by Harsh

[2.4b] Nasus Guide - The Nasus Support Guide V1.0

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Perfectionist
Patch 2.4b
October 05, 2021 22:18
Support

The Nasus Support Guide V1.0

Inspired by LieuVijay on Reddit, development from experimentations includes hundreds of games has proven Nasus potential of being a solid support; equipped with one of the best single target CC and AoE poke abilities, may not be the easiest to learn, but darn effective.

Pros

  • Great CC able to hinder opponent carry useless unless cleansed.
  • Good chip damage with great consistency and less dependence on items.
  • Great laning pressure.
  • Able to greatly impact objectives when left alone.

Cons

  • Lack of kits to synergize with and protect your carry.
  • Immobile & squishy
  • May cause excessive lane disturbance / negatively impact economy of your Carry if used incorrectly.

Nasus Build

Best Build Guide for Nasus

Starting Items
Sapphire Crystal
Core build
Archangel's Staff
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
Locket Enchant
Luden's Echo
Liandry's Torment
Optional Items
Void Staff
Rabadon's Deathcap
Rylai's Crystal Scepter
Morellonomicon

Item Build Description

Additional information on the items

Early game
Start with Sapphire CrystalSapphire Crystal and build into Tear of the GoddessTear of the Goddess at first opportunity as NasusNasus is very mana demanding; acquire Ionian Boots of LucidityIonian Boots of Lucidity to boost mobility and allow faster cooldowns on Spirit FireSpirit Fire ;preferably with [locket enchant] as NasusNasus lacks ways in his tookit to protect your carry.

Mid game

Your first major item should be either [luden’s echo] or [liandry’s torment].

[luden’s echo] provides a spike in your damage, drastically boosting the effectiveness of your Spirit FireSpirit Fire especially against squishy carries extra mana allows more frequent harassments, grant you an edge in the laning phase.

While [liandry’s torment] is more effective later in the game and against tankier champions, with HP stats helping with survivability, a better choice when behind, and to be a general annoyance.

However it should be noted [archangel’s staff] should not be the first (even second in some circumstances) major item for NasusNasus as he is unlikely to complete stacking Tear of the GoddessTear of the Goddess due to his long cooldowns.

Late game

Late game items can be flexible, magic penetration items, such as Void StaffVoid Staff and MorellonomiconMorellonomicon should be considered if enemy is purchasing MR items to ensure sufficient amount of damage, this is commonly the case in most games.

Due to your Spirit FireSpirit Fire being a large AoE ability that is highly likely to hit, acquiring additional on-hit effects according to enemy composition never hurts. [rylai’s crystal scepter] helps you to slow the enemy down and giving you more health against assassins; MorellonomiconMorellonomicon can seriously disrupt the enemy teams healing and lifesteal.

While NasusNasus does not benefit significantly from raw AP, it may be still optimal to purchase [rabadon’s deathcap] to further boost the high AP stats from other previous items, if there is no priority for effects or magic pen.

Nasus Runes

Best Runes for Nasus

Keystone
Summon Aery
Summon Aery
Domination
Brutal
Brutal
Resolve
Loyalty
Loyalty
Inspiration
Manaflow Band
Manaflow Band

Summon AerySummon Aery is the only rune of its kind useful on support NasusNasus , allowing for additional poke damage with Spirit FireSpirit Fire .


BrutalBrutal provides magic pen which boosts the high base damage of NasusNasus , WeaknessWeakness can also be considered when paired with a bully.

LoyaltyLoyalty boosts the survivability of yourself and your carry, other alternatives can be considered when required, such as against strong engravers.


Manaflow BandManaflow Band is a must have due to the high mana consumption of [nasus:2] and Spirit FireSpirit Fire , ensuring sufficient amount of pressure can be applied early game.

