Talon Build Guide by NinjaStrike07

Introduction

This guide goes over my build and play style of Talon in the mid lane. This build is not recommended for ranked play, as it was only tested in normal. Using this build, I consistently carry with the most kills and least deaths of both teams, and usually at least 15 kills for 30 minute games, and 20 kills for 40 minute games. This guide is meant to let you play Talon to his fullest extent and carry every game. Please leave a comment if you downvote, I appreciate everyone's advice. Also, PLEASE VOTE! More than 1100 views, and ONE VOTE? Really?

Runes

For runes, I take flat armor penetration marks. This allows Talon some extra damage all around, pretty self=explanatory. I take flat armor seals to help combat Talon's squishiness early game. Magic resist per level glyphs tone down the AP carry's damage later game, when they start to get dangerous. Movement speed quintessences help Talon do what he does best: harass. With all this extra movement speed, Talon can Cutthroat in, Noxian Diplomacy and Rake, and then get out before the target can do anything about it.

Masteries

For masteries, I go 21-0-9. In the offense tree, I pretty much go the standard damage route. Armor pen, damage, attack speed, critical damage, and lifesteal all benefit Talon a lot. In the utility tree, I take Summoner's Insight for reduced Flash cool down, then take mana per level. Talon uses a lot of mana if you harass frequently, so this lets you spam skills a bit more. Swiftness gives extra movement speed for harass, as I said above. I take Runic Affinity because red buff works really well on talon, and you can quickly kill red or blue at around level 12.

Items

Start with Boots of Speed for harass, and instead of 3 health potions, take 2 health potions and a mana potion so you don't run out of mana harassing early. An alternative is to take Doran's Blade, but this is less viable after the nerf (100 hp --> 80 hp).
Next, upgrade your boots. My number 1 choice is Mercury's Treads. The MR helps because there is usually an AP carry mid, where you will be. The Tenacity is extremely important on Talon, because CC will shut down his damage hard, and prevent him from escaping and running around the fight. Number 2 choice is Berserker's Greaves, if there isn't a lot of magic damage or CC isn't a threat. These boots give Talon more DPS, as he'll have a lot of AD later on. Number 3 choice is Ionian Boots of Lucidity so you can spam skills and harass more frequently.
Get The Brutalizer before you upgrade your boots because it helps give you some early game damage through AD and armor pen. Also, the 10% CDR helps you spam your Q and harass more frequently, as Cutthroat has a longish cool down.
After you pick up your boots, take The Bloodthirster. This is an extremely important item on Talon. It gives you much needed AD and lots of lifesteal for sustain.
Next comes Trinity Force. All of its stats are perfect on Talon. AD, crit chance, and AS for more damage, a bit of extra health and mana, movement speed for better harass. Also, great proc that works well with Talon's abilities.
Next, upgrade Brutalizer to Youmuu's Ghostblade. This gives more AD, armor pen, crit chance,and cooldown reduction, all great on Talon, as well as a killer active for chasing or for teamfights.
After Trinity, take Frozen Mallet. Until this point, you're extremely squishy, this will keep you alive. Also, great passive makes it impossible for enemies to escape.

To finish it off, you have a few choices. Guardian Angel if you're having trouble staying alive, for extra survivability.
Madred's Bloodrazor for more damage and to shred tanks, or, my favorite, Infinity Edge. Infinity Edge puts you at over 300 AD, puts you at 40% crit chance, and the crits do extra damage! This will make you insta-kill most squishies.

Skills Explanation/Sequence

• This ability resets Talon's attack timer, so you should use it immediately after a basic attack for a double hit.
• This skill is very spammable. Use it both against champs, and for monsters and turrets to kill them faster.
• Remember the damage over time effect. If you use this skill and they get very low, you might not need to ignite or turret dive to finish them if they are bleeding from this skill.
• When chasing, always use this skill, as it gives you vision of them for 6 seconds.

• This skill gives a big slow, good for chasing and for harassing so they can't come back at you.
• Use this skill for pushing turrets by killing minions. Late game, this skill can usually one-hit minions.
• Change your key bindings so that this skill uses smart casting. This will make it much easier and faster to aim, especially if the target is close to you.

• Use this to interrupt channeled spells.
• This spell lets you get on top of someone to start harassing, and also silences them to make it harder for them to stop you.
• The silence does not scale with levels, so it's not worth maxing till level 18.

• This skill is perfect for escaping, as it gives you stealth and lots of movement speed.
• When chasing somebody with this skill, get in front of them before you attack them or use an ability so the blades will go through them and deal damage.
• This ability has a relatively low cooldown, so don't be afraid to use it often.

Take Rake to start for some early ranged damage. Then, take Noxian Diplomacy to get extra damage vs. enemy champ. Once you get Cutthroat at level 3, you'll have your full set and can begin to harass. Max Rake first. This gives you lots of slow, plus extra damage and easy farming/pushing if you use it against minions. Next, max Noxian Diplomacy because it lets you do tons of damage. While Cutthroat is a very important skill, it doesn't need to be maxed until level 18. This is because his damaging skills are more important, it doesn't buff the increased damage vs. afflicted target, and because the silence doesn't increase with level. Of course, you should take your ult whenever available, as it has a huge damage buff per level.

Summoner Spells

My top picks for summoner spells are Flash and Ignite. Flash is an extremely handy escape mechanism for when your ult is down or isn't enough to get away. It can also be used offensively, mostly for chasing. Ignite helps you finish off runners, and it also shuts down heal and healing skills.

If you don't want ignite, you can replace it with Exhaust. It shuts down AD carries, stops people from escaping, and can sometimes help you escape. It's really personal preference between this and ignite.
If you're new at the game or at Talon, you could take Heal. Talon doesn't have any sustain or any way to heal himself except through lifesteal, but you really shouldn't need this.
Clarity is a possibility if you want to play extremely cautiously. Talon is vulnerable to CC, but you should only use this in some cases, and usually only in ranked (when you know if they have CC), but you can take it if you really want to.
Any spell in the Other Picks section should replace Ignite.
These are really the only spells you should ever take on Talon.

Play Style

With Talon, your goal should be to constantly harass, getting in, doing damage, and getting out as fast as you can. Your skill combo for regular harassing should be to:

1. Get in with Cutthroat,
2. Immediately use Noxian Diplomacy, as it resets the attack timer,
3. Use Rake for damage and to stop him from coming back,
4. Run back.

This combo will do a lot of damage while keeping you relatively safe.

1. Cutthroat
2. Shadow Assault
3. Rake (cancelling Shadow Assault and bringing the blades through your target)
4. Noxian Diplomacy
   This combo does more damage, but you use your ult, so it will be hard to get back out if you don't kill your target, or if it's a team fight..

Summary

Talon is an extremely bursty damage dealer who excels at harassing and getting out quickly. Using this build, you should be able to carry every game as Talon and almost never die. Please leave a comment with every vote, I appreciate your feedback. However, this is my first mobafire guide, so don't hate. Thanks to jhoijhoi for the awesome guide making guide, found here: Making a Guide. Good luck, and happy carrying!

Changelog

4/21/2012: The Brutalizer now upgrades to Youmuu's Ghostblade
4/21/2012: Changed item names to pictures
4/22/2012: Reformatted
4/22/2012: Added skill explanation
4/22/2012: Added item pictures, skill sequence picture