LoL Wild Rift Nasus Build & Guide (Patch 5.0) - Runes, Counters, Items, Ability Analysis

B Tier

Class: Fighter

Recommended Lane: Baron

Best Nasus Wild Rift build guide for Season 11 Patch 5.0 of WR. With our Nasus guide you will learn which items to build, runes to select, skill order, who counters Nasus, and how to use abilities properly.

Recommended Builds

Starting Item

Boots

Core Items

Complete Build

Runes

Starting Item

Boots

Core Items

Complete Build

Runes

Nasus is an imposing, jackal-headed Ascended being from ancient Shurima, a heroic figure regarded as a demigod by the people of the desert. Nasus is a scaling monster that only gets stronger as the game goes by thanks to the unlimited stacking potential with his 1st, Siphoning Strike. He can easily run down carries and towers if left unchecked.

Nasus Wild Rift Build Recommendation

Here are Item Build Recommendations that works on this champion and which are the best build for Nasus Wild Rift in this patch.

Egyptian God of Fighting

Boots of Furor [This item has been removed from WR]

This is the standard build for Nasus Wild Rift which balances offense and defense for a god-like late game presence.

Divine Sunderer – Grants the ability to shred off tanks and ranged champions with ease due to its quality to inflict Max HP based damage to opponents. Building this item may provide an inevitable triumph during the landing phase.
Boots of Swiftness – Grants the highest amount of movement speed to further increase your ability to run down opponents. Build Mercury’s Treads or Plated Steelcaps if you need more survivability. Upgrade with the Teleport Enchant for a split pushing strategy or upgrade with the Glorious Enchant for a more aggressive playstyle.
Dead Man’s Plate – The bonus movement speed and added slow effect on your attack thanks to the Crushing Blow passive, helps with Nasus’s issue of being kited easily.
Spirit Visage – This item is your go-to anti-AP item because it synergizes with your passive by increasing all the healing you receive, including physical vamp.
Amaranth’s Twinguard – In-combat durability
Guardian Angel – Grants you a second life once in a while thanks to the Resurrect passive. This allows for reckless plays with your ultimate.

Egyptian God of Tanking

This alternative Nasus Wild Rift build focuses on him being more a tanky frontliner for the team.

Iceborn Gauntlet – This is your alternative for Trinity Force. This grants more utility (AoE slow) and survivability for Nasus in exchange for the lower damage output that Trinity Force gives.
Thornmail – This item counters high DPS lifestealers which can be annoying to deal with. The return damage and Grievous Wounds effect will make them think twice about killing you.

Runes for Nasus in Wild Rift

Grasp of the Undying – Deals increased damage and heal on attacks every 4 seconds in combat. This rune is useful for sustaining in short trades in the early game and extended duels in the late game.
Gathering Storm – Grants increasing bonus AD as time passes by which is perfect for Nasus’s time bomb-like nature. This can be substituted with Weakness which grants bonus damage when your W, Wither is active on a target.
Adaptive Carapace – Grants bonus HP and adaptive resistances based on the type of damage you have taken the most in the past minute. Hunter – Titan is a good substitute when against CC heavy team comps because it grants tenacity and a little bit of HP for each unique takedown.
Sweet Tooth – Grants additional heal and bonus gold when eating honeyfruits.

Spells

In our Nasus Wild Rift Guide, here are the best champion spells that you can equip on him.

Ghost allows you to run down opponents. This summoner spell will be mostly used for offensive situations so you won’t get kited and you’ll be able to make full use of your ultimate.

Since Ghost will be used offensively, reserve your Flash for escaping.

Skill Order

Get a point of 1st, Siphoning Strike at level 1 so you can build your stack immediately. After getting a point in 2nd and 3rd, we will max 3rd, Spirit Fire first so you’ll have enough wave clear and harass against an oppressive lane. If you are somehow winning, maxing 1st first is recommended. We will max 2nd, Wither, last because 1 point is enough for the early and mid game and duels in early stages of the game should be avoided by Nasus. Get a point in Fury of the Sands whenever possible.

