Free Agent - NA
NOTE: ITEMS/CARDS ON PALADINS GURU ARE NOT UPDATED TO THE PRESENT DAY (World Tour). PLEASE MATCH THE PICTURE OF THE ITEM AND THE TITLE & PICTURE OF THE CARD TO THE ONE IN THE ITEM STORE/LOADOUT SCREEN, AND FOLLOW WHAT IS STATED IN THE INSTRUCTIONS.
Intro: This is just how I play Nyx. I like her a lot and I'm pretty darn good with her. She's become my highest level champ.
I will say, Nyx is INCREDIBLY team reliant. By that I mean she needs the support of her team to reach her full potential. With help from the damages and supports, she can STEAMROLL an enemy team. She's best at giving supporting damage/CC, not so much securing kills. I'm not the most experienced with Off-Tank Nyx, but I tried to give ya a guide. That's not my forte XD. I definitely feel more secure in my Point Tank advice.
SUPER IMPORTANT DAMAGE REDUCTION NOTE: (Thanks u/BartOseku on reddit!)
TLDR: Get Arcane Warding instead of Armor Plating in most cases.
When combined with Royal Presence, Damage Reduction activates TWICE.
Royal Presence applies DOT to Nyx. When you have Armor Plating or Arcane Warding (or any DR), DR is activated when the DMG is dealt to Royal Presence, and then AGAIN when Royal Presence deals the DMG to Nyx.
EVEN CRAZIER is that Royal Presence converts ALL damage absorbed into Ability Damage.
Here's an example scenario:
Nyx has 30% DR up with Arcane Warding. Nyx also has Royal Presence active.
Lian attacks Nyx with her inhand weapon for 100 DMG.
Royal Presence absorbs the DMG and converts it to Ability Damage.
DR activates, so Royal Presence absorbs 70 DMG
Royal Presence deals the DOT to Nyx.
DR activates AGAIN.
Nyx is dealt 49 DMG.
Because of this, Armor Plating is INSANE on Nyx. That's why she can live so long. With bigger numbers, you're reducing a LOT of DMG with Royal Presence, and even without it, you'll still have 30% DR with her massive healthpool.
Ability Notes: Nyx is similar to Inara in the sense that you need to time out and rotate your abilities.
Rift Slash should be spammed as much as possible. Having that CC and Damage on the field at all times is incredibly helpful. Also, this way you're being more efficient with the cooldown reduction card. If there's no Rift Slash cooldown to reduce, that card is useless. So use it.
After that, Royal Presence should be up. This lets you get damage out as well as preventing damage on yourself. Just keep in mind that Nyx is decently slow and has no mobility. You need to be proactive with your retreat/shield. The Chain Pull isn't worth ending the ability early 99% of the time. Every once in a while I'll give someone a yank, but for the most part I just let the ability run out. The pull is difficult to target and so weak it's not worth it.
Abyssal Fortress should really only be used as close to you as possible. Occasionally I'll shove a shield out to help a squishy, but that's only if my own position is secure. Use it once your health is low or if you have a lot of damage absorbed with Royal Presence. Be proactive so you can cleanse caut and get healed up faster.
Her ULT is a great counter-ult. Put up Royal Presence, absorb damage, then delete it and punish those nearby. Keep in mind the ULT affects enemies above you and through walls. You can use it to pull someone off of a vantage point or attack them from below.
Her Passive is amazing as a Point Tank, especially when combined with Bloodbath. Nyx gets TONS of eliminations, plus 20% healing intake while on the objective equals a solid 1200 True Heal mid-fight that can really save your ass.
General Item Buys:
Arcane Warding, Bloodbath, Chronos, then Veteran or Armor Plating depending on the comp.
If you ever need to convert to an off-tank mid match, just get Nimble and you're good to go!
Cards:
Forever Changed - Recently I've realized this is one of her best cards. Just more health on top of a giant healthpool is always fantastic. This also makes Veteran more viable of a choice, though it shouldn't be too prioritized. Try to give it some love in every build, even at 1 it's solid.
