Nocturne counter tips
- Laning Against Nocturne
Nocturne will look to power farm early so he can get level 6. Try to invade him and take away his camps to delay his level 6 power spike.
Nocturne will try to get ahead early by ganking lanes that are immobile or are overextended. Try to track him in his jungle and counter gank lanes that are being ganked. If you cannot counter gank, try to gank a separate lane or steal his camps.
Deep wards inside his jungle or around the entrances to his jungle will help your team spot him before he activates his Ultimate Paranoia R. Try and get deep vision in his jungle whenever possible.
- Strategy VS Nocturne
In the mid-game, avoid splitting up by staying as a team. Nocturne has great pick potential and will try to kill squishy champions who are on their own thanks to his Ultimate Paranoia R.
Whenever Nocturne is split pushing on the other side of the map, he has no way of getting to his team quickly. If you see him somewhere else, look to engage and start a team fight.
Nocturne will try to take down the squishiest high priority target at the start of the fight. This is usually the Mid or ADC. Clump together in team fights to reduce his one-shot potential.
- Nocturne Power Spikes
Nocturne needs to get level 6 as quickly as he can so he can use his Ultimate Paranoia R to gank lanes. Once he hits this power spike, he will look to actively gank whenever his Ultimate Paranoia R is up.
Nocturne is a good assassin and will try to kill any isolated target whose out of position in the mid and late game. Avoid letting him pick up free kills by staying as a team.
Delay Nocturne’s level 6 power spike by invading his jungle and stealing away his camps. You can look to invade him if he shows on one side of the map and you’re on the other.
1. Xin Zhao
Facing Xin Zhao as Nocturne in a 1v1 scenario can be quite challenging due to Xin Zhao's strong early game dueling power and sustained damage output. Xin Zhao excels at quick engages with his Three Talon Strike (Q) and Audacious Charge (E) combo, allowing him to burst down squishy targets and out-trade opponents in prolonged fights.
Applied Strategies:
Respect Xin Zhao's early game power and avoid engaging him head-on without proper vision and awareness of his location. Xin Zhao's ability to quickly burst down targets and stick to them with his gap-closer makes him a formidable opponent in skirmishes and duels, especially in the early stages of the game.
Utilize Nocturne's spell shield to mitigate Xin Zhao's engage and crowd control abilities, such as his Audacious Charge (E) or Crescent Guard (R). Properly timing your spell shield can negate Xin Zhao's primary engage tools and turn the tide of a fight in your favor, allowing you to retaliate with your own burst damage and crowd control effects. Exploit Xin Zhao's cooldowns and windows of vulnerability. After Xin Zhao uses his Audacious Charge (E) or Three Talon Strike (Q) to engage or disengage, look for opportunities to trade back with Nocturne's burst damage and crowd control abilities. Xin Zhao's engage potential is significantly weaker when his key abilities are on cooldown, so capitalize on these openings to gain an advantage in trades and skirmishes.
Build items like Blade of the Ruined King or Guardian Angel to enhance Nocturne's dueling power and survivability against Xin Zhao's burst damage and sustained DPS. These items provide sustain, defensive stats, and utility to help Nocturne survive Xin Zhao's engages and out-trade him in extended fights, allowing you to secure kills and objectives more effectively.
Coordinate with your team to peel for each other and focus down Xin Zhao during teamfights to neutralize his threat and prevent him from diving into your backline. Xin Zhao's engage potential is strongest when he can catch opponents off guard or isolate priority targets, so coordinating crowd control effects and focusing fire on him can help your team shut him down and secure victory.
2. Kindred
Kindred is a ranged marksman with strong dueling potential, particularly when paired with her passive, Mark of the Kindred. Her ability to kite opponents with her ranged attacks and mobility from Dance of Arrows makes her a challenging opponent to engage in a straight-up fight. Additionally, her ultimate ability, Lamb's Respite, provides her with a powerful tool for surviving burst damage and turning fights in her favor. However, Kindred's dueling strength can be mitigated by crowd control and burst damage, as she lacks built-in sustain outside of her ultimate. When facing Kindred, look to capitalize on windows of opportunity when her abilities are on cooldown or when she's isolated from her team.
Applied Strategies:
Engage Kindred when her abilities are on cooldown, particularly her Dance of Arrows and Lamb's Respite. Without her mobility and survivability tools, Kindred becomes much more vulnerable to burst damage and crowd control. Coordinate with your team to chain crowd control and burst her down before she can escape or turn the fight with her ultimate. Deny Kindred marks by contesting her jungle camps and objectives, particularly Scuttle Crabs and marked camps. By denying her marks, you can slow down her scaling and limit her potential to snowball the game. Keep track of Kindred's marks and coordinate with your team to contest them whenever possible.
