Was Nocturne ever overpowered?

Back in his release days when his ult range was pretty much global. Ahh the good ol days

imagine a level 6 nocturne and you're the top laner

imagine seeing him in the midlane while you're top

DARKNESS you have been slain

yes, that happened

Seems like when he first came out he was really strong and got a lot of nerfs but I don't know if he was ever overpowered.

He had a much better ult(insane range mid-lategame) and his base damage was much higher. Nowadays you have to build damage to do damage on nocturne, back in ye olden days when he was tier 1 you'd just build full tank and still oneshot carries. Imagine your standard juggernaut but with better mobility and a near-global gapcloser(and a spellshield to stop CC).

If this reminds of you rek'sai with an even better ult that's because it basically is.

I think his passive also made clearing old jungle a joke if I remember right. A couple AA and you pretty much got full healed and cleared a camp or almost cleared it.

His ult range wasn't so much the issue (just made things a little more convenient). Eventually, his ult's lvl 1 range was nerfed to barely be longer than his Q.

Needless to say, he's been buffed since then.

The biggest issue on Nocturne was how long his W stayed up and how long his E tether was originally. They led to him consistently being able to use his ult for a kill, even 1v2.

Damage was lower back then, and mobility was as well. There weren't as many spells in general, and there was MUCH less CC. In short, Nocturne was a MUCH better chaser than he is now. Could even consistently gank for kills if he so much as landed Q, and was extremely hard to peel due to each of his abilities in combination.

He was a strong carry jungler in seasons 1 and 2. He was often picked alongside Twisted Fate and Shen, or to 'counter' either of them.

In season 3, jungle was nerfed to shit (gold, exp, and monster damage/hp), but Nocturne could speed-clear with 100% HP due to how weak monsters were and his passive's sustain. This got it gutted.

He was one of the few non-support junglers that was 'viable' at the time.

This was when BotRK+Tank Nocturne rose to power and he was an extremely consistent pick in competitive.

Season 2 (former) Nocturne main here. The answer is yes and no. He was never overpowered in the sense that he dominated the scene, but he could also literally gank someone's lane from halfway in the jungle. It was fun as hell if you were the Nocturne. Not so much for every other enemy lane.