Welcome to the League of Legends Champion Spotlight featuring Nautilus, the Titan of the Depths
Nautilus is a beefy melee tank, adept at disrupting his enemies, initiating fights, and growing as a damage threat to all his opponents.
Additionally, his ability to jungle or fight in a variety of lanes makes him an excellent addition to any team.
Nautilus’s passive is Staggering Blow. Nautilus’s basic attacks deal bonus damage and briefly root his target in place.
Staggering Blow can only affect a single champion once every few seconds, but Nautilus can switch targets to hit multiple enemies in succession.
Dredge Line sends out a skill shot nuke that stops on the first enemy or terrain it hits.
If Nautilus hits terrain instead, he is pulled to that location and the cooldown is much lower.
Dredge Line functions as a great initiation, mobility, and escape tool.
Thankfully, it fills these roles quite well even with one point, so I take a rank in Dredge Line early, but max it last.
Titan’s Wrath places a damage-blocking shield on Nautilus for a few seconds.
While the shield holds, Nautilus’s basic attacks apply a large damage over time effect to his target and all surrounding enemies.
Titan’s Wrath deals the most damage of any of Nautilus’s abilities as long as it holds, making him extremely scary if ignored.
Because of this damage, I take it at level 1 when jungling, make sure to take a second point early, and consider maxing it somewhere between levels 9 and 13.
Riptide explodes the area around Nautilus in a growing ring, damaging and slowing enemies caught in these explosions.
Enemies can be hit multiple times by these explosions but take reduced damage by the additional hits.
The use of Riptide is great to damage and prevent the retreat of running enemies, especially because they’ll run into the expanding explosions as they run.
As his primary disruption tool, I take a point early and consider maxing it somewhere between levels 9 and 13.
Nautilus’s ultimate is Depth Charge. Nautilus fires a shockwave that chases the targeted enemy.
Any enemies hit by the shockwave as it travels are damaged and knocked up.
Once the shockwave reaches its intended target, he takes even more damage and is also stunned.
Generally, Nautilus will want to aim at a target far in the back to damage and disrupt the most enemies possible.
As with all ultimates, I rank it up at levels 6, 11, and 16.
Nautilus is an exceptional ganking jungler, meaning that you should always look for lanes that you can gank.
Seeing Sona and Caitlyn overextended, I push in to bot lane. If you can help it, save Dredge Line, so I walk up and tag Sona with Riptide, Titan’s Wrath, and Staggering Blow.
Now I tag Caitlyn with Dredge Line into Staggering Blow. She’s forced to Flash if she doesn’t want to tank Riptide.
Now in turret range, I leave her and wait in the brush in case there’s a counter-attack.
If your opponents see you coming and run, it’s okay to lead with Dredge Line. I head in and hit Riptide.
I charge after them and tag Caitlyn with Staggering Blow, allowing us to kill her as I Flash away from the turret.
For the second kill, I wander in to tank one more turret shot run into the brush to recall.
This gives Graves enough time to take down Sona before falling. I’m able to recall to safety before Ziggs catches up to me and we come out ahead, two to one.
Generally, after finishing Philosopher’s Stone, you should be able to rely on it for mana regeneration.
Once the Ancient Golem respawns, ping and call over a teammate to grab this buff.
Keep track of how much damage it’s taking and once you’ve gotten it low enough, take a step back, stop attacking, and receive endless praise from your teammate.
One of the best traits of Dredge Line is if you’re aiming for a champion against a wall, you’re guaranteed to pull yourself forward, even if you miss.
I head to gank Sona, but she dodges Dredge Line with Flash. Landing Depth Charge into Staggering Blow, we pick up a quick kill on Sona before retreating out of turret range.
In team fights, do everything you can to focus on squishy enemies near the back.
I notice I can just barely tag Caitlyn with Dredge Line, which gives our Ziggs just enough space to land his combo, taking her down with Ignite.
I pop Shurelya’s Reverie to get him back to safety and notice the enemy Ziggs now available. I turn to cast Depth Charge and dive straight for him.
Titan’s Wrath keeps me safe as I hit Riptide on every single enemy, kill Ziggs, and Flash to safety.
Between the damage and disruption from Riptide while tanking all the damage from our opponents, my team also cleans up two more.
Use Dredge Line’s ability to hook terrain with a reduced cooldown to chase running champions.
Here a running Cho’Gath is sure to make it away, but I Dredge Line the turret, dodge Rupture, walk past all the minions, and then tag Cho’Gath.
An immediate Riptide into Staggering Blow gives my team just enough time to chase him down and pick up the ace.
In Dominion, Nautilus performs excellently with his team.
Landing a disruptive Dredge Line picks up the kill on Ezreal, and then as Lee Sin takes on Jax, I head up to stop Garen and Dr. Mundo from assisting with Riptide.
I head in to help kill Jax and then stop Garen in his tracks with Staggering Blow.
Once they actually turn to fight me, I tank for a little while and then use the terrain to easily land a Dredge Line and pick up a Health Relic.
The Crystal Scar’s close quarters can also force you to take your time.
Here as we chase Dr. Mundo by the Refinery, I have to wait to clear the wall before tagging him with Dredge Line.
This holds him in place long enough for us to pick up the kill and continue our offense.
For runes I take armor penetration marks, armor seals, magic resist per level glyphs, and gold generation quintessences.
In Dominion, sub out the gold generation for movement speed. The goal here is to get very tanky while also dealing strong early game damage through Staggering Blow.
My masteries are 0/21/9, focusing on being as tanky as possible plus movement speed and cooldown reduction.
If jungling, you want to make sure to grab reductions to minion damage and Bladed Armor in Defense, plus increased neutral buff duration in Utility.
For summoner spells, Smite and Flash are great for jungling. When not jungling, sub out Smite for Heal.
In Classic, I want tankiness and cooldown reduction. I take Cloth Armor and five Health Potions to jungle.
I rush Philosopher’s Stone and Heart of Gold for gold income. Grab Ninja Tabi or Mercury Treads as required and expand to Aegis of the Legion and Shurelya’s Reverie.
Counter your opposition with items like Frozen Heart, Force of Nature, and Locket of the Iron Solari.
In Dominion, you’ll have very similar build goals. Take upgraded boots as quickly as possible and add in similar items:
Shurelya’s Reverie, Frozen Heart, Force of Nature, Frozen Mallet, and Locket of the Iron Solari.
Thanks for tuning into the Nautilus Champion Spotlight. Please subscribe to the Riot Games YouTube channel above and don’t forget to thumbs us up just below the video!