Nasus is a terribly designed champion

Cµpcakke·Aug 16, 2018·64 votes·13,950 views

You can't beat a Nasus, you cant stop him from stacking because of how stubborn they are, if you do manage to bully him and make him loose out on farm you will just have to waste your lead in lane or following nasus around making sure he doesnt stack, and if you dont he will just free farm. You cannot 1v1 him besides late game Fiora, you literally need your whole team to come and stop him if he is a head since his damage output and tankiness is absurd.

I cant be the only one who sees this, and unless you pick with you have no hope of stopping him late. and every nasus main bans quinn [sg-ahri-1]

141 Comments

saltranAug 16, 201858 votes

Nasus lategame is actually worse than his midgame if the enemy team has an adc imo.

I dont think that he's broken but I have to agree that he's too outdated and needs major tweaks, not simple buffs or nerfs.

SalsonAug 16, 20184 votes

Yup, the go-to strategy to beat Nasus is going bot and snowballing your Adc, though mages like Anivia work as well.

Still, it's annoying for both the toplaner who has to play a sidekick, and the 4 poor guys on the enemy team who will find themselves outnumbered a quite a bit more than tolerable.

Corrupt BlissAug 16, 20185 votes

Play Jax or Trundle. Both go very well into Nasus, and can even contest solo objectives late-game.

SalsonAug 16, 20184 votes

Interesting, but nah. I'd rather go Keld and Panth with Ignite, go for early kills, then make ult plays around the map.

More often than not, I'm 'rewarded' with the enemy team flaming Nasus in all-chat.

Corrupt BlissAug 16, 20183 votes

Another solid strategy. There are lots of ways to beat Nasus.

I just don't find him a dominating unbeatable threat as OP says. I find Master Doggo quite the opposite.

VerxintAug 16, 20186 votes

"____ champion is weak early but you have to gank them to punish it"

I legit never understood why people unironically think this is okay.

If they're weak early game, why do I need to outnumber them to beat them? That sure isn't weak to me.

SennaFirstPickAug 16, 20182 votes

because if u gank a strong early game champ, like renek or darius, there are chances that he gets a double, and if a strong early game gets a double early game, u know for sure hes gonna take it again, and again, and a triple since the mid joins in

BeepBoop78Aug 17, 20182 votes

{quoted}

Yup, the go-to strategy to beat Nasus is going bot and snowballing your Adc, though mages like Anivia work as well.

Still, it's annoying for both the toplaner who has to play a sidekick, and the 4 poor guys on the enemy team who will find themselves outnumbered a quite a bit more than tolerable.

upvote for anivia positivity

YumaS2AstralAug 16, 20181 votes

{quoted}

Nasus lategame is actually worse than his midgame if the enemy team has an adc imo.

I dont think that he's broken but I have to agree that he's too outdated and needs major tweaks, not simple buffs or nerfs.

I don't undertstand this. People say that Nasus has a bad late game, yet people also say that the big majority of games don't reach late game.

saltranAug 16, 20182 votes

Both statements are true: Nasus is too easily kited and doesn't matter that he murders any melee with 2 Q's becuse the enemy adc kills him first from range and also majority of the soloQ games dont reach lategame.

Rabbi ShekelbergAug 16, 201822 votes

Nasus is horribly designed because there is literally zero mechanical counterplay to his kit, instead his 'counterplay' is fuck up your team comp and bully the shit out of him early

Madsin25Aug 16, 20186 votes

Not true at all. He is so easy to counter it is actually funny.

I don't main him btw I use to think exactly like you do, just saying.

Why do you think they had to buff him to ridiculous levels over the past year or so?

Because he is so easy to counter.

SalsonAug 16, 20183 votes

Nasus is horribly designed because there is literally zero mechanical counterplay to his kit

The comment is accurate and what makes him obnoxious to fight.

You beat Nasus by bullying him and roaming. He can't help with invades and counter-invades, not gank mid/bot very well.

The obnoxious part is that Nasus simply auto-wins based on your, and your teams, performance. You play well, he loses. You make a mistake, and he wins, with pretty much no effort on his part.