Abilities

Soul Eater

Passive

Gains 12% Physical Vamp.

Siphoning Strike

Active

Empowers next attack within 10 seconds to deal an additional 25 physical damage (25 + 0).
If Siphoning Strike kills the target, its damage is permanently increased by 4.

Killing champions, large minions and large monsters increases Siphoning Strike’s damage by 8 instead.

Wither

Active

Slows enemy Movement Speed by 35% and Attack Speed by 22.5% for 5 seconds. The Movement Speed slow increases to 45% over the duration.

Spirit Fire

Active

Creates a flaming zone, dealing 55 magic damage (55 + 40% AP). The zone persists for 5 seconds, dealing 11 magic damage (11 +12% AP) over time and reducing Armor by 15%.

Fury of the Sands

Active

Enhances himself to gain 300 Health, 25 Armor and Magic Resist for 15 seconds. Deals magic damage to nearby enemies equal to 3% (3 + 0.01% AP) of their Health during the duration.

Siphoning Strike’s cooldown is reduced by 50% during the duration.

Abilities Analysis

Innate: Soul Eater

Soul Eater grants Nasus a substantial amount of physical vamp. The passive works in conjunction with the high damage provided by his 1st, Siphoning Strike. This helps him sustain his weak early game and when he is stacked up, the strong damage from his 1st heals him for a large amount.

Q | 1st: Siphoning Strike

Siphoning Strike is Nasus’s signature skill. This ability is what gives Nasus his late game god-like potential where he can literally two shot opponents if he is left unchecked.

Nasus’s early game is really weak to compensate with his late game potential so you should focus on last hitting using Siphoning Strike first.

This ability is an auto-reset which increases his damage output and because of this it may be tempting to trade with the enemy using Siphoning Strike but it is an unwise decision for most cases because you will be forgoing a stack just to damage your opponent. The wisest option is to simply freeze your lane and unleash your wrath in the mid to late game.

Remember to always last hit the cannons using Siphoning Strike because it gives double stacks.

W | 2nd: Wither

Wither is an underrated ability of Nasus. It slows down the attack speed and movement speed of the target enemy for a fairly long duration.

Call a gank when you are being oppressed into your tower because a simple Wither and a gank to an overextended opponent is an easy takedown.

In the late game, reserve your Wither for the enemy’s ADC so you can reduce their damage output and it is possible to kill them within the duration of Wither. This ability allows you to 1v1 any ADC in the late game and come out on top.

E | 3rd:

Spirit Fire deals AoE damage and reduces the armor of those affected by it.

This ability is your and your tower’s lifeline in the early game. Use Spirit Fire when you are being pushed into your tower so you can manage it faster. Also, use it to last hit the cannons if you are being zoned away from it.

In the mid and late game, use it to shove waves faster and use it in combination with 2nd, Wither, for duels to deal more damage with your 3rd, Siphoning Strike.

R | Ultimate: Fury of the Sands

Fury of the Sands gives Nasus his god-like stature as it grants him increased health, armor, magic resist and it grants him an immolation effect that deals magic damage to nearby enemies based on their HP. It also reduces the cooldown of your Spirit Siphon by half. Not to mention, it literally increases his size which makes him a literally imposing being.

Use it while in the middle of the fight but don’t wait too late to use it. Use it while you have more than 70% health so you can make the most out of it. Best case scenario, you’ll stomp them out and worst case scenario is you’ll create space for your team to push or take objectives.

Nasus Early Game Guide

Nasus is a weak early game champion make sure to keep your distance and focus on last hitting with your 1st, Siphoning Strike. Avoid fights at all costs.

You don’t want to use your 1st, Siphoning Strike on the enemy laner because every cast of that ability used on the enemy is a missed stack. Situations, where you will win the lane, is rare anyway.

