# Nautilus Counters, Matchups & Tips | Baron Buff See Nautilus counters, hardest matchups, and tips to play against or draft around Nautilus in League of Legends. Canonical HTML: https://baronbuff.com/champions/nautilus/ Markdown URL: https://baronbuff.com/champions/nautilus.md Language: en ## Breadcrumbs - [Baron Buff](https://baronbuff.com/) - [Champion Tier List](https://baronbuff.com/champions/) - Nautilus ## Page Content Tank · Catcher · Support Prepare for battle with Nautilus — master their strengths and exploit their weaknesses before the game starts. ## Playstyle Profile Nautilus is an initiator — excels at engaging grouped enemies with impactful openings Teamfight Role Vanguard Initiator Power Spike Early game Split Threat None Backline Access Low ## Nautilus's Strengths - Starts fights on your terms — Nautilus's engage forces enemies to react, giving your team the initiative - Dominates early fights — Nautilus's base stats and kit spike early, punishing passive opponents ## How to Play Nautilus Champion-specific pre-match tips ### Lane Phase Push the minion wave to reach level 2 first, then instantly walk past the enemy minions to zone them or cast Q before they level up. ### Lane Phase Reset your basic attack by casting W immediately after your passive auto-attack lands to maximize your burst damage during short trades. ### Lane Phase Cast Q onto terrain when you need to escape an early gank or return to lane quickly, as hitting terrain refunds half of the ability's cooldown and mana. ### Mid Game Cast your ult on an isolated target before throwing Q to guarantee your hook connects as they fall from the knockup. ### Mid Game Grapple walls with Q while rotating through the river or jungle to drastically reduce your travel time to fights. ### Mid Game Apply your passive root to multiple diving enemies by switching your basic attack targets when peeling for your teammates in skirmishes. ### Late Game Target an enemy backliner with your ult so the shockwave knocks up the enemy frontline members standing in its path. ### Late Game Hold your Q when flashing onto a priority carry, opting instead to lock them down instantly with a passive basic attack before layering your abilities. ### Late Game Activate W right before absorbing the enemy team's initial engage during a late-game teamfight to guarantee your shield absorbs maximum damage. For matchup-tailored tips, download Baron Buff's AI Coach & Companion App. ## Core Build Ranked from real ranked-match itemization We look at ranked games after each item was bought. If the player or team gained ground in gold, we rate that item higher. - Plated Steelcaps (Boots) — 1,200 - Locket of the Iron Solari — 2,200 - Knight's Vow — 2,300 - Thornmail — 2,450 - Bandlepipes — 2,300 - Jak'Sho, The Protean — 3,200 total: 13,650 ## How to Counter Nautilus Counter strategies and draft context build percent-health damage, kite effectively, or bypass them entirely to reach carries - Weak to disengage and spread comps — Nautilus's engage loses value when enemies aren't grouped - Falls off significantly after 25 minutes — Nautilus's early dominance doesn't translate to late game - Split-push threats that avoid 5v5 team fights entirely - Compositions with strong disengage to negate engage windows ### Nautilus's Weaknesses - Heavy disengage compositions — Nautilus's engages get peeled off before the team can follow up - Safe, scaling enemy compositions — Nautilus's early advantage fades when opponents survive lane without falling behind ## Best Synergies with Nautilus Team synergies and draft context - Follow-up damage dealers who capitalize on Nautilus's engage — burst mages and ADCs with range - Aggressive junglers and roaming supports that snowball leads alongside Nautilus's early power spike - Assassins that flank while you hold enemy attention at the front - Follow-up damage dealers that capitalize on your engage and CC ### Draft Context - Pairs another engage champion with no follow-up damage to capitalize on Nautilus's initiation - Pairs Nautilus's early power with other early-game picks that all fall off together after 25 minutes ## Learning Curve [Based on 1.2M+ matches](https://baronbuff.com/blog/mastery_by_tier/) across all ranked elos, showing how Nautilus's win rate changes with mastery level Nautilus has exceptional depth — there is always something new to learn, with a straightforward learning process. Steady improvement comes over a moderate number of games. Skill Cap Very High Cost of Learning Medium Win Rate Delta by Mastery Mastery Level | Win Rate | 1-2 | 39.6% | 3-4 | 46.0% | 5-6 | 49.0% | 7-8 | 49.6% | 9-12 | 50.3% | 13-16 | 50.3% | 17+ * | 51.5% | [← Champions](https://baronbuff.com/champions/) ## Machine-Readable References - [LLM index](https://baronbuff.com/llms.txt) - [Full LLM reference](https://baronbuff.com/llms-full.txt) - [Sitemap](https://baronbuff.com/sitemap.xml)