I'm a semi new player, and I'm thinking about using Noctume as a Jungler. I wanted other opinions to see how other people use him and just to see the general opinion about him. From what I've heard he's an over all good Jungler but not especially great at any individual thing.
Cale0176 votesHey there! I'm a Nocturne main, and hopefully I'll be able to shed some light on him for you. This is gonna be pretty long, but I'm going to go into detail on his abilities more than you would get from a regular description and how best to utilize them.
He's an absolutely amazing jungler, but is heavily reliant on your own foresight, and on your team making sure to either follow up on you, or that you can mop up for them.
First of all, his single target sustained damage is simply off the charts, especially if you build Skirmisher's/Devourer on him. An an auto attack reliant champion he has everything you would want, and he can function as either an all out damage assassin or as an offtank, although he makes for a much better assassin IMO, and should only be built tanky if the team needs it, or if you're falling behind.
His passive is amazing for both duels and teamfights, and while it doesn't give a lot of health on hit later on in the game, it gives enough to assist you with clearing the jungle early on even if it isn't as good of a sustain as Warwick's kit or Lee Sin's spellvamp. Against a single target it'll give you an extra bit of damage every few auto attacks once you get some solid attack speed on him, and if you have it ready before ganking into the botlane or when there are several enemies grouped it'll take a large chunk out of them in one swipe. It's gotten me many a multikill.
Q functions as a sticking mechanic by boosting his speed when on a trail, as an AD steroid by boosting his AD when on the trail, and more importantly it allows you to track stealthed enemies! It has a very wide hitbox and a long range, but the movement for the missile is relatively slow so learn to lead it. It passes through enemies and will deal damage to all of them without any reduction, which makes it a teamfight terror when it's at full rank and you have a solid amount of AD. This ability also helps you with your jungle clearing by giving you extra AD, and this will interact with the 120% damage cleave when your passive is up. It goes through walls, which can be useful for sniping low health enemies who flash away to try and escape.
W will make or break you as a Nocturne. It gives you passive attack speed, synergizing well with his passive and the idea that he's an auto attack reliant damage dealer, and if you activate it to use as a spellshield and an enemy makes the mistake of using an ability on you, they get to deal with you having double the passive attack speed! This is the ability that lets you win trades and saves you long enough to take out high priority targets in teamfights. However, it can feel a little unintuitive at first because the shield takes just a bit longer to come up than you would expect. Just like his Q, you have to learn to lead his shield. People who know Nocturne well will have to make the hard decision when you activate it during a duel of not using any abilities for it's duration or risking doubling your attack speed by popping it ASAP and hoping the rest of their skills will get you. This spellshield makes it nigh impossible to lose duels against anyone who's not overly fed, and will stop any ult reliant enemies in their tracks. Fizz threw his fish? W. Darius has some stacks on you? W. Lux about to fiyah her lazar? W. It'll save you from a distance, and wreck up close.
E is the utility that gives you better ganks. It scales off of AP, so it'll deal very meh damage, but the fear is what you're looking for. The tether range isn't very long, a bit smaller than Fiddlestick's drain, but if you can keep them in distance by tagging them with your Q trail first you're rewarded with a few moments of retaliation free auto attacks. As an added bonus, the damage it deals doesn't aggro turrets until the fear goes through, so if you're going to turret dive make sure you hit them with this and just keep chasing them through the turret without actually hitting them. The fear will activate, they'll run out of the turret range, and you can then safely continue to apply the pain.
R. Oh my god this ult. It's the definition of ganking. At early levels it's range is long for an ult, but still requires you to be in solid positions along rivers or in jungles to actually use it to get to lane. The damage it deals is decent, but it's not going to instagib someone who isn't already at low health. But the tradeoff for having anaverage amount of damage? The range. Good lord the range. At rank two you can gank from a good portion of either jungle, and from farther down a lane than most will expect. At max range? You'll be supermanning clear across a map to dive on that poor fool who decided pushing the top turret alone was a good idea. This ability allows you to catch out opponents who are trying to go it alone, and to dive into the backline of a teamfight to take out an enemy carry before they have time to react. Make sure you hit your spellshield before you dive in, though. As an added bonus, when you use this the enemy team loses all vision. Their screen goes dark, they can only see a small distance around them, and they lose sight of their wards. They are entirely blind, meaning that ADCs can no longer provide any damage during a teamfight because they have no one to click on! Even if you can't get to a fight off of the leap, using this can help your team win it anyways by blinding the enemy and giving your team a distinct advantage for five seconds. Use it during a teamfight, but don't immediately use it to jump to the backlane, and you give your allies a few more seconds to deal damage to a confused enemy frontline before you dive in to kill the carries. When you hit your ult and their screen goes dark, every member of the enemy team gets worried. The carries wet themselves wondering if it's them or someone else, the low health enemies are clenching as they run for the safety of a bush, and the tanks are preparing to use whatever they have to to protect whatever carry is near them. It's a great mindgame, a great teamfight ability, and an amazing leap.
