Welcome to my Nasus guide, and thanks for taking time out of your day to check it out! <3

I'm A Drunk Carry, a NA top lane/adc main. I'm currently Plat in Season 11, with most of my games in the top lane this season. In terms of top lane I specialize in split pushing/macro champs. I also stream over @ https://twitch.tv/a_drunk_carry so feel free to stop by there and catch me while I'm live and ask any questions that you may have!

Why play Nasus?

Nasus is a champion that can excel even while the rest of your team is behind. Something that is extremely useful in solo queue.

Nasus scales extremely well into the mid and late game. And even when behind Nasus can stack Qs and become useful later on in the game.

Nasus focuses on farming, split-pushing, and being a patient player. You will be paid off with a ridiculous tower destroying titan that can 1v9 when needed.

Pros:
-Mechanically easy
-Extremely strong split-push/dmg to towers
-Great scaling, strong mid & late game
-Can stall out losing games with split-pushing
-Solo carry potential through objective control
-Great at teamfighting

Cons:
-Immobile/susceptible to ganks
-No forms of hard CC
-Unfavorable matchup vs a large amount of meta top laners (refer to match-ups section of the guide above)
-Macro intensive, you need to know where enemies are at all times
-Very weak early game
-Will often get zoned out of CS/be down in CS early.
-Can get kited very easily.

Passive: Soul Eater Nasus gains 10/16/22% lifesteal (based on level)

One of the oldest and most basic passives tbh. Nasus just gets free lifesteal on his autos and Q. Note that the 2nd rank happens at lvl 7, and the 3rd rank happens at lvl 13. Basically just free stats for his survivability. It's not extremely inventive, but it works. You get monster heals off your Q procs late game.


Q: Siphoning Strike Nasus empowers his next basic attack (you have 10seconds to auto) and he gains 25 bonus range along with bonus physical damage (30/50/70/90/110 + # of siphoning strike stacks). Every kill with Siphoning Strike gives 3 permanent stacks, which is increased to 12 if you kill a champion, large minion (cannon/super minion), or large monster. (Cast time: 0sec, Mana cost: 20, Cooldown: 7.5/6.5/5.5/4.5/3.5sec)

This ability is like 90% of Nasus. Siphoning Strike is how you and your cane strike fear into the enemy team. Make sure you last hit minions with your Q to get permanent stacks. You have to ESPECIALLY get the cannon minions (they come every 3 waves) as they'll get 12 stacks. Note that using Nasus' Q will reset your basic autos. So in a fight try to auto-Q-auto in that order for optimal damage. Siphoning Strike is uncancelable once the animation begins as well, much like an auto. So someone trying to flash away/losing vision/etc won't stop the damage from coming out.

W: Wither Nasus places a debuff on an enemy champ for 5seconds, slowing and crippling (lowered attack speed) them. The effect is increased over time. (Target range: 700, Cast time: 0.25sec, Mana cost: 80, Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11sec)

Max Slow %: 47/59/71/83/95%

Max cripple %: 23.5/29.5/35.5/41.5/47.5%

Wither is a targeted ability that slows the movement and attack speeds of an enemy champion. The percent slow goes up per level, as well as per second of the cast. When it reaches the maximum duration it can LITERALLY slow an enemy for 95% of their movement speed. That isn't a typo. Do note that Wither has it's effectiveness lowered by Tenacity. Target enemy carries with this, and watch them go slow as molasses.

E: Spirit Fire Nasus unless a aoe circle of spirit flame at the targetted area that deals magic damage to all enemies in it. The circle stays for 5 seconds, dealing damage per second to anyone standing in it, and reducing their armor. The armor reduction lasts for a second past damage. (Reduction: 25/30/35/40/45% of armor)(Target range: 650, Effect radius: 400, Mana cost: 70/85/100/115/130, Cast time: 0.25sec, Cooldown: 12)

This ability is interesting as it does a few things. It adds much needed range to a champion that gets zoned out hard early. I said it in a few of the match-ups above, but use this to safely farm ranged minions early against lane bullies. It also applies a pretty nice de-buff to enemy champs, lowering their armor. My combo for going in is often Wither-Spirit Fire-auto-Q-auto, etc.

Beware of the mana cost, it's the only ability that Nasus has that costs more mana as you put more points into it. That's why I level it 3rd, unless you're going AP Nasus or if you need 3 pts early to deal with champions like Teemo.

R: Fury of the Sands Nasus transforms for 15 seconds, gaining bonus HP (300/450/600), bonus magic resist (40/55/70), 30% increased size, and 50 bonus attack range during this time. While transformed Nasus

Basically Nasus turns into a big bad doge and suits up for war. Always proc this at the start of an all-in attempt. I see a lot of low elo players do this 3-4 seconds into a fight, and I think it's a waste. It lasts for 15 seconds, which is an ABSURD amount of time honestly. Even if you end up not fighting for a second or two it's better to be safe than sorry.

