Hi. I'm Liam, and this is my first guide. So i hope that my guide will help though. Alright! Let's talk about Nocturne. As we all know, he's one of the best champs in the league. Nocturne can easily take down even the tankiest champions, he can hunt down lonely targets and on top of it all he's a really cool champion to use. Even though he's been nerfed many times, he still is quite OP at times. This guide will teach you how to play Nocturne as a midlaner. So take your time, read through and enjoy!

I play Nocturne as a midlaner firstly because he can kill single targets easily even at level 1.
And I've experienced laning at top and btm multiple times....and they're not as good as midlaning. At midlane, Nocturne has an easy time farming, easy harrass on the enemy, and of course you'll surprise the midlaner. They won't expect to see a Nocturne to be at mid. It's even better if they are all hyped up ready to lane against your team's Xerath or Caitlyn (or any other squishy ranged) thinking that they could counter them...and then suddenly BOOM! Nocturne emerges! But the most important thing as a midlaning Nocturne is to control the lane. You'll have to play smart and aggressive at the same time. My goal for everytime i go mid is to underfarm and underlevel the mid laner. This will really give your team a boost.

Nocturne is one of the few champions who doesnt really depend much on runes. But still, a few good runes are better than nothing. I'm still not very good at selecting runes, so i followed Phreak's Nocturne guide. I useArmor penetration marks, for amplifying damage. i also use flat Armor seals and flat magic resist glyphs, this gives good durabilty against AP or AD type champions on the mid lane. I takeArmor penetration quintesence as well for even more damage output.

For masteries, i do not need much of defense or utility, so i take mostly offense masteries. But actually im not very good at masteries as well....so sorry bout the lack of info on this one....

I start off with a doran's blade. It can provide some early HP and a bit of damage plus some life steal...considered a good item to start on mid lane.

FIRST TRIP BACK
you should be able to get a boots of speed or, if you farmed pretty well, you can get a berserker's grieves.

SECOND TRIP BACK
A B.F sword is a must. The earlier you get it, the better. If your mid laner is quite a harrasser, then consider getting a Vampiric scepter to sustain your health. If your life is low, carefully try to get it back up by preparing Nocturne's umbra blades and hit it at the minions. with the vampric scepter, the life steal will be massive.

THE NEXT FEW TRIPS BACK
On the next few trips back, you should be able to get an Infinity edge, then your Bloodthirster Sword. Nocturne is good as an off-tank. Get a warmog's armor and accompanied be an atma's impaler, your damage output will increase dramatically. You can finish off your build with a Phantom Dancer or perhaps get even more tankier with a banshee's veil.(but i would recommend getting Phantom dancer)

Exhaust makes mid laning really secure. If you are laning against a carry or dps type champion, then this spell would be really effective. Even if your enemy is a mage, the slow from exhaust does the job. You can even use it to fail their ganks if the enemy jungler suddenly comes out from behind you.

Flash is essential. Especially for Nocturne. Firstly because he has no escape mechanism, even if you try to path a Duskbringer to try to run faster, an Udyr might just show up to stun you and kill you.

Well...that's all...I hope this guide helps. It may seem quite boring maybe because i wasn't suer how to put up pictures on thi guide...but anyways, Nocturne can be a really good mid laner if you know all the right moves. I'd say mid laning with Nocturne would most probably get you an 80% chance of winning. unless your team is full of noobs or leavers...