Nakroth — Patch 1.62 Verdict
[Liquipedia RPL: C] Pro play (RPL 2026): 24 picks, 50.0% WR, 10.0% pick/ban rate. Note: pro meta may differ from ranked.
Nakroth — Assassin Guide
Nakroth rewards players who can count. Every fourth auto triggers Dread Judge's knock-up, and the whole kit exists to engineer that fourth hit fast and land it where it hurts. He is not a press-R-and-win pick. He is a timing-based dive machine who chains one displacement into the next until the target runs out of answers. Play him well and your fights look like a highlight reel. Play him sloppily and you dash into a bad angle, miss the passive proc, and die having done nothing.
He sits at A tier this patch on a 50% win rate and an 8.4% pick rate, which is a healthy spot. The 1.6% ban rate says nobody fears him on sight, but skilled players carry on him consistently. The moderate pace of the current meta suits him: his hardest spike on Soulreaver and Broken Spear lands right when Dragon and tower fights start. He is not the safest jungle pick, Quillen and Murad both escape cleaner, but nothing else on the roster hits as hard as a full passive-reset chain at the same gold. Pick him if your mechanics are solid, you have the patience to drill the passive count, and your draft gives you at least one CC anchor to set up the dive.
Strengths
- +Nakroth's passive delivers a free knock-up on every fourth auto, giving him built-in lock-down that most assassins have to spend ability cooldowns to achieve.
- +Executioner's Blade's CC immunity makes Nakroth one of the few dive-type junglers who can confidently charge into a support-heavy backline without being immediately chain-stunned to death.
- +The dual-cast on Jury Fury gives Nakroth genuine 'in-or-out' flexibility mid-fight, letting him commit to a kill or safely exit if the trade is going wrong, a mobility option that most melee assassins lack.
- +His damage curve scales tightly with Broken Spear and Omni Arms, meaning a two-item Nakroth already threatens squishy targets with a full combo while other physical assassins are still completing their first core.
Weaknesses
- −Without the second cast of Jury Fury available, Nakroth has almost no escape, a single well-timed root or slow after his dash is spent frequently results in a death.
- −The passive knock-up requires four auto attacks to proc, which means against any hero with a dash, blink, or knockback (Airi, Butterfly, Florentino), the enemy can simply break the stack count and reset your setup.
- −Nakroth has no built-in sustain and mediocre base stats, so early jungle invades or extended 1v1s before Soulreaver is completed are likely to be lost against strong early-game junglers like Kil'Groth or Taara.
- −Executioner's Blade is a stationary channel relative to Nakroth's positioning, if the enemy peel peels your target away during R, your hits land on empty air and the ultimate is effectively wasted.
Abilities
PDread Judge
Every 4th auto attack lifts the target airborne. Additionally, when a skill hits a target, Nakroth's attack speed increases by 50%.
1Jury Fury
Nakroth dashes forward and lifts the target airborne, dealing physical damage. This skill can be recast within 5 seconds of initial use.
2Dominating
Nakroth backflips and converts his auto attacks within 3 seconds into sweeping attacks, dealing physical damage.
RExecutioner's Blade
Nakroth savagely slashes enemies in range, dealing physical damage with each hit and becoming immune to crowd control during the skill. The final attack lifts enemies airborne.
How to Use Nakroth's Kit
Track your auto-attack count at all times, the fourth hit knocks the target airborne, and landing it in the middle of a combo locks enemies in place for follow-up. Equally important is the 50% attack speed boost you gain every time an ability connects; this means opening with Q before your first auto dramatically compresses the time to that fourth hit, so always lead with a skill rather than raw autos. A common mistake at Diamond rank is wasting the knock-up on a minion in a fight, if you're at three stacks, disengage briefly or redirect to the enemy hero before consuming the proc.
Jury Fury's double-cast window is Nakroth's primary gap-close AND repositioning tool in the same breath, use the first cast to enter, deal damage and set up the passive attack-speed buff, then hold the second cast to dash out if the trade goes wrong, or to extend the chase once the passive knock-up has fired. The aerial portion on the first cast does register as a skill hit, so it immediately triggers the passive attack-speed bonus; always Q first, auto twice, then decide whether to blow the second Q or transition into W. Don't use both casts immediately back-to-back unless you're absolutely certain the kill is available, because burning your escape dash is what gets Nakroth players killed.
