What to build on Nocturne, and what each item is for
An item path for Nocturne with live gold costs, chosen from what the champion's damage actually scales on.
What your damage scales on
Riot rates Nocturne at 9 for attack and 2 for magic. That single comparison decides most of the build before any matchup does.
Nocturne wants to trade repeatedly, survive the return damage, and win the third exchange rather than the first, and items are how you buy more of that rather than a little of everything.
What to build, and what each piece is for
Riot rates Nocturne higher on attack than magic, so the build follows attack damage.
Infinity Edge
3500 goldMassively enhances critical strikes
Bloodthirster
3400 goldGrants Attack Damage, Life Steal and Life Steal now overheals
Trinity Force
3333 goldTons of Damage
Overlord's Bloodmail
3300 goldHealth, Damage
Lord Dominik's Regards
3300 goldOvercomes enemies with high health and armor
Gold costs are live from the current patch. Order depends on the game — buy resistances when you are being punished, damage when you are not.
Skill order, and how to reason about it
Take Paranoia at levels 6, 11 and 16 — the ultimate is always worth the point it costs.
For the basic abilities, Shroud of Darkness (W) gains the most from being ranked: its cooldown falls by 8 seconds between rank 1 and max, which is the largest improvement in the kit. That is the usual argument for maxing it first.
This is reasoning from the cooldown data, not a win-rate ranking — a matchup that punishes you can invert it.
- Q · Duskbringer — cooldown 8s
- W · Shroud of Darkness — cooldown 20/18/16/14/12s, improving by 8s across its ranks
- E · Unspeakable Horror — cooldown 15/14/13/12/11s, improving by 4s across its ranks
What you already have before you buy anything
| Stat | Level 1 | Level 18 |
|---|---|---|
| Health | 640 | 2493 |
| Attack damage | 62 | 62 |
| Armour | 36 | 107.4 |
| Magic resist | 32 | 58.4 |
Movement speed 345 and attack range 125 do not grow with levels — they are the two numbers that stay true all game.
Buy order is a reaction, not a plan
The list above is what the champion scales on. The order you buy it in is decided by the game — resistances when you are being punished, damage when you are not.
Riot's own notes on playing Nocturne
These are the designers' words, not ours — the tips shipped in the client for 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.