Nasus Build Guide

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Nasus, Curator of the Jungle

written by CrazinAsian

Nasus Build

Introduction

I play Nasus, much the same way that Phreak plays everyone, as a jungler. I personally enjoy the way Nasus jungles because for one, he can jungle quite effectively without the proper runes (although they are CERTAINLY a plus), and it also gives him free reign to farm Siphoning Strike without harassment or competition.

Abilities

Soul Eater

Soul Eater is Nasus' passive. It's one of the reasons why Nasus has a great jungle. The passive lifesteal combined with a or allow him to jungle efficiently.

Siphoning Strike

Siphoning Strike acts much like Veigar's Q only an AD version. Unlike Veigar's Q, Nasus' Siphoning Strike permanently gains 3 DMG regardless of whether or not the kill was champion or minion. Jungling is a great way to farm up Siphoning Strike without harassment or competition. Siphoning Strike also resets Nasus' attack timer, enabling him to strike quicker and get more attacks in in rapid succession.

Wither

Wither is one of the best parts about Nasus. The slow is incredible for chasing, ganking, escaping and with the last patch fixing its interaction with tenacity, its never been better. The slow also stacks with the slow of , , etc... Get jumped? Throw Wither on the enemy and Ghost away. Then there's the attack speed reduction on top of all that! Thrown on an auto attack carry (especially an escaping one) and they're done.

Spirit Fire

Spirit Fire is essential in the Jungle, as well as a great farming tool and an asset in any teamfight. Not only does it give a nice AoE DMG, it also reduces the armor of enemy/neutral minions and enemy champions inside the area. (Also I've found that the first tick of the AoE does more DMG than the rest in one tick) While the AP ratio is low, this still makes a great zoning and farming tool.

Fury of the Sands

Fury of the Sands is Nasus' ultimate and what an ultimate it is. Not only does it give you a HUGE chunk of HP, it also grants Nasus' another AoE that deals extra (Magic) DMG based on a percent of the max HP of EACH enemy champion in its range. BUT WAIT! There's more! The extra DMG is also converted into extra AD! Plus Nasus grows in size and looks extremely awesome. What more could you want from an ultimate?

Masteries + Runes

As far as Masteries go, I use a 1/19/10 setup

For runes, I personally use

9x Greater Mark of Desolation
9x Greater Seal of Clarity
9x Greater Glyph of Focus
3x Greater Quintessence of Fortitude

Although I'm sure there are better jungling runes, these are the ones I use and they work fairly well.

I suppose you could use Armor or Attack Speed Seals, Armor Quints, but personally I use my IP for champs so I don't have proper Jungle Runes.
Summoner Abilities

Personally, my Favorite summoner spells to take on Nasus are Ghost and Smite.

Other spells that work in place of Ghost are:
Heal -Close calls in the jungle, early teamfights/ganks...
Flash -In lieu of ghost, flash is a decent way to close the gap for a Wither...

Spells that are okay:
Teleport -In case you need to cover a lane, bush teleports...
Ignite -For those that you just can't catch with wither, for absurd lifestealing champs...
Cleanse -Nasus has few escapes aside from wither...
Clarity -Nasus' skills other than Siphoning Strike are fairly expensive...(Blue Buff...)
Clairvoyance -Nice to avoid ganks, to determine laning...
Exhaust -Slow withered targets further...

Spells to NEVER take for Jungle Nasus:
Revive -Don't plan on dying...
[spell=rally] -Teamfights move, so should you...
[spell=fortify] -Don't plan to lose, or let the tank take this...
Skilling Order

For the first 6 levels, my skill choices are locked in unless there are extenuating circumstances.
1 Q
2 E
3 E
4 Q
5 W
6 R

After that prioritize: R>Q/W>E
Items

For items:

Starting:

Core:

Final:

Situational (over :

Enemy Tank Armor:
Enemy Tank HP: [item_icon=madred's bloodrazor]
Good / Synergy:
AD/Crit:

He can Also be built Tankier by Subbing the Last three items out for say...

[item_icon=force of nature]

etc...

Credit to Lucama,
you could also start with a and turn that into a instead of a to a to increase the output of your passive and preserve your ability to Siphoning Strike (not that I personally have had issues farming my Siphoning Strike but its an idea)
Build Example

AD/DPS:

Tanky:
Creep Jungling

Try to finish off as many enemies with Siphoning Strike as possible

First, buy your Vampiric Scepter and head to the minigolem camp. (If possible, get a leash from lane, if not that's okay) Smite the first minigolem immediately and finish it with a Siphoning Strike.

From there move onto the wolf camp. Drop your Spirit Fire and attack the big wolf, finishing it with Siphoning Strike. Finish off the small wolves.

From there move onto the wraith camp. Smite should be off CD by now and you can drop Spirit Fire and Smite the big wraith. Finish off the camp with Siphoning Strike's and back.

Buy a Cloth Armor and 1 Health Potion and head to Golem. Drop Spirit Fire, Smite Golem, and pop your Health Potion. Kill the small creeps with Siphoning Strike quickly as they make Golem difficult. Finish Golem.

From here I prefer to run the Jungle again (Wolves, Wraiths, MiniGolems) then either Lizard or Back.

Next, Finish your Wriggle's Lantern and either head to Lizard(if you didn't kill it yet) or Dragon(if you killed Lizard already). Dispose of them and Back to buy Boots of Speed.

Look for Gank opportunities and MAKE SURE YOU LET YOUR TEAM KNOW YOU'RE COMING! I cannot stress that enough. I have seen far too many failed ganks due to bad communication. G then click the person. Ping FTW.

From there either join a lane or return to the jungle or gank more.

I prefer to go back to 2,3,1 after 4
Working in the team

Let the TANK initiate.
Drop a Spirit Fire over the teamfight.
Siphoning Strike squishies, Ignore Tanks(until squishies are dead), Profit
Fury of the Sands at some point in the Teamfight. When you deem necessary. (Usually at the start)