Teridax68Aug 16, 201811 votes

Indeed. The problem here is that Nasus did have some strategic counterplay prior to Runes Reforged, because prior to then he was legitimately weak early and, under most circumstances (not all, though), he could be bullied severely and have his scaling meaningfully delayed. Come Season 8, however, Nasus becomes virtually impossible to dislodge from lane past level 2, and now his only saving grace is that he no longer scales all that well late, because he gets kited to hell. He needs a rework, and at the very least some rebalancing so that he offers some chance of being kicked out of lane early.

dunder killAug 16, 201817 votes

Why does every single champ that people lost to last game become "unhealthy" or "toxic"? He's a split pusher. Learn how to play around split pushers. Nasus is strong in 1v1s but is trashcan tier in large groups. He would be a completely useless champ if he sucked ass in 1v1s as a splitpusher and was useless in teamfights. It's not "unhealthy". Its not a "poor design". Its a design with obvious strengths and weaknesses. If Nasus wants to afk in a side lane you need to push your numbers advantage elsewhere. Guess what? Nasus cant take towers faster than 5 people on your team can. Force him to react. Deny his vision. Start a baron. Start sieging some towers. Try learning how to play the game actually instead of making up shitty excuses

But people dont give a fuck. They dont want to actually improve. They dont want to figure out what they could have done better. They just want to bitch about whatever they lost to last game

CppLAug 16, 20189 votes

{quoted}

Why does every single champ that people lost to last game become "unhealthy" or "toxic"? He's a split pusher. Learn how to play around split pushers. Nasus is strong in 1v1s but is trashcan tier in large groups. He would be a completely useless champ if he sucked ass in 1v1s as a splitpusher and was useless in teamfights. It's not "unhealthy". Its not a "poor design". Its a design with obvious strengths and weaknesses. If Nasus wants to afk in a side lane you need to push your numbers advantage elsewhere. Guess what? Nasus cant take towers faster than 5 people on your team can. Force him to react. Deny his vision. Start a baron. Start sieging some towers. Try learning how to play the game actually instead of making up shitty excuses

But people dont give a fuck. They dont want to actually improve. They dont want to figure out what they could have done better. They just want to bitch about whatever they lost to last game

Actually he can.Mid game if had enough stacks he can kill turet in like 2-3 Q.Late game he can almost 1 shot turet.

dunder killAug 16, 201811 votes

No, actually he cant. These are the people who upvote and downvote the threads on this board for Riot to see. People who actually think Nasus will win a base race against 5 people. This cant be real life.

JanakinAug 16, 201811 votes

Ez pz for most of the backline bot laners, just peel for adc and nasus is done. No idea how this post got upvoted so much. Vayne Nami Caitlyn Janna Varus Lulu Jinx Leona Draven Thresh

ValiantKillerAug 16, 20183 votes

{quoted}

Ez pz for most of the backline bot laners, just peel for adc and nasus is done. No idea how this post got upvoted so much.

Cause he talking about how it annoying to leave him in lane to farm freely to help your team.

Cause most of times you are forced to leave lane to help your team if they are behind and you are ahead in term of carrying, but cause your team super weak and you trying to help them you are forced between two hell either to stay with nasus and stop him from farming then lose game cause weak team you can't carry cause you stuck top or you to move to help your team with chance of 50 -50 that you going to help or die with them depend on how fed the other team while in same time leaving nasus to free farm till he scale.

Honestly it the same problem with Tryndamere you win lane, you push him out lane and you able to secure two towers but cause your team super weak you can't close from staying top cause Nasus or Tryn will safe farm with help from their jungler and if you moved to help team there the 50-50 chance of winning or failing which lead the split pusher to win hard and scale if you failed to close it as team.

JanakinAug 16, 20183 votes

There are 2 main counter plays against nasus:

win the game before he gets stacked
dont allow him to get stacked

And if either of these fails and he gets strong then one of these happens: He joins team-fights: in that case, rely on your backline who should handle him pretty easily since he has no mobility, invisibility, stun or some shit (which is actually 3rd counter play).

He keeps split-pushing: in this case, it is a typical split-pusher problem, that is the same for trynda, nasus, yorick and more.

No matter what, the problem is not with nasus as a champion.

(I am not nasus main, nor his fan)

ValiantKillerAug 16, 20182 votes

{quoted}

There are 2 main counter plays against nasus:

win the game before he gets stacked

dont allow him to get stacked

And if either of these fails and he gets strong then one of these happens: He joins team-fights: in that case, rely on your backline who should handle him pretty easily since he has no mobility, invisibility, stun or some shit (which is actually 3rd counter play).

He keeps split-pushing: in this case, it is a typical split-pusher problem, that is the same for trynda, nasus, yorick and more.

No matter what, the problem is not with nasus as a champion.

