Nolan

Jungle assassin who chains overlapping Rifts into a pull-and-burst combo

AssassinJungleDeals physical

Nolan is a jungle assassin whose skills all leave a Rift on the ground; when two Rifts touch, they detonate, pulling enemies to the center and dealing damage. His passive heals him and grants Energy every time a Rift activation lands, so a well-chained combo of Expansion, Gauge, and Fracture both kills and sustains him through the fight.

Difficulty: Hard
Specialities: ChaseBurst

Nolan's damage depends on manually overlapping Rifts from separate skills before they expire, and Fracture's backward dash timing determines whether the final activation actually connects.

Beaten by: 84 hard
Strong into: 7
Best duos: 10
Builds: 2

At a glance

Damage	8 of 10
Durability	3 of 10
Crowd Control	6 of 10
Mobility	9 of 10
Utility	4 of 10

Rated against the whole roster, not against their own class.

When Nolan is strong

Attributes

Damage: 8
Durability: 3
Crowd Control: 6
Mobility: 9
Utility: 4

Strengths

Dimensional Rift heals him and grants 15 Energy every time a Rift activation hits a hero or Creep, letting him sustain through extended jungle duels
Gauge's dash and Fracture's backward dash give him some of the highest mobility of any assassin
Overlapping Rifts from Expansion, Gauge, and Fracture pull and burst a single target almost simultaneously
Low cooldowns on Expansion and Gauge let him clear jungle camps and threaten ganks back to back

Weaknesses

Very low HP pool for an assassin, dying quickly to any coordinated burst or CC chain
The Rift-chain combo requires landing multiple separate skills in sequence, not a single guaranteed burst
Fracture's 21-second cooldown means a missed ultimate leaves him without his biggest damage source for a while
No CC-immunity, and his only disengages are Gauge's dash and Fracture's backward dash, so a landed stun or root can end the fight fast

Skills

Max Expansion first for the rift-chain damage, level Gauge whenever available for the mobility, and take Fracture at levels 4, 8 and 12.

Passive

Dimensional Rift

Damage

Nolan's skills will leave a Rift that lasts 5 seconds and slows enemies by 30%. When a rift comes into contact with another rift, they will activate and pull enemies to their center and deal 220 (+140% Extra Physical Attack) Physical Damage after a short delay. Each time a rift activation hits an enemy hero or Creep, Nolan will gain 15 Energy and heals 150 (+120% Extra Physical Attack) for himself.

Our source cuts this description off mid-sentence — the rest is not shown.

“The father who swore to protect his shining star.”

Always active — no cooldown

Skill 1

Expansion

AOE

Nolan cuts a rectangular area in front of him with his cosmic gauge, dealing 230–480 (+40% Total Physical Attack) Physical Damage and leaving a rift at the first enemy hit.

“The scholar that explored the edge of the universe.”

Cooldown: 2s

Skill 2

Gauge

Mobility

Nolan charges in the target direction and slashes with his cosmic gauge, dealing 70–220 (+13% Total Physical Attack) Physical Damage to enemies in his path and leaving a Rift.

“The wayfinder that measured the distance of the star”

Cooldown: 2s

Ultimate

Fracture

Burst

Nolan slashes the target location 3 times, 120–180 (+50% Extra Physical Attack) Physical Damage with each slash while leaving 3 Rifts and slowing the target hit by 30% for 0.5s. The rifts will be activated automatically while Nolan dashes backwards.

“The hero that finally returned home.”

Cooldown: 21s

Signature combo

Expansion to plant a Rift on the first enemy hit → Gauge dash through it to trigger the Rift's pull-and-damage activation and heal off Dimensional Rift → Fracture to finish, its automatic backward-dash activation detonating any Rifts still standing.

Nolan builds

Core items in buy order, with the emblem, talents and battle spell that go with them.

Standard Burst Assassin

7,800g total

Default jungle pick for ganking and dueling through the mid game.

Emblem

Assassin

T1Rupture
T2Weapons Master
T3Lethal Ignition

Battle spell

Retribution35s CD

A well-timed Retribution on a low-HP objective — a 'smite steal' — can snatch Turtle or Lord away from a team that appeared to be securing it, often the single biggest swing play of the early-to-mid game.

Swap in when needed

Queen's Wings — Against dive/burst comps once you become the priority kill target.
Wind of Nature — Against physical burst that kills you before the combo lands.
Immortality — As insurance when you're the primary all-in engage of the team.
Blade Armor — Against enemy crit marksmen punishing you in extended trades.

Lethal Pick Burst

8,120g total

Against squishy backlines where a guaranteed kill in the opening trade matters more than sustaining a longer fight.

Emblem

Assassin

T1Rupture
T2Weapons Master
T3Lethal Ignition

Battle spell

Flicker120s CD

The 'Flicker combo' — blinking in right as a hook or stun lands, or blinking out the instant an enemy ultimate is cast — is the single most common high-elo outplay moment in the game.

Swap in when needed

Queen's Wings — Against dive/burst comps once you become the priority kill target.
Immortality — As insurance when you're the primary all-in engage of the team.
Wind of Nature — Against physical burst that kills you before the combo lands.

Who counters Nolan

The heroes that make this matchup hard, and the mechanic that does it.

Full counter page

Items to build against Nolan

Nolan is strong into

Heroes whose own counter list names Nolan — the same matchup, read from the other side.

Who to pair Nolan with

Duo partners whose kit completes this one.

Playing Nolan well

1
Plant a Rift with Expansion or Gauge before diving in, so Fracture's automatic activation on the backward dash already has a second Rift to detonate against
2
Use Retribution to secure jungle objectives early, then look for ganks the moment Fracture unlocks at level 4
3
Target squishy backline heroes — his burst kills them in one rotation, but tankier targets can outlast the combo and punish the low HP left over
4
Weave basic attacks between Expansion and Gauge casts to keep the healing from Dimensional Rift's activations coming in during a duel

Nolan — common questions

Is Nolan good for beginners?

He's moderately difficult — the individual skills are simple, but chaining Rifts from separate casts to land the full pull-and-burst combo takes real repetition to get consistent.

What is the best build for Nolan?

Tough Boots into Hunter Strike, Malefic Roar, and Blade of Despair covers burst damage with enough CDR to keep Rifts coming. Swap Hunter Strike for Endless Battle when you need more sustain in extended duels.

Which heroes counter Nolan?

Saber's Triple Sweep knocks him airborne and strikes him three times with no counterplay, Natalia's stealth ambush punishes his low HP pool, and Hayabusa simply outpaces his mobility and bursts him first.