Greetings summoners! This article contains two fun-to-play AP Nasus ARAM builds, the pre-season 11, and after the rework. The build relies mostly on Nasus’ Spirit Fire, that has an impressive effect radius of 400 and a 5 second sustain. This ability can be dangerous tool in a tightly packed area with many enemy champions, especially if you choose to go Nasus ap aram. Unless you are interested in the Pre-season 11 build, I recommend you skip on to the updated build section of this article.
Pre-season 11 Update AP Aram Nasus Build Guide
This is a fun to play Nasus ARAM build guide. We will discuss the necessary items, runes and gameplay strategies that will make AP Nasus a force to be reckoned with in every ARAM game. Since there are a few key differences between playing Nasus AP mid lane in Summoner’s Rift and playing it in ARAM, we will discuss the differences in detail. Note that this is a pre-season 11 rework build, so its not possible to build it anymore, but we will keep it up for nostalgia.
Ability Order for AP ARAM Nasus
Whereas the regular Nasus build focuses on his ability to stack his Syphoning Strike (Q), in this guide we will focus on a full AP nasus, and therefore on improving the lethality of Nasus’s E. So instead of leveling up your Q, you should level up your E every chance you get to really succeed as full ap nasus aram. Here is an example of a good ability order for this Nasus build.
As you can see, the cane will be maxed out last, and don’t worry too much about nasus stacks in ARAM. Load up on your Q if you get a good opening, but for the ARAM nasus ap build its not that crucial. Instead you will be slowing your opponents and smashing them with Spirit Fire. Nasus still has one of the best slows in League of Legends so getting hit by the Wither of a level 13 full AP Nasus will usually result in death in an ARAM matchup, since it will give your teammates a great opportunity to strike the the slowed opponent down after you take a good chunk of their HP with your E.
Furthermore, as you are after all playing a “nasus ap build ARAM”, your Spirit Fire can deal serious damage in a 650 square range, damaging multiple opponents and significantly reducing their armour. Play safe and slowly melt down the enemy team hit points. Your mana will be sufficient for many Spirit Fire blasts, especially since you will be building Lost Chapter as your first item.
Make sure to not get too greedy, because this full AP Nasus build will leave you pretty vulnerable to getting kited, especially if you have not managed to hit at least a few proper Spirit Fire shots. If you do happen to get caught, however, having your ultimate ready can be very handy, as it gives you a bunch of extra health and deals passive magic damage to surrounding enemies that increases as your AP goes up. So save it for critical situations or when you need to finish a low health opponent up close. Also, as you level up, your Spirit Fire blast will be sufficient to wipe out low level opponents in one hit. On of the many benefits of a nasus ARAM AP build.
Also remember that Nasus’s passive gives him a maximum of 24% natural life steal, so when you can, farm minions to regain some lost health. Also make sure to focus on squishy targets that easily fall victim to your E. ARAM AP Nasus is also good at melting the armour of the enemy team’s tank. Just keep aiming that full AP Spirit Fire and keep a safe distance.
Items for AP ARAM Nasus Build
The build path for ARAM AP Nasus and AP Nasus mid will be pretty similar except that in the case of ARAM, I would actually forgo the boots in favour of more damage in some situations. Secondly when playing mid, you should start out with Doran’s ring and build into Lost Chapter next, whereas in ARAM you can go straight to Lost Chapter.
So in ARAM, you basically start out with Lost chapter and two Health potions for health and mana sustain and a decent portion of AP: everything you need basically for a decent start as a full AP Nasus.
Next up you should be focused on building your Luden’s Echo and getting Boots of Speed for extra movement. The main purpose of the staff is to pump the burst damage of your E. In order to have it at maximum, make sure to move around a lot, because the magic damage maxes out from movement stacks. Again these items are not synergizing with your nasus aram stacks, so don’t take too many risks farming with your Q.
After you have your boots and Luden’s Echo you should aim to build Liandry’s Torment, which will make your Spirit Fire much more deadly with its burn-effect. This is usually the point where the Nasus AP ARAM build peaks in strength. Your spells will deal extra damage if a slow effect is applied so using wither before your E will be a great idea if you have managed to grab Liandry’s Torment.
