Riven vs. Nasus

Gandalf010812·May 7, 2015·1 votes·761 views

I am playing as Riven, and I'm pretty good with her, been playing her for quite some time now. However, whenever there's a Nasus facing me, I either wreck him really easily, or he wrecks me really easily. If I can get a really good start and get an early kill on him, I usually do fine, but last match I faced a Nasus, I out damage him early on, but he was playing very passively. At about level 6, he continued to use the combo of slow, Q, back off. I usually win against a Nasus by poking him down, but he seemed to do the same. Did I do anything wrong? Was he just very good? Any tips against Nasus when playing Riven? I rushed Brutalizer but he was already stacking so much armor. By the time I got Ghostblade and Black Cleaver, he had Frozen Heart and Thornmail.

14 Comments

Only Play DariusMay 7, 20152 votes

A good Nasus will never, ever fight early with Riven. He will just play passive until he gets a shitload of armor and a item 3057 and by that time there's nothing you can do to him. Sorry but in the end you just lose the matchup. Try roaming more.

Gandalf010812May 7, 20151 votes

Wouldn't roaming be bad though, because he gets free farm? Shouldn't I stay in lane and try to deny him farm while hoping for ganks?

DreadlocksMay 7, 20151 votes

Sometimes u just gotta accept that hes gana get stacks and hes gana push.. get fed with your team and push before he can make use of counter pushing.. make him come to you if that makes sense.

Reaper SorakaMay 7, 20151 votes

As a Nasus player, I actually feel far more pressured when a Riven goes to gank mid or bot lane than if he stays to try to deny me farm.

If she stays, I try to bait out her combo over my minions as much as I can. I just want her to push me right next to my tower. A Nasus is always most comfortable farming right outside his turret. I mean like.. if you try to attack the melee minions hitting your ranged, and you take a tower shot. I am sooooo happy.

When she leaves I feel very high pressure on my game because there's nothing I can do about it. If I push my lane to draw her back, you bet I don't have the CDR to get every single minion stack. If I stay passive, it's just more time Riven has to gank mid/bot or help with dragon.

In the end, as Riven vs Nasus, I would recommend coordinating with your jungle to push down mid turret or gank mid a lot. You can always do your little bunny hop right back up to top lane and save your tower without a problem, since your damage is almost all AoE. When you have Nasus under his tower again, it's your choice, depending on how much you accomplished whether you want to go gank/dragon/tower more, or try to dive him with your mid and/or jungle.

Well.. That's my two cents from Silver I ish. :D

Ser GarlandMay 7, 20151 votes

When any champion feels the most -uncomfortable- when everyone is actively ignoring him, there's something wrong with the champion.

Only Play DariusMay 7, 20151 votes

^Yea pretty much this. Nasus eventually gets to a point with his stacks where you can no longer deal with him 1v1. Best to use that time to roam around, since Nasus will never follow you and often ignores his team. Get your mid/bot snowballed, they will return the favor and come top to help you kill him. He has no hard cc, so you can literally pop summoner 12 in the middle of the lane and he can't stop you from teleporting bot to get a double.

Drunk RummateMay 7, 20151 votes

Nasus wins that lane if he plays it smart. Riven's abilities naturally shove lane if she harasses so Nasus has an easy time freezing wave early. Bad Nasus players will fight/harass with their E and shove the wave which makes it easy for Riven to get first blood and snowball. Good players will recall and get an early glacial shroud before TPing back, and at that point Riven pretty much loses all of her kill potential unless she's monstrously ahead from a kill or ~15+ CS.

Gandalf010812May 7, 20151 votes

Yeah that's what he did... well guess I just got countered. Would you suggest staying in lane and denying farm or roaming?

Drunk RummateMay 7, 20152 votes

{quoted}

Yeah that's what he did... well guess I just got countered. Would you suggest staying in lane and denying farm or roaming?

You have to take TP and roam against a Nasus lane. He won't be leaving any time soon, and if he rushes down your tower it's a net gain for you since he's very vulnerable to ganks if he comes close to your inner to farm stacks.

Worst case scenario you lose a lot of CS to tower while you roam, but ideally you can get kills from a TP bot and help take their tower + dragon quickly which lets them roam mid and pressure. If Nasus doesn't respond then you guys will steamroll them so hard early game that his strong mid-late is irrelevant.

You literally can't deny him farm once he has armor. Don't waste your time trying. His passive gives him way too much lifesteal, he'll sustain through anything you throw at him and he wins the all in by withering you and disengaging and then fighting you while your ult is on cooldown.

Gandalf010812May 7, 20151 votes

Ok good strategy, thank you, I'll be trying that next time. I need to use Teleport more often I always use Flash and Ignite cus of the easy kills with it.

Ser GarlandMay 7, 20151 votes

At the same time, TPing bot and -not- getting a kill because bot lane is also playing it smart can leave you at a bad advantage, and it's not like having TP will help you kill Nasus any more then you already could.