Nocturne Jungle Build 16.11
Nocturne Jungle build in patch 16.11 has a 51.2% win rate over 168 games. This setup focuses on boots are an early movement purchase built to improve baseline mobility and reduce how punishing bad positioning feels. they are mainly bought to help with spacing, lane movement, and getting to fights or objectives faster.
Nocturne Build Guide & Strategy (Patch 16.11)
About Nocturne
Nocturne is a dive assassin-bruiser who collapses onto isolated targets with Paranoia, fear tether pressure, and strong dueling once he makes contact. He is excellent at punishing side-lane greed and backline mispositioning, but he can strand himself in terrible fights if he ults without tracking peel, vision denial, or his team's ability to follow.
Nocturne Build Strategy & Items
Boots support a tempo-oriented style where movement matters as much as raw stats, letting you weave in and out of trades, dodge skillshots, and reach waves or skirmishes sooner. They fit gameplans built around cleaner rotations, safer lane resets, and better control over distance in fights. This companion fits a proactive jungle style built around fighting for river control, punishing overextended lanes, and carrying pressure into duels. It supports champions who want their pathing to lead into damage-heavy engagements where a little more offensive edge can decide the trade. This item supports high-commitment positioning, whether that means stepping up for damage in late teamfights or diving deep enough to force enemy cooldowns onto you. It fits champions whose job becomes much stronger when opponents must think twice before spending everything to kill them first. Boots are an early movement purchase built to improve baseline mobility and reduce how punishing bad positioning feels. They are mainly bought to help with spacing, lane movement, and getting to fights or objectives faster. Scorchclaw Pup is a jungle companion for players who want their clears and ganks to translate into more aggressive damage pressure. It is mainly for junglers looking to add extra threat in skirmishes, chases, and finishing situations rather than leaning into pure speed or toughness. Guardian Angel is a mixed offense-defense item built to let physical damage champions take bigger risks because death does not always end their play immediately. It is mainly for carries, divers, and bruisers that need one more chance to survive the first collapse in a decisive fight. Plated Steelcaps are defensive boots built to reduce the impact of physical damage, especially repeated auto-attack pressure. They are mainly for champions facing AD-heavy lanes, marksman threats, or teamfights where basic attacks are doing a large share of the work. Experimental Hexplate is a fighter-oriented item built for champions whose strongest fight window starts when they cast their ultimate. It is mainly for divers and skirmishers that want more reliable access to ultimate-based engages and more power during the seconds right after they commit.
Nocturne Key Strengths
Their value shows up everywhere because early movement speed changes how quickly you can reposition, chase, retreat, and respond to map plays. Boots also make trading more reliable for champions that need better angles, tighter spacing, or faster entry into range. Scorchclaw Pup is appealing because it pushes your jungle item choice toward actual combat impact instead of only improving movement or survivability. That makes it attractive on junglers who want sharper kill pressure when entering lanes or contesting camps and objectives against enemy champions. Guardian Angel is valuable because the revive changes how enemies target and sequence a fight, often buying enough hesitation or extra time for your team to swing the exchange. It is especially strong in late-game objective fights where one reset life can preserve a fed carry or reward a diver for forcing a dangerous angle. Plated Steelcaps are strong because they answer one of the most common and persistent damage patterns in the game: sustained physical chip from attacks. They are especially useful into double-AD pressure, ranged harass lanes, or late-game carries that would otherwise shred you through repeated autos. Experimental Hexplate is valuable because it sharpens the exact moment many fighters care about most: the entry into a fight after ultimate activation. It is especially useful on champions whose ult defines their threat pattern, since the item helps that window come up more often and feel more punishing once it begins. Stridebreaker is especially useful on melee fighters whose biggest problem is not damage once they arrive, but actually staying connected long enough to use it. It gives those champions a far more reliable way to punish slippery carries and ranged solo laners that would otherwise kite out their whole pattern.
Best Nocturne Runes & Spells
Conqueror is a stacking combat rune designed for champions that build momentum as a fight develops. It mainly rewards repeated contact, sustained ability use, and the willingness to stay engaged until accumulated combat power starts to outweigh early burst runes. Ultimate Hunter is a cooldown-focused rune built for champions whose strongest play pattern begins with their ultimate. It mainly exists to shorten the downtime between those defining windows so key engage, pick, or burst tools come online more often. Grisly Mementos is a utility-focused rune built around collecting value from successful combat and converting it into lingering pressure. Its purpose is to reward players who consistently finish fights or influence takedowns by giving those moments extra strategic payoff beyond the kill itself. Last Stand is a combat rune that increases a champion's damage as their own health gets lower. It is mainly chosen by fighters and other close-range champions that expect to keep dealing damage deep into dangerous trades instead of backing off the moment they are threatened. Legend: Alacrity is a scaling attack-speed rune made to sharpen auto-based gameplay as stacks accumulate. Its main purpose is to increase how quickly a champion can deliver repeated hits, making sustained DPS and trigger-based attack patterns feel smoother and more threatening. Triumph is a takedown rune that rewards successful fights with a burst of recovery and extra payoff at the moment an enemy falls. Its main purpose is to keep momentum alive after the first kill so a champion can survive the aftermath and continue pushing the skirmish. Flash is an instant repositioning spell built around solving range, angle, and danger in a single moment. It is mainly used to create or escape decisive situations that normal movement cannot cover in time. Smite is an objective and jungle control spell designed around camp clearing, neutral secure, and role-defining tempo. It is mainly taken to manage jungle routes efficiently and to give reliable finishing power on monsters that decide map control.
How to Play Nocturne (Early, Mid & Late Game)
Nocturne Laning Phase (Early Game)
In the early game as Nocturne in the Jungle lane, prioritize consistent farming and map awareness. Aim to secure your Experimental Hexplate as quickly as possible to establish a lane advantage and create opening opportunities.
Nocturne Mid Game Strategy
During the mid game, utilize your 2 item power spikes to control lane transitions and objective contested zones. As Jungle Nocturne, your roaming potential and skirmishing power are at their peak.
Nocturne Late Game Strategy
In the late game, focus on teamfighting effectiveness and critical positioning. As Nocturne, your role is to maintain utility and pressure in final sieges, coordinated and protecting objectives with your full item build.
Nocturne Mechanics & Gameplay Tips
Good Nocturne players time Shroud of Darkness for the specific spell that would stop their entry, then stick close enough for Unspeakable Horror to complete instead of drifting out of tether range. Weak Nocturne play uses Paranoia the instant a target appears, blocks the wrong ability, or dives onto someone he cannot kill before the enemy formation turns on him.