Guide · Top

Nasus Guide

the Curator of the Sands

Fighter

Tank

Tier C Top

Nasus, the Curator of the Sands, is a fighter and tank champion of medium difficulty. Across our 1025 analysed ranked games, Nasus is mostly played in Top (66% of its games), and more rarely in Mid (26%), with a 46.1% win rate in that role: tier C among Top champions (#44 of 51, ranked by win rate). Nasus's damage is mostly physical (75%): armor is the best defensive answer against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 51.5% in short games (under 25 min, 206 games) versus 41.9% in long games (over 35 min).

Averages measured over 674 Top games played with Nasus, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

Combos and how to play

Nasus is a fighter who gains power through Siphoning Strike: every target killed increases the damage of his next strikes. Wither heavily slows a champion by reducing their attack and movement speed, Spirit Fire reduces armor, and Fury of the Sands gives him health, range and resistances.

The trade

W › E › Q › AA AA

When: An enemy is within range.

Wither slows the enemy (attack and movement speed), Spirit Fire reduces their armor, Siphoning Strike hits for heavy damage.

The team fight

R › W › E › Q

When: A team fight is underway.

Fury of the Sands gives you more health, attack range, armor and magic resistance and reduces the cooldown of Siphoning Strike: cast it before entering the brawl.

Farming

Q › AA AA

When: You want to scale.

Siphoning Strike increases the power of your next strikes if it kills its target: take every minion with it.

Laning phase

Take last hits with Siphoning Strike: it is your main source of power. Your passive gives you a life steal bonus against your opponent, which makes your lane more durable.

Common mistakes

• Missing last hits with Siphoning Strike: it is your scaling.
• Forgetting Wither on the enemy carry.
• Entering a fight without your ultimate.

Riot's official tips for playing Nasus

• Paying attention to last hitting with Siphoning Strike will have a large impact at the end of a game.
• If you're solo, Spirit Fire is a great way to farm a lane. It can be bad if you're in a lane with 2 and you push too far. Find the right balance between Siphoning Strike last hits and AoE farming.
• If you have low defenses, people will focus you down even during your ultimate. Try buying some survivability items even in your DPS builds.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Spirit Visage, Trinity Force, and Frozen Heart (117 games, 52.1% win rate).

Spirit Visage+Trinity Force+Frozen Heart

117 games · 52.1%

Spirit Visage+Thornmail+Trinity Force

50 games · 52.0%

Thornmail+Trinity Force+Frozen Heart

50 games · 52.0%

Summoner spells

Ghost + Teleport49.2% · 299 games

Flash + Teleport41.0% · 178 games

Flash + Ghost45.4% · 172 games

Most-played runes

Fleet Footwork + Resolve

46.8% · 487 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph75%

Legend: Haste99%

Last Stand96%

Secondary tree · Resolve

Second Wind91%

Unflinching72%

Shards

Ability haste95%

Health scaling85%

Health scaling80%

Stormraider's Surge + Inspiration

39.7% · 73 games

Primary tree · Sorcery

Manaflow Band94%

Transcendence92%

Scorch89%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Approach Velocity90%

Biscuit Delivery81%

Shards

Adaptive force73%

Adaptive force75%

Health scaling70%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Nasus's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team52.5% · 196 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Trinity Force 55.7% ▲

Spirit Visage 50.4% ▲

Frozen Heart 56.2% ▲

Force of Nature 60.0% ▲

Iceborn Gauntlet 53.3% ▲

Thornmail 55.0%

The item that stands out most is Trinity Force: 55.7% win rate, +7 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team43.4% · 173 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Trinity Force 47.8%

Frozen Heart 54.7%

Spirit Visage 45.1%

Iceborn Gauntlet 43.6% ▼

Thornmail 31.0% ▼

Randuin's Omen 40.0%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Balanced enemy team43.6% · 305 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Trinity Force 43.2% ▼

Frozen Heart 48.1% ▼

Spirit Visage 43.9%

Iceborn Gauntlet 49.3%

Thornmail 48.1% ▲

Jak'Sho, The Protean 42.3%

The item that stands out most is Thornmail: 48.1% win rate, +3 points versus its usual win rate.

Counters and matchups

Who counters Nasus in Top

Yone Nasus: 43.8%16 games

Yone has the edge in 56% of the 16 Top duels against Nasus. See the Yone guide.

Olaf Nasus: 46.7%15 games

Olaf has the edge in 53% of the 15 Top duels against Nasus. See the Olaf guide.

Malphite Nasus: 52.6%19 games

Malphite has the edge in 47% of the 19 Top duels against Nasus. See the Malphite guide.

Garen Nasus: 57.7%26 games

Garen has the edge in 42% of the 26 Top duels against Nasus. See the Garen guide.

Who Nasus is strong against

Garen57.7% · 26 games

Malphite52.6% · 19 games

Olaf46.7% · 15 games

Yone43.8% · 16 games

How to play against Nasus

• While transformed by his ultimate, Nasus is stronger than most champions in the League. Engage him only if you have a clear advantage.
• Max rank Wither is a very effective counter to Attack Damage characters, so try to avoid getting caught alone by it.
• Nasus is prone to being kited. Try not to engage him at full Health.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Nasus's matchups.

Abilities

PassiveSoul Eater

Nasus drains his foe's spiritual energy, giving him bonus Life Steal.

QSiphoning Strike

Nasus strikes his foe, dealing damage and increasing the power of his future Siphoning Strikes if he slays his target.

WWither

Nasus ages an enemy champion, decelerating their Move Speed and Attack Speed over time.

ESpirit Fire

Nasus unleashes a spirit flame at a location, dealing damage and reducing the Armor of enemies who stand on it.

RFury of the Sands

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.

Frequently asked questions

Full Nasus page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides