Guide · Jungle

Nocturne Guide

the Eternal Nightmare

Fighter

Assassin

Tier A Jungle

Nocturne, the Eternal Nightmare, is a fighter and assassin champion of medium difficulty. Across our 653 analysed ranked games, Nocturne is mostly played in the Jungle (100% of its games), with a 49.9% win rate in that role: tier A among Jungle champions (#8 of 48, ranked by win rate). Nocturne's damage is mostly physical (84%): armor is the best defensive answer against this champion. 11% of that damage is true damage and therefore ignores resistances. Win rate stays steady whatever the game length (49.0% to 50.3%): a reliable pick in every phase of the game.

Averages measured over 653 Jungle games played with Nocturne, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

Combos and how to play

Nocturne is a jungler whose attack regularly strikes in an area for bonus damage and a heal. Duskbringer leaves a Haunt that gives him speed, damage and pass-through of units, Shroud of Darkness blocks an ability, Unspeakable Horror terrifies and Paranoia reduces enemy vision before a leap.

The trade

Q › AA AA › E

When: An enemy is within range.

Duskbringer damages and leaves a Haunt; your attacks in the Haunt are empowered, Unspeakable Horror deals damage every second and terrifies if the target stays in range.

Protection

W › AA AA

When: An enemy casts an important ability.

Shroud of Darkness creates a barrier able to block an enemy ability and doubles the attack speed bonus on a block.

The assassination

R › Q › E › AA AA

When: A carry is isolated.

Paranoia reduces the enemies' field of vision and removes their vision of allies; leap onto a nearby champion then chain.

Laning phase

Your attacks reduce your passive's cooldown: attack often. Stay in the Haunt to benefit from the speed and damage bonus.

Common mistakes

• Using Shroud of Darkness without anticipating the ability to block.
• Casting the ultimate with no nearby target.
• Leaving the Haunt: you lose your bonus.

Riot's official tips for playing Nocturne

• Using Paranoia at a critical moment is well worth it even if you cannot use the dash.
• Duskbringer isn't only an offensive ability. It can be used to close distance out of combat or escape from certain death.
• Use Shroud of Darkness in tandem with Paranoia's dash. Your opponents may panic and waste a critical disable on your spell shield.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Axiom Arc, Profane Hydra, and Voltaic Cyclosword (99 games, 52.5% win rate).

Axiom Arc+Profane Hydra+Voltaic Cyclosword

99 games · 52.5%

Black Cleaver+Experimental Hexplate+Stridebreaker

69 games · 56.5%

Experimental Hexplate+Death's Dance+Stridebreaker

69 games · 59.4%

Summoner spells

Flash + Smite49.5% · 648 games

Most-played runes

Conqueror + Domination

50.2% · 297 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph100%

Legend: Alacrity99%

Last Stand65%

Secondary tree · Domination

Ultimate Hunter100%

Grisly Mementos69%

Shards

Attack speed100%

Adaptive force100%

Health scaling78%

Hail of Blades + Precision

47.0% · 198 games

Primary tree · Domination

Sudden Impact98%

Grisly Mementos94%

Ultimate Hunter99%

Secondary tree · Precision

Legend: Alacrity98%

Triumph96%

Shards

Attack speed97%

Adaptive force100%

Health scaling96%

Lethal Tempo + Domination

52.0% · 102 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph100%

Legend: Alacrity98%

Last Stand69%

Secondary tree · Domination

Ultimate Hunter97%

Grisly Mementos70%

Shards

Attack speed97%

Adaptive force99%

Health scaling80%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Nocturne's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team50.0% · 190 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Experimental Hexplate 56.0% ▲

Axiom Arc 48.4%

Stridebreaker 54.2%

Profane Hydra 44.6% ▼

Voltaic Cyclosword 45.5%

Black Cleaver 51.2% ▼

The item that stands out most is Experimental Hexplate: 56.0% win rate, +4 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team47.9% · 165 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Experimental Hexplate 51.0%

Axiom Arc 50.0%

Stridebreaker 50.0% ▼

Profane Hydra 46.4%

Death's Dance 48.6% ▼

Voltaic Cyclosword 40.0% ▼

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Balanced enemy team51.0% · 298 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Experimental Hexplate 51.0%

Stridebreaker 57.6%

Axiom Arc 47.7%

Profane Hydra 52.4% ▲

Guardian Angel 65.1% ▲

Voltaic Cyclosword 54.8% ▲

The item that stands out most is Voltaic Cyclosword: 54.8% win rate, +7 points versus its usual win rate.

Counters and matchups

Who counters Nocturne in the Jungle

Wukong Nocturne: 41.2%17 games

Wukong has the edge in 59% of the 17 Jungle duels against Nocturne. See the Wukong guide.

Kha'Zix Nocturne: 41.2%17 games

Kha'Zix has the edge in 59% of the 17 Jungle duels against Nocturne. See the Kha'Zix guide.

Jarvan IV Nocturne: 44.4%18 games

Jarvan IV has the edge in 56% of the 18 Jungle duels against Nocturne. See the Jarvan IV guide.

Viego Nocturne: 47.1%17 games

Viego has the edge in 53% of the 17 Jungle duels against Nocturne. See the Viego guide.

Shaco Nocturne: 53.3%15 games

Shaco has the edge in 47% of the 15 Jungle duels against Nocturne. See the Shaco guide.

Who Nocturne is strong against

Lee Sin68.0% · 25 games

Kayn60.0% · 15 games

Graves57.9% · 19 games

Shaco53.3% · 15 games

Viego47.1% · 17 games

How to play against Nocturne

• Stay close to your allies when Paranoia is cast - there is strength in numbers!
• Nocturne's Unspeakable Horror is broken with range, so try to save your movement abilities for when he casts it.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Nocturne's matchups.

Abilities

PassiveUmbra Blades

Every few seconds, Nocturne's next attack strikes surrounding enemies for bonus physical damage and heals himself.

Nocturne's basic attacks reduce this cooldown.

QDuskbringer

Nocturne throws a shadow blade that deals damage, leaves a Dusk Trail, and causes champions to leave a Dusk Trail. While on the trail, Nocturne can move through units and has increased Move Speed and Attack Damage.

WShroud of Darkness

Nocturne empowers his blades, passively gaining Attack Speed. Activating Shroud of Darkness allows Nocturne to fade into the shadows, creating a magical barrier which blocks a single enemy ability and doubles his passive Attack Speed if successful.

EUnspeakable Horror

Nocturne plants a nightmare into his target's mind, dealing damage each second and applying fear to the target if they do not get out of range by the end of the duration.

RParanoia

Nocturne reduces the sight radius of all enemy champions and removes their ally vision in the process. He can then launch himself at a nearby enemy champion.

Frequently asked questions

Full Nocturne page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides