Nasus is sorta on the weak side currently

ChibiKamisama·9/1/2016, 1:15:17 AM·6 votes·725 views

I feel like Nasus has a little too delicate of a farming phase than compared to other top laners. I also feel that he can be improved so that at least his farming phase could be a little less tedious.

I know he's a tank and he excels in scaling in late game, but his early game can somewhat be easier to be ruined compared to top laners as well. He can be bullied/poked the hell out of top lane and the problem is that he doesn't have a way to really trade pokes. It also doesn't help that he doesn't really have much mobility.

He's not weak right now, but he has some somewhat over glaring issues that make him really frustrating to play as in my opinion.

I was thinking, maybe, just MAYBE, he could have slightly more mobility and slightly lower the mana cost of wither?? Nasus in the beginning of a game starts with 326 mana according to the Lol wiki. And his Wither has a 80 mana cost. I know it isn't much later in the game. And I KNOW that he can just buy more items that provide, well, more mana. But in the early game, he would be poked down in lane when he's trying to farm a minion with Q, so he would use W to get out of the range of the opposing top laner's pokes sometimes. But in early game, using W that costs 80 mana and having a start off in the beginning of the game with a 326 mana pool is kinda alot if he were to use it occasionally to get away from pokes when he's trying to farm in early game. In this rate, he would have little mana compared to the opposing top laner during farming phase. His mobility in terms of trying to escape enemy pokes in early game while farming, in fights, or escaping a fight can be a little too annoying and frustrating.

I know there are some people would say "Of course he has a weak early game! He scales really great in late game with tons of items. Your discussion is biased AS FUCK! In late game, he can also evaporate squishy's at the speed of light! ...smh" But how is he going to scale well into the late game if his early game and farming phase falls off more easily than compared to other champions, more specifically, other opposing top laners. His early game, just like any other champion in the entire game, affects his late game as well. More specifically, his performance in late game is pretty much dependent on how well you did in early game.

There is possibly some biases in this discussion and when it comes to the discussion of balancing champions, there is bound to be biases.

But that doesn't mean that Nasus doesn't need any improvement at all. The game changes all the time, either it be small or big changes. Nasus also STILL has a few weaknesses that affect his game a little TOO much.

So yeah, what is your thoughts on Nasus and my discussion? Should there be something changed slightly improve his early game? Or should there not be a change in Nasus ? I would like to see your opinion on this! [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

13 Comments

Crett9/1/2016, 1:48:38 AM7 votes

Actually, Nasus' win-rate spikes in the mid-game, and only goes down from there. Tanks can't tank late-game damage. By then the only use he has is splitpushing. Nasus actually feels a little broken because of this. There's a dissonance between his kit and his fantasy thanks to the extremely damage-saturated modern meta.

Itankyou9/1/2016, 1:21:12 AM2 votes

I LAUGHED at the title "Nasus is sorta on the weak side; that's the biggest understatement I've heard all day.

You could even say he is an Underdog in the current meta.

Maximum Morde9/1/2016, 1:21:45 AM1 votes

I don't really like it when Nasus is picked. His laning is one of the most boring lanes of all time as his opponent.

beat me off9/1/2016, 3:11:31 AM1 votes

I feel like Nasus has a little too delicate of a farming phase than compared to other top laners. I also feel that he can be improved so that at least his farming phase could be a little less tedious.

Personally I just really like farming up the stacks. I know I'm weird :P. I also think changing it so it's less tedious would probably mess up his idenity entirely and you may as well make a new character. On the issue of being delicate I find my best time frame from doing a practice game and measuring stacks through the early game was between 10:45 and 17+ minutes or when enemy turret goes down and he should already be level 9+ at the start of that anyways so he doesn't really get a ton of farm in the early game.

I know he's a tank and he excels in scaling in late game, but his early game can somewhat be easier to be ruined compared to top laners as well. He can be bullied/poked the hell out of top lane and the problem is that he doesn't have a way to really trade pokes. It also doesn't help that he doesn't really have much mobility.

I'll agree it's easier to ruin Nasus's early game but lvl 7 he gains 5% lifesteal for 15% base lifesteal and if you get counter items and take into account trading a little using that powerful ult and having good masteries and runes it becomes much easier assuming no bad plays. But I do think being a frightening infinitely scaling mid-game monster warrants having a difficult time starting it up. Also in terms of mobility if you really need that item 2053 or item 3742 provide plenty in most cases

But in early game, using W that costs 80 mana and having a start off in the beginning of the game with a 326 mana pool is kinda alot if he were to use it occasionally to get away from pokes when he's trying to farm in early game.

I was thinking about it and thought that it would be great if it didn't waste through so much mana so early, but i think i can concede to riot that if that did have less of a mana cost Nasus would be too punishing on characters that have a problem laning against him. Wither and spirit fire are supposed to be used very sparingly and mostly in dire circumstances. Which happens a lot early game but people need a decent time frame to deny and kill him right? Personally i find it easier to mitigate the pokes with item 3301 and runic armor and perseverance from the defensive tree, and lifesteal quints. You lose health easily early but you gain it right back fairly quickly. Especially if you're maxing your cdr. Hitting more often with siphoning strike is amazing for sustain.

More specifically, his performance in late game is pretty much dependent on how well you did in early game.

I'll agree mostly with this, but I made a rambling post a few hours ago about how I felt his performance in late game doesn't reflect how he did early well enough! I personally think Spirit Fire is a little underwhelming late game and should scale by 10% base damage in 100 stack chunks exponentially with siphoning strike to help make him more of a presence in late game team fights when most champs hit like trucks anyways.

Swiftstrike49/7/2016, 7:55:04 PM1 votes

Nasus needs some buffs, but not for the reasons you stated.

He needs modest base stat buffs or base state scaling. His HP scaling is poor compared to the other juggernauts.

Nasus is a mid to mid-late game champion, but his itemization route has been nerfed several times with the exception to item 3065 and item 3078.

That's about it.