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Rework Concept: Nocturne, The Living Nightmare

Nyakuza Member·4/9/2018, 7:17:04 PM·2 votes·1,209 views

Nocturne, while not the most important champion to be reworked, is eventually going to need it. I've tried to keep Nocturne similar to his old kit, since thematically, I think it was very appropriate. As well, Nocturne remains as a melee assassin with the ability to build into a more bruiser-like build. The major things I have set out to do is to add more mind games to Nocturne's kit, while adding counterplay and playmaking potential. As well, I think Nocturne, as many champions, should have viable off builds, and have tried to give Nocturne viable tank/bruisers build and maybe a viable ap build.

PASSIVE: The Living Nightmare > Umbral Blades - Every 24/18/12 seconds(effected by cooldown reduction), Nocturnes Umbral Blades reform, empowering his next 3 autoattacks. The first two attacks grant Nocturne a dash that goes 350 units. The final attack deals 130% ad to the primary target, and 30% ad to all nearby targets, and heals Nocturne for 2/4/6% of his maximum health against champions, large and epic monsters, and quarter that amount against minions and small monsters. Unspeakable Horror - Nocturnes Shroud of Darkness and Dark Caressinflict champions, large and epic monsters with Building Horror. Building Horror deals 2/4/6/8...(+10% ap) magic damage every .25 seconds for 1.5 seconds. If Nocturne is withing 450 units of an enemy after 1.5 seconds of Building Horror being active on them, the target is feared for 1 second. Building Horror grants true vision of afflicted targets.

Nocturne's passive is two fold. The first part is an update to his old passive that makes it more then just aoe damage that kind of heals. The new passive grants Nocturne greater play-making potential(with his two dashes) as well as a delayed burst of damage. It also builds to his theme of inevitable terror, as you know the third attack will be coming, and all you can do is watch as Nocturne delivers it. The second part of the passive contains the spiritual successor to Nocturne's old E. It has been relegated to being part of his new passive much for the same reason of Illaoi's tentacles slamming being a part of her passive. Multiple abilities now use it and it is clearer that way. As well the ability has been kept as ap only to help ap nocturne continue to exist as a meme build. As a side note, Nocturne will have a ring around enemies who are afflicted.

Q: Duskbringer > Cooldown: 12 Nocturne fires out shadowy energy up to 1200 units away, dealing 50/100/150/200/250(+70% ad)(+60% ap) physical damage to all targets hit. The energy infects the first champion, large or epic monster hit, doubling the distance of which Nocturne can dash to them using Umbral Blades to 700 units. As well, the energy, and any infected champions or monsters, leave behind a trail for 4 seconds, on which Nocturne and move unimpaired, including through terrain.

This ability remains very similar to Nocturne's old Q, with the most major change of no longer having movespeed, but letting Nocturne move through walls. This ability doesn't work as a gap-closer unless Nocturne has his passive up, giving him obvious moments of strength and weakness. Also Nocturne should be able to go through walls, he's a ghost.

W: Shroud of Darkness >Cooldown: 25/22.5/20/17.5/15 Passive - Increase the fear length of Building Horror by .15/.3/.45/.6/.75 seconds Active - After a .5 second delay, Nocturne forms a shroud in front of him that blocks all damage that hits him from the front for one second. Enemies that attack the shroud are also afflicted with Building Horror

This ability is as straightforward as Nocturne's current W, with the added complexity that the shield doesn't form immediately, and only blocks from the front. But it now blocks all damage, and not just the first spell, and applies Nocturne's fear, letting it be used far more aggresively, and making it usable in the jungle, albeit at a long cooldown. The passive incentives you to max it early, however doing that trades utility for the damage provided by Nocturne's E and Q.

E: Dark Caress > Cooldown: 18/16/14/12/10 Nocturne releases a cloud of nightmares in a cone in front of him, afflicting enemies with Building Horror. This cloud persists for .8/.9/1/1.1/1.2 seconds, and blocks vision, while also reapplying *Building Horror every .25 seconds. If Nocturne hit an enemy with the initial cast, he will swipe as a .75 second delay, dealing 60/120/180/240/300(+50% ad)(+50% ap) physical damage in a cone equal in size to the first one.

Nocturne's new E functions kind of like his old E, as his primary tool for applying his fear. However, the cloud of fear functions as a mind game, which is something I think old Nocturne really lacked outside of his ult. The cloud, since it blocks vision, makes the opponent of Nocturne question it. Is Nocturne in there? Will I die if I walk in there? Maybe Nocturne isn't in there. Who knows. The follow up slash is a reward for Nocturne landing the first part of his E. As well, it helps set up an obvious combo for Nocturne. Q your opponent, dash using passive, E, dash again, then slash. It also helps Nocturne's jungle clear, since his passive is now has a much longer cooldown, reducing aoe damage, and this will supplement that.

