Champion Guide

Nunu & Willump Guide

By LoLSuggest

Jungle

This guide plays Nunu & Willump as an AP burst ganker instead of the usual tank. Consume bites a monster or champion for big damage and healing, Biggest Snowball Ever! rolls a growing snowball that knocks up the first champion it hits, Snowball Barrage throws snowballs that root a champion hit enough times, and Absolute Zero channels a blizzard that slows and then explodes for massive damage. Call of the Freljord gives Nunu and a nearby ally bonus speed. With AP items he one-shots squishy targets after a snowball gank and rarely loses a Smite fight thanks to Consume.

Recommended Setup

Our recommended Nunu & Willump build

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

Items

Starting Items

Core Items

Situational Items

Start Gustwalker Hatchling. The jungle AP build is Hextech Rocketbelt, Sorcerer's Shoes, Shadowflame and Zhonya's Hourglass, then Mejai's Soulstealer and Rabadon's Deathcap; Void Staff, Banshee's Veil and Morellonomicon are other options. Mid Nunu starts Doran's Ring, a Health Potion and a Stealth Ward and builds Stormsurge first, but only against squishy teams; otherwise rush Hextech Rocketbelt. Run Stormraider's Surge with Axiom Arcanist, Celerity and Gathering Storm, plus Ultimate Hunter and Cheap Shot; Dark Harvest, the most popular page, and Electrocute with Deep Ward are the alternatives. Take Flash with Smite in the jungle, or Flash with Ignite in mid, with Cleanse only into Zoe. Max Q, then E, then W.

Runes

Primary Tree

Secondary Tree

Summoner Spells

Skill Max Order

Strengths

Extremely high burst damage and S-tier ganks.
Rarely loses a smite fight thanks to Consume, and heals a lot on monsters.
Plenty of crowd control.

Weaknesses

Very squishy, with no dashes, little sustained damage and an easily cancelled ultimate.
Relies on teammates and is punished hard for mistakes.
Fast-tempo or tanky junglers such as Rengar, Bel'Veth, Udyr, Lillia or Amumu are very hard to play against.

Laning Phase

Start the buff on the opposite side from the lane you want to play around. The fastest level 3 is a three-camp clear: take Consume first, attack Red Buff once, Consume again and finish it with Consume and Smite, then level Biggest Snowball Ever! and roll into the Raptors, and roll again into Gromp before leveling Snowball Barrage and looking for ganks. Five-camp red or blue starts work too, ending at the Scuttle Crab, which you secure with Consume and Smite before ganking from its speed ring. A lane is gankable when the enemy is immobile, your laner has follow-up, the wave is pushed toward your side and you know where the enemy's teammates are; a large enemy wave or a lane pushed toward the enemy makes it ungankable.

Mid & Late Game

Track the enemy jungler so you can counter-gank the lanes they are likely to visit, and play away from tanky, crowd-control-heavy junglers you cannot burst. Absolute Zero is easily cancelled, so channel it once the enemy has used their crowd control or with Zhonya's Hourglass ready. Use Biggest Snowball Ever! to cancel engages such as Lee Sin's second Q.

Key Tips

Use Consume plus Smite to secure the Scuttle Crab and objectives.
Against Nidalee, ward whichever buff you did not start.
Against Kha'Zix, keep your ultimate ready before walking into areas where he could be hiding.
Rengar and Bel'Veth are the matchups to ban or play far away from.

Matchups

Matchups and synergies

Our picks for difficult opponents, favorable lanes and strong allies. Compare matchup win rates on the stats page.