How to Counter Nasus - Strangle the Dog

Nasus is a pain to deal with mid-late game. He is very tanky with his ultimate and has incredible sustain with his passive. The thing is that he can cause trouble even if he doesn’t score any kills. As long as he has sufficiently stacked his Q, he will deal tons of damage to your carries. He also destroys towers very quickly because of this. So how are you going to stop this dog from taking control of the whole game? The key is to learn the most effective Nasus counter and the champions that will disrupt his farming.

General Nasus Counters

S4 LoL Counters

• Nasus will not play aggressively during the early game. All he wants is to farm with his Q all day. So if you just let him farm, he will be very powerful during the mid-late game. When he is going for a last hit, harass him and make him think twice about using his Q on you or the minion. Diminishing his Q stacks to as little as you can is the best way to limit his power.
• Do not push the lane. Going very aggressive against Nasus can be tricky because if you push the lane too hard, he will just freeze the minions near his turret and farm with ease. What you want is to freeze the lane in your turret; but this hardly happens because he will try to avoid pushing early game.
• Take over map objectives while he is farming. Get Dragon control, ward the map, gank other lanes, etc.
• Don’t stand on his Spirit Fire. You take magic damage per second and have your armor reduced while on the desecrated area. This means he will hurt even more.
• Steer clear from his ultimate. His ult is really powerful, draining a certain % of your maximum health and giving him bonus attack damage.
• If you’re an AD carry, consider taking cleanse or getting a Quicksilver sash to cancel the effects of Wither. You can also ask your support to buy a Mikael’s Crucible.

Nasus Counter Picks

Teemo

One of the best Nasus counters

Teemo causes a lot of trouble to many top lane champions. Harass Nasus as often as you can while he is going for last hits. Position yourself near the minion he is going to kill to maximize the number of autoattacks you can dish out. You probably wouldn’t kill your enemy, but that’s not really what you’re after. Just try to limit his farming and make him pay whenever he last hits with his Q.

Riven

A lane-bully Nasus counter

Riven is a very dominant laner. Even Nasus can go down fairly quickly with her full combo early game. Take advantage of Riven’s powerful early game and keep Nasus low on health. If you can, go for the kill. You can ask help from your jungler for this. Going red pots at the start gives you a really scary early game. You just have to be careful not to push the lane or your opponent will just freeze the minions. And once he has armor, killing him will be next to impossible. If you manage to kill him early, try to snowball the game.

Pantheon

A great Nasus counter in lane

Pantheon is a great champion in lane. Poke Nasus with your Spear Shot to keep him low. You can go for the kill when all you’re skills are off cooldown + Ignite. The only problem you may have is managing your mana. Once you’re out of mana, you really can’t do anything. Also remember that Aegis Protection is great against Nasus. You don’t have to fear his Q. If you play it right, he will not be able to return damage during trades.

Rumble

A risky Nasus counter

Rumble has all the tools to make him a Nasus counter in lane. You have a movement speed buff and a long range slow with your harpoons. Punish your lane opponent with Flamespitter after he uses his Q. The only problem is that you will inevitably push the lane toward his turret if you use Flamespitter. But you can still harass him under his turret. Just be wary of ganks so you need to place wards in the river or tri-bush area.

Darius

A tanky Nasus counter

Darius is one of the best lane bullies. You can ask your jungler to gank top lane early to get an easy kill or at least force out Flash. Don’t miss your Apprehend + Decimate combo and let him bleed to death. Your goal is to force him out of lane as much as you can. Take advantage of your stronger early game when he has no armor yet. He will begin to outscale you during the mid-game unless you have secured multiple early kills.