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Overthinking it, playing against Nasus is like a paradoxical hell.

scribbles782·12/25/2017, 1:49:04 AM·27 votes·5,527 views

So let's suppose you're playing against Nasus and he has a really good comp that looks something like this- Nasus Kindred Kennen MissFortune Leona.

Obviously this is an extremely good teamfighting comp, so they can generally fend for themselves.

So now Nasus is farming top lane and laning phase just ended. you're like "Okay I gotta go deny him from stacks, my team can handle themselves 4v4 for 2 mins right?". Then your team fights and everyone dies. You're like "Okay I gotta go help the team fight because we can definitely win 5v4", so you help them and you pick off a kill or 2. Then Nasus has gained ~40 stacks and has Rift, which gets him your Tier 1 tower. Ouch.

This is looking like an issue. You go top to clear minions and push the wave after Nasus backed, but your team gets caught out and 3-4 of them die so you say "OKAY I GOTTA GO HELP THEM". So your team wins a fight once again, but now Nasus has ~50 more stacks and your Tier 2 tower is almsot down, and since Nasus has a lot of stacks you need to send 2 to deal with him. While this happens, the enemy team takes an Infernal Drake.

Now you've finally killed him, but you used a lot of resources to do it and the Tier 2 top tower is standing on its last legs. During this fiasco someone on your team gets caught out and you/the person helping you with Nasus need to back. With 3 of you not there, the enemy team gets Baron, only increasing Nasus' splitpushing power, and since by this time Kindred/Kennen/Miss Fortune (or some mixture of them) are probably fed and doing a lot of damage.

We can just assume that Tier 1 mid and bot tower have been taken with all the won teamfights and such. But now with Baron, Nasus' team is pushing mid as 4, while Nasus is hitting the top inhib tower for 20% of its health with each Q. You send one person to deal with Nasus and the rest of you go mid. The person defending top quickly gets dived by Nasus and he now killed the tower and has eyes on your inhibitor. [Let's just assume you're 30 minutes in at this point]. You are forced to all go down to deal with Nasus or the inhib will get taken down, but now the enemy team has taken mid Tier 2 tower and is quickly pushing for the inhib tower.

Luckily, Baron buff just wore off so they can't finish the inhib tower. Your team 5v1's Nasus and finally kills him. Now that you're all either stil top lane or backing, Nasus' team takes this opportunity to take bot Tier 2 tower AND get a Mountain Drake. Cool, more pushing power. Now Baron is back up, and their whole team is alive. Your team just cowers by your mid/top towers, knowing the enemies are inevitably taking Baron as you speak. Baron gets taken, and now Raid Boss Nasus is going top lane with a ZZ'Rot and Banner of Command, with a gleam in his eye to get that inhibitor. The rest of his team are closing in on mid tower.

Your team is all forced to go top lane to defend the inhib, but it's too late. Nasus killed it in several hits and your team couldn't do anything about it. The rest of his team took the inhib tower mid lane and is now surrounding you. Surrounded by the enemies, Leona stuns 3 people, Miss fortune ults you and you instantly die. The other 2 of you are tracked down by Kindred and Kennen, and only one of you make it out alive. [We'll make it you, the top laner]. All this time Nasus has been pushing bot lane, where he destroyed your inhibitor and is now leaving.

Fortunately, the enemies are relatively low for the most part, and they need to back. Unfortunately, while this was happening, Nasus solo'd another Mountain Drake. Now your team is respawning, and sitting by the Nexus towers because that is the only safety you have. Nasus has 900 stacks now and he is looking for your buttholes. He walks up to the mid inhibitor that has regenerated to full health, and takes it down with 3 sickening Q's. Your team knows this is it. You brace yourselves as the enemies stack up super minions in every lane. Your team is extremely weak and can barely fight them off [Let's just say it's about 50 mins into game now].

Now, Nasus' team is pushing their way into your base. You are all cowering under your only cover, the Nexus towers. Their whole team shows up. Leona throws an ult that only hits one of you. Miss Fortune Q's, does half their health and Nasus Q's and does the rest of it. An Ally Has Been Slain. Now Kennen ults in and stuns 3 of you. Nasus throws down an E, which lasts hits another one of you. Double Kill. Now Leona E's one of your teammates, then Q's them. Nasus Q's them twice and they're dead. Triple Kill. Now it's only you and another teammate left. What will you do now? Kindred jumps in on you two. You almost kill her but she ults and now you can't do anything. As soon as her ult stops Nasus Q's him and he dies. Quadra Kill. Now it's just you.

You frantically try to run away, you have to run towards top lane, the enemy team is finally taking your Nexus Towers now and you have no choice. You go as fast as you can, trying not to die. Then you hear the scariest word of your life. As Nasus raises his hand, he says... "Wither!" It's all ogre now. Your're left running at a snail's pace, while the 1100 stack Nasus is chasing you down top, and the rest of his team is sitting in your base, taunting. You just take your hands off the keyboard/mouse and accept your fate. Pentakill.

After this, which in reality lasted about 20 seconds, or at least a small enough time for Nasus to get a pentakill, his team takes down your Nexus in about 2 seconds flat, while the painful 'Defeat' screen stares you in the face. You reluctantly hit "continue" and enter the end game lobby, where Nasus types "GG EZ" and leaves the lobby. That's enough League for today.

I may have deviated from my title just a little bit... :v

53 Comments

Best Ekko NA12/25/2017, 2:24:58 AM26 votes

People say Nasus is a late game champion but I really don't think he is anymore. Up to about Season 4, he surely was because of the way Masteries were designed (with raw stat power), he could get away with 1v5'ing an enemy team scaling full tank while having damage on his Q. After the switch to the updated masteries and even now with the new runes, Nasus has become much easier for a few people to bring down unless he's extremely ahead (because there's fewer defensive stats gained from the new runes). The later the game gets, the more items the enemies get, and the easier it becomes to bring Nasus down.

In the current meta, I believe Nasus peaks around mid-game (especially with the Q cooldown buff from his ultimate) and generally starts to fall off afterwards, when the enemies start getting more items, if he's unable to carry the game. The best way to beat out Nasus in lane is to just pick someone who has a safe laning phase and can out scale Nasus in the late game. Camille, Jax, Fiora, and Irelia would be good examples of this. Lane bullies can stall out some of Nasus mid game power (Darius, Riven, Renekton, Gnar, Kennen, etc.), but generally don't scale well enough into the late game to continue beating Nasus down 1v1.

Basically to win in the scenario you described, your team would need a champion that can survive Nasus mid game spike, and then out scale him to beat him down 1v1 in the late game.

PaffWasTaken12/25/2017, 6:15:53 AM15 votes

I stopped at "really good comp" mentioning Kindred

General Esdeath 12/25/2017, 7:11:45 AM11 votes

Riot: "Let's encourage Nasus to teamfight by giving him 50% cdr on his Q during ult"

Nasus: "GATES GATES GATES GATES"

DunkinNoobs12/25/2017, 4:04:38 AM8 votes

You don't beat Nasus by trying to deny him all game. You abuse his weak early, beat his team while he's farming, and then peel his ass while continuing to beat his team. Doesn't matter how many stacks Nasus has once his Nexus is destroyed.

Barcid12/25/2017, 6:08:59 AM7 votes

The term you're looking for is "Catch 22", a type of paradox in which there is no technically correct answer to a situation in that all possibilities will come to the same negative outcome.

For example, you have injured your leg. You must go to the hospital to get it treated, but you require the money to do it. So you have to work. But working with an injured leg would damage it further.

Now, we have solutions to this in real life. Taking out a loan or the like. But taking out a loan means you have to pay back the loan so you would go into debt and likely lose some property or have to file bankruptcy, lose credit score, any number of things while you still can't work. You may have fixed your leg in the long run, but you'll have done more long term damage since you will still be waiting on your leg to heal.

