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Vayne Build Guide by xKazeSenoue

AD Carry Vayne Guide - Learn to Hunt the Shadows

AD Carry Vayne Guide - Learn to Hunt the Shadows

Updated on April 8, 2013
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League of Legends Build Guide Author xKazeSenoue Build Guide By xKazeSenoue 6 2 35,142 Views 20 Comments
6 2 35,142 Views 20 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author xKazeSenoue Vayne Build Guide By xKazeSenoue Updated on April 8, 2013
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Vayne
    Vayne for Starters
  • LoL Champion: Vayne
    Vayne for Experienced

Introduction


Hello, everybody. My name is Kaze Senoue, and this is my first guide to Mobafire. I emphasized the word "guide" because this is not a build. This is a GUIDE. Most people think that AD Carriers have to build the same items on the same order, and these people usually get wrecked on late game. Since League of Legends is a strategic game, you have to try to counter every champion on the enemy team, making your Team Fights succesfull. And this is exactely what I'm going to teach you.
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Farming


Like any other good AD Carrier, you should be able to farm easily, to give your team (and also your lane) that early gold advantage. Since your build is probably the most expensive of all (around 15k gold), farming is extremely important, so you don't rely on kills, or gold per second. A good farmer does not auto-attack the minions until he gets gold. He only last-hits them. This way, you don't push your lane (making it very safer against enemy ganks), and you get more gold.

When To Last Hit



This is when you should start paying attention to the minion. If you have around 75 AD (Assuming you follow the runes of this guide, you should have this), you should let the minion get attacked once more, and then attack him. This way you don't push your lane, and you still get the gold.

Last-hitting is as simple as it can get, but many ADCs don't do it. All you have to do is practice it, and you'll get the hang of it.

PS.: You don't have to freak out about farming, though. If you're laning against a strong support with a strong ADC (Alistar and Ezreal, for example), it's not worth jumping into the middle of the lane just to get 23 more gold while sacrificing giving the enemy 300 more gold. If you think they're on the bush, try to stay away from it. Try to always stay behind your minions and your support.
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Pros / Cons

Pros
+ Insane Damage
+ Good Escaping Mechanisms
+ Can Turn the Outcoming of a Team Fight
+ Fun to Play
+ You'll Feel Great When you 3-shot Someone
+ Great Skins
By far, one of the most fun AD Carriers to play. You will get cocky when you 3-Shoot that Xin Zhao, or when you activate your Silver Bolts on that Amumu or that Darius.
Cons
- Very Squishy
- Can Die with 4 Hits if Targeted
- Horrible Laning Phase
- Relies on Kills Early Game to Get a Decent Laning
- Relies on Healining Habilities / Potions
- People Will Hate You When You 3-Shoot them
Vayne is a pretty hard champion to master. It might seem easy while reading a guide, but, trust me, it's not. Most people say she is bad because of her health, but she makes up for it with her damage.
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Skill Sequence



This is a pretty polemic topic. Depending on your "level" with Vayne, you max different skills. For new Vayne player, I recomment maxing Tumble first, since you get the most damage out of it. If you consider yourself an advanced player, you should max Condemn first, so you get the most damage when you stun people on the wall. Condemn can really turn the outcome of a 1v1 or an early 2v2 on bot lane if used correctly.


Night Hunter: This is a great passive. Whenever Vayne is running against an enemy champion, she gets 30 movement speed. Use it in combination with Final Hour and Tumble to get all those fleeing targets. The shadows can't run away from their destiny.


