Silent Night (Conquest - Mid - S2)

Passive - Flame of the Night

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Flame of the Night is a simple passive giving you additional magical power after an ability is cast semi-permanently 4 times. This buff can be taken away by receiving damage, so it is at best use during your combos.

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1 - Shadow Lock

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Shadow Lock is a unique ability, allowing Nox to root an enemy while channeling the ability, all while dealing damage over time. This ability can be a bit tricky to hit, but gives Nox incredible control over her enemies. However, it's important to note the limitations behind channeling this ability. This means that you cannot do anything while this ability is active, no basic attacks or other casts. This means that to do your combo, you must first place a Siphon Darkness underneath an enemy and then lock them in place with Shadow Lock. This ability is also partly why building basic attack items like Polynomicon or Winged Blade is less effective than on many other gods. Another important feature to note is how this ability is great at controlling enemies defensively as well as offensively. This ability can restrict pursuing melee gods from getting within range as well as give you some space if you're attempting to retreat.

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2 - Siphon Darkness

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Siphon Darkness is the most powerful ability in your kit. It provides a huge area of silence as well as a massive detonation. While nearly impossible to hit by itself, this ability works very well in conjunction with Shadow Lock. Because enemies are silenced and rooted, this ability combo can be one of the most deadly in the game. However, it also leaves Nox the most vulnerable. Since you are forced to channel your Shadow Lock, you're essentially forced to stare down your opponent for a couple seconds. When you add hunters into this equation, your combo may backfire since they can easily take you out in this amount of time. Be wary of who you trap and always have your escape at the ready in case things get ugly.

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3 - Shadow Step

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Shadow Step is probably the most unique part of Nox's kit. While normally it's a simple short dash, if you hit an ally you go inside them, becoming their shadow. This can work incredibly well with well coordinated teammates. Take advantage of gods with leaps and dashes when you're in trouble, hitching a ride on Sun Wukong's bird form never gets old! Finally, you can use this ability offensively, but it's usually best to reserve it for escaping since you have no other means of movement.

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4 - Night Terror

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Night Terror is an incredibly simple ability, giving you a huge detonation of damage as well as some brief CC immunity. My only advice is to make sure you can kill when you use it, and to remember that it does make you CC immune for a decent bit of time, allowing you to dodge things like Ares' or Hades' ultimates even when your beads are down.

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Lost Artifact gives you lots of mana sustain and some power which allows you to use Siphon Darkness to force the other mid laner out of lane and can later be upgraded to Chronos' Pendant. Alternatively, Tiny Trinket doesn't give you the same mp5, but gives you lifesteal for sustain.



Vampiric Shroud is my go to starter item for most mages. I personally like the early game stat boosts it provides that help me put the other solo laner under tower, but if you're confident in your early game you can start building your other items immediately.

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sprint
Sprint is always my starter active with Nox because as well as providing some escape functionality it also allows you to get to lane faster. I prefer to upgrade to Heavenly Agility since Nox cannot take advantage of Greater Sprint's passive and because Heavenly Agility benefits the whole team.

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Shoes of the Magi are my preferred pick on Nox since provide great early stats with their bonus power, penetration and mana. This helps keep both the early game pressure on. However if you're more focused on late game, Shoes of Focus' 15% CDR has a bigger impact late game.

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ALTERNATIVE
Book of Thoth allows you to build an insane amount of mana to help you use your abilities consistently as well as a huge base of power that is granted rather instantly. This will allow you to more easily one shot enemies with your combo + ultimate and give you a longer time out of base with its mana. I prefer to build this 2nd or 3rd item so that I can stack it during the laning phase.


Warlock's Sash
Warlock's Sash is my other personal choice for this build because Nox can quickly fill up its stacks compared to most mages and because it provides an immense amount of power and health which Nox needs greatly in order to both have sustain in her lane and to poke effectively.


ALTERNATIVE
Stacking items are powerful, but can put you behind your opponent both in power and utility during the early game. If you're struggling early you may want to skip buying a stacking item and move on with your build. If this is the case, Soul Reaver can make an excellent replacement as your 6th item, providing solid power as well as a strong late-game passive.

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Providing both power and CDR, the Chronos' Pendant is perfect for allowing Nox to pester the enemy with Siphon Darkness and Shadow Lock as fast as possible. This will greatly enhance your ability to dominate the lane for a relatively cheap price. If behind, it may be preferable to grab this before your stacking item.


ALTERNATIVE
Breastplate of Valor is an excellent item to give additional CDR as well as shut down ganks by assassins. Unless ganks are a real problem, this item isn't really necessary and will cripple your attack power to a degree.


ALTERNATIVE
Void Stone is a vastly underrated item that gives you a huge advantage against the other mid laner. If you're having difficulty in lane against the opposing mid laner, Void Stone will give you a quick one-up on them, either securing victory for you during the laning phase or at least allowing you to compete if you're really behind.

