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Nocturne Build Guide by Thugnificants

Carpe Nocturne

Carpe Nocturne

Updated on March 22, 2012
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Thugnificants Build Guide By Thugnificants 3,310 Views 1 Comments
3,310 Views 1 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Thugnificants Nocturne Build Guide By Thugnificants Updated on March 22, 2012
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Nocturne
  • LoL Champion: Nocturne

Introduction

Welcome and thanks for looking at my Nocturne build! For those of you who are new to playing Nocturne, you will not be disappointed. He's probably one of the best Junglers in the League and lets face it; probably one of the most bad-*** looking champions as well!

I had a Noc build up here before, but unfortunately, it was made when I was level 15 and still learning the general run-abouts of the game. Since then I've developed a similar but definitely better build.

Rarely do I ever lane with him, only Jungle, but I've added in a lane build as well. If your looking at the items and thinking, he's pretty squishy.. well, your bang on. He is squishy, BUT, the damage output he is capable of will decimate any champ who dares try and take him on. It's just a matter of timing his skills appropriately..
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Summoner Spells

Pretty typical for Jungling. I roll with Smite and Flash.
With the point in Summoner's Resolve, you're going to want to use Smite as often as you can. During the early levels as normal save it for the bigger monsters of coarse. I typically use it as soon as the Blue Golem is leashed. I do this because by the time I work my way through Wolves and Wraiths, the cooldown is within 5-10 seconds of being ready for the Golems to use again.

In lane I'd take Exhaust and Flash.
When laning you can also mix it up your play style a bit. If your team doesn't have a jungle, I'd go top with a fighter champ. After getting a few quick levels under your belt and some farm, return to base for your Berserker's then you can head into the jungle for some monsters.
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Jungling Route

My Jungle route has changed somewhat since they reworked the Monsters. I used to Start wolves but Noc can almost solo Ancient Golem at level 1. Almost.

If someone will give you a leash, have them pull Blue and take it first. Use your smite once friendlies are back in their lane to ensure you get all experience for the kill. The mana regen is very useful as you'll want to use his Duskbringer as often as possible.

From Blue, I move onto the Wolves, then Wraiths and finish the route with Golems. By the time you get to Golems your smite may have cooldown and you can use it on one to move along quicker. Now at this point before I would have returned to base for items but with the jungle rework its no longer needed.

Instead of beaming, I head straight back to Wolves who should respawn on the way there and repeat the cycle. Now pending on possible gank attempts or if your mid / solo top need a cover you can run the route a third time before heading home.

After beaming head for Red buff and repeat jungle route as necessary. Continue watching for gank possibilities or lane support when needed.

Once you have your Wriggle's Lantern and Berserker Greaves take the dragon. Be sure to go in with full health, and use your Wriggles active to lay down a ward for your safety. If ganked, you can Flash over the wall behind the dragon to safety.
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Skill Sequence

Whether your jungling or laning I'd use the same sequence.

Start with Duskbringer. You basically want to use this as often as possible in the jungle as it gives you damage bonuses. Put a point into Shroud of Darkness when you ding level 2 for its attack speed passive then alternating between Duskbringer and Unspeakable Horror.

Basically, you want to max your Q as soon as possible. 1 Point into W then maxing E while taking your Ultimate at the typical levels of 6, 11 and 16.

Unspeakable Horror is remarkable for ganking. I try to rush level 4 as soon as I can unless one of my lanes really needs help. Once I have my point in E and Beserker's Greaves, ganks are super easy to get fed. Noc's fear is OP!
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Items

My jungle and lane builds are basically the same. Just the starting couple items differ.

In lane, I start with Doran's Blade for early game damage. Quickly progessing to Berserker's Greaves and the rest of the build is the same.

In jungle, I start with Vampiric Scepter. The life steal mixed with Nocturne's passive keeps you in the jungle longer, allowing more farm, therefore more money, than most jungle champs. I used to say upgrade to Wriggle's Lantern as soon as you can, but lately I've found picking up the Zerker's first will boost your jungling ability, then adding Wriggle's Lantern afterwards.

