Nocturne Build Guide by LockCORE

Introduction

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Pros / Cons

PROS Will always scare your enemies with your lane ganks If built corretly, is unstoppable Can fear just like Fiddlesticks Quick clear and sustain while in the jungle Does well against counter-jungling

CONS Short range on his Paranoia Is not as tanky as other champions Can be focused down easily with no team members there to help

Runes

Now why did I choose these runes? Well here are some simple explanations behind my choices, now keep in mind you don't have to have these runes and everyone has their own ideas of what would be good to use. These are just what I have used and gotten pretty decent results.

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MARKS

Greater Mark of Desolation - This is for helping that early game damage penetrate more of their Armor which means more true damage.

Greater Mark of Attack Speed - This is a good substitute to the other possible marks as this will give you more attack speed to help clear not only that jungle but widdle down the enemies health when you Ult into them.

SEALS

Greater Seal of Armor - More Armor mean more survive-ability in your jungle, that annoying Jungler trying to counter you, as well as resistance to those OP minions early game who like to shoot you when your at 50 Health left.

Greater Seal of Health - More health allows you to live longer in your jungle or keep up with that enemy damage.

GLYPHS

Greater Glyph of Attack Speed - Just as the marks it will help with a quicker clearing speed or damage output through quicker attacks.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist - MR runes per level is better than flat runes as after level 6 they are stronger and give more MR.

QUINTESSENCE

Greater Quintessence of Desolation For the same reasons as above, you get that early penetration to make your skills just blast through your enemies health.

Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed - Again, more attack speed, more damage output, more kills.




Now if you have problems with these runes don't downvote me simply for them, think about it and maybe even try it before you criticize.

Masteries

Now some people will wonder why the masteries I use aren't 9/21/0. Nocturne I feel does fine as less of a tank through masteries and to simply compensate with some tanky items such as Randuin's Omen. You want more damage output so go for it.

Offence

Brute Force - Extra AD, always needed.
Butcher - Extra damage to minions, great jungling.
Alacrity - Attack speed, self explanatory.
Sorcery - CDR for more spamming of skill.
Weapon Expertise - +10% Armor penetration, always useful for extra damage especially against tanks.
Vampirism - Extra life steal is always nice for the sustain.
Sunder - Even more armor penetration.
Executioner - More damage when they are below 40% hp, not much explanation needed.


Defense

Resistance - Extra Magic resist.
Hardiness - Extra Armor.
Summoner's Resolve - Used for the extra gold from smite, always nice.
Tough Skin - Less damage from minions including jungle camps, more sustain.
Bladed Armor - Reflects 6 damage back to minions / monsters, more damage during jungling!

Skill Sequence

Umbra Blades
// Passive - Every 10 seconds, Nocturne's next attack strikes surrounding enemies for physical damage and heals himself for each target hit. Nocturne's physical attacks reduce this cooldown by 1 second.
// Nocturne's passive gives him not only extra sustain but also acts as a free Tiamat, the splash damage, along with healing himself for each unit hit! This can make him extremely annoying cause just when you think he is dead in a team fight, BAM he just healed, your team wins the fight and your thinking, "Did I really just live?!"[/color]

Duskbringer
// Q - Nocturne throws a shadow blade which deals damage, leaves a Dusk Trail, and causes champions to leave a Dusk Trail. While on the trail, Nocturne ignores unit collision and has increased Movement Speed and Attack Damage.
// Nocturne's damage steroid, damage ability, free ghost, and chase mechanism aside form his ult. This is a great all around skill for both harass and extra damage. Gives you free extra damage as long as your on the black trail which is even better! On top of that he ignored unit collision, great for running away.
Shroud of Darkness
// W - Nocturne empowers his blades, passively gaining attack speed. Activating Shroud of Darkness allows Nocturne to fade into the shadows, creating a magical barrier which blocks a single enemy spell and doubles his passive attack speed if successful.
// Another steroid, passive attack speed, and a free Banshee's Veil! This skill can save you so hard it's not even funny. It can keep someone from last hitting you or initiating with a strong nuke from an AP caster. Bad Karthus bad! Always useful in team fights when your focused.
Unspeakable Horror
// E - Nocturne plants a nightmare into his target's mind, dealing damage each second and fearing the target if they do not get out of range by the end of the duration.
// Ever get annoyed by that Fiddlesticks annoying fear? Well here is another champion which can do the same thing, while dealing damage at the same time! Ouch! If the enemy doesn't escape within 2 seconds outside the range of 465 then they can be feared for up to 2 seconds.
Paranoia
// R - Nocturne reduces the sight radius of all enemy champions and removes their ally vision for 4 seconds, this includes champions, minions, wards and towers. He can then launch himself at a enemy champion with a large range. Deals physical damage on arrival.
// This is the exact opposite of Twisted Fate's Ultimate where instead it blocks the entire enemy team's vision while allowing you to teleport to a target after clicking 'R' again and start unleashing hellish damage upon them!

Jungle Route

[*] Blue -> Wolves -> Wraiths -> Golems -> Red -> Wraiths -> Wolves

The map is vice-versa when spawning at purple instead of blue.

Early Game 1-9

For Nocturne early game is where he needs to get a good farm off his jungle while asserting lane presence every so often to remind the enemy team that they can't push your laners out of their lane.

+ icon=Cloth Armor size=70
(Sustain) (Extra Armor)

OR

+
(Speed for avoiding) (Sustain)


I usually start out with the classic 5 Health Potions and the Cloth Armor since cloth armor will decrease some damage against you as well as eventually building into your Wriggle's Lantern.

Thanks to Nocturne's passive he has a relatively nice clearing speed in the jungle as well as sustain from his healing. This will serve him good, as a jungler always needs those two things. You should start out with Duskbringer as to help you clear along while moving faster through your jungle path. Start Blue -> Wolves -> Wraiths -> Golems -> Red -> Wraiths -> Wolves. Make sure that you help gank the lanes that are being pushed in. Once you achieve level 4 it's time to help with some ganks.

Make sure that when you initiate a gank start with your Unspeakable Horror] and stay as close as you can to the enemy so that you get your fear, then throw your Duskbringer over them and go to town! This will make the enemies in that lane so very very annoyed. Be careful of wards though. Once you hit level 6 your ganks will only become much more deadly due to your Paranoia + Unspeakable Horror. By now however you should have at least your Wriggle's Lantern + Boots of Speed. If your doing extremely well then maybe even your Recurve Bow.

Mid Game 10-15

Hopefully you have helped ganked your hurting lanes and maybe even taken a tower or two. You should start organizing ganks to blow away towers since your jungling should be turned into team fights. You want to help your team win their lanes since you have such great ganking ability now. Build your Wit's End + Mercury's Treads now since you should have farmed enough gold from team fights which have started to break out regularly now.

You want to jump in and start fearing their carries so they can't deal hard painful damage to your team for as long as possible. Your an off-tank assassin. You want to make it easy for your team to win the team fight. With Nocturne you should find that your sustain is great even when in team fights. By now you want to start focusing on completing your Frozen Mallet or Randuin's Omen ASAP. These items can easily turn around a fight. With either of these you should have no problem pushing the second set of towers in all lanes.

Late Game 16-18

Late game for Nocturne can be a pain in the *** if your team hadn't been doing well. However if you got fed then it is pretty much 'GG' at this point. Focus on those 3rd sets of turrets, inhibitors, and nexus towers. Wriggle's Lantern can now be sold to grab your The Bloodthirster for that extra damage and life steal. After which you should focus on a Last Whisper... Why? By now the enemies team has a full built tank or close to it. They will probably build armor to counter your damage, but Last Whisper will take care of that! 40% Armor Penetration. Oh yeah.

It shouldn't be too hard now as baron and dragon both should be a completed objective regularly and denying the enemy team of their red and blue. You want to finish the match as soon as possible because a turn around game is never out of the question. It has happened many many many times before. Coordinate a full rush on their nexus and just slice your way to victory!

Warding

Some of you may be asking, "Who cares about warding? Why would it matter for a carry like me, I thought only supports did that sorta thing!"

First off it's not only for supports to do this, everyone should ward at least one spot near them for the sole purpose of exposing ganks (Please encourage your support though to ward for you). Can wards do other things besides save your behind from getting destroyed from a gank? OF COURSE! Ever had problems with an annoying Twitch , Evelynn , Or even Teemo's Shrooms? Drop a vision ward near you or buy an Oracle's Elixir and then see how much success they have in sneaking up on you now!

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Warding these spots may just save your life so why not try doing so?

Notice #1 :: Most range over Dragon.
Notice #2 :: Most range over Baron Nashor.
Notice both #3 :: Helps reveal a hidden gank to both top and bottom lanes.
Notice #4 - #8 :: Dominance over jungle.

Summary

I hope you all enjoyed what I have written. Now keep in mind that I didn't make this guide very long for a reason! I have enough writing already that I don't want to overcrowd my guide with useless information and long rants. There is not too much to explain about Nocturne as most of his skill comes from the user being able to correctly gank along with fearing the most damage dealing enemy champs. This guide is here to explain the unique functions of Nocturne such as his unique ability to Gank out of nowhere literally, his ability to tank while not being built as one, and a destroyer of the enemy position.

Again thanks to jhoijhoi and all those mentioned in his guide.

PS:: If you have any suggestions on what to add or if I've left some crucial out please let me know! Thank you :)