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

A+ Tier

Class: Tank

Recommended Lane: Jungle

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

Recommended Builds

Starting Item

Boots

Core Items

Complete Build

Runes

Starting Item

Boots

Core Items

Complete Build

Runes

Bonded by a song and for their love of snowball, Nunu, the child of Freljord and Willump, the last Yeti, follows the songs of Nunu’s mother in an adventure to find her as they snowball wildly from one place to another. Nunu & Willump is a mage tank hybrid that literally and figuratively snowballs the game in Wild Rift thanks to their wild roaming capabilities and tons of crowd controls.

Nunu & Willump Wild Rift Build Recommendation

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

The Boy and the Yeti

This is the standard Nunu Wild Rift build. This will allow Nunu & Willump to take control over the game through balanced damage and survivability while also increasing his roaming potential.

Sunfire Aegis deals increasing AoE magic damage to those who are near its user thanks to its Immolate passive. Nunu & Willump is great at sticking to enemies so this core item fits them perfectly.
Mercury’s Treads will allow Nunu & Willump to absorb crowd control from enemies. You should build Plated Steelcaps instead if the enemy has no crowd controls. Buy Glorious Enchant for faster snowballs or buy Gargoyle Enchant so you will be able to absorb more damage on teamfights.
Dead Man’s Plate increases your engage potential thanks to the bonus movement speed from its Momentum passive. It will also increase your burst damage thanks to the Crushing Blows passive.
Amaranth’s Twinguard – In-combat durability
Thornmail will counter auto-attackers and healing or self-sustaining champions as it applies return damage and Grievous Wounds to those who attack you. If the enemy has strong healing or self-sustaining champions, build Bramble Vest in the early game.
Randuin’s Omen is a situational counter for high critical damage output champions. In this crit meta, this item is a must since its Armored passive reduces the damage received by its user by 15%.

Avalanche Maker

Void Staff [This item has been removed from WR]

This Nunu Wild Rift item build works well for midlane or even as a jungler if you are confident about your matchup. This will turn Nunu & Willump into a dangerous burst damage mage tank hybrid that is capable of one-shotting enemies.

Rod of Ages grants a good amount of AP, HP, and Mana that is perfect for a mage tank hybrid.
Crystalline Reflector’s Mirrored Force passive grants a shield that reduces physical damage and reflects magic damage back to attackers. This will allow you to do well against AD champions even if you are building mostly AP items.
Rabadon’s Deathcap grants a lot of AP and so once you get this item, you will be able to do surprising amounts of burst damage with all your abilities.
Void Staff grants high amounts of magic penetration so if your enemies start to build magic resist to counter, it will all be for nothing since you will penetrate their magic resistance anyway.
Infinity Orb grants bonus execute damage to your abilities when used against low HP enemies. You can buy Morellonomicon instead if you are facing champions with healing of self-sustaining abilities.

Runes for Nunu & Willump in Wild Rift

Aftershock is the main Keystone rune we are going to use with Nunu & Willump because the additional armor & magic resist after controlling an enemy will help them survive ganks and fights and the AoE damage can be easily landed on enemies since they are great at sticking on enemies. Phase Rush is the alternative Keystone rune as it is great for a guerilla playstyle that involves engaging & disengaging in quick successions.
Brutal grants flat damage and penetration that will help in clearing jungle camps fasts and it will also help Nunu & Willump deal more damage in their early game ganks.
Hunter – Titan provides bonus armor and tenacity with each unique takedown.
Pathfinder will help Nunu & Willump build up their snowball faster and thus be more efficient and surprising in their ganks.

Spells

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

Smite is a must for all junglers so that you’ll be able to clear your jungle camps faster and secure objectives. Nunu & Willump’s 1st ability, Consume and Smite is an almost guaranteed objective. Upgrade with the Blue Smite in almost all situations because its slowing effect will help you in ganks and on outplaying enemies.

Flash is your offensive and defensive outplay tool. It can help you position yourself for Nunu & Willump’s ultimate, Absolute Zero and it can help you escape by giving you some space so you can use their 2nd ability, Biggest Snowball Ever! to ramp up their movement speed.

Skill Order

Nunu’s 1st ability, Consume is maxed first to increase Nunu’s clear speed and outsmite the enemy jungler all early to mid game for securing drakes and Rift Herald. The 3rd ability, Snowball Barrage is maxed next as it is Nunu’s most reliable source of damage and the 2nd ability, Biggest Snowball Ever! is maxed last as its movement speed bonus and knockup duration don’t scale anyway but if you want to deal more burst damage, especially when using the AP build, max this second instead. Get a point in Nunu’s ultimate, Absolute Zero whenever possible.

Abilities

Call of the Freljord

Passive

Gains 30% Attack Speed and 10% Movement Speed for 4 seconds upon damaging an enemy champion, large monster or structure.

A nearby allied champion with the fastest Attack Speed gains half this bonus.

Consume

Active

Takes a bite out of the enemy, dealing 55 magic damage (55 + 50% AP) and healing for 60 (60 + 60% AP). The healing is increased by 50% when Nunu and Willump are below 50% Maximum Health.

Deals 350 true damage against minions and monsters instead.

Biggest Snowball Ever!

Active

Willump begins rolling a snowball that increases in size and speed over 12 seconds. The snowball explodes upon colliding with enemy champions, large monsters or terrain, dealing 35 ~ 175 magic damage (35 + 30% AP ~ 175 +150% AP) to enemies and knocking them airborne for 0.5 ~ 1.25 seconds, increasing with the size of the snowball.

Snowball Barrage

Active

Channels for up to 2.5 seconds, throwing snowballs that deal 7 magic damage (7 + 3% AP) and slow by 20% for 0.5 seconds.

When the channel ends, Willump deals magic damage equal to 3% ~ 15% of the enemies’ max Health (3 + 0.8% AP ~ 15 + 4% AP) and roots them for 0.5 ~ 1.5 seconds. Damage and root duration scale with number of snowball hits on the target.

Absolute Zero

Active

Gains a shield that absorbs 65 damage (65 + 150% AP + 30% bonus HP) and begins channeling for up to 3 seconds. Nearby enemies are slowed by 50%, increasing to 95% over the duration.

When the channel ends, nearby enemies take 125 ~ 625 magic damage (125 + 50% AP ~ 625 + 250% AP), increased with channel duration.

Abilities Analysis

Innate Passive: Call of the Freljord

Nunu & Willump’s passive grants 30% Attack Speed and 10% Movement Speed for a short duration upon damaging an enemy champion, large monster, or structure. A nearby allied champion with the fasted Attack Speed is given half the bonus.

This passive allows Nunu & Willump to have a faster clear in the early game and it can also help him gank faster by activating the passive on large jungle monsters like the buffs or Gromps or the largest Raptor or Wolf.

You cannot trigger the passive on the same target for 8 seconds so make sure to hit as many enemies as possible. This can easily be done through their 3rd ability, Snowball Barrage.

Q | 1st Ability: Consume

Consume is a melee ranged single-target ability that deals damage to the target enemy and heals Nunu & Willump at the same time. It deals magic damage on enemy champions and true damage on minions and monsters.

Consume is Nunu & Willump’s infamous objective secure ability. It deals more true damage than Smite from levels 3 to 14. Because of this, Nunu & Willump is almost impossible to outsmite.

To secure objectives, simultaneously Consume then Smite. Doing it this way will make them land at the same time on the objective that you are trying to take.

Be wary if there are enemy champions near you because if the enemy champion is in melee range, tapping Consume will prioritize the enemy champion. To prevent this, target lock on the objective you want to take before casting Consume and Smite.

Consistently outsmite the enemy jungler by adding both the damage of Consume and Smite then using both of it at the same time when the objective’s HP drops below its sum. For example, at level 6, Consume deals 770 damage and Smite deals 640 damage. 770 + 640 = 1,410. You will be able to safely secure the objective once its HP drops below this amount.

Consume heals Nunu & Willump when it lands and it will heal for more when they are below 50% HP. This will allow you to survive and outplay enemies, especially when you also have Spirit Visage that amplifies any healing that you receive.

W | 2nd Ability: Biggest Snowball Ever!

Biggest Snowball Ever! allows Willump to build up a snowball that increases in size and speed over a long duration. The damage and knockup duration scales with the size of the snowball. The Snowball reaches its maximum size after four seconds.

Curiously, the distance Nunu & Willump travels just about the same distance with or without boots but Dead Man’s Plate and Glorious Enchant extends it more prominently. The full distance is from the fountain up to the middle of the map. After reaching the full distance, it will continue to roll for a short distance and it will explode upon reaching its maximum distance or when it hits an enemy.

The snowball will explode when it hits an enemy champion or large monster while being rolled. When released, it will explode even when it hits a minion.

