@Meddler: Let's talk about Nocturne
At the moment, there are a number of champions who look perfectly good on paper, have good thematics and healthy gameplay, and aren't picked very often because they're simply outclassed or don't have a niche that's well-defined enough. In my opinion, Nocturne is one of these champions. While there's a lot to like about his gameplay, his ult's greatly reduced range and weak ganks before level 6 make him difficult to justify when Vi or Pantheon are available.
##Who is Nocturne?
Nocturne is a demon of the night who uses fear as a weapon. He drove numerous summoners insane in nightmares before they defeated him and forced him to fight on Summoner's Rift.
In-game, Nocturne fulfills his fantasy extremely well. He specializes in appearing with little warning and chasing after weakened targets relentlessly. His skills do an excellent job of creating feelings of despair and inevitability, especially his Shroud of Darkness (which can block a CC or main damage spell with proper timing) and his fear. He clears the jungle with some sustain at an acceptable speed. And finally, his ultimate, Paranoia, is one of the most iconic skills of League of Legends.
##What does Nocturne do right as a design?
As above, Nocturne is meant to be someone you always have to keep checking the corners of your vision for, and someone you want to stay as far away from as possible. His design reflects this well and carries it out in a healthy way in game. His Duskbringer trail has a dual role as a nuke and path-based speed boost for Nocturne, allowing him to approach single targets more effectively and deal more damage to whoever he singles out. His Shroud of Darkness is a higher skill cap ability that allows Nocturne to deny the CC his targets would use to escape with proper timing; its counterplay comes both from the opponent's ability to bait it out and use CC once it ends AND Nocturne's decision to use it immediately on something like a Lee Sin Cripple or hold it to block Dragon's Rage. Thirdly, his fear has a tether period that requires Nocturne to maintain combat distance with his target, allowing the target one final opportunity to save themselves by breaking the leash. And finally, his ultimate Paranoia allows Nocturne to exert his influence simultaneously all across the map, although he can only actually be in one place at once.
##What's wrong with Nocturne?
The main criticism I'd have with Nocturne's kit is that he has a lot of hidden power. His Q and W both give significant steroids which are not always immediately apparent, and the combination of the two makes buffing him difficult (as the wrong buff could put his DPS completely over the top). On top of this, he has no dash other than his long cooldown ultimate, and suffers against champions with escapes as a result (although one might say this is part of his intended counterplay).
##Why doesn't Nocturne work?
Opinions may vary, but I'd say that Nocturne has just been simply outclassed for any purpose ever since the release of Vi. Vi has about the same defensive power as Nocturne; her passive shield serves as her jungle sustain while her ultimate allows her to ignore CC spells temporarily much like Nocturne's W does. Her DPS and his are very comparable thanks to Vi's W passive and E autoattack resets; however, Vi has significantly higher frontloaded burst, which makes her ganks much lower counterplay (and therefore much more effective) than his. Finally, while Nocturne's ult gives him some small amount of global influence at all ranks, Vi's Q->R combo deals similar damage and can allow Vi to enter from around 1700 range away, which is half of Caitlyn's AA range shorter than Nocturne's level 1 ultimate.
One might consider picking Nocturne for his late game DPS, but he faces problems there as well. While his late game damage is excellent with offensive investment thanks to his dual steroids, he is strictly outclassed in this category by other carry junglers like Master Yi. Master Yi's pedigree is inarguable and essentially nobody can match him in DPS late game; while Nocturne has a slightly better early game than he does, it's not enough to make him worth picking over Yi for a late game oriented comp. Essentially, Nocturne is outclassed as both an early game ganking jungler and as a late-game oriented farming jungler, leaving little reason to pick him.
##What can we do to make Nocturne better?
I'm of the opinion that Nocturne doesn't need any significant kit changes to be better, nor does he need to be pushed into the category of "guy with a steroid, 2 dashes, good burst, and some CC" like J4 and Vi. Instead, Nocturne should get buffs that make him do more uniquely "Nocturne" things in the early to mid game and transition into his solid (if not spectacular) late game.
Here's some individual suggestions to help Nocturne out without watering him down:
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Cut the cooldown of Paranoia in half if Nocturne chooses not to dash. This will allow Nocturne to exert his global influence much more frequently than before, even if he is at low health or out of range. Paranoia has a large psychological effect on enemy teams, and psychological warfare already is and should be a big part of Nocturne's kit and playstyle.
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Allow Nocturne to pass through walls while on Duskbringer. This popular suggestion will give Nocturne better mobility and chasing power without giving him an instant gap closer outside of his ultimate. By allowing him to follow enemy units who dash away through walls, Nocturne will gain some utility. Additionally, this change would give him another niche as a creative invader who can bypass some typical ward locations to invade enemy buffs. If walking back and forth between opposite sides of a wall is a problem in testing, preventing Nocturne from going back through a wall he crossed using Duskbringer with the same cast will help limit his juking capability.
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Cause successfully blocking a spell with Shroud of Darkness to instantly ready an Umbra Blades proc. Umbra Blades is an overlooked source of damage for Nocturne, even though it has a clear visual indicator and sound effect. By having Shroud of Darkness ready Umbra Blades, Nocturne's ganking damage will be significantly increased when he correctly predicts his opponents' spells. This change also opens the possibility of double procs, which will be a big help to Nocturne's early game damage.
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Increase Unspeakable Horror's duration from 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds to 1/1.5/2/2.5/3 seconds. This change is bound to be unpopular because of Fiddlestick's fear length reduction and the general CC length reduction in League of Legends. However, I feel Nocturne is justified in having a hard CC of this length because A. he has no other CC in his kit and B. Nocturne must keep his target within fairly close range for 2 seconds in order to start the fear in the first place, leaving a definite counterplay window. On top of this, this would give Nocturne incentive to level Unspeakable Horror second instead of last, creating a choice between W's faster farming and E's better ganks.
##What should Nocturne Players be willing to lose in exchange for larger buffs?
If all of the changes above were implemented, or if any of them were implemented along with another buff, then Nocturne would probably have to lose some power to compensate. Luckily, Nocturne has plenty of places to lose power without affecting his unique gameplay.
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Generic Steroids on Q/W. Both the AD steroid on Duskbringer and the free attack speed on W are great examples of hidden power; it's not immediately apparent that they're there, but they have big effects on Nocturne's power. In exchange for more visible power and more utility, we should be willing to give up some damage.
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Tether duration on E. If the fear buff listed as #4 went through, we would probably see a tether duration increase to compensate. Realistically, though, we should be willing to accept this; if they couldn't use their escape with a 2 second opening, they probably won't be able to use it with a 3 second one either.
##Conclusions
What do you all think of the buffs proposed in this post? Do you think any combination of them will carve out a new niche for Nocturne? And if so, will he need to take a nerf to keep him balanced?