Ward key areas of the map to track Kindred's movements and anticipate her gank paths and jungle routes. Kindred relies on successful ganks and jungle invades to secure marks and snowball the game, so denying her vision and controlling jungle objectives can limit her impact on the game.
Build defensively against Kindred's damage output, prioritizing items that offer health, armor, or magic resistance. Additionally, invest in Grievous Wounds items to reduce her healing from her abilities and items like Blade of the Ruined King. By reducing her sustain in fights, you can increase your chances of winning duels and skirmishes against her. Punish Kindred for overextending or committing to risky plays by collapsing on her with your team during skirmishes or objective contests. Use crowd control abilities to lock her down and prevent her from escaping or using her ultimate to turn fights. Focus your damage on Kindred to burst her down before she can kite or sustain through the damage. Coordinate with your team to prioritize objectives and pressure multiple areas of the map to force Kindred to respond to your team's movements. By controlling objectives and dictating the pace of the game, you can limit Kindred's opportunities to scale and carry the game, increasing your chances of securing a victory.
3. Nunu & Willump
When facing Nunu & Willump, the dueling situation can be challenging due to their strong objective control, sustain, and crowd control. Nunu & Willump excel at securing neutral objectives like dragons and Rift Herald with their Consume (Q) smite combo, while also providing utility and disruption in team fights with their Snowball (W) slow and Absolute Zero (R) zoning potential. However, Nunu & Willump's dueling potential can be mitigated by champions with high burst damage, mobility, or crowd control, as they can burst them down before they can fully channel their abilities or kite them effectively to avoid taking damage.
Applied Strategies:
Exploit Nunu & Willump's weaknesses in the early game by contesting neutral objectives, invading their jungle, and denying them farm and experience. Nunu & Willump rely on securing early objectives to snowball and impact the map, so delaying their power spikes and slowing down their jungle clear can set them back significantly and limit their effectiveness in the mid to late game.
Coordinate with your team to collapse on Nunu & Willump when they attempt to secure neutral objectives like dragons or Rift Herald. Nunu & Willump's Consume (Q) smite combo allows them to secure objectives quickly, so communicate with your team and contest vision control around key objectives to deny them the opportunity to secure free objectives uncontested. Punish Nunu & Willump for overextending or mispositioning in team fights by focusing them down with crowd control, burst damage, or sustained DPS. Nunu & Willump's frontline presence and crowd control abilities make them a priority target in team fights, so coordinate with your team to peel for your carries and focus them down to remove their threat and swing the fight in your favor.
Coordinate vision control and map awareness to track Nunu & Willump's movements and anticipate their gank paths and rotations. Place wards in key areas of the map, such as river entrances, jungle camps, and objective pits, to spot Nunu & Willump's approach and warn your teammates of potential threats. Additionally, communicate with your team through pings and chat to coordinate defensive plays and counter-ganks to thwart Nunu & Willump's advances.
Build defensively against Nunu & Willump's crowd control and engage tools, prioritizing items that offer health, armor, or magic resistance. Consider investing in items like Randuin's Omen or Spirit Visage to mitigate their crowd control effects and sustain through their damage, making it harder for them to initiate fights or peel for their team.
Adapt your playstyle and positioning to match Nunu & Willump's engage patterns and objective control, playing around their strengths and weaknesses to gain an advantage in fights and secure objectives for your team. Stay grouped with your team and maintain proper spacing to prevent Nunu & Willump from isolating and picking you off in fights, while also contesting vision control and map objectives to deny them opportunities to impact the game.
Communicate with your team and shotcall objectives to maintain map control and deny Nunu & Willump opportunities to secure objectives uncontested. By coordinating vision control, objective control, and map rotations, you can limit Nunu & Willump's map pressure and force them to react to your plays, gaining an advantage and securing victory for your team.
Nunu & Willump Jungle Build Guides, Runes, Items, and Abilities
4. Volibear
When facing Volibear as Nocturne, the 1v1 dueling situation can be moderately challenging due to Volibear's tankiness, crowd control, and sustained damage output. Volibear's kit allows him to engage and stick to his targets effectively, making him a formidable opponent in close-quarters combat. His Frenzied Maul (W) provides him with a significant amount of damage and healing, while his Thundering Smash (Q) and Rolling Thunder (E) allow him to close the gap and disrupt enemy champions with crowd control.
Applied Strategies:
Avoid prolonged trades with Volibear, especially if he has his Frenzied Maul (W) empowered. Volibear's sustain and damage potential increase significantly when his W is active, making extended fights unfavorable for Nocturne. Instead, look for short bursts of damage and disengage before Volibear can fully stack his W and trade back effectively.