Hoo boy.
Your skill priority is R> Q > E > W. The skill order should be Q > W > E, then max Q, then E, then W last. Ult at 6, 11, 16. Your Q is your main source of damage, so it's a no-brainer. But why not max the spellshield first? Simple: the spellshield doesn't block any more or less depending on it's rank, and while the first rank gives 20% attack speed each rank after only gives an additional 5%. Your skill points are better spent on your E, which reduces it's cooldown, gives it just a bit more damage, but increases the length of the fear. That's what you're looking for during the midgame to help you take down single targets.
Nocturne has two build paths, assassin and offtank fighter. The former is widely regarded as the better, but in times of need the latter will still work fine.
You're going to want to get Skirmisher's Saber and the Devourer enchant. The on hit damage that these two will provide you is off the charts, especially after you start getting stacks quicker in your jungle and the enemy's, and getting fed off of assists or kills.
Next you will want to grab Boots of Lucidity. He absolutely needs CDR, as this will make his passive come up quicker, allow him to Q more often to keep his damage bonus and stick to targets, and most importantly it reduces the time on his ult. The tradeoff for how amazing his ult is comes in the cooldown. It starts off at about three minutes, so CDR is an absolute necessity.
After that, build a Brutalizer. He loves the CDR and armor pen, and the 20 AD is nothing to scoff at. But instead of finishing it, instead start working on either a BotRK or a Hydra.
The first is probably the better of the two as it has more synergy with his kit, providing more attack speed for more on hit procs, a nifty movement speed steal that heals you a significant amount, and allows him to mow through tanks. Hydra is a great choice if you're looking for more burst damage, but I usually wait to get it until later when the Cleaves passive/active will do more. However if your team is falling behind early, this can be a solid choice to help push lanes, clear your jungle faster, and provides a bit of quick damage when you go in on their carry as it resets his AA timer, letting you get 3 attacks in quicker than you could get in 2 otherwise. The Hydra is usually better for a tankier Nocturne since he can sit in fights longer to deal AoE damage. When I was first learning him I build Hydra first in almost all cases, but as I've gotten better BotRK really has been the better option, but it's up to you.
From there finish the Black Cleaver, the added health and damage, and the passive armor reduction per hit are great on him combined with the CDR.
After this you can choose to either build a BoRK if you built a Hydra, a Hydra if you built a BoRK, or start working on alternatives. If I'm doing really well I'll usually build my Hydra around this point, or at least get the Tiamat. If the enemy is already starting to stack armor to give you a problem, a Last Whisper fits in great here and between the LW and the Black Cleaver, carries are absolutely mush before you.
Around this time you should be fed. Very fed. It doesn't matter whether it's kills or assists, although chances are it's the former, right now when you show up lone enemies will run, and even if they're with a pal they still hesitate. The mid to late game is when Nocturne starts really hitting his stride and becomes a huge threat due to the range of his ult. Here you have two options: build a GA if the enemy team can lock you down if you make a wrong move and delete you, or build a Zephyr to be just THAT much stronger. Me? I prefer the Zephyr. 25 more AD, 50% more attack speed, along with 10% movement speed and another 10% CDR? You should be hovering somewhere around 250 AD at this point, with 35% CDR, and around 1.9-2.1 attack speed depending on your runes. There is no one who can duel you 1v1 and it takes a significant effort to fight you 2v1. This Nocturne was the one that got me my first quadra.
Cale0174 votesWow, didn't know there was a character limit!
Maw of Malmortius is another solid option if you're facing off against a team that's heavy AP, or perhaps if their AP mid has gotten more fed than you want to deal with otherwise.
If you enchant your boots, you're going to want either Alacrity or Furor. Alacrity helps you with roaming and getting into position to land an ult quicker, while Furor helps your sticking power once you're already on someone.
