Yet another nocturne jungle build, which transitions into a late game Bruiser or AD carry depending on what your team is lacking. I started playing Noc at summoner level 5 (bad choice) and have been playing him ever since.

Nocturne is an excellent Jungler, but if you're reading this build there's a good chance you're new to the game. Keep in mind that jungling with Nocturne without runes is pretty much impossible, so if you're new and don't have any armor or armor pen runes, this guide is not for you.

Jungling with Noc in my opinion becomes viable around summoner level 15 - 16 but really I wouldn't jungle with him prior to 20. Your game will just be too slow and you'll most likely do better in lane.

*Added a second build to properly reflect separate roles for bruiser and AD carry nocturne.

Build 1 -> AD Carry
Build 2 -> Bruiser

Both are viable, if you're pub stomping, probably best to pick build 1, if you want something more viable in a ranked match I suggest build 2.

Pros
- One of the best gankers in the game
- Very strong in jungle
- Decent in a lane
- Transitions into late game better than most assassins
- Pretty good utility
- Pretty much a badass

Cons
- melee assassin and that means squishy
- Spell shield takes practice (amazing once you learn to use it)
- Not a great starting champion
- Ultimiate loses some usefulness past the lane phase (still good though)

Marks- Desolation: Armor penetration (a must for melee dps)
Seals- Resilience: Armor (a must for jungling)
Glyphs- Alacrity: Attack speed - works well with his passive
Quints- Fortitude: The +52 hp is good all game, really helps in the jungle early game
Alacrity: Glyphs don't quite offer enough attack speed, so the quint really helps bump it up

I take a standard 21/0/9 melee/AD dps build. I've tried playing around with different masteries, even tried a full tankturne build, but I really feel nocturne needs the points in offense to do reputable damage.

Passive - Umbra Blades: Awesome passive, really what makes jungling with him so viable. Next time someone offers you a leash say, eff that, I've got umbra blades. Definitely one of the best offensive passives in the game.

Duskbringer - This is nocturne's bread and butter, get good with landing this because you're going to be an awful nocturne until you do. The added attack AD duskbringer grants is massive, at level 5 it's like having an uncharged bloodthirster in your pocket. The movement speed will help you chase or escape, and in lane it's great for harass and last hits.

Shroud of Darkness - Attack speed and a spellshield in one... need I say more? Yes?! Fine, it's awesome.

Unspeakable Horror - Nocturne's only real CC, but that's alright, it always seems to do the job.

Paranoia - If you've read the description, you should know paraoia is amazing. Early game, it's a great initiator, late game it's good for surgical strikes on squishies in a team fight. This skill is a double edged sword though, jumping into a fight you didn't calculate will almost certainly get you killed. Use paranoia intelligently, use it to chase as often if not more often than using it to initiate. Try to use it to initiate only if you're certain it will get you a kill otherwise you're going to look like a terrible nocturne. The word "DARKNESS" should always be followed by "an ally has been slain."

The beginning of this guide is targeted at people who are new to jungling. Basically, it's the stuff I wish people had told me when I was starting out. If you're already familiar with the concept of jungling, scroll down to see my jungle path.

What is jungling? You might have gathered, jungling means you're going to be leveling by killing the creeps in your jungle as opposed to in a lane. Why jungle? Simple, ganking. There are other advantages too, you'll level faster than a 2 champ lane, you'll make more money, and best of all, you make the enemy uneasy since they don't know where you are (paranoia is such a fitting name). Of course, you can't be everywhere at once, but they don't know that. Jungling also gives you free reign of the map allowing you to gank anywhere you see the opportunity since you're not having worry about lane control.

So how do you do it?
The Basics - What you absolutely need to jungle
4 points in awareness
5 armor runes
5 armor penetration runes
smite

As a jungler, you need to be constantly moving from creep spawn to creep spawn. The order you do the spawns is called your jungle path. Your starting items decide the path you take to a certain extent. The paths are more or less the same, i just prefer this particular path because I feel it flows better.

*note* If you ever get executed by a creep spawn, it's alright, mistakes happen. However if ot happens again... this is an indicator you should probably give up on jungling for the rest of the game and join a lane (suck it up). You're not doing anyone any favors being dead, and you're going to fall way behind your team. Get a few more summoner levels and runes and then try again.

Remember you job isn't just to level, it's to gank. If you're having to concentrate on every pull to keep from dying, you're probably not paying attention to what's going on around you. Also, an outleveled jungler is no help to anyone. Ideally you want to stay the same level as your solo laners, certainly no more than 1 level behind center lane prior to level 7.