R: Paranoia > Cooldown: 180/150/120 Nocturne clouds the vision of all enemies, applying nearsight to all of them. Afterwwards, this ability can be reactivated to dash to an enemy withing 2500/3500/4500 units dealing 125/250/375(+.7 ad) physical damage.

There is no way Nocturne's ult could ever change from what it is, it is simply too iconic and too fitting for his game-play narrative. The only difference is a small change in numbers, mostly to keep damage to be insane, since Nocturne has more damage in his kit with his new E.

There's my idea. I've tried to keep Nocturne similar to his current state, while giving him more counterplay, playmaking potential, and more mind games. Do note that the numbers on this are subject to change, and are not final. The point of this is not the give Nocturne a definitive new kit, but to give new ideas on what I think a good Nocturne rework would look like.

2 Comments

XOmega WarriorX4/9/2018, 7:22:36 PM1 votes

Really cool concept

GrandZeluno4/11/2018, 2:58:47 PM1 votes

I really like the new Q trail interaction concept! Makes a lotta thematic sense and is a fresh take I had never thought of- ghosting him (literally) would be a really unique interaction/mechanic and it meshes well with his intended usage paradigm. Slight question: why not just give Noc the MS back on his Q, along with the ghosting effect, and remove the dash function from his passive? How does one trigger/perform his dash effect from his passive anyway; is it like Swain's new passive, on a point and click? I think his passive here, as well as this whole kit is a bit too overloaded, power-wise. You can frontload him like a Yasuo, but it must be with clear weaknesses and/or severe tradeoffs. That dash mechanic might just be too cluttered and hard to implement/communicate in-game, as well. At another glance, I now see that you intend for his Q to be powerful in tandem with his P, giving Noc a window around the P, but I must ask if you do not think that a MS boost on the trail, with a perhaps longer Q CD, would achieve the same desired effect? My main point here, to be clear, is that the P-dash does not immerse itself well enough within the rest of the kit. Did you ask yourself, "what is the purpose of the 'delayed burst' on this new P (as well as new W's delay, effect-wise? I like that you thought of it being used aggressively, but I don't see how it would be successful- although I am imagining it being a channel/self-snare and that you simply did not specify to that length). Could the dash mechanic (seeing as you intended to add power to Noc in terms of mobility, for "playmaking potential", which I like) be moved elsewhere- perhaps the E? Or could perhaps the MS I mentioned be tacked onto the E- like an Akali shroud? (Idea: make the Q ghost-trail and E-smokescreen function just as such?) I think that the W damage reduction is a bit too strong; maybe make it a % (maybe a flat scaling, if you're sold on keeping every mechanic in this current kit- again, think of budget), maybe make it an AoE in a cone with increasing width, channeled? I say a channeled AoE (think Sion Q) because you said you wanted it to be able to be used offensively ("aggressively")- which I also like (adds champion depth and skill expression/agency)- but that brings me back to the question of whether you considered the dual mechanics and how you intend them to work together; why do you require Noc, an offensive champ to be attacked on a delayed defensive skill in order to apply his dot/fear? If it were like a Sion Q, albeit defensive, could it maybe be designed such that it communicates to enemies, "get out of the way!"? Perhaps the fear/fear debuff stacks could be applied after the delay(/channel, in my version)? Back to the E. How does a cloud of invisibility in front of Noc give him agency with the invisibility mechanic- he creates a zone that tells everyone exactly where he wants to go? How big is this cone's AoE- does he have wiggle room, literally, to move around? What if his new P entailed receiving MS towards targets feared by Building Horror, and his Q kept the enhanced ghost (no extra MS), and you changed the E to include the dash you have in his P? Maybe a "his E is a fixed distance, freely-targeted dash that deals damage in a line (big swipe), gains range towards Q'd targets and can be used twice within a window? Applies Building Horror? How tied are you to the dash mechanic idea (because I like your idea of giving him skill expression/depth)? How, then, might we implement invisibility back into his kit? I have an idea: Q ghosts on trail and, if he hits a champ, he is camouflaged for the duration of the trail. That way, he has invisibility, but within specific conditions and isn't just given free, seemingly random power for nothing (if he pursues his enemy on the trail, he effectively loses his invisibility, as camouflage does not work in proximity to champs or turrets (Twitch Q/Eve P/Rengar R). Or perhaps his W gives a spell shield, still, and if triggered he gets the camouflage? Just ideas. I think that there is some genius in your design. It is ambitious, exact, and thoroughly-contrived. Noc was my first champ purchase when I joined back in Season 3, and I loved him all the way to level 30- when I realized he was too flat. I really appreciate your insights on the ult; you seem to have good fundamental understanding of game design and champion philosophy within the League scope. Cheers!