Nocturne Build Guide by Coolbreeze95

Introduction

Hello, I'm Coolbreeze95, and this is my second guide on MobaFire. I've found this build on Nocturne quite effective at lower elo (1200 - 1600)

In this Guide I'll talk about Nocturne's Jungle routes, ganking, itemization, runes & masteries amongst noteworthy tricks Nocturne can pull off.

PS: This Guide is still under construction.
Things to Come

• More info on already existing chapters.
• Signature picture
• Ganking
• Teamfights
• Jungleroute
• Warding
• Conclusion
• Changelog (This will be added and updated AFTER the guide is complete, updates from now till then will not be listen in the changelog)

Also, HUGE thanks to JHOIJOIIIIIIIIII LINK HER OG TAKK FOR GUIDE + DE DER FARGE SKILLE GREIENE - peace!

Please read this
Hey there, I would like if you did not downvote this guide for being incomplete, actually, do not vote at all. Right now all i want is constructive feedback so that I can improve this guide. This is my first guide actually coding. Thanks!

Strengths & Weaknesses

In this section we will have a look at some of the Pros and Cons of Nocturne

Pros The best Anti-Carry in the game. Mostly easy to master. Incredible damage, especially VS low resistance targets. Incredible evasive and tanky.

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Cons Squishy early game Does poorly vs non-squishy teams Shroud of Darkness can be hard to use.

THE best anti carry?
Yes, obviously not in every given situation, but in general, I personally regard Nocturne as the best Anti Carry in the game.
He is one of the strongest anti carries because he has the ability to instantly dash to whomever he wants from a far with Paranoia (also dealing good damage) and stick to the target with Duskbringer and Unspeakable Horror. On top of this, After you get Banshee's Veil you can ignore 2 spells. Obviously, the banshee's veil is easily popped by any spell (see item section for why / why not to get Banshee's Veil). However the Shroud of Darkness, can be used to ignore any spell of your choice, this should always be some sort of hard cc like Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow or Taric's Dazzle. Making Nocturne incredibly hard to peel.

---In other words, HUGE blink with good damage, counters peels, hard to kite, has a cc, a lot of flat armor pen (with items and runes) = ultimate squishy murderer.

Skill Sequence

This is very straight forward for jungle Nocturne. Duskbringer gives you the most DPS + movespeed. And since Shroud of Darkness is only for that one clutch cc ignore it is better to have a longer fear for more DPS.

However, I reccomend to get Q - W - Q.
But if you're ganking at level 3 you should get Q - W - E.

Skills

Let's have a look at Nocturne's skills and how to propperly use them, for other cool tricks and good-to-know knowledge about Nocturne click here!
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Duskbringer(Q) is an ability with many uses, most common for chasing because it leaves a trail of darkness grantin Nocturne movementspeed.
However, it can also be used for stealth detection (see more here). If combined with his passive, Umbra Blades it can be used to effectivley 1shot entire minion waves.
When being chased in lane, try to line Duskbringer along the minion path. This will allow you to keep walking in a straight line through them, yet leave the enemies behind you blocked.
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Runes & Masteries

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---21/9/0 is more usefull than 21/0/9 in my opinion, the reason being that the only reason to go down the utility tree is for Runic Affinity which is a good jungle mastery, but not for Nocturne. The reason is that you will only get 1 blue buff (rest goes to mid) and you will only grab 2-3 reds (rest should go to ad carry). With this route, you will maximize the duration of these buffs because You'll never be in base with buffs (see Jungle Route). This is only possible because we get cloth5 (see itemization) and 21/9/0. if we would have gone down the utility tree instead, we would not been able to sustain THAT long in the jungle. This would forced us to recall to base with buffs, which would be a waste, thus the whole point of Runic Affinity is gone.

---However, again, it is personal preference, but if you go down the utility tree you will not be able to complete my recommended route.

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---The Greater Seal of Armor are just down right awesome for junglers. And brilliant for off tanks, nothing strange about that. Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist gives the much needed MR, since we don't need MR early on, it is better to take scaling, also very standard.
The Greater Mark of Desolation and Greater Quintessence of Desolation may seem a bit odd though. The reason we take these is because in combination with an early The Brutalizer and Sunder we have 46 armor penetration!

Some may say it is an overkill, but with this much armor pen, + the extra 5 arpen from the item we get later on, Youmuu's Ghostblade will shred all armor of a squishy target, they have to stack a good amount of armor in order to counter you, which means they sacrifice potential damage.

Itemization

In this section I will explain what items I get and why I get them, please note that the build is never a "must-get" in every game. It all depends on team comps (your's and their's), whom is the biggest threat? (If enemy graves is 4:0 within the first 10 minutes, you would benefit more from counter ad items) But don't worry, I will explain everything.

To begin with I grab Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potions. You may ask "why not get Vampiric Scepter?" This was actually not a question before they nerfed it, I used to use this, but after the nerf it was just not good enough for the route I am doing because it involves a lot of invading and late buffs for maximum usage, in other words, the first route keeps you in the jungle for a long time, so the sustain is a must. However, if you are doing another route (more basic / easy ones) then Vampiric Scepter will work just fine. It's also personal preference.

