Hi everyone it's qwerty19. I am an NA support main and this is my first guide so any advice is welcome! I have been a Nautilus main since s5 and I figured that with over 1,000 games under my belt I have enough knowledge about the champ and match ups to create an in-depth guide for anyone trying to either learn or improve their Nautilus Support. For S8 ranked I currently had a 60% win-rate with Nautilus while I was climbing from Bronze to Gold so there a few games we should have won but unfortunately the carries wouldn't play correctly (RIP Low Elo). Message me if you think I missed anything in this build or if you have any questions. If I get a question enough I can just add a common questions section to the guide as well.

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/qwerty19


If you want there are some full game-plays to watch on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY3r3dXoyNusyZ0deGAEctQ

ALWAYS TAKE FLASH

now that we have that out of the way. For the second summoner I usually take ignite just because there has been a million (not kidding) times that I let my adc have a kill and they end up letting the enemy get away with about .004 health. Ignite is just the kill secure tool I love. Besides its more beneficial for the support to get the kill gold early than the adc (depending on champs but for Naut it holds true).

You could also take exhaust but in my experience that is only good if the enemy team is assassin or hyper carry heavy, like adc hyper carry with a zed or yasuo mid and take exhaust. The damage reduction will help save your team and the slow will help you cc the carry so your team can kill them and turn the fight.

So runes are pretty straight forward here. Aftershock for the added defenses when you engage, basically same thing with Bone Plating. We are experimenting with Shield Bash since our W grants us a shield and the extra damage early will only help us snow ball. Font of Life is also viable since your E in team fights will basically let your whole team heal off of the enemy, Demolish could be a nice pick if you know you won't be getting poked and aren't scared of early trades. The bonus damage will help you get that bonus gold from the tower plating. Basically each rune on this part of the tree is viable, but I think Shield Bash will be the most impactful in most games. Then we have Overgrowth to help us be more tanky as the game goes on, Revitalize might be an interesting synergy with shield bash but I don't think the 5% bonus will grant you enough bonus Shield Bash damage to warrant it over Overgrowth.

Secondary tree is domination and we go Ultimate Hunter more ults = more engages = more kills = more wins. With this rune at full stacks you will never see yourself in a teamfight without your ult up which is a huge plus. Then I take Zombie Ward for the bonus vision. Vision is key in the support role and the more you can get the more we will take.

For the new S9 runes I take one adaptive force, could go for the extra cdr but you will run into mana problems early I think. Then we get two armor runes so the adc doesn't do nearly as much damage to us in the beginning. The health rune is basically worthless at it's current stats so never take that either take armor or mr depending on your lane matchups. Will go 1 armor and 1 mr if their support is ap. If they are brand or lux or anyone who might burst me I will probably go both mr runes so they can't poke me as hard early.

Pros

+ Tanky + Wide Hit box on engage with q + AoE slow + Huge amount of cc + Deals a lot of damage for a full tank build + Peel for Carries

Nautilus Support is a great pick in solo queue. While he doesn't have an in-built heal ability, his ability combo allows him to make plays that chunk his opponents out of lane and gets his adc fed. His duelling potential is huge due to the amount of cc in his kit. Most important when considering Nautilus, is his pick potential and peel for teammates in team fights.

Cons

- Weaker Early Game - Susceptible to Poke - All in or nothing scenarios - Need team to follow up on engages - No healing abilities - Large Champ size, large hit box

As per all champions, Nautilus has his strengths, and his weaknesses. Compared to other supports his kit does not have as much utility and lane sustain. His Dredge Line can't go through terrain. Additionally, he has a large champion size so it can be easy to get poked out of lane if you don't know how to dodge skill shots.

This section is just copy and pasted form what I have in the notes section of the item build.

Standard start for most Nautilus supports. If you are in a lower elo and you don't proc Relic Shield correctly then Ancient Coin may be the better start for you, it will give you more consistent high gold income. Just make sure to not get into bad trades because your sustain is not as high without Relic Shield so knowing your lane match up is a priority.

Now that the Targon's Brace upgraded is a sight stone you will want to rush that, after you get the sighstone upgrade switch your Stealth Ward to a Sweeping Lens to clear enemy vision. Buy some Boots if you can, try not to back until you have at least 800 gold so that you can make this buy it is a good power spike. If you have even more gold start building Knight's Vow or get a Control Ward or two.