Utilize Nocturne's spell shield to block Volibear's Rolling Thunder (E) or other crowd control effects to prevent him from sticking to you or locking you down during skirmishes or fights. Timing your spell shield correctly can disrupt Volibear's engage pattern and allow you to kite or counterattack safely.
Abuse Nocturne's mobility and burst damage to poke and harass Volibear from range before committing to an all-in engagement. Volibear's engage potential relies heavily on his ability to close the gap and stick to his targets, so use Duskbringer (Q) to kite and chip away at his health before going for a decisive trade or disengage. Build items like Blade of the Ruined King or Black Cleaver to shred through Volibear's health and resistances and mitigate his tankiness in fights. Volibear's natural tankiness and crowd control make him difficult to burst down quickly, so building items that provide bonus damage, armor penetration, or health shredding can help you cut through his defenses and secure kills more effectively.
Coordinate with your team to peel for each other and focus down Volibear during teamfights to neutralize his threat and prevent him from diving into your backline. Volibear excels at disrupting enemy champions and soaking up damage in fights, so coordinating crowd control effects and focusing fire on him can help your team turn the tide in your favor.
Control vision around objectives and key areas of the map to track Volibear's movements and prevent him from flanking or ambushing your team. Volibear's engage potential is strongest when he can catch opponents off guard or isolate priority targets, so maintaining vision control and denying him opportunities to initiate fights can limit his impact on the game and allow you to dictate the pace of play.
5. Zac
When facing Zac as Nocturne, the 1v1 dueling situation is relatively manageable due to Zac's reliance on crowd control and sustained damage rather than burst. Zac's Elastic Slingshot (E) and Stretching Strikes (Q) provide him with decent crowd control and damage over time, but he lacks the burst damage to quickly take down Nocturne in a direct confrontation.
Applied Strategies:
Avoid prolonged engagements with Zac and focus on quick bursts of damage. Zac excels in extended fights where he can consistently apply his crowd control and damage over time effects. As Nocturne, look for opportunities to engage with your burst damage combo, utilizing your Duskbringer (Q) and Unspeakable Horror (E) to quickly burst down Zac before he can fully utilize his abilities.
Use Nocturne's spell shield to block Zac's Elastic Slingshot (E) or Stretching Strikes (Q) to negate his engage or crowd control effects. Properly timing your spell shield can disrupt Zac's engage pattern and prevent him from locking you down with his crowd control abilities, giving you an advantage in trades and skirmishes.
Exploit Zac's weaknesses in mobility and single-target damage. Zac's Elastic Slingshot (E) requires him to charge up and telegraph his engage, making him vulnerable to prediction and counterplay. As Nocturne, use your Paranoia (R) to counter Zac's engage attempts or catch him off guard while he's charging his Elastic Slingshot (E), giving you the opportunity to burst him down before he can fully engage or disengage.
Build items like Blade of the Ruined King or Black Cleaver to shred through Zac's health and armor, maximizing your damage output and dueling potential against him. These items provide sustain, armor penetration, and additional damage to help Nocturne out-trade Zac in extended fights, allowing you to secure kills and objectives more effectively.
Coordinate with your team to focus down Zac during teamfights and skirmishes, neutralizing his threat and preventing him from disrupting your backline. Zac's crowd control and disruption abilities can be problematic if left unchecked, so coordinating crowd control effects and focusing fire on him can help your team shut him down and secure victory.
6. Jarvan IV
Jarvan IV is a strong duelist, especially in the early to mid-game stages. His passive, Dragon Strike, combined with his abilities' crowd control effects and burst damage potential, make him a threat in 1v1 situations. Additionally, his Cataclysm ultimate can isolate and trap opponents, further amplifying his dueling capabilities.
Applied Strategies:
Be cautious when engaging Jarvan IV in 1v1 situations, especially in the early game when he has high burst damage potential. Consider the strength of your champion relative to Jarvan IV's and avoid fighting him head-on unless you have a clear advantage.
Utilize mobility and crowd control abilities to outmaneuver Jarvan IV and create opportunities to disengage or turn the fight in your favor. Champions with dashes, blinks, or crowd control effects can effectively disrupt Jarvan IV's combos and escape his Cataclysm trap.
Punish Jarvan IV for overextending or committing too aggressively to fights. His all-in playstyle can leave him vulnerable to counterattacks if he misuses his abilities or engages without proper vision and backup from his team.
Coordinate with your team to counter Jarvan IV's engages and rotations. Communication and map awareness are crucial for predicting his movements and responding accordingly, whether it's collapsing on him during a gank or contesting objectives he's attempting to secure.
Build defensively against Jarvan IV's burst damage and crowd control effects. Items that provide health, armor, or crowd control reduction can help mitigate his impact in skirmishes and teamfights, making it easier to survive his engages and turn the tide of battle in your favor.