I then quickly build Wriggle's Lantern and Boots of Speed No explanation needed here. Wriggles for lifesteal, armor, jungle, and bonus damage proc + free wards = perfect jungler item. And boots for obvious reasons.

The next items should often be Phage, Berserker's Greaves or Mercury's Treads and The Brutalizer (see below for which boots to get). These items gives nice defensive and offensive stats, a great mid game setup for all around awesomeness.

After this it is all situational, you might want to skip Negatron Cloak If the enemy is not AP-heavy. Another example, you might want to get Chain Vest and then build Frozen Mallet if the enemy AD carry is getting fed.

Situational Builds vs AP / AD heavy teams

Doing decent vs AD heavy team . . . Doing bad vs AD heavy team . . Doing good vs AD heavy team .

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Doing decent vs AP heavy team . . . Doing bad vs AP heavy team . . Doing good vs AP heavy team .

Situational Items

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These boots are great if the enemy team has a A LOT of CC. You would usually consider 2 hard cc's + a couple of soft ones a lot, but because you are Nocturne, You can always block 1 CC. So when you're considering which boots to get, keep this in mind. . . These boots are great if the enemy are AD heavy and you need the extra defence for AD autoattackers. Consider this if they have 3 ad champions and not much CC. . . . This item is a great substitute for Atma's Impaler. If you notice you are doing bad you should pick up a Heart of Gold and build Randuin's Omen. Great for autoattackers because of the passive, high armor and HP. . . This item is a great item for all around defensive stats. I will often pick this up whenever I am doing poorly, because then I fall behind, the enemy team usually tries to nuke me down. So when I am already being focused, why not get tanky. Besides, good stats for the money. . . I usually pick this item up if I am not going for Frozen mallet, this is the best choice whenever you are doing poorly, again, you need more defensive stats if you are falling behind. . . . A great item if you want to rush more DPS. This is something you should consider doing if you are having a great start. Giving you good DPS, MR and spellshield, grab this if you are afraid of the enemy AP bursting you down for the execute, eg Karthus. . . Incredible strong mixture of DPS and MR. Great if you are having a bad start and the enemy AP is getting scary / they have a AP heavy team. Taking this in a bad game vs strong AP will greatly benefit you early / midgame. . . I do not usually grab this, it is great vs high HP champions like Dr. Mundo or Volibear. However, this build is designed for squishy anti carries. So this will not benefit you a lot. Grab it only if you find yourself constantly fighting high HP champions. . . Just like Madred's Bloodrazor, this is an "anti beef" item, and since you will primarily focus the squishies, this is not an item I would suggest, unless you are forced to fight high armor champions after you have neutralized the squishies a lot. .

Noccin' on the laners door - NOT DONE YET, DO NOT READ!

So how do you noc on the laners door? More precisely - How do you bash it in?

Okay, enough with the half hearted jokes. Let's get to how to gank, further more, WHEN to gank.

Nocturne Has literary the most terrifying ganks when he hits level 6, yes even more dreadfull than Fiddlesticks. But his ganks are also great pre 6. But first, when do you gank?

Even it's not listed in the item build before after you are finnished with it, you should grab an Oracle's Elixir early on (for more information, check out the oracle's elixir section, even though it does not exist yet). This will allow you to clear wards (duh...) turning you into more of a powerhouse ganking machine.

NOTE! I will be adding a "Warding" section and a "oracle's elixir" section, maybe combining the two of them. Here I will explain these things and how they are connected when you're the jungler. This will have a huge impact on your gameplay and how to gank / play. Because of this, I will only discuss the part where you jungle / gank WITHOUT the pink eye. Im sorry :(

When to gank[/h]

Because of what you hopefully just read above, I will not be finnishing this just yet.

Regular Ganks

As mentioned before; Nocturneis a great ganker both pre and post level 6. In this section, we will have a look at how to gank in a regular fashion (I mean not having the Oracle's Elixir.
Following my jungle route (This section will also be created) You will be ganking around level 3 or 4, usually with the red buff.

Tricks & Good-to-know knowledge

As we know, Nocturne has a bunch of cool mechanics, and for this reason there are some cool tricks he can pull off. Here are these tricks as well as some other less known knowledge about him.

• Nocturne's Duskbringer will reveal a trail of shadow behind im (this you knew) and for this reason it can be used as an detection tool vs stealthead enemies and the trail is visible even in the fog of war. For example if you hit Shaco before or after he use his Deceive you will see where he is heading.
• There is a sweetspot that allows you to hit all 4 Wraiths which allows a 1 shot clear with the aoe from Umbra Blades after a certain point.
• Remember, if you use Duskbringer at the wraiths, the path will show in the lane, this is something you might want to consider if you dont want the enemy mid to know where you are.
• If you use Unspeakable Horror on someone but they Flash or get out of range by other means (e.g. Tristana's Rocket Jump or Ezreal's Arcane Shift) out of the tether range, there is actually a small window of opportunity before it's broken for you to get in range again, sometimes the distance is so small that your movespeed from Duskbringer allows you to catch up before it breaks, but sometimes you might want to use a quick Flash in order to keep the Unspeakable Horror chain intact.