Champion Guide

Nasus Guide

By LoLSuggest

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Nasus is a scaling juggernaut top laner. Siphoning Strike permanently gains damage every time it kills a unit, Soul Eater gives him innate life steal, Wither heavily slows an enemy and cuts their attack speed, Spirit Fire scorches an area and lowers enemy armor, and Fury of the Sands turns him into a huge, durable fighter that damages nearby enemies. His goal is not just to farm stacks but to turn them into pressure: towers, objectives and side lanes the enemy cannot ignore.

Recommended Setup

Our recommended Nasus build

Our recommended runes, summoner spells and items. Compare build win rates on the stats page.

Items

Starting Items

Core Items

Situational Items

Start Doran's Shield and a Health Potion, or Doran's Ring or Doran's Helm. Ionian Boots of Lucidity are the usual boots, with Plated Steelcaps or Mercury's Treads when you need them. The core is Trinity Force, Spirit Visage and Frozen Heart, and the standard full build adds Thornmail and Randuin's Omen. Dead Man's Plate and Sterak's Gage make a strong alternative, Iceborn Gauntlet can replace Trinity Force with Jak'Sho, The Protean later, and Force of Nature or Kaenic Rookern handle magic damage. Run Fleet Footwork with Triumph, Legend: Haste and Last Stand, plus Second Wind and Unflinching; Stormraider's Surge with Manaflow Band, Transcendence and Scorch is the alternative page. Take Ghost with Teleport, or Flash with Ghost or Teleport. Max Q, then W, then E.

Runes

Primary Tree

Secondary Tree

Summoner Spells

Skill Max Order

Strengths

Infinite scaling: every Siphoning Strike stack stays relevant for the whole game.
Wither's huge slow and attack speed reduction shut down marksmen and melee carries.
A developed Nasus is a massive side-lane and tower threat.

Weaknesses

Weak early game with no mobility and little burst, so strong lane bullies punish him.
Easily kited by ranged champions and crowd control.
Stacks are only a means: a Nasus who farms without converting his power falls behind.

Laning Phase

Nasus is at his weakest before level 6, so the early goal is not to win every trade but to reach your power spikes with healthy resources, levels and Siphoning Strike stacks. Last-hit with Siphoning Strike to stack it, and use Spirit Fire only when its damage or armor reduction creates a real advantage. Wither comes online at level 2: a good short trade is Wither, walk in, attack and Siphoning Strike, continuing only if the enemy stays committed. Manage the wave with a purpose: freeze to farm safely and make the enemy walk into Wither range, slow push to buy time for a recall or rotation, and crash only when it buys you a reset. Ward for where the enemy jungler can realistically be; Rift Scuttler spawns at 2:55, so think in gank windows rather than exact timestamps.

Mid & Late Game

Level 6 changes everything: Fury of the Sands gives you durability and faster Siphoning Strikes, so start converting your stacks into results by winning extended fights, taking towers, forcing rotations and securing objectives instead of only farming. A developed Nasus is a huge side-lane threat, since Siphoning Strike shreds structures and Wither makes most melee champions and marksmen struggle to contest him. In the late game, pick fights where you can reach a priority target, Wither their carry, and do not walk in first without a path to your target, because kiting, displacement and crowd control still beat you.

Key Tips

Treat Siphoning Strike's cooldown as a resource: holding it a moment for a champion, tower or objective is often worth it.
Save Wither for when its slow or attack speed reduction actually decides the fight.
Wither, Spirit Fire, Fury of the Sands and repeated Siphoning Strikes is your all-in, so commit only when the fight is worth it.
Ask what your current power can force the enemy to give you, not just how many stacks you have.

Matchups