Nasus is pure patience — your only job in lane is to Q last-hit every minion, especially cannons. Don't fight, don't die, and don't miss a Q. At 300 stacks you're dangerous; at 500+ you delete champions. Ignore the early game harassment.
Abilities
Skills Overview
P
Soul Eater
Passive
Nasus drains his foe's spiritual energy, giving him bonus Life Steal.
Q
Siphoning Strike
Siphoning Strike — Empowered auto that gains permanent stacks on kills
Nasus strikes his foe, dealing damage and increasing the power of his future Siphoning Strikes if he slays his target.
CD: 7.5/6.5/5.5/4.5/3.5 · Cost: 20
Last-hit every cannon minion and champion with Q — cannon minions give +6 stacks. Never miss a Q CS.
W
Wither
Wither — Target loses move speed and attack speed rapidly over time
Nasus ages an enemy champion, decelerating their Move Speed and Attack Speed over time.
CD: 15/14/13/12/11 · Cost: 80
Wither reduces attack speed as well as move speed — use it on the enemy ADC to make them attack much slower.
E
Spirit Fire
Spirit Fire — AoE that reduces armor and deals damage around Nasus
Nasus unleashes a spirit flame at a location, dealing damage and reducing the Armor of enemies who stand on it.
CD: 12 · Cost: 60/70/80/90/100
Place E under yourself in melee trades — the armor reduction amplifies all your damage by 25%.
R
Fury of the Sands
Fury of the Sands — Transform: massive HP, AoE damage aura, larger size
Nasus unleashes a mighty sandstorm that batters nearby enemies. While the storm rages, he gains increased Health, Attack Range, damages nearby enemies, has a reduced cooldown on Siphoning Strike, and gains bonus Armor and Magic Resistance.
CD: 120/100/80 · Cost: 100
Activate R when entering a fight — the HP bonus makes you nearly unkillable and the aura burns enemies.
Skill Leveling Order — Level Q first and always. Then W for slow power, then E for armor shred. Q first every level-up.
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Itemization
Recommended Builds
Starter
Doran's Shield
HP sustain to survive early harassment while stacking Q.
450g
Core
Warmog's Armor
Massive HP for R and Warmog's regen activates between stacking sessions. Out-of-combat regen is crucial.
3000g
Spirit Visage
MR and healing amp — amplifies all sustain sources during fights. CDR for more Q usage.
2900g
Sunfire Aegis
Burn aura during R aura — Sunfire + R aura deal AoE damage simultaneously.
2700g
Situational
Thornmail
Grievous Wounds is Nasus's counter — have your own Thornmail to apply it to enemies first.
2700g
Dead Man's Plate
Move speed to close gap on mobile enemies — Nasus's weakness is mobility.
2900g
Force of Nature
MR and move speed after taking magic damage — essential vs AP-heavy comps.
2900g
Warmog's is mandatory first item — the HP regen between fights lets you Q farm continuously without needing to recall. Regen is your laning sustain.
Runes
Resolve Primary
Grasp of the Undying
Free HP every 4 seconds — the HP bonus scales with Q stacking, making Grasp proc damage significant late.
Demolish
Tower damage with massive HP pool — Nasus's HP at full Warmog's makes Demolish proc huge.
Conditioning
Free armor/MR at 12 minutes — amplifies his tankiness while Q stacking continues.
Overgrowth
Permanent HP from minions — combined with Q stacking, Nasus becomes unkillable late game.
Sorcery Secondary
Manaflow Band
Q and W cost mana — Manaflow solves the laning phase mana constraint during continuous stacking.
Transcendence
CDR reduces Q cooldown — more Q casts per minute means faster stacking.
Shards
Health · Armor · Health
Gameplay
How to Play Nasus
01
Early Game
Early Phase
- Q only minions — never auto-attack unless absolutely necessary.
- Every Q kill gives stacks permanently.
- Use W to escape ganks — the attack speed and move speed reduction stops any jungler.
- Ignore the enemy laner if they're poke-focused; just farm.
02
Mid Game
Mid Phase
- At 6, R when the enemy jungler ganks — the HP bonus and aura often makes it a failed gank.
- Continue stacking every wave.
