Nasus/Strategy

Skill usage

 * Nasus can jungle due to his free life steal from . However, it is much better to take a solo lane due to more minions to farm and low jungle power.
 * Constantly last hitting with will have an enormous impact at the end of a game, and will be your primary source of damage.
 * If you are are having difficulty last hitting minions with (against strong zoners), request a lane change or a gank.
 * The damage from will proc on turrets. Use it to quickly take turrets down.
 * Using on your targets will make it easier to land  before using, as  greatly reduces the target's armor, making you hit much harder than normal.
 * essentially cripples whoever you use it on, slowing them to a crawl and, especially if they're a physical-damage carry, severing their damage output for a time. Choose your target wisely when casting, as the moderate cooldown isn't very forgiving if you choose poorly.
 * Be careful when using near your tower, as it will push the lane and you will lose last-hits.
 * During the laning phase, will discourage your enemies from farming, but it has a relatively high mana cost.
 * Nasus's ultimate can be used at the start of team fights as you will be doing constant AoE damage to enemies while gaining attack damage for big hits. It can also be saved for the end of a fight to bait enemies with the health boost (stronger in small fights).
 * can be used offensively or defensiviely, use it to catch or escape enemies, as it also gives a massive health boost.
 * A team with Nasus can kill earlier because his  and passive life steal from  lets him tank and kill it much more easily.
 * Nasus's tanky nature and need to farm makes him a decent counter to a mid lane Talon

Build usage

 * Nasus can be itemized as a melee DPS, as a tank, or as an off-tank, based upon the rest of your team composition.
 * As Nasus relies on as his primary source of damage, it is important to stay in lane in order to continuously farm . Any items to sustain him in lane with mana and health like a  or a  are important. Building early resistances like a  or a  according to the main damage source can allow you to take a little more harass and stay in lane longer.
 * Think about buying early. Although it doesn't build into any items that are particularly useful for Nasus, he will constantly have mana to constantly farm minions.
 * An early into a  also solves Nasus's mana hunger. The  also synergizes well with items like, ,  and , which are all good items for Nasus. The bonus damage makes it easier to farm for his.
 * The life steal from grants him sustainability, allowing him to build other items.
 * should not be ignored simply because of Nasus's innate abilities. In a more offensive build, synergizes well with Nasus's lifesteal passive and  damage and can help deal as well as take more damage if  isn't that well farmed.
 * and synergize with the proc on, greatly increasing your damage output.
 * as well as its components work very well with Nasus. and a  can keep an enemy constantly in melee range as well as the  area of effect.  passive stacks with  for more damage and providing more mana to better farm minions.  offers some critical strike and attack speed to do more damage and movement speed to stick to enemies.
 * and offer Nasus cooldown reduction and mana, which allow Nasus to use his  more often, as well as giving him armor and an attack speed debuff aura.
 * gives both the Spellblade passive from and the stats of . Whether buying it as replacements for  and  being a better option is debatable.
 * reduces Nasus's cooldowns, as well as giving him an effective escape or chasing tool. This item is also upgraded from the, which gives enough mana for Nasus to use his repeatedly early game.
 * It's also a good item to close the gap to the enemy carry. If the enemy is kiting you, you can combine it with other movement speed items and to catch them.
 * Nasus can also be used as an ability power champion, relying on items as and  for damage and utility with his  and  for increased damage with his, while still building defensive items like  and . This type of build is more focused on dealing damage to multiple enemies as his both  and  will deal more damage.
 * Do not make the mistake of purchasing or  on Nasus as the items have almost no synergy on him whatsoever. Not only do enemies killed by the Cleave passive effect not count towards increasing the damage of, but neither the Cleave passive nor the Crescent active even apply any of the the bonus damage of , since the damage they do is based solely on Attack Damage and does not include on-hit effects.
 * However, the passive and active do greatly help with Nasus' split-pushing abilities (something he excels at due to 's ability to let him take down turrets rapidly), while the extra life-steal builds on his innate, making it a good late-game choice in a more offensive build.
 * Because  no longer proc's critical strike, this makes armor penetration the only option to increase the infinitly scaling bonus damage. This makes  and  very good items for  late game.  is good for the armor pen, cooldown reduction, health, and superior ad compared to the . However,  is still viable due to the larger, and more reliable, % armor pen.

Runes and Masteries

 * Consider using life steal Quintessences on Nasus; they are the most effective sustain tool for him. This is because his procs life steal. While the damage of  rises, the sustain gets even bigger.

Countering

 * Nasus's strength comes from his ability to farm . Try to zone him or deny his chance of last-hitting minions.
 * Building Tenacity will reduce the duration of . However, remember that its maximum slow will be applied quicker than usual due to the shortened duration.
 * Nasus is susceptible to crowd control. Ranged champions should invest in a or  to prevent him from getting into melee range.
 * Stacking health will only make stronger. Build armor and magic resist as well.