Silent Night

Hey everyone. i'm king, and i've been a casual smite player for a little over a year now on the xbox one. since i started playing, i've been somewhat addicted to the game, and found myself in the mid lane with poseidon starting out. however, poseidon was easy to play and i ran into others playing him frequently, so i branched out and played all of the mages before i settled on nox. nox is my main now because of her incredible control, damage, wave clear, and the utility she brings to the team fight. now, i will not be using any BB codes in my guide. Im really just not that into making this look pretty, i want it to be informative. but without furter ado, i'll explain why i build what i build, why i level how i level, and a few tips ive learned playing nox.

Pros:
Incredible control
High Scaling on most of her abilities (after the 3.7 patch, anyway)
Can be built Tankier due to her high scaling and not suffer for it
She does have an escape
Long range Ultimate
Has loads of utility with her root and silence, amazing for team fights


Cons:
Her Root is a channel, meaning you can't use other abilities while you hold someone in place
Her escape is rather short range compared to others. (cupid, Agni, Chiron, Etc.)
if you miss you shadow lock, you will probably not hurt the enemy god at all
Nox is incredibly skill based, and very predictable if you know how she plays

1:Passive: Flame of the Night
Nox has an alright passive. every time you cast an ability, she gains 3% magical power. this can stack up to four times, for a total of 12%. now, my max level build nox has roughly 700 power, 12% of 700 is quite a bit. however, whenever Nox Takes damage, she loses a stack of the passive.

2:Shadow Lock
This move is going to make or break you as a nox player. it roots the enemy in place for 2 seconds, and deals a bit of damage while doing so. nox can also move backwards with no penalty while channeling the ability. you are pretty much required to hit this if you intend to kill your opponent. any intelligent player will simply walk out of your siphon darkness in the 2 seconds it takes for it to blow up, unless they are unfortunate enough to be caught by your shadow lock. we level this second as it's going to be a your secondary damage dealing spell.

3:Siphon Darkness
This ability hits like a truck. like, 100% scaling on a basic abilty? and it silences?? i think YES! this ability puts an AoE bubble under your target location, and after 2 seconds,(during which your opponent is silenced), the circle of darkness explodes for MASSIVE damage. this ability can hit harder than your ultimate. it however, is incredibly easy to dodge. your opponent can simply walk to the side and not take damage. this is why you MUST get good at hitting shadow lock. if you can't, you probably won't do damage without expending your escape or ultimate. this ability is also your wave clear. if you place it on top of your minions as your wave meets the enemies, the entire wave can be hit and killed with this ability once you have enough power.

4:shadow step
this move in interesting. it's a dash, a pretty basic one, except that if you hit an ally with it, you disappear into their shadow for 8 seconds. when you emerge, you deal the dash's damage again. you can cancel it early to pop out of your ally when you chose to deal good burst damage if you are coordinated with your jungler. we max this third because we play on xbox and dont have patch 3.7 yet. (sadface)

5:Night Terror
I love this ultimate. i can't count the number of times i have killed somebody with the damage over time as they were running, or from a third of the way down the lane because they thought they were safe. Nox winds up for about a second and hurls what appears to be a ball of bad *** purple darkness forward,which explodes on contact with an enemy god, walls, or after reaching it's max distance, which is quite far actually. also, when the ball detonates, the damage is an AoE, it applies a damage reduction to all enemy gods affected,(40% as of 3.7), and afflicts them with a damage over time that is about a fourth of the damage the initial explosion does. it is powerful, but you won't be one shotting anyone with it. i typically use it to finish someone off as they run, or in team fights for the damage migitaion, and the AoE damage over time.

1: a tactic to keep in mind is that you can move while holding someone in shadow lock. this can be used to run if the enemy jungle is ganking you. you can lock them in place and safely float away. remember to throw your silence at your feet so they are silenced as well, then they can't use any abilites to polish you off while you line up your shadow lock.

2:HIT SHADOW LOCK. i can't stress this enough. i have run into nox players who outrank me with her, and are a million times worse with her than i am because they can't hit her most vital ability. like i have said at least 4 times already, if you can't hit the shadow lock+siphon combo, you will lose pretty much all potential to kill the enemy mid laner. if you can, you will destroy them and watch them blow their beads on a move you get back in 6 seconds, and can simply cast again.