The next bundle of items don't necessarily need to be in the order I've chosen them but this is the route I take and here's why;

I start with The Brutalizer. This gives you a little bit extra damage, but the key (like most items) lies in its passive. A 10% decrease to your cool-downs and 15 armor penetration. Armor pen early game is pretty deadly. It also snowballs into Youmuu's Ghostblade later on.

I follow this with typical AD items, Infinity Edge and Phantom Dancer. The combination of these two leaves you with really solid early game damage as well as 55% critical hit chance (which is hitting for 250%). Generally I won't focus either one, I'll pick up the B.F. Sword and Zeal (pending on money at the time) before buying the whole item. I find it balances me out more and I'm able to pick up more kills quicker then if I had focued the entire item.

At this point, Nocturne is really scary if you've got a few kills under your belt and a good amount of farm, and it just gets better from here..

Adding the next item, The Black Cleaver, is a great addition. Not only giving you more damage and the attack speed but (again, with the passive) also reducing enemy armor by 15 each hit, stacking up to 3 times. So between the Brutalizer and Black Cleaver, your enemies now have 60 armor less.

Also lately I've been adding the Bloodthirster. After farming, the additional damage and life-steal will give you a little more sustain in team battles (not to mention the ability to solo baron, when you have time). I never used to purchase it and everyone called me crazy for not using life-steal, I was just killing champs easily enough that I wasn't worried. But it is nice after getting a kill, clear a minion wave and continue on with full health again.

After that it's usually a toss up for items depending on who I'm playing against and how I'm doing. If I've been completely dominant I'll upgrade my Brutalizer to Youmuu's Ghostblade for the additional damage, armor penetration and cooldown reduction and follow it with a Trinity Force. However;

If I've found myself dying easily or the enemies are continuously escaping, try picking up a Frozen Mallet. Giving Noc some health and additional damage is always good. Once again, a great benefit comes from its passive; Noc's attacks reduce their movement speed by 40%. Combine this with Duskbringer as well as throwing in an Unspeakable Horror.. not many champs are able to escape.

Carry champs will fall quickly, as your auto attacks (while on Duskbringer) will be critting for 1000+ damage. Enemies will quickly fear coming across you in the jungle. They may brave it if they have a companion.. which could result in an easy double kill for you!

If I make the full build I do indeed end up selling my Berserker's Greaves. I find that with Trinity Force and Phantom Dancer, Noc's movement speed isn't affected too too much, while his attack speed is still over 2.0.
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Pros & Cons

Although classified as a Melee champion, Nocturne is able to close gaps before ranged units are able to take advantage of the distance. Even if the enemy is able to escape your close proximity, Paranoia has one of the largest Ultimate ranges in the game!

His damage output late game is scary crazy, and with a timely use of his abilities, Noc can 1v1 pretty much any champion in the game with ease.

Biggest flaw I could pick out is that he's squishy. Although The Frozen Mallet helps out with this, AP champs will still chew through him. Be sure not to let yourself be caught in the middle of a group or lead into a team fight. You will be focused.
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Summary

All-in-all, Nocturne is hands down my favorite champ to roll with. Tons of fun to use and doubles as an AD Carry and lets face it, nothing feels better then running into an enemy and reducing him to nothing in a matter of seconds!

The only real thing you have to watch out for, is your enemies picking up thornmail. Having a final health count of a little over 2000 (unless you've purchased Frozen Mallet), Noc will kill himself in 5-10 hits on the champ.. not including any damage they do as well.

Be sure to leave me some comments, I'd love some feedback. What worked, what didn't, change suggestions, etc.

My best match so far with this build was a 47-1-19, what's yours?
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Thugnificants
Thugnificants Nocturne Guide
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Carpe Nocturne

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