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Spear of the Magus is my preferred penetration on Nox. Her Shadow Lock will chip at enemies health activating Spear of the Magus' passive until her Siphon Darkness activates giving you a huge penetration bonus for your combo. Night Terror can also utilize Spear of the Magus' passive with its tick damage as well, making this a very good pick for Nox.

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Gem of Isolation is an interesting pick on Nox that gives you a nice alternative way to lock enemies into your Siphon Darkness by damaging them with your 3 or your ult, as well as giving you a lot more control, utility and survivability on Nox. As of late, I've found it more influential than lifesteal late game, albeit lifesteal helps more if you're having long drawn out fights.


ALTERNATIVE
Relatively inexpensive, massively powerful and providing ample lifesteal, Bancroft's Talon will give you better sustain and damage in teamfights in a simple, cost effective package.


ALTERNATIVE
Healers got you down? If you're laning against a Ra or Hel, you might want to consider reordering this build and grabbing Divine Ruin early. It's definitively the best way to counter healers as a mage and is very cost effective to boot.


ALTERNATIVE
If you have a lot of mages on your team and you need additional CDR since you decided not to buy either Shoes of Focus or Chronos' Pendant, Pythagorem's Piece is a niche item that can help you out. Not only does it provide a nice benefit to teammates but it provides substantial power, CDR and lifesteal for yourself as well.

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Rod of Tahuti is a massive power buff, but it is expensive. However, waiting to buy this as your last item is a waste. Games will often finish before you've even gotten to complete your 6th item, and bringing Rod of Tahuti online a bit earlier just gives you too much of an advantage to ignore.

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Purification Beads are by far my preferred active on Nox. They'll allow you to escape most situations when paired with Shadow Step and sprint and are by far the most reliable second active choice for survivability.


ALTERNATIVE[/color]
The Aegis Pendant or Greater Aegis is my preferred active for Nox if I am countering sustained basic attack users, or if I'm having trouble against quick nukers like Anubis or Poseidon. Often however, this item is best when paired with Greater Purification rather than Greater Sprint since you will typically need to remove CC prior to using this active.


ALTERNATIVE
Combat Blink can be an effective escape, but sprint is better for returning to lane and it has a massive cooldown time. Only use situationally.

I typically begin my build with Vampiric Shroud, Lost Artifact and two health potions. You will need to take out the attack buff camp at the beginning of the game, so make sure to get that with your teammates. Siphon Darkness is your best waveclear, but unfortunately it's really your only wave clear. Make sure to basic attack minions during early levels since it can be difficult to clear the wave with only one ability. Once you're strong enough, you can begin to harass enemies or bully them out of lane with your Siphon Darkness + Shadow Lock combo. Make sure you won't be taken down by minions, but Nox is incredibly strong against other mages. Use this to your fullest advantage and force them out of lane whenever possible. Squishier mages will often be unable to recover from your attacks, especially once your ultimate Night Terror is present to finish any recovering mages off that dare try to stay in lane.

If you have racked up enough experience to be ahead of most of the enemy team, it may be wise to go out and gank other lanes to help enlarge your team's lead over the other. Otherwise, maintain your lane. Grab the attack buff whenever it spawns so you can keep bullying the other mid laner, forcing them to go to base. (Do note however that you have weak jungle clear since you can only really clear with one ability).

If maintaining lane, make sure to buy wards and be wary, as unless you've invested in actives, you are still highly vulnerable to ganks by enemy gods.

By now your objective should be to help your team wherever possible. While it is most often best to stick with your teammates as you are very squishy and easy to take out alone, if you see an opponent pushing one of the lanes too close to your base it is your time to shine. Nox is incredible in one on ones, and will likely be able to use the combo of Siphon Darkness, Shadow Lock and Night Terror to be able to take out even heavier gods. Overall, Nox is best at taking out mages and worst against hunters, so avoid matchups that are against your favor. One last note is that this particular build is still incredibly squishy. Avoid being targeted by everything, including towers, phoenixes, Gold Fury, Fire Giant and the enemy titan.

While Nox is great one on one, she can be equally good in a teamfight. Because she is a squishy god, avoid being targeted as much as possible, and feel free to break out that sprint and Purification Beads to run back to the safety of your team if you get pulled out or over extend yourself.

Your main job in a teamfight is to take out the enemy mages and silence the enemy team. Silencing the area around an objective or blocking off paths with Siphon Darkness can be incredibly useful and give Nox a lot of utility towards your team. Overall, Nox is otherwise the same as most other nuker mages, but specializes in single target damage, so see if you can isolate any enemies (especially the enemy mage) and take them out quickly and quietly.