First : why play Nasus jungle?

Nasus has one of the strongest ganking potential in the game : 5 second undodgeable slow with his W Wither
He is also one of the few ranged/poker junglers, which can be a huge strenght to siege or just harass enemy before fights. (If you can land a E on the whole enemy team before your team engage, the fight is basically won)
He has very good waveclear, which is very useful to defend.
Unlike others high range carries, AP nasus can defend himself and is not vulnerable to a single assassin diving on him, that is the main reason to play him for me; in fact AP nasus can 1V1 any champion at same gold/level.
Maxing E first give huge armor reduction in the area (40 at max rank), which is especially strong in early game as people have low armor : you can reduce them close to 0. However, you are AP and can't use this yourself : it is more utility. Ap Nasus has good synergy with heavy AOE physical damage like MF/Wukong.
Finally, his R Fury of the Sands deal % max hp damage of the target, allowing him to solo drakes pretty fast despite being an AP carry, as soon as he got it. (he is not the fastest champ to solo drake, though)


Why AP and not usual tank build and just deal damage with Q?

You can't get enough stacks in the jungle to be effective like this. However, E allows fast clear instead and not leveling/stacking Q allows you to have more presence on the map and apply high pressure with your strong slow, especially early, instead of being just afk farm and hope your team do well. You still stack Q anyway whenever possible with its high cooldown at lvl 1.


Why play Nasus AP when only his E is AP? You just use E when you fight and thats it?

And what about usual Nasus build? You only deal damage with Q !
E Spirit Fire has more cooldown than Q Siphoning Strike but deal more damage and has range + area of effect.
Also R Fury of the Sands has AP scaling so AP Nasus has actually 2 damaging spells while normal Nasus has only one.
And did you know Nasus don't have a single AD ratio in his kit ?

Pros + Great range + Good Crowd Control with Wither + Excellent duelist + Not vulnerable to assassins, unlike most carries + Good pusher / wave clearer + Exotic pick ! Insanely fun and people may not know how to play against

Cons - Squishy - Require good positionning because squishy - Melee autoattacks - No escape - High mana costs - Exotic pick ! People are stupid and will flame you because they don't understand

Nasus Q is Siphoning Strike.
It is an autoattack timer reset, and it deals damage based on how many units you previously killed with. Stack it whenever possible, especially on bigs monsters for double stack. You can't stack it very well since we max it last, so the cooldown is high. However, the damage may be useful sometimes, especially with the 40 armor reduction from Spirit Fire, so it would be stupid to not stack it

Nasus W is Wither.
This is an amazing tool. The best slow of the game, and it can't be dodged. Also with max CDR, it has only 6.6 sec cooldown for 5 sec duration. Always use it. People don't realize how strong it is. A melee champion affected by this can't do much, it is not only a huge slow, it is also a high attack speed reduction. Use it on ADC or bruisers and they can go afk!

Now let's talk about E Spirit Fire !
This awesome spell deal 215+60% initial damage then 215+60% again over 5 sec (43+12% each second).
It actually deals 258+72% AP on impact because the first DOT tick happen instantly.
It strike the target twice on impact (with the first AOE DOT tick), which means if you have Enchantment: Runic Echoes, it will strike thrice instantly and proc thunderlord with a single E.
It will also expand all three charges from the AP support item for 45 bonus gold and 45 bonus damage.
Nasus can put squishies below half HP with just few items and a single E (with all spell effects)

Nasus R is Fury of the Sands.
It increases HP, armor, magic resist and also deal high damage to nearby enemies.
Use it defensively most of the time, but offensively during duels.

The main stat is magic pen and we try to get maximum of spell effects like Luden to deal a lot of damage with a single E.
AP is only a secondary priority because :
Thunderlord's Decree has low AP ratio (10%)
Enchantment: Runic Echoes / Luden's Tempest has a low AP ratio (10%)
Frost Queen's Claim item has no AP ratio
Liandry's Torment's burn has no AP ratio
But these effects fully benefit from magic pen which means magic pen is better than AP for Nasus because at least half of his damage come from spell effects!
Also Movement speed and cooldown reduction are important.

You should always build Spellthief's Edge first.
It brings more damage and stats than any other AP item for this cost, and it give a lot of gold, also the item price will be refunded in less than 15 min !
Then Enchantment: Runic Echoes for the Thunderlord's Decree instant ranged proc, and then, finish the AP support item.
CDR, mana regen, damage and slow to catch people or escape if your W has not enough range or if there is many targets you need to slow.

I prefer Skirmisher's Sabre than Stalker's Blade because the slow is low, not needed and doesn't stack with your W.

For boots, I often build Mobility Boots to chase people and W them! (casting W does not interrupt your speed). But you can also build Sorcerer's Shoes.

After this, Liandry's Torment for a bit of survability and tons of damage : the passive deal a lot of damage but the item also grant 80AP and 15 magic penetration, outclassing all others AP items in terms of damage.

After, you can consider chosing between :
- Void Staff for max damage
- Abyssal Mask for less damage but more survivability
- Rylai's Crystal Scepter is no longer core but still useful with the S7 nerf. But building this is a huge loss of damage ! Only 75 AP for 2600g
- Zhonya's Hourglass to mitigate a burst. Also remember that the ult keeps dealing damage during stasis, just like Swain. However, you shouldn't be in melee range anyway.
- Hextech Protobelt All the stats are what we need, and the active is good both offensively and defensively


Never build these items even if they seems good on paper :

Lich Bane
Unexperienced players thinks it is the core item of AP nasus. It is not.
Lichbane gives good damage and good stats. But if you are in range to use it, you shouldn't be. You should NEVER EVER go in melee range with more than one target.

Luden's Tempest
This unique passive doesn't stack with Runic echoes.

Mana items
Mostly mana excessive ; also mana items don't give enough damage.

Rabadon's Deathcap
Outclassed by Voidstaff in every situation, even if the target has less than 50 MR
(as said above : Enchantment: Runic Echoes scaling is low, Thunderlord's Decree scaling is low, AP supp item has no scaling and Liandry's Torment's burn has no scaling)

Always remember : never go in melee range. Even if you want to deal more damage with Fury of the Sands ! Yоu should use it as a defensive CD. It is what keeps you alive when assassins rush into you. You can still kill them with it though. But don't dive into 5 people to deal AOE damage with R !
You will deal more damage away but alive than close and dead !
Use W Wither offensively on a high priority target if you can reach it (which should never happen if enemy have good positionning), or defensively to protect yourself or a fed teammate - W is especially strong against bruisers and AD carries.
Try to hit as many squishies as you can with E. It is better to hit a single squishy than 3 tanks, in most situations.
If there is a single assassin or bruiser inside of your backline, focus him with autoattacks, Siphoning Strike, Fury of the Sands's burn and of course Wither;
Such ennemies, isolated from their team because they are going for your carries, are very easy targets for AP Nasus. And it is not dangerous to go in melee range with a single enemy, especially if he is not focusing you. Playing like this in teamfights will also protect and peel for your carries

People will insult and flame you because of your pick. Sometimes even if you are doing well and they don't. Just mute them. I need to do this myself more often. I often start answering them and I know I shouldn't !

That's all for now. Thanks for reading.

Feel free to post comments I will read them all!

I will probably improve this guide later with more text, videos, and screens!