OMGWTFBBQ HOW THE HELL DID HE KILL ME! HE JUST DISAPPEARS AND THOSE BLADES JUST EAT MY FACE!

Ah classic line, it's music to my ears! Talon has the ability to not only dominate in game, but also dominate people’s emotions, you will find many people raging and hating you for playing such an amazing champion!

Talon IMO is one of the best AD Burst Assassin Type champs in the game thus far! Below I will do my best to explain how I have come to believe this to be so!

IMPORTANT: Lets be real, I am not saying my build is the best nor am I saying that it is better than anyone else, all I hope to attain from this build is to teach you how to play Talon very well. Please read this WHOLE guide before you decide if you would like to upvote or downvote. I do NOT expect you to build exactly what I have listed every single game. This is why I have explained different build options throughout my guide. So please read the: Items, Viable Item Options and Last Thoughts for more information! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my guide!!!

08/24/2011 – Talon – The Blade’s Shadow goes live!

08/24/2011 – Created a Talon Guide that I believe will help out the League of Legends Community!

08/26/2011 – Finished with my Talon guide, only thing missing is some artwork and some screenshots of proof. Will be added as I get some games in! Talon - Blades of Fury now live!!!

08/26/2011 – Updated correct CDR with Build 1, Forgot to include the Mastery Sorcery into the equation which gives an additional 3% CDR which equates to a Grand Total of 39% CDR!

08/27/2011 – After many games with Talon, I have decided on what items work best with Talon, and so far I believe Trinity Force is an extremely viable item for Talon. So because of this I have altered my guide, and have officially made Build 2 the Main Build 1, and Build 2 now incorporates the Frozen Mallet option! I have adjusted my guide accordingly!

08/27/2011 – Drastically altered both Build 1 and Build 2, I have now focused my entire Build 1 centered around Trinity Force, I decided one game to rush Trinity Force, and it really paid off. So IMO Build 1 is now the best ultimate way to Play and build Talon. Once you have your Tri force your virtually unstoppable. I have altered and changed my guide accordingly. Also one more key thing I have done, is after Tri force, rush Infinity edge vs Bloodthirster. Lastly I have dropped Quicksilver sash after peoples comments and much deliberation, I felt Banshee's Veil was a more viable option! Hope you enjoy the new look and item build!!

I also wanted to give credit and thanks to bearsquared for your comments and theory's that drove me to test and alter my build accordingly! Thank you!

08/29/2011 – Added brand new screenshots of gameplay both normal and Ranked gameplay!

08/29/2011 – Did some research into some Mastery Stats, and I have changed Perseverance to Good Hands, the 3 points will now go into Good Hands, simply because after you do the math Perseverance is pointless, a giant waste of 3 points.

08/29/2011 – Added a third build, which is an experimental build. I am trying to really study the difference if I rush Infinity Edge over Tri Force, and I want to see which will do better for me. I have tried rushing Infinity Edge before with not much luck, but I have altered the build so that you get damage and sheen early on, increasing your proc. Hopefully this build will be extremely viable!

08/29/2011 – Altered Build 2 Slightly, now rushing B. F. Sword before Phage.

08/30/2011 – Last night I was playing Talon, and I kept going against some really beefy teams, lots of tanks and off tanks, supports things I just couldnt kill, literally no squishys. It was getting extremely frustrating, and when I would go in, I would have to drop my abilities and then run back, dealing very little damage. I noticed my builds were a bit off. I would have sheen or something, but with low damage So I had to alter them to give me damage earlier on vs later. I also noticed how freaking long it would take me before I could run back in waiting on cd's. So what I did with the builds is altered them, so that I get Ionian Boots early on along with The Brutalizer, followed shortly after with a B. F. Sword for damage increase. The builds now look superb rushing CDR and Damage early on, then follows up with tri force or Frozen Mallet in build 2. These builds look almost perfect now, and I hope that you all enjoy the update!!

MARKS

greater mark of desolation
Greater Mark of Desolation: Hands down is one of the most needed runes for any AD Champion, it gives 1.66 armor pen per rune which equates to roughly 15 armor pen with all 9 at lvl 1! This rune is without a doubt needed!

SEALS


Greater Seal of Resilience: One thing I have noticed with Talon is that he lacks any real survivability, so if your wanting to get some early game survivability grab this rune, it equates to roughly 13 armor with all 9 at lvl 1!