- Teleport back after recalls to maintain Q stacking uptime on waves.
03
Late Game
Late Phase
- At 500+ stacks, W → Q deletes any carry.
- Your E armor shred amplifies Q damage further.
- R in teamfights for the HP bonus and AoE aura.
- Splitpush with your W to 1v1 anyone sent to stop you.
Teamfighting
How to Teamfight as Nasus
Nasus in teamfights is an unstoppable bruiser who W slows the carry, Q one-shots, and R provides a massive HP buffer. At full stacks his Q is a point-click 1000+ damage ability on a short cooldown.
1
Engage — R Then Chase
Fight opener
01
Activate R immediately — the HP bonus makes you nearly unkillable during the charge-in.
02
W the priority carry — reduce their move speed and attack speed to 50% or less.
03
E under yourself — the 25% armor reduction amplifies all your Q damage.
Never Q minions in teamfights — always Q enemy champions. This is both damage and CS denial mistake to avoid.
2
Mid-Fight — Q Burst Delete
Carry elimination
01
Q the Withered carry — they can't run or fight back. 500+ stacks Q is massive burst.
02
Auto-attack between Q cooldowns for consistent damage. Q resets are your burst windows.
03
R aura burns all nearby enemies — no action needed, just stay in melee range.
3
Cleanup — W the Fleeing
Chase phase
01
W any fleeing enemy — Wither's 99% slow cap makes escape impossible.
02
Q cleanup on isolated targets with the carry eliminated.
03
R aura continues ticking — stay in range of clustered enemies for continued burn.
Your win condition is Q stacks — at 1000 stacks, Q deals 1100+ bonus damage on a 1-second cooldown. Never miss a Q cannon minion last-hit, ever.
Tips & Tricks
Advanced Mechanics & Hidden Tech
Advanced mechanics for Nasus.
Basic
Q every minion last-hit
cannon minions give 6 stacks, champion kills give 12. Priority: cannon > champion > regular.
Intermediate
Never auto-attack minions when Q is available
every non-Q kill is wasted stack potential.
Intermediate
W reduces attack speed significantly
use it on ADCs in teamfights to make them nearly useless.
Advanced
E under yourself
the armor reduction works in an AoE around Nasus for the full Q burst.
Basic
Warmog's regen lets you farm between fights without recal...
regen to full, farm again.
Intermediate
Transcendence CDR reduces Q cooldown
more Q casts per minute is more stacking speed.
Advanced
At 500 stacks you can 1v1 virtually anyone
don't play passive once you have the stack advantage.
Advanced
W + Q combo makes any chase attempt into a death sentence
Wither ensures Q always connects.
Matchups
Counters & Matchups
Nasus is countered by champions who deal enough early damage to deny stacking and ranged poke who prevent Q last-hitting from safe distances.
Click any matchup to expand tips & how to play against them
Loses Against
Teemo's poison completely prevents Nasus from approaching for Q last-hits. He can harass indefinitely from safe range.
Use W when Teemo approaches to last-hit him. Start Doran's Shield and ask for jungler help — you can't fight Teemo alone early.
Darius's passive Hemorrhage punishes every Q last-hit attempt. His E pull prevents escape. He denies all early stacking.
Take Doran's Shield. Q only when Darius's E is on cooldown. Accept reduced stacking early and survive to scale.
Quinn's range and Vault knockback prevent all Q last-hitting. Her Harrier mark proc burst limits time near minions.
Farm with ranged spells behind the wave when possible. Accept the difficult lane and scale — Quinn falls off hard.
Wins Against
Garen can't chase Nasus's Wither in trades. At 500 stacks Nasus's Q outpaces Garen's entire damage output.
W Garen every time he tries to E spin combo. Your Q stacks outscale his static scaling.
Malphite's Q poke is trivial vs Nasus's Warmog's regen. His R is countered by Nasus's R HP making the engage meaningless.
Warmog's regen sustains through Malphite's Q poke. W in teamfights to reduce his attack speed.
Nasus's Wither reduces Mordekaiser's move speed and AS inside R realm. At 500 stacks, Nasus wins the realm 1v1.
W immediately when Mordekaiser R's you. Your Wither reduces his damage output and your stacks win the realm fight.