Nautilus
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Poor (5.5/10)
Players disagree about Nautilus's overall strength. Some consider him a slow, frustrating champion who requires heavy investment to function, while others find his Deep mechanic and massive late-game stats highly rewarding.
The Titan of the Depths
Provides starting gold for early purchases and scales ally stats significantly as the deck size stabilizes.
Grants +1 starting mana because Nautilus is a Titanic unit, allowing for earlier deployment and smoother early turns.
Grants Overwhelm to all allies with a subtype, which is absolutely necessary for Sea Monsters to push lethal damage through blockers.
Strategy
This build focuses on enabling Nautilus to be played earlier and ensuring all allies gain Overwhelm and scale in size. It is highly effective for challenging adventures, overcoming the champion's high cost and slow early game.
Stacked Deck provides massive stats as the deck size stabilizes, turning your board into an insurmountable threat. Starforged Gauntlets grants +1 starting mana because Nautilus is a Titanic unit, which is crucial for accelerating his game plan.
The Beast Within grants Overwhelm to all allies with a subtype, which is absolutely necessary for Sea Monsters to push lethal damage through blockers. Without Overwhelm, Nautilus's massive units are easily mitigated by small enemy blockers.
Fast Deep Aggression
- Essential for the +1 starting mana to accelerate the game plan.
- Provides the crucial Overwhelm keyword to close out games.
Reduces Nautilus's cost, enabling him to be played as early as Turn 2 or 3 to flood the board with discounted Sea Monsters.
Strategy
This aggressive setup aims to achieve the Deep condition by Round 2 or 3. Disciple of Shadows allows for a rapid champion deployment, sacrificing early board health for a massive tempo swing once Deep is active.
By combining the mana ramp of Starforged Gauntlets with the cost reduction of Disciple of Shadows, you can consistently drop Nautilus turns ahead of schedule, immediately stabilizing the board and applying immense pressure.
Safe Deep Control
- Provides the necessary mana ramp for a high-cost deck.
- Ensures large units can deal Nexus damage.
Secures Nautilus's deployment and provides a free summon, ensuring a safe board presence by Turn 4.
Strategy
A safer alternative to Disciple of Shadows, this build uses Frozen Tomb to guarantee Nautilus hits the board without damaging your own units. It is highly reliable for longer, grindier adventures where early survival is paramount.
Frozen Tomb also offers the flexibility of fielding a second Nautilus later in the run or converting drawn Nautilus cards into his potent Riptide champion spell, providing excellent board control.
Zoe's Deep Nightmare
Zoe Specialized
- Provides the necessary mana ramp for a high-cost deck.
Discounts key spells like Lure of the Depths, accelerating card draw and Toss mechanics.- Ensures large units can deal Nexus damage.
Strategy
Specifically designed for the 10-star Zoe adventure. Searing Brilliance is highly effective for discounting spells like Lure of the Depths, accelerating card draw and Toss mechanics to reach Deep quickly.
Starforged Gauntlets provides the necessary mana ramp, while The Beast Within ensures your massive Sea Monsters can push damage through Zoe's scaling elusive units. It is crucial to cut 'Heavy Metal' from the deck to prevent Searing Brilliance from targeting it negatively.
Other Relic Options
Players disagree about Nautilus's signature relic. Some consider it useful for accelerating the Deep condition and granting him the Sea Monster subtype. However, it is often considered a trap because Nautilus is typically already Deep by the time he is played, making the raw stats redundant and conflicting with cost-reduction mechanics.
An excellent defensive choice to protect Nautilus from removal, stuns, frostbite, and recall effects, which are major threats to his strategy.
Highly effective in adventures with high starting mana (such as the Volibear or Titanic encounters), allowing for immediate duplication of powerful spells like Riptide.
Provides consistent access to Nautilus's champion spell, offering valuable board control and removal for a deck that otherwise lacks interaction.
Useful for early consistency, allowing you to aggressively reroll for powers that accelerate drawing cards or tossing to reach Deep faster.
Constellation
Nautilus is a slow, combo-oriented champion who requires significant investment to overcome his weak early game. His entire strategy revolves around surviving until he reaches the Deep threshold, at which point his units gain massive stats and cost reductions.
Echoes from the Deep
Deep gives an additional +1|+1 for every 10 cards you've drawn or Tossed.Review
Increases the starting deck size to 27 cards (3 copies of each) and scales Deep stats. This creates a unique dynamic where deck thinning is both a challenge and a necessity.
The Endless March
+1 Starting Mana. Until you're Deep, when you draw a card, Toss 1. Game Start: Toss until your deck has 40 cards.Review
Grants +1 Starting Mana and adds a Toss effect whenever a card is drawn, significantly accelerating the path to reaching Deep.
Echoes from the Deep II
Deep gives an additional +1|+1 for every 5 cards you've drawn or Tossed.Review
Provides consistent scaling for Sea Monsters whenever a unit is Tossed, rewarding aggressive deck cycling and draw mechanics.
Fortifications
Your Nexus is Tough.Review
Grants the Nexus Tough. Players disagree about this upgrade; some consider it crucial for surviving early aggression and burn damage, while others feel it only delays losing rather than actively helping to win.
Manaflow
Game Start: Get a mana gem.Review
Grants an extra mana gem. This is widely considered a mandatory upgrade to make Nautilus's high-cost deck function smoothly in difficult encounters.
Rising Tides
Each Round, the first time you draw or Toss a unit with cost less than or equal to your mana gems, create a copy in play.Review
Summons a copy of a Tossed unit each round. This provides immense board presence and tempo, transforming Nautilus into a consistent late-game powerhouse and synergizing perfectly with his draw/toss engine.
Gameplay Tips
- Aggressive Deck Pruning
To consistently reach Deep by Turn 2 or 3, aggressively cut non-essential cards at healer nodes. Avoid buying unnecessary cards at shops unless they specifically draw or Toss cards. A thinner deck is a stronger deck for Nautilus.
- Mulligan for Enablers
Hard mulligan your opening hand for cheap Toss and Draw cards like Dreg Dredgers and Salvage. Do not keep Nautilus in your opening hand, as he is unplayable until you reach the Deep threshold.
- Secure Overwhelm
Nautilus's Sea Monsters can grow to massive sizes, but they lack innate Overwhelm. Prioritize relics like The Beast Within or draft powers that grant Overwhelm to prevent the AI from endlessly blocking your win condition with small units.
- Leverage Support Champions
Maokai is an exceptional support champion, as Nautilus's Toss mechanics can instantly fulfill Maokai's level-up condition. Janna and Ekko are also strong choices due to their efficient card draw capabilities.
- Adventure Specifics
Nautilus excels in the Twisted Fate and Fizz adventures due to their unique mechanics and boons, but he struggles against encounters that punish card draw or feature aggressive early boards (such as the Darius node).