Nasus; late game.

Saeia··2 votes·606 views

With so many nerfs aimed at champions commonly played in higher elos and competitive play, I feel like some ridiculous champ designs are being overlooked. My example at the moment, being Nasus.

Now I don't feel like Nasus deserves a ban over many other champions, because others are far worse on a much more consistent basis; but that shouldn't excuse his design being overlooked, in my opinion. I believe in the 'jack of all trades' or 'master of one (or two)' idea, except Nasus is able to tick the box of 'master of all'. I know one can shut him down early game, but as long as you're unable to close out that same game fast enough— you're forced to deal with him in the late phase regardless. How many tanks are there, that're able to soak up so much damage, while having the ability to slow a carry up to stupendous amounts that lasts a very forgiving 5 seconds on top of which, while potentially one or two-shotting them if he's farmed his Q up semi-decently? He just does everything exceptionally well if a game continues on long enough.

I'm aware ADCs such as Vayne work very well against him (I was in a game with a Lucian, who sadly can't shred as well); but am I the only one who feels as though he's able to do everything a bit too well, late game?

11 Comments

xl Kirito lx4 votes

Nasus actually falls off late game. It's how strong his mid-game is. Effectively, he's a tank that builds 1 damage item and then full tank, while having respectable damage output. The exact same as Darius, Garen, Illaoi, or any other cleaver tank. With the main difference being that they all have a stronger laning phase then him.

The biggest thing Nasus offers is his splitpushing potential, since he can duel well, just not teamfight as well. Which, isn't as viable an option in S6, without wards. Nasus is in a fine position, maybe on the weak side a bit.

Cowgirl Ed1 votes

This. Nasus is not late-game champ, unless enemies' brains are MIA

Saeia1 votes

See, I'm used to agreeing with your position (and tend to tell people the same) and I still mostly do. But, ah, maybe it's just how my last game against him went. He would be in teamfights and they'd win because of it. As Elise, I would try to lock him down with an E for starters and I'd jump on the ADC or even their mid to make sure those couldn't get my ADC (Lucian) down, while he tried to burn Nasus and we simply couldn't do it. Even if I'd be able to down both of their carries before one of ours dropped to Nasus, he would just clean up because of the 800-900 stacks he had, it was pretty much a one shot with Q + an auto.

Perhaps I just missed something, but I simply couldn't get those teamfights to turn in our favor at one point (we ended up losing at 40 minutes in, the enemy team truly 'carried' by Nasus). Even if I'd lock down a carry and aid in focusing him-- perhaps it was our comp that faltered? Should there have been a split push to separate him entirely, despite that being his 'strong' suit?

I know it's a lack on my end or my team's, but I didn't see a way in that specific game to properly turn matters back around. In case it may help, it was Luc/Leo/LB/Malph/Elise on our team, with Ashe/Morg/Yas/Nasus/Voli on theirs.

I feel like I'm missing the most obvious thing, haha.

Sneakyy XD2 votes

{quoted}

800-900 stacks

Well there's your problem. If your team were in a position to win, there is no excuse to give him that many stacks.

Saeia1 votes

{quoted}

Well there's your problem. If your team were in a position to win, there is no excuse to give him that many stacks.

Yeah, figured. We had a very strong early game, but I suppose I should've kept a closer eye on him past that point, despite the notes that I needn't come top anymore (which is my own fault entirely for listening). But I feel like at that point, when he's so far with his stacks and actually does a lot of damage to carries while pretty much being full tank— it's difficult to shut him down if he's right in the center of your team. That's the point when I struggle and am not sure how to proceed.

xl Kirito lx1 votes

Actually, yeah it does. I've spent 5 minutes trying to pull up the match, couldn't find it lol. Without seeing the game, I'm assuming that Leblanc and Malphite tried to dive, maybe Leona also. Ideally, Malphite would Q spam Nasus for the slow, and leblanc might just double chain him, espcially if he's that far ahead. Problem being, they have good CC / pick from Ashe/Morg, and Morg really helps to hide Nasus's weaknesses.

The other thing being, you kind of needed Lucian to be relatively fed, and have a Mortal Reminder and QSS by that point. He's the only one who has enough sustained DPS to deal with Nasus.

Saeia1 votes

I did a move back from the EUW servers to NA 2 days ago, which may be why stuff isn't showing up properly. But yes, you pretty much described the events as they played out, except Leona more so focused on trying to peel for our Lucian, who was focused pretty hard CC-wise (which is what let me jump onto their back line).

And that was also a problem, he wasn't fed enough to counter the Nasus when it was needed most, he did pick up (I checked the history for a moment) a QSS towards the end of the game, along with a Lord Dominik's Regards instead of a Mortal Reminder-- but he also was taken out of the fight too quickly. I think our major mistake was with me, I needed to continue the pressure on Nasus well into mid-game when he still laned, instead of trusting it enough to leave him against Malph on his own. I know how to counter him early on, it's just a pain to get him down when he actually does get up there somehow.

Thank you for responding as you could, by the way, I'll keep all that in mind. At the end of the line, I'm here to learn, so I appreciate any criticism or advice!

MLDzXnRRR2 votes

He can use Q once before he gets melted lategame. That's why he doesn't teamfight and just tries to backdoor.

mogonk1 votes

Late game? Group and push down mid. If he tries to teamfight, kite him and kill him. If he splitpushes, knock over towers and then have your top lane tank tp to stop him.

Easy.

Girard1 votes

Vayne Chogath Olaf Garen Darius Malphite Nasus has his counters but you should never let him become that much of a problem in the first place. Once you get him going, it's insanely hard to stop him. Like Zed or Vayne.

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