick enough for rapid rooting, but much more prominent if you want to stick to a target.

Q

Dredge Line Silt Runner

Range: 1100

Mana cost: 60/70/80/90/100

Cool down: 18/16/14/12/10

Magic damage: 60/105/150/195/240 (+75% Ap) 50/100/150/200/250 (+70% Ap)

Details: Nautilus hurls his anchor forward in a line, if it hits an enemy unit, both He and the unit are dragged together half way and the unit is temporarily stunned. If the anchor hits terrain or player made terrain, the cool down is reduced by half and half the mana cost is refunded.

Reason: Alright, this one is another Ok one, just slightly inconvenient to the player. The utility that comes with this thing is that it make Naut move faster to compensate for the ungodly low MS that is his lumbering. Problem with this idea is that it eats through his early tiny mana pool and can quickly drain Naut if used too much. So the idea of it refunding half of it cost when not used on an enemy or neutral camp will encourage Naut players to use the utility of the ability to its fullest until they get tier 2 boots (Or at lest basic boots, hes still slow as heck)

W

Titan's Wrath

Cost: 80 60 mana

Cool down: 18 16 seconds all ranks

Shield strength: 100/150/200/250/300 (+15% bonus health) 50/75/100/125/150 (+10% maximum health)

Splash Magic Damage: 25/30/35/40/45 (+20% Ap)

Active Magic Damage: 50/60/70/80/90 (+40% Ap)

Passive: Nautilus basic attacks now apply bonus magic damage over 1.5 seconds on hit as well as to enemies within 175 units of the target

Active: Nautilus is enveloped by a sphere of swirling dark waters and his passive damage is doubled as long as the shield lasts (10 seconds.) Activating the ability will reset the attack timer.

Reason: The bread and butter part of what makes Naut fearsome needed some slight tweaks. This rework takes a leaf from The Rock That Can't Be StopedMalphite and gives Naut a reliable form of sustained damage in both camp clears and trades. The reason for the shield change is because even though our Submarine that Walks like a Man will build Hp for his tankiness, he needs about 3 pots worth of gold just to get to a decent state to even show his face in a lane. By making it max health, this is patched up while still leaving a weak enough shield to prevent level 2 tower dives. By giving the skill the passive and active, it covers the losses caused by not having the shield on hand and gives Naut a safer early game to clear his lane and/or camps.

E

Riptide Undercurrent

Range: 600

Cost: 60/70/80/90/100 Mana 70/80/90/100/110 Mana

Cool down: 10 12 seconds

Magic Damage per wave: 60/100/140/180/220 (+50% Ap) 75/110/145/180/215 (+45% Ap)

Slow: 20/30/40/50/60%

Maximum Magic Damage: 150/220/290/360/430 (+90% Ap)

Knock up duration: .25 seconds

Details: Nautilus stomps the ground, causing a ring of explosions to radiate out of from him in 3 waves. Each wave causes magic damage in an area and slows units hit over 2 seconds. Enemies hit by the outer ring however are briefly knocked up and towards Nautilus if they are on the inner portion of the explosions. Otherwise they are knocked away from Nautilus if they are hit while at the edge of the explosions.

Reasons: Remember what i said about Naut's E being negligible if facing a high mobility team or a team filled with champs that can just outrun or gap open with one of their skills? With this, it makes those champs reaaaaaly want to get out of Nauts range when he comes a'stompen. By knocking enemies towards Naut while also giving them a chance to escape if they are quick enough. Also with the short range of this skill, it also rewards Nauts' that position themselves right when they are in the middle of the enemy team or picking off misplaced people. Its also a key piece to this Naut's ultimate.

R

Hurricane

Range: 450

Cost: 120 Mana

Cool down: 120/100/80 seconds

Durration: 8 seconds

Movement speed Increase: +10/15/20

Magic damage per second: 75/100/125 (+20% Ap)

Maximum magic damage: 600/800/1000 (+160% Ap)

Details: Nautilus unleashes the forces of the abyssal ocean, spawning a giant storm that rages around him. This skill is not a channeled ability and as such is not canceled by silences and or interruptions. The force of the storm also propels Nautilus towards his foes, increasing his movement speed by a flat amount.

