Riot, if you ever rework Nasus, look here first.
If you wish to skip the introduction of this and go straight to the rework (not recommended), ctrl + f "THE REWORK" and match case.
Nasus is a pretty big fall man right now. Many people believe him overpowered, but many of these same people don't understand what makes him weak and how to play against him. He can be very frustrating to go against for inexperienced people.
That isn't to say that he doesn't have some extremely powerful aspects to his kit because he definitely does, but that has more to do with his inability to deal with certain situations. In other words, he just has massive power in his kit for no reason other than he's very beatable.
So in this rework, I will look to address some of his hidden power, while also attempting to make him a little more consistent and giving him maybe an extra build path. Keep in mind, Nasus is actually my favorite character, I'm not trying to destroy him at all, and will be able to accurately represent his numbers.
Currently Nasus has these personal problems Extremely weak early levels 1-5 that can perpetuate if shut down hard enough throughout the rest of the game. Crippling mana issues. Level 5 Spirit Fire costs 130 mana...ouch. Very bad late/end game (in team fights...his split pushing is still god) because he gets team-kited harder than basically anyone. Utter dependence on maxing out CDR as fast as possible which pigeonholes his itemization a bit.
Nasus also has these problems to go against If you're auto attack based without some way of mitigating slows, you're completely screwed. If you don't sit on top of him with a character that beats him, you basically lose the lane and he pushes everything over. Built-in life steal (I'll go more into this when talking about his ultimate) can make him hard to bully out of lane. Hidden power for days upon days that makes it really hard to gauge what he's capable of unless you know the numbers outright. 110 free bonus damage just for maxing out Q, Spirit fire shredding 40 flat armor, Ult gives him bonus AD based on damage dealt (up to the point where it's potentially the most powerul AD steroid in the game at 300)
Goals of this rework: -Make him a better team fighter. -Make him more of a fighter than a tank. -Tone down the rewards for him split pushing. -Lower his reliance on CDR to do his job. -Give him clearer periods of weakness. -Move his mana costs around a bit so when he's in a difficult situation, he can still at least get money, but maybe cause him a bit more of a problem if he's stacking super hard. -Lower his hidden power, but increase his visible power.
Things this rework will not do -Give him a dash ability to perpetuate mobility creep. -Remove his sustain. -Remove his infinite stacking.
THE REWORK
Passive: Soul Eater Nasus gains 5/10/15% innate life steal and heals for 3/4/5% of all damage he dealt to a unit in the past 10 seconds when it dies. If he strikes the killing blow, he is instead healed for 6/8/10% of the damage he has dealt to that unit in the past 10 seconds, this amount does not count for overdamaging a unit, for example if he deals 800 burst damage to a unit with 100 health, he will only heal based on the 100 health. Life steal functions as normal.
Context: I have lowered the raw life stealing aspect of his passive in favor of having a new mechanic that is similar in nature to Trundle's passive. Sort of a retroactive life steal/spell vamp that has a time window. This way, he's rewarded with sustain for farming, but if he really wants to get HP back, he has to deal more damage to the unit to get his life back. Also, in a very protracted battle, some of this bonus healing will be lost to time.
Q: Siphoning Strike Toggle Cost: 20 mana per auto attack Nasus deals 10/15/20/25/30 bonus damage on every auto attack at the cost of mana. If he deals the killing blow on a unit, Siphoning Strike gains 1 permanent damage (2 on large minions, monsters, bosses, and champions). The attack can critically strike, but the bonus damage is not affected by critical damage. This damage can also affect buildings, but only at 20/30/40/50/60% effect.
Context: When Nasus currently has 40% CDR and a Trinity Force, he can Siphoning Strike every 3rd auto attack. I have in essence tripled the mana cost, but at the same time have given Nasus a new alternative with an attack speed build and lowered his reliance on CDR to stack. It's a trade-off, but each wave can only give 6-8 damage now instead of when he has 40% CDR the potential for each wave to give 18-24. I realize at the same time that it lowers his synergy with Trinity Force which I will admit is somewhat intentional, but he had to give somewhere, and this was my first target. He can still infinitely stack, but he pays more for it, and loses some of his innate Trinity Force power (something I'll give back a little in his ultimate). It also makes it so it's not so imperative to rush to level the skill as he can leave 1 point in it and stack at the same speed as 5 points, he just misses out on the ability to rapidly damage turrets and some inherent base damage.