GLYPHS


Greater Glyph of Focus: This glyph is one of my personal favorites, reduces your global cd on your abilities, this has so much nice utility for any champion. Equates to roughly 6 Cooldown Reduction with all 9 at lvl 1!


Greater Glyph of Warding: Just like the Seal of Resilience it’s all about building survivability, and those casters won’t be able to hurt us as easily, equates to roughly 14 Magic Resist with all 9 at lvl 1!

QUINTESSENCES

greater quintessence of desolation
Greater Quintessence of Desolation: More Armor Pen? Yes please, for sure this is the perfect Quint to take with Talon, this will only increases how deadly Talon can really be, another must have! Equates to roughly 10 armor pen with all 3 at lvl 1!

STATS

greater mark of desolation+ + +greater quintessence of desolation=
25 Armor Penetration
13 Armor
6 Cooldown Reduction

Flash: Where did he go? Don't you hate that, your about to finish off a champion, then Flash they are gone and you get so pissed! Well this spell can also be used in retrospect, you are in a bush waiting for that enemy champion, then you flash on top of him before he can even realize what’s happening, BAM he is dead! mwhahaha Flash is FTW, Take it don't ask questions!


Exhaust: Exhaust is one of my other most favorite summoner spells, I can't tell you how many times I have scored First Blood and early game kills with this one spell. Why you would take Exhaust over Ignite is simple, Talon’s Passive – Mercy deals extra damage to any champion under the influence of cc, so you slow them and deal bonus damage! It is also an excellent tool for chasing, where you going bro! *popped exhaust* U Dead!


Ignite: Ignite is another very good spell, those champions that are just out of reach and are almost to tower, pop ignite and guarantee their death. I love killing noobs with ignite it Lawls me!


Ghost: Ghost is so versatile, First off it can be used as an escape, and as a chase. This is precisely why I take Ghost, So many people run from me, and I want to be certain I can catch them. Some would argue that this is stupid because of Talon's passive, but let me remind you, we are building a Frozen Mallet so we will always be dealing bonus damage!


Teleport: Very useful tool throughout the entire game. Especially during laning phase, this spell allows you to stay in lane much longer without any real walking downtime. I also use this to get some ganks in or protect a tower when needed, another solid choice!

mercy
Mercy: Mercy is a neat passive, basically what it does is gives you increased damage to any champion under the effect of any cc. So if they are slowed, stunned, feared or silenced, they will receive increased damage from your auto attacks!!


Noxian Diplomacy: Noxian Diplomacy is a fun ability to use, especially with its visual graphics alone. When you use this on a champion it forms a dagger above the units head and has a bleed effect, which leaves a bleed trail when they run away lol. It’s amusing to watch. Not only is it visually amusing, but this ability has great burst and a damage over time effect that scales with your AD.


Rake: Rake is the bread and butter of your champion. You will use this ability 95% of the time! Rake sends out spinning blades in a cone, that deal damage going out and deal damage coming back to Talon. Rake also produces a slow effect to anything your blades hit. Combine this ability with cutthroat and you have a neat little duo combo, silence and slow baby! GET SOME!

cutthroat
Cutthroat:Cutthroat is like Kat’s Shunpo on crack! You instantly blink to the enemy target, but you arrive behind the target like a True Assassin, dealing no damage, but silencing your target for a few seconds, and giving you a increased damage percentage buff for a few seconds. While you then get to fire off Rake, and Noxian Diplomacy, for a triple combo of Rape!! This ability can also be combined with your ultimate for some serious increased damage!


Shadow Assault: Shadow Assault, I could go on for hours talking about how amazing this ability is! So let me try to contain myself and explain what it does, First off the most noticeable thing it does is instantly stealth your champion! The next thing that you notice is a ring of blades fire out of your chest in all directions forming a large circle of blades, they deal damage to anyone they hit. Now your invis and free to roam as you please, as soon as you unstealth or deal any damage your blades all rush back to you, dealing damage to anyone they hit! Lol this ability is epic when used with cutthroat rake and noxian diplomacy! This quick burst of damage is how an Assassin was meant to be! WOW BEST DAMN ULTIMATE IN THE GAME!!
WARNING: ANY ACTION OTHER THEN WALKING WILL POP TALON OUT OF STEALTH, THIS INCLUDES USING ANY ABILITY OR ANY SUMMONER SPELL, SO IF YOU FLASH, YOU WILL UNSTEALTH AND YOUR BLADES WILL COME RUSHING BACK TO TALON.