TL;DR Jungle path
There are a few paths for nocturne, but my favorite path goes

First pass
1. Double Golem (smite) -> 2. Wraiths -> 3.Wolves -> 4. Blue golem (smite)


recall -> buy long sword, 1 potion

Second Pass
1. Double Golem -> 2. Wraiths -> 3. wolves -> 4. Red buff(smite)


recall -> buy boots of speed

By now you should be level 5. If you haven't been watching the map (bad for you) do so now. If a gank is possible, go for it otherwise power through until 6. Most likely your solo top is going to be crying, so try to help them out.

Because I start at double golems instead of wolves/wraiths, I take cloth armor instead of vampiric scepter. This is my favorite jungling path, as it always seems to put me in the right place at the right time and the starting cloth armor transitions into wriggles just as well as vampiric scepter.

A Note on Wriggles Lantern
Wriggles Lantern is possibly the best early to mid game jungling item you can get, if you use it's active only 3 times it's more than paid for itself. Generally however, I don't keep wriggles into late game like some other junglers do. I tend to keep wriggles only until I can afford mercury treads AND a brutalyzer and then I sell it to make Youmuu's ghostblade. Remember to drop at least 3 wards and kill dragon before selling wriggles. You should be able to solo dragon around lvl 9 with a wriggles, past level 11 you shouldn't have any trouble with dragon with or without a wriggles.

If you've gotten a few ganks and dragon at level 9, you should be able to make the transition from wriggles to youmuu's early mid game (prior to the end of the laning phase). If you're doing really well and have a number of ganks going, you might consider keeping the wriggles on top of your youmuu's and sell it when you're getting ready to buy the blood thirster instead.

Nocturne Late Game:

After the laning phase is when Nocturne starts to kind of level off as far as usefulness goes. Hopefully you've landed a number of ganks during laning phase to give you a jump start on your items, because they're what's going to make your late game viable.

At this point you really need to decide if you're going to transition into a Bruiser or an AD carry. Nocturne does both well, but if you have a ranged AD carry on your team who's also doing well, it's generally better take the Bruiser route for extra survivability in a team fight. If you're going for a bruiser build, after you buy your blood thirster I suggest taking a banshee's veil, followed by an atma's impaler, and possibly finishing up with a warmogs armor.

If you're going straight AD carry, grab a phantom dancer a banshee's veil and then a second blood thirster or a black cleaver. I like reliability of a second blood thirster, however if you find yourself dying too often, a black cleaver is going to do more for you.

Situational Items
Black Cleaver - Good for an armor heavy team, and the attack speed bonus works well with your passive, however you should be aiming for squishies, not tanks so take this only if the entire enemy team is pretty tanky. Blood thirster is almost always a better option to take first. Black Cleaver can be your second BF sword item.

Last Whisper - If you're backdooring, you might consider this with a phantom dancer as opposed to a second blood thirster.

Wits End - If the enemy team is really heavy AP, the wits end is not a bad item to pick up somewhere early on (after your first blood thirster perhaps). The MR is nice and the bonus attack speed works well with nocturne.

Necessary - Smite

Secondary - Ghost or Flash
Personally, I prefer ghost over flash when I'm jungling. This is mainly personal preference, and flash is an excellent clutch summoner spell, but ghost in my opinion has more utility. Ghost can be used to escape a tight spot, to chase a runner, or simply to get back to the jungle quickly after having returned to the nexus.

Another reason you might consider ghost with Nocturne over Flash is for Paranoia positioning. If you've never played nocturne, you may be surprised to know, the range on paranoia at level 6 and level 11 is pretty poor. Even at 16 it's not nearly as good as Twisted Fate's or Pantheon's jump distance. As a jungler, you'll often notice gank opportunities present themselves to you while you're in the opposite jungle. Popping ghost might just allow you to get into paranoia range before the window of opportunity closes in your face.

- Using paranoia at the end of fights or after an enemy flashes often lands a kill more reliably than using it to initiate.
- The difference between a failed gank and a successful gank is a missed Q.
- Use your Q while taking down towers, it grants you +55 AD at lvl 5
- Q can be used to escape a hard spot, use it before burning ghost.
- You can place a wriggles ward in the enemy jungle, generally at blue or red. This is especially useful if they have a jungler as well. Enemies always seem to assume they're safe in their jungle, imagine their surprise when you paranoia on top of them.

Thanks for reading, hope this helps, it works for me.