How to win lane as Nasus against Karma · 51.92% win rate over 1,273 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Karma | Karma roots and pokes you with Mantra-Q (RQ) while you have no ult, no Wither and almost no stacks — you simply soak Q farm and concede the wave. |
| Level 2 | Karma | She chips your HP bar from range with empowered Q and you still have no answer; just last-hit and survive the poke. |
| Level 3 | Karma | Wither comes online at 3 but she E-shields and RE-speeds out of any trade, so she keeps controlling the lane while you hoard stacks. |
| Levels 4-5 | Karma | Levels 4-5 are hers on poke — she pushes or pokes you down while you play not to die and pile up Siphoning Strike stacks under tower. |
| Level 6 | Even / skill | Fury of the Sands plus a Wither lock makes a single all-in even — bait her E shield and RE dash, then W her to a crawl and punish with ult DPS and lifesteal. |
| First item | Karma | Her first item (Liandry's/Lich Bane plus E shield and RE move speed) lets her kite and poke you down from outside Wither range — her threat peak. |
| Two+ items | Nasus | With stacked Q burst, Sheen/Iceborn and ult, one Wither removes her kite and your empowered Siphoning Strike deletes her squishy body — you out-scale and splitpush her out of the game. |
Karma owns the entire early game, so do not pretend otherwise — I have no ult, barely any stacks, and Spirit Fire (E) is my only ranged tool, while she roots me with Mantra-Q (RQ) and pokes my fat HP bar from outside my reach. I just last-hit with Siphoning Strike (Q) and farm stacks under tower, eating the poke I cannot punish. Do not flat-out walk at her to trade — her RQ tether plus E shield mean I take three pokes for every auto I land, and Wither isn't up until level 3 anyway. Soak the lane, deny nothing, and survive.
The full Nasus vs Karma report continues with the mid-game plan, the late-game and teamfight plan, every power spike to play around, and the win conditions for both sides — plus cooldown tracking and the live enemy-jungle tracker inside the app.
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Playing the other side? Karma vs Nasus guide →
All Nasus top lane matchups →