Nunu & Willump has extremely low turn rate while building up a snowball so it is better to plan ahead where you want to go and who you are targeting.

If you are not planning to turn, stay in the middle of your path to avoid colliding into terrain.
If you are planning to turn, start the snowball at the opposite wall so you will have a wider angle to work with.
If the enemy sidesteps on you while snowballing, release the snowball and use your other abilities to catch them instead.

You can use this ability to escape but slow down the enemy first using their 3rd ability, Snowball Barrage because Biggest Snowball Ever! ramps up slowly and it will give the enemy time to catch up to you.

Biggest Snowball Ever! has high AP scaling ceiling and when built with AP items, it can deal serious burst damage.

E | 3rd Ability: Snowball Barrage

Snowball Barrage is packed with effects. It is a channeling ability that allows Nunu to throw snowballs even while Willump is moving. The snowballs deal some damage and slow enemies that are hit.

When the channel ends, Those close to Nunu & Willump are dealt magic damage based on the enemies’ max HP and roots them based on how many snowballs hit the targets.

Snowball Barrage is Nunu & Willump’s most reliable damage and crowd control tool among their basic abilities and you can use it to either deal burst damage to a single target or to root multiple targets by volleying it across all nearby enemies.

Activating Snowball Barrage while channeling their 2nd ability, Biggest Snowball Ever! will cause the snowball to be released.

R | Ultimate: Absolute Zero

Absolute Zero grants a shield to Nunu & Willump while they channel up a storm, increasingly slowing enemies. After channeling, the area explodes, and nearby enemies are dealt magic damage based on the channel duration.

Here are some ways to use Absolute Zero:

Chain it with Nunu & Willump’s 2nd ability, Biggest Snowball Ever! and 3rd ability, Snowball Barrage so enemies will be rooted or knocked up, allowing Absolute Zero to be channeled while they are controlled.
Use under a brush if you predict that your enemy or enemies will go through there for a burst damage face check strategy.
Use it while taking objectives to discourage enemies from contesting.
Quickly activate during a fight if you cannot avoid a strong ability from an enemy.
Use together with a long crowd control from allies so you will be able to channel it longer.

Standard Combo:

2nd > 3rd > [Ult] > 1st

Nunu & Willump Early Game Guide

Start on your red buff then take either the Raptors if you want to gank mid or the Krugs if you want to gank the bot lane.

Utilize Nunu & Willump’s 2nd ability, Biggest Snowball Ever to gank every after two camps to maintain pressure on the enemy team but do not stay on the gank attempt for more than 10 seconds so that you would not lag behind in terms of experience and gold.

Remember that burning an enemy’s summoner spells is already a win when ganking, if you killed your enemies, it’s better but it is not a must for every gank.

Take note of the 1:25 timer when the Scuttle Crabs spawn because, with the 2nd level of Consume, you cannot be out-smited by the enemy jungler. The only time you shouldn’t look to take both the Scuttlers is when against early game burst damage skirmishers like Olaf, Xin Zhao, or Lee Sin.

Even so, you will be able to take at least the Scuttler Crab of one side of the map. Just remember to avoid direct confrontation against those early game junglers.

Try to snowball the game while at the same time enabling your allies. Yes, Nunu & Willump is strong in the early game but you will need to get your allies fed if you want to win the game in the mid to late game.

Nunu & Willump Late Game Guide

In the middle to the late game, you will start to transition into an initiator and a peeler.

When initiating, take advantage of the movement speed and slows of Nunu & Willump in order to force fights that are advantageous to your team.

After using their 2nd ability, Biggest Snowball Ever!, look to spread as their 3rd ability, Snowball Barrage on as many enemies as possible while kiting so you’ll be able to root as many enemies as possible.

Do not overcommit at the start of the fight as you have the advantage on drawn-out fights thanks to Nunu & Willumps mobility, slows, and healing from their 1st ability, Consume.

You can use their abilities to peel and zone for your carries. This is especially true for their ultimate, Absolute Zero. Yes, you’d probably want to use it to deal so much damage with a fully channeled ultimate but it will not happen too often.

Most of the time, it is best used to zone out enemies while taking objectives or to discourage enemies from committing an engage when they get a jump on your carries.

Synergies

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

Seraphine’s kit fits with Nunu & Willump’s perfectly. Their slow will allow Seraphine to easily root or stun enemies her 3rd ability, Beat Drop. She can hasten them while they are rolling a snowball using her 2nd ability, Surround Sound and her ultimate, Encore will force enemies to stay inside Absolute Zero that will result into a devastating wombo combo.