But sitting on your ass with a hurt leg also means that you don't make money anyway. So that would cause you to run into the same problem even if it keeps your leg from becoming more damaged.

But you also can't just go in and work with the bad leg and ignore it. You do and now you've caused permanent long term damage to your leg, meaning you can no longer work and now face the same debt as you would have had you just pulled out a loan.

Every answer is wrong.

Playing against Nasus is hell.

Unless you literally stomp him with a hard counter, in which case playing as Nasus is hell.

What a dumb champion...

Ahri Baka12/25/2017, 4:50:04 AM6 votes

But don't forget , if that 4 vs 4 fight without toplaners was lost by Nasus team , then he is one of the most champions that are getting report , so yeah , it depends on the teams too , he can't stay top and stack forever if 4 are pushing mid , also , don't forget Vayne xD his worst nightmare

DapperMole12/25/2017, 2:07:39 AM5 votes

I agree that it's pretty spooky to fight Nasus. Items like bork, lord doms, or mortal reminder can help fight him I suppose. Or a tank like Garen who can shred armor and still tank a lot. It also depends how long you extend the game. If your team has a bunch of early game champs and it's 50 mins in (judging by Nasus's stacks) it's obviously gonna be a buffet for him.

I really enjoyed the story too. <3

P.S: Mention the champs on BOTH teams so we can get a better picture

Yaskamasandwich12/25/2017, 5:25:10 AM3 votes

Nasus used to have been THE late game god but his wither range got nerfed in season 4. This removed any of his capabilities to team fight late game. Nasus' late game is entirely dependant on his team. If he is with a team that can handle a 5v4 situation and own 4v4. He will then become that scary late game god again, since he can split push without a worry. If not then he spikes at mid game then drops. He is a split pushing champion only and can not team fight at all against a competent team. He will just get CCed to death. It doesn't matter how many stacks he has if he can't use them. Towers and inhibs can't escape his wrath so he split pushes only.

Edit: and judging by his team comp, a Leona, Kennen, and most especially Kindred are perfect for a 5v4 or 4v4 situation. Even if your team catches them and attempts to finish them that Kindred ult can delay their team's fall. Top that off with a well timed Kennen ult to delay it even more. Every second counts with 6 item Nasus. That can cost you a lot even the game right then and there if timed out well.

Yaskamasandwich12/25/2017, 11:34:11 PM3 votes

Nasus was late game god not just because of his infinite scaling. It was because his Wither range was long enough to hit the Marksmen while being in the front line. His infinite scaling made it so Marksmen had to worry about Nasus booping them. What Nasus did was what Jax, Olaf, every other melee late game Bruisers did, create a threatening zone. It screwed with Marksmen and even the opposing team's positioning, forcing them to worry where to go. Mean while the Bruiser's Marksmen could start butchering the front line without a worry.

6 item late game Bruisers were more about dealing damage. They brought hard decisions on the enemy team and superior dueling power. If they were left to the carries they woukd crush them. They were also tough as nails and dealt even more damage with 6th item Thornmail, back when it was working. If the enemy team blew CC on them the back line carries would clean up. If CC were blown on the back line carries the Bruisers would clean up. CDR was hard to come by and didn't have damage.

Marksmen had to worry what items to buy sometimes too. Sometimes they had to risk buying a QSS and forgo a GA, risking having no armor and a 2nd life. If both were bought then they would not have enough damage to keep up.

Now that everything has CDR with damage, Mercurial Scimitar, GA with damage, Marksmen gaining more damage, and Thornmail nerfed to the ground, Marksmen class update giving them superior dueling power than Bruisers. All this has made Divers and Juggernauts completely useless late game. Even Olaf who was very famous for being one of the scary 6 item late game Bruisers is now a mid game champion. Forcing Bruisers into mid game has done way more harm to them than good and has destroyed their core designs. They no longer have their strategies they brought to the table.

T4underbolt12/25/2017, 6:03:05 AM2 votes

Well nasus hits late game now after 150 stacks. Thanks to unnessecery buff that gave him 50% cd reduction on q with ult you cant even 1v2 him once he gets those stacks and its not even hard to get that few.

