Hello! My name is Luis, and I am here to tell you why you should treat my guide like the gospel it is.

I will start with the obligatory bragging: I win over 70% of all my games as Talon. I rarely, if ever, go negative. I have been complimented on my ability to play talon by countless people that are a much higher rank than me. I have mained Talon for a year and a half, and I have hundreds of games under my belt with him. I have tried every build, every skill/rune/mastery combination, and I have found this to be the most effective way of playing my boy, Talon. I'm just here to share what I believe works best with anyone looking to pick him up.


Before we can move on, however, It must be stated that This isn't the most orthodox Talon build. Where your average high-elo Talon is meant to help by quickly getting in during a team fight, deal good damage, and get out, Bigboy (tm) Talon can singlehandedly dispose of an entire enemy backline, without handlebars.
This is a guide for Bigboy Talon, and while I believe the way you build is important it should go without saying that you will not get challenger just by reading my guide. There is so much more to this game than I could explain in here.


Alright, now on to the actual guide.

Pros: Massive Snowball potential. If played well, can work against most team comps. Super bursty, and massive AOE. 2 Massive powerspikes; Once at level 6 after first back and once IE is finished Can sneak up on and kill any squishy out of line. Massive psychological power. You can make the enemy team paranoid.

Cons: Frail, easy to blow up if caught Cannot survive against a tanky, heavy CC comp Requires precise timing and positioning; one wrong click or button press can be costly. Terrible laning pre 6 Farming will also be hard pre-Hydra

The next 3 sections are the obligatory textbook basics. If you know how Talon works already, then skip them.

mercy

Mercy

This is your passive. It gives you a 10% boost in AA damage whenever your target is slowed (your W and E slow, so it will often be active). It's pretty straightforward and tends to go unnoticed, but it scales beautifully into the lategame, and allows you to E+Q crit for ridiculous amounts of damage. Yay

Noxian Diplomacy

This is your Q. It makes your next AA do more damage and makes the target bleed for a small-ish amount plus 100% of your Bonus AD (anywhere from 8 to 320 damage). A Q that crits will deal MASSIVE damage. Get this at level 2 if against a melee or someone you can reach, and Max 2nd.

Rake

This baby here is your bread and butter for the first half of the game. You live by the Rake until you can get Infinity Edge. It shoots 3 blades in a cone that come back, dealing damage and slowing whoever gets hit. At level one, it deals less damage than it costs in mana, so refrain from using it until you have at least 2 points into it. In lane this will be your main source of damage, so try not to miss it. Max this first.

Cutthroat

Cutthroat

This is a simple, point and click blink, that teleports you behind an opponent, slows them for a fraction of a second (so your Passive procs on the AA that immediately follows) AND amplifies your damage to the target by 3-15% for 3 seconds. It's easy to overlook the 2nd and 3rd clauses of this spell, but basically it means that lategame using this on someone makes your next AA do about 125% damage (Including crit!). The Behind clause is also super important, as it means you can use it to dodge abilities, or escape ganks (for instance, if a Lee Sin comes at you, you can E him right as he shoots his q, meaning you're dodging his ability, getting behind him, and slowing him for an easier escape). Take 1 point in this ability at level 2 if against a ranged Mid, or level 3-4 if against a melee. Max last

Shadow Assault

On first press, it will make you invisible, give you 40% speed boost and launch a circle of blades around you, dealing 120-450 damage (depending on bonus AD and level), and on second cast (or after 2 seconds), you will become visible and the blades will come back to you, dealing the same damage to anyone they hit. You can hit the same person twice, meaning you can do 240-900 damage to everyone in the area in less than 2 seconds. This ability is unbelievably versatile: you can use it to escape tight situations, you can (and should) use it for teamfights, you can use it as a finisher, you can even use it surprise E someone! It no longer has a mad low cooldown, so don't waste it. Truly a magnificent ability.

Runes

Greater mark of armor penetration

Armor Pen

Take these over flat AD because every item gives tons of AD, while only 2 give armor penetration. These will ensure that your damage stays high even as champions gain armor every level.

Health

I just use these for the early game survibability. They're not essential, and can easily be replaced with scaling health or flat armor seals, but are arguably better to counter AP midlaners.

Magic Resist

Self explanatory: take these against any AP Mid laner. Replace with CDR if going against an AD laner.

Attack Damage

This is nice for the early minion farm and helps in low-level engagements.

Masteries

For ya boy Talon, you're going to want to run a 12/18/0 with Thunderlord's Decree . The rest is really up to your preference, but you should aim to grab those masteries which will either help your survivability and farming early game, or your damage lategame.

Items

Ravenous Hydra Will be your main focus at first. This is because Talon's waveclear is pathetic without the godly cleave passive, and also because it has just about everything you want: 75 Damage (wow!!), 12% Lifesteal AND an active that adds even more burst. Try to finish this one second (after the boots).

Mobility Boots Are your go-to boots. As Talon, you want to constantly be on the prowl for possible victims, and these will ensure that you can reach your target as fast as possible. The amount of time they will save you going from Mid to Bot and around the jungles is priceless. Finish these before you finish the Hydra but not before Tiamat.

