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Check "Items: Slash" section for details.
Sands of Time
Lost Artifact
Healing Potion
Mana Potion
Check "Items: Slash" section for details.
Pendulum of Ages
Chronos' Pendant
Spear of the Magus
Divine Ruin
Calamitous Rod of Tahuti
Obsidian Shard
Temporal Beads
Aegis of Acceleration
Check "Items: Arena" section for details.
Restored Artifact
Check "Items: Arena" section for details.
Chronos' Pendant
Spear of Desolation
Soul Gem
Calamitous Rod of Tahuti
Spear of the Magus
Obsidian Shard
Temporal Beads
Aegis of Acceleration
This is the general skill sequence for a pure damage build that can be used in any game mode.
Y
B
A
X
Tap each threat level to view Nox’s threats
Tap each synergy level to view Nox’s synergies
I began playing Smite in 2015 (Season 2), and it wasn't long before I discovered my favorite character, or "main" - Nox.
I'm one of the most dedicated Nox players in the game, with over 44.000 worshipers and 1.200 hours on Nox.
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Who is Nox? Nox is a Roman Mage who specializes in disrupting enemy gods with Siphon Darkness and Shadow Lock, while also being extremely safe due to Shadow Step. Nox is hands down one of the most CC heavy mages in the game.Nox's strongest areas in the game are Joust and Arena. She also does really well in Slash. According to Casual Smite, and as of Patch 9.5, Nox is the 7th most popular god in Arena, as well as THE most popular Roman god. Nox Difficulty LevelsHardConquestAbove AverageArena, Assault, Joust, Slash |
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PROS
+ Huge amount of CC + Hard but rewarding combo + Very safe + Great utility in team fights + Beads burner + Can cast all abilities while moving + Counters many gods in the game, especially melee |
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CONS
- Rather weak early game - Squishy (like almost any other mage) - Inconsistent damage output - Not great in pure 1v1 fights, as combo can be easily dodged - Combo is tricky, takes skill and extreme patience - Heavily countered by gods with CC cleanse abilities |
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Nox's trademark combo. This combo will account for about 80% of Nox's total damage, which means you must master it or you won't be able to do much else. Make sure Shadow Lock is set to instant cast, as this will greatly increase your chances of landing your root. Mastering this combo will take time. On paper, this combo doesn't appear difficult. In reality, and depending on the mode, it necessitates skill and patience. Dodging Nox's Shadow Lock is easy, especially for the more veteran players. People have already learned how to juke it. Because of that, in pure 1v1 fights, Nox's damage could be quite inconsistent (even though her kit is single-target focused). A lot of the times you will have to predict your opponents' movements in order to successfully lock them down.Like I said above, one of the most important things I've learned about Nox's combo, is being patient. Don't stress, don't rush, or you will almost certainly miss it a lot. |
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The Siphon Darkness + Shadow Lock + Shadow Step combo is best used when you are confident you will finish off your opponent with Shadow Step after casting your 2 -> 1 combo. Only use Shadow Step + Siphon Darkness + Shadow Lock if you are ahead and confident that you will survive after dashing in. When you use this combo, your primary escape ability will be down and you'll be vulnerable to attacks. Use it with caution.
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| There are many other variations of Nox's combos. If you are just starting out, you should first focus on mastering her main damaging combo, 2+1, and then build up from there. |
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CDR is one of Nox's most important stats to have regardless of the mode. The maximum amount of CDR that you can have is 40%. With the build below, you will have 30% during the early and mid game, which should be sufficient, and you will reach the cap when you reach level 20 and upgrade Sands of Time to Pendulum of Ages. While trying to have as much CDR on Nox as possible, it is also important to build flat penetration during the early-mid game. You don't have to rush building items that provide raw magical power because her abilities scale well. Concentrate on increasing CDR and flat magical penetration. As the game progresses, the next goal should be to increase your raw magical power and percent magical penetration, as this will allow you to melt the more tanky gods. Most of the time, you'll go for Temporal Beads and Aegis of Acceleration as relics. You can swap any of them for  Corrupted Blink Rune (not recommended for beginners).
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Sands of Time |
Lost Artifact |
Healing Potion |
Mana Potion |
I like to start with Sands of Time because it provides a nice 10% CDR early on, as well as some mana regeneration, so I don't run out of mana too quickly. Combine that with Lost Artifact, as the first core item you'll want to build is Chronos' Pendant. Remember to bring a Healing Potion and a Mana Potion.
