Overview
Having trouble? can’t seem to win games? Don’t worry? with this simple Nox guide and a lot of skill you will be able to do a pretty decent amount of damage.
Background
You are probably wondering “Why does this guy think he knows how to build Nox in joust” and my answer to that is… laziness. When I first started this game I didnt want to go through the whole process of LEARNING how to aim and STUDYING good counter builds and tactics haha no, I was on the hunt for a character ripe with cheese and scumbaggery and before you know it I was a level 10 Nox.
Abilites
Nox has a set of abilites that work very well together and as a whole can one shot most scrubs and even if it doesnt, The cc alone will give your team the oppurtunity to slaughter you enemy three times over.
PASSIVE: FLAME OF THE NIGHT- “Nox’s candles gather energy from all abilities she uses. For every ability Nox casts, a candle is lit. For every candle lit Nox gains +3% magical power. When Nox takes damage one of her candles is blown out”. So, basically this passive inspires a certain cancerous type of playstyle. For most of the game(with few exceptions that will be addressed on ability 3) You should stay back and farm. gaining stacks on you passive especially early game can most certainlyu swing a fight and do just enough damage to eliminate a target. With a good tank or warrior, staying back and overseering the map while building your stacks and not taking damage because of your smart placement will most certainly make the early game bareable.
1ST ABILITY: SHADOW LOCK- “Nox extends her shadow, rooting and crippling a single enemy god in place and dealing damage over time. Nox must channel to maintain hold on the target, but may cancel this ability early. While channeling this ability Nox suffers no directional movement penalty”. Now, this ability realy shines with her second ability but we’ll discuss shadow lock on its own. This ability might be one of the most triggering thimgd in this game. the root/cripple lasts for two seconds… that’s two seconds of YOUR damage and abilites and all of your TEAMS damage and abilities. Plus with some CDR, the ability comes up too much for any counter to be THAT effective. Also, remember that this is NOT a stun or mez. When this ability is casted you get a movement buff to sanik around but you are still vulnerable to outside forces, and even the enemy you are rooting. You should learn to find that sweet spot where you are not close enough where you are taking Artemis shots to the face, Yet not too far away where the ability cancels or if the person survives with a little health they can escape. Finding the perfect middle ground will allow(especially with the movement buff) to safely be out of range of melee gods and safely juke long-range gods and will also allow quick clean up if the ability does not kill.
2ND ABILITY: SIPHON DARKNESS- “Nox creates a void of darkness that silences all enemies within. After a short duration it explodes, dealing damage”. At max rank this ability deals 370 plus 100% of your magical power… that’s a lot. On its own, the ability is extremely hard to hit and really should be used for lane clear as it one hits minions pretty early and provides quick stack growth. Also, on its own the silence can be quite useful as well. It is a two second long silence in a fairly large area. This could save a teamate and even guarantee a kill if an enemy is trying to dash.
3RD ABILITY: SHADOW STEP- “Nox dashes forward, dealing damage to all enemies. If she hits an ally god, she leaps into their shadow, traveling with them. When Nox exits a shadow, she deals damage again in a radius around her. Nox may cancel this ability early to exit shadows”. With all the spoopy abilites Nox has, this one is always overlooked and quite frankly underated. First I’ll discuss the ally shadow part. You have to be careful with this because if you or a teamate is out of possition and you accidently go into them it could lead to a pretty bad time. More times then I can count this has happend to me and personally wish Hi rez would take it out. But, it does have some uses in certain situations. If you get locked in an odin cage, you can go into someone with a leap. If you have a guardian by your side, you can go into him when you see an ult coming . If you have an athena or a god with good mobilty you can go into him to get around. So all and all its not too bad. Now lets talk about the damage. For a dash, the damage of this ability is pretty gross… and I mean gross in a REALLY good way. At max rank this does 230 plus 70% of your magical power. When fighting a close battle this dash can do serious damage, especially when no one sees it coming. Now, back to what I said in the passive. As Nox, you should stay back a lot but DO NOT be afraid to be agressive with this ability. Its damage, length, and speed are pretty terrifying if an enemy is unprepared for a Nox to the face.
4TH ABILITY: NIGHT TERROR- “Nox unleashes a vortex of dark energy that explodes on contact with an enemy, dealing damage to all enemies in range 20 and applying damage over time. Enemies hit are also weakened, dealing less damage over the duration”. Honestly, this ability is a dank snipe. With a little bit of aiming and practice, you’ll make into FaZe in no time! The range of this ability is insane with 120. For most of the game I use this ability as a finisher. If an enemy gets away with a little bit of health you just throw that Rasen-shuriken right at his back. Especially late game the initial damage of (at max rank) 400 plus 75% of your magical power will be enough to kill most, but if not the tick damage of 40 plus 5% of your magical power for 5 seconds(ticking every second) will be enough to black out any hope for your enemies deicide. Towards late game though, this ability can be used as a great combat initiator. With good initial damage, an explosive effect so it can hit more then one target, and a 40% reduction of the enemies damage this ability can swing fights before they even happen.
Combos
Here is a list of some combination of abilities that you can try.