Youmuu's Ghostblade Is another great item for Talon, as it provides lots of Damage, 20 Armor Penetration (which is amazing), AND a sick as heck active that will allow you to reach your targets even quicker. Finish this third (or fourth if you are very ahead).

Infinity Edge. This beauty will double your burst, by massively increasing your AA damage. Granted, until you get another Cloak of Agility you won't crit often but lategame this baby allows you to instakill any squishy by using E > AA > Q. As long as a single one of those crits, it will deal over 1k damage. Because of its massive kill potential lategame, take this fourth (third if you are super ahead).

Essence Reaver Is the 2nd best Crit item for Talon. Not only will this get your Crit Chance to 40%, it will also grant you a ton of much-needed CDR, giving you a lategame Shadow Assault Cooldown of <40 secs. Take this fifth.

And Finally, if the game is still going at this point, you get a free choice as to what your last item should be. Generally you should get something that will increase your defenses against their biggest threat to you. Pesky Lux keeps poking you to low health before you can all-in? get yaself a Banshee's Veil and say Bye Bye to their team. Vayne got a little too fed and now 2 shots you? No worries! Just strap on a Dead Man's Plate and continue shredding her. Basically your last Item should aim to handle whoever gives you trouble. If you are confident in your survivability, get one of the Last Whisper items.


* NOTE : If you made the mistake of picking Talon against a super tanky team, then get Lord Dominik's Regards as a 3rd item, or else you will be useless.

Spells

Ignite

&

Flash

DON'T EVER LET ME CATCH YOU USING ANYTHING ELSE

Advanced Stuff Under Construction ! Pls be patient I will do it... eventually

Preface

For the sake of keeping this readable, I will divide this section into Pre-Game, General Stuff, Early Game, Roaming, Early Teamfights, Midgame, Lategame, and Lategame Fights. Yes, that is a lot of sections. They will be long. They will not be very visually appealing (at least until i figure out how to add pretty pictures to everything) but they will have tons of info.

Alright here we go.

-To be completed-

Pre-Game/Champ Select

Before you even go out and play Talon, you need to understand a few things. First, Talon is not the Charlie Sheen (pls put a funnier/more appropriate figure here) of League. He is a BEAST pick in about 30% of games. In about 40% of games he is an OK pick, but will not win you the game on his own, no matter how good you are. And on 30% of games, he will be near useless, and would be upstaged by a full AD Elise. What I'm trying to say is that you cannot possibly expect to win every single game by autolocking Talon. You need to be able to identify when he will be a good pick, and how to maximize your chances of going against a viable team comp. For instance, don't pick talon as a first or second pick. Ever. You are just asking to get countered by 3+ people. Have someone who is 4th or 5th pick him then trade. Once you know who your enemy laner is, pick a rune page accordingly. Don't take MR against a Yasuo or flat AD against a Malphite. Have multiple rune pages setup, so that you can be prepared against different kinds of matchups. Also feel free to adjust your masteries if you feel it appropriate.


Talon works wonders against :

• Any squishy (<2000 health at lvl 18) no matter what
• Champions with little mobility
• Any champ with slower burst than his
  

If at least 2 champions on the enemy team meet this criteria, then Talon is a viable pick IMO.

General Stuff

If you want to play Talon to his full potential, you need to learn to pick your fights. You want to always come ahead, and rarely do you want to trade 1 for 1. You should aim to die as little as possible, while getting as many picks as possible. Thus, you must analyze every possible fight before deciding whether to go in or not. You need to be aware of enemy positions, what they can see, what you can see, and how long it would take for you to kill your target, as well as how long it would take for the rest of their team to get to you. It might seem like this would take too much time, but as you play more Talon games you will be able to spot a good engage more and more easily.

Tl;dr : Play it safe and smart.

Early Game

Early game you will be very weak. Level 1 and 2 can be painful, but if you can power through and just last hit efficiently, you will be just fine. Your Rake is NOT cost effective at rank 1, so don't use it before level 3 unless you need it to last hit. Almost every mid laner outdamages you in the first few levels, so go for as few trades as you can, and don't go for a kill unless it is literally handed to you. Just farm, farm, farm until you have enough gold for a pickaxe, or are level 6. if you can't get a pickaxe, go for tiamat components. If you have played properly, you should be returning to lane with a massive boost in damage, and are soon to hit 6, if not already there. This is where you can catch an opponent without a Seeker's Armguard or a shield by surprise. Your full burst (E, AA, Q, R, W, AA) Should be enough to dispatch most squishy mid laners. It can even kill more burly laners who have yet to back or aren't full on health. This is your best chance to get an edge in laning, assuming it has been even up to this point.

But what if you haven't been doing good in lane? If you die before hitting 6, or are heavily outfarmed, your best shot is to build into a tiamat to make last hitting easier, and to begin looking for kills somewhere other than Mid, which leads us into the next section:

Roaming

Early Teamfights

Midgame

Lategame

Lategame Fights