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Chronos' Pendant |
Spear of the Magus |
Divine Ruin |
Chronos' Pendant is a must-have on Nox. By picking Sands of Time and upgrading Lost Artifact to Chronos' Pendant, we are now at 30% CDR. This will help us land our combos more often. For a second core item, go for Spear of the Magus, as this will give us a good chunk of raw power, flat magical penetration and a 7.5% bonus damage from all sources on marked gods. As a third core item, I usually go with Divine Ruin to increase my flat penetration even further, and the passive is always useful. If you are up against any healers ( Ra,  Hel,  Aphrodite,  Chang'e), build Divine Ruin first, then Spear of the Magus.
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Rod of Tahuti |
Obsidian Shard |
Pendulum of Ages |
 Rod of Tahuti has to be our next pick, as we are starting to enter mid-late game. This item will make our combo hit even harder. Obsidian Shard will give us a 20% magical penetration and another 10% on the first ability cast. This will be crucial in the late game when facing tanky gods. Finally, after you've built everything else, upgrade Sands of Time to Pendulum of Ages at level 20 for even more magical power boost and another 10% CDR. Upgrade Rod of Tahuti to Calamitous Rod of Tahuti after you finish your build.
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In Arena, there really isn't a "hard rule" to follow in terms of builds. Make sure you get your 40% CDR with your first 3-4 items, and then focus on building raw magical power and either flat penetration (if facing more squishy gods) or % penetration (if facing more tanky gods). Below I have explained one of the builds I use the most. This build works well against pretty much any comp - both tanky and non-tanky. Feel free to experiment, especially with the last three items. Most of the time, you'll go for Temporal Beads and Aegis of Acceleration as relics. You can swap any of them for Corrupted Blink Rune (not recommended for beginners). |
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Restored Artifact |
Like already mentioned, CDR is extremely important on Nox. This is why I like to rush Chronos' Pendant in Arena, by starting off with Restored Artifact. This will give me a 60 magical power increase, more than enough for the very early game in Arena.
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Chronos' Pendant |
Spear of Desolation |
Soul Gem |
Chronos' Pendant is the first item you will want to build on Nox Arena. 100% of the time. For the second pick, I like to go for Spear of Desolation. This will give Nox a good chunk of raw magical power, a 12 flat magical penetration, and will boost her CDR up to 30%. Not only that, but on every assist or kill you get, SIX seconds of your ultimate will be subtracted, and two seconds for your standard abilities. Soul Gem will give us the last bit of CDR. If you like, you could switch to  Staff of Myrddin, as it's another strong item on Nox, but I prefer the bonus damage that Soul Gem provides.
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Rod of Tahuti |
Spear of the Magus |
Obsidian Shard |
Finish off your build with Rod of Tahuti (upgraded to Calamitous Rod of Tahuti once you have finished your whole build), Spear of the Magus, and Obsidian Shard. There is no priority on these items. If you have any healers in the enemy team, pick Divine Ruin over either Spear of the Magus (if the enemy team is tanky) or Obsidian Shard (if the enemy team is more squishy), but make sure you pick Divine Ruin as either your second or third item, and then rearrange your build from there as necessary.
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Thank you for taking the time to read my Nox guide; I hope you found some of the information useful. Please leave a comment and let me know if there is anything else I can do better.
Nox is a very interesting mage to master with relatively high skill ceiling. I hope you find fun in playing her as much as I do.
As of now, this guide will cover general Nox gameplay as well as her use in Slash and Arena.
The guide may be updated in the future to include additional modes.
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I really like your writeup; it's quite complete and in general your itemization is solid.
- Like Kriega, I do wonder where
Soul Reaver is, if not as a core item, at least as a situational/alternative item. With higher base health across the board since 9.5, items like this automatically become a bit more valuable. I think adding one more item section with alternative items is always helpful, but I can get if you just want to offer a single build for simplicity's sake.
- Like Reaver, % pen due to higher base protections is also more valuable. Situationally, I'd prefer to see
Obsidian Shard in your builds a bit earlier than it currently is. I also think 
Charon's Coin could be listed as an alternative.
- In your Slash build, while
Divine Ruin is probably helpful more often than not, this is still a fairly situational item, especially when you've got another flat pen item in there earlier. Reaver would slot in well here as an alternative.
- In your Arena build, while
Soul Gem is a functional item, I think you might find some fun use out of an alternative like 
Staff of Myrddin as it keeps your CDR but gives you additional % pen and some spammy ability use.
Hope to see more guides from you!Also a 20% pen item lategame is equivalent to about 12 magical flat pen lategame against level 20 squishy base magical prots, where's as before it was worth about 8 or 9, just something to keep in mind)
Ethereal Staff would also be a good mention as well