Nasus: what do I do against him?

1 Wing·1/5/2015, 5:36:30 AM·1 votes·2,648 views

I figured Vlad would be a pretty good counter pick against him. But even though Nasus died before he could complete his specter's cowl, and my jungler came in and killed him, and we took his tower, Nasus was still able to stack at >15 stacks a minute. I might as well had been playing any other champ against him!

Nasus: what am I supposed to do to fight him? Especially when the enemy team first picks Nasus, it seems like there should be a simple counter for fighting him.

15 Comments

Grouchy Poro1/5/2015, 6:20:18 PM2 votes

You don't let him farm. Don't push up; freeze the lane and every time he shows his face if you can (meaning you picked a champion that can chunk him out and fight him) beat his buns into the ground. Your mistake was taking his turret so he could freefarm in safety.

EndlessSorcerer1/5/2015, 5:48:22 AM1 votes

There are many, many threads on this exact topic. You should probably go through those first instead of making your own. Stealing a previous response of mine from another thread because I can't be bothered to keep retyping this stuff.

I'm honestly not sure trading early is the best bet. I like playing Nasus and I usually open myself up to an early trade at level 1 to trick my opponents into shoving the wave towards my tower. If they do any AoE damage or autoattack me (and draw minion aggro) I can proceed to farm under my tower for a while while the enemy is overextended and gankable. When I played against Nasus, I would usually place myself in a position where he would autoattack me (if he was stupid) or intentionally miss a couple CS in the first wave to make it start pushing toward my tower, where I could safely zone Nasus.

I will recommend building durability against Nasus. His Q can hit really hard after he gets some stacks and/or sheen but he doesn't really get any armor penetration (except for his E), so it can really help you trade against him.

Honestly, the worst matchup I had in top lane was against a Darius who built Brutalizer -> Giant's Cape and/or Chain Vest -> Black Cleaver. He could hurt me no matter how much armor and health I had, I couldn't fight him straight-up at any point, and he could easily freeze the minion wave and zone me.

Who do you usually take against Nasus anyways? I find that champions I have the most issues against, assuming they know how to play the matchup, are: Olaf Akali Darius DrMundo Gragas Mordekaiser Shen

Ironclad Dragon1/5/2015, 5:59:38 AM1 votes

Nasus is the thing Sion and Malphite pretend to be.

Leti the Yeti1/5/2015, 6:26:30 AM1 votes

dont push the lane, tats pretty much it

insaiyanbacca1/5/2015, 6:30:37 AM1 votes

darius, olaf, quinn

soccerdude971/5/2015, 6:56:39 AM1 votes

I usually take Gnar, but whoever you pick, punish him every time he comes up to CS.

AmazingChad1/5/2015, 7:52:26 AM1 votes

When playing against Nasus, note that his early game is extremely weak. All he wants to do is stay in a lane and farm up his Q. So heres a few good options:

Pick a dominant laner like darius and play aggressive against him, zoning him from the minion wave (Optional: taking ignite for easier kills)
Regardless of what champion you pick, roam around the map and gank other lanes. If nasus wants to farm all day, then the rest of the map is easily 5v4 in favor of your team.

LoliOG1/5/2015, 7:55:06 AM1 votes

If they first picked nasus it means they wanna play dirty the best counter for nasus is Teemo ,i main nasus but nasus can't do much against teemo,those blinding darts won't let him get stacks and u can ruin his auto attacks and siphon's.(and go for wits end 1st,bc if their nasus is pro like me he will start maxing his e to burst your health down fast from a safe distance.) another great counter against him is Pantheon ,literally nasus can't do shit,the lane becomes cancer,not even a 500 stacked nasus can beat panth so a 3 stack panth can't either,his passive will just keep blocking nasus's attacks and siphon's and he will go with a mana potion early game to keep spearing on you. Olaf is great too but if nasus get fed alot olaf won't be much of use later (unless he counter builds).same goes with Gnar .