Knight's Vow Eye of the Aspect Dead Man's Plate These are the 3 core items I get almost every single game. Knight's Vow lets me take damage for my carries so they stay alive longer and deal more damage. Eye of the Aspect gives 4 wards. Dead Man's Plate gives health and armor and movement speed which is great for chasing down people to hook and initiate. Upgrade Sweeping Lens to Oracle Lens at level 9.

The situational items fill out the rest of your build depending on your team's needs/who's carrying on the other team. Get Locket of the Iron Solari or Adaptive Helm if their ap champs are fed. Get Randuin's Omen if they're building crit or there is a yasuo. Thornmail if they're all ad. Gargoyle Stoneplate if you want to be extra beefy against a mixed ap/ad team. Warmog's Armor if you want to get it as a 4th item and never die again. Liandry's Torment if your team has 3 tanky/initiators and you are ahead and the team needs to shred through the enemy front line quicker. Zeke's Convergence can be good if you have another champ that uses their ult and engages (shyv, j4, ashe, ez, etc).

For boot upgrades I either go Mercury's Treads if the other team has cc and at least 1 ap person. Ninja Tabi if the other team doesn't have cc and are mostly ad.

You can go Mobility Boots if you want extra ganking potential and the ability to get around the map to make plays quicker.

Staggering Blow

This is Nautilus' passive and it applies each time you auto attack an enemy champion. The auto attack deals extra damage and immobilizes the champ for 0.5-1.5 seconds based on level. The effect only applies once every 9-6 seconds per champion.

Dredge Line

This is Nautilus' q ability. It is a hook that cannot go through terrain (like Blitzcrank Thresh and Leona). If his q hits an enemy he will drag them towards him and he will be dragged towards them. If his q hits terrain it will pull him to the terrain and refund half of the ability's cooldown and mana cost. Builds 75% from ability power.

Titan's Wrath

This is Nautilus' w ability. When activated Nautilus shields himself that scales from max health. Also, your auto attacks are empowered to deal extra magic damage that scales from ability power. Casting Titan's Wrath also resets your basic attack animation.

Riptide

This is Nautilus' e ability. When cast three exploding ripples come from Nautilus with the first being closer and the second and third being further out. The ability scales from ability power and applies a slow to all enemies hit. Enemies can take damage from each explosion, so it is used best when enemies are running away from Nautilus.

Depth Charge

This is Nautilus' r ability. When cast on an enemy champion Nautilus fires a shockwave that deals damage and knocks up every enemy in its path and then deals bonus damage to the enemy champion targeted. Enemies are stunned when they are finished being knocked up.

I usually max e first because of its cooldown and its synergy with our runes. If the other bot team is out damaging you in trades you can put an extra point into w level 4 or 5. Very rarely do I do a w max first, the damage output is too valuable with the e. R max whenever possible and q max last.

As far as combos go.
Pre 6: Q to engage, auto, w immediately for auto reset, e, auto (and then e whenever possible, can ignite/exhaust when you q and 1st auto as well)
Post 6: Either the same as before or with ult you can engage and then do the rest of the combo after it hits.
Against Spell Shields: Try to bait out the spell shield (sivir, morg) and then all in while it is down. If with morg after she shields either herself or the adc turn and all in the other.
Team Fights: ALWAYS ult a carry, they're usually in the back line and will end up knocking up most of their front line as well. Then depending on your team comp either peel for your carries and cc as many times as possible; or attack their backline and all in their most fed champ so your team can follow up and kill them. Using either of these strategies will usually end in your team winning the fight.

Early game is the roughest part for Nautilus and even then with the new runes it feels more like his mid game in S7. At the start of the game I like to bring the team into the bot side bush in the middle of the river and see if anyone is ballsy enough to walk by to try to ward. If someone does there is a 75% chance we get a first blood. In lane we proc Relic Shield twice on the first wave and then it will be back up for the first cannon minion wave. Unless if you are in a lane where you can really bully the other team just farm until level 3 where we have our combo and can really put a hurting on the other team. Even post 3 we have to make calculated plays so we aren't engaging as their jg is coming for a gank. Play safe and Relic Shield it until we can get a kill or can back and get our first buy.