Reasons: Nautilus has had always a nagging problem with his ultimate that I found slightly bothersome. If you Ulti the wrong target, or do it at the wrong time, or chose someone who can ignore the homing super knock up, then the enemy team will take the moment to punish you harshly for using your engage/disengage tool. Also the fact that Naut's ulti is the only one among tanks that does not push the user into the enemy team to soak up damage and incites the rest of the team to follow your massive wake and path into the enemy forces. It is also the only one that does not make Naut stronger than he was at the moment he used it. Mr. RoundtreeMaokai , Dog and CrocNasus Renekton , and Stop Hitting YourselfGalio to name a few are super tanks that have Ultis that empower them and grants them an AoE force of destruction. With this however, Naut now becomes dangerous to fight alone and/or to try to engage on.

Conclusion

Whew! That was a massive wall of text in one sitting, wow. Naut has always been up and down, even right off his release he was slightly under powered before receiving a buff then a smack with the nerf bat back down to square one.

Under these revisions however, I think Naut will have finally obtained his true identity besides a giant diving suit that swims through the air (Still don't know how hes able to do that without a gravity altering device or magical powers or physics taking a day off due to a hangover from the other night.) His job is to be a disruptive force from the deepest and darkest part of the ocean, a job hes doing well now but could do better with the proper look over. Again all these changes are quote on quote 'IMO changes,' so just say things as you see it. Would enjoy any form of criticism to make things a little more realistic.

And to end this off, a quote for the big guy and all those who love him.

"Just as the depths of the ocean is a bottomless abyss, so too is my wrath an endless void." -Nautilus

18 Comments

Ghiefelstein12/24/2014, 11:28:26 AM2 votes

Your post makes it really clear that you love Nautilus. I personally already feel like that giant diving suit in the 'a new dawn' cinematic when I play him. For me he already fulfills this identity, but I can see why you would want more love for him.

I know it is really unfair to pick a few lines out of your mega post and react on that, but I still want to say something about the ult.

Nautilus has had always a nagging problem with his ultimate that I found slightly bothersome. If you Ulti the wrong target, or do it at the wrong time, or chose someone who can ignore the homing super knock up, then the enemy team will take the moment to punish you harshly for using your engage/disengage tool.

This sounds like a perfect example of counterplay. There is a huge reward if you use your ult right (knocking up multiple people), but the enemy can capitalize if you use it wrong. His ult makes it more interesting to play as or against Nautilus, it adds depth to his kit (no pun intended).

With this however, Naut now becomes dangerous to fight alone and/or to try to engage on.

That sounds problematic. Nautilus should be strong with a team to follow up, but weaker when he is fighting alone. My advice would be to look at it from the opponents point of view too. You made changes that are great for Nautilus, but make it very difficult to deal with him for the enemy team.

I enjoyed reading your post, good luck with refining your ideas!

Mirage Seraph12/24/2014, 9:11:15 AM2 votes

My only issue is with the Ult change. Personally, I think his current ult is stupid strong when used in the right situation, and acceptably strong if used in "okay" situations. Using Naut's current ult is always about yours' and the enemy's positioning. Surrreee, you can ult the ADC and kill em, great. But if you used it two seconds ago a couple feet to the left on the Support you could have 3 man knock up'd and aced them. And using it in a bad situation? Well, I mean, it's an ult isn't it? It's gonna be underwhelming. And the proposed one doesn't seem all that unique, basically seems like a middle ground of fiddle ult and Renekton/Susan ult.

Also, minor note. AP Naut wouldn't be very fun. I know it's not the intended way to play him but hey, he has those AP Ratios there for a reason right?Tthere's nothing more satisfactory as Q>W AA>R>W AA> E> W AA. Then there's Support Naut, who is all about the unmissable ~4 second lock down all in at 6.

Also the changing of Dredge Line. I mean seriously, "Dredge Line". Raddest ability name in the game.

The only change to Naut I WANT though is to give his W some passive benefit, like you said. The change to Riptide might be a bit much, but I can see the logic to it.

