twice I seen this shit, maybe it was the same guy but I think it wasnt cause one said he didnt know about other options and the other said it was GOOD ☠️. I hate that ppl still run aery cause it reminds me of bad times when riot didnt balance the game well and it was actually legit for champs that had no shield to proc it. but now? even if you want to run ap nasus, deathfire touch is RIGHT THERE and the guy wasnt running ap. he said it was good for LANE SUSTAIN AGAINST RANGED CHAMPS. I thought it was a bad rune recomendarion riot kept but aparently its not even that...
I find it kinda hard to find one centralized place to look up detailed Nasus's matchups that actually guide you through level-by-level laning, kill thresholds, teamfight strategies, and other more knowledge-based parts of the game (backing for items, when to chunk hp to set up a future kill, etc.), so I decided to make a website to consolidate the information I can find around the internets. I can't say I'm a good player by any stretch (plat at my best), so all of the content will need huge improvements over time, especially with the help of this sub. This website is a very very early alpha prototype, but I hope to soon be able to cover all important matchups and top/jungle for Nasus. It would be absolutely amazing to get your feedback on how to improve this Nasus database and website :)
I'm getting a bit of conflicting information from sources saying that blue and red buff are faster for full clear. Thing is, I tried both but got similar times on training.
What's currently the best starting buff for nasus jungle rn?
I made several predictions in 2025 for 2026, and enough time has passed to review them.
TLDR: pretty much all my predictions were right.
Top lane
I said the new season would be worse for Nasus in high elo (but fine in low elo) mainly due to top laners being able to take Ignite and Faelights allowing for higher aggression. Looking at the data, Nasus is high tier in Gold. In Plat/Emerald, he drops to mid tier. In Diamond+, he drops to low tier.
In Diamond+, his win rate was ~49.5%. Though, his pick rate was ~2.5%, which was extremely low and in the very niche category. He was played much less than other niche top lane champs like Vayne, Yasuo, Gragas, and Singed. Lolalytics ranked him very low at 72nd and 90th (Diamond and Masters+).
Lolalytics top lane data patch 16.13
Rank
Win rate (game avg.)
Pick rate
Pick rate ranking
Champ Ranking
Tier
Gold
50.51%
4.45%
12
36 / 106
A-
Plat
50.44%
3.88%
18
56 / 107
B
Emerald
50.20%
3.32%
25
64 / 105
B-
Diamond
49.76%
2.76%
33
72 / 108
C+
Masters+
49.32%
2.23%
36
90 / 115
C
Some people might think 49.5% win rate is fine, but that doesn't factor for pick rate. With extremely low pick rates, win rates don't show the full story. A 49.5% win rate on a low pick rate champ usually isn't equivalent to the same win rate on a high pick rate champ because low pick rate champs are played in limited scenarios that inflate the win rate:
Nasus is mostly played by mains in high ELO
Going through the Onetrick rankings, a moderate number of players had a <=55% play rate on Nasus, so Nasus was often being situationally picked into more favourable matchups compared to being picked into everything, which would result in worse matchups.
Some people have Nasus top as their secondary role, which would result in easier top lane games since matchmaking typically gives an auto filled opponent in this scenario (new 2026 matchmaking changes)
There is also low pick rate advantage. People have less practice and matchup knowledge against champs with low pick rates, and they are less likely to counter pick. If Nasus had high pick rate, his counter play would be known much better and he would be punished far harder.
While you can reach Masters+ one tricking Nasus top, it's much harder than playing a high pick rate/tier champ. Nasus's pick rate is high in low ranks and decreases at higher ranks because it's hard to achieve high ranks with Nasus (resulting in less people playing Nasus at high ranks).