W: Wither Cost: 100 mana - Cooldown 22/20/18/16/14 For 5 seconds, Nasus emits a 700 range draining aura that steals speed from nearby champions. Every second, he steals 4/5/6/7/8% of a champion's movement speed and 2/2.5/3/3.5/4% of a champion's attack speed and adds half the amount to himself. If there is only 1 enemy champion present in his aura, the effect is doubled. Nasus loses all bonuses gained at the end of the 5 seconds.
Context: Okay, Wither is strong. Like...Really strong currently, but it only serves as an oppressive dueling tool for Nasus. Sure, he can try to run in and slap the enemy ADC with the crippling debuff, but if they're positioned properly, he's never getting there. This change to Wither aims to fix that pattern where if he has to run through the enemy team, he gets faster and faster as he debuffs them all. They can then attempt to scatter, but that could leave the enemy alone while his team closes in for the kill. It also synergizes well with the toggled Siphoning Strike because he's stealing attack speed and adding it to himself. I tried to leave in a good dueling aspect for him too where it doubles if there's only 1 champion target. I've also given it a 25% higher mana cost and higher cool down to give his opponents a larger window to punish or escape from him.
E: Spirit Fire Cost: 50/60/70/80/90 - Cooldown: 12 seconds - Area of Effect: 550 Nasus lays down a burning circle of land for 5 seconds that deals 25/40/55/70 damage per second and increases his damage by 10/12/14/16/18% to targets in the area. If Nasus is also standing on Spirit Fire's area, Spirit Fire's own damage is increased by the %, but not otherwise.
Context: Mana cost heavily lowered at the cost of the up-front burst damage, but remember, Nasus now heals for a % of the damage he deals to an enemy over time when it dies, so Spirit Fire can now be used as a relatively reliable and less expensive farming tool in a hard lane, even if he can't Siphoning Strike minions to death, he will be better suited to facing off against opponents. It also serves as a small battlefield where he can turn the odds in his favor if his opponents decide to fight on it. Spirit Fire itself will only benefit from its increased damage if Nasus is standing on it, meaning he doesn't just get to deal huge damage with it if he throws it and walks away. It does not however increase the damage of his teammates like it currently does anymore.
R: Fury of the Sands Cost: 100 Mana - Cooldown: 120/110/100 seconds Nasus becomes empowered for 12 seconds gaining a 400/550/700 damage shield. During this time, Fury of the Sands is replaced by a 2 second static cooldown ability called Pulse. Pulse deals 8/10/12%(+1.5% per 100 AP) of nearby opponents' HP in magic damage (capped at 400 for monsters), Fury of the Sands emits one pulse automatically upon cast. This counts as a spell cast for all intents and purposes including Sheen, Tear of the Goddess, Maokai's Passive, and Kassadin's E.
Context: I wanted to keep a good way to proc Sheen on Nasus since it's such a core item to his identity, but at the same time, I want him to be at least somewhat susceptible to CC so that he can't just sit there while Stunned or Suppressed and still deal huge amounts of damage around him for free. He also gets the 240 damage cap removed because it's no longer a gigantic AD steroid and instead of leaving him with a bunch of free health at the end, he gets a significantly larger shield instead. This also allowed me to lower the base CD at higher levels. Also, with the removal of the AD steroid, it allowed me to increase the amount of damage it deals overall because he loses effectiveness on his life steal.
Anyway, Don't hate me too much for this. Remember, I'm functionally a Nasus main, so none of this is intended as a nerf. I -REALLY- tried hard to redistribute his power evenly through his kit while removing some of the more frustrating aspects and keeping his core identity in place. Besides, this is all conceptual and where I'd like to see the character go if they considered a rework.