Mobile Legends Nolan guide: Best build, skills, emblems, combos

Updated on October 30, 11:30 a.m. (GMT+8): Adjusted battle spell, emblem, and best build based on MLBB patch 1.9.20

Nolan, the Cosmic Wayfinder, is an assassin hero in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang who has low-cooldowns, high-impact abilities that can obliterate squishy damage dealers and disrupt tanky frontliners.

While styled similarly to energy-dependent assassins like Fanny and Ling, Nolan’s skills make him more well-rounded.

He packs not only damage and mobility in his arsenal but also an ability that can remove all kinds of debuffs, allowing him to slip away when caught in the thick of fights.

As such, Nolan fits well into aggressive, high-tempo team compositions. His abilities allow him to quickly burst down enemies, maneuver around the map easily, and snowball out of control.

Get to know more about Nolan and his gameplay in this in-depth ONE Esports guide, which includes recommended emblems, battle spells, and best builds for the hero.

Nolan’s skills in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

Passive – Dimensional Rift

Nolan’s skills will leave a Rift that lasts for a few seconds and applies slow effects to enemies. When a rift comes into contact with another rift, they will activate and pull enemies to their center and deal Physical Damage after a short delay.

Each time a rift activation hits an enemy hero or creep, Nolan will gain Energy. If an enemy is hit by multiple rift activations, the damage after the first hit will be reduced to a certain percentage.

Cosmic Leap: If Nolan does not deal or take damage for a few seconds, he enhances his next Basic Attack to dash to the target, dealing Physical Damage and leaving a rift.

• Understanding the effects of this passive is the key to winning using Nolan.
• Target having one rift come in contact with another by properly layering his abilities.
• The rift activation gives Nolan energy, in turn allowing him to activate his skills more frequently. This effect makes him an exceptional jungler hero.
• His Cosmic Leap works like the unique passive of Blade of the Heptasea, Ambush, which enhances Basic Attacks.

First skill – Expansion

Nolan cuts a rectangular area in front of him with his cosmic gauge, dealing Physical damage and leaving a rift at the first enemy hit.

• This is a low-cooldown, Area of Effect ability that you can abuse to clear jungle camps fast.
• Prioritize maxing out this skill to ramp up your early game damage.
• To abuse the passive effects of the hero, use this skill only after your Cosmic Leap Basic Attack for higher damage and crowd-control effects.

Second skill – Gauge

Nolan charges in the target direction and slashes with his cosmic gauge, dealing Physical Damage to enemies in his path and leaving a Rift.

• This is the assassin’s primary mobility ability, but it also packs Physical Damage.
• Use this ability in conjunction with your first skill to trigger the hero’s passive and clear camps fast.
• This skill is also a powerful chase ability as it has a low cooldown. Use it to initiate ganks in other lanes.

Ultimate – Fracture

Nolan removes all debuffs on himself and slashes the target location 3 times, dealing Physical Damage with each slash while leaving 3 Rifts. The rifts will activate automatically while Nolan dashes backwards.

• This ability is Purify and Flicker battle spells combined.
• You can use this to disengage when the enemy team tries to focus their crowd control on you.
• Likewise, you can activate this to cap off your skill combo and relocate to safety afterward.

A comprehensive guide on how to play Nolan in Mobile Legends

Recommended battle spell

The Cosmic Wayfarer is an excellent hero to use as a jungler because you can take advantage of his low-cooldown abilities to take down jungle creeps fast, then regain energy in the process to do it all over again. As such, Retribution is the best battle spell.

Specifically, get the Ice Hunter’s Retribution. Not only will this boost your camp-clearing abilities, the blessing also allows you to steal 72 to 100 movement speed from your target depending on your level for a couple of seconds, making you even more mobile while your enemies are hampered by slow effects.

Use this on mobile enemy mages or marksmen who are attempting to flee from fights. It can help you easily chase them down to secure a crucial kill or escape from them when getting pursued.

Recommended emblem

Nolan is incredibly strong in the early game due to his low-cooldown, high-damage abilities. When equipped with talents that boost these strengths, his snowball potential jumps to another level.

Take the Assassin Emblem to get additional Adaptive Penetration, Adaptive Attack, and Movement Speed.

For your first talent, Rupture is the best option because the added Physical Penetration amps up your hero’s camp-clearing, giving you more time to visit other lanes to gank.

Double down on your jungling speed by getting Seasoned Hunter as the second-tier talent. This increases the hero’s damage against the Lord and Turtle, thereby making it easier to secure and contest objectives.

Finally, take Lethal Ignition as your main talent. This allows you to deal extra damage when you hit enemies multiple times, further boosting your burst damage capability.

Nolan best build

Aside from emblems, you can also snowball easily if you build the right items on Nolan. Mostly, you need to increase your Physical Attack early to gank lanes and secure key pick-offs.

Get Blade of the Heptaseas as soon as you can. The item’s unique passive, Ambush, works similarly to Nolan’s passive, Cosmic Leap, which enhances the next Basic Attack after not taking damage for a few seconds.

Continue building on your burst damage by purchasing Sky Piercer and Hunter Strike as you transition to the late game.

By this stage of the game, enemy heroes will have bought Physical Defense items. Counter this by getting Blade of Despair and Malefic Roar. Both items increase your kill potential against durable enemies.

You can also opt for Immortality as your final item to get a second chance in fights when you get eliminated quickly.

The best build for Nolan in Mobile Legends

• Tough Boots
• Blade of the Heptaseas
• Sky Piercer
• Hunter Strike
• Malefic Roar
• Blade of Despair

Easy combos to learn

Nolan’s skills are straightforward, but to fully take advantage of his Dimensional Rift passive, you’ll need to sequence his abilities properly and have his rifts make contact with one another.

The easiest combo to learn is the three-rift combo where you attack using Cosmic Leap, activate your first skill, and quickly follow it up with the second skill.

This combo packs enough damage to delete squishy marksmen or mages on the battlefield, especially when Nolan is equipped with the right Physical Attack items.

When chasing enemies or ganking lanes, you can execute his chase combo. Close the gap using Gauge, attack using Cosmic Leap, then follow it up with Expansion. Continue the combo with another Gauge and Expansion to burst the enemy down.

READ MORE: 5 groundbreaking skills that are completely unique to Mobile Legends