3: just to make sure i have stated how to do nox's Siphon Darkness+shadow Lock combo, you cast siphon darkness at your opponents feet. they will most likely immediately start running out of it. try to lead them slightly with shadow lock, there is a bit of a delay before you launch it, and if you are aiming directly at them, you won't hit unless they are running straight at you.

4: your ult isn't a bomb. it does do good damage, but it isn't a spirit of the nine winds, earthshaker, or Kraken. it's better to save it than engage with it, unless you are playing someone who is way too pushy, or makes no effort to dodge your skillshots. then, throw your ult, hit your siphon-shadow combo, and eat them. eat them for breakfast.

5: your escape can do good damage if you are coordinated with your jungle. something a friend of mine and i will do, when he ganks, he will position himself behind the target, opposite of me. i will then dash through the target, hitting them once, and disappear into my friend. i will then immediately burst out of him to deal the damage a second time. with the buff nox is getting in patch 3.7, this is a great way to finish someone of with minimal effort from you or your jungle.

6:Help your team. you have ALOT to bring to the team fight as nox. they have a healer who's causing you strife? silence the hell out of them. They have a loki who's making life miserable for your back line? shadow lock that little devil and let your team devour him while he's frozen. you have alot of potential to get assists as nox, you can be alot more helpful than other mages that specialize in raw damage, and you still have the damage to keep up with them, you just have to know when and where to apply it.

1:Shoes of Focus
playing casual i almost always start with Shoes of Focus. you want CDR as nox, and this is one of the only ways to get it an power as a mage. if you want to build vampiric shroud, i suggest build that, lost artifact, and 2 multi pots for sustain.

2:Chronos Pendant
20% CDR is vital for nox. i always build this, with this and boots your skills will be ready to use within 9 seconds of going down, and the mp5 is nice too.

3:Spear of the magus
Spear is probably the best Pen item on nox, as your shadow lock will proc all the stacks in a second and a half, and it lasts for 2 seconds. if you hit your siphon-shadow lock combo, when that bubble explodes you will hit for an incredible amount of damage with the extra 30 armor being taken from them.

4: Book of Thoth
i love book. i simply love it. it's not very expensive, you can buy the base of it and vampiric shroud at the start of the game if you feel confident, and the power boost you get is crazy. if you build it, you should rush it before boots if you're looking to get the stacks online quickly. keep in mind, you get most of the power spike just for having alot of mana as a mage. the stacks are not needed for this item to give it's incredible power, they just give you a bit of extra mana.

5:Rod of Tahuti:
if you are playing a damage mage, you get this. it just gives the most power of any item in the game. if you are super duper fed, feel free to get it early, but it gives a greater power spike late game, it is usually my 5th or 6th buy depending on what my gold looks like for the given game.

6:soul reaver
only take soul reaver if you are confident in your ability to hit nox's combo. if you can, and you have this item, you'll probably be getting a kill every minute. the extra 15% of their health on top of the late game damage of siphon darkness,(which late game can hit for a thousand or more if the nox is raw power), can usually let you murder a squishy in a second. it's super neat.


Tank Build:
Why Warlocks Sash?
Sash gives a ton of health, good power, and a decent chunk of mana to boot. as i said earlier, nox can build this instead of book of thoth, and not suffer too much if you build it first to get the stacks online. unlike book, the stacks are required on sash for it to be game-changing, the health and magic power on it double if you have full stacks, so rush it early and get that online.

Why Phythagorem's?
i think this item is ignored too much. yes, bancroft's gives your more power. a bit. and it's passive can make you really strong if you're low. but, you're the mage. 9 times out of ten if you are low in an endgame team fight, it's because you're being focused, and banecroft's passive isn't going to help you very much. Phythagorem's however, gives 25% lifesteal. and 90 power. i know it only says 70 and 15% lifesteal, but the game is lying to you. the aura applies to you as well. this means when you hit a group of enemies with your siphon darkness for over 1000 damage late-game, you are healing back at least 250 health PER ENEMY HIT. with nox's high modifiers and reliance on her cooldowns, this is really the only lifesteal option that fits her in my opinion. (entirely based on my playstyle. don't be discouraged to try your own build)

Nox is a powerhouse if in the right hands, she can change a team fight, and has some of the best crowd control in the game. if you have the patience and are good with her kit, you can change a game. there are endless combos she can pull of for team mates with her root and silence, and her damage isn't a joke either. also, this is my first guide, feel free to leave comments and suggestions, i'm a pretty open person and will be looking to make guides for all the gods i enjoy. and again, apologies for no BB codes. have fun smiting!