DoFr12/24/2014, 12:14:09 PM1 votes

you had good stuff to share, but i too noticed that he might need for some changes.

but what i had in mind was something like:

1- Passive now Scales with Armor. 2- W, increase the Range of the AoE Splash, the moment you use it you get the empowered attacks, but when it breaks, you lose the AoE splash and not the damage (you still get the full duration) But now instead of Dealing %50 damage on 2 Ticks, now t deals 25% damage for four Ticks, and it stacks with each auto attack, marking them with the anchor on top of their head for 4 seconds (the Aoe Splash also marks champions) 3- if his E hit a marked champion, he gets reduced damage from them for aslong as they're marked (max 8 seconds) passive: marks all champions who are hit but not marked for 3 seconds. 4- R, (he does the same animation of his current ult, but a wave appear under each marked champion) Knocks up and stuns all marked targets for 2.25 seconds (1 second during the knockup, 1.25 seconds after the knockup, it has the same range of his current ult) 5- his Q now deals damage Equal to a % of his health max health (guys, it is a flying anchor, Anchors are heavy, when it hits, it should hit as hard as naut's Tankyness)

i also still love your Changes man, props to you buddy, glad i'm not the only naut main who notices these things.

Riot please listen

Sire Hippington12/24/2014, 7:06:20 PM1 votes

I don't agree with all of this rework.

His Q needs no damage changes His E is fine and impactfull His Ult is awsome! it's so great to clear the path for the drege line, granting easy acces on an important target His passive is strong enough, 1.5sec cc every 6 sec for free is a huge thing.

However, I agree on 50% manarefound if Q lands on terrain, you rarly use that feature atm as it quickly drains your mana I also agree on W needing some chanages, either with a permanent passive effeckt that gets doubled while the shield is up, or by granting the damage for a fix duration no matter if the shield gets broken or not. I'd also like a shift to %max-health from % bonus-health But mostly, i want a **bit **more base AS on him, combined with a **slightly **faster AA-animation. It doesn't sound like much, but it will help him big times on useing his passive aswell as dealing some damage with W on.

Kingsgrave12/24/2014, 9:57:40 PM1 votes

Nautilus needs more than just a fuck ton of CC. Sure he brings a lot but there are other characters that bring half as much but have mobility or damage to make up for that and end up being a lot more useful to their team.

patmax1712/25/2014, 11:51:02 AM1 votes

I too love nautilus! w(aa reset) -> E. This disables the enemy champ for about 3 seconds, enough to let an ally deal a decent amount of damage (usually enough to kill him).

Soooo, tl;dr: ok for mana refund on Q on terrain, ok for a passive effect on W which is a minor version of his shield buff, no need for a knockup on E, no need to change the ultimate.

Spread the love for the big yellow anchor guy!

Cale01712/24/2014, 7:49:45 AM1 votes

Stop Hitting Yourself Galio

I need a moment.

... phew.

Anyways, I REALLY enjoyed this post! Without getting into the nitty gritty, because god knows I'd sit here discussing jungling mechanics and theoretical abilities with you until I had lost an unsafe amount of sleep for a man who has to work in retail on Christmas Eve, I agree with pretty much everything you said here, especially the W and the ult, although I feel that the E knocking people away would work more for enemies than for him with the heavy mobility focused meta as it stands right now.

I actually REALLY want to learn how to play Nautilus, but given how shaky his standing is I feel like I should put my efforts elsewhere... and I don't really have the sort of time or readily available concentration (I have back issues so sitting in my computer chair playing match after match can actually get really torturous for me) to grind for that much IP. I'm loathe to admit it but these days most of my champions are coming from RP buys that I reward myself with on every paycheck.

I'd LOVE to see a stronger Nautilus though!! Can we get a red in here?

Knight SoIaire 12/25/2014, 12:47:58 PM1 votes

let me tell you about one of problems that riot tries to fix and your rework idea does not fix

you dont make nautilus a tank but a realy tanky fighter which is not what he is supposed to be

riot faced this problem from the start of the game ... how to make a champion who deals no damage but doesnt get ignored and soaks it up

they tried taunts and stuff but it didnt work (it was used as a stunn instead of an actual tank and in s3 when tanks were viable they werent due to durability but good base damages and lack of gold reliance so instead of tanking they were a threat)

right now riot has the resources and possibility to make the tools like braums shield (their first from a long time take on making a viable tank)

so my proposition for you is to think about the rework once again with this in mind because it realy changes the direction that nauts kit will go (and dont hope that you will preserve much of it ... your tanking tool will be prolly bizare and hinder the powerbudget quite hard)

while rework shows a nice kit for a tanky fighter it is not what nautilus is supposed to be in the league

Fadedpf12/24/2014, 8:43:51 AM1 votes

One way to make him good, Make is hook go through minions. Its a fucking anchor, its still a skillshot that immobilizes him. This would make him a decent ganker