SHADOW RUSH- This tactic is very good when you have enemy all alone or severly out of place. You first see the enemy and make sure he is a lone. then you use your 3rd ability to get right into his face. After that you use your 2nd ability to silence the deer in headlights, and then plop your 1st ability on him. Finally, finish up with a basic or two. The most important part of this combo is the timing between the 3rd and 2nd ability, it must be done very quick so it catches your enemy of guard. It is suggested you practice the speed of your clicks for this combo to work effectivley.
GRUESOME TWOSOME- Nox paired with a really good guardian is disgustingly cringy for your enemies. For an example, I will use one of the greatest combos, Nox and Athena. First, you want to use your allies mobility like Athena’s ult to get around quickly. Then, like Athena’s taunt, any ability that has good CC makes a Nox’s life much easier as there is even less pressure to aim. Finally, if you see an Ares or Thanatos ult coming, having a nice beefy friend to jump into is never a bad thing. Nox does very well on her own so having even one of the things listed in this combo makes her all the more effective.
LIKE A SHADOW- Like I said, I usually use the ult to finish off escaping targets but this combo will show another way to use it. First, this can be done without hiding if your aim is good or the enemy is close but like the first combo I prefere a quick swarm of attacks before the enemy realizes what is happening. I usually hug the walls by the red buff, especially the one right next to the enemy tower. You will first see an enemy come into lane. If there is more then one the combo can still work as long as your team is ready, and you have your escape ready. You charge up your ult and then swifty come out of the jungle and smash a high priority target like an ADC or mage. Then you quickly put your 2nd ability down silencing them from escaping and use you 1st ability to trap. If you are being focused while this is happening slowly back away while you are using your 1st ability but not so much to cancel it early and if you need to, use your 3rd ability to escape or if you feel confident finish off the weakened enemy if he is still alive of course.
Items
Now I will discuss all the items I believe you will find most success with when playing Nox.
FIRST SLOT: When I play joust as Nox I dont think she honestly needs a starter Item so usually I will go “Shoes of Focus”. It will give some mobility, mana, and mosty importantly some very early CDR(plus blue buff) which will help a lot because here base CD is pretty trashy. With good teamates I do think this is a safe and benifical start. On the other hand, If you truly want a starter item I would go “Vampiric Shroud”. It gives you some power and added with blue buff great early sustain both health wise and mana wise which can allow to stay longer and level up/ gain profit faster.
SECOND SLOT: For my second item I want to start stacking. I never have much mana problems with Nox her damage is already good enough so I wouldnt recommend “Book of Toth”. Instead, “Warlock Sash” gives you SOME mana, but a lot of health so you have more survivability and some pretty good damage. Some may suggest getting both items but in my opinion doing so takes too much time become truly effective and is just plainly uneeded.
THIRD SLOT: For this item I love “Chronos pendant”. It gives solid damage and great CDR that paired with “Boots of Focus” and blue buff you will be set with CDR.
FOURTH SLOT: Now the fourth item will be our pen. “Obsidion Shard” is my pick as it again has quality damage and great pen for late game tanks and beefs. Also, if you are carrying a game or dont have other teamates with pen, the damage against objectives will help speed up and pressure games a lot more.
FIFTH SLOT: By now your damage should be pretty great, now lets make it Suicide worthy. With a “Rod of Tahuti” Nox’s damage will be drastically increased and her 1, 2 combo will kill most hell, here 1 alone can bring some squishies near half health.
SIXTH SLOT: Finally, we end it with “Polynomicon”. It gives a bit of lifesteal just to heal up if needed but most importantly it will drastically increase the damage of your basic attack after your combos. With this you can finish any target who even thinks of surving your abilities and do even more damage to objectives. I personally like waiting to buy Poly but if you prefere it can be bought much earlier, maybe swap Obsidion or Rod.
RELICS: I like defensive relics on Nox. “Sanctuary” is very good for obvious reasons and I also like “Thorns” so that when you are in a tough battle and some abilities are on cooldown, you can use there damage against them especially if you cant escape(for example if you are fighting a Susano or Rat). “Sprint” mixed with your 3rd ability can cover a lot of ground when attacking or running and “Weakening Curse” can do the same plus help your aiming of the first ability and ult.
ALTERNATES: Some you can swap in that I think can be good are “Book of Toth” for “Warlocks” if you feel you need more damage and mana. “Bancroft’s Talon” over “Polynomicon” for a some more ability damage and more damage in closer fights. And finally “Spear of Desolation” over “Obsidion Shard” if versing a squisher team. It will give you more cooldown, a lot of damage, and still a bit of pen.
Conclusion
So everybody I want to thank you for taking the time to read my Nox joust guide. This is the first guide I have ever made on anything so I apologize for grammarical, spelling, and formating errors. In truth, I just really love this game and wanted to talk about the first god I ever clicked with. I dont believe in censorship so if you feel any part of of my guide is stupid PLEASE comment about so I can see whay your reasoning and I can be better as a player. Also, if you like my guide comment a different god you would like to see me write a guide about. Thank you again and much love, Skelington.