This would usually be the time to upgrade your boots, if you have them. The extra magic penetration will also come in handy for Nasus in ARAM. If you are especially fed you can go straight for Rabadon’s Deathcap, if not aim to build Morellonomicom.
This is usually where most games end, but for a full build you can add a Void Staff and a Rylai’s Crystal Scepter. Also remember, that you will not be building nasus ARAM tank items most of the time. Its way better for the team if you max out your AP damage and keep distance well.
Runes for AP ARAM Nasus
Choosing runes for AP ARAM Nasus is pretty straightforward. Your aim is to increase the power of your E, so go for these options from the sorcery and domination branch. Nasus ARAM runes are pretty standard for a mage.
Different strategies For AP Nasus Mid Lane
Your biggest strengths in mid lane will be your superior ability to farm (always make sure you are ahead of your opponent) and your ability to aggressively poking your opponent into submission. You should not be playing passive as usual. Instead apply pressure and melt your opponents health one poke at a time until you can either force them to flee and take a turret or get a kill.
The pros and cons of this build are that if you manage to press ahead you can really harass your opponent well, but if you start falling behind you will become pretty useless and your team may blame you for an off-meta build. Nevertheless, if you have boots, running to bot to smash the enemy teams squishy targets can turn the tables in your favour, even if you are losing the upper hand in duelling your opponent in mid. Good luck summoner!
AP Nasus ARAM 2024 Update
In season 11, the AP Nasus ARAM strategy changed with the updated items. We will outline the new optimal build path in this section. The main strategy is to build up as much burn damage as you can and mostly focus on Spirit Fire damage.
AP Nasus ARAM Early Items
Season 11 introduced mystic items; you can only pick one per game. The go-to item for ARAM AP Nasus is Liandry’s Anguish. It is the main item you want to rush as fast as possible, so your starting items should be Lost Chapter, along with some health potions. The potions will provide some sustain and Lost Chapter will give you everything you need for the early game: mana and AP.
First Back for the Nasus AP Build
Next step is continuing the rush towards Liandry’s anguish. Depending on how much gold you collected you will either go Fiendish Codex or Lyandry’s Anguish here.
The goal is to keep your distance carefully and hit as many opponents at once and let them burn. your E will also be very good for taking care of low health opponents. Thanks to the big range and long sustain you will be able to keep most opposing champs at bay quite easily. While you should be levelling up your E as a first priority, don’t neglect your stacks as well and farm up your Q whenever you have a good opportunity.
If you lack funds for the Lyandry’s, use your gold to pick up some boots for extra mobility.
Nasus ARAM AP Mid Game
After Liandry’s anguish you should be quite strong, but its time to put the icing on the cake with your next item. Go for Demonic embrace to max out your burn damage and add some well needed health
This item is really awesome for AP Nasus, as it burns the enemy 4.8% of their max health for 4 seconds. Combined with your Liyandry’s Anguish, it will be a very impressive combination. After the Demonic embrace it would be great to upgrade your boots. I would recommend Ionian Boots of Lucidity as they give your champ +20 ability haste which allow for way more frequent E’s, which is great on AP Nasus. They are quite cheap as well.
Late Game AP ARAM Nasus
Most ARAM games won’t go much further from the earlier items, but here are some recommendations.
Zhonya’s Hourglass
Zhonya’s Hourglass is a great utility item for any mage, including AP Nasus, as it allows you to get out of tricky situations while adding ability power.
When you activate the hourglass your champion will become invulnerable for a couple of seconds, allowing you to avoid the opponents strongest attacks. Even better, you can use the hourglass to do damage passively. Activate your R before you use the hourglass, as the passive area damage (amplified by all your mage items on AP Nasus) will still be active
Morellonomicon
The Morellonomicon is a good situational item for AP Nasus. Its main selling point is that it inflicts grievous wounds. Grievous wounds in lol reduces all the healing received by the enemy champion by 40%. This is super useful if you are against a high damage champion that can heal very fast: you will cut off a huge amount of the opponents sustain.
Rabadon’s Deathcap
The deathcap is of course one of the best mage items available, but the problem is its 3600 gold cost. Only build this for AP Nasus if you are extremely fed, otherwise its not going to be worth it.
Conclusion
Hope you enjoyed this little guide for ARAM AP Nasus. Remember ARAM is all about having fun so feel free to test your own builds and share your opinion in the comment section down below. Until next time!