The meta in League of Legends normally stays the same from season to season, and this season’s focus has been on tanks. But, even at the MSI 2023, one tank is doing better in the mid lane than as a support: Nautilus.
At MSI 2023, Nautilus has an 80% win rate in the mid lane and a 33.3% win rate as a support. While the win rate aren’t as extensive, Nautilus mid has a greater win rate in both ranked League and professional games.
Why Nautilus Mid is so strong?
Before we can comprehend why Nautilus mid is so powerful, we must first grasp when he should be used as a midlaner.
During the MSI, the champion was frequently the team’s lone tank, especially when paired with champions like Janna, Jinx, Lulu, or Lucian. The selection fared well against champions like Ahri and Lissandra. If there were other tanks or health-heavy champions, Nautilus would be the one to engage.
Nautilus mid can adjust and be whatever the team needs, based on equipment and summoner spells, with his kit giving strong crowd-control, engage, and front-line tanking.
While AD champs are more than viable with Nautilus mid, his tendency to rush Abyssal Mask makes him an excellent counter for AP junglers like as Lillia, Nidalee, and Diana. It also implies that he shines against AP mid laners, yet he may also be effective against AD burst assassins.
Your aim with this champion is to push your squad ahead as the first priority. Because Nautilus has such a great wave clear after gaining points in his E, the ability you max first, an aggressive playstyle is required to win with this selection. Once you’ve passed the first few levels, you’ll want to push the wave out and rotate whenever possible to support your other lanes.
Because of his high CC and basic damage, he has intrinsically excellent skirmish potential, thus having him along to assist on invades and dives is a huge asset for any team.
League players who choose Nautilus mid require the summoner spells Teleport and Flash, as well as the two key items Radiant Virtue and Abyssal Mask. However, it is dependent on your needs when it comes to boots. Other items like as Thornmail and Sunfire Aegis should be great follow-ups.
With a few important changes, runes are quite similar to playing Nautilus in support. The Resolve tree is nearly identical to a typical support rune page, with Aftershock serving as the pivot. This rune’s damage mitigation is vital for close-combat, and the tiny amount of additional damage isn’t too awful either. Shield Bash is an excellent pick because of his W, Second Wind helps against poke, and Overgrowth’s extra HP is decent to have.
There you have it, now you know why Nautilus is so strong as a midlaner in the current meta. Maybe after reading this, you can try out in your solo queue games to see if that’s true.