Is Nautilus Mid Good? How Does It Work?

If you have been seeing plenty of Nautilus picks in the middle lane, it is very likely that the player has been following G2 Esports closely in the ongoing Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) 2023 tournament. G2 Esports mid laner Rasmus "Caps" Borregaard Winther has brought back the Nautilus mid-pick at this tournament, causing an influx of players to lock in this champion in their pubs and ranked matchups. The other mid-laner to play Nautilus at MSI 2023 is Bilibili Gaming’s Zeng "Yagao" Qi.

If you have been playing League of Legends for quite a few years now, you will also remember how menacing Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang’s Nautilus mid pick was during Worlds 2019. This was truly the first time Nautilus found success outside of the support role and became a meta-changing pick. 

If you are looking to play the champion in the mid-lane, here’s all you need to know including why the pick works in mid, how to play, and what build to go.

Why is Nautilus a good mid pick?

Players should keep in mind that Caps did not just lock in Nautilus at MSI 2023 and win games. The pro player has been spamming the champion in Solo Queue in the Europe West (EUW) server and even hit rank 1 Challenger, where he just lost one game with Nautilus. 

The biggest reason why Nautilus is locked in as a mid-laner is to play around your jungler. Given that Nautilus mid rushes Abyssal Mask, it makes him a great pairing for any ability power (AP) champions like Lillia, Nidalee, Karthus and more. Nautilus, just like Galio, works brilliantly as a counter pick against AP mid-laners. So if you are looking to fight 2v2 in the early to mid-game, Nautilus is your go-to pick.

If you are also duo queueing with a friend, who happens to be a jungle main, you can lock in Nautilus without a worry and roam with your jungler and enable plays. All you need to do is make sure that the rest of the roles, that is top and attack-damage carry, dish out enough damage to win fights. 

As Nautilus mid, your power is unlocked only when you roam around the map. So make sure to max your E ability, clear waves quickly and go top or bot to get your team ahead. 

At the time of writing, on LoL Patch 13.9 on ranks Platinum and above, the Nautilus mid lane pick has the following stats, according to U.GG:

• Win Rate: 49.84%

• Pick Rate: 1.4%

• Ban Rate: 13.7%

Mid lane Nautilus Runes and Skill Path

Here’s a rundown of the runes you need to pick on Nautilus mid:

Primary tree - Resolve

• Aftershock

• Shield Bash/ Demolish

• Second Wind

• Overgrowth

Secondary tree - Inspiration

• Minion Dematerializer

• Cosmic Insight

• Attack Speed

• Armor

• Armor

For Summoner Spells, you can opt for Flash and Teleport.

The following is the skill path that you need to follow:

Skill order - Nautilus mid

Mid Nautilus Itemization

The following are the items that you need to priortize when playing Nautilus mid.

• Starting Item: Corrupting Potion

• Mythic & Core Items: Mercury’s Treads + Abyssal Mask + Radiant Virtue

• Fourth Item Options after core build: Zhonya’s Hourglass or Thornmail

• Fifth Item Options: Sunfire Aegis or Zhonya’s Hourglass or Demonic Embrace

• Sixth Item Options: Demonic Embrace or Frozen Heart or Force of Nature

MSI 2023 Play-In Stage: Qualified Teams, Schedule, Results & More

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