Nautilus Support Build Guides - Runes, Items, Abilities & More - Patch 14.21

Greetings fellow support players, welcome to my Nautilus guide! Nautilus has always been one of the staple champions in the support role in soloq and pro play. He is a really fun champ so that’s why I want to share my my knowledge and experience on Nautilus with you guys! I really appreciate some constructive feedback as this is my first guide and I do want to know what you guys think of the information or the guide layout itself. If you have any personal questions feel free to ask them aswell!

This guide has been written and checked by me. If you have any additions feel free to contact me. I am planning to update the guide every patch to keep you guys up to date on the newest builds, strategies and matchups. For other Nautilus questions check out the Nautilus Mains reddit!

I hope this guide will make you play Nautilus with the same enthusiasm as me, so let’s explore the depths together!

Nautilus is a pretty straight forward support champ. You throw your hook out and blow up the target you hit. With all the CC tools you have, you are extremely powerful around teamfights and skirmishes, so it is important to be active on the map to get the most out of your champion. A very strong pick into both ranged and melee supports!

Nautilus is really strong but once you are in a fight you do have trouble to get out, so making the right decisions is important. Besides that your tankiness comes with items and you are absolutely not tanky when in lane. Make sure to avoid poke because you can’t soak damage for ages early game. If you like to play hyper aggressive your high cooldowns early can also be a limiting factor on how you play the game.

a. Strengths

• High base damage
• Great CC tools
• Great teamfighting potential
• A lot of roaming potential
• Strong lane phase
• Pretty tanky late game

b. Weaknesses

• Squishy in lane
• Low mobility
• Long cooldowns
• No way out of fights.

• Hold on to your Dredge Line Q until the enemy has miss positioned or used their escape ability. Using your Dredge Line Q and missing it will leave you vulnerable to damage and poke.
• When the enemy is sieging one of your Towers or is trying to poke, use your Dredge Line Q to catch out them out of position while they’re overextended. Picking someone off is a good way of winning a fight or preventing the enemy from taking an objective.
• While Nautilus is quite slow, you do have really good roaming potential as you have a lot of CC. Look to roam after recalling before heading back to the bottom lane.

• Medium: Q + W + E
• Medium: R + Flash + Q + W + E

• Nautilus builds guide:

1. Early game

• Nautilus has an incredibly strong level 2, make sure you hit level 2 first and look for an aggressive play.
• Staying healthy is key when playing Nautilus. If you get poked down, you’ll never be able to engage. When you’re waiting on your cooldowns, play safe and out of auto-attack range.
• Use Nautilus’s strong roaming ability to move around the map and help your allies. Good times to roam are straight from base or when your ADC will be safe and will not die.

2. Mid game

• Group and stay with your team. Go to ward when you know where the enemy is so you do not get picked off and killed before an objective spawns.
• Look for picks with your Ultimate Depth Charge R. Nautilus can quickly force objectives or team fights with ease if he can catch someone who walks too far forward.
• Peel and protect your allies as much as possible in mid-game team fights. If you let them die, it’s going to be difficult for your team to win the fight. After engaging, retreat and peel for your ADC.

3. Late game

• Stay grouped with your team. Do not leave your ADC’s side otherwise the enemy will capitalise on the fact that you’re not there to protect your ADC.
• Peel for your carries in team fights. After using your Dredge Line Q, fall back and protect your allies and focus the nearest champion.
• Look for picks with your Ultimate Depth Charge R. If you can catch someone out when the enemy is unorganised, you’ll be able to force a team fight or an objective afterwards.

Nautilus is an oppresive champion in the botlane. A lot of base damage combined with CC can make you a really agressive and strong early game botlaner. But besides fighting there is more to playing botlane. These things will be explained briefly below.

You have to be wary of lane state no matter the matchup you are in. There are 3 important wave states that you should acknowledge:

1. Freeze – Freezing is manipulating your minion wave to stay in the same place for a given amount of time. This is the hardest form of wave management, especially in the botlane as you are dependent on your ADC and your own ability of wave management. Freezing is done by only last hitting the minions and matching minions damage with your opponent.

The way you setup a freeze is linked to how close you are to your tower. The closer to your tower the more ranged minions you need, this is because your minions arrive quicker to lane then the enemy minions. The picture shows in what area you need a certain amount of ranged minions to freeze. Learning to freeze effectively requires some practice so don’t give up after the first one doesn’t work out. You want to freeze your wave when you are ahead or when you are in a difficult matchup and your ADC can farm safely so you can roam.

