Nautilus
Matchup Summary
Nautilus is a very free match up when it comes to top lane, as his base damage and stats are super weak to ever deal with Renekton. Renekton can use his wave clear to always create cheater recalls, he can use his empowered W to nuke his shield and use his E to prevent Naut escaping with Q or trying to space away from Renekton. This match up is insanely terrible, however his heavy CC kit can be paired super well with high damage champions, so keep that in mid when fighting 1v2 or playing teamfights. Within teamfights Nautilus will always try to use his combo on whoever is the strongest, so keep that in mind and play away from being caught in his Q and R combo.
Detailed Tips
- 01
Level 1 Q or E Start - As mentioned through other notes, playing off Q and E both require different plays, however in this match up you can essentially do either of them and have pretty good success. With that said, play around the strengths of level 1 and look for a level 2 kill.
- 02
Play For Level 2/3 Kill Angle - Once you chunk out Nautilus you're most likely able to kill him with your W, Dash or Flash up. Look to shove the wave around your kill timer, so you're able to make Nautilus lose a lot more.
- 03
Abuse Renekton's Waveclear - A giant advantage Renekton has within this match up, is his overall ability to easily clear minion waves. This can help him achieve perfect tempo resets, or allow him to proxy waves to help increase his gold lead, while also hostaging the enemy top laner under their own tower. Being able to fast clear also forces the enemy into contesting push, allowing you to easily mana burn and create advantageous positions from it. Abuse this strength to cheat out bad laning situations, or increase your overall power within the game.
- 04
Abuse Renekton's Early Game - In this match up Renekton is essentially able to do whatever he simply wants. With that said, really hone into your strong early to mid game strengths to help you dominate and win the game. Play to deny your enemy of gold and xp, play to proxy and generally lead any top side skirmishes with your insane lane advantage.
- 05
Respect Nautilus CC Combo - Nautilus cannot really do much towards Renekton, however his CC remains a great kit to help him enable kills onto targets such as Renekton. When playing around Nautilus, try to avoid ganks by using wards and making sure to E fast enough to avoid Nautilus's Q hook. Do note that Nautilus can cancel Renekton’s E if he times it right, so make sure to always avoid that.
- 06
Heavy Trades - Being that Renekton carries a lot of high damage, Renekton is able to just jump on his target nearly at will. Whenever your laners present you with the ability to jump on them, simply take the opportunity to burst them as much as you can. If you didn't kill them already from that, use your options of freezing or your tower diving ability to help you finish off your opponent.
- 07
3 Points Q > W Max - This playstyle allows you to constantly have W’s to help you stay onto Nautilus while abusing your high damage ratios, allowing you to easily snowball and permanently shutdown Nautilus within all stages of the game. Make sure to put 3 points into your early wave clear and poke, then look to max W throughout the rest of your points. Once completed, max your E for additional mobility to help enable your up close stun abusing playstyle.
- 08
Abuse Renekton's R Powerspike - Once you reach level 6 your ultimate will essentially help you consistently stat check and dominate any match ups you were winning or losing. Make sure to always wait for your R CD to help you make plays, otherwise it will lead you towards a major disadvantage in dueling your enemies.
- 09
Build Eclipse, Black Cleaver or BoTRK - Go Eclipse for consistent power through mid game and damage mitigation with the shield. / Go Black Cleaver for additional CDR and other versatile stats for utility based gameplay. / Go BoTRK to one shot and snowball with a damage focused build.
- 10
Mid Game + Teamfighting Tips - Nautilus’s role within team fights, consists of frontlining for his team, while playing with the intent to make picks with his Q and R. When playing against Nautilus, try to abuse your side laning power to help you keep killing Nautilus, or secure towers with the side lane. Renekton cannot really lose to Nautilus at any stage within the mid game, however try to ward the enemies jungle and avoid being caught out. Try to also track Nautilus's position on the map using pings, as these will help your team avoid getting caught. Within teamfights, you can easily shred Nautilus if he tries to front line against your team, however your main purpose should be trying to nuke his carries. Nautilus cannot solo win teamfights, so he needs his teammates to help him apply damage towards winning a fight.