Hi, I'm JuicyHound and welcome to my guide to Talon. This is my first guide on mobafire so forgive me if it sucks.

Talon is an assassin who has great damage, good cc, good escapability, and he is a counter against almost any ap champion. Talon has some of the best ganks in the game and will burst down ap carries and ranged ad carries in a matter of seconds. When played correctly, Talon can cripple the enemy team by taking down their carries with ease in teamfights. I hope this guide helps you to have as much fun with Talon as I do.

Pros

High Burst Damage
Counter to most mids
Able to escape ganks
Very hard to escape from
Amazing ganking abilities'
Can win a teamfight by killing the ranged ad carry in a matter of seconds.

Cons

If stunned you're screwed.
Squishy.
When his abilities are on cooldown he is basically useless.
If he falls behind it is nearly impossible to recover.
Bruisers will kill him easily.

A lot of people think that one of Talon's weaknesses is that he is very mana hungry early on. I feel that people who think he is mana hungry are using his combo too often. Use your combo about once every 2 minutes. If you only use your combo every two minutes you should be able to stay in lane for about 3 combos....If you haven't killed the ap mid with 3 combos then you have fed the ap mid, are building the wrong items, or your against some one like Galio or Gragas.

Flash is the best summoner spell in the game. It's a basically a get out of jail free card.
Why Teleport? If you have teleport on Talon your ganks on other lanes becomes super easy. Just ask your teamates to put a ward in the bushs at the side of the lane. Teleport onto the ward and the enemy champion at top will have no idea your there. It's the same with bot.

Other Summoner Spells


Ignite is a viable option on Talon. It's great for confirming kills. Combined with your bleed from Noxian Diplomacy the enemy champion won't live if he escapes.



Exhaust is ok on Talon. It does allow your basic attacks to do more damage because of Mercy but its not that useful otherwise. Also you shouldn't be relying upon your physical attacks to get you kills. Talon gets kills with his abilities, not basic attacks.


You could use it to chase down enemies who are low but they can flash away from it... It really doesn't help Talon that much. Also when you build Youmuu's Ghostblade you basically have Ghost so it's really unnecessary.

The reasoning behind my rune choices on Talon is very simple. The Armor and Magic Resistance runes on Talon are for making it easier to survive in lane. If Talon is focused or caught in a stun he will go down very quickly. These runes may help you live to fight another day.

The armor penetration runes are for enemies who will be smart enough to build armor against you. These runes combined with The Brutalizer will shred through any armor items your enemy buys.

Why no ad runes or Movement speed quints?

In game you will be buying almost all ad items, having 7-10 more ad wont be as useful late game as armor pen will be. To be honest I don't understand why people buy movement speed items on Talon. With Talon going almost full ad you won't have to chase your enemies down, because they will be dead...

I'm not going to bother to tell you the reasoning behind every skill I choose. As you can see I picked almost all the ad and armor pen skills. These will help you deal even more damage as Talon.

There is one choice in the skill tree I would like to explain.

I went with Sorcery because Cool Reduction on Talon allows you to use your combo more often which allows you to deal more damage. I didn't go Alacrity because Talon's damage comes from his abilities not his basic attacks. I did put one point into Alacrity but that was only to unlock Weapon Expertise .

Finally, I choose some skills in the defense tree because combined with your runes they will help you stay alive if you are stunned.

Why should I max Rake first? I've heard of people who max Noxian Diplomacy first.
The reason some people max Noxian Diplomacy first is because it has a better ad ratio then rake does. This means that if you have ad items(which you should) that Noxian Diplomacy will do slightly more damage. So why max rake first? You should max Rake first because it is one of the greatest farming abilities in the game. Rake is a AOE ability which means it will kill more minions then Noxian Diplomacy will. This is why Rake should be maxed first.

I'm going to explain the reasoning behind the items I buy for Talon. I'm also going to discuss alternative items on Talon that do work.
As I've said Talon's biggest weakness is cc. If you were unable to dodge a stun these guys will make sure you can walk away before the ap mid your up against can land more abilities.



The Brutalizer is great on Talon. It gives him CDR, Armor pen, and attack
damage. This item was made for Talon.


You should buy Youmuu's Ghostblade because if an enemy gets away with low hp you can use it's active to catch up and kill them. You should also buy it to finish off The Brutalizer. The critical strike chance is also pretty good for Talon.


After you finish off your Youmuu's your not going to have the money to complete Bloodthirster outright. So buy the B.F. Sword ASAP so you can buy the Bloodthirster.



When you get all the stacks for Bloodthirster it gives you 100 attack damage. That's more then any item in the game. Talon's abilities scale off ad....its pretty obvious why you should buy this. The sustain you get from this item isn't too useful on Talon though.



This should be your start to Trinity Force. Of
Sheen, Zeal, and Phage this is the most useful on Talon. The slow you get from the passive guarantees that no one will escape you and it makes your basic attacks deal more damage thanks to Mercy.


The Zeal is better on Talon then Sheen is, that is why should buy it second basically. The ability power from Sheen is useless on Talon and the mana from it isn't very important. Zeal should let you get more last hits.


Buy the time you go back after buying Phage and Zeal you should have enough money to buy Trinity Force. Trinity force gives talon health,attack speed, damage, passives that allow him to deal more damage, and critical strike chance. It is a great item on Talon.



After you build Trinity Force you should to start to build for an Infinity Edge. You probably won't have enough gold to buy it outright so you should start off with the B.F. Sword.


The Infinity Edge is amazing on Talon. It gives him 80 attack damage, +25% critical strike chance, and it makes his critical strikes deal 250% more damage instead of 200% more damage. If you get a critical strike on a stunned opponent who is affected by your Cutthroat You will deal up 1200 damage thanks to this item.



This is just the icing on the cake. When your in teamfights as Talon you tend to die after you focus your target. Guardian Angel will give your team enough time to clean up and then you will have one more champion to push towers after you hopefully win the teamfight. Also, the resistances really help you kill their ad carry without taking much damage at all.


Note: Most of the builds up on Mobafire for Talon argue about what item is best for Talon- Bloodthirster, Infinity Edge, or Trinity Force. The truth is all of these items are great on Talon so you should just try to buy all of them if possible.

Note that this is a build for Talon if you are ahead and doing well. If your dying constantly you might want to invest in other items such as.....



If you are having a lot of trouble in mid this item is great. It gives you 25 attack damage and 30 magic resistance. It will help you do more damage and tank more abilities. Late game
you should build Hexdrinker into a Maw of Malmortius. The Maw of Malmortius gives you more magic resistance and it has a life saving shield that blocks magic damage.



Last Whisper is good for Talon if the enemy team is building armor.



Frozen Mallet should be brought on Talon when you feel like you are just too squishy in teamfights. The utility, health, and attack damage of this item combined with Guardian Angel will make you tanky enough to survive teamfights.



If the enemy team your playing against doesn't have any stuns I would seriously consider taking the Ionian Boots of Lucidity over Mercury's Treads. The 25% cool down reduction will help you use your combo more often in lane.



If you are finding yourself harassed out of mid very often early on pick up two Doran's Blade. The health, life steal, and damage will help you stay in lane longer and possibly allow you to harass the enemy mid out of lane. Once the laning phase is over sell your Doran's Blade.

Talon has the ability to go top, mid, or jungle; but his best lane is mid. Why?

Mid

- Talon's Cutthroat is great against ap champions. It allows him to get in close without the enemy champion kiting you and it silences the champion you've blinked to for one second which means that the ap champion you've blinked to can offer no retaliation.

- Talon has one of the highest bursts in the game and the majority of mids will die with a full combo after six.

-Talon can easily dispatch his opponent while taking very little damage which allows him to gank other lanes.

-The one problem with going mid as Talon is that pre-6 the ap champions will do more damage then you do to them. Also, one of Talon's greatest weaknesses is cc. Many mid champions such as Morgana, Viktor, Annie, Brand, Ryze, Veigar, Cassiopeia, Lux, Kennen, and Anivia have stuns that will leave you helpless against them. Try to predict when they are going to use these abilities so you can stop them with Cutthroat. Also, you can try to use Cutthroat to dodge an incoming stun.

Top

-If you go solo top as Talon you will be facing tanks and bruisers who can survive your burst easily and deal way more damage to you than you can to them.

-You will not be able to farm.

-You will not be able to gank.

Jungle

-Slow clear times.

-Invaded easily.

-If invaded he won't be able to recover.

-Very low hp whenever he's in the jungle.

Note: While Talon's best lane is mid, he can go solo top or jungle and still do very well. Most of the time I go top when I play Talon and I do just fine. However, his dominance in Mid makes going top or jungler very stupid(I go top as him because the people I play with always want mid and I have enough experience with Talon that I am able to solo top with him).

How do I kill the ap mid in a matter of seconds? First use your Cutthroat to jump to the enemy champion. Then use Noxian Diplomacy instantly. Follow Noxian Diplomacy with Rake and Shadow Assault. When you use Shadow Assault use the bonus movement speed to get behind the enemy champion. Getting behind the enemy champion allows the most blades to pass through them. Chaining all four of your abilities together only takes 5-6 seconds and they wont be able to flash away from you instantly because they will be silenced for one second. If they do flash wait until they come close again and this time they won't escape.