Ignite seemed to be a major reason why Nasus performed much worse this season since it punishes Nasus’s weak laning phase harder and counters his life steal throughout the game. Zaahen suffered a similar fate. Zaahen is similar to Nasus in the sense that he's a lifesteal champ with weak laning and strong mid/late game, but he gets heavily punished by Ignite. Zaahen was one of the most played top lane champs in the last patch of 2025 but has now dropped to 22nd in pick rate. Ironically, the drop in Zaahen's pick rates heavily benefited Nasus since Zaahen was one of Nasus's worst matchups and a large reason why Nasus's win rate was low last season. Looking at the current counter matchups for Nasus, Zaahen is still one of Nasus's lowest win rate matchups.
Back in 2025, Nasus was almost entirely played top lane and Nasus mid was largely forgotten/abandoned. I predicted that Nasus mid would be better than top in the new season due to:
Free T3 Boots of Lucidity upgrade
Much less Ignite usage
No Faelight disadvantages
Better matchups in general
Being able to return to lane very fast (not mentioned in my post)
While Nasus mid didn't become meta, it seemed like mid was better than top. Looking the Onetrick rankings, the top 10 highest ranked Nasus players, mostly play him mid/jungle.
For most of this season, Nasus jungle was considered a low elo troll pick by almost everyone, but at the start of the season, I already mentioned that it was strong and better than top lane. Now that Nasus jungle has been discovered and being played far more, the data clearly proves my point.
On patch 16.13 (pre-Protoplasm Harness nerf), Nasus was one of the highest win rate junglers across all ranks.
All ranksPlatEmeraldDiamond+
He was also performing well in pro play, with a 69.6% win rate, and it was much higher initially (before it caught on).
Nasus pro play stats
Comparing the win and pick rates for Nasus top and jungle, jungle greatly outperformed top in both and it wasn’t close. Starting from Plat, jungle had ~3% higher win rate than top lane.
Lolalytics game average win rates patch 16.13
Rank
Jungle win rate
Top win rate
Difference
Masters+
52.2%
49.3%
2.8%
Diamond
52.4%
49.8%
2.7%
Emerald
53.6%
50.2%
3.4%
Plat
53.4%
50.4%
2.9%
Gold
53.2%
50.5%
2.7%
All ranks
53.1%
50.4%
2.7%
Furthermore, jungle has become Nasus's most played role across all ranks, with the difference in play rate increasing at higher ranks. At Emerald+, Nasus Jungle is played 18.2% more than top lane. Also, Nasus jungle is still fairly new and growing. Given more time without nerfs, the jungle pick rate will increase even further.
Lolalytics role pick rates patch 16.14
Not only did I predict Nasus jungle was strong. I also already created his best build at the start of the season, which is currently being used by almost all pub and pro players. My build was slightly different because that was before the Bandlepipes nerf when Bandlepipes was op, but the core of my build was similar, which was IBG/Protoplasm Harness > Frozen Heart/Spirit Visage.
Emerald+ jungle build order (patch 16.13)Emerald+ jungle build order with boots (patch 16.13)Pro play jungle item build stats
Fleet Footwork vs Phase Rush/Stormraider's Surge
I've been a long-term hater of Phase Rush, and now there's data to undeniably prove my point.
Fleet Footwork was long thought of as purely a laning phase rune and Phase Rush was considered to be the better post-laning phase rune. The Nasus jungle data completely disproves this. Fleet Footwork has by far the highest pick and win rate in jungle. Nasus doesn't have to lane in jungle, but Fleet Footwork is still his best rune in jungle, which proves that Fleet Footwork isn't purely a laning phase rune. Also, since Nasus usually gets free farm in the jungle, his best scaling runes are typically chosen, which also proves that Fleet is his best scaling rune.
Even in pro play (the top level), Fleet Footwork + Inspiration are the only runes used in jungle. The highest level players have unanimously agreed that these are his best runes in jungle.
Pro play jungle rune stats
There's simply no debate that Fleet Footwork is by far his best rune in jungle. It has a 90% pick rate and the highest win rate across all ranks and levels of play.
Some people might argue that it's the rest of the Precision tree doing the work, but this is disproven by the pick rate for the other primary Precision runes, which indicate they are much worse than Fleet Footwork. Press The Attack, Conqueror, and Lethal Tempo should perform similarly to Fleet Footwork since they use the same secondary runes, but that isn't the case.
