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Nocturne Build Guide by

Nocturne, Darkness over all (Jungle Guide)

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35 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Sirkmaster

Nocturne Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (35) More Nocturne Guides

Choose Champion Build:

Spells:

Exhaust

Smite

Ability Order

Nocturne Passive Ability

Introduction

This is my new jungle guide. It includes 3 build, the first one is a tanky dps, the second one a full ad glasscannon, and the 3rd one an tanky initiator build. I take the 1st build in most cases, because full full ad is way too squishy, and the tanky initiator build is only for games, in which your didnt got a safe initiator.

I dont pretend to be super pro, im just at 1.2k elo. You cant carry ur team at 2k elo, i have no experience up there. This build is also switchable, you dont have to go strict those builds.

is so much fun to play, and you benefit from playing him most times. He is played alot from low to high elo, because he is awesome!.

He is, at least in my opinion, a very easy char, who can easily win games for you. Sadly i am at 1200 elo at the moment, but before i started playing in ranked, i was losing elo while i was at 1100 elo. This is another reason for me to really love him. He rescued me from getting under 1000 elo. And any skilled player is able to carry himself out of >1200 elo in my opinion, because, as i said above, he is really easy.

I most likely end up being on a large killing spree if i play . It is just so easy to punish some noobs that are way out of position, especially if you have a strong duopartner that does not push, you will going to win 7/8 rankeds. THis results in higher elo, and higher elo results in even more fun, because you get better teammembers and are finally able to play someone else then , because you dont end up losing every game because of ******ed teammates.

Why to play Nocturne

Why to play ?

You want to play , because he is a strong farmer, pre & post lv. 6 ganker, which is extremely rare nowadays. He is maybe not perfect at one thing, like shaco with his earlyganks or shyvana with counterjungling, but he is overall a nearly perfect jungler, that fits into every team comp and can carry even the most dumb teammates. Also its just scary, if a dark shadow jumps at you from nowhere & fears you, drops your health down in like 2 seconds, then blocks you last resort, you stun, and finally punishes you even harder, because a passive attackspeedboost got doubled.

Another resason for playing is his great ability to carry you out of elohell. I just raised 100 elo in like one week, even i was not playing LoL all the time. He excels at soloq'ing! I saw people with 90% win ratio on him, that were on 500 elo before, after they started playing him more often, they quickly got to 1200 elo and are now playing ranked with me.

Pros & Cons

1. Build:

- Much damage potential, but still able to tank lots of damage
- Hard to focus, but because of the damage does, i see many players focusing me, even if i have 150 armor/magic resist and over 3k live :D

- Not that much damage that full ad would do, not that much tankiness that full tank+atmas would have

2. Build:

- Insane damage output, destroys squishies in like 2 seconds.
- Epic damage. Cant stress this enough. EPIC damage

- Not able to tank damage, gets destroyed in the time he uses to destroy the ad/ap carry.
- Expensive items are needed to work well.
- Needs a good teamcomp with tanky initiator solotop, mid, or even both

3. Build

- Ability to initiate very well, because of . You can just jump the enemy ad/ap carry, and take him down, while the whole enemy team is focusing you, which results, that the rest of your team is able to easily destroy the entire enemy team.
- Extreme tanky while still dealing tons of damage.

- Not as much damage that the standard bruiser type or the full ad type would deal
-relatively reliant on expensive items

Runes

For the first build:
My choices:

I use this, because it really helps your jungle and makes you able to start with a vampyric scepter, instead with a and five healthpots, because I think, you would waste too much gold, when buying five healthpots.

greater mark of desolation I use this, because I rarely get armorpen as items on , but I think, that at least this amount of armorpen is needed.

I use this because of two reasons: First its the best choice for blues on every champion, in my opinion. Second you wont really get damage from mages in the first ~6 levels, if youre jungling, so flat mr wouldve bin a waste.

I use this, because it gives you the damage you need early on, to clear your camps a bit faster, and those runes give you the chance, to gank more often, without behing too much behind in levels.

For the second build:

greater mark of desolation For the same reason as for the first build.

Even if this build is full ad, you´re going to need the early sustain in the jungle trough this runes.

Same reason as in the first build

For the third build:

: Grab this, cuz you need the attackspeed, but also the health from the quints.

Same reason as in the first build

greater quintessence of vitality I get those, because you really need tankiness late game, if you want to initiate fight, as well as those runes scale with atmas impaler for some ad.

Other possible choices:

: If you want to clear the jungle insane fast. If you get those, you´ll have to get some armorpen items. : If you dont have the others, those are possible, too.

: If you take those, you´ll have to start with and five healthpots. They make you clearing the jungle fast, but I dont really reccomend them.

greater quintessence of desolation: If you want to have even more damage against every champion, take this. But dont combine this with greater mark of desolation, because too much armorpen is too much. : Those runes really help your (early)ganks, because you have no strong gapcloser pre6.

Summoner Spells

The best ones:

: This spell helps you extremely with your early ganks, in landing and in fighting 1 on 1. I usually use this over .
: This spell is, even after the nerf, my favorite summoner spell. It helps you closing gaps pre6 or if you dont have your off cooldown.
: Because this is a jungling build, I take every time if im playing nocturne. If you jungle without this, and your name is not , or maybe and you play on extreme low elo, youre just bad.

Decent Choices

: This also helps you with your early ganks, especcially if you gank someone like volibear, with his annoying passive, which is debuffed from .
: This turns you in a movement speed machine. Combined with this makes sure, that noone can flee from you. Good for chasing & running.

Masteries

For the first build:

In the first build I go (21-9-0), because my items already provide me the tankiness needed to go 21 in offense, and skip the later defense masteries.
For the second build:

The masteries for the First and for the Second build are the same. The reason why i dont go for 21 in defense here is, that this is an assassin build. You dont want to get focused, if you do, you did something wrong. Youre no initiator as an assassin.

For the third build:

I go (9-21-0) in the second build. why 21 in defense? I dont want to get bursted to 0 health from this [annie] or in the enemie team, when i initiate a teamfight. So i grab 21 in defense, although i already have the tankiness from my items.

Items

Possible starting items for all three guides:

: Grab this if you have the listed runes and dont want to waste too much gold on healthpots.

and five health pots/ a sight ward: Grab this if you dont have the listed runes, or if you want some sustain, due to heavy counter junglers like or , which totally make you nervous in the first few levels.

[boots of speed]: Grab this whenever you can. This means when the enemy cant counterjungle you and you are able to pull a gank of from level 2 or 3.

Possible boots for all three guides:

: Get those if the enemy team has many autoattackers/a fed autoattacker like or .

: Get those if there is much cc or fed ap´s in the enemy team.

: Get those if the enemy hes neither much/fed autoattackers, nor much cc/fed or much ap´s and you feel like needing more damage.

Special Notes for the second build:
You have to sell and to get the full build(you get enough movementspeed from , so you dont have to have boots.
Builds against several teamcomps:

If facing heavy/fed/double ap:

If facing heavy/fed ad:

If facing balanced team:

Against tanky team:

Some items, which to use, and which not:

: Amazing item if fully stacked, because of insane amounts of raw damage and lifesteal. Nocturne extremely benefits of this item, because and are scaling with attack damage. On top of this is the lifesteal, which makes you even more tanky, if you can hit someone. So grab this in the first build, if the enemy has barely any cc, in the second build whenever you want to and in the third build, if the enemy has less then 5 cc in the whole team.

: This is probably the most overpowered item for bruisers, since nearly every bruiser gets this. Nocturne also benefits from it, just because its awesome. Due to it's recent nerf, its not that op anymore, just very good. But not that good that you'll grab it against just 1 unfed ap. Get it against doubleap or a fed midlaner that u have to duel sometimes. This also lets you get an early [no-magic-mantle] and makes u able to decide wether you get [mercury's tready] or [wit's end].

: Amazing item for chasing, while secruing large amount of health. The slow is heavy, especcially when combined with your . Nobody, except of this with his annoying ult, will get away from you, if you dont want him to.

: I saw some people not grabbing it, because they meant, that nocturne is already amazing at farming. I think that too, but i also think that is still amazing on him, due to the free ward and the lifesteal.

: Combined with healthitems, this item is one of the best in the whole game, even if u cant do anything with crits (like ). It provides you insane amounts of attack damage, and also grants you survivability against ad's.

/ golden heart: Randuin's is amazing: It provides you health, armor, healthreg, a very good unique passive, and an even better unique atcive: It allows you to completely shut down ad carry's in teamfights, in lowering their attack/movement speed by a large amount. The little form, golden heart, is a low cost health and gp10 item. I grab this in 99% of my games with nocturne. U can build it into , or you can simply sell it, when it has done his job, providing you with extra gold.

: This items is the ad's equivalent to . With crit, critdamage and large amounts of attack damage, this item makes your damage potential going extremely high. Bad thing about it: It provides no defensive stats, and costs extreme amount's of gold.

: Another extremely offensive item, providing crit, attackspeed and movement speed. This item is not as offensive as is, but still not defensive. This item is extremely great, because you can sell your boots if you grab it twice, even if your grav it once, if you have another movementspeed bonus.

: The thing, that every tank should have. On nocturne, you should only grab this after you got your .

: If facing heavy/fed/double ap, or someone like ashe with her , you should think about grabbing this. With Mana/Health and a 90 sec cooldown spellshield, this item provides some nice stats. Since got his own spellshield, i rarely see me grabbing this.

: I see like 90% percent of all grabbing this, but i personally get this rarely. Recently tested it a few times, it works very well.

: Against double/fed ap, you can grab this. It provides you with magic resistance, attackdamage (for and ) and even more attack damage, if you get low. You can easily get a early, and build later in the game, if needed.

: Good if youre getting focused. Like a free cleanse in item form, mostly underrestimated by everyone. Extreme good against someone like , because it can cleanse the stun and it helps you surviving her combo.

: This item synergizes perfect with , because of even more crit, some attackspeed and finally, why you should get this item, the cc reduction. This is best, if the enemy has either much ad's or a balanced team, so you can grab or and .

: Mostly your support gets this. Ask him, if he does. Only get this if your support dont wants to. The stats of it are almost perfect for every offtank, because it provides you with extra health, resistances and attack damage, and gives your team a nice aura, with resistances and attackdamage.

: Grab this against , , , or maybe a fed ap .

: Grab this if youre getting focused down in like 2 second.

: Get this, against >120 armor targets, that need to be killed.

: Just dont get this. You really need the extra health from . In case you want movement speed, get a . In case you want the proc, youre silly, because nocturne does not spam his skills all time, so you cant benefit well from the proc.

(Gonna add more soon)

Skill Sequence & Explanation

This is the skillorder for all three builds, nothing much interchangeable here. I max over over over . On lv. 3 you have to decide wether to take or a second point in . Get if you think of ganking, if you plan on farming.
I take an early first point in for the passive attackspeed. Why not to max second? Because after the first point it grants only 5% attackspeed per level, while grants 50/100/150/200/250 damage and a 1/1,25/1,5/1,75/2 second fear.

Skillexplanation

: Every 10 seconds, Nocturne's next attack strikes surrounding 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.

This is a great spell for jungling, because it restores an very good amount of health. It's also a great for pushing down minionwaves extremely fast, if combined with .

: Nocturne trows a shadow blade, which deals 60/105/150/195/240 (+0,75 per bonus attack damage) phyisical damage, leaves a dust 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 15/20/25/30/35% increased movement speed and 15/25/35/45/55 additional attack damage.

This is a great tool for jungling, because of the damage and the increased attack damage. Its a relative slow skillshot, which takes a bit of practice to land well on enemy champion's. A enemy who knows a bit, will try to dodge the skillshot, so only use it, if youre sure, that the enemy will run this way and has no escape spell off cooldown. If you land this on an enemy, instantly place at him, he wont get out of it, because of the bonus movement speed from .

: Passive: Nocturne empowers his blades, permanently gaining 20/25/30/35/40% attack speed. Active: [[Nocturne creates a magical shield for the next 2 second's, which can block the next enemy spell that hits him. If an ability is blocked by the shield, his passive attackspeed is doubled for 5 second's.

While the passive is great for jungling, the active spellshield makes a player good or bad. The spellshield dont lasts that long, so you really have to pratice it a bit.

: Nocturne plants a nightmare in his target's mind, dealing magic damage each second for total 50/100/150/200/250 (+100% of ability power) over 2 seconds and fearing the target for 1/1,25/1,5/1,75/2 seconds if they do not get out of range (465) by the end of the duration.

Combined with an extreme great chasing spell. When both are maxed, you'll gain
35& movement speed, the enemy will take 250 damage only from , and will be feared for 2 second after 2 seconds.

: Nocturne reduces the sight radius of all enemy champions and removes their ally sight, this includes champions, minions, wards, towers and Clairvoyance. He can then launch himself at a enemy champion with a large range 2000/2750/3500 dealing 150/250/350 (+1,2 per bonus attack damage)physical damage.

This ability is what makes . You could call it his bread & butter skill, like has his . Learn it, and you'll learn . It provides extreme great ganks, well initiated teamfights and so on, if used correctly. That means not to jump into five enemy's and to die instantly, but to jump at overextended champion while laning, or champion that are alone in the jungle, at low health, with no other champion's nearby, which results in a free kill. Or you have that nasty doing what he is destinated for, pushing, you can just jump him, fear him, put like endless damage onto his head and give your mid/solotop a free assist, while also providing him with the possibility of outleveling his enemy.

The jungle Routes

The blue buff route:
Start at wolves, tell your team to help, but not to pull them. Use here.
Next you get blue, tell your midlaner to pull, and in best case your solotop to dps the golem. Finish it off with .
Now you go to the wraiths, then to double golem, and then finally red buff, finish it with smite. If you have the opportunity to gank, get a point in instead of one in at lv 3. After this route, you can either teleport back, and gank lanes after, or farm up with wolves, wraiths, double golem, wolves, wraiths...

Another good route:
Start at wolves, same as above. Then go to wraiths, smite the big one. Next double golems. Then teleport back, get some pots, wards and . Grab first blue buff, then red, and gank then. This route uses the blue buff extreme perfect. Only problem about this is, that the enemy midlaner will have the blue buff earlier then yours.

Counterjungling

Conditions have to be there too counterjungle:

You have to time your and the enemy jungle. This makes you able to get the enemy red/blue buff right when it spawns, or to calculate when the enemy jungler is at their redbuff, gank the lane he is not near.
Check where the enemy jungler. The worst thing you can do, is to die from the enemy jungler, because you dont know where he is.
You need to have a competent team, that calls Missings. Else youre gonna die from a random laner, that is in the jungle.
Map Awareness. Its not always possible to call missings.

Simply stealing the enemy wolves is not good. In the time you spend killing them and leaving one behind, is not worth it. So you have to kill bigger camps. The easiest way to do this, is to know where the enemy jungler is and which camps he is doing when. Example: Your enemy jungle is . He is able to start at red or at blue buff. If he earlyganks mid, he probably did redbuff, so you can either steal his blue or time his red, and get it when its up.