Support: Nasus

It's time for me to eat a little bit of humble pie and talk about support Nasus, a concept which I initially spurned due to several bad but unrepresentative experiences. Support Nasus is actually a fairly frightening partner for many popular carries. It's counter-intuitive, as Nasus is best known for his carry potential, but his utility is actually significant enough to make him a potent support.

The key to support Nasus lies in Wither and Spirit Fire. The former ability is an incredibly potent slow, affecting both Movement Speed and Attack Speed to significant degree. Not only is it powerful in laning, but throughout the game it will shut down any carry who forgets to grab Cleanse or a Quicksilver Sash. The latter ability is the single strongest Flat Armor Reduction ability in the game, removing an incredible 20 armor with only one rank, and scaling up to 40 at maximum rank. The degree to which Nasus both decreases an opposing carry's damage while improving his own makes him a scary support.

Because of these factors, Nasus works best with high physical damage carries, and is best used against carries who depend heavily on auto-attacks. Champions like Miss Fortune, Twitch, Graves, Caitlyn, or Draven become absolutely terrifying when Spirit Fire is placed properly. It's therefore important to be very judicious when placing Spirit Fire; haphazard placement will dramatically reduce Nasus' effectiveness.

Nasus needs to be built similarly to any all-in support. While his two most important abilities are ranged, hanging back is a gigantic waste of his potential. He should be in the thick of things, and as a result he prioritizes items like Locket, Aegis, and other items which make him tankier while providing team utility. Cooldown Reduction is also extremely important for support Nasus, as capping it yields very high uptime on Wither and Spirit Fire, dramatically increasing his teamfight contributions.

Obviously in a supporting role Nasus will not be able to stack Soul Siphon very much, but even with limited stacks he can contribute significantly to a tower push. Soul Siphon's auto-reset also allows him to quickly dispense with wards if his AD is attentive. While not his most defining feature when supporting, it's not a useless ability.

Nasus' ultimate, however cannot be underestimated. By simply standing near opponents he can deal significant damage while also gaining AD. Even with just one rank it deals nearly a third of a target's health in damage over the duration (even Baron and Dragon). With Health stacking a common itemization path, Nasus' ultimate is extremely potent.

Overall support Nasus is not mainstream. It's likely that his use will be met with derision, fear, and loathing by those afraid of the unknown. Still, when playing among friends or simply defying the jeers of solo/duo queue, support Nasus can be surprisingly effective.