If you're going to build him as a tank, hold off on the BotRK in favor of a Hydra. As an added note, just in general, you want to get good with abusing AA resets with him. Watch for when the damage of an auto attack goes through, hit the Hydra active and he'll do full damage in an area around him again, basically another attack, but it sets him up for a third attack by resetting his attack animation just afterwards. Hydra also synergizes with his attack speed as the animation for the active effect will happen faster.
After this, you'll finish the Black Cleaver as before, but then start building tank items. Randuin's Omen is a powerful, teamwide slow that you can use after ulting in. Banshee's Veil gives him a secondary spellshield, once again invaluable during teamfights and when diving into them. Spirit Visage will increase how much you heal from auto attacks, your passive, BotRK, and Hydra. You can also take Ninja Tabi or Mercury Treads if you need early tenacity, or to help against AD heavy teams. Homeguard boots will help you defend your base better, since if you're building tanky you're probably on the defensive.
For Masteries, you're going to want 21/9/0 for the extra health in the jungle, and taking all the basic offensive masteries for an AD champ. He can utilize the 5% CDR or the 5% attack speed equally well from the first tier of masteries, so which you take is up to you. I like the 5% CDR so by the time my build is done I'm at the hard cap for it, but if you want to use his passive more often earlier then take the 5% attack speed.
For runes I take attack speed quints, AD marks, armor seals, and MR/level glyphs. The armor seals help you through all stages of the game, but most of all early when he's otherwise incredibly squishy. The MR/level glyphs will be giving you more MR than flat seals by the mid and late game. The AD marks are to give his AAs and passive just a bit more hurt, while the AS quints keep up the damage output and get his passive back up faster, which essential to his jungle clear.
Nocturne is all about knowing how much you can do. Can you safely dive a teamfight to get the carry and still get away? Can you sustain enough to take on that group of two or three? It can be easy to overshoot your own capabilities with Nocturne, but once you get a feel for him, and a few early kills, you'll be nigh unstoppable through the mid and late game.
Good luck, and DAAAAAAAARKKNESSSSSSSSSSS
JasonAG1 votesWow that sure did take a while to read but now I definitely feel more confidant using him, especially since his R blinds everyone. I found this build online (http://www.solomid.net/guide/view/39034-nocturne-build-guide-jungle-by-sgvdaemon), since I'm pretty new I don't exactly know what all I need. Since you have a good idea about what Nocturne needs I was wandering if this would be a good build starting off? Btw does he do good just playing lanes?
Cale0172 votesI wouldn't suggest it. That Nocturne build is more of an offtank build, and relies a lot more on your own ability to tell whether or not it's safe to engage. It's more for when you're playing with teammates who can build upon what you bring to the table. As a solo queue choice, you're much safer with a higher damage build like what I suggested, but how you decide is ultimately up to you! Youmuu's Ghostblade is still an incredible item on Nocturne, and builds out of the Brutalizer you would otherwise start with after your jungle item. It's definitely a solid choice for a bit more damage and sticking power due to it's active, and having some crit chance thrown in could never be a good thing. I like the armor reduction more, as it helps with teamfights, and the extra health provided by the Black Cleaver but once again it's all up to you!
Nocturne unfortunately does not fare as well in lanes. His Q will push a wave when you might not want to, and while his spellshield might be useful for trades, overusing it will leave you drained. In fact, much of his kit can be mana intensive during the early game without the blue buff, and his ult is utterly wasted using it on an enemy laner, and won't be up nearly as soon as most top laner's ults will be. His cleave can provide alright sustain, but has the same issue with his Q of pushing waves when you otherwise might not want to.
Cale0172 votesI'm eager to know how you do as well. I'd love to hear back from you at some point and know if my advice was of any help!
Earl Eulrich1 votesthough he usually does very well vs other melese in toplane due his immense base-dps...and vs immobile mages (spellshield ryze w and he´s dead from full). But yea, you shouldn´t forget to ward out, as his passive is really bad for freezing the lane.
Leti the Yeti2 votesHey there! I'm a Nocturne main, and hopefully I'll be able to shed some light on him for you
HAH! shed some light lel
cuz noct is all dark and shadowy
RiotRiot MechaMoose5 votesWow, didn't know there was a character limit!
Maw of Malmortius is another solid option if you're facing off against a team that's heavy AP, or perhaps if their AP mid has gotten more fed than you want to deal with otherwise.
