Nocturne In Depth Rework Concept

Nocturne, as the current game stands, has no real place, and I believe he is one of the most deserving of a rework, and he has just been forgotten.

In the current state of the game, almost all assassins have some method with a low cooldown that allows them to either escape, engage, or play around a teamfight, granting them high utility. Nocturne doesn't really have any of this, he has his ultimate, but that's it. He has way too many counters in this meta (any champion with a dash, invisibility, or other form of CC), which cause him to lose his Ultimate's momentum, and end up being kited to death.

I also want to point out how unhealthy is current kit is, you either get ahead, ult in, and one shot an enemy carry and flash out, or you're behind, you ult in, and get one shot. Those are the only viable options I've had when I play Nocturne. But with pro-play, people pick counters against Nocturne because nearly all champions counter him in areas that make his one shot nuke kit useless. Exhaust also render's Nocturne useless, as if he gets toggle exhausted before his initial burst, he does almost no damage and becomes a sitting duck.

The point of this rework would be to help Nocturne have an actual place in League, as he is too unreliable to play as.

----------My Design----------

When I decided I want to come up with a concrete kit for Nocturne, I wanted him to capture the essence of a nightmare. Nightmare's are often inescapable, and you feel trapped and entangled by them. I wanted his kit to be centered around slowing and fearing players, while also offering skills that would allow Nocturne to stay on top of someone.

With relation to the state of other assassins, I gave him viable options to enter into fights, as well as the ability to mitigate damage. I dropped a lot of the heavy damage his skills had in exchange for mechanical abilities that allow you to outplay and require a fair amount of timing to use effectively. This was intended in order to remove his nuking ability, but allow him a level of sustain to prevent him from also being nuked, as well as an escape from a bad fight aside from having to . I also hoped to create a champion that had a wide range of viable build options. I designed this rework around the ability for a Nocturne to build as full AD, full AP, or Tank/Bruiser depending on the enemy teams composition and yours.

----------Rework ---------- (The number's and names are subject to change)

-Base stats will remain unchanged, as I saw no need to change them.

----------Shadow Veil---------- Static Cooldown: 6.5 Radius of Effect: 175

While out of combat, Nocturne is shrouded in a cloak of darkness. Upon being attacked, the cloak dissipates into the ground around him, slowing enemies by 15% and instilling fear into enemies around him. This causes their attacks to become weakened, reducing their damage to Nocturne by 5-40 (based on level) (+3% AD and AP) for 3 seconds.

Details/Notes: I changed his passive to Shadow Veil, and added an effect that would decrease damage dealt to him in a radius, as it will allow him to effectively tank a decent amount of damage. This will be able to work in tandem with his ultimate as a method of initiating fights, as well as his Q if he uses it effectively (While Shadow Veil is active).

----------Ravaging Blades---------- Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 MANA Cooldown: 8

ACTIVE: Nocturne’s next three basic attacks are enhanced, dealing (10/15/20/25/30 + 25% Bonus AD) to targets surrounding him and healing himself for (14/18/22/26/30 +15% Bonus AP) per enemy hit. If no enemy is hit within 3 seconds of activation (or of each use), Ravaging Blades will enter cooldown.

Details/Notes: I reworked his Q to be much like his passive is currently, though with clear changes. It no longer scales with 120% AD, rather it deals a decently sized amount of additional damage per attack. Assuming a Nocturne is equipped with 200 bonus AD at max rank, it will deal 70 bonus damage on top of his 200 AD, adding up to 270. Counting the other two uses, it will deal 210 damage (does not include armor). As an ability that changes his auto attack to an AOE with an added bonus effect, I feel it does a decent amount of damage. I also added an iteration of the passive healing effect that Umbra Blade has, but changed it slightly. It is now more of a buff, as it will proc the heal 3 times with 3 successful auto attacks, which can give him more sustain when he engages into the middle of a teamfight.

----------Umbral Embrace---------- Target Range: 425 Cost: 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 MANA Area of Effect: 175 Cooldown: 12

ACTIVE: Nocturne vanishes and reappears at a target location dealing (50/95/140/185/235 + 50% Bonus AD) to surrounding enemies. Additionally, all targets hit begin to bleed, being dealt (15/25/35/45/55 + 50% Bonus AP) over 4 seconds.

Details/Notes: I removed his old W that grants him a spellshield, and replaced it with a skill that allows him to be much more relevant with current assassins and junglers. He now has an early game method of engaging, as well as late game, and it can also be used to disengage. I wanted to make it a must to have a leap or teleport skill so that he becomes on a mobility level of other assassins ( etc.).

----------Deaths Respite---------- Passive Radius: 600 Target Range: 425 Tether Radius: 465 Cost: 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 / 95 Cooldown: 20 / 18.5 / 17 / 15.5 / 14

PASSIVE: Enemies cannot escape their nightmares. While moving towards an enemy running from Nocturne, he gains 10% of his base movement speed. ACTIVE: Nocturne plants nightmares into his target’s mind, dealing (60/100/140/180/220+75% Bonus AP) magic damage over 2 seconds and forming a tether between him and his target. If the target does not move out of range they will flee from Nocturne for (1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8/2.0) seconds.