I have been playing Talon sense he was released, and he is a very fun champion but can also be very annoying.. The reason i say annoying is because once you start pulling off kills, people start to focus you and it can get very frustrating. Secondly you actually have to be aware of what your doing when playing Talon, you can’t be that yi who runs in and right clicks FTW.. Doesn't work that way with Talon, you have to Run around constantly and play smart.

Talon is great early game, but only great if you have greater mark of desolationgreater quintessence of desolation AND TAKE I have seen many ppl take other things besides Doran's Blade like But these don't work out in his case, you may be able to survive longer in the laning phase, but u definitely won’t pick up kills as easily as you could if you grabbed Doran's Blade.

I honestly recommend playing Talon in a duo lane, simply because, he is meant for early game kills,(yes he is designed to be a carry but hear me out) in mid lane you won’t get a kill very often, unless the other player truly sucks, or you have a fellow teammate that helps you gank mid several times. But if you are in a top or bot lane working with someone that gives Talon some solid synergy, such as someone that can stun, dps or cc like Then you could get some early kills and snowball. just because Talon has some little range doesn't make him a strong mid. Trust me on this!

Items are very important with Talon, if you have played him you noticed how stupid slow her attacks are early game, and you notice you can’t just build attack speed items. Talon relies a lot more on pure Attack Damage, so maxing out that AD will make you a successful Talon.

My last concern, Talon is an AD Burst Poke Champion! He is not an auto attacker, he is not a Attack Speed Right click champion! He is not a Master Yi who only right clicks to get kills! Have you ever seen a Kat who builds Attack Speed items and stand there auto attacking you? No its absurd its unheard of no one does it because it’s stupid! So to all you Talon’s that keep building Attack Speed items, well my friend you’re a dumbass! Play Talon as you would play Kat, run in poke drop all your abilities, run back and rinse and repeat! Stop trying to Auto Attack!!!!

(OMGWTFBBQ! TALON YOU HIT LIKE A TRUCK -- LOL I KNOW :P)

Doran's Blade: I cannot stress enough how this is vital to Talon's early game, if you do not take this item then yes I will call you out in game and I will start raging! No other item brings to the table the stats and perks that Doran's Blade has. It gives you a nice additional 10 attack damage, 100 health and a nice 3 life steal! Precisely why this little item is so vital early game, you can benefit from all 3 of these attributes! It allows you to hit harder early game, get some easy early kills, sustains your hp with a little life steal, and gives you an extra 100hp at lvl 1! Take this item, no do not argue, just do it! (Survivability)


Ionian Boots: Gotta get boots, everyone needs some additional movement speed, so why not grab something that can lower your cooldowns and increase your dps!? Talon is a great champion but slacks on the rate at which how often he can use his abilities! So very early on this will reduce cooldowns. This is the primary reason I choose to put this in my build! Now hear me out, I have a philosophy behind this. In my build I center my main idea around maximizing cooldown reduction! The current CDR Cap is 40% so getting closest to that as possible will suit Talon best!


Trinity Force: Trinity Force is what really makes Talon superior to other champions. Now the reason we build Trinity Force vs going with a Phantom Dancer or a Frozen Mallet, is simple: first off its cheaper! Secondly it only takes up 1 item slot vs 2, Thirdly the passive not only slows but it also procs an increase of 150% Attack Damage for one attack after every cast. That means after every cutthroat you are going to deal increased damage! Another great reason to pick Trinity Force is because of the survivability it brings to the table, your gaining 250 health, 250 mana and 12 movement speed, with a chance to slow the target after every hit!! This is an all-around great item for Talon, and let’s faces it, majority of the games we don't even have time to build full builds, so why not grab something that gives you a little bit of everything! (Survivability)


Youmuu’s Ghostblade: Youmuu’s Ghostblade is what really makes Talon superior to other champions. Now the reason we build Youmuu’s Ghostblade vs any other big AD starting item is simple, we want that CDR. Youmuu’s gives us 15% CDR, with a nice unique passive. This passive gives us a buff with 20% movement speed, and a nice little perk of 50% attack speed. Regardless, this item is everything Talon needs early game, rush this item like your life depends on it. (Survivability)


REASON FOR CORE ITEMS:
This is simple, Talon is an Assassin with large Cooldowns, so to maximize his dps we maximize his CDR!
+ + + =
15% CDR from Ionian Boots of Lucidity
15% CDR from Youmuu’s Ghostblade
6% CDR from (9) Greater Glyph of Focus
3% CDR from Sorcery Mastery
Total: 39% CDR – CAP is 40% (so 39% is pretty damn close to our cap!)




