Nocturne is incredible.

I've seen a few complaint threads about his performance as of late. A lot of people are saying he is useless/weaker than other junglers and has no real "place" in the game, and its completely baffled me. I picked up Nocturne when I first got league of legends (16 year old edge lord in 2011 seeing a badass ghost with blades on his arm hair flip) and since I was new to the game I didn't really know what I was doing with him. I found akali a bit later (Badass sexy ninja bitch with a weeb-skin) and played her for YEARS.

Well halfway through season 6 I picked up noc again, and was just awestruck by how incredible his kit is.

Im sure you already know, but lets go through this:

Q is a wide skillshot with decent damage for the enemy, Its also a speed buff for Nocturne, and a massive AD steroid if Noc is standing on it. The trail follows the enemy around, giving you a high speed highway of slaughter. On top of all this, Nocturne can MOVE THROUGH UNITS, completely negating any chance of minion block.

W is an INSTANT self cast spellshield that blocks pretty much any chance your opponent has of beating you in a 1 v 1. If you successfully block an ability with it, you gain a MASSIVE attack speed steroid. Oh, and no worries if you don't use it, because it PASSIVELY gives you attack speed just for leveling the ability up.

E is a channeled fear that is just long enough to make your opponent rage, but just short enough that Riot wont nerf it. The best part about this ability comes in two phases. While channeling you can use ALL of your abilities to keep doing the damage, while waiting for the fear to go off. It also deals a decent amount of damage as it ticks down. Nocturne has a bit of inherent lifesteal built into most builds he takes, so that 1-2 seconds of fear is about 5-6 auto attacks that will likely heal you.

R is the cherry on top. This ability deals GREAT damage, makes you travel over walls, through terrain, and fast as fuck (boi) until you COLLIDE with the enemy adc/mid laner. The reaction time the opponent has to have to interrupt you is god like. This is also spooky as fuck (boi) because the entire enemy essentially goes blind while this is happening. A great trick with this ability is to use your Q right before you collide with the enemy. This is almost always a guaranteed hit, and gives you the AD buff for your collision (usually adding 20-30 damage to just the collision)

The passive is great for jungling/waveclear/lifesteal, as it allows you to swipe left and right on every minion near you dealing pretty decent damage. It's essentially a tiamat on a timer. Oh and Riot Gods bestowed upon him a page from Master Yi's book, which makes EVERY AUTO ATTACK reduce your passives cooldown by one second.

The build path for Nocturne depends on the game. Despite what your team tells you, he doesnt have to build off tank, and will function just fine as an assassin if you utilize your W correctly. I personally go

then situationals: tanky enemy team: heavy ap? heavy AD? Squishies? If I fall behind:

His build is so flexible that you can mix and match and usually still be very effective in game. His jungle clear time is impeccable, his ability to 1 v 1 is heavily reliant on the opponent you're up against.

a few popular Champs he's reliable against:

a few champs that can give him trouble:

I started this post as an "I love Nocturne" post, but now im almost full guide mode for how I enjoy him.

Runes (still playing with options like dark harvest)

Domination:

**Electrocute, or Dark Harvest (cant decide yet) Sudden impact (absolute must) Eyeball collection Relentless hunter

Precision: Legend Alacrity. Coup De Grace.**

Jungle path is widely reliant on who your enemy jungler is, and if they're a premade (collapses dont work well)

How to win 80% of your 1 v 1's:

• Find your target, (look for split pushers, if the enemy is grouped, then focus on the squishiest target. your objective is to make this a 4 v 5 as fast as possible.)
• Observe potential CC that can ruin you. (Wait for Blitzcrank rocket grab, elise web, thresh hook, sej ult etc)
• THE MOMENT THEY USE THE MAJOR CC THAT WORRIES YOU, HIT R
• Right click on your target, and this is where it becomes a mindgame. Chances are your enemy knows who your target is, (probably the one carrying them) so expect some opposition.
• You'll begin to fly towards them, right before you collide and while in range, hit Q. This will give you the AD buff and ability to move through units if needed.)
• Right click them again to begin auto attacking. (if using SUDDEN IMPACT) you'll do an extra 140-180 damage just from the collision at about 20 minutes.
• If your target is high damage, hit E on them as soon as you collide with them. This will start channeling your fear, and stop any chance they have of out-lifestealing you.
• If you're not worried about your targets damage, and the enemy is pretty well grouped, hit E on the person with the next dangerous CC coming up.
• Your target should pop pretty quickly, if they don't then hopefully you have some Summoners to secure the kill.

Your W is the most situational, and powerful ability you have. If you can block a form of hard cc, they will panic (in my elo of gold, they still panic if you use a QSS instantly -.-) Use your w to block cc, or absorb heavy damage for the team. My favorite ability to absorb is a Ult. As soon as it comes to bounce off me, I hit W and it completely disappears. If he uses it on me first, he's out a potentially devestating, team killing ability.

Nocturne also makes a great split pusher due to his ability to escape, duel, and his attack speed style kit. The enemy may be too grouped or have too much cc to get a reliable kill. So have your team "Survive" while you push another lane down. If the enemy sends one person, you're likely able to 1 v 1 them without trouble. If they send 2 people, your team is at an advantage now in a 4 v 3. Your q gives you movement speed to escape, but another cheeky way to utilize nocturne split pushing... is to ult your way out.

Say the enemy team is pushing 5 mid, and you try split pushing top. They send the enemy top laner and support to come kill you. As soon as you see them, make a run for the mid lane. As soon as your ult gets in range, hit ult, and now you're grouped back up with your team in a 5 v 3 situation. Likely with 1 target down just from your ult collision.

TL:DR

Nocturne is an incredible jungler, with a high skillcap that allows you to outplay people on a molecular level. If you are careful with your targets, observe the hazards, and react quickly then you can work magic with this champion. His build is flexible, his kit is great for a lot of different metas. If he falls behind, he never is completely "useless" as that looming threat of him ulting in is always overhead.

Give him a shot if you havent.