Nolan

Nolan brings a unique blend of strengths and weaknesses to the Mobile Legends battlefield, heavily influenced by his design as a high-difficulty Assassin.

Strengths

• Exceptional Burst Damage: Nolan possesses significant physical offense, allowing him to quickly eliminate squishy targets. His rift activations, especially from his Ultimate, deliver concentrated damage that can overwhelm enemies.
• High Mobility and Evasion: With multiple dashing skills and his passive's Cosmic Leap, Nolan can navigate the battlefield with ease, making him difficult to catch and enabling him to engage or disengage rapidly.
• Area Control and Zoning: His dimensional rifts not only deal damage but also pull enemies to their center. This provides valuable crowd control and allows Nolan to dictate enemy positioning during skirmishes.

Weaknesses

• Low Durability: Nolan has inherently low durability, making him very vulnerable to crowd control and burst damage from opponents. Positioning mistakes can be severely punished, leading to quick eliminations.
• High Skill Ceiling: With a difficulty rating of 60, Nolan requires precise execution of his skill combos and strategic rift placement to maximize his damage and energy regeneration. New players may struggle to consistently perform optimally.
• Energy Management Dependent: While rift activations restore energy, initial skill usage consumes it. If Nolan fails to land his rift activations, he can quickly run out of energy, leaving him vulnerable and unable to cast further abilities.

Understanding Nolan's unique skill set is key to mastering his gameplay, as his abilities synergize to create potent rift activations.

Passive: Dimensional Rift

Nolan's skills leave behind a Rift. When two rifts connect, they activate, pulling enemies to their center and dealing physical damage. This activation restores 15 Energy to Nolan. If an enemy is hit by multiple activations, subsequent damage is reduced by 40%. The rift activation deals 220 flat + 140% scaling (Extra Physical Attack, Physical). This high Extra Physical Attack scaling means that building items that provide raw physical attack significantly boosts your primary source of damage. Additionally, if Nolan doesn't deal or take damage for 5 seconds, his next Basic Attack becomes Cosmic Leap, allowing him to dash to a target, dealing 120% scaling (Total Physical Attack, Physical) physical damage and leaving a Rift. Cosmic Leap is excellent for initiating fights, chasing down enemies, or escaping, as it sets up your first rift for a combo.

Skill 1: Expansion

Nolan slashes a rectangular area, dealing 230 flat + 40% scaling (Total Physical Attack, Physical) physical damage and leaving a Rift at the first enemy hit. This skill is your primary tool for initiating rift combos and clearing minion waves. Its scaling with Total Physical Attack ensures it remains relevant throughout the game, contributing to both your burst and sustained damage. Use it to poke enemies from a distance or to quickly place a rift on a target you intend to engage.

Skill 2: Gauge

Nolan charges in a target direction, slashing enemies in his path for 70 flat + 13% scaling (Total Physical Attack, Physical) physical damage and leaving a Rift. While its damage scaling is lower compared to his other abilities, this skill is crucial for Nolan's high mobility. Use Gauge to quickly reposition, engage isolated targets, or disengage from dangerous situations. It's also vital for quickly placing a second rift to trigger an activation after using another skill.

Ultimate: Fracture

Nolan slashes the target location 3 times, each slash dealing 120 flat + 50% scaling (Extra Physical Attack, Physical) physical damage and leaving 3 rifts. These rifts activate automatically, and Nolan dashes backward. This ultimate is a powerful burst tool, capable of delivering immense damage through its three slashes and guaranteed rift activations. The high Extra Physical Attack scaling on each slash means it benefits greatly from physical damage items. Use Fracture to finish off low-health enemies, or as a quick burst and escape mechanism in team fights, allowing you to deal damage and then safely retreat.

Nolan's recommended build focuses on maximizing his physical burst damage and mobility, while also providing some survivability to compensate for his low base durability.