Keystone
Summon Aery
Summon Aery
Domination
Weakness
Weakness
Resolve
Loyalty
Loyalty
Inspiration
Manaflow Band
Manaflow Band

Skill Order

How to distribute skill points

Soul Eater
Soul Eater - Passive
Siphoning Strike
Siphoning Strike
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Wither
Wither
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Spirit Fire
Spirit Fire
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Fury Of The Sands
Fury Of The Sands
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Summoner Spells

When to take which summoners

Flash
Due to AP Nasus lacks in health and escape, flash is generally a must have.
Heal
To provide you with ways to protect your carry, taken in most situations.
Ignite
If your carry (e.g. MF) can provide exceptional pressure leading to takedown opportunities.
Exhaust
Use exhaust to ensure limiting damage output of hypercarries regardless of Cleanse.

Combos

Learn how to maximize the champions potential

Spirit Fire
3rd

The core ability of every AP NasusNasus and your main harassment from laning to lategame.

You should always keep in mind of minion waves and place your Spirit FireSpirit Fire  around them to target only enemy champions and avoid disrupting your carry’s farming routine. 

Enemy will be aware of this as time goes on, use patience and keep placing your Spirit FireSpirit Fire without disrupting your carry farming. Constantly switching positions can give you better angles.

Wither
2nd

WitherWither is the ability that enables NasusNasus to be a good support, using WitherWither in early game fights can seriously cripple the damage output of opponent carry, disrupt enemy farming or just to cause annoyance. 


you should always preserve WitherWither if there is likely to be a fight, you can capitalize on the greed of enemy to ‘bait’ them into making mistakes by overestimating their damage; ensure a kill by immobilizing an opponent champion or slow down an enemy jungler gank.

Fury Of The Sands
Ult

While Fury Of The SandsFury Of The Sands is not as powerful in an AP build, the ability can be used to rush down objectives and turrets, making AP NasusNasus a threat in a fight regarding objectives.

In laning phase Fury Of The SandsFury Of The Sands can be used to simply regen your health - just pop it when it’s ready!

Fury Of The Sands
Ult
Heal
Heal
Locket Enchant

It is crucial for support to play with enemy’s  (and your teammate’s) mindset, use of Fury Of The SandsFury Of The Sands , [locket enchant] and [heal] can bait greedy opponents looking for a quick kill.

Wither
2nd
Spirit Fire
3rd

Combo WitherWither with Spirit FireSpirit Fire allows enemy to stay longer in the radius of Spirit FireSpirit Fire , however, a well placed Spirit FireSpirit Fire followed by WitherWither at the back of enemy may manipulate enemy into wanting to leave Spirit FireSpirit Fire by stepping forward while being slowed, causing mispositioning.

Nasus Matchups & Counters

Detailed information on how to play matchups and counters

Sona
Easy
Sona
Ezreal
Medium
Ezreal
Draven
Medium
Draven
Lulu
Medium
Lulu
Annie
Hard
Annie
Jinx
Skill
Jinx
Blitzcrank
Skill
Blitzcrank
Lux
Skill
Lux

SonaSona can shield or heal off your Spirit FireSpirit Fire with her Aria Of PerseveranceAria Of Perseverance , and can possibly have better pressure using her Hymn Of ValorHymn Of Valor , however due to her low damage and squishiness there should be ample opportunity to engage a fight via using WitherWither either shutting off her carry, negating most damage of the duo, or just to lock down a defenseless SonaSona .

In the late game, MorellonomiconMorellonomicon will be a useful item to acquire.

Nasus

When or not to Nasus sup.

When to pick support NasusNasus :

- When you have a caster / lane bully as your carry such as Miss FortuneMiss Fortune and EzrealEzreal and wanting to maximize the early game pressure.

- When your team has low AP damageas your Spirit FireSpirit Fire can deal surprisingly amount of chip damage.

- When your team need good single target CC to hinder enemy champions such as JaxJax and TristanaTristana .

- When you want to play something you are farmilliar, but enemies have no idea how to play against - a niche build AP nasus support is!

- When you just want to play a fun build!


When NOT to pick support NasusNasus :


- When your teammates strongly objects your choice, in this situation it may be more effective to pick conventional supports to prevent negativity.

