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Serious question, what is the counterplay to Nocturne?

Cloud273··6 votes·2,343 views

He ults you and you die, and there's nothing you can do about it. You don't even know if you're being targeted, because the entire screen goes black (and because of this your teammates can't help you either). Once he's on top of you he's pretty much guaranteed to get his fear off since Riot loves to makes tethers impossible to escape from on assassins. I swear it's almost like Riot prides themselves on having the most no counterplay assassins in this game. There is no skill to play assassins, and they're boring as hell to play (both with and against). They press a button and they get a kill. I haven't played this champ in years, but I played a game with him tonight and it was the easiest game of my life. All you have to do is pick someone and press 'r' every time your ult is up and you'll win at least half your games. As long as you don't target a tank I guarantee you he will kill something.

9 Comments

Jamaree1 votes

Staying grouped, his entire kit from the ground up even his visuals all paint a picture of going off alone in a horror movie is dangerous. You group up so that when he does ulti you, he is flying into 5 people, and he isn't exactly tanky so he has to kill everyone, or die.

Cloud2732 votes

{quoted}

Staying grouped, his entire kit from the ground up even his visuals all paint a picture of going off alone in a horror movie is dangerous. You group up so that when he does ulti you, he is flying into 5 people, and he isn't exactly tanky so he has to kill everyone, or die.

I don't understand why people bring up lack of tankiness with assassins. Yea they don't have a ton of health or defense, but Riot always makes sure they have other tools to make sure they never die. In Nocturne's case he gets a spell shield, so he isn't exactly dying anytime soon. And like I said the entire screen goes black. Even if you're grouped if you don't know who he's targeting you can't help them.

Jamaree3 votes

{quoted}

I don't understand why people bring up lack of tankiness with assassins. Yea they don't have a ton of health or defense, but Riot always makes sure they have other tools to make sure they never die. In Nocturne's case he gets a spell shield, so he isn't exactly dying anytime soon.

A single spell shield isn't going to be enough to save a Noc going into five people unless he is fed out of his fucking skull.

And like I said the entire screen goes black. Even if you're grouped if you don't know who he's targeting you can't help them.

Yes, it does, however, it isn't a blind, it is nearsight, similar to how Graves' smokescreen function, meaning that allies who are near each other can still see each other, on top of the fact that the person being targetted as a green indicator under them.

JoeMG1 votes

{quoted}

A single spell shield isn't going to be enough to save a Noc going into five people unless he is fed out of his fucking skull.

Yes, it does, however, it isn't a blind, it is nearsight, similar to how Graves' smokescreen function, meaning that allies who are near each other can still see each other, on top of the fact that the person being targetted as a green indicator under them.

As a Noc main, pretty much this. Late game I'm never going to risk my life to dive the whole enemy team for the chance at one kill. If the enemy team is competent, I'll get CC'd and deleted before I get my electrocute proc.

If you're squishy, stay near teammates or like someone else said, invest in a stopwatch or other defensive items if you're constantly targeted. Treat him like you would any other assassin.

Cloud2731 votes

{quoted}

A single spell shield isn't going to be enough to save a Noc going into five people unless he is fed out of his fucking skull.

Yes, it does, however, it isn't a blind, it is nearsight, similar to how Graves' smokescreen function, meaning that allies who are near each other can still see each other, on top of the fact that the person being targetted as a green indicator under them.

If it lets him block something like a Thresh hook then yea it's enough. He doesn't need to block everything. He just needs to block the most dangerous ability the enemy is targeting him with. And late game he usually is super fed, because you can't expect people to be grouped 24/7 (laning phase is actually a thing).

Jamaree1 votes

{quoted}

If it lets him block something like a Thresh hook then yea it's enough. He doesn't need to block everything. He just needs to block the most dangerous ability the enemy is targeting him with.

If the Noc flies into five people and manages to perfectly time his spell shield to void out the most important cc being thrown at him all while being focused down by an entire team’s worth of damage, he deserves to win at that point.

And late game he usually is super fed,

I don’t think you can really use that as an argument, any champion who is fed is going to be an exception to the rules of engagement.

because you can't expect people to be grouped 24/7 (laning phase is actually a thing).

Why would you be laning in the late game? Unless you are pushing out a lane or you are running a split push comp, you should be grouped.

During laning phase yeah, he can catch people out since people aren’t grouped but so can every jungler.

Doge20201 votes

{quoted}

I don't understand why people bring up lack of tankiness with assassins. Yea they don't have a ton of health or defense, but Riot always makes sure they have other tools to make sure they never die. In Nocturne's case he gets a spell shield, so he isn't exactly dying anytime soon. And like I said the entire screen goes black. Even if you're grouped if you don't know who he's targeting you can't help them.

Yeah he does have a spell shield. But that shield can be waited out, it lasts 1.5 seconds. And his tether fear is only single target, so by being grouped up with a tank or healer, you can make sure that noct can’t deal a ton of damage when you are feared. Through cc to keep him from moving or heals/shields to keep both of you from dying. And I think you still have some vision while his ult is up, but it is a very short range around you. And noct’s spell shield only blocks 1 spell, so stay with somebody with a lot of cc or play a champ that also has a bunch of cc.

Shutting him down early and gaining an advantage over him does help a lot too. From what I remember he is a little bit on the weak side in the early game. So playing a champ with a good early game can help you kill him.

DW Diana1 votes

Nocturne is a great duelist early, if built right can scale hard and snowball well. Here are a few things you can do to counterplay him:

  1. Junglers: Invade and countergank. Meeting Nocturne in the jungle can easily give you grey screen, but pre 6 his ganks are slow. Get early vision so you can see where he's going, match his clear path and when he ganks, go in and counter him. He's strong in a 1v1, but NOT in a 2v2 etc. Focus him and he'll go down FAST.

  2. Laners: Get deep vision and ping out where he is. If your jungler meets him in river etc then go to their aid. His CD's are pretty high so if he blows these trying to kill your jungler then he's basically a free kill.

  3. squishies: If nocturne tries to 1 shot you get under a tower. Throw out 1 ability the second he's in range and then any CC. The first one will break his shield while the second one will CC him (much like you can do to Malzahar). Once he's CC'ed you can kite him for days!

  4. DON'T FEED THE NOCTURNE! A good nocturne player will use a few kills to destroy your jungler. Notice how every nocturne will build a duskblade? If he's ahead of your jungler then expect to see a item 3252 in his inventory to increase that lead. Help your jungler protect his jungle, and make sure you are always conscious of his ganks; they may be slow pre 6 but he still does damage!

  5. Keep track of his Ult! You can see his runes, his items, so can gauge his ult timers from this. If he used it 2 minutes ago chances are he's looking for a gank. Don't overextend but try and bait it out with your jungler (remember point 1)) or use his low early burst to get him to blow it and then get back under tower FAST.

  6. Stopwatch. If you're constantly his target invest 600 gold in a stopwatch. If you're AP then get Zonyas, AD get a GA. You don't need to rush these as just having the stopwatch is likely to get him to pick on someone else (who wants to waste their ult?) but 600 gold to screw him for 2 minutes (ish) is pretty good, especially if you're bot lane and your support can throw some CC on him under tower (free kill anyone?).

Hope this helps some of you.

Leto GT1 votes

I rarely get a kill when I R with nocturne unless summoners are down already. It's very easy to escape it if sums are up. You probably had the easiest game of your life because you were lucky.

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