This fire & ice combo is a world of pain of your enemies. Brand is another immobile mage that greatly benefits from Nunu & Willump’s playmaking and peeling prowess. When the stars align, their ultimates can annihilate the enemy team in a blink of an eye.

All Nunu & Willump Wild Rift Counter Champions

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

Lee Sin is the hard counter the Nunu & Willump. He can match the pace of their ganking and what’s worse is that he completely nullifies Nunu & Willump’s objective control through his ultimate, Dragon’s Rage that can push Nunu out of the Dragon or Baron Pit, resulting in an easy Smite for Lee Sin.

Olaf counters Nunu & Willump’s crowd controls through his ultimate, Ragnarok. Plus, he is a nightmare in the early game because he can destroy you in the early game through his true damage and even if he cannot match your ganking pace, he will simply punish you by quickly eating your jungle camps.

Pros & Cons About Nunu & Willump

Here are some pros and cons if you are playing with Nunu & Willump in Wild Rift.

Pros

Nunu & Willump is defined by two things: First, their extremely oppressive early game ganking through their 2nd ability, Biggest Snowball Ever! that allows them to quickly move through the map and gank lane after lane after lane, allowing their teammates to have an easy game and their enemies to play on their toes for the whole early game.
Second, his unparalleled objective control. Their 1st ability, Consume deals 980 true damage at level 4. This amount of damage would only be matched by Smite when the jungler is level 15.
Aside from those, which are already a lot, Nunu & Willump also has a lot of crowd control, survivability, peeling, and damage potential.

Cons

Nunu & Willump is an extremely team-dependent champion. Even if they get fed in the early game, they would struggle in the late game if they are the only one who is ahead. This is why it is recommended that they give the kills to their teammates in ganks.
They are weak against mobile brawlers.
Nunu & Willump have no innate defenses and only has their 1st ability, Consume for their sustain so surviving requires extra effort through kiting unlike other tanks that are pretty straightforward in terms of survivability.
Their ultimate, Absolute Zero can be easily interrupted.

FAQ's About Nunu & Willump in Wild Rift

How good is Nunu & Willump in Wild Rift?

Nunu is a (Tier A+) champion. They are great snowballers, literally and figuratively who can take control of the game quickly. Plus, their objective control is one of the strongest in the game, thanks to the true damage from their 1st ability, Consume.

What role / lane should I play with Nunu & Willump in Wild Rift?

Nunu is played in the jungle as a gank-heavy tank. He can also be played in the mid lane as a mage tank hybrid.

What abilities do I level up with Nunu & Willump?

Nunu’s 1st ability, Consume is maxed first to increase Nunu’s clear speed and outsmite the enemy jungler all early to mid game for securing drakes and Rift Herald. The 3rd ability, Snowball Barrage is maxed next as it is Nunu’s most reliable source of damage and the 2nd ability, Biggest Snowball Ever! is maxed last as its movement speed bonus and knockup duration don’t scale anyway. Get a point in Nunu’s ultimate, Absolute Zero whenever possible.

What items should I build with Nunu & Willump?

Nunu’s core items are Sunfire Aegis for the additional damage when near enemies, Dead Man’s Plate for the bonus movement speed, and Spirit Visage for the healing amp. When played in the middle lane, buy Rod of Ages, Crystalline Reflector, and Rabadon’s Deathcap for a balanced offense and defense gameplay.

What Runes should I use when playing as Nunu & Willump?

Aftershock grants bonus armor and magic resist after controlling an enemy and it also procs AoE damage after its duration ends. You can also use Phase Rush for outplaying enemies. Their other runes are Brutal, Hunter – Titan, and Pathfinder.

How to I use Nunu & Willump's 2nd ability, Biggest Snowball Ever!?

The snowball can reach over half the map when you are equipped with upgraded boots. Start from at least 30% of the map (the length of this is at least from the mid inhibitor turret to the middle of the map). Remember that Nunu & Willump’s turn speed is extremely slow so plan your route ahead.

How can I effectively use Nunu & Willump's ultimate, Absolute Zero?

The wrong conception about Absolute Zero is that it needs to be channeled to max and hit enemies to be used effectively. Yes, it could happen but it is unlikely especially if your enemies are familiar with Nunu & Willump’s kit.

The best way to make it happen is by using it under a brush when the enemy does not expect you to be there.

But most of the time, it is better used as a zoning tool when taking drakes or Baron or when peeling for teammates.