2. Slow push – Slow pushing already says what is does, it slowly pushes the wave. This one is easier than a Freeze as you don’t have to be focussing on what the enemy does. All you want to do is killing the caster minions in the wave and there you have it, a slow push. Slow pushing is something you want to avoid during laning phase in botlane. When you leave lane and the enemies have based you almost always want to be fast pushing the wave. The only time slow pushing is applied is in the later stages of the game where you want to prepare waves by slow pushing them in the side lane. This either draws attention of at least one enemy so you can make a play across the map or it builds towards a massive minion wave which helps you siege or denies your opponents a lot of experience and gold.

3. Fast push – Fast pushing is important during the laning phase. Fast pushing is done by killing all the melee minions of a wave and even clearing a complete wave in such a way that the wave crashes into the tower and starts slow pushing back to you. Fast pushing when the enemy botlane has backed denies them a lot of gold and experience while you get a good timing to base and get some items and catch the wave that bounced back from the tower. Another viable reason to do so, is to roam. While the wave is under the enemy tower try to get some deep vision in the enemy jungle or look for a roam midlane. The last thing you can do with a fast push is setting up a dive. If the enemy botlane decides to stay you can have a free kill, if they back off they lose gold and experience. I only recommend diving when you know you can get a free kill and don’t risk the fact that you can fall behind because of a misplayed dive. Another important part of the laning phase is to help out your jungler when he is invading or fighting for scuttle crab. Try to fast push the wave and follow him into the jungle to help him fight. By fast pushing you will force the enemy botlane to either miss the wave or leave their jungler for dead.

As a tank and crowd-control master, positioning is everything for Nautilus. You are the wall between the enemy and your team. When you position well, you control the flow of the fight. But when you're out of place, your team can fall apart.

In lane, you want to stay slightly ahead of your ADC. Not too far forward that you get caught, but just close enough to shield them from danger. Your size and threat mean enemies will think twice before diving onto your carry if you’re standing between them.

When it comes to setting up engages, patience is key. Don’t rush into fights—wait for the right moment, usually when the enemy oversteps or uses an important ability. As Nautilus, your Dredge Line Q can catch people from unexpected angles. Look for opportunities when the enemy stands near walls or terrain where you can surprise them with a hook.

While disengaging your position is also important, make sure if someone is to die it’s you and you make sure that your team gets out alive. You can use Riptide E to slow enemies that try to catch you and Dredge Line Q to pull yourself out of danger towards structures or terrain.

When teamfights break out, Nautilus is the titan at the center of the chaos. You’re both the initiator and the protector, and knowing when to be which is the key to playing him well.

As fights begin, your eyes should be locked onto the enemy backline—their carries, their damage dealers. Position yourself in a way that you can land Depth Charge R on these high-value targets. Even if they’re far back, the knock-up effect will ripple through their team, disrupting everyone in its path.

But sometimes, you’ll need to play the protector. If your own carries are being threatened, it’s your duty to stop the enemy in their tracks. Use Riptide E to slow anyone diving onto your backline, and fire off Dredge Line Q to catch out anyone who slips past your frontline.

In the chaos of battle, the right hook or ultimate can change everything. Be the unshakable anchor for your team—whether it’s holding the line or diving in to start the fight. Every ability you use can turn the tide of battle in favor of your team.

• What is the best build for Nautilus top? Nautilus Top has a 47.3% win rate with 0.1% pick rate in Emerald + and is currently ranked D tier. Based on our analysis of 685 matches in patch 14.19 the best build for Nautilus is Sunfire Aegis, Plated Steelcaps, Winter's Approach, Abyssal Mask, and Thornmail.
• What is the strategy of Nautilus? Nautilus is a mana hog early: run him out of mana and force him to back quickly. His hook can be countered by keeping minions between him and you, and his other abilities can be evaded by staying away from him. He is not fast, and he is not good at chasing early.
• Who is good into Nautilus? Based on our analysis of 101 187 matches, the best counters for Nautilus Support are Taric, Rell, Renata Glasc, Leona and Tahm Kench. On the other hand, Nautilus Support counters Zyra, Yuumi, Blitzcrank, Lux and Xerath.
• Why is Nautilus a good support? Nautilus can quickly force objectives or team fights with ease if he can catch someone who walks too far forward. Peel and protect your allies as much as possible in mid-game team fights. If you let them die, it's going to be difficult for your team to win the fight.
• What is good against nautilus? Nautilus's biggest counters are Braum and Taric for sure hands down. Followed by Morgana, Thresh, Brand, Leona, and Alistar all decent picks into him.