If you enchant your boots, you're going to want either Alacrity or Furor. Alacrity helps you with roaming and getting into position to land an ult quicker, while Furor helps your sticking power once you're already on someone.
If you're going to build him as a tank, hold off on the BotRK in favor of a Hydra. As an added note, just in general, you want to get good with abusing AA resets with him. Watch for when the damage of an auto attack goes through, hit the Hydra active and he'll do full damage in an area around him again, basically another attack, but it sets him up for a third attack by resetting his attack animation just afterwards. Hydra also synergizes with his attack speed as the animation for the active effect will happen faster.
After this, you'll finish the Black Cleaver as before, but then start building tank items. Randuin's Omen is a powerful, teamwide slow that you can use after ulting in. Banshee's Veil gives him a secondary spellshield, once again invaluable during teamfights and when diving into them. Spirit Visage will increase how much you heal from auto attacks, your passive, BotRK, and Hydra. You can also take Ninja Tabi or Mercury Treads if you need early tenacity, or to help against AD heavy teams. Homeguard boots will help you defend your base better, since if you're building tanky you're probably on the defensive.
For Masteries, you're going to want 21/9/0 for the extra health in the jungle, and taking all the basic offensive masteries for an AD champ. He can utilize the 5% CDR or the 5% attack speed equally well from the first tier of masteries, so which you take is up to you. I like the 5% CDR so by the time my build is done I'm at the hard cap for it, but if you want to use his passive more often earlier then take the 5% attack speed.
For runes I take attack speed quints, AD marks, armor seals, and MR/level glyphs. The armor seals help you through all stages of the game, but most of all early when he's otherwise incredibly squishy. The MR/level glyphs will be giving you more MR than flat seals by the mid and late game. The AD marks are to give his AAs and passive just a bit more hurt, while the AS quints keep up the damage output and get his passive back up faster, which essential to his jungle clear.
Nocturne is all about knowing how much you can do. Can you safely dive a teamfight to get the carry and still get away? Can you sustain enough to take on that group of two or three? It can be easy to overshoot your own capabilities with Nocturne, but once you get a feel for him, and a few early kills, you'll be nigh unstoppable through the mid and late game.
Good luck, and DAAAAAAAARKKNESSSSSSSSSSS
Hey! This (and your previous) are awesome posts. Thanks a lot!
Cale0171 votesWow, I never imagined a Rioter would actually respond to something like this! I can't tell you how cool it is to have someone from Riot recognize a champion analysis, much more so from someone who's unranked.
RiotRiot MechaMoose7 votesYou don't need to be ranked to have good insight on a champion you love and play a lot! When someone is looking for a new champion, or simply wants to get better with a champion, hearing from someone who is passionate about that champion is always useful.
So thanks again for sharing!
insaiyanbacca1 voteshes my second favorite jungler after shaco and he does well in the jungle right now if you build devourer on rangers trailblazer and bortk he has insane damage his ganks really aren't much till lvl 6
Mahnigguh1 voteshe is good in the new jungle because of his passive and the AS lifesteal rune combo helps him out a lot. his shield can be hard to use and sometimes forgotten and it can be frustrating when trying to stun someone and they get out. His ult is useless if you don't use it correctly and if you are uber fed his ult can be completely forgotten. That being said he is fun, a great farmer, and can build glass cannon or tanky dps either way. I find taky dps to be the best route on him personally.n
EliteGunm4n1 votesHe is one of my favorite junglers but it is true he isnt the best at any particular task. Depending on your item choices you can be a strong duelist and split-pusher or assassin. He can be also be fairly tanky if he takes a hit to his damage. He also has strong ganks and counterganks with his ult. one of his greatest strengths in team fights late game is not his ult as initiation but as a follow up. After your team initiates, you choose an isolated squishy and delete them, them move on to progressively tankier targets. Your E can also be a strong kite tool to protect you carries from enemies.
In conclusion......DARKNESS!!!!!! 
Earl Eulrich1 votesHe has one of the strongest ults in the game, especially in SoloQ - if you know how to make proper use of the Vision-denial that is. So he really is damn great with pick/dive comps.
ForgeReaper1 votesI actually like playing in lane more then in the jungle. I admit that he has mana problems, but a lot of champs have mana problems early. The small mana pool just means you have to space out your abilities more then you would in the jungle. I find building a trinity force as my first item really just solves everything. Trinity Force kind a solves your mana problem, it gives you attack speed, health, AD, and gives you some good sticking power. But this is only my opinion :P