Details/Notes: I left his E mostly unchanged in terms of it's Active, I reduced the damage and AP scaling (as AP would be a viable option with this kit, and 100% scaling would be too much). I also reduced the max rank fear by .25 seconds, as his kit has a little more utility in it, and I felt it needed to give a little. One new aspect is the passive, since Nocturne is meant to be a Nightmare, he needs to be able to follow his enemies, so I gave him somewhat of a movement speed boost. to stay on a fleeing enemy. The cooldown at max rank has also been increased by 2.

----------Paranoia---------- Target range: 2500 / 3250 / 4000 Effect Radius: Global Cost: 150 MANA Cooldown: 160/ 130/ 100 Fear Radius: 200

FIRST ACTIVE: Nocturne applies nearsight to all enemy champions for 6 seconds.

SECOND ACTIVE: While Paranoia is active, Nocturne can reactive it to dash unstoppably to a target enemy champion, dealing (125/225/325 + 120% bonus AD and 50% bonus AP) damage. Enemies surrounding the target will additionally be feared for 1 second. Additionally, while dashing to an enemy champion, the cooldown for Shadow Veil is refreshed.

Details/Notes: On first look, the major thing that you will notice is a fear radius being implemented. This will only affect champions close to the target, and helps to emphasize Nocturne's role as a nightmare, as I don't believe anyone seeing Nocturne Ulting into a teammate will want to run towards him. Other changes I made were increasing the mana cost by 50, and making the cooldown slightly higher at the first and second rank. Another change I implemented was reducing the damage on Nocturne's Ultimate by 75, as I feel his kit already has plenty of damage, and with the added fear he should deal enough. I also lowered the % bonus AD by 30%, and added a 50% bonus AP ratio to his ultimate to allow for champion variability.

----------Viable Combinations and more In-Depth to skill usages----------

I wanted to dedicate this section to talk about combination of skills Nocturne will be able to use with this kit.

----------Jungling (Summarized)---------- I hoped to keep Nocturne's jungling ability relatively the same with this rework, as that is where he does best. In order to effectively clear, you will want to start off with Q, or Ravaging Blades and follow up with Umbral Embrace. Starting with Ravaging Blades will give you the early game sustain to rotate through camps healthily, and grabbing Umbral Embrace will allow you to counter-jungle and gank on par with other Junglers ( etc.) that have high mobility.

----------Mid-Late game teamfights (Summarized)---------- With this rework Nocturne would become a viable option for being the main engage for fights without being blown up within seconds.

In a perfect Scenario, Nocturne will ult in, refreshing Shadow Veil's cooldown, and will be able to fear a number of enemies. Consequently, he will be focused by the enemy team very quickly, but due to Shadow Veil's and Ravaging Blades Damage reduction and healing abilities, he will be able to sustain in a fight. If worse comes to worse, he can disengage using Umbral Embrace due to Shadow Veil's slow effect.

In another scenario, Nocturne may have to engage with Umbral Embrace ,sacrificing his disengage in a time of need to support his team, whether or not Shadow Veil will be off cooldown will be up to how the player manages his passive effectively.

In a more simplified version, the preferred order of skills you would want to use is: R > E > Q > W The W(Umbral Embrace) would be used to disengage, or lock onto a target running away or moving around the fight.

----------General Gameplay---------- The order of skill ranks that I would recommend would vary heavily depending on the role you wished to play for your team.

As an Assassin you would want to max W first, the levels from 1-18 for skill to be maxed are as follows Q,W,E,W,W,R,W,Q,W,Q,R,Q,E,Q,R,E,E,E

As a tank your most viable option would be to max Q and build as an AP hybrid for the extra scaling, the levels from 1-18 for skill to be maxed are as follows Q,W,E,Q,Q,R,Q,E,Q,W,R,E,E,W,R,E,W,W

As a full AP champion, your strongest option would be to max E first, the goal of this would be to capsize on the DOT, and Umbral Embrace would be a utility spell that would allow the E to stay locked onto a target. The secondary skill you would max would be dependent upon whether you are the engage or want to engage or apply DOT (though the rank scaling on the Q and E for AP is somewhat weak), the levels from 1-18 for skill to be maxed are as follows Q,W,E,E,E,R,W,E,Q,E,R,W,W,Q,R,W,Q,Q

----------End of Rework----------

This concept Idea is full of changing variables, as the numbers are really rough and will need some fine tuning. I just wanted to put my two cents on what Nocturne is currently lacking, which is mobility in terms of most other champions in the game. Names and Ratio's will most likely need to be tweaked, as I found myself changing them in the middle of typing due to the number's for damage coming out either too low or too high.

I am also not an artist, so I don't have any artwork or designs of what I feel Nocturne and his skills should look like, so I would love some suggestions or art if anyone has any ideas.

All feedback is welcome, though constructive is best!

Thank you for reading through this wall of text, you get a Noc Noc Joke!

:Noc Noc :Whose the- :DARKNESSSSSSS