Tumble (Q): Tumble is the most useful skill of Vayne, and don't need much explanation. You gain damage boost on your next attack, making this useful for farming, harassing, and escaping. If you use this with Final Hour activated, you get 1.5 seconds of invisibility. Using this little combo, you can jump into teamfights to focus their AD Carrier (not recommended, though), making opponents that are chasing you confuse (you run away to one site, then activate Final Hour and Tumble to the other side).
Tips and Tricks
  • Use this to harass your opponent early game if they aren't positioned correctely.
  • Since it consumes little mana and the cooldown is short, you can spam it if you need.
  • Use it to max the damage of Final Hour


Silver Bolts (W): If used correctely, this skill can change the outcome of a team fight, and save your teammates. Since this does 8% of the enemy's maximum health as true damage on the third hit, health tanks like Amumu and Singed got nothing on you. If your team engages a teamfight without their ADC and their APC, you won't be useless as others ADCs because this skill will tear their team apart. Is also nice to listen to the "TING" it makes on the third hit and watch the enemy's HP go down (lol).
Tips and Tricks
  • This skill makes Vayne a pretty good attack speed carrier. Making a Statikk Shiv after your Infinity Edge (or even a second Phantom Dancer) is pretty viable, so you will activate Silver Bolts faster.
  • I max it last because maxing Condemn first will give you more laning phase damage.


Condemn (E): If used correctely, this skill will destroy your enemies, and make you a beast. Since it makes your opponents go further, and stuns them if they hit a solid object, it can give you an easy kill early game. It also does base damage, but it's not worth spamming it to harass, because it will increase the gap between you and your opponent, and also waste a lot of mana.
Tips and Tricks
  • You can use Tumble to position yourself in an angle where you can stun your opponents with Condemn. The only way to perfect this, is practice and fail.
  • If a teammate is in danger, target the opponent (so you can move faster because of Night Hunter) and use Condemn to save your ally.
  • Maxing Condemn first will give you A LOT of damage on laning phase fights, because if you land your stun correctly, it will deal double the damage it normally would, and give you enough time to activate Final Hour and destroy your opponent.
  • Using this alongside with Final Hour + Tumble OR Ghost to get behind your opponent and throw them under the turret or in the middle of your team is hilarious.


Final Hour (R): Oh, my! This ultimate is so underestimated by new players, and that's what makes most of them seem bad, and never improve. The damage of Final Hour is RIDICULOUSLY high, and will make your opponent's cry like a little baby when they see Vayne take that crossbow of her's. In combination with Tumble and Silver Bolts, you will 3-shoot their ADC and they APC with no problem. When you use Final Hour and activate Silver Bolts on Amumu or Singed, it's hilarious how their HP lowers. When Final Hour is activated, no target is too much for Vayne.
Tips and Tricks
  • If Final Hour is up, use it. The cooldown is short, and the mana waste is practically zero. If you have to use it to guarantee a kill, don't hesitate.
  • As said before, if you use Tumble with Final Hour activated, you get 1.5 seconds of invisibility. Don't hesitate on popping your ultimate and Tumble to run away from enemies. It will be up in 1 minute!
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Items

Items

First Spawn
Long Sword + Health Potions (x2)
This is the usual spawn items you should get. Boots and 2 pots are not viable anymore, since they buffed the characters' base move speed, and nerfed Boots' movement speed increase. Long Sword will give you more AD early game, making it easier to farm and harass.

First Recall (Around 2100 Gold or 10 minuted)
B. F. Sword + Berserker's Greaves
This will help you farm easily and poke the enemy ADC harder. The attack speed will make pusing the lane faster, so be careful!

Mid Game (around 20 minutes)
Bloodthirster + Blade of the Ruined King
These two items will get you a lot of Life Steal (for surviving team fights), a lot of AD (for inflicting more damage), and the passive of Blade of the Ruined King is just outstanding for killing that annoying Garen that keeps spinning at you.

Late Game (30 minutes)
Statikk Shiv + Infinity Edge
This is the time where you will need some critical strikes, or your damage will get far behing from the enemy's AD Carry. Crits will give you more damage overrall, and Statikk Shiv's passive will help you have a little AoE damage, which is not bad at all. It also gives you even more attack speed, so you can activate Silver Bolts as soon as you can.

Defensive Item
Guardian Angel / Quicksilver Sash
This is simple. Guardian Angel if you're getting insta-killed once the team fight starts, or Quicksilver Sash if the enemy team has too much CC on you.


