League of Legends - Nasus Guide

Nasus is a valuable asset to any team, he is a strong off-tank with a powerful slow and is a very capable solo laner. Nasus has the potential to hit very hard through Sheen/Trinity and his Siphoning Strike which gains damage with every unit he kills. Nasus is also a very powerful pusher and has great team fight presence.

This Nasus guide aims to be a basic and simple introduction on basic strategy that should be adopted when playing Nasus, it is recommended for people just starting to use Nasus.

Abilities

• 
  Soul Eater (Passive) Nasus's passive helps keep him in lane longer, which in turn means more last hits with Siphoning Strike. it is also a strong amount of free lifesteal late game making him hard to take down.
• 
  Siphoning Strike A very hard hitting single target skill that gains damage every time Nasus kills a unit with it. It is Nasus's main offensive ability and can hit extremely hard when combined with Sheen, it is very important to last hit with this skill during the laning phase to maximise your damage output.
• 
  Wither Nasus's only form of crowd control in the way of a slow, which gets stronger over time. It helps him to escape enemies and chase them down.
• 
  Spirit Fire A great area of effect ability that works great when combined with other physical damage dealers thanks to the armor debuff it applies. It is also an amazing zoning ability during the laning phase and is great farming tool mid-late game.
• 
  Fury of the Sands (Ultimate) Give's Nasus the added bit of survivability and damage he needs, while it is great 1v1 it is much better to save it for team fights to ensure the area of effect does maximum damage to the enemy, learning when to correctly use this will separate the good and great Nasus players.

Ability Order

As Nasus you want to level your abilities as follows:
Ult > Siphoning Strike > Spirit Fire > Wither

Maximising Siphoning Strike first will boost your early game damage and also reduce the cooldown allowing you maximum farming with it (and thus damage bonus), Spirit Fire is maxed 2nd to aid your farming abilities and also for the strong armor reduction it applies. Wither is left till last as each level only adds a minor increase in slow %. In some lanes you may require more points in Spirit Fire to prevent the enemy from pushing your tower heavily, Wither can also be taken at level 2 instead of level 4, this is more a preference based on your playstyle and lane setup.

Runes

Red (Marks) - Armor Penetration
Yellow (Seals) - Mana Regeneration
Blue (Glyphs) - Magic Resistance
Purple (Quintessences) - Health // Movement Speed

Armor penetration on Marks are by far your best bet, as they will increase your damage by a significant amount. Mana Regeneration on Seals are a solid choice to maintain your mana levels to effectively farm early game, Glyphs are best ran as magic resistance to boost your survivability but can also be cooldown reduction. For Quintessences Health is a solid choice to boost your early game, as Nasus really benefits from a strong early game, you can also run movement speed if you have the runes available to you.

Summoner Spells

 

Best Summoner Spells:
-Exhaust
-Ghost

Exhaust and Ghost are very core for Nasus, he lacks a strong disabling spell beyond Wither to get in range of his enemies and in team fights running Exhaust allows him to potentially disable two enemies, making him great at shutting down enemy carries. Ghost is very powerful and is great at closing the gap between you and enemies or escaping.

Other Good Summoner Spells:
-Cleanse
-Teleport

Cleanse and Teleport are also viable for Nasus, Cleanse helps remove disables that you are targeted with. While Teleport provides your team with some strong map control and allows you to build up a strong early game item advantage.

Nasus Masteries

Nasus is very flexible with masteries, but a 1/21/8 mastery setup is very strong.

This setup gives you improved Exhaust in the offensive tree.

While also offering strong defensive masteries to boost your durability. These include armor, magic resistance, dodge, reduced physical damage, starting health and an overall decrease in damage taken.

The utility tree rounds out your mastery build with improved Ghost, reduced death timers and increased experience.

Item Build

 
Final Item Build:
-Mercury's Treads
-Trinity Force
-Aegis of the Legion
-Banshee's Veil
-Randuin's Omen
-Guardian Angel

Steps/Reasoning:
-Starting with Doran's Shield is a strong starting choice, giving you some powerful staying power, in turn leading to more potential to Siphoning Strike farm.
-On your first trip back you want to grab your Boots of Speed while also building a Heart of Gold and a Philosopher's Stone, these give you great survivability and sustainability while also giving you some gold income.
-Your first two core items from there should be Mercury's Treads and Sheen.
-From here you want to build an Aegis of the Legion (unless someone else is building one) while also building up your Trinity Force.
-From here your items are all based on the enemy team and what defences you need to survive, items like Randuin's Omen and Banshee's Veil for the spell block it provides are often your best bet. There are several other strong items listed in the alternatives section.
-Guardian Angel is always a strong late game item that gives you balanced resistances and the ability to revive.

Alternatives:
-The Bloodthirster/Youmuu's Ghostblade (If you want to boost your damage output)
-Force of Nature (A solid choice if the enemy is magic heavy)
-Frozen Heart (Another strong anti-physical item)
-Sunfire Cape (A small armor increase, health boost and some added damage)

General Nasus Tips

• Siphoning Strike is free damage, you should strive to kill every minion with this skill throughout the entire game.
• Try to position your Spirit Fire directly under any team fights, to ensure you boost your damage and your allies.
• Always consider the enemy team and who is doing well when planning your item build.
• Try to avoid open areas Nasus is weak to kiting and poking. You want to close the gap on your enemy quickly through Ghost or the bush.

Early Game - (Level 1-6)

• Every time Siphoning Strike is off cooldown use it to last hit a minion.
• Use Spirit Fire to zone your enemies, keeping them away from ally and also preventing them from last hitting minions. Be careful as it can quickly drain your mana pool.
• Using the bush in between last hits is very effective at reducing harassment.
• Save your Wither to either protect your ally from being killed or to guarantee a kill, it has little use otherwise and will simply drain your mana pool.

Mid Game - (Level 7-12)

• Continue to farm up with Siphoning Strike, depending on how many last hits you've grabbed, it is already very powerful and will only get stronger.
• Don't try to initiate, instead be ready to follow up your teams initiation with Spirit Fire and your ultimate, focusing on your Siphoning Strike on their squishy targets.
• Red buff is a nice addition to Nasus, giving him a powerful slow during mid game. Of course your physical carry or jungler may need it over you.
• Nasus has strong ganking abilities with Exhaust and Wither, use Ghost out of the bush to minimise the ground you have to cover.

Late Game - (Level 13-18)

• Charge in after your tank initiates, dropping your Spirit Fire and your ultimate while making a run towards the enemy squishy champions.
• Keep using your Siphoning Strike to farm up.
• Siphoning Strike can quickly eat through towers, you are a very powerful pusher.
• Try to focus Wither on the enemy physical carry for the attack speed reduction it applies. 

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