Noxus is the most feared empire in all of Runeterra. The region is known for being ruthless and violent, traits showcased by all Noxians.
The champions in Legends of Runeterra are no exception. The Noxus deck is designed for aggressive players who enjoy relentless strategies.
The League of Legends lore explains that Noxus is a brutal empire but also a surprisingly inclusive nation. The Noxians are judged based on their talents and what they can bring to the empire. Magic and those who can master this ability are celebrated in Noxus. The duality of Noxus translates into LoR in the form of diverse strategies that are equally strong.
Synergies in Noxus
The Noxus region has three key decks: rush, cluster, and survive. Each deck takes a different approach. Rush is a fast-paced strategy for those looking to quickly burst down enemies. Cluster relies on teamwork to become stronger. Survive requires more patience and strategy to make the champions shine.
Rush
The Noxus champions are fierce and unstoppable warriors who are fast and precise. The first synergy follows that trait and focuses on killing the enemy fast. Draven and Katarina are the go-to champions for players who want to end the game quickly.
Getting Draven is easy through Draven’s Biggest Fan. When players summon this unit, it puts Draven at the top of the deck. Draven has two abilities, Quick Attack and Overwhelm. If it attacks before the blocker, the excess damage goes directly to the Nexus. With Elixir of Wrath and the Trifarian Hopeful, Draven gets extra early damage.
Legion Saboteur and Legion Grenadier are two units that attack the Nexus directly. These are relatively cheap cards that hit hard in the early rounds.
Cluster
Cluster requires the board to be full, so the cards proc the mechanics. The Noxus deck has a variety of cheap units that are useful in both rush and cluster. House Spider, one of Elise’s spiders, gets one extra unit whenever it’s summoned.
The most important cards in cluster are the characters from the Gladiator’s Arena. Crowd Favorite gets +1|+1 for every other ally on the board. This card has the Overwhelm ability, so all excess damage goes to the Nexus. Arena Battlecaster can boost the Crowd Favorite even more.
Survive
Survive is the final synergy and it uses the Crimson cards. The members of the Crimson aristocracy are a group of nobles who have mastered the nemomancy or the ability to manipulate the enemies’ mind and body. Vladimir is the most famous nemomancer and the leader of this group.
The strategy can get tricky. Players must deal damage to their own units to trigger the survive ability. When Crimson Disciple survives, it deals damage to the enemy’s Nexus. Crimson Curator creates new Crimson units when it survives. Crimson Aristocrat deals damage to the allies and compliments it by granting +2|+0. The Legion Veteran grants +1|+0 when an ally survives damage.
Transfusion deals damage to an ally to grant +2|+2 to another. If the ally survives Blood for Blood, then it creates a copy of the unit.
Champions of Noxus
Players can have one copy of each champion on the board. Noxus has four champions: Draven, Vladimir, Katarina, and Darius. LoR expands the lore of the champions through these cards.
Draven
Draven is the face of the Gladiator’s Arena, the main attraction in Noxus and a source of entertainment for people of all ages. Draven is a charismatic and beloved leader who’s respected by the adults and worshipped by the kids.
People adore Draven, but they also recognize that Draven isn’t perfect and that he would lose in a duel against Darius.
In LoR, Draven is an attacking card that levels up once he strikes with a Spinning Ace twice. Draven fits into the rush synergy thanks to his Quick Attack and Overwhelm.
Darius
While Draven entertains the masses in the arena, Darius protects the empire by leading the Trifarian Legion. Darius, the Hand of Noxus, is a leader who never hesitates and puts his duty above all.
In LoR, Darius fits into different strategies. Darius levels up once the enemy Nexus drops to 10 health, so it’s a good option for the rush synergy that focuses on killing the enemy as fast as possible. The second option is to give Darius extra power through the cluster synergy.
In both cases, Darius becomes an unstoppable force and the enemies will have to adopt a defensive stance.
Katarina
Born to a noble family, Katarina grew up to become an assassin for the empire. In Katarina’s lore, we learn that she failed to fulfill an important mission and escapes, swearing to serve the empire no matter her status.
In LoR, Katarina is staying true to her ideals and terrorizing the Demacian camps.
“No sir! Just a flash of red. Next thing I know, I look up and it… it was like a slaughterhouse in there,” reads Demacian Border Guard, Katarina card.
Speed is Katarina’s main trait. When Katarina strikes, she returns to the player’s hand immediately and levels up. Since speed is her thing, it’s not surprising that Katarina works better with the rush synergy.
Vladimir
Vladimir is an important member of the Noxian aristocracy and a core piece of the survive synergy. At the start of each round, Vladimir regenerates to full health, making him more difficult to kill.
Vladimir levels up when six or more allies survive damage. Once he levels up, Vladimir can deal damage directly to the enemy Nexus based on the amount of attacking allies.
Best faction synergies
Noxus can work with different factions depending on the player’s needs.
Freljord is the best partner for a survive deck. Since the Freljord cards are tankier and can absorb the damage, these can trigger the survive trait in other cards. The Crimson cards proc once a battling ally survives any attack.
If the player is going for a cluster deck, adding challenger cards from Demacia will do the trick. Challenger allows the player to pick the opponent and targets the problematic cards on the other side.  Â
