User blog comment:Dj0z/Dj0z's Assassin Nocturne Guide/@comment-207.255.209.161-20120704183534/@comment-78.229.180.243-20120708230911

Good to see such an enjoyable critic when i can finally come back here, goddamned finals.

Well, yeah assassins are pretty much the snowball-or-die (but most likely the latter) peeps in the current meta, and i can see why in every tournament they build Noc tanky. As for the quick reflexes (or worse yet, team-reflexes) against a CV->R, i can also imagine that high level play could make that tactic less efficient.

Then again, this guide is an alternative way of playing Noc, as mentioned many times over this page, and it does have advantages that the other build has not. Of course which one is better entirely depends on the matchup and how things are going. For instance, tanky can hardly snowball, and snowballing is actually something you must do if you get the upper hand. Think of that recent tounry match, it was CLG.EU vs whoever, the longest and most incredible stall into comeback i had ever seen. Well point is, the damage output of a DPS noc has massive synergy with his passive splash: The more damage you have, the faster you farm and deal dmg in teamfights. The more you do that, the more farmed you become, which in turn increases your damage and here's the loop. Just check out "physical damage dealt" in endgame stats for example, this build almost always gets the highest of both teams by far.

At the end of the day it all comes down to what role you want to fill in the game (what role is missing in your team when you want to pick him, should give pointers).

Now for Smite (still talking about this precise guide) i said it many times alrdy so i'll keep it short: CV+Smite if you're good enough, CV+Flash for safety.