all the champs listed here are nasus can beat if he can get stacks and play it safe. Jax , JarvanIV , Darius , DrMundo , Quinn , Poppy , Lissandra , Renekton , Rengar , Singed , Malphite , Maokai , Annie , Aatrox , Evelynn , Elise , Fiora , Gangplank , Garen , Gragas , Hecarim , Irelia , Jayce , Kennen , Khazix , LeeSin , Mordekaiser , Nocturne , Riven , Shen , Shyvana , Rumble , Skarner , Talon , Trundle , Tryndamere , Udyr , Urgot , Vayne , , Vladimir , Volibear , MonkeyKing , Warwick , Yasuo , XinZhao , Yorick , Zac and Zed . so for nasus to beat any of these champs its just a matter of outplay.

and remember there isn't any cahmp that is easy for nasus,its either outplay or hard counter.(outplay=gaining stacks)

P.S u might laugh but Lulu is good counter too,those morphs,her shield,so much poke power,her ult and nasus can never kill her.....unless she tower dives.(to be honest lulu is a awesome top laner not many champs to counter her on top,her shield,morph,ms boost and ult just won't let you get kills)

oDemoniko1/5/2015, 8:36:03 AM1 votes

Quinn and Teemo are hard counters for Nasus.

Blind whenever he moves in to cs, thus denying him stacks.

Never leave Nasus alone top lane to farm. At any point in the game Nasus can go from completely defeated to a big ass problem with one stacked up minion wave and no one to stop him from farming.

Also never dive Nasus.

Play smart and you can win this lane vs. a first pick Nasus every time.

Dark Topline1/5/2015, 12:57:24 PM1 votes

I've noticed a lot of people go in depth in response to your question, and as a big Nasus player myself, I've noticed what/who works well against him, and what doesn't.

Your primary goal against a Nasus is to prevent him from free-farming. Champions that can kite, or have a lot of crowd-control are effective against a Nasus. If you've got the opportunity to counter a Nasus, I suggest the following champions:

Teemo Quinn Garen Riven Jayce

The blinds from Teemo and Quinn deprive Nasus of effectively farming (missing his Q) and Garen, Riven and Jayce all have strong early games that can zone out a Nasus.

(I've got to go now but I will edit this when I've got the time)!

Terraeclipse1/5/2015, 1:27:24 PM1 votes

I've seen a nasus go like 0-10 and still end up unstoppable @30 minutes, ending liker 12-10. If you are concerned about not being able to finish the game before then, ban him. His lane game is just as scary as Vayne. It's not fun to play against, ever. >>

TheKingDodo1/5/2015, 8:17:23 PM1 votes

Kick His Ass eyyyyyyyyyyy (I do not support school violence)

QuantumLight1/5/2015, 10:41:17 PM1 votes

ZONE HIM

taking his tower is not zoneing him. taking his tower gives him a frozen lane he can farm much easier with.

you basicly have to sacrifice a player to prevent him from farming. this means hitting him when he goes to stand anywhere near the minions. However, DO NOT PUSH THE LANE. let him sit under turret while you last hit. if your vlad you can dive a bit when the wave finally hits him under tower, try to keep him off the cs. At a minimum dont let him hit the ranged creeps without loosing 1/3 of his hp.

you cannot leave him alone. he will get his stacks if you do. prepare for lengthy stays in lane and a lot of wards to keep them off you.

I dont play top because of nasus. any time you get stuck vs him your esentially out of the game or that nasus will become a huge pain in the ass.

SEKAI1/5/2015, 5:41:01 AM1 votes

Get anyone who can kite and abuse him early.

While ranged tops are normally considered cancer, to Nasus, it's even worse than that.

Long Dong Wukong1/6/2015, 4:06:13 PM1 votes

Freeze your lane and zone him off of minions. He can't sustain if he can't hit anything.

He'll use Q's for minions, and you smack him every single time. If he Q's you, he's screwing himself over and letting you get ahead.

Your job is to make sure he's behind from the get go because he's going to be averse to fully committing to a trade with you. If you let a Nasus get ahead, have fun with that.

He is going to get stacks anyway, you can't just stop him from getting stacks. You set him behind where he's worthless for the entire early and midgame and then you go trash other lanes while he's stuck catching up on Q stacks. You really do not have to babysit a Nasus the entire time. You just wreck him, and go back every so often to keep your tower up and to make sure he knows you'll shit on him.