Nautilus is one of the most powerful engage picks in ARAM. His tankiness, CC, and utility allow him to quickly lock down enemies in the narrow team-fight centric terrain. When build correctly, Nautilus can pose a significant threat to the enemy team, and make a great contribution to the allied team.
Having said that, it’s time to cover the best Nautilus build!
Best Nautilus Items
Heartsteel
A great first purchase for Nautilus is the Heartsteel. It will give us a great amount of bonus HP, and a passive that will deal 12% of our item HP. Most importantly, the item will increase the size of our character model for each 1000 HP we gain, making us feel and look cool as heck.
Winter’s Approach
The best second item for Naut is Winter’s Approach. This item is one of those that will consume Tear of Goddess stacks, and put them towards its transformation. Considering that, it would be beneficial to pick up the Tear of Goddess as soon as the game starts. When transformed, Winter’s Approach will grant us free mana for all attacks and abilities we land.
Thornmail
The greatest tank item works really well on Nautilus in ARAM as well. For those not familiar, Thornmail will grant us the highest ratios of armor out of any other item in the game, as well as a passive that will reflect a percentage of damage dealt to us back to enemies. If that was not enough, Thornmail applies Grievous Wounds to all enemies that attack us.
Warmong’s Armor
Warmong’s Armor is related to armor stats only by its name, in reality, it will do nothing armor stat-related. What Warmong’s will do, however, is give us a massive boost, 1000 HP boost, a small 4% movement speed boost, and 100% additional HP regen. The item will also massively regenerate our health when we are out of combat. This stat is really important in ARAM since we will not have the ability to just recall and heal back.
Jak’Sho the Protean
The last item I like to pick for most of my tank builds is Jak’Sho the Protean. Other than having a cool name, the item is perfect for getting a mix of armor and magic resist. It will make our defenses much more well-rounded, and enable us to endure more intense skirmishes. The most powerful element of this item is its passive which grants increasing resistances based on the time spent in combat.
Boots
The best boots for Nautilus in ARAM will majorly depend on the enemy team picks. The boots will certainly be defensive, and we will be picking between Plated Steelcaps and Mercury Treads. The former will be stronger against auto-attack-heavy comps, and the latter will be greatest against CC-heavy teams.
Best Runes for Nautilus ARAM
- Grasp of Undying
- Shield Bash
- Conditioning
- Overgrowth
- Triumph
- Legend: Haste
Grasp of Undying is a great keystone as it will damage equivalent to 3.5% of our max HP (which is a lot considering we are building a full tank build. The next rune we will take is the Shield Bash, which will enhance our basic attack damage each time we cast a shield.
We will also take Conditioning and Overgrowth for extra armor and HP sustain, as well as Triumph for healing after fights and Legend: Haste for reducing our cooldowns.
Final Thoughts
Nautilus is a super powerful engage ARAM pick. To make the most out of him, it is best to go with a full tank build with a good base of HP, armor and magic resist. This will allow you to play aggressively and create winning fights for the ally team!