Talon is a really fun champion. He can be a little squishy but once you get the hang of him you can really wreck people. All you need to do is take a little time and learn to play him. Here is a guide I threw together of how I've been playing him and I'm looking for a little feedback from the community and some suggestions. So far I haven't lost a game, when playing him, but on that note, I wasn't playing with terrible people :P. And as of right now, you need to be getting into your games first in order to play him, seems that everyone is all over the new champions every 2 weeks. So lets take a look at my guide to Talon.

It seems like I'm not explaining things well enough to this site in order for this to become a guide. So lets drop some filler.

Also, if you don't get the title, do Talon's /dance or shift+3 in game.

Items: Attack Damage

Runes: Balance of defensive and penetration

Mastery: Offense

Skills: Rake->Noxian Diplomacy->Cutthroat

Strat: Be careful, watch for jukes. You'll get focused. Use the buddy system.

Talon is attack based as an assassin. But being a little squishy he needs to get some sort of armour from somewhere. Since my items stack AD plenty for him I decided to take some advice from Phreak and use the armour runes he suggested.

Mark: Armour penetration. Talon uses physical attacks, as such people might stack armour instead of Magic Resist. You need some way through, so here it is.

Seal: Armour. This will allow Talon to take a couple extra hits while you wait for cooldowns while you're running away.

Glyph: Magic Resist. Again, it'll give you that survivability I feel Talon needs to survive his fights.

Quint: Desolation. Like the marks, Armour Pen will help you get up to your full potential damage.

I've thought about switching out the armour runes for Attack Speed for faster stronger hits. Its just a thought and I might give it a go sometime. If anyone has tried this please give let me know how it works.

Build up the offense tree. The reduced cooldowns, increased attack speed, increased daamge, and increased crit will all play on Talon's strengths. Adding that one point into the Exhaust talent makes Exhaust a must for Talon.

As for the utility column, I think that perhaps the Good Hands talent would be good. However I reconsidered this to add to some health regen and bonus experience to give Talon more laning time and boosted experience gain to get your talents up faster and start rocking faces.

Well, start with Dorans Blade for extra AD early along with some lifesteal and HP.

Then get your boots. Personally I grab dagger before boots of speed as you should be able to run away well enough early game. Thats just a judgement call, if I found I was using my flash and exhaust for running I might pick my boots up earlier. Then snag the Greaves and trololololol.

Start on Youmuu's blade with avarice then the Brutalizer. I've done this a few times and it works out fairly well.


Then get your Frozen Mallet. Because of Talon's passive, this combo's incredibly well. Slow!

Here you could get Black Cleaver or Bloodthirster. Personally I get Bloodthirster so that I have some extra life steal to keep me alive longer.

If you're in game long enough or have farmed enough gold, get your Infinity Edge. Sell Doran's Blade to pick it up.

If you're feeling it, grab some Health Potions early on, give you more lane presence and maybe help you get more cash faster.

Max Rake first. Not only is it good for harassment, but you can use it to chase and clean up minions for pushing. It also slows your opponent and gives Talon that sexy, sexy, damage boost.

Next is Noxian diplomacy, bleeds your target and marks them for you so you can chase better. Also resets attack timer so you can deal extra damage.

Then hop onto cutthroat. Great for initiating and chasing. Hops onto your opponent and then silences them. Very useful all around.

Of course don't forget about your Ult, putting points in whenever you can. I find this skill very useful for chasing, running and just cleaning up. It can also be used to run the **** away, as it makes you invisible and gives you a %40 speed boost.

Here's a combo I like. Noxian Diplomacy into Cutthroat, then if they try and run hit them with Rake. And to finish the job (or run the **** away) pop your Ult and wait for cooldowns or get the **** out of there.

Flash: Great for those "get the **** out" moments, and great for getting that final blow on those runners. Also makes a lot of sense since I dropped the point in the talent. You can use your Ult before using this to try and get out, and you can also combo them to make sure you don't feed.

Exhaust: Because of Talon's bonus with slowed opponents this makes a great chase tool. Slow them down and get the extra damage. Or use it in a team fight to take down the enemy faster. Again, it can be used for running from those fast champs.


Alternate choices for me would be:

Ghost: Sometimes running is more fun, and its a longer and more sustained escape and chase ability. Its entirely up to you, but I prefer Flash for a quick get away.

Ignite: If you switched your talent tree up a bit you could put a point into this instead. If you can't chase this would be good to burn down your enemy and make sure they die.

Pros: Damage, Chasing, Initiation, Fun.
Cons: Squish squish squish, Low health pool, You will get FOCUSED!, has to focus someone for maximum effectivness

I feel that Talon HAS to lane with someone. Probably someone who can tank damage for you and then you can run in and get the juke. As for team fights, only initiate if you know you can get back to your team or that they will be getting into the fight right away. Otherwise wait for someone else to run in. Of course coordination is always a must in this game. If you can, hop on Skype or Vent or something so that you can communicate with your team and make everyones life easier.

Talon is a lot of fun, but takes some practice. If you normally play a tank you will need to learn when to run away and when to chase. If you normally play a caster, you need to remeber that you're playing melee now so you should be in the fray as often as possible. Always watch your health.


If anyone has any tips, suggestions, comments, concerns, ideas, or anything else, let me know! I'm always looking to exchange info with people and maybe we can play some games together and rock faces!!!!!

Here are some results from today: