Nasus Build Guide

Nasus Build

Table of Contents

Abilities

1

Introduction

2

Masteries + Runes

3

Summoner Abilities

4

Items

5

Skilling Order

6

Builds

7

Creep Jungling

8

Farming

9

• Abilities

  Soul Eater

  This passive is nice. It allows you to stay in lane for a long time and brush off quite a bit of harass. With each hit you will be getting healed, but on your Q hits you are healed more.

  Siphoning Strike

  This moves defines Nasus, and will be the source of most of your damage. The key is that you HAVE to farm this move up. If you do farm it, you will be come a god able to smite anyone in your sight, but if you negelct this move, you do little more then tickle. No one fears the god of feather dusters.

  Wither

  This is the best slow in the game. By the time it reaches its full duration, they are basically standing still. And it lasts for an amazing 5 sec duration. You can easily put this on them, they stun you, and you still catch up to them before this wears off. Not to mention that with full CDR, this thing only has a 6.6 sec CD, its hard to run away from that.

  Spirit Fire

  This build has several uses. It can be used to check bushes because it gives you sight in the area. If you are going AD Nasus, or you have not gotten your Lich Bane yet on AP Nasus, you will love this move because it lowers your enemies armor by a lot. If you are going AP Nasus, this move can do some serious damage because it has a 1.2 AP ratio.

  Fury of the Sands

  This is a nice ult. In a 1v1 it can really give you an edge. If it is close or even if they have a sligh upper hand, you pop this bad boy and all of a sudden you have more health, you are melting thier health away, and your attacks are hitting for more. You win, and if they try to run, you put a wither on them, and you still pick up the kill. In a team fight this move will melt away the health of every enemy around you.

• Introduction

  Hey every one, this is LAaronB, and this is my second guide here on League Craft.
  Nasus has many roles that he can play, DPS, AP, Tank, but there there is one that he is most suited for. Nasus excels at being tanky, but still dealing extreme damage. He is made to be a tanky DPS. I have two builds that I use for Nasus. The first is one that I came up with, while the other is a more standard Nasus build. There are times that each one is better then the other.
  Please up vote my guide :) I think that my  personal build makes Nasus even more of a power house, and I want people to see it, the more votes, the more likely it is to be seen. Also, if you have a problem, question, or compliment please comment, I would love to hear what you think about my guide. Don't just down vote if you see something wrong, tell me why.
  Thanks again, and please enjoy my guide                
           LAaronB

• Masteries + Runes

  
  
  Greater Mark of Desolation, Greater Glyph of Clarity, Greater Seal of Resilience, and Greater Quintessence of Regeneration
  The one thing that hurts Nasus the most is to be harassed out of farm early on, so we are using masteries and runes to minimize that damage as much as possible. For Marks you can get armor pen, or if you use build one, magic pen.

• Summoner Abilities

  Teleport and Ghost are the abilities that I run every time with Nasus.
  Nasus HAS to farm, and teleport really helps with that. He can go shopping and be back in seconds. He can see a huge wave, and teleport in to farm alot. A farmed Nasus can take out a tower faster then almost anyone, so he can teleport in and take out a tower. He can push one lane hard, and when they come to stop him, he can teleport to the opposite lane and get a tower before they can get aross the map.
  Ghost is nice on almost any melee champion. With Nasus, if an enemy is getting a way, you can ghost to get close enough to get your wither on then. It can also be used to escape.
  
  
  

• Items

  There are 2 different end builds in this guide, but they both have their beginnings the same.

  Starting Items

  
  

  Regrowth Pendant+ Health Potion. Nasus really needs to be able to shake off a lot of harass early game. You don't do all that much damage until your Q is farmed, but you can't farm your Q if they are harassing you. Your passive+the Pendant+a potion, really helps you to be able to bear through harass, until you can start to do damage.

  
  

  Core Items

  [builder=Nasus/8d10c232df10565570fe170d7a6c9250]

  
  

  
  

  Your 1st time back you should be getting a Philosopher's Stone and Boots of Speed at least, but thanks you Nasus's good sustain, you may be able to stay out even longer then that. If you get in one of those games that the enemy just cannot hurt you more then you are healing, I would go back anyways once you get 1400 gold. This means you can get the philo stone and Ionian Boots of Lucidity. You should have teleport, so you won't lose any experience to go back to shop. These boots really help to allow you to farm your Q. 

  The next thing that you want to get ASAP is a Sheen. This makes your Q hit even harder. At this point is should be a breeze to get the last hit off on you Q.

  
  

  Now that you have every thing you need to make your Q hurt, CDR+sheen, you need to get some survivability. You need to choose which you need the most Chain Vest or Negatron Cloak and this really depends on who you are laning against. Most likely, you will want to next get which ever you did not get last time, but sometimes if you don't fear anyone with a certain type of damage at this point you can postpone one or the other.

  
  **fate of the philo stone: We did not get Mercury's Treads, so if you hare having a lot of trouble with CC, you can upgrade your Philo stone to a Eleisa's Miracle. If you are going for build 1, you might want to upgrade it to Shurelya's Reverie for more CDR. If you are going for build 2, and you don't need the tenacity, sell it.**
  

  Build one

  Ok, now we have a sheen, chain vest, and a negatron cloak that all need to be upgraded. Every game it will be different which order you upgrade them.

  For this build we will be building a Lich Bane instead of a trinity force. Because of the different mechainics, you have the potential to do a lot more damage, but even if you are dominating early game you do not want to go straight for the Lich Bane. You want to make sure you atleast have a needlessly large rod 1st, or else you will actually do less damage then with just a sheen.

  Are DPS champions giving you the most problems? Get a [item=zhona's hourglass].

  Is the Annie/Veigar/etc the ones getting all of the kills for the other team? [item=abyssal sceptar] should be the next buy.

  
  

  Now if you want to increase your damage before your defences, then you want to get Needlessly Large Rod-> Lich Bane-> Blasting Wand. Then you can get the Zhona's and Abyssal because they will increase your damage too.

   

  If the game keeps going [item= Rylai's Crystal Secptar] is one ofthe best damage item out for you; it makes you do more damage, and makes you tankier. If you don't need to be tankier Rabadon's Deathcap is always nice.

  
  

  Final Builds

  [builder=Nasus/af7aba216bdd276ddb73c5457408d807] 

  [builder=Nasus/f47dde297cf5c2af18437dbe73c5721a]

  
  

  
  

  Build two

   

  Since we started the same we still have a sheen, achain vest, and a negatron cloak that need to be upgraded. Once again will be different which order you upgrade them.

  Is Master Yi/Ashe/etc killing you? Get a Glacial Shroud or go straight for the Frozen Heart.

  Is there a champion that can blow you up in 1.5 secs with magic? [item=Force of Nature] should be the next buy.

  Is the other team pretty balanced? You are going to want to get both some armor and MR fast, so I normally go ** Glacial Shroud->[item=Force of Nature]-> Frozen Heart. 

  Are you completely dominating? Do they pee themselves every time they see you coming? Then give them even more to be afraid of with a Trinity Force

  
  

               **note: if you need both defenses fast, I normally get glacial shroud 1st because it also gives more CDR**

  
  

  Most likely you are gonna try and upgrade all 3 of them at some point, unless of course the entire team is AD/AP, in which case you can skip one of them.

  
  

  Normally your game should be over by now but if it keeps going, you need to ask yourself, do I need to be more tanky, or do I need more damage. [item= Infinity Edge] is the best damage item out there, and if you need to be tankier there is [item=thorn mail], Banshee's Veil, or a Guardian Angel.

  
  

  Final Build

  Your team has a good main tank, so you are free to try for more damage

  [builder=Nasus/552534f90a88cefd07b7ebdc5a8cb548]

  If the other team is all Ashe/Tryndamere/Master Yi/etc

  [builder=Nasus/29c3a6ce366b4617866017f1b674c445]

  If the enemies has a lot of magic.

  [/center]

  [builder=Nasus/79fd280d98dfe56b856f169ff35f6b73]

• Skilling Order

  You want to max your Q 1st because it is the source of all of your damage early game, and you want its CD as low as possible. Wither is the best slow in the game, and it keeps your enemies right next to you. It lasts for 5 sec and with maxed CDR you can get CD to 6.6, it is super hard to run from that. Your Spirit Fire gets pushed back because it does not do very much damage until late game when you get your AP, and the other 2 abilities are just amazing.
  **Note: Which move you take at lvls 2/4 may be different each game. Wither helps you to really hurt the enemy, and Spirit Fire is nice to be able to zone; no one will just stand inside of a circle that is hurting them, and if you need more zoning control early, then you can put more points into it earlier.

• Builds

  There are 2 builds in this guide, and they both have their place, and you have to decide which you are going to get each game.

  
  

   

  
  

  Build one

  
  

  [builder=Nasus/af7aba216bdd276ddb73c5457408d807] 

  
  

  Build two

  
  

  [builder=Nasus/79fd280d98dfe56b856f169ff35f6b73]

  
  

  Damage Comparisons

  
  

                    AP Build                                                                      AD Build

  
  

  Q:      110+250(1:1 AP from Lich Bane)+Minions                       110+174(Tri-Force)+Minions

  
  

  W:     430+300 (1.2 AP ratio)                                                430+36(1.2 AP ratio)

  
  

  R:      5%+2.5%(.01 AP ratio)                                                5%+.3%(.01 AP ratio)

  
  

  Total: 1090+7.5% of max hp/sec+minons                                750+5.3% of max hp/sec+minions

  
  

  I had someone ask how each build would compare if you factored in auto attacks because the TriForce gives Damage, Attack Speed, and Critical Chance, so I sat down and did the math. In order to give each build a decent showing, I decided to see how much damage each build could do in 15 sec because that is how long Nasus's ultimate lasts. Also, I completely ignored the amount of damage that minions add, because the should be the same for both builds. Also I am not including the attack damage gained from his ultimate because I am not sure how I would work that out and they should be similar, AP Nasus would gain more damage, but AD Nasus would have more attack speed to use it with. 