The most important thing to do in this early stage of the game is to NOT DIE. That is the biggest misconception about this game to lower elo players. LoL is not a game about killing the other team, it is more about not dying and getting objectives. The sooner you realize this and adjust your playstyle the sooner you will be able to climb faster regardless of role or champ.

Not dying is important for Nautilus because his build path is usually a little more expensive than other support's so falling behind really puts you at a disadvantage. It takes skill and experience to know when and when not to engage and listen to yourself if you know engaging is a bad idea even if your adc is flaming you for not engaging.

When we hit level 6 we have a lot of utility and an unstoppable amount of cc if played right. This is where we look to either kill the other bot or we push bot into tower and can roam mid to try to gank if they aren't pushed. When roaming I like to use r to engage and when it pops we have a free q, auto, w, and e combo waiting for them. This can usually result in a kill if done right. Get Knight's Vow and ward, clear enemy wards, keep your adc alive, and keep an eye on the map to ping to your teammates where the jg is or if people are roaming. One of the biggest jobs for a support is to watch the minimap more, we don't have to farm so if we aren't engaging we are keeping an eye on the map. We should have Knight's Vow and part of another tank item so don't be afraid to turret dive when our jg is there we can take a lot of shots with our tankiness and our w, just keep aggro for as long as possible so our carries can deal out damage under tower worry free.

Vision and roaming at the right times is key to higher elo supports. Ward the correct bushes and areas (look it up right now if you are reading this and are unsure if you know which areas are the best). And when you have pushed the wave into their turret take the time to either 1) Ward river 2) Clear enemy wards around river and lane 3) Gank midlane if they are getting pushed into your tower or 4) Go into enemy jg if your jg is with you and you will either 2 man counter jg and get a kill or you will have safely led your jg to more jg camps and cs. Then go back to lane and rinse and repeat. Make sure to careful ping your adc when you leave them, we don't want them to be 1v2ing the enemy this early in the game.

This is mostly the same as our mid game except we are even more tanky and there is more team fights than lane duels. Definitely tank tower for your team that thing is doing like 4 damage to you anyway so don't worry. Ult their carries and peel for yours, exhaust/ignite any carries that survive. Look to push objectives when they are up and push the lanes that you can have an advantage after taking the objectives. Run down and Q anyone trying to run away as well.

Use ignite on any of their carries that use life steal or health regen a lot, like a swain or mundo or the adc when they have a bork or blood thirster. This is ideal because ignite applies grievous wounds which limits their healing ability which will make them a **** ton easier to kill.

At this point in the game don't be afraid to take cs in open lanes when you have the opportunity. This is late game and our adc has enough items to get the job done anyway. We now need to finish our builds as well so we can be an unkillable machine.

Communicate with your team when baron and drag is coming up and to set up around them. Push other lanes when you have super minions in one (the lane with supers will push itself winions baby).

The most important thing to remember when climbing ranked is to NEVER blame your teammates or tell them they are doing bad. This will NEVER end with them thinking "hey this random person is right I am playing poorly I should listen to them and fix it" instead it will tilt them and make them play even worse, probably make them think you are a jerk and will probably report you at the end of the game for harassment. SO, instead yell at your monitor as much as you want but always keep a clear head. DON'T play ranked if you are tilted either go play an aram to let of steam or go take a break. A lot of climbing in ranked is the mental side before you even click a button.

The second most important thing is making smart pings to your team to let them know that they are in danger of being ganked by the enemy jungler. This is probably the hardest part to learn how to do properly. I key binded my z.x.c.v keys to regular ping, careful ping, missing ping, and help me ping respectively so that i can quickly spam ping to teammates to know to go in or run away effectively or if lanes are missing so they know how to play safe.

Thirdly, this is a quote from my friend who reached diamond 1 from silver 3 in two seasons of ranked play on his smurf account. "League of Legends is a game about not dying, rather than a game about killing the other team". This is the single biggest piece of advice I have gotten. You have to play smart and only go in to kill when you know you will kill them and they can't kill you. So look for your team ults, flash, ignite, heal, if they are up go in and kill if now wait for the best time to strike.

Lastly, another quote from my friend "not all games are winnable games" you can not win every game in League of Legends and sometimes the other team just has better players plain and simple. The only thing you can do is learn why they are better and make sure you get better so that you don't have to worry if the other support is better than you, you know you are the better support now just hope you have average to above average teammates that you can carry out of elo hell.