(I am not nasus main, nor his fan)

It easy to say hard to do special with 4 random people who think they are smart kids, that why you won't find problem with him in pro play cause the premade think but god it aweful to play against him in solo queue. Tell me how many times you saw a damn adc of yours just move with their own feet to nasus hand ? Sure it happen many times.

JanakinAug 16, 20184 votes

Of course, macro game is always hard in soloQ, that's why split-push itself is an OP soloQ strategy. But blaming nasus from it? That just sounds ... weird ... to me.

I stopped playing soloQ this season, as the game became shit for me (especially for someone who mains champs like me), but before that, I've been at diamond elo for over 2 years, so I can't say I remember that bad adcs that would just jump into nasus.

ValiantKillerAug 16, 20182 votes

{quoted}

Of course, macro game is always hard in soloQ, that's why split-push itself is an OP soloQ strategy. But blaming nasus from it? That just sounds ... weird ... to me.

I stopped playing soloQ this season, as the game became shit for me (especially for someone who mains champs like me), but before that, I've been at diamond elo for over 2 years, so I can't say I remember that bad adcs that would just jump into nasus.

I know how it feel to main something you like and playing it just act as hell.

EedatAug 16, 20183 votes

Because literally every champion has a 'toxic zero counterplay kit' according to this board.

JanakinAug 16, 20184 votes

I mean I understand yasuo, zoe, rengar or something, but nasus? Come on ...

saltranAug 16, 20182 votes

He's a poor and inocent doge.

Summonah12369Aug 16, 20189 votes

With the whole stacking thing and him being a stack which makes him do more dmg... isn't that wrong? Riot says that the more tanky you are the less dmg you can do. Doesn't Nasus break that rule with stacks?

DuskDaUmbreonAug 16, 20187 votes

Nasus loses at late-game, due to peel being a thing.

He's strong, but just don't feed the shit out of him and he actually starts to become pretty useless once you get item 3033 .

WeedlayerAug 16, 20187 votes

I mean yeah, he's just a worse trynd. You can't 1v1 him, he's bad in teamfights, a bit stronger midgame but that's basically it. You counter him by forcing objectives like baron or 5v4 fights and if he shows up just keep him slowed or snared while your ADC kills him. The main reason he's worse than trynd is 0 mobility splitpushers just get 3-5 man collapsed and can't escape. Meanwhile half the time trynd can just run away from 5 people because of his ult and stupid spin.

Kai GuyAug 16, 20185 votes

I am curious if you know the Dev who made Nasus and I also kind of want to Blatantly lie and see how many people I can incorrectly get to think it was CT.

dunder killAug 16, 20182 votes

Riot Ezreal was lead designer

ZardoAug 16, 20185 votes

Here's what I hate about nasus

Levels 1-5: You have to kill nasus at least once. If you don't, when he gets R and sheen he wins almost every single 1v1 in the entire game minus a few because of his stupid W and sheen procs off CD. It's pretty easy to kill him levels 1-5, it just sucks that you absolutely have to put him super far behind in order to delay him winning the 1v1.

Mid game- Even if you manage to murder him over and over during the early game, there's just a point in the game where you will never be able to 1v1 him.

That being said, he just feels like a weaker version of tryndamere to me. Trynd has his "you can't 1v1 me" button, as well as a gapcloser to oneshot anyone who isn't a tank. He can also cheese win his lane early with his stupid crit chance.

Madsin25Aug 16, 20184 votes

People don't seem to understand that nasus relies on a SLOW to get to you. He has no MS boost, no dash.

Slows are one of the most easily counterable things in the game.

BlåbæretAug 16, 20184 votes

Nasus is garbage right now lmao.

ValiantKillerAug 16, 20182 votes

{quoted}

Nasus is garbage right now lmao.

garbage cause game doesn't last long, but as garen and yorick problem in low elo game last for long and he scale like monster.

La BelloAug 16, 20184 votes

I think Riot should rework his passive completely and add a AD scaling heal to siphoning strike a bit akin to Yorick Q.

This forces Nasus to spend Mana to sustain himself in lane which I think makes him more manageable
for the Nasus player Siphoning Strike is really the only time the passive feels visceral so this change would feel natural
By making it scale with AD you force proper Juggernaut builds involving Steraks/DeathsDance/GA ect rather than TriForce+ 5 full tank items where Nasus is completely unkillable and just wings off his insane stack amount.

as for a new passive idk. Maybe like "Nasus steals 20% of nearby enemies lifesteal and incoming heals" would be a more round-a-bout approach to wanting a draintank dog while also rewarding him for getting in the thick of it.

