How to win lane as Nautilus against Vayne · 41.94% win rate over 31 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Even / skill | Level 1 is roughly even — you have no all-in without W/E and she has no tumble safety net yet, so it is a farm standoff. |
| Level 2 | Nautilus | Your W shield and E slow come online and a Q pull into passive root wins any short trade against a Vayne who has not bought items. |
| Level 3 | Nautilus | At 3 your full Q + W + E combo on a tumble-less Vayne is a guaranteed chunk — your only clean kill window in the lane. |
| Levels 4-5 | Even / skill | Levels 4-5 are even — your shield scales but her Silver Bolts and kiting start to offset your anchor, so neither side owns it. |
| Level 6 | Even / skill | Your R is undodgeable but her Q tumble invis and E condemn directly counter it, so the level-6 spike is a wash, not a takeover. |
| First item | Vayne | On her first zeal or Botrk item her percent-HP true damage begins ignoring your tank stats and she out-trades you at range. |
| Two+ items | Vayne | 2+ items Vayne kites your entire CC chain, true-damages through any armor you build, and condemns you off — she hard out-scales you. |
Levels 1-3 are the only ground where you have a real edge — but you have to walk into her tumble range to use it. At 2-3 your Q anchor pull is everything: if you land it on a Vayne who has already used her Q tumble, you root her with passive, slam E for the slow and W burn, and that one combo can chunk her or get a kill. Bait her tumble before you throw Q — she will use it to dodge or to reposition, and a Q on a dashless Vayne is the lane. Miss the anchor and you just walked into Silver Bolts poke for free.
The full Nautilus vs Vayne 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? Vayne vs Nautilus guide →
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