The backward leap on Dominating is a crucial part of the combo geometry, it creates distance that lets Nakroth's enhanced cleave autos hit both the primary target and adjacent enemies, making it the right choice for clearing stacked camps or punishing grouped-up teamfights. In a duel, W's three-second cleave window should overlap with your passive knock-up or R's final hit so the splash damage lands while the enemy is airborne and unable to dodge. One underrated use: the leap itself can dodge skillshots with correct timing, functioning as a brief evasion tool rather than purely an offensive button.
Executioner's Blade grants full CC immunity for its duration, this is not a small thing. Pop it into Maloch's or Baldum's chain-CC and you tank through the lockdown while dealing full damage. The final slash of R knocks up every enemy in range, and if you've timed your passive stacks correctly beforehand, you can immediately follow with the passive knock-up as well for two consecutive lift windows. Never start R as your opener; the immunity is wasted if you were never threatened, and you lose the ability to reposition with Q mid-combo.
Skill Order
Priority: R > Q > W| Skill | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Jury Fury | 1 | · | 3 | · | 5 | · | 7 | · | 9 | · | · | · | 13 | · | · |
2Dominating | · | 2 | · | 4 | · | · | · | 8 | · | 10 | · | 12 | · | 14 | · |
RExecutioner's Blade | · | · | · | · | · | 6 | · | · | · | · | 11 | · | · | · | 15 |
Loadout
Rage
Spirit
Essense Reaver
Dragon's ClawStandard Build
1
2
3
4
5
6Core Combos
Standard Kill Combo
1P2RThe bread-and-butter all-in: Q triggers the attack-speed buff, three autos proc the passive knock-up while the target is grounded, W's cleave autos bridge into R's CC-immune flurry for a seamless kill window on any squishy target.
R-Immunity Tank Dive
1RP21Lead with Q to enter and buffer R immediately to absorb incoming CC from supports, then auto to the passive knock-up, finish with W cleave and the second Q cast to exit, ideal when diving a protected carry with a Baldum or Grakk nearby.
Poke-and-Burst
12P1RUse the first Q to poke and apply the attack-speed buff, W's leap to safely extend your auto range without overcommitting, reach the passive knock-up, then confirm the kill with a second Q re-engage into R, useful against enemies who respect the full-combo threat and try to disengage early.
Gameplan
Nakroth is weakest at levels 1 to 3, before Jury Fury's double-cast is online. Skip contested early objectives and rush clear speed to Soulreaver. His first real spike is level 4 with Soulreaver done, where his burst already threatens squishies. The window that matters is Soulreaver plus Broken Spear, usually around the 8 to 11 minute mark. That is when you force every Dragon, every pick, every tower dive you can get. Late game, once enemies build tankier and CC chains stretch longer, his safe entry windows shrink and he shifts to cleanup behind the frontline instead of solo initiator.
Early Game
Levels 1–6- →Start blue buff to maintain mana, then sweep your side of the jungle efficiently — Nakroth's clear with W's cleave autos is fast enough to reach level 4 before most junglers contest the first Dragon.
- →Avoid dueling the enemy jungler before Soulreaver; if you detect an early invade, fall back and tax the nearest lane rather than fighting a losing 1v1.
- →Look for a gank in a lane where the enemy is pushed up and overextended — Q's knock-up and Dread Judge's passive are enough to guarantee a kill if your laner has any follow-up CC.
Mid Game
Post Broken Spear- →With Soulreaver completed, prioritize Dragon control and rotate to the lane with the most pressure — your two-item burst deletes any squishy hero who isn't shielded or healed.
- →Build toward Broken Spear as fast as possible and time your most aggressive objective dives for the moment it completes; this two-item window is the match's decisive phase for Nakroth.
- →Use the second Q cast defensively after every kill — reset your position behind your team immediately rather than chasing a routed enemy into a potential ambush.
Late Game
Teamfight phase- →Stop trying to solo-dive the enemy carry through an intact frontline; instead, wait for your own initiator (Maloch, Baldum) to create the opening, then Q in to clean up exposed targets.
- →In teamfights, position to hit the enemy carry with your full passive combo inside R's CC immunity window, not to frontline — Blade of Eternity gives you a second life if the dive goes wrong.
- →If the game goes to a base-siege scenario, use W's cleave autos to quickly shred turret shields or clustered defenders while Q is held in reserve as a hard escape.
Matchups
Never blind first-pick Nakroth into Butterfly, Quillen, or Airi. All three independently break the passive stack his damage depends on. If you have to play him into a mobile lineup, hold Q's second cast purely as an escape and play for Dragon-timer picks instead of teamfight dives. He turns terrifying when your team has Baldum, Grakk, or Annette, since their displacement pre-loads his passive by holding targets in range. In ban phase, ban Butterfly before Quillen. She beats him in the jungle duel and in fights, so she is the bigger problem to solve at Diamond.