If you see the enemy jungler lurking near when you are already pushed in, use your 3rd, Spirit Fire in order to clear the wave faster to avoid being dove under your turret. You can also use 3rd, Spirit Fire to secure cannon minions if you are being zoned away from the wave. Otherwise, do not spam that ability too much because it eats a lot of mana.

Reserve your 2nd, Wither to slow down an overextended enemy when your jungler is near so the two of you will have a higher chance of succeeding in the gank.

Once you have your ultimate, try to bait in the enemy and immediately activate it once they’re near enough. Do not hesitate and cast it at the start of the fight. If the enemy backs away, clear the wave fast and recall to get your items.

Nasus Late Game Guide

In the later stages of the game, Nasus becomes a truck.

Try to split push whenever you have your ultimate and teleport available. If those are on cooldown, stay close to carries or farm near your team.

Remember to use your 2nd, Wither and 3rd, Spirit Fire on the enemy carries so they’ll be easier to kill.

Try to tank some hits for your team and focus on turrets as your 1st, Spirit Fire takes them down fast.

Do not overextend trying to chase your enemies. Think of yourself as the bouncer for your team.

Nasus Video Guide

Synergies

For our Nasus Wild Rift Guide, we highly recommend using him with the following champions as they synergize well with him.

Lee Sin provides great early game map pressure which allows Nasus to farm freely and unnoticed. When the late game comes, Lee Sin will be able to pick off anyone who escapes Nasus and at the same time, Nasus can provide chaos where Lee Sin can make plays easier.

Lulu can make Nasus extremely large and hard to kill if she uses her ultimate, Wild Growth on her. Her other abilities also aid Nasus in lots of ways. The two of them together feel like a boss fight on hard mode.

All Nasus Wild Rift Counter Champions

In this section, we’ll specifically show champions that can easily counter Nasus in Wild Rift.

Camille is an oppressive top laner and at the same time she has high mobility and has a slow and stun which can make Nasus’s life hard all game long.

Teemo will make your life hell all game long. He can easily harass you in lane and he’ll mess up your stacks with his blind. Do not give him kills as it will only make the game harder for you.

Just let Darius farm if you are fighting against him. If you do not let him snowball then maybe you’ll have a chance later but if you let him get a kill or two on you, it will be hard for your team to shut him down later.

Pros & Cons About Nasus

Here are some pros and cons if you are playing with Nasus in Wild Rift.

Pros

Unlimited stacks for Nasus means he has unlimited damage potential which makes for cool 1 combo takedowns.
Even with the high damage, Nasus is tanky enough to stay in the middle of fights.
He has plenty of utility with his slow and armor reduction abilities.

Cons

Nasus is one of the weakest hero in the early game.
It is very hard to comeback with Nasus and he’ll easily become a walking gold source when he is behind farm.
Easily managed by kiting and crowd control.

FAQ's About Nasus in Wild Rift

How good is Nasus in Wild Rift?

Nasus is currently a (Tier B) champion. He’s reliable enough but he will mostly be bullied and be a liability in the early stages of the game. But if he can survive that without feeding, he’ll come back hard.

What role / lane should I play with Nasus in Wild Rift?

Nasus should always be played in the Baron lane so he can focus on stacking in the early game.

What abilities do I level up with Nasus?

Nasus generally wants to max his 1st, Siphoning Strike first but he loses a lot of lanes so maxing 3rd, Spirit Fire can help him avoid being tower dove. Nonetheless, in all situations, we will max 2nd, Wither last.

What items should I build with Nasus?

Nasus wants to build Divine Sunderer or Iceborn Gauntlets as his first item to maximize the damage output from his 1st, Siphoning Strike. After that, building him Deadman’s Plate or Spirit Visage works best.

What Runes should I use when playing as Nasus?

Nasus’s Keystone Rune is Grasp of the Undying which grants bonus HP, damage, and healing or Fleet Footwork which grants healing and movement speed bonus. His other runes are Gathering Storm, Hunter – Titan, and Sweet Tooth.