Hey everyone, I picked up Nocturne recently, and boy is he good fun to play!
I love jungling with him, and to be honest, it's relatively easy too, and he definitely wrecks shop, his forte is punishing people who overextend, ESPECIALLY after level 6!

With Nocturne being new and all, this guide will need a few adjustments, but he's fun, so I'll definitely be doing that as my experience changes!



Edit -
I made this guide LONG ago - and I really am not big enough a Nocturne fan to write a huge extensive guide (especially since at first some trolls -1'd it :/), I like him enough to write a little bit more though! I'll write some more soon!

Pros
+ Extremely sustainable in the jungle after Wriggle's.
+ Brilliant damage output
+ Arguably one of the best junglers at the moment
+ Great escape and initiate
+ Some CC
+ Fun to play
+ Decent survivability
+ AoE, however minor
+ One of the best ultimates in the game
+ Great farmer
+ You're a ******** nightmare being, what's not to like
+ Awesome voice.

Cons
- Easily focussed down
- Slow movement speed when not standing on his Q (albeit rarely)
- Hard to initiate without your ultimate - no slows
- Fear can be troublesome, and is very unpredictable
- His /dance isn't Hare Hare Yukai (I mean come on, wouldn't that just be epic)

Why Jungle As Nocturne? -

- Pretty sustainable due to his passive
- Brilliant at ganks due to his Q, R and E
- He isn't too good in lane
- Punishes people for pushing too far, a rarity in junglers after Eve's nerf
- Arguably one of the best entrances to a lane going with his R
- In my opinion the best ganks in the game from a jungler at this moment in time.

Jungle order -

Wraiths - Normal order, Smite the big one, Q the rest and kill them, all's good.
Wolves - Shouldn't need to use anything here other than your Q.
Double Golems - You shouldn't need to use Smite here unless you don't have all the runes, I'd advise you not to completely.
Go to base here, pick up cloth armor and 1-2 health pots. Depending on your speed you might only be able to afford one, but it hardly matters.
Now do blue buff, pop your health potion, use Smite when it's low enough to get the killing blow, and Q every time you can, pretty easy.

After here, it's up to you, you should be starting your ganks soon, but most of the time, just kill stuff and take the buffs as much as you can. It's all situational from here, I can't tell you to gank if there's nothing to gank, as well as I can't tell you an order if there is. You have to have a brain for this part!

I cannot give you a fixed route post level 4, as you should definitely not be thinking "I will definitely do this route no matter what" at this point. As Nocturne you should be either looking for ganks or looking for something to counter jungle!

Umbra Blades (Passive) - (Innate): Every 10 seconds, Nocturne's next attack strikes surrounding enemies for 120% of his physical damage and heals himself for 15 / 20 / 25 per target hit. Nocturne's basic attacks reduce this cooldown by 1 second.

Pretty awesome passive, works with both AD and AS, which is wonderful. This makes him a pretty decent jungler even before he gets his Wriggle's finished. Let's be honest, it's nothing Warwick-worthy though, but it's considerably better for damage than Warwick's passive.

Duskbringer (Q) - (Active): Nocturne throws a shadow blade which deals damage, leaves a Dusk Trail, and causes champions who are hit to also leave a Dusk Trail for 5 seconds. While on the trail, Nocturne ignores unit collision and has increased Movement Speed and Attack Damage.
Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Range: 1200.
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 mana.
Physical Damage: 60 / 110 / 160 / 210 / 260 (+0.75 per bonus attack damage).
Movement Speed Bonus: 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 %.

Attack Damage Bonus: 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 .

Aim this similar to Kog'maw's E, either aim it in such a way that predicts their movement if they're running, or aim it to hit as many champions as you can. For jungling, use this as much as you possibly can. For both situations, it ensures maximum damage and movement speed, and makes you considerably better for chase downs.

Shroud of Darkness (W) - (Passive): Nocturne empowers his blades, passively gaining attack speed.
(Active): Nocturne creates a magical barrier for 2 seconds which blocks the next enemy spell. If an ability is blocked by the shield, his passive attack speed is doubled for 5 seconds.
Cost: 50 mana.
Cooldown: 20 / 18 / 16 / 14 / 12 seconds.
Passive Attack Speed Bonus: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 %.

Free attack speed is awesome. At rank 5, this skill is practically worth a Recurve Bow, 1050g, which isn't bad at all! Use this when you're being attacked, or as you see a projectile coming towards you, to get a free Banshee's and DOUBLE up to 80% free AS! 2s is a large period of time if you think about it!

Unspeakable Horror (E) - (Active): Nocturne plants a nightmare into his target's mind, dealing magic damage over 2 seconds and fearing the target if they do not get out of 600 range of him for the full duration.
Range: 500.
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 mana.
Cooldown: 15 / 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 seconds.
Total Magic Damage: 50 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 (+1.0 per ability power).