• Blade of the Heptaseas: This item's Unique Passive, Ambush, grants Nolan's next Basic Attack additional physical damage and a slow after 5 seconds of not taking or dealing damage. This synergizes perfectly with Nolan's hit-and-run playstyle and his passive's Cosmic Leap, amplifying his initial burst and making it easier to stick to targets.
• Ice Hunter's Magic Boots: As an Assassin who often jungles, these boots provide a significant advantage. Their Unique Passive, Hunter, deals additional true damage to creeps, drastically improving Nolan's jungle clear speed and allowing him to farm more efficiently to gain an early gold and experience lead.
• Endless Battle: The Unique Passive, Divine Justice, makes Nolan's next Basic Attack after casting a skill deal extra true damage. This item is core for Nolan, as his combos involve frequent skill usage followed by basic attacks (especially Cosmic Leap), significantly boosting his burst potential with true damage that bypasses enemy defenses.
• Blade of Despair: This item provides a substantial amount of physical attack. Its Unique Passive, Despair, increases Nolan's physical attack by 25% for 2 seconds when damaging enemies below 50% HP. As an assassin whose role is to execute low-health targets, this passive greatly enhances his finishing power, ensuring critical kills.
• Hunter Strike: Hunter Strike offers physical attack and cooldown reduction. Its Unique Passive, Retribution, grants a burst of movement speed after dealing damage to the same enemy hero or creep 5 times. This is invaluable for Nolan's mobility, allowing him to chase down fleeing enemies, reposition quickly in chaotic team fights, or make a swift escape after his burst.
• Queen's Wings: Given Nolan's low durability, Queen's Wings provides a crucial layer of survivability. Its Unique Passive, Demonize, grants damage reduction and extra spell vamp when his HP drops below 40%. This allows Nolan to withstand unexpected burst or turn around unfavorable engagements, giving him a chance to survive and potentially re-engage.

To truly master Nolan, understanding his unique mechanics and adapting your playstyle is essential, leveraging his strengths while mitigating his weaknesses.

• Master Rift Placement and Activation: Nolan's core damage and energy regeneration revolve around his dimensional rifts. Always aim to intersect your rifts, created by his passive, Skill 1, Skill 2, and Ultimate, to trigger activations. Practice precise placement to maximize damage and maintain your energy pool, especially during extended engagements.
• Prioritize Energy Management: While rift activations grant energy, initial skill casts consume it. Consistently landing rift activations on enemies, particularly during jungle clears or skirmishes, is vital to ensure you always have enough energy for your next combo. Avoid spamming skills without guaranteed rift connections.
• Embrace Hit-and-Run Tactics: With high offensive capabilities but low durability, Nolan excels at bursting down high-priority targets and then disengaging. Use your exceptional mobility from Skill 2 and Ultimate to dive onto squishy carries, unleash your full combo, and then quickly retreat to safety, waiting for cooldowns and looking for the next opportunity.
• Exploit Cosmic Leap for Advantage: Nolan's passive, Cosmic Leap, is a powerful tool for initiation or escape. Look for opportunities to reset the 5-second timer by avoiding damage, ensuring you have this enhanced basic attack ready to close gaps, secure kills, or quickly reposition when needed.
• Target Prioritization is Key: As an Assassin, your primary objective is to eliminate the enemy's most dangerous damage dealers, typically their Marksmen or Mages. Use your high burst and mobility to bypass frontlines and dive directly onto these squishy targets, disrupting their team's output.

Nolan does not have specific hero matchups listed in the official data. However, as an Assassin, he generally performs well against squishy, immobile heroes who struggle to escape his burst damage and rift zones. Conversely, heroes with high crowd control, strong disengage, or significant durability can pose a challenge, as they can disrupt his combos or withstand his initial burst.

Imagine you're stalking an isolated enemy Marksman in the mid-lane. To initiate a devastating gank, begin by ensuring your passive's Cosmic Leap is ready. Use Cosmic Leap to dash directly onto the target, dealing physical damage and leaving your first Rift. Immediately follow this with Skill 1 (Expansion), aiming to place its Rift directly on the enemy, which will trigger the first rift activation, pulling them and dealing significant physical damage while restoring energy. Next, use Skill 2 (Gauge) to dash through the enemy, placing a third Rift for another activation, dealing more damage and allowing you to reposition. If the enemy is still standing, unleash your Ultimate (Fracture). This will slash the target location three times, dealing massive physical damage with each hit, and automatically activating three more rifts for an explosive burst. The ultimate also dashes Nolan backward, allowing you to safely disengage after delivering your full damage, leaving a trail of activated rifts and a defeated foe.

• Prioritize rift activations: Always aim to intersect your rifts to gain energy and deal maximum damage, using your passive, Skill 1, Skill 2, and Ultimate strategically.
• Leverage item passives for burst: Utilize Blade of the Heptaseas' Ambush and Endless Battle's Divine Justice by weaving basic attacks between skills to maximize your damage output.
• Exploit low-health targets: Focus on enemies below 50% HP to benefit from Blade of Despair's passive, ensuring your finishing blows are as potent as possible.
• Manage your positioning: Use Skill 2 and Ultimate for both engagement and disengagement, capitalizing on Nolan's high mobility to strike and retreat safely, especially given his lower durability.