As a former Marksman and now Support Main, I suffer from heavy traumatic wounds. I guess I’m not the only one whose PTSD gets triggered every time I see a Rengar or Fizz on the enemy team. Why can Rengar jump out of stealth and instantly delete my AD Carry? Why is Fizz invincible until he's killed basically whoever he wanted to? Obviously I am exaggerating. Every assassin can be denied and the same goes for the topic of this Guide, Assassin Nocturne. Still, every assassin has a certain strength and playstyle. This is why, even though Rengar and Fizz have more upfront burst, Assassin Nocturne could still be your next favourite pick in the jungle.

I, for my part, am not really good on Rengar, nor on Fizz, but Nocturne just clicked for me. It’s really playstyle dependent. If you want to be able to force a skirmish from 25/32.5/40 Teemos distance (1 Teemo = 100 Range) whenever your Ultimate is up, if you want to be able to burst and/or ruthlessly hunt down isolated, trembling enemies begging for mercy – if you’re really into that kind of sadistic torture – Nocturne is the way to go. Last but not least with Nocturne you can always decide to build full tank (Engage Nocturne) and still be useful as an engage tool or wreak havoc on the enemy backline as Bruiser Nocturne, building semi tanky. His lack of CC abilities is somewhat of a problem when playing him as a full tank or bruiser, but you can fix that by building Iceborn Gauntlet and/or Randuin’s Omen, as slowing your enemies down should allow your teammates to follow up. But let’s be honest, Nocturne is a damage champion, Assassin Nocturne is the real deal!

I will do runes, masteries and items first since the playstyle I want to describe is based upon them.

Items:

• Skirmisher's Sabre (Core) - It's the most duel favouring of the three jungle items. Stalker's Blade can be viable for more utility, but Skirmisher's Sabre is the go to pick for fighting enemy carries.
• Warrior Enchantment (Core) - Devourer Nocturne deals less upfront damage at almost every stage of the game until he gets to three items, because he needs to stack, lowering your map pressure, and lacks armor penetration (since he has to build on-hit items instead of penetration). Might be viable for a bruiser build, but I don't think so though, especially not since Blade of the Ruined King was nerfed.
• Youmuu's Ghostblade (Core) - This item gives Nocturne all the stats he wants to have. I don't think any item in the game fits Nocturne better than this one (since you can also play Nocturne in a solo lane where the jungle item is disqualified). Sometimes it's hard to decide when to use the active, but not with Nocturne. Your Ultimate is like a giant "GO" button, making it pretty easy to decide when to use the item.
• Boots (Different Options) - This is a very situational choice. Go for Mercury's Treads against CC and magic damage, for Ninja Tabi against full-ad teams or for Berserker's Greaves if you want even more damage. Against certain enemies Boots of Swiftness might be viable as well (mostly against Ashe... but even then Ninja/Mercury's might be better).
• Dead Man's Plate (Situational) - This item is incredibly strong on Nocturne no matter role you are trying to fill. The only situation in which I'd decide against building Dead Man's Plate as a third item is against heavy magic damage teams. Even then, it would most likely end up being the fourth ot last item in the final build. The plate provides health and armor, helping you to survive long enough deal all of your damage. Not very assassin-like you might say but Nocturne is a little slower than Rengar and Talon, the throned paragons of kill speed. The item's passive also provides damage, which Nocturne can use perfectly well due to his Ultimate, and a slow, allowing you to chase down your target with fewer problems.
• Maw of Malmortious (Situational) - Another very fitting item for Nocturne. The magic resistance on Maw, or Hexdrinker as a fast, cheap item, potentially prevents your sudden death when encountering an AP Carry - be it during a skirmish or in a teamfight. Finishing the Maw wasn't really viable in the past but this reworked version provides another 10 armor penetration, which is nice, and its passive also adds attack speed and lifesteal to your champion as soon as the magic shield is triggered.
• Other strong possibilities: Mercurial Scimitar, Titanic/Ravenous Hydra, Iceborn Gauntlet, Randuin's Omen, Banshee's Veil, Blade of the Ruined King

Masteries:

I put 12 points in the Ferocity Tree, focusing on attack speed, damage and lifesteal. The other 18 points are in the Cunning Tree featuring the typical jungle masteries with damage to monsters, longer buffs, more damage, Dangerous Game, Precision and Thunderlord's Decree. Why Thunderlord's instead of Fervor of Battle? Fervor of Battle is a very nice Keystone on Nocturne since you can get to 10 Stacks very quickly (Ultimate+Q+E+2 auto-attacks) but the Precision mastery is vastly superior to Ferocity's % penetration against the carries, who are your primary targets. Also, Thunderlord's has a neat synergy with your Q, benefiting from the additional attack damage for its damage.

