Nox’s Smite Background

Nox is the Roman Goddess of Night and was first introduced into Smite on the principle of introducing anti-mages into Smite. Nox’s future was to be quite the rollercoaster, at first release the community of Smite cried out to buff the character due to her low damage rates, low mobility, low defense and poor kitting. Nox’s lowpoint of release soon changed when she received a major buff, her ultimate was changed to apply to 3 people and could be triggered instantly by the Nox. Along with this change her passive was also changed to increase her mitigations with each ability she used. Shortly after these changes where Nox proceeded to excel in the world championships she was nerfed to her release quality, if not worse in her damage ratings.

After the community again had not been happy with her state in the game, it was decided that she would be gaining an entirely new kit, one that would change her play entirely. Nox is now able to provide huge single target damage and provide essential control to a game, though she can only pull this off with relatively high cooldowns and penalties against her with the use of her abilities.

You can find a previous evaluation of her kit in an old guide of mine here.

Nox’s New Abilities

Passive - Flame of the Night

Though Nox hasn’t lost the use of her candles from her previous kit, they have been drastically changed to become a huge source of damage for Nox. Like before Nox will light a candle each time she uses an ability but instead of providing damage mitigation, the candles now provide additional magical damage (3% more for each stack with a max of 4 stacks).

The new passive has a great potential to give Nox the damage she once had in her previous ‘overpowered’ state as not only will this passive max out to give her 12% additional magical damage but it can also be combined with an item such as Rod of Tahuti to provide huge gains in power. This passive does have a very clear downside, however, as every time Nox takes damage she will lose one of candles and ,in terms of playing against a Nox, this can be very easy to keep her damage low as the even the smallest source of damage will extinguish her huge flame of damage.

1st Ability - Shadow Lock

What once was a shield to Nox has changed to a much more offensive and utility based ability. Shadow lock will reach out in a lined area to root a single enemy though Nox has to channel this ability and cannot use other abilities while keeping a target locked in place though the ability can be cancelled early if required.

This ability is great for engaging on an enemy, especially when you have your team around as the target will be unable to move once locked, though characters that have leaps or dashes are instantly able to cancel the use of this ability, presenting a second downside to the ability. Not only could this be seen to engage on enemies as Nox has all movement penalties removed when channeling this ability, therefore allowing her to lock an enemy to then escape them with ease. The most effective use of the ability is with her 2nd ability as not only is the target rooted in the ability but they are also silenced which means that it is next to impossible to avoid the huge burst from her 2nd ability.

2nd Ability - Siphon Darkness

Once Nox’s 3rd ability, Siphon Darkness makes a return into her new kit though it has been changed a lot from its last state. The new Siphon Darkness now has a slightly larger radius than the old and will now silence any enemies that are standing within that radius, after a while the void created will explode and deal massive amounts of damage to enemies still standing within it. The ability also has a much longer cooldown compared to the old one.

This ability is Nox’s main source of damage within her new kit while also providing a strong degree of control also due to the silence provided in the ability which can be used to cancel enemy abilities or to remove such bonuses they may have provided by any item such as Magi’s Blessing. Though the ability can provide a lot of damage and control, it is hard to use as the charge time for detonation is so long that all enemies are easily able to walk straight out of it, presenting the need for Shadow Lock to be used to actually secure any damage.

3rd Ability - Shadow Step

With her 3rd ability Nox finally gains the mobility she lacked in her first kit. The ability Shadow Step allows Nox to dash forward in a line, dealing damage to all enemies she comes into contact with but ,different to any other dash in the game, she will enter an ally if she comes into contact with them. When Nox is inside an ally, an entirely new feature to the game, she is able to travel within them for 8 seconds or until she cancels the ability and at this point she will burst out of her ally and deal damage in the surrounding area. It is also important to note that if Nox is inside an ally who flies into the air she won’t be able to get out of them until they are back on the ground, even after the normal 8 second limit.

This ability can allow Nox to create great escapes or great engages as she can choose to enter and engaging ally such a Thor or an Athena and in the same respect could use another character’s escapes to full potential as well such as Nemesis or Serqet. If choosing not to enter an ally this can easily be used purely for the mobility to engage or escape on her own but could also be used as an execute with the smaller damage it deals in comparison to Siphon Darkness.

Ultimate Ability - Night Terror

With her new ultimate Nox will hurl a ball of dark energy forward that will explode once it comes into contact with an enemy God or a wall of some kind. When exploding the ultimate will deal initial damage to all enemies hit and then apply a damage over time effect and a damage debuff. The debuff created will reduce an enemy’s damage by 30% for 5 seconds and the damage over time effect will be applied for a total of 5 seconds also.

Generally this ability doesn’t actually do as much as people were expecting it to, Siphon Darkness is a much better way to create damage with the character and can provide more control also. Though this ability lacks what you may expect from an average ultimate it can be used to execute very effectively as the ability has a very long range, this can also be used for utility for swaying a teamfight in your favour by reducing the damage being produced from enemies.

General Advantages with Nox:

- She can create a huge amount of burst to singular targets.
- She is an effective counter to ability based Gods and melee based Gods.
- She has great mobility and can also use great mobility from allies.
- If left undamaged she will be able to create huge damage at any point in the game, even with her basic attacks dealing high damage for most mages.
- She is a great team player, creator of escapes and engages.

General Disadvantages with Nox:

- She can only put out huge damage around every 15 seconds with abilities.
- Her mobility is heavily brought down by only being able to use it roughly every 15 seconds.
- She can’t ensure damage without the use of other abilities.
- She has poor grouped combat.
- Hunters and guardians are able to prevent her taking much action.
- She requires a huge amount of decision making on the spot compared to other characters.

Personally I believe that the current Nox is not really in need of any nerf or buff as she has equal disadvantages to her advantages. If I were to suggest any nerf it would be to reduce the percentage power gain from each stack of her passive, if I were to suggest a possible buff it would either be to reduce the cooldown on her Shadow Step or to make Night Terror more useful from something such as a damage increase or a higher rate of damage reduction through the levelling system of the ability (create reduction % per rank).

I also feel that Nox is just in a really good place within the game, she is a counter pick and this creates balance in the sense that she can either do really well or very badly and would depend on the player’s choice and playstyle rather than the character just being really overpowered.

Is the Goddess now really the one who Nox? Try her out!

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