Situational Items
Runaan's Hurricane
If you think you already have too much damage and too much critical rate, you can build this item. It's passive will help you poke your enemies on team fights, while still focusing the main target (the enemy ADC).

Hexdrinker
If you're getting killed all the time by Karthus' ultimate, or any other heavy AP on the enemy team, this is definately an item to consider. It will save you a lot of times if you don't have that immediate heal.
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Masteries

Masteries Explanations
OFFENSE TREE

Tier 1 - Here I put 2 points on Fury for the early attack speed, and 1 point on Butcher to make farming easily. You can also trade Butcher for Summoner's Wrath if you likfe that 5 extra AD while Ignite is on cooldown.

Tier 2 - 4 points on Deadliness increases your AD by 12 when you're in level 18. This is great for late game, since Vayne relies on as much damage as she can pull off.

Tier 3 - 3 points on Havoc increases your damage by 2%, which is great late game where you have 200 AD. Weapon Expertise is great late and early game, because armor penetration is always good.

Tier 4 - Lethality increases your Critical Damage, which will really come in handy once you build that Phantom Dancer and that Infinity Edge. Brute Force gives you more AD, which is pretty handy as always.

Tier 5 - Sunder is good because it gives you more armor penetration, which means more damage. If you want, you can take one point away from Resistance and use it on Frenzy , which will really help late game, since you will have almost 75% of critical rate.

Tier 6 - Executioner , as the name says, helps you finish fleeing targets, which is what you should do with Vayne using Final Hour and Tumble.

space
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Runes

Runes

ATTACK DAMAGE EVERYWHERE! Yes, Vayne is an AD Carrier, and she relies on the most damage she can pull off for her team. Using these runes, you'll start off with over 80 AD, which will help you get some early kills, and that early gold advantage.

Ps.: Since you'll have a lot of attack speed following this build, you really don't need armor penetration, because by the time you would need it, your Silver Bolts will already be at max level.
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Summoner Spells


Viable Spells
  • Flash - This is a great spell, and should probably be taken by every role of your team. It has so many uses, such as flashing through walls to escape, flashing ahead to guarantee a stun with Condemn, flash so you get that list hit on the fleeing ADC, and etc.
  • Ignite - Also a great spell. Alongside with Flash, Tumble and Night Hunter, it can guarantee that kill.
  • Cleanse - Cleanse is a great defensive spell. On a team fight, where you will always get focused with thousands of Ignites, slows, stuns, snares, and etc, this can break the enemy team's team fight, since they will waste their CC on you, but you will still be there to anihilate them.
  • Barrier - Probably the best choice if playing against a Caitlyn. If you use this while she is charging Ace in the Hole, it will probably save you, and make her waste her ult. Definately a good spell if timed correctely.
  • Exhaust - This should be taken by your support on most cases, but is still viable for any AD Carrier. It can guarantee a kill on a fleeing enemy, or if you're on a 1v1 agains the enemy ADC, this will reduce their attack speed, making the fight turn into your favor.
  • Ghost - If used correctely, this can give you a free kill and a free team fight. If you Final Hour + Tumble + Ghost in the middle of a team fight, dirrectely into their AD Carrier, it will probably mean a free kill, and a free team fight for you.

Not Viable Spells
  • Smite - Come on, you're not a jungler! What are you gonna do with it? Farm? :P
  • Clarity - Vayne doesn't waste that much mana. And even if she did, Clarity should probably be taken by your support.
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Matchups (WIP)

Matchups
In this section I will list the best and the worst matchups for Vayne.

