Nocturne Build Guide by PsiGuard

Prates: I have to disagree. The only time you should be farming entire minion waves (as opposed to last-hitting) is mid and late game. Early game you should not be pushing your lane or you become vulnerable. By mid game, one Duskbringer and Umbra Blades will clear an entire wave. Of all the champions in the game that can supposedly use Tiamat, Nocturne is not one of them.

It's also entirely unnecessary for jungling. Nocturne's mid and late game jungling speed is already pretty ridiculous. In team fights it might have a small use, but as an assassin you should be picking off squishies anyway. You don't need AoE damage to do that, and your gold would be much better spent on a better offensive item.

Thanks to TinyStar for the sig!

I have been using this guide for almost 2 months already. It is extremely effective and has gotten me lots of victories. Thanks! (best guide so far)

Love this build, did 21/9/0 instead tho, you can clear the entire jungle, and instead of going back, you can get wraiths - (possible mid gank) - red - double golems (possible bot gank) then back 2 base :3 1+ to you sir for giving me free ranked wins ^^

I love the depth and even length of this guide. Lots of effort. The thing that taints it all for me is the Frozen Mallet. I am a serious hater of frozen mallet. Either get banshees or randuin's for tankyness IMO. I much prefer the ghostblade, wriggles, veil, Randuin's, XXXXX, boots, build to a Frozan mallet Atma's build.

ChronoNova: Thank you and you're welcome! ^^ I'm glad the guide has held up so long. :)

Coolbreeze95: I'm satisfied with the route I have posted for now. If you prefer that alternative route, that is of course totally fine. Remember to adapt your route based on the needs of your team. If you have a weak lane in need of an early gank, you could even start at red or something for a level 2 gank bot/top (depending on which side you're on). Counter jungling is always an option as well, especially against vulnerable junglers or weak level 1 teams.

Glad to hear of your success in ranked. Send a screenshot my way if you have any awesome games you'd like to share! ^^

Fantasm: Builds are of course situational. Don't forget that I'm not telling you to build Frozen Mallet in every game. If the situation calls for more armor, I might opt for an early Randuin's Omen or something instead. That's what the situational items section is for.

Frozen Mallet offers more than just health (which is why I prefer it to Warmog's Armor). In general, much of the CC and tankiness of the team comes from the solo top and jungler. Often one of these two champions will be your team's primary initiator. With only Unspeakable Horror for CC, Nocturne becomes dependant on red buff for extended chases or picking off enemies in team fights. With Frozen Mallet, you can start handing off red buff to your AD carry, giving your team a much stronger CC presence. In my experience, the slow from red buff/phage/FM can net you kills pretty reliably. It's difficult to escape a Nocturne with permaslow.

Also note that while I have a decent amount of resistances, my build is otherwise lacking in raw health (especially considering I favor Atma's Impaler). Frozen Mallet gives one of the highest health bonuses in the game while still offering a lot of utility and some nice damage. You can build the Phage first for the early damage and slow, or the Giant's Belt if you want to switch to an alternative health item like Warmog's Armor or Sunfire Cape.

Build how you like, but I'd encourage you to give Frozen Mallet another chance. It really is a fantastic item, whether you use it on Nocturne or not.

Thanks to Minho for the sig!

Very Good Guide. Really reliable and good for ganking love this went on a 10 game win streak with this guide.
+1

Very detailed guide explaining the pro's and con's of each approach. Look forward to similar styles of guides for other champions. Thumbs up.

Thank you.
TheFamilyCat

Awesome guide. I got a 13-3-9 on my first game with Nocturne. The rest of the games really good when using this guide. Really good work.

Voted

Thanks for the guide I really enjoy playing Nocturne now thanks to your guide :)

THIS BUILD IS AMAZING ON MY FIRST TRY, BUT MY TEAM WAS HORRIBLE AND I DID ALL THE WORK D;. +1