When laning as a Talon you will often push the enemy mid to their tower. This makes you very gankable. Junglers will try to kill you. Luckily Talon can escape ganks without much trouble. As soon as you see the jungler arrive use Shadow Assault. This grants you stealth for two seconds and bonus movement speed. Then if necessary use Flash to get underneath your tower. If you were ganked recall, don't stay in lane. If you blow your escapes and stay in lane you will most likely be ganked again and this time you will die. When you recall after being ganked pick up two wards for both sides of the river(assuming you are mid).

I've been saying that Talon will dominate almost any ap mid but there are a few who Talon won't be able to kill.

Gragas
Gragas is a tanky ap mid that will be able to survive your combo and he will be able to harass you more than you can harass him. If he uses his ultimate when his jungler ganks even if you use your Flash, Shadow Assault, and Youmuu's Ghostblade you still might not be able to escape him. If your against Gragas I would suggest asking your jungler to help you.

Galio
Galio is another example of a tanky ap mid who will survive your combo. Not only will he survive your combo but he has a sheild that gives him bonus armor and it heals him if you damage him while it's still on him. Also Galio can drop you to a very low amount of hp even if you are turret hugging. His abilities have a large range on them. Again ask for jungler support if you are laning against him.

Kassadin
Kassadin is a lot like Talon. He's a counter to most ap mids. He has a blink and silence just like you do. Kassadin is very hard to gank thanks to his ultimate which means your jungler wont be able to help you much. When your against a Kassadin whoever wins mid is who attacks first. Don't let him attack you. Attack him and you should be able to kill him.

LeBlanc
LeBlanc is also very similar to Talon. She has one of the highest burst damage in the game and she also has a blink. It's the same as it was with Kassadin, attack her first; don't let her attack you. Her passive transforms her into two LeBlancs at low hp so save your Rake until
the end of your burst. When the clone comes out make sure to hit both Leblancs with the Rake. This should confirm your kill.

Farming with Talon is a real pain early on. Since you will be going mid most of the time you will face champions who will poke at you with their basic attacks when you go to get last hits. I mentioned how Rake was a great farming tool before but Rake doesn't do that much damage until you've put three levels into it. Thus trying to farm early on with Talon can get you down to half hp even if the enemy mid didn't use a single ability. The [[Health Potions will help you get back to full hp but you only have three of them. Exposing yourself to skillshots by going for last hits is not wise. Here's what you should do. Once you hit level 3 you should be able to use your combo to harass the enemy mid away from you. If you use your combo and they still harass you just wait until your level 6 and then use your full combo. After level 6 the enemy mid will have had a taste of your damage and will be afraid to get anywhere near you. This should allow you to last hit in lane just fine.

When you have finally maxed your Rake it will be able to kill the caster minions and drop all the melee minions low enough to be killed by a single attack. You shouldn't use rake to farm early on unless it can give three or more minion kills. If you keep all this in mind you should be able to farm very well as Talon and not become mana hungry in lane.

I've discussed how you should play Talon in lane but I have discussed how you should use him in team fights. Before a team fight occurs you need to know who to focus. Talon has great single target focus and he can easily take out squishy carries even if they are fed. However, Who do you focus? The ap? The ranged ad? Let me make it simple for you. As Talon your target should be the ap or the ranged ad carry. If it's late game go for the ranged ad carry because they will be the main damage dealer in teamfights. To be honest you should probably always focus the ranged ad carry not the ap. The ap probably won't do much because they were against you but the ranged ad carry will do damage. Examples of champions you should focus in teamfights are Vayne, Ashe, Graves, Miss Fortune, Varus, Draven, Caitlyn, Corki, Ezreal, Sivir, Tristana, Teemo, and Twitch.

In some teamfights you may want to save your Cutthroat in order to cancel ultimates that could really hurt your team. The silence from cutthroat will cancel any ult. In order to cancel these ultimates your going to have to hold off on using your cutthroat to focus the ranged ad carry. If the enemy team has Nunu & Willump, Morgana, Karthus, Galio, or Amumu your silence could win your team the fight. If the enemy team has a champion that channels their ult for a few seconds save your cutthroat in teamfights. The one drawback to saying your cutthroat is that it can make it hard to focus the ranged ad carry.

(Note: You will not be able to stop Karthus's ult if he is dead while using it.)

All in All. Talon is an extremely good pick for any team and can win a teamfight for his team in a matter of seconds. However, if you play him incorrectly you won't be able to help your team at all because you won't be able to burst down the squishiest champion on the enemy team. Also , you should remember that Talon cannot carry a team. He has single target abilities and his one job in a teamfight is to take out the ranged ad carry. Whoever will win the teamfight is left up to the rest of your teammates after you kill the ranged ad carry.