Bad Matchups
  • - This is your nightmare. Tristana has a huge range, thanks to her Draw a Bead passive, and will probably poke you to death with Explosive Shot. Try to play passively, farm as much as you can without risking dying, and only attack when your jungler ganks your lane.
  • - Not a bad matchup, actually. Playing against Blitzcrank is only a matter of positioning. Since his Rocket Grab only pulls one target, staying behind your minions and warding all the bushes will make him useless. It is listed on the bad matchups section because bad positioning can be fatal for you.
  • - Caitlyn also has a huge range, and can easily get away from you with 90 Caliber Net. Watch out for her Yordle Snap Trap, and ask your support to disarm them for you. Play passively, and only attack if your jungler ganks your lane.
  • - ADC Kayle can be a monster if played well. She does ridiculous high damage, and also heals herself. Try to poke her as hard as you can while she doesn't have Righteous Fury activated. When she pops Righteous Fury, use Condemn to throw her away and Tumble away if needed.
  • - Draven has a huge damage early game because of his Spinning Axe skill. Try to poke him if he gets bad positioned, but don't take any risks. Only attack if you are sure you will get the kill, or else you'll probably die.

Good Matchups
  • - Ezreal has almost the same range as you, and his damage is not as much high as yours. Play agressively. If he tries to shoot you with Mystic Shot or Essence Flux, use Tumble to dodge them.
  • - Don't get intimidated by his absurd damage. Nautilus will not get you if you have Condemn. You can play aggresively, but try to stay behind your minions and behind your support most of the time. Don't forget to ward the bushes.
  • - Be careful with her early game. Her passive Focus will destroy you before level 6. Once you get your Final Hour, the lane becomes easier, and you can play more aggresive. After that, you just have to remember not to dive on her, because if you get stunned by Enchanted Crystal Arrow under an enemy turret, you're most likely dead.
  • - If you've read this guide so far, you probably know more then your enemy does. At this point, your lane will depend on who will be the most agressive and more careful with ganks. Put pressure on her, poking anytime you get the chance
  • - I'm not gonna lie. This matchup is all in your favor. Kog'Maw can be easily taken down with 3-4 shots, thanks to your Silver Bolts and his low base armor. Unless your opponent has some serious armor runes going on, this lane is practically yours.
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Good Supports

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Good Supports
Vayne can work well with every champion, but some are better than others. A good heal and a good stun will help you get those kills, and do not lose XP by leaving the lane to heal yourself.
  • - Probably the best support currently on the game. Taric has a heal ( Imbue) and a great distance stun ( Dazzle).
  • - Another great support for Vayne. She has a heal ( Aria of Perseverance), and can also change teamfight outcomes with her Crescendo ultimate.
  • - Nunu is great if you're not so good at farming, because of his Blood Boil. His slow, Ice Blast, is great for poking, and guaranteeing kills. You can also tell him to ult in the bush, and you lure your opponents into it, when it's fully charged.
  • - Lulu is a great support, no matter if you're playing offensive or defensive. She can completely nullify a gank by using Whimsy on the jungler, and using Help, Pix! on you.
  • - Alistar is one of the best supports in the game, if used well. If you got an Alistar with you, playing aggresively is what you must do. Alistar has a great AoE heal, a great stun, and a great combo ( Headbutt + Pulverize) that can be fatal if you're nearby.
  • - Zyra's Grasping Roots is great for saving you, poking the enemy, and guaranteeing a kill from a fleeing target. Her ultimate is also pretty good for don't let the enemy run away. Definately a good support for Vayne.
  • - This migh seem weird, but Teemo's Blinding Dart will be a nightmare on your lane, and will save you a lot of times. It will probably be a poke-heavy lane.
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General Tips and Tricks


Escaping Tips
  • If you are getting chased by an enemy, try to lure them under a bush. You can then pop Final Hour and then Tumble the other way. Your opponent will be confused, and you will most likely get away.
  • Use Condemn to throw opponents away from you or from allies
  • Try to stun people with Condemn. If you know you can't win that fight, Tumble away