The Bloodthirster: Lifesteal! What better icing on the cake then some nice lifesteal! Bloodthirster brings to the table 60 attack damage, and 15 lifesteal. This not only boosts our already huge damage, but gives us a nice little perk of lifesteal! One thing I found really neat about this item is its passive. It allows you to stack more damage and lifesteal, with 40 kills - minions or champions -- you can gain an additional 40 damage and 10% lifesteal! Your joking right? So your saying I can have potentially 100 attack damage and 25% lifesteal! Um yes please, gimme gimme gimme!! This item will for sure sustain you through any fight! (Survivability)


Infinity Edge: We already have a solid build and have some decent survivability, so lets make it stronger! If you want a tool for absolute destruction, then you need to grab Infinity Edge. This baby packs a wicked punch, with 80 attack damage, and 25 critical strike chance. What really makes this Edge unique is it's passive. This passive increases our damage of our critical hits by 50%! That's wicked! a Must have on a solid Talon build!


Banshee's Veil: This item is such a gem, and sometimes can be overlooked! Survivability is the name of the game, and Banshee's Veil is right up our alley. Not only do we get 375 health and 375 mana, but we also get 50 magic resist! Now casters cant one shot us! But wait, that's not all! Banshee's Veil has this sick passive that gives you a cool little bubble, but this bubble isn't for looks what it does is blocks one negative spell every 45 seconds! 1 spell completely negated every 45 seconds! that's insane!! I grabbed this item very early in the build because we already have some decent damage now we want to stay alive long enough to actually come out of a team fight alive! (Survivability)

Frozen Mallet: This item hands down is one of the best items that we can use on Talon! As an Assassin, we find ourselves running in dropping our damage then getting out, but sometimes we find ourselves chasing those cowardly champions that try and escape our Blade’s of Fury! So hit them in the face with our Frozen Mallet and we won’t have a chasing problem!

So the only real difference between build 1 and build 2 is the Trinity Force VS Frozen Mallet. Lots of people have their opinions about both, but I have to admit, I can see Talon go both ways. The 150% proc comes in handy when your trying to drop champions quickly. But on the same side of things its an expensive item, and Frozen Mallet might be a more viable option for Talon. It’s a toss-up. So that’s why I have included this item in my Build 2

Reason for Options:
We all know that every game we play will be completely different from the last, so this being said not any one build will be the end all God Mode Glory build! Yes folks we have to understand the game and use our brains, and yes think on our feet during every game. If we just follow a build item for item, and get face rolled we blame the champion, our team, and the creator of the build. But wait I have a solution to this.... Are You Listening?

In order to succeed with any champion let alone Talon, we need to build our items depending how the game itself is going! We can have a core thought process and core items, but if the other team has 5 tanks stacking all armor, what do you do? Well the obvious answer would be to get some armor penetration items! So that being said I want to introduce to you, some items that have the option to be swapped out for your Boots, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Items


Boots



Boots of Swiftness: Instead of grabbing 's Ionian Boots, you could always go with something that is going to give you more movement speed. I have used both, but for this build I wanted more CDR, so I found the CDR to be more Vital. But still any extra movement speed is always a plus!