The Little Things - Reduces the cooldown of Rift Slash with every Inhand Weapon strike. This is one of her best cards because Rift Slash your only method of "burst" damage, if you could even call it that, and gives fantastic CC.
- Hitting shields/deployables activates this card
- The cooldown is reduced even while the Rift is still active. It just doesn't show it on the icon.
- It's not really worth having this card above 4. Keep in mind that AS you're punching the cooldown is going down as well, and there is a maximum amount of time you can take away. As long as you hit your shots reliably, you don't need it too high. And aiming with Nyx isn't too difficult.
- Chronos doesn't affect this card negatively, since it's a set number and not a percent. So that's good!
Center of Combat - Increase the percent of health Royal Presence damages. I think this card is either all or nothing. Have it at 5 or don't have it at all. At 5 it's great, at 1 it's negligible, and anything in between is meh. If you're gonna use Royal Presence to deal damage, go full throttle. With her Poison Damage no longer lingering, it's not that useful imo.
Unyielding Advance - Increase the health of Abyssal Fortress. Her shield at base is really lackluster, so you wanna buff it, right? But honestly it's more worth it to go Forever Changed (increase base health). If the enemy goes wrecker, this card is pretty much still useless. And it only works when you have your shield up. Forever Changed gives the same effect of more survivability while being more difficult to counter AND active at all times. Plus, Forever Changed can make Veteran more effective if you want to use it.
Show Of Force
Rift Slash Cripples enemies it hits for 2s, and the resulting Abyssal Rift lasts 1s longer.
Level 1
Forever Changed
Increase your maximum Health by 750.
Level 5
All Will Kneel
Rift Slash
Increase the Abyssal Rift's pulse area of effect by 48%.
Level 4
The Little Things
Reduce the Cooldown of Rift Slash by 0.8s, up to a max reduction of 5s, when hitting enemies with Realm Breaker.
Level 4
Abyssal Authority
Increase the radius of Royal Presence's Poison aura by 20%.
Level 1
Unchecked Power
Rift Slash
Increase the slow strength of the rift's pulses by 5%.
Level 1
Guardian
Armor
Increase the effectiveness of Shields you create by 30%. This does not affect most cards and passives.
Level 3
Kill to Heal
Armor
Getting a kill or elimination heals you for 600 Health, unaffected by Anti-Healing.
Level 3
Chronos
Armor
Reduce the Cooldown of all your abilities by 30%.
Level 3
Veteran
Armor
Increase your base maximum Health by 16.5%.
Level 3
Abyssal Breach
Enemies that pass through Abyssal Fortress are Revealed and take 10% additional weapon damage from you and your allies for 3s. Reduce Abyssal Fortress' Cooldown by 2s.
Level 3
The New Order
Royal Presence
Gain a 150 health Shield for each enemy hit by Royal Presence's chain grab.
Level 5
Face To Face
Royal Presence
Increase the pull strength of Royal Presence's chain grab by 20%.
Level 1
Unyielding Advance
Increase Abyssal Fortress' Health by 800
Level 4
The Little Things
Reduce the Cooldown of Rift Slash by 0.4s, up to a max reduction of 5s, when hitting enemies with Realm Breaker.
Level 2
Forever Changed
Increase your maximum Health by 450.
Level 3
Illuminate
Armor
Increase the range at which you see nearby stealthed targets by 45 units.
Level 3
Guardian
Armor
Increase the effectiveness of Shields you create by 30%. This does not affect most cards and passives.
Level 3
Kill to Heal
Armor
Getting a kill or elimination heals you for 600 Health, unaffected by Anti-Healing.
Level 3
Chronos
Armor
Reduce the Cooldown of all your abilities by 30%.
Level 3
Show Of Force
Rift Slash Cripples enemies it hits for 2s, and the resulting Abyssal Rift lasts 1s longer.
Level 1
Center Of Combat
Royal Presence
Increase the max health damage of Royal Presence's Poison aura by 10%.
Level 5
Abyssal Authority
Increase the radius of Royal Presence's Poison aura by 80%.
Level 4
All Will Kneel
Rift Slash
Increase the Abyssal Rift's pulse area of effect by 12%.
Level 1
Forever Changed
Increase your maximum Health by 450.