Fear Duration: 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 second(s).

Use this after you've jumped into the fray, for chase downs, or simply to fear the carry as you destroy them in a team fight! Some generic CC, which has some meh damage on it, as it doesn't scale with AD, but it's still damage. Viable to prioritise this' leveling before W due to the fear duration increasing.

Paranoia (R) - (Active): 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.
Cost: 100 mana.
Range: 2000.
Cooldown: 160 / 130 / 100 seconds.
Physical Damage: 150 / 300 / 450 (+1.2 per bonus attack damage).
Range: 2500 / 3250 / 4000 .

Use to initiate, gank, or just snipe people, brilliant skill! Watch out for if anybody's near before you throw yourself in though! In my eyes, this is one of the best ultimates in the game, and as such has a long CD, use it wisely!

I go -

From level 1-4
THEN -
>

Duskbringer is a BRILLIANT spell. Scales well-ish with AD, kills stuff fast, what's essentially a free Ghost whilst your on it, and free AD whilst your on it. This should always be maxed first.

Shroud of Darkness gives you AS, because there's not that much AS in my build of items, this is a good choice, especially considering it's active is basically a free Banshee's Veil if you time it right, and it gives you double the normal AS!

Unspeakable Horror is pretty awesome for chase downs and team fights, you can fear the person you're chasing or fear the carry if it's a team fight, I choose to pick this before your W after the initial point because it gives you a longer CC, which is really amazing. CC is king!

Paranoia is one of the best ultimates in the game. What's essentially a short range teleport with damage on it, and one of the best ganking mechanics ever, obscuring the enemy's vision. This makes Nocturne LETHAL for joining a team fight unexpectedly, sniping people due to it's enormous range, or ganking people. One of my favourite abilities in the game!

Recommended -

Smite - You NEED this for jungling. No questions asked.

Ghost - Helps for mobility and chase downs, it's never failed me before!

Exhaust - A wonderful spell for use both offensively and defensively, chase downs and escapes, put a point in the mastery if you do take this.

Ignite - Not a bad spell either, although in my eyes, mobility's everything, ESPECIALLY when you're ganking as a jungler.

Flash - Although I find it unnecessary, it might help for a good entrance from the jungle, but tbh I've never liked Flash...

What NOT to get -

Rally - Completely and utterly outclassed.

Revive - No. Just no.

Teleport - Normally this could be a stellar choice, but for a jungler, you're not returning to lane, so there's no point in having it if there's nothing to teleport to really. You could argue wards, but still, it's even then outclassed imo.

Clarity - If you're running oom, you need to get blue buff more.

Heal - Due to your life steal, there's no need for this in jungling, and in my eyes, other things are better for fighting other champions.

Clairvoyance - Leave this for support.

Fortify - This is for the tanks.

Cleanse - You have a Banshee's Veil in your build and your Shroud of Darkness, however, if they are extremely CC heavy (like 5 CC or something) you can take this.

I know what you're thinking.
"WHY HAVEN'T YOU GOT MUCH AS?????"
The answer is simple! With your W, a Ghostblade, Greaves and runes, you won't need any more, and there's no reason to add any more in my eyes!

The starter items are obviously because this is a jungler build, Wriggle's Lantern is brilliant for a jungler and allows for free warding too! Even late game, it can help backdoor or defend from a backdoor easier, as well as warding!

I build The Brutalizer early for the ArP, it really helps to get your ArP asap in my opinion, and a Bloodthirster gives you amazing raw damage as well was easier jungling, after you have your Vampiric Scepter from that, you should almost never run out of health when jungling, which is brilliant!

You can add the Banshee's in wherever you want really, it all depends on the enemy team, defensive items are ALWAYS situational, tanks building armor when they have no AD carries (lol) is pointless, for example!

Mercury Treads are interchangeable with Greaves depending on the amount of CC the enemy team has. If they have a lot or a medium amount, these are ESSENTIAL.

Generic AD Jungler runes here really. However, here's some explanations in case you're new to jungling (I advise you to check out my Jungling 101 Guide if you are!) or are just wondering as to why I feel these are the best!

Greater Mark of Desolation
These bad boys speed up our jungle and improve our ganks to be absolutely insane! AS Marks will definitely give you a faster jungle, but ArP are the way forward in my eyes.

Greater Seal of Armor
Because you're going to be having Blue Buff most of the time, you shouldn't need MP5/Level yellows, and your mana should sort itself out really, it's not like he's reliant on abilities anyway. These ensure you jungle in the most safe, sustainable and efficient way possible.

Greater Glyph of Attack Speed
AS Runes give you the fastest jungle possible - these are amazing.

Greater Quintessence of Desolation
See the explanation for marks - faster jungle, better ganks. These runes are the epitome of awesome.