- When an AP poke squishy support is not the ideal, if your team has too many AP and would require a tank, different support will do the job a lot better.

Nasus

DOs & DONTs of sup. nasus

DOs of support NasusNasus :

- Be fully supportive of your carry, from both gameplay and communication point of view. Even as an independent support as NasusNasus is, it is still important to look out for your carry, even when he’s having a bad game.

- Always be considerate when using your Spirit FireSpirit Fire , as when used incorrectly Spirit FireSpirit Fire can be greatly disruptive to your carry’s farming, avoid minions in general while hitting champions, especially low health ones to prevent taking unnecessary farm.

DONTs of support NasusNasus :

- It is best not to stack Siphoning StrikeSiphoning Strike , as AP support NasusNasus would struggle to find a chance to ever safely land Siphoning StrikeSiphoning Strike making stacks irrelevant, stay safe and poke, while only use Siphoning StrikeSiphoning Strike for pushing, Tear of the GoddessTear of the Goddess stacking and objectives.

- Don’t take economy from other teammates, even if you are carrying, as NasusNasus has a low dependence on items the economy is likely to fare better on even other teammates with a bad score. Try to hand over minions and kills to team in most situations.

- However, don’t hesitate to finish enemy off with your long range Spirit FireSpirit Fire for securing a kill if your carry is out of range, bringing [ignite] can also help with the situation.

Nasus

How’bout other lanes?

AP NasusNasus can be a solid toplaner, and a below average midlaner, however picking NasusNasus into solo lanes can be very situational due to him being a one trick pony in what he does best - poke and single target CC.

AP caster NasusNasus top would mean requirement for a tanky jungler or support such as Dr. MundoDr. Mundo and BraumBraum , and preferably an assassin midlaner. Hybrid NasusNasus top build also exists including AP tank build with Lich BaneLich Bane and AD build with AP items, it may be interesting to give these builds a try.


AP NasusNasus mid may depend on the enemy midlaner, even as AP, NasusNasus will struggle to farm against majority of midlaners available. As AP NasusNasus only excels in poke damage, it may be a good idea to ensure existence of another AP damage source before picking.

Nasus

Synergy’s of sup. Nasus

A few example of carries goes well with NasusNasus are as below:

- Miss FortuneMiss Fortune has a solid early game lane pressure, this with Spirit FireSpirit Fire will be highly likely to disrupt enemy early game; WitherWither is also able to support landing of abilities such as Make It RainMake It Rain and Bullet TimeBullet Time or scoring takedowns.

- EzrealEzreal has good poke and burst damage in early game, while WitherWither can ensure EzrealEzreal ’s abilities land nicely.

- CorkiCorki has high amount of burst early to mid game, WitherWither can lock down a single target for CorkiCorki to feast on.

Nasus

Thoughts on the build.

As a laid-back support main, after hundreds of games with AP Nasus support, mostly solo and duo, one of the hardest thing is to convince your team that you are not trolling - if they really insist, pick a different support instead, that’s the golden rule.

The strongest aspect of AP NasusNasus support is the lack of popularity of the build, in most games, you’ll be playing against opponents that have only seen the build once or twice in their carreer, this allows you to fully capitalize the surprise factor of the build - an early game WitherWither leading to a take down, then a long range Spirit FireSpirit Fire to snipe low HP recalling support, and a surprise Fury Of The SandsFury Of The Sands plus [locket enchant] to trick enemy jungler into a failed tower dive, the possibility is endless.

But the most important factor is to have fun - WR is a game and I’d say there is nothing more fun than recking slinging an off meta build!

Nasus

Additional information

First of all, gratitude to the mad lad LieuVijay on Reddit for creating this guide for AP Nasus support and inspired me for refining my build: https://www.reddit.com/r/wildrift/comments/l5n0n4/introducing_nasus_support_a_dog_is_a_dragon_lane


As you can see this guide is not finished in the current state - I will add additional matchups on the go after gaining more experience with the build.


Meanwhile please feel free to express any opinions or criticisms in the comment below, and please do share your experience with the build!

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