Classically a purebred tanky bruiser, would you be surprised if I told you Nasus only has AP ratios? Those of you who play a lot of ARAM and have had the good/mis (miss?) fortune of playing Nasus in that mode have likely come to realize that when maxed, his E actually does a surprisingly good amount of damage!
Introduction
Classically a purebred tanky bruiser, would you be surprised if I told you Nasus only has AP ratios? Those of you who play a lot of ARAM and have had the good/mis (miss?) fortune of playing Nasus in that mode have likely come to realize that when maxed, his E actually does a surprisingly good amount of damage!
Pros of AP Nasus
The biggest draw to AP Nasus is the fact that he finally gets a fast, long range waveclear ability. Against ranged champions, this works very well.
Additionally, building AP will scale with both his Spirit Fire and his ultimate. At 700 AP, Nasus' ultimate will deal the entirety of enemy champion's health by himself (not factoring in magic resist).
Playing AP Nasus also means that you'll maximize the effectiveness of his early game armor reduction via his Spirit Fire as well. Although he himself won't benefit much from this, mid game your ADC will definitely feel the effects.
Cons of AP Nasus
As a champion who mainly fights toe-to-toe, building Nasus as a poke type mage does mean that his usual playstyle of jumping into the fray will be unavailable.
Additionally, to maximize his ultimate damage he'll need to be closer to the middle of the fight. Without tank items he may fall faster than his ultimate hurts the enemy team.
Conclusions
AP Nasus plays somewhat similar to Kassadin, but with more AOE and team utility. A lot of his skillset is much more difficult to use as an AP mage, but definitely still usable. I'd say he's close to the bottom of Tier 3 as a mid laner and a questionable top laner, but definitely still usable in a fun casual setting.
TLDR;
- Good waveclear;
- Longer range ability;
- Kiting power;
- Early game armor shred;
- Scales with items.
- Reduced dueling power;
- Reduced effectiveness of melee attacks;
- Lower burst damage;
- Somewhat trolly.
Playable. (?)
Tried it. I did great!
ReplyDeleteWas reported for trolling anyways...
I once carried and won a 3v5 ARAM game as AP Nasus, the other guys being Renekton and Vladimir. No one expects Spirit Fire to melt people, and the range on it is ludicrous.
ReplyDeleteWhat sort of build would you recommend for AP Nasus? I feel like Luden's Echo could be a fun buy.
ReplyDeleteI played a lot of Ap Nasus, and this is what I find most useful
ReplyDeletein ARAM
Start with Catalyst and health portion. Then build into this
order ROA -> Trinity -> Liandry’s Torment-> Randuin’s /
Spirit Visage -> Rylai -> Mercury boot
if u build pure ap, u are going to be useless in late game
Have you ever thought of ap nassus support? The armor reduction and burst are insane as well as the power his wither provides in botlane skirmishes
ReplyDeleteThere are two good builds for AP Nasus- burn build and bruiser mage build. Burn build typically goes mid and spams E during a teamfight, building cdr, liandrys, void staff, etc.
ReplyDeleteBruiser mage build however, usually goes top and gets items such as lich bane, and may get 1-2 tank items. Bruiser mage usually just splitpush/farms like normal nasus, and chunks just as much with his qs, trading tankiness for more E/R damage.
Why do you get a Trinity Force instead of a Lich Bane if you're buying AP items anyways? Seems like a strange purchase.
ReplyDeleteYou'd probably start off with a mana regen/cdr item like morello or athenes. After that, itemizing for magic pen (especially liandries) and more ap is all really good. Zhonyas is an especially good buy on him, due to the fact that his ult/spirit fire can keep burning while he takes no damage. I agree ludens would be a really good item on him to add extra base damage/burst to his long range poke. Not sure about Lich Bane, however, because if you're not building tanky you'll almost never be in range to get off a q until the end of teamfights.
ReplyDeleteAP nasus is more than viable in ARAM, since people can't punish your squishiness early game and you can still get the income to afford at least a couple of strong AP items. You're E also covers half the width of the map, which is terrific for zoning in a map where all the action is much more clustered. Not to mention you have terrific waveclear.
ReplyDeleteIn SR however, AP nasus is easily kited with a couple of CC abilities, does poor and dodge-able damage, has high CDs and mana costs (except for on the seldom used Q), and lowers morale of team.
Then again, Kassadin is pretty bad right now, it's hard to argue that nasus is worse than him XD
ADC tf pick please.
ReplyDeleteTrinity gives a good all-arounder of stats. soooo many stats, and all very nice stats boosted. also it gives u more movement speed compared to lich bane, which I personally like.
ReplyDeletewither and his E make him pretty decent as a support, but he falls off hard as the game progesses since his Q will become useless
ReplyDeleteThat's not true If you play him as an ap mage with an abusive mid/early game team. that benefits highly from his armor shred. You can use his spirit fire to split/zone the enemy team and force people off of objectives.
ReplyDeleteAP Nasus is risky as hell, but I like risks. 10 Games with AP Nasus mid yesterday leads me to conclude that he is playable and very effective in games where the opposing midlaner is a squishy mage.
ReplyDeleteJust take control of the lane by pushing all the way to his/her turret, every time they get near their own minions under the turret, hit them with an E and step away. Repeat this 2-3 times and they are forced to back.
Items I've found to be most effective:
Doran's ring -> Chalice -> >Liandry's -> Sorc. Boots (Alacrity) -> Luden's Echo - > Lich Bane (DAMN YOUR FAST NOW) -> Hextech Gunblade.