Killing Tips
  • If the enemy ADC is close to your turret, but not close enough to get attacked by it, pop Final Hour, Tumble behind him, and Condemn him closer to the turret. If aimed correctely, he will get stunned by the turret, and you will get an easy kill.
  • On a team fight, Silver Bolts is useful against HP-heavy tanks like Amumu and Singed. After you kill the enemy ADC, focus their main tank so you get rid of the problem earlier.
  • Building another Phantom Dancer can be good for Vayne, because you activate Silver Bolts faster.
  • Try to play closer to walls. If the enemy is melee and tries to come to attack you, Tumble behind him, stun him with Condemn, and enjoy the easy kill

Laning Tips
  • Do not play to win. Play not to lose.
  • Vayne is very squishy, and she can be taken down easily. Let your support do the facechecks, and try to stay behind him all the time. If you don't know where your enemy laners are, DO NOT PUSH THE MINIONS.
  • Encourage your support to ward close to the dragon , the tribush and the bushes of the lane. This will save your life so many times, and the enemy jungler won't even try to gank you.
  • The Vision Ward is a great item. The ability to take down enemy ward is fantastic, and will raise the chances of you winning your lane. Make sure your support has one of these, at least.
  • If you get a double kill after you build your Berserker's Greaves and a Bloodthirster, ask your support to ward the bushes, and rush for the dragon . 300 gold is a great advantage, and will make your opponents freak out.
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Funny Vayne Related Stuff

Videos
Trivia
  • Vayne's Silver Bolts, is a reference to the belief that supernatural creatures, particularly werewolves, are vulnerable to weapons made from silver.
  • Like many other hunters of the supernatural, Vayne's character concept is inspired by Abraham van Helsing, the protagonist from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.
  • Vayne's name and past are possible references to DC Comics character Bruce Wayne, the Batman.
  • Vayne bears some resemblance to the main character from the game Bayonetta.
  • Vayne may also be a reference to the DC Comics character Huntress, due to the the similarities between their weapons and pasts.
  • In the background of Classic Vayne's splash art, there is a tombstone labeled "URF" in reference to Urf, the Manatee, and Yorick's shovel.
  • Vindicator Vayne is likely a reference to the Death Dealers from the Underworld film series.
  • Heartseeker Vayne is a tribute to Valentine's Day.
  • In her Heartseeker skin, Dr. Mundo is shown shot down in the background, and Vayne herself is reading a macaroni card made by him.
  • In its Chinese artwork, Jack of Hearts Twisted Fate can be seen in the background.
  • There is speculation that Vayne is secretly investigating the activities of Leblanc and the Black Rose organization.
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Thanks and Credits

When I first started this guide, I didn't think it would be this much fun to write. Seriously, I did this in 2 days, and spent over 7 hours doing research and writing. Thanks so much for MOBAfire for providing me this experience, and thanks for everybody that's reading, making writing this guide more worth that it already is.

Special thanks to:
jhoijhoi - For the Making a Guide guide.
Laggermeister - For the Ten Commandments of Writing a Guide guide.
David 'Volty' Abecassis - For creating awesome champions, such as Vayne, Fiora, Draven, Diana, Leona and Kha'Zix.
LoL Wikia - For Trivia

Ps.: If you haven't noticed, English is not my native language. If you find any words mispelled or sentences poor-written, don't hesitate on correcting me on the comments. Your feedback is awesome. Almost as much as awesome as you :)

CHANGELOG

01/09/13 - Started doing research and writing guide
01/12/13 - Published guide
01/13/13  - Added "Summoner Spells" section
                      - Inserted Kayle, Nautilus and Ashe on "Matchups"
                     - Added "General Tips and Tricks"
                     - Added Lulu and Nunu & Willump on "Good Supports"
                     - Corrected some typos
                     - Added Zyra, Alistar and Teemo on "Good Supports
                     - Corrected some more typos
                     - Added Hexdrinker, Mercurial Scimitar, and Runaan's Hurricane on "Situational Items"
01/15/13 - Added "Funny Vayne Related Stuff"
                     - Added Vayne and Kog'Maw on "Matchups"
28/03/13 - Added " Vayne for Experienced"
                     - Changed skill order
                     - Changed items
                     - Updated to Season 3
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