DragonSheaAug 16, 20183 votes

JUGGERNAUT BITCH!

No seriously, dude is immobile and simple so having that is his main defense alongside his LS.

Summonah12369Aug 16, 20182 votes

Nasus item 3070 Jk I don't play Nasus.

Jerry SeinfeIdAug 16, 20182 votes

auto him, walk away, auto him, walk away, auto him, walk away.

Frosted TipsAug 16, 20183 votes

Die to wither and be forced to get a qss and he has life steal and can out life steal your damage so be forced to buy a grievous wounds item too wow nice like 2k+ gold I have to spend nice, fun, great design.

Jerry SeinfeIdAug 16, 20182 votes

{quoted}

Die to wither and be forced to get a qss and he has life steal and can out life steal your damage so be forced to buy a grievous wounds item too wow nice like 2k+ gold I have to spend nice, fun, great design.

So you dash away. If you picked a champ without dash in this meta without a 5 man premade to peel for you, that's on you ma guy.

You're giving nasus the best case scenario. As if he's never allowed to do that. Tell me what champ feels so good to play against when they get all their winconditions?

Handy Sandy Aug 16, 20181 votes

You just described a terribly designed champion. The only counterplay is "Get 4 other people to commit to one champion, most likely in voice chat, to perfectly peel for you."

The best case scenario you described is 99% of games. If it's that easy to meet all your win conditions then something's wrong. Most games it feels extremely unfair for the Nasus, or for the other team. Not much in between.

Take a look at someone imo is designed better: Illaoi . She thrives on mistakes, but if you know how to play against her you should win. It takes still and knowledge to actually kill her.

Jerry SeinfeIdAug 16, 20184 votes

{quoted}

You just described a terribly designed champion. The only counterplay is "Get 4 other people to commit to one champion, most likely in voice chat, to perfectly peel for you."

The best case scenario you described is 99% of games. If it's that easy to meet all your win conditions then something's wrong. Most games it feels extremely unfair for the Nasus, or for the other team. Not much in between.

Take a look at someone imo is designed better: . She thrives on mistakes, but if you know how to play against her you should win. It takes still and knowledge to actually kill her.

no, no, no don't twist my words.

If you picked a champ without dash in this meta without a 5 man premade to peel for you, that's on you ma guy

At no point did i even say this was exclusive to nasus, i refer to the current meta as a whole. Nasus isn't even one of the top meta picks rn afaik.

IF you pick anything like jinx, kog or varus that has no burst and no mobility you're gonna suffer unless your team manages to peel for you. That's not gonna happen for the average player.

IF it's just for nasus: Give me a leona or nautilus who knows what they're doing and i'll shit on him as jinx. take that peel away and he runs me down.

Good thing illaoi is such a great design, autowin if the enemy team can't run, auto lose if they can.... Oh wait that sounds like nasus so that means he's pretty solid design i guess. Not to mention her annoying ass laning phase.

QsoloProAug 16, 20181 votes

He slows you, than 1 shots you, good luck with walking away.

Jerry SeinfeIdAug 16, 20182 votes

{quoted}

He slows you, than 1 shots you, good luck with walking away.

why are you 1v1ing him then?

Lil Homie bustaAug 16, 20182 votes

Unfortunately, yes. He has a cool aesthetic design, his VO is perfect and his SFXs are too, but all of that can't compensate for his flat boring gameplay.

RagnaveilAug 16, 20182 votes

He's a champion of a bygone era, just like Tryndamere. Heck, exactly like Tryndamere. All these two need are just mini reworks. And Trynd needs a VGU on top of a mini rework because...just take a look at Highlander's model and tell me why I need a twisted pencil arm. Both of these two are statchecks, just like Aatrox, who just got bindumped with ideas that work, and dont work at the same time.

RookPusherAug 16, 20182 votes

item 3036

TraujaAug 16, 20182 votes

at least with nasus you can do something by denying him stacks early game, but what do you even try to do vs an illaoi? Strong in lane, almost immune to ganks ( if R up ) and best juggernaut ever lategame, one R and all will die. How do you even counter that?

Frosted TipsAug 16, 20182 votes

I'm not saying she is well designed either but she can't take towers that fast so leaving her alone top for like 20 seconds doesn't mean she gets 2 towers like Nasus would.