What are stacks?

Stacks are slang for when you last hit with your Q ability, Siphoning Strike. You permanently deal 3 more dmg per "stack", and it's increased to 12 for cannon minions, super minions, large monsters, and champions.

The goal of Nasus is to get as many stacks as quickly as possible. That's why you want to get items with ability haste, so you can Q more often. Last hit with your Q as often as possible, especially on cannon minions.

The ideal amount of stacks you should be aiming for once you're comfortable on the champion is 150 stacks at 10 minutes, 250 at 15, 400 at 20, etc. Notice that the intervals over time (from 10-15 mins is +100 but 15-20 mins is +150)increases due to ability haste, lowered cooldown on Q from maxing it first, etc.

Survival is the name of the game in early laning phase. Refer to the runes depending on what type of Nasus you want to play. I go corrupting potion in lanes I know I can trade in early, meanwhile if I'm vs a very oppressive lvl 1-5 champ I go dorans blade and turtle up.

Don't be afraid to let your opponent push lvl 2 first here and let the lane push into you. I often see Nasus players try to go for stacks at lvl 1 and lose half or more of their hp fighting in a creep wave.

Our goal here is to at least have 700g, so we can back for Sheen and TP back to the lane. 1k would be even nicer, so you can get boots. Do not, I repeat DO NOT use your Wither or Spirit Fire with wreckless abandon in the lane early. This is another rookie mistake I often see. Using your E to harass often pushes the creep wave in, or just outright lets duelists freeze the lane in front of their tower. Both use a lot of mana early too, which means less stacks. I advise using Wither for escapes for the most part on enemy engages, unless your jungler is coming top.

Keep playing safe, take good trades (using Q on the enemy when they're going in for farm, etc), and work your way towards Divine Sunderer. Your time will come. Follow the leveling guide and max out your Q first for the cooldown reduction. A lot of bonking is gonna be going on.

Unless you're going the early harass/AP route the usual skill progression is Q, W, E for levels 1-3. Then max Q first, and W second.

I'd categorize this by the 15+ min mark or so. BY this time you'll have 200+ stacks, and be able to start fighting or even beating a lot of those eearly game bullies. You've got your Divine Sunderer wrapped up, and chosen either MR or Armor boots based on your top lane matchup.

A lot of people are taken aback by the DPS you put out with just one item, especially since Nasus has the misconception of being a "late game only" champ. If the enemy walks too close for a cannon minion hit 'em with the old W-auto-Q-auto combo and show them who's boss. They'll usually run away with their tail between their legs. Woof.

If you're lucky your team has either gotten Rift, or you've forced your opponent to back once or twice and you've eaten up some of those delicious turret plates. Demolish comes in clutch here, as that means easy tower plates when you have some alone time with the tower.

Start working on your Frozen Heart now. It makes you a nearly unmatched dueling machine. Unless you're playing against some team of like 3-4 maniacs who all go AP champs. Then I could see a world where Spirit Visage could come 2nd. I like Hullbreaker 3rd. Then dip into the rest of the main/situational items listed earlier in the guide.

Oddly enough I despise late game more than the mid game. Nasus is often forced to use his Teleport to help teammates out during this time, as one fight can decide something major like the Baron, losing an inhibitor, etc.

ALWAYS buy a pink ward and place it in the jungle or river of the lane that you are splitting late game. You dying once will also result in a huge team swing, as the threat of your split push is off the table and the enemy team will have a 5v4 power play.

Many champs (adcs/ranged tops/scaling jgs/etc) are able to chunk down Nasus at this point of the game. This is why I said I like mid-game more, because you often get kited during late game. Play the teamfights wisely, and prioritize front to back targets unless you can get in Wither range of a carry. Especially a immobile one.

Aside from that keep stacking. Become such a nuisance to the enemy team that they're forced to react to you. Many top laners will struggle to stop you from pushing, Q'ing the tower 1-2x (often for 1/4 or more of it's HP), Withering them, and walking away. In lower elos the enemy jungler will often come to assist the top laner, or they'll send both bot laners to handle you due to a range advantage. Ping this to your teammates, and make them aware of the overall mismatch on the other side of the map. Don't be afraid to use your Teleport for a cross-map teamfight, especially if they send the enemy jungler or bot lane to you.

11.24b: This patch was a very small one, mostly to balance TFT stuff. There was a slight hp buff to Gwen (from 550 to 590 base hp) since she was getting bullied top and mid, so you may see a little more of her. Which sucks because it's a tough matchup. Mundo saw his base HP regen nerfed from 8 to 6.5 which is nice and his Q minimum dmg lowered too which is nice because he's a menace atm.

If you've gotten this far I want to again thank you for stopping by my guide today! I hope you learned something new. And for you more seasoned Nasus players out there don't be afraid to tell me about something I've missed. This guide is constantly adapting, and I love to share and trade info with others. Come on by the stream if I'm live and say hi. And happy bonking! <3