Some people might argue that the ms boost is useful for farming the jungle, but it's negligible. You get a ms boost like 5% of the time while farming. The healing you get from it is also insignificant since life steal keeps you at full hp always after the first clear.
Historically, Fleet Footwork has always had higher win and pick rate than Phase Rush in top lane. The same pattern is observed in jungle with Fleet Footwork completely dominating rune selection, and this time, there is no excuse for it. The main arguments people always use for Phase Rush having lower win rates are:
it's primarily used in bad matchups. This isn't applicable in jungle. It's also incorrect in general since the Onetrick data shows that the people who use Phase Rush/Stormraider's Surge use it in practically every match and it's extremely rare for people to use both Fleet Footwork and Phase Rush at comparable rates.
it's harder to use than Fleet Footwork. This argument is no longer relevant with Stormraider's Surge being far easier to use compared to Phase Rush. It's even easier to use in jungle since it requires 0 thinking for when to use it. You just hit them and get your speed boost.
Looking at the rune table data posted earlier, Stormraider's Surge is actually weak in jungle. In Diamond+, it has an 8.57% pick rate and 49.16% win rate, which was much lower than Fleet Footwork at 89.27% pick rate and 52.34% win rate. What's even worse is that:
it's probably the die-hard Phase Rush/Stormraider's Surge Nasus mains using it, so the win rate would be lower if non-mains were using it
Stormraider's Surge has a much stronger effect than Phase Rush (assuming you don't have to lane) since it lasts 1 second longer and has a much higher speed boost at most levels, so if Phase Rush was still around, it would have even lower win rate in jungle, and there's data to prove it (since people were already playing Nasus jungle when Phase Rush was still around). Lolalytics has data back to patch 16.6. Phase Rush was removed in patch 16.9. The data consistently showed that Phase Rush had lower win rate than Stormraider's Surge and Fleet Footwork. On average, the win rates in Emerald+ were 55% for Fleet Footwork, 52% for Stormraider's Surge, and 49.5% for Phase Rush. Note that these are overall win rates, which are much higher, and not game average win rates (like on ugg). For ugg win rates, I have a screenshot from patch 16.4, which shows a similar pattern.
Unironically, I think the people who call Nasus jungle weak are the same people using Phase Rush/Stormraider's Surge on him, which checks out because Nasus jungle is weak when those runes are used.
When Phase Rush was around, the common saying was that you had to use Phase Rush at high ELO, but the reality was that people were just used to Phase Rush and didn't want to re-learn new runes. When Phase Rush was removed, players were forced to switch. Looking at the top 10 Nasus players on Onetricks now, Fleet is the top choice and used by 7/10 of the players.
Here’s some Nasus gameplay in LoL Classic; I’m currently hovering between 800 LP Master and 1,100 LP Grandmaster. I started playing again four months ago, and Nasus feels really satisfying in LoL Classic—it’s exactly how I remembered it. Enemies run out of mana while you just stay in the lane stacking almost indefinitely, hahaha.
Nasus é realmente divertido, relaxante e forte de jogar no Clássico — é exatamente o que eu esperava. Você não precisa se apressar para empurrar a onda de minions, e não precisa ir atrás das placas da torre. Os campeões inimigos ficam sem mana antes mesmo da sua vida cair; é engraçado porque parece que o Nasus tem mais mana no Clássico do que no servidor oficial. No servidor oficial, minha mana chegava a zero muito rápido, mas aqui ela dura bastante — às vezes o inimigo volta à base três vezes enquanto eu ainda estou na rota, hahaha.
Confira algumas das minhas partidas de ontem no PBE.
EDIT:You know something I discovered that I thought was a bug? In Classic, Nasus's Q goes right through Jax's E; it doesn't get blocked. Jax's E only blocks standard basic attacks—not empowered ones like Garen's Q or Nasus's Q. So, if you used your Q on Jax while his E was active—and let's say your Q deals 500 damage total (200 from stacks, 200 from the ability itself, and 100 from the base auto-attack damage)—it would deal 400 damage, blocking only the 100 from the auto-attack portion. I looked into it further, and it turns out that's actually a mechanic in Classic, not a bug, haha. Nasus is really strong against Jax in Classic.
