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Is Nasus a "successful champion"?

gumbus·8/10/2017, 5:17:11 AM·1 votes·558 views

Recently there was a video on the lol youtube channel about what makes a champion successful in the eyes of the devs. Specifically the whole does the champions theme fit their gameplay aspect interested me. For the most part i think riot does a great job at translating a champion's theme in to their gameplay; for example I think Kha'ZixKhazix has a very cool theme in the whole adaptive predator thing (basically a xenomorph but whatever) and it translates really well in to his gameplay with the whole choosing which ability to evolve to adapt to your situation thing.

This brings me to thinking about other champions themes. Now from what i observe NasusNasus was sort of like a "tactician" of sorts for Shurima, or well at least he was a very smart person and used his intellect to assist the Shuriman empire (I sort of think of him like a shuriman version of SwainSwain who surprise is being reworked because of champion identity) Now when you look at Nasus in game you dont really see that as much, other than the arcane bits of his kit like his E and W. For the most part Nasus involves farming, stacking, and then running head first into the enemy and 1-shotting them with Q. Personally i don't see a problem with this as I love insta popping the enemy adc with one siphoning strike; however i can't help but feel it doesn't make sense with who Nasus is. I thought he was supposed to be an ascended Jackal who forced himself into exile for the good of Shurima and the world, a peerless tactician and scholar who was chosen to join the ranks of the ascended. Not a rabid jackal who sprints at the enemy and crushes them with his axe thing. I mean even the official biography states that Nasus' "genius lay not in fighting battles, but in planning them" (http://universe.leagueoflegends.com/en_US/story/champion/nasus/)

Now the dilemma comes with how iconic this playstyle of stacking and carrying late game is. I haven't been playing long but I know that Nasus is one of the oldest champions and many players have become attached to this style. And it certainly should stay. If you suddenly reworked him to fit his champion identity then most players would hate it (players hating a rework of their champion shocking I know).

I know lore is not the primary purpose of league but i just thought that I would discuss it as Nasus is one of the few champions i feel has a large discrepency between his identity and his gameplay. This is my first board post so it might just be a jumbled mess of nerdy text but oh well whatever helps me get my opinion on a champion across.

7 Comments

Escheton8/10/2017, 7:48:56 AM3 votes

Playing Nasus well requires more than just stacking mindlessly. It's about applying map pressure. Even when stacking mindlessly. Because we are all too familiar with Nasus' that got shut down early farming freely a bit and turning into a raidboss. This applies pressure. Both in a timecrunch and map sense.

Nasus is a very Macro champ. With simple micro interactions. It's more about where he shows up than what complicated plays he makes when he gets there.

ssj8Brolykugeta8/10/2017, 5:45:42 AM2 votes

I guess nasus whole theme is patience. Perhaps because it takes patience to gain knowledge but it still doesnt make much sense when you think about it. Especially compared to the other ascended champs.

Tormentula8/10/2017, 7:41:26 AM2 votes

They probably focused more on Nasus's character design "anubis, which is associated with the afterlife or mummification". So he gets stronger the more that die or sends them to the afterlife.

The Shurima lore came after Nasus, his gameplay hasn't changed much since he was released, he was one of the older champions after-all, and I don't recall any major VGU's in Nasus's history aside from a visual update (don't quote me on that).

Like C. Doggo said, his theme probably was stretched to be a theme of patience since the smarter you are so you can get strong, the better your outcome (i.e., the better you are at farming and deciding what fights to take, in comparison to Renekton who just forces fights and butchers through everyone.), but I don't think they translated that into his original gameplay/character design.

Nasus could use an update someday.

KuroCaliber8/10/2017, 3:31:28 PM2 votes

I see it as while renekton is the kind of guy who uses many flashy techniques, nasus just practices his single strike until he masters it.

Something like: I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.

But with weapon skills instead. Nasus just honed the single strike to its maximum destructive power as I see it. Using his w and e to lay out the perfect situation to finish his opponent in a single strike or multiples of the same strike.

Terror138/15/2017, 3:26:40 PM1 votes

No one ever said nasus was a "tactician" infact you put that in quotes when no one ever said it is a little suspicious.

In the original lore Nasus created the ascension ritual and he's been reaping souls for eons, and before ao shin he was the defacto strongest person in the lore besides cho'gath (who arguably still is)

He was always an ancient powerful shurian sorceror and warrior who'd devoured so many souls over eons and was always getting stronger that his power was always viewed as supreme, he was also always seen as far stronger than the emperor, he just didn't rule.

His current mechanics suit him perfectly, as someone who eventually gets so powerful he is insurmountable (it's not like that in game ofcourse cause CC and stuff, but the core theme is still there and it's balanced)