Runes:

I take flat penetration marks due to their superior scaling over attack damage and because they synergize well with the flat penetration from Youmuu's, allowing me to almost completely penetrate the little armor most carries have. For Quints, I use attack speed because it is what my build lacks, especially in early game. Having some attack speed is a huge benefit for your jungle sustain due to more passive attacks and it allows me to chase enemies more effectively.

Playstyle:

Now that we got the basics covered let’s talk about playstyle and tricks. Looking at Nocturne’s kit we can easily recognise the strength of his ganks post-6 but what about the early game? Many Nocturne players tend to just power farm to 6 and while I think that this is certainly a viable option in some occasions, it can also be devastating when playing against a high pressure jungler. Nocturne can and should impact his lanes pre-6. Your ganks might not be the strongest - seriously, only go for ganks pre-6 in very over-pushed lanes or when your ally has any form of reliable hard CC – but Nocturne has very strong counterganks. Your damage, when in melee combat and if not bursted down immediately, is immense and can certainly win you most skirmishes at basically any stage of the game. Use your skirmish power to secure the Rift Scuttlers whenever possible to give your team a vision advantage. If you want, you can also go for a cheese strategy that can work out pretty nicely. By going Smite and Exhaust, you gain even more skirmishing power and Exhaust also further increases your 1v1 ability against late game AP or AD carries. But be cautious when not running Flash, positioning will be way harder and chasing an Ezreal could prove to be difficult. Adapt to the enemy team with your Summoner Spells.

As soon as you hit level 6, you can start ganking with your Ultimate. Get the Raptor buff and sneak into a bush near the lane you want to gank. Having the Raptor buff you can be sure that you were not spotted anywhere near your target, leaving them clueless to your presence. Let your teammate engage first if he isn’t already in danger of dying. As soon as your enemy committed to the fight and/or blows important CC or escape abilities, you have the chance of your life to wreck him out of nowhere. You could engage earlier as well but if they have still an escape spell up your gank could fail miserably, leaving your Ultimate on a pretty long cooldown. Try to walk towards the enemy tower between your auto attacks to ensure that your enemy gets feared by your E. In general, practice moving between your attacks as it massively increases your chasing ability.

How to use your Ultimate correctly: Many Nocturne players use their Ultimate simply by pressing R two times and then use all their stuff when already in combat. This is a waste of opportunities! Nocturne can use all his abilities while mid-air. In other words you can use your Q while mid-air, almost guaranteeing it to hit with just a little practice. Basically you should use as many of the following Abilities as possible before hitting your enemy: Youmuu’s Active, Q, Challenging Smite and E (and Exhaust if you run it). At least the first three should be possible, in the order presented.

By farming efficiently and maybe getting a kill or two, you should get your two core items plus boots around mid game. As soon as you got both core items, you reach 40+ flat armor penetration and a bunch of attack damage, allowing you to 1v1 almost every enemy in the game. This is when teams start to group, sadly. If your team got some sort of hard engage, like Malphite or Leona, you can join them, too. Let your initiator engage the enemy and wait for your opportunity. Your target is the enemy backline. If you charge too early, your enemies will focus you down and kill you. If you charge too late, your team will die to the opponent’s damage. Your job is to charge in as soon as their frontline is busy being engaged upon and/or key CC abilities are down. Remember that you can use your W to block key CC abilities, it takes some neat reactions and practice though.

In most occasions you’d rather not group because 5v5 fights can prove to be very difficult as Nocturne, at least as long as you don’t have any defensive items. Try to communicate this to your team and try to split push. Try to get vision control and, even more importantly, get a blue trinket to secure vision of your target when using your Ultimate. Then, hunt down isolated enemies. Often times carries, especially AD Carries, will try to farm a pushing bot lane, splitting themselves from their team. This is your opportunity to strike. If the enemy team has a split pusher on their own, you can also try to 1v1 him, though some champions like Jax could be dangerous to engage alone.

Your mid game is basically the same as your mid game. Only teamfight if there are champions on your team with CC abilities or enough power to force focus. Try to take out one or more carries by charging in and fighting them. If this strategy proves to be unsuccessful because the enemy backline is too strong, you can also try to peel for your own backline by attacking the enemy tanks. It’s not ideal but better than committing suicide, isn’t it?

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