  
  

  AA-DPS function used:(1-Crit Chance)*(Damage*Attack Speed)+Crit Chance*(Attack*Crit Damage*Attack Speed)

  Q-DPS I used (110+(1 per AP))/Cool DownHis E can be used twice in a 15 sec period for both builds, so 430+(1.2 AP)For his R I made the damage if the person being hit had 2500 HP, so R-DPS 2500*(.05+.0001AP)
  
  Over all damage in 15 sec was AA-DPS*15+Q-DPS*15+ E-damage*2+R-DPS*15
  
  These were my results:      
                         AOE damage hits  1 Target  3 Targets     5 Targets
  AP Build (Lich Bane, Zhonya's, Abyssal): 8,011        16,556        25,101
  AD Build (TriForce, Frozen Heart, FoN) : 7,082        12,922        14,598
  
  At this point you are going to either go tankier or go for more damage
  
  Tankier AP (+Rylai's)                         : 9,162        18,937        28,712
  Tankier AD (+Guardian Angel)             : 7,082        12,922        14,598
  Damage AP (+Rabadon's)                   :10,792       22,146        33,500
  Damage AD (+Infinity Edge)               :10,656       16,495        22,334
  
  As you can see, my AP Nasus does more damage then the AD Nasus even if you factor in Auto Attacks. AP Nasus also does a lot of his damage with his AOE abilities, which means that he does more damage the more targets he can hit with this Spirit Fire and his Ult.
  

  Resistance Comparisons

  
  

                                       AP                                       AD

  
  

  Physical Damage Health:  6330.2                                  8831

  
  

  Magic Damage Health:     6298.9                                  6807.6

  
  

  Effective Health:            6314.5                                  7819.3

  
  

  
  

  After Next Item:            7515                                    7819.3

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Overall Comparisons & When to use them

  
  

  Build One- More Damage

              -Still pretty tanky

  
  

  Build two-Tankier 

               -Still has really good damage

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Because of these differences there are times when you need each one. If your team does not have a main tank, then you need to be tankier, so take build 2, but if your team has an Amumu/Malphite/etc then build 1  might be better because you can bring more damage to your team. 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Also don't use build 1 if your entire team deals magic damage, and don't use build 2 if they are all physical. For example if your team is Amumu/Annie/Kog'Maw/Taric, even though you have a tank, you do not need more magic damage, go build 1 anyways.

  
  

  
  

  
  

• Creep Jungling

  Nasus CAN jungle, but it really cuts onto his Q's damage because you can get a lot more minions in a lane, but that does not mean you should just ignore the jungle. If the game gets to where your jungler is not really jungling any more, but moved on to team fights, go a head and grab minions with your Q in the jungle.

  
  

  Also if your team does not have a jungler, happens a lot in normals, then you can get some minions from the jungle early game too. If you are getting harassed, then you want to tower hug, but the tower naturally pushes the waves back, so once the lane gets pushed back some, you can go clear the wolves/golems/etc. It helps you to keep stacking your Q even if you cannot get to the minions. 

  Red Buff: this is great on Nasus, especially with build 1 because you lose the slow from Trinity Force.

• Farming

  Farming is more important for Nasus than any other champion in the game. For everyone, getting the last hit=more gold=more items, but for Nasus it is also where all of your damage comes from. You HAVE to last hit, and it has to be with your Q. As it get stronger, it gets easier to get the kill on the minions. Early on though, your Q is not much stronger than your regular attack, and sometimes to ensure you get the kill you can auto attack once, then immediately use your Q so that you do a lot of damage all at once. This is especially helpful if a lot of minions are attacking the same enemy minions, or if your tower is hitting the caster minion. For that you let the tower hit once, then you auto attack+Q to get the minion.

  
  

  
  

  Later on, your Q starts to do a good amount of damage, but you still want to wait until the minion gets low, so that you do not push your lane.

  
  

  
  

  Late game, you can one shot any minion in the wave, and you can use that to push. This is nice if you push one lane, say top, their entire team comes for you, you can teleport to the bottom lane, and get to the tower quickly. Nasus is also one of the fastest tower killers in the game. That makes this a very good strategy to use.