Nakroth gets countered by
ButterflyButterfly's dodge passive and built-in blink let her consistently interrupt Nakroth's passive stack count and punish his over-commitment after the first Q cast is spent.
AiriAiri's mobility and targeted knock-up can disrupt Nakroth's combo sequence mid-chain, and her burst trades favor her heavily when Nakroth's second Q cast is on cooldown.
QuillenQuillen outranges Nakroth's engage, can vanish mid-combo to reset the passive stack count, and clears jungle faster in the early game, denying Nakroth the gold lead he needs to spike.
MalochMaloch's enormous HP pool and shockwave CC can interrupt Executioner's Blade before it completes, and his natural tankiness means Nakroth's burst doesn't one-shot him even at two items.
Nakroth synergizes with
BaldumBaldum's chain throws lock targets in place, giving Nakroth the stationary setup he needs to land all four passive auto attacks and activate R without the enemy dashing out.
GrakkGrakk's hook pulls enemies directly under Nakroth's position, perfectly feeding the passive stack while the target is displaced and unable to reposition.
NatalyaNatalya's roots and long-range poke force enemies to group defensively, creating the clustered kills that Nakroth's W cleave autos and R AOE are designed to capitalize on.
AnnetteAnnette's ultimate knocks enemies into Nakroth rather than away from him, stacking forced proximity with his passive timing for near-guaranteed kills on any target she displaces.
Pro Tips
- →Auto-attack count awareness extends to minion waves, if you're at three passive stacks walking into a gank, redirect one auto onto the enemy hero before finishing any nearby minion, because hitting the minion wastes the knock-up proc.
- →W's backward leap has enough vertical travel to dodge horizontal skillshots like Violet's ultimate or Laville's burst; in those matchups, deliberately time W as a defensive reaction tool, not just an offensive cleave setup.
- →Against tanks with large HP pools (Maloch, Arduin), activate R earlier in the combo so the CC immunity absorbs their retaliatory burst while you deal damage, rather than saving R for a finisher when you're already low.
- →Omni Arms' on-hit effect triggers on the cleave autos from W, meaning a fully-stacked Omni Arms in an AOE fight multiplies your effective damage far beyond the stat sheet, prioritize it over Claves Sancti if you're ahead in teamfight scenarios.
Nakroth is for mechanically confident junglers who want real outplay ceiling, not a one-button kill. His whole identity lives in the interplay between Dread Judge's passive counter, the in-or-out flexibility of Jury Fury's dual cast, and the CC-immune burst on Executioner's Blade. Until you can run all three together, you are leaving most of his win condition on the table. The one thing to master is the passive auto count. Lose track of it and you lose both your damage and your kill setup. If that precision sounds fun instead of annoying, he pays you back.
Nakroth — Frequently Asked Questions
Is Nakroth good in the current ROV patch?+
Yes. Nakroth is A tier on the Thai server this patch on a 50% win rate and an 8.4% pick rate, numbers that reflect steady high-rank play rather than hype. His CC immunity on Executioner's Blade keeps him relevant in a CC-heavy meta, and his two-item spike arrives before the usual mid-game objective fights. He is not S-tier broken, but in good hands he is one of the most reliable jungle carries.
What is the best build for Nakroth?+
Core build is Soulreaver, Gilded Greaves, Broken Spear, Omni Arms, Claves Sancti, Blade of Eternity. Soulreaver and Broken Spear are non-negotiable and should be rushed. Most players under-invest in Omni Arms, but its on-hit proc on W's cleave autos makes it very efficient in AoE trades. Blade of Eternity is the safety net that lets you take the dives that define his win condition.
How do you counter Nakroth?+
Pick a hero who can interrupt or escape his four-hit passive stack. Butterfly's dodge, Airi's blink, and Quillen's vanish all reset his setup and leave him with a spent Q. In fights, one targeted stun, root, or knockback right after his first Jury Fury dash shuts him down before R is up. In lane, track his Q cooldown: with both casts down he has no reliable gap-close and you can poke him freely.
Is Nakroth hard to play / good for beginners?+
He is Hard, and earned. His damage depends on managing the passive auto count, timing two separate Q casts, and picking the right moment to spend R's CC immunity instead of wasting it. Beginners die fast before the kit clicks. New to jungle? Learn Kriknak or Kil'Groth first, then come to Nakroth once auto-weaving and cooldown tracking under pressure feel natural.