Without further ado, the second installment of the sustain champion analysis.
Irelia, like Dr. Mundo, is one of the few champions with two forms of sustain. The "better nerf Irelia" meme came about in part because of this. Despite many nerfs she remains a threat if allowed to farm, and her sustain tools are still potent. Maxing her W first makes it hard to trade with her except in short bursts, as any prolonged engagement favors her true damage and passive healing. Once she has her ultimate she can heal for very significant amounts off of creep waves, and the cooldown is short enough to do so every other wave. She may not be quite the monster she once was, but her sustain and carry potential still make her strong.
Karma remains the outcast support for a number of reasons, and her iffy sustain is one of them. While Q's healing has incredible potential late-game, it's extremely weak early on when champion health pools are low. Combined with mana costs and a dependency on Mantra, Karma has significant problems sustaining either herself or an ally.
Kayle is not known for her sustain, but her heal is still an important part of her kit. It is what allows her to emerge from her first jungle clear with full health, and provides her a notable edge in laning. However, Kayle rarely maxes this first or even second unless she's behind and forced to fall back on a pure support role.
Lee Sin has the most incredibly multipurpose sustain ability in the game. Not only does his W provide Life Steal and Spell Vamp, but also provides a shield, an escape/gap closer, and an Armor bonus. Because both his Q and E can be extremely effective even at low ranks, Lee Sin can easily invest in W against tough lane opponents. Lee Sin won't max W first in the jungle, but between his W and his E he has few sustain problems even before Wriggle's.
Maokai's passive gives him the sustain he needs to survive both the jungle and teamfights. While healing for 7% of maximum health every few spell casts may not seem like much, over the course of a clear or skirmish it can add up to a lot of health. Combined with his ultimate he becomes deceptively tanky even with only a handful of items.
Master Yi's sustain ability is unique in that no other sustain ability restricts the champion so completely. While Fiddlestick's Drain is similar it still serves an offensive purpose. However, this does not make the ability weak. If uninterrupted Master Yi can heal for incredible amounts, and is nearly impossible to kill while channeling. However, the ability's long cooldown means it must be used carefully; any interruption puts Master Yi at a potentially deadly disadvantage.
Morgana is an infamous sustain champion. Her passive gives her Spell Vamp which scales with her level, and she only needs to cast one spell to clear a creep wave. This combination allows her to absorb harass and farm indefinitely, using her Black Shield to escape any gank attempts. Morgana wins her lanes both by attrition and by being a huge teamfight threat later in the game. Few AP champions enjoy laning against her.
Nasus has the only passive in the game which grants Life Steal, but still requires significant help from items in order to lane. While starting with more Life Steal than a Vampiric Scepter sounds amazing, Nasus has conflicted priorities between his desire to last-hit with Q and his need to sustain by auto-attacking. Ultimately his passive puts him ahead in his strong matchups, but does little to help him against his counters.
Nidalee's heal is notable in that it is the only heal which doubles as an offensive steroid. As a result, most of her early laning harass is actually from auto-attacks. The heal itself has been nerfed a number of times, but is still strong and a part of what makes Nidalee so difficult to pin down and kill.
Nocturne's passive is almost exclusively designed for jungling. In a laning situation it will sustain him, but inevitably pushes the lane as well. While it scales with Attack Speed Nocturne does not go out of his way to itemize around his passive; it's simply too situational outside of jungling. For jungling, however, it gives him the sustain and damage needed to clear quickly and safely throughout the game.
Nunu's Consume was legendary in the old jungle for its counter-jungling potential. Today it's simply a situational sustain tool. Most of the time Nunu's priorities will be on maxing his W and E as those provide far better support, ganking, and teamfight utility. However, AP Nunu is practically impossible to kill in lane without outside interference because of his combination of harass and healing.
Olaf is another infamous sustain champion. Whether maxing his Q or E first Olaf has incredible offensive potential which enhances his Life Steal/Spell Vamp combination. Because it can be so dangerous to stand near Olaf it's easy for him to auto-attack creeps and heal. Olaf is a clear case where a little sustain combined with another strong point can lead to an extremely strong lane.
Renekton abuses opponents in lane by dashing to them, stunning them, and then healing for a significant amount off both them and their minions with his Q as he walks/dashes away. With no mana costs worth mentioning, Renekton can sustain himself so long as he can safely Q his opponent and/or their minions. While there's a cap, it hardly matters when the ability has only an 8 second cooldown.
We're nearing the end of the overview/analysis of sustain champions. Many of these champions could easily be worthy of their own dedicated posts detailing how their sustain interacts with their other abilities to make them strong. That's sadly out of scope for this style of post, but hopefully there's some good information to glean regardless.
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