After watching players from several top teams perform very well with Nunu, I knew he had the ability to make some game-changing plays. I wondered, though, if that power would translate to lower ELOs, where players tend to make their own mistakes instead of being forced into mistakes or out of their comfortable playstyle by another skilled opponent. From what I’ve seen so far, Nunu is just as powerful at my ELO as he is up top. I’m 3-0 since I started playing him this week, and two of those games have been absolute blowouts.
I used to see fairly limited success with Nunu, but I think that’s mostly due to the fact that I wasn’t speccing him or using runes for tanking. I know, I know, it seems like that should be obvious, but hitting someone for a huge chunk of his health with that snowball is just so much fun. The tank build keeps Nunu from being a priority target because he can absorb so much damage. That means you can spend more time alive in the fight, slowing critical targets, buffing your carries, and saving that ultimate for just the right moment.
Speaking of that ultimate, my god can it be fun. I used to think it was only possible to get a full channel if you had baited the enemy team into unexposed brush, but I had a game today in which I hit a full ult on a Shen, Pantheon, and Nocturne. That probably won’t happen often, but few things have felt better in this game than watching my channel bar fill up, the instant pop for a double kill at the end, followed by an Ice Blast for a triple kill. This was all immediately followed by a 4-0 surrender vote, which is just about as clear as it gets when I’m looking for an affirmation of my contribution.
Despite that situation, kills aren’t really Nunu’s strong point. While he can definitely run down a half-health jungler in the woods, his skills are really best suited to forcing the enemy team to fight. Unless everyone has a Flash ready, the combination of Ice Blast, his speed buff on an ally with some sort of crowd control, and his ultimate make for tough getaways. With all that control, he also has the benefit of a very hefty ultimate, a spell that can do loads of damage if left unchecked.
I think that’s what makes Nunu so much fun, and why I have such an easy time succeeding with him. Whatever it says about my personality, I love being the team’s hero. I like getting the kills, getting fed to the point that I can hard carry, melting the towers, and just generally seeing my name in lights. There’s just one problem with that mentality – the best spot for a skilled player on any team is usually in the tank/support department. Every team needs someone who can help set up the kills, cover a lane in a pinch, and worry about the big picture during teamfights while everyone else focuses on target priority. For me, Nunu brings all of those skills, with the added bonus that his ult hits like a bomb at every stage of the game. With just a little CC on your own team, Absolute Zero is remarkably easy to land, occasionally resulting in that double or triple kill that always keeps me coming back for more.
