League of Legends champion profile: Nautilus, the Titan of the Depths

Lanes Nautilus players love

Janna– As a support, Nautilus loves to play against squishies he can easily all-in. Janna is one of those, with only her skillshot tornado (or ult at level 6) to dissaude your all in. Even if she manages to knock you up mid-Q, you can still slow her with your E and then root her with your passive. Yes, she does do well to counter you later, but in lane you should be looking to hook her constantly.
Leona – You do everything she does in lane but (arguably) better. You both have shields, you both have dashes with cc (although yours also draws the enemy into you), but you have area of effect damage in your W and a point-and-click cc ultimate (unlike Leona’s which is a skill shot).
Yasuo – In top lane, there is nothing funnier than to see a Yasuo try to all in a Nautilus. Just click on him as he’s dashing through the minions for a root, drop your W shield and E, hit him with a Q and blam-o easy trade win.

Lanes Ziggs Players Hate

Pyke – On the other hand, Pyke has so many ways to outplay your hook in lane with his invisibility and dash. Yes, you’re tankier than he is, but Pyke is a lot slipperier than you and he’s not focused on killing you, but getting to your ADC.
Morgana – Easy enough to figure out, she can spell shield whoever you ult to easily nullify your engage, and throw out her root to kite you away. A good Morgana player will have the Naut mains slamming their keyboards.
Darius – He’s built to kill tanks with his true damage, ability to slow and stick to targets, and shred. You basically can never all-in Darius in lane, plus he can outshove you, forcing you to struggle to cs below your turret.

Tips for playing Nautilus

• Your Q can be used as an escape if it hits terrain, as it will drag you to that spot. You don’t always have to fish for opponents!
• Instead of leading an engage with your Q or ult (especially if you don’t have a clear path to the target), try using your E to slow your opponent, making that Q easier to hit. You can also use E to slow opponents as they chase you.
• Aim to trade when you have your passive and W shield ready. You’ll win almost every trade as long as you auto (with root) then W shield then E then auto until the shield (and it’s bonus damage) expire.

Tips for playing against Ziggs

• Nautilus has very long cooldowns and high mana costs. Without access to his abilities, he’s very vulnerable to taking trades. He also doesn’t have great sustain, so he can easily get whittled down with poke.
• Although his Q can be used as an escape tool, it has a short range and the dash isn’t very long. He also has to channel (and stand still) while casting it, making him an easy target for cc to interrupt the ability.
• You cannot avoid his ultimate with any dashes or flash, but you can avoid it with a stasis effect (like Zhonya’s Hourglass or Stopwatch) or becoming untargetable (Fizz’s E).

Champion Difficulty: 3/10

A very simple kit with a lot of tankiness, Nautilus is a very straight-forward champion. His kit is quite forgiving (other than the high mana costs) because of all the innate cc and his shields. Nautilus is a great champion for anyone looking to learn how and when to engage a fight.

Nautilus almost always builds full tank, so he’ll always be able to front-line and enable his carries to do damage. He’s great at initiating, but he also excels at peeling people from diving his fed carries. There aren’t a lot of ways you can mess up Nautilus’s kit, so he’s a great tank for beginners.

Similar to champions

Blitzcrank, Maokai, Leona

Are you excited to try out the Titan of the Depths? Let us know your thoughts about Nautilus in the comments!