Now that Protoplasm Harness got nerfed with the recent patch, what’s the optimal first full item on Jungle Nasus?
I’m still planning on buying Sheen on my first back, but after that, what’s the best item to complete first? Is it still worth finishing Protoplasm, or is it better to skip it entirely and rush Iceborn Gauntlet? And then instead of protoplasm, what would build if that’s the case?
Before the patch, my build was usually:
• Protoplasm Harness
• Iceborn Gauntlet
• Spirit Visage
• Serylda’s Grudge
• Boots (depending on the enemy team comp)
• Jak’Sho
With the nerfs, how would you change that build? Would you only swap out the first item, or does the entire build path change?
I’m mainly looking for serious responses from Platinum and above players who have actually played Jungle Nasus in ranked since the patch.
If you’ve tested different first-item paths, I’d love to hear what has felt strongest and why.
Nasus will return to his former glory and the lategame scaling champ he once was in League Classic. There isn't much reason to play Nasus top in Plat+ anymore since he's so much better in Classic. These are the main reasons Nasus is better in Classic:
no powercreep, minimal dashes, and heavier reliance on attack speed. There are only 60 champs in LoL Classic compared to 173 in LoL. Nasus performs much better against the classic champs. Nasus only doesn't scale well in modern LoL because they added new champs that have heavily powercrept him. Nasus outscales most of the champs in LoL Classic.
no Turret Plates and Grubs/Rift Herald means Nasus gets punished far less for his weak laning phase. Lack of objectives means you can just afk farm top for 20 minutes every game.
Most of the bad matchups are gone. There's no Aatrox, Illaoi, Kled, and many more.
E max Nasus is back
There are probably more factors but these are the main ones I can think of.
Also, I had to repost this since typing "eg" with dots for some reason auto removes posts.
While playing Arena, I have noticed that Nasus feels much better to play with the bonus range augment. Therefore, I propose a buff +150 attack range for Nasus, so that he feels better to play on all maps.
Anyone who can comment on my reply to Riot meddlr, he usually replies a lot and reads Reddit, I talked about how excited I am to play Nasus in Classic, but I also vented about his current state in normal League of Legends. You guys who play Nasus, share your points and let's see if he can hear us, he's been quite active there lately.
I'm playing Nasus Jungle, that is strong in this meta, and I feel much better in late game building Ice Gauntlet + Full tank (including boots, giving me armor or MR).
The amount of damage I soak for my team is ridiculous. And when my team has another tank with a good engage, it's even better, because if they divide the focus, I'm just incredible hard to deal with.
Trinity force gives me more damage, but I don't think it is as good as IG in late game. Trading damage and attack speed for armor makes a considerable difference.
And approach velocity has permitted me trading boots for a sixth item, which increases tankness even more. This building remembers me the tankness of Nasus with Stoneplate.
You may have noticed the names are different, i recently did a name change from ARandomLuckyGuy#NA1 to Stackosaurus#STACK since the name fit better for my gameplay (2625 stacks all time personal best in the pic)
Hi everyone so now that protoplasm is nerfed I was thinking of new 1st items to build. Of course what comes to mind is iceborn. But I was thinking that heart steel would be strong on Nasus jungle. Since Nasus R gives him a lot of resistances, having heartsteel would mean you have more EHP. On top of that after 1st/2nd item you aren’t farming much on Nasus, instead your fighting a lot, being in the enemy jungle, taking down towers, fighting objectives etc… which gives you a lot of occasions to stack heartsteel. The only drawback is that the item is expensive. What do you guys think ?
I want to try and pore my heart out in this post, and try be as unbiased as possible, I absolutely love the amount of traction and love this Reddit has gotten recently and It's truly reignited my passion for the champion.