Level 3
The Little Things
Reduce the Cooldown of Rift Slash by 0.4s, up to a max reduction of 5s, when hitting enemies with Realm Breaker.
Level 2
Kill to Heal
Armor
Getting a kill or elimination heals you for 600 Health, unaffected by Anti-Healing.
Level 3
Guardian
Armor
Increase the effectiveness of Shields you create by 30%. This does not affect most cards and passives.
Level 3
Morale Boost
Armor
Increase your Ultimate charge rate by 30%.
Level 3
Chronos
Armor
Reduce the Cooldown of all your abilities by 30%.
Level 3
Abyssal Breach
Enemies that pass through Abyssal Fortress are Revealed and take 10% additional weapon damage from you and your allies for 3s. Reduce Abyssal Fortress' Cooldown by 2s.
Level 3
Frontline Commander
Increase allies and decrease enemies' Movement Speed by 28% for 4 seconds when passing through Abyssal Fortress.
Level 4
A Swift End
Increase your fire rate by 20% for 3s when passing through Abyssal Fortress.
Level 5
Forever Changed
Increase your maximum Health by 300.
Level 2
True Freedom
You can miss 1 attacks before your chain resets. Increase the window to progress the chain by {scale=0.05|0.05}s.
Level 1
The Little Things
Reduce the Cooldown of Rift Slash by 0.6000000000000001s, up to a max reduction of 5s, when hitting enemies with Realm Breaker.
Level 3
Nimble
Armor
Gain 21% Movement Speed.
Level 3
Guardian
Armor
Increase the effectiveness of Shields you create by 30%. This does not affect most cards and passives.
Level 3
Kill to Heal
Armor
Getting a kill or elimination heals you for 600 Health, unaffected by Anti-Healing.
Level 3
Chronos
Armor
Reduce the Cooldown of all your abilities by 30%.
Level 3
Show Of Force
Rift Slash Cripples enemies it hits for 2s, and the resulting Abyssal Rift lasts 1s longer.
Level 1
Brutal Pursuer
Rift Slash
Increase your Movement Speed by 20% for 5s after casting Rift Slash.
Level 5
The Little Things
Reduce the Cooldown of Rift Slash by 0.8s, up to a max reduction of 5s, when hitting enemies with Realm Breaker.
Level 4
Abyssal Authority
Increase the radius of Royal Presence's Poison aura by 20%.
Level 1
Forever Changed
Increase your maximum Health by 450.
Level 3
Unchecked Power
Rift Slash
Increase the slow strength of the rift's pulses by 10%.
Level 2
Nimble
Armor
Gain 21% Movement Speed.
Level 3
Kill to Heal
Armor
Getting a kill or elimination heals you for 600 Health, unaffected by Anti-Healing.
Level 3
Guardian
Armor
Increase the effectiveness of Shields you create by 30%. This does not affect most cards and passives.
Level 3
Chronos
Armor
Reduce the Cooldown of all your abilities by 30%.
Level 3
Subjugation
Royal Presence's reactivation now only hits the first enemy in its path, and instead Roots them for 2.25s. Increase the Range of the reactivation by 50%.
Level 3
Unchecked Power
Rift Slash
Increase the slow strength of the rift's pulses by 20%.
Level 4
The Little Things
Reduce the Cooldown of Rift Slash by 0.8s, up to a max reduction of 5s, when hitting enemies with Realm Breaker.
Level 4
All Will Kneel
Rift Slash
Increase the Abyssal Rift's pulse area of effect by 12%.
Level 1
Forever Changed
Increase your maximum Health by 150.
Level 1
Brutal Pursuer
Rift Slash
Increase your Movement Speed by 20% for 5s after casting Rift Slash.
Level 5
Nimble
Armor
Gain 21% Movement Speed.
Level 3
Chronos
Armor
Reduce the Cooldown of all your abilities by 30%.
Level 3
Guardian
Armor
Increase the effectiveness of Shields you create by 30%. This does not affect most cards and passives.
Level 3
Kill to Heal
Armor
Getting a kill or elimination heals you for 600 Health, unaffected by Anti-Healing.