Vapor Wave Vibes12/25/2017, 2:04:02 AM2 votes

You can teleport down, and if these fights are in mid lane it's not a far walk. You should be hanging out in the enemy jg unless you think at some point you can dive nasus. Really you should put what champion you would typically be playing for better advice.

TheDevice12/26/2017, 5:54:50 PM1 votes

I'm actually 100% sick of nasus. His entire kit needs to be reworked. You should not be allowed to have that much teamfight presence, that much split push presence, that much infinite scaling / late game presence, and that much control over every single game played. If enemy team can't all magically become some premade team and know exactly how to beat him.. you lose. Thats bull.

You can't do anything to stop his farming. You can't. Your ENTIRE team needs to know exactly how to beat him. How to counter-pick him (not just top). Your entire team needs a group effort to close game early, to put intense pressure on nasus, hindering other lanes from your own jg presence. If you don't throw all your effort into thwarting nasus... you lose. Naturally, 90% of the fucking time (and all low-elo players know this which is why they pick the fucker in the first place) the teams will be unorganized and less understanding. So they just win. Just wins with this bs ez mode as;ofkdajsl;dfjas;ldfj;askjdfglakjjk

BTW; top-lane countering nasus is a JOKE. Even IF you get a kill on him in lane it means NOTHING. He just wants to farm anyway. And he will do. All he may need is just a little pressure from his jg and he'll get it because the JG already fucking knows the nasus is going to carry his team because the champ is bullshit. Even if you counter him... you do nothing. You don't shut him down. He just farms. FARMS. FARMS. FARMS. What, he can't farm under tower? All you nasus mains tell me: can you farm under tower? Yes? Then you don't have a counter. Thanks.

Villainous V12/25/2017, 7:47:34 AM1 votes

Pick a tank. Sure, you wont be able to kill nasus or deny him stacks at all, but what's a 500 stack nasus going to do when he's cc'd for eternity by a nautilus. who's using locket to give the adc a 700hp shield?

Absoluence12/25/2017, 8:06:58 AM1 votes

Nasus is noob. The stronger the nasus, the bigger the ego, the more you find him alone and isolated. gg

RocketRelm12/25/2017, 11:53:22 AM1 votes

I think the main issue is whoever on your team keeps donating kills to them. The story mostly amounts to "this dude on my team has no map awareness and keeps Inting into the enemy team, and then my team lost the 3v4 after", but that's not specific to nasus. Any time you have somebody consistently donating kills, all other things equal, it's going to suck for you.

Blåbæret12/25/2017, 12:00:53 PM1 votes

People don't realize that Nasus can't teamfight. He's useless if he tries.

AR URF12/25/2017, 12:48:37 PM1 votes

typing takes to much effort. I'd rather just spam taunts/laughs and my mastery rank.

R7 Factor12/25/2017, 5:56:24 PM1 votes

Force him to rage quit with Teemo Darius Pantheon

Or just beat the shit out of him late game with Jax Tryndamere

Or pick Maokai or Nautilus and win every teamfight anyways

Cerbearus12/25/2017, 6:55:27 PM1 votes

You mean there are games longer than 20-25 minutes?

Sasogwa12/25/2017, 7:06:12 PM1 votes

honestly what you described is a team unable to make a decision and put pressure on the map, a team that keeps running at his opponents accross map getting nothing done while the other team rotates well and takes objectives whenever they can. At that point, Nasus isn't the only problem. you (as a team)

  1. didn't stop him from stacking
  2. didn't group efficiently and beat the other team 5v4
  3. didn't get enough objectives
  4. weren't decisive in your choices (oh we came but the inhib was already down. Well was it worth it? could you have gone in sooner? could you have contested sthg else in the meantime?)
Arakadia12/25/2017, 8:52:03 PM1 votes

Why not just >kill nasus>4v5 and win fight

Harden Stepback12/26/2017, 4:42:00 AM1 votes

take a lane bully, call the jungle and dive him level 2.