Mercury's Treads: When you know the game is going to be really tough, you get some nice magic resist, and +35 Tenacity, meaning reducing all cc by 35%! This pair of boots is always another viable choice for Talon! (Survivability)


Fourth Item (Survivability Item)



Atma's Impaler: If the other team is mostly AD based and you are doing fairly well, why not grab some extra armor and boost your critical strike chance. Atma's Impaler brings to the table, 45 armor and a nice additional 18 critical strike chance! But like always this item has a sick passive! physical attacks deal and additional 2% of your max health in damage. Let’s say you have 3000 hp, well with Atma's Impaler your dealing 60 additional damage per hit! (Survivability)


Quicksilver Sash: Talon is a very squishy Champion so we need something to help us get away if we get cc’d. So why not grab Quicksilver Sash? This awesome item can remove ww:s ulti, morganas, poppys (only the +30%dmg part), vladmirs, malzahars, ashes, rammus taunt, shen's taunt, sions stun, tarics stun, teemos blind, heimerdingers stun/blind, nunus slow, zileans bombs, akalis mark of the assasin, shens healing-thing, morganas snare, katrhus slow, alistairs airborn, chogath's airborn, sorakas silence, blitzcranks airborn and silence, kogmaws vision, nidalees vision, tf's vision, pantheon's stun, cho gath's silence, jax's stun, mordekaisers ulti, ignite, exhaust, wounds and bleeding effects, teemos mushrooms, udyr's stun and many, many more abillities. for 1.4k gold. Nuff Said!
(Survivability)


Guardian Angel: You are doing very well with the damage output, but still it’s extremely hard to stay alive because the other team has a carry that is just steamrolling your team, well Guardian Angel can help you out for sure! 68 armor, 38 magic resist, and a mini revive if you die giving you a second chance at life! What’s not to love about this item. (Survivability)


Thornmail: This item is awesome for an enemy team that is very AD heavy and has an AD carry that is just ripping your team to pieces. Thornmail gives 100 armor and has one of the coolest passives in the game, that I honestly wish I could always have on any champ I play! This passive reads, On being hit by standard attacks, returns 30% of damage taken as magic damage. Which basically means anytime a physical attack hits you and deals damage to you, your thornmail automatically returns 30% of that damage back to the caster as magic damage! Bye Bye When someone hits you for 1000 damage your thornmail returns the favor of 300 damage instantly dealt as magic damage! OMG, Epic Item! Its only 2000 gold! (Survivability)


Force of Nature: If the enemy team has a wicked AP carry such as Then you may need some additional magic resist. Force of Nature is just the item for the job! This item gives you 76 magic resist, 8 movement speed and 40 health per 5 seconds. The passive on Force of Nature helps a lot too, giving you .35% of your champion's health every second! Meaning if you have 3000 hp, your gaining 10.5 hp every second! Which doesn’t sound like a lot, but give it a minute and you already gained 630 health with your passive alone! (Survivability)


Fifth and Sixth Items



The Black Cleaver: Instead of grabbing a Infinity Edge or a Bloodthirster, Black Cleaver would be a very viable option. It really is dependent on if your facing some ruthless tanks or you just want the extra attack speed and damage that Black Cleaver brings to the table. What really makes Black Cleaver an excellent item for Talon is not the 30 attack speed and 55 attack damage, but the passive that reduces 15 armor for 5 seconds and can stack 3 times, meaning that's 45 armor reduction! Black Cleaver combined with makes for a very nasty huge damage combo!


Last Whisper: This is another great item to grab if you aren’t looking to spend the money on Black Cleaver. It’s a cheaper alternative, and for most games we don’t last much longer than the 30 min mark. Last Whisper gives us 40 attack damage and 40% armor penetration, which is sick for Talon! A very good item to grab!!

I wanted to talk a little bit about why I went with such items in my build over others, and also wanted to see if you caught something I meant to show in my build. I am referring to the (Survivability) I left these words in my build to prove a point. Every other item goes damage, survivability, damage, etc. This is precisely my Philosophy!

I believe that not only do you need to be farming, last hitting, gaining experience, getting kills, but you also need to be surviving! So if you build all damage, what is that accomplishing? you may be able to kill easily but now it’s 1v2, your for sure screwed and nothing you can do about it! But if you go damage, survivability, your building a well-rounded solid build that can withstand team fights and ganks, but also contribute to the team by far more with your damage output and durability!

Talon is really one of the most fun characters I have played on League of Legends so far. His ability to hit hard / and chase FTW is rivaled to none. While be being fed, or not being fed, his ways of melting down an enemy near their tower, or in a team fight really just depends on if you can stay at range while picking off champs one by one. If you master the art of jumping around the jungle all nimbly bimbly, and have good map awareness, I have no doubts that you will be able to destroy as Talon!