If you’re looking for a champion who starts off weak but becomes incredibly strong the longer a game goes on, you should consider playing the Curator of the Sands, Nasus. In this guide, we’ll show you everything you need to know to get you started playing this champion.

Nasus is one of the easiest champions to play in League of Legends. He has no complicated mechanics and a very simple kit. When playing as him, you’ll focus more on macro aspects of the game such as laning, split pushing, and farming. Your play style is virtually the same for every game: keep farming and reach the late game. When ahead, Nasus can be truly unstoppable dealing insane damage while being super tanky. That being said, let’s take a closer look at what makes Nasus such a strong pick.

Champion Abilities

Nasus’ kit revolves around dealing damage and increasing his survivability. His damage is pretty good but his crowd control is very low. He also relies on reaching the late game to reach his full potential. Despite these weaknesses, Nasus remains a viable pick especially in the lower elo.

Passive – Soul Eater

Nasus drains his foe’s spiritual energy, giving him natural lifesteal up to 22%.

Not the flashiest passive but one of the best. This gives Nasus built in sustain early on and it scales well into the late game. Pretty handy considering you’ll be spending most of the game farming and split pushing. 

Q – Siphoning Strike

Nasus’ next basic attack will deal bonus physical damage. Siphoning Strike permanently gains 3 damage if it kills an enemy. This bonus is increased to 12 against Champions, large minions and large monsters.

This ability is what makes Nasus such a late game beast. This’ll also force you to be better at last hitting minions and last hitting in general. Keep in mind that this INFINITELY stacks. So if the game somehow goes long enough, you can deal damage with a single Siphoning Strike equal to your target’s health. 

W – Wither

Nasus ages target champion over 5 seconds, slowing their Movement Speed by 35%, increasing over the duration. The target’s Attack Speed is reduced by 50% of the slow.

This is Nasus’ only form of crowd control. Although it can only be used on a single target, it’s still pretty strong. Since Nasus doesn’t have any mobility spells, Wither helps him to close the gap between him and his target.

E – Spirit Fire

Nasus unleashes a spirit flame at target location, dealing magic damage. For the next 5 seconds, enemies in the area have their Armor reduced and are dealt additional magic damage each second.

This ability is great for clearing minion waves easily. It can also help increase your damage in fights thanks to the armor reduction and the magic DPS. Apart from that, you won’t be relying on this ability that much. 

R – Fury of the Sands

Nasus becomes empowered in the sandstorm for 15 seconds, increasing his maximum Health, Armor, and Magic Resist. While the storm rages, he deals magic damage each second and and Siphoning Strike has 50% reduced cooldown.

This is what makes Nasus very hard to beat in 1v1 situations. It makes him a lot more tankier and deals a lot of passive DPS. While you might be tempted to use this ability only when you’re low on health, it’s better to activate it as soon as someone tries to go all in on you. It has a very long active time clocking in at 15 seconds so you have a lot of room to make something happen when it’s active.

Runes and Item Builds

When building items, you’re focused on getting a balance between damage and tankiness. Spellblade items are very good on Nasus since it synergizes with Siphoning Strike and you’ll be proccing it every time you use it. 

Starting Items

Nasus is always better off starting with a Corrupting Potion. He is very weak early game so the sustain from Corruption Potion and his passive will help keep him alive. The only other alternative would be to get a Doran’s Shield plus a Health Potion. Go this route only if you’re against a ranged opponent who can harass you from afar.

Mythic Items

Nasus has a lot of options when it comes to his Mythic items. You can choose from three Mythic items, all of which have a passive that grants bonus effects on your next basic attack right after using an ability. The best choice for Nasus’ Mythic item is undoubtedly Divine Sunderer. It gives him everything he needs. Health, damage, spellblade, ability haste, and additional damage based on his target’s max health. It’s great for squaring up against bruisers and tanks. If the enemy team has a very squishy lineup, then you can go for a Trinity Force instead. It doesn’t make Nasus tanky like Divine Sunderer does but it does give him additional attack speed. The last option is a Frostfire Gauntlet. It’s not as good on him since it doesn’t give Nasus additional damage. It does help if you’re playing as the only front line on your team. The additional CC ain’t too bad as well and synergizes with Wither. 

Full Build

After buying your Mythic item, your next item should be a Frozen Heart. This item addresses Nasus’ mana issues and makes him tankier. For boots, take Plated Steelcaps or Mercury Treads depending on your matchup. Next, go for Thornmail to increase your overall DPS and tankiness then Spirit Visage for the tank stats and the boost to your healing. This will make your passive lifesteal even stronger. Finish off your build with a Gargoyle Stoneplate for additional resistances and an active shield.

Other Viable Items

When building items on Nasus, always remember that your focus is to increase both his damage and survivability. Items that can do this are often a good choice to build. Randuin’s Omen is good against high physical DPS teams since it reduces damage and attack speed. Dead Man’s Plate is also good since it gives you additional damage on your next basic attack after stacking its passive. Force of Nature works well if you’re against a heavy AP comp. Sterak’s Gage is also a great item that gives you damage and a passive shield. There’s a lot of great items that you can build on Nasus so we encourage you to mix and match to see which ones work best for you.

Runes

For runes go with the Precision tree and take Fleet Footwork as your keystone. This will help immensely with Nasus’ early game survivability. Next, take Triumph for additional sustain, Legend: Tenacity to help with resisting crowd control, and Last Stand for more damage the lower your health is. For your secondaries, take Second Wind and Unflinching from the Resolve tree. These runes will help you stick to your target better and increase your overall sustain. For your rune shards, take Attack Speed, Magic Resist, and Armor.

Useful Tips

1. Make sure you land your last hits using Siphoning Strike. Building stacks on this is what will make or break the game for you. If you fall behind, don’t worry just keep stacking your Q and you’ll still be powerful in the late game.
2. Nasus is countered by champions with a lot of mobility who can effectively kite him. Aatrox and Tahm Kench stand out as champions who can give Nasus a hard time. Try to ban them if you can during champ select.
3. For your summoner spells, take Flash and Teleport. This setup will help Nasus have more of a global presence and increase his split pushing power. In certain situations, you can opt to swap Flash for Ghost.

So there you have it! That’s all you need to know about playing Nasus in League of Legends. Be sure to check back with us again for more guides on your favorite games. Have fun and we’ll see you on the Rift!