I will forever be a strong believer In this champion needing a mid-scope update / mini-rework but keeping all of his abilities and his core gameplay design the same, I really do believe something needs to be done to his E/R I know a handful of people saw my recent posts so I don't want to go In depth and sound like a broken record.
There's been dozens upon dozens of posts talking about how weak and awful Nasus feels late game, and I think we could all agree with that, I can see the frustrations playing against a mid-game Nasus because that's where he excels, and In certain team comps, but the vast majority of the time you are completely countered by your laner (DO NOT PLAY LANE NASUS) If you are above E1 being punished doesn't even describe how unplayable laning feels, If you want to win I highly advice against playing lane Nasus.
It genuinely sucks that nothing Is being done to the champion, we were on the cusp of change with the up-coming patch notes I saw Nasus and It really just gave me a new sense of hope that Riot was actually considering looking Into Nasus and seeing why he's In such a weird and Inconsistent state.
This Is going to be a bold take, but Nasus is easily the least consistent champion In the game, team-fighting feels absolutely dreadful, and your almost always forced Into side laning where you will inevitably be collapsed on by multiple people.
I'd like to reiterate what multiple other people have stated, that this champion Is borderline unplayable early game, an absolute powerhouse In the mid game with the right set up, and moving Into the late game feels even more unplayable then early game.
It genuinely feels like you have to Nuke the enemy champion with (1) Q If you can get into range or just Instantly lose the fight because you are unironically the (CUMRAG) of the team soaking up all the abuse you can and then get blown up It does not matter If you have 900 stacks of 2000+ stacks late game you will lose, you will be out scaled.
That's the core reason Nasus feels so unsatisfying to play In these recent years, because you the Nasus the Infinite scaling champion eventually gets out-scaled late game, that's why I feel like an ult reset off takedown/assist or a E lingering decay would revive the champion and let him not sit and fester In the jungle.
It really does feel like Nasus jungle Is the only viable option for this champion, there's no love for lane Nasus anymore Riot has completely forgotten that this champion was originally designed as a laner back In his prime were champions didn't have 500+ mobility and a reset on every ability and a gimmick to work off, of.
This champion has his Q stacks to rely on that Is it, that doesn't feel like a gimmick It feels like a hindrance because you genuinely fall off like a sack of shit late game.
And I want to bring up the removal of Divine Sunderer, and yes I know mythic Items are extremely controversial and "bad for the game" but Nasus heavily relied on the Item to be an Incredible champion, now Nasus feels absolutely unplayable Into anything tanky, Nasus Is definitely up there with one of the worst tank killers In the entire game.
And after the removal of the Item, there was little to no compensation for the champion, that's why I think the champion has been slotted Into the jungle and no longer a viable laner especially In higher elo brackets.
I don't know If It's just me but I really don't like that Riot showed us that they were going to do something to the champion I really hated seeing "Adjustment - Nasus" And then they just blue ball us like that, I would really like It If Riot gave the old dog some love, he genuinely feels so incredibly neglected as a champion and In all honesty It makes me sad.
I really just don't know I know this Is kinda a doom post, but It really does feel doomed, Nasus just has little to no agency In the current season outside of jungle, and the (Protoplasm) nerfs just make him a worse jungler, once again Nasus's Item gets nerfed and he gets 0 compensation.
But that's what's been on my mind recently, I'm glad to see what you all think about the up-coming patch.
But hey have hope I guess, maybe next year for League next Riots made some meaningful changes to Nasus (Maximum cope overload)
And lastly I would like to mention how miserable Nasus It to play when your team Is behind, you are already down an entire champion early game, It's unironically one of the worst experiences not even just for the Nasus player, the entire team doesn't benefit from you locking In Nasus, the champion honestly feels like a Troll pick currently.
Just hit Masters one tricking Nasus primarily in the mid lane. Watch Psychopathic Top - Nasus Mid guide if you want to fully understand how this works. He is much better suited for mid lane than top in the current meta. Started climbing rapidly the second I made the switch.
