Pre 6 just make sure to position behind your creeps as the only way she can trade on you is to hit you with a random charm. Otherwise you can just focus on farming and pushing the wave. After 6 she’s much stronger and she may look to all in if you waste key cooldowns. While Ahri isn’t super strong 1v1, she does has very strong gank setup, so be careful if you don’t have flash or don’t know where their jungler is.
Akali
Generally ranged champs can bully Akali pre 6, but it can be hard to actually force her out of lane. You should focus on crashing the first 2 or 3 waves and then trying to keep the wave on your side as much as possible. This will limit her opportunities to chase you down the wave. Whenever she uses her E or W, respect until they are gone and then you can play more aggressive during the long cooldown window.
Akshan
Akshan is very strong in early game but gets outscaled heavily and won’t be useful if he doesn’t get random kills from lane or roaming. For the most part you should try avoid trades with him unless you can poke for free without taking damage. Be careful with how you use your cooldowns because the more you use the more likely he will E onto you. If you time your E correctly you can stun him off his E as well.
Anivia
Anivia pre 6 isn't that threatening so you should be able to farm up relatively for free. She is also very vulnerable to ganks, so try and get your jungler to come mid. Make sure you are ready to dodge her Q because if you do get hit you’ll take a lot of damage. Post 6 Anivia is too good at neutralizing the lane, and you will need to be careful of being too far up in the lane as she starts to do pretty meaningful damage at this point.
Aurelion Sol
urelion Sol is very strong at level 1 with his Q poke so try and avoid this. Try and keep creeps in front of you in order to block his Q spam and it can be a good idea to hold your E in order to stop him from using his W forward aggressively.
Azir
Azir is very strong in lane and has very strong gank setup at level 6, but you will do fairly well into him in teamfights. Try and take control of the lane whenever he moves his soldiers forward with Q as he will be vulnerable and unable to contest the wave. After level 6 be very careful if your flash is down or you don’t know where their jungler is.
Cassiopeia
Cassiopeia needs space to run you down the lane. Keep the wave closer to your side so that you can set up ganks and be safe from her chasing you down the lane. if you hold your E defensively it can be difficult for her to capitalize on hitting a Q and you should be able to out trade her on the way out.
Diana
Diana does very well into you in lane but you outscale her very hard. In the early game try bait out her Q by moving back and forth into her range. It’s very hard to win straight up trades against Diana so try keep the wave in the middle and setup ganks + poke from safety. Ultimately your main goal is to not die or allow Diana to begin to snowball.
Ekko
Punishing cooldowns is very important against Ekko in the early game. His only trading tool is also his only waveclear tool so you should make him choose between clearing the wave or trading with you by positioning correctly. If you are playing against hail of blades Ekko, be careful of his level 1 cheese with e start. He will have a stronger lane but won’t scale as well overall. Ekko really struggles into you in teamfights so just make sure he doesn't pick up random kills.
Fizz
Fizz has very defined moments of strength and weakness and playing around these are key. Level 1 and 2 Fizz can be punished very hard but level 3 and level 6 he is very strong. Try and crash either 2 or 3 waves into his tower and then let it bounce back to you. You do not want to be pushed up in the lane level 3 onwards. His main trading tool, his E, is also his main waveclear tool so make sure to keep track of this cooldown and it’s by far the most important. Defensive items or early game buys are very important vs Fizz because once he begins to snowball he’s very hard to stop. You can consider taking a defensive summoner like exhaust in this matchup as well.
Galio
Galio is pretty weak in the 1v1 but he has great skirmishing potential. Try and keep him pushed in while avoiding jungle ganks. You outscale him heavily so if you can deny him roam opportunities and don't die to a gank it should be a free win.
Hwei
Hwei is an extremely strong laner but generally gets outscaled. Try position behind creeps so that you can’t get hit by random QQ poke, but far enough away that you have time to dodge the QE + EE combo if he decides to try nuke the wave instead. Hwei is very gankable and can suffer in early skirmishes so if you can ever look for 2v2s or ganks mid it will definitely pay off.
Irelia
Irelia is extremely strong in the laning phase and the sidelane, but she needs to snowball in order to perform well in teamfights. For the most part you will be looking to keep the wave on your side and try to setup ganks or just avoid having Irelia chase you down the lane. Be extremely careful of her level 2 and level 6 all in especially. Above all else your goal is not to die, even if you go down CS to Irelia it should be fine unless you give over some kills.
Jayce
Jayce is relatively weak pre first base so you should be able to get some control of the lane here. After he buys a dirk you need to be much more careful though. Try not to give him free windows to QE you (stand behind creeps) and respect him going melee and dashing onto you if your E is on cooldown.
Karma
Karma is a very strong laner and pretty much always gets priority. She’s very good in both 1v1 and 2v2 but will normally be outscaled and also outfarmed if you can make sure to stay efficient. There’s no easy way to play against Karma but the best thing you can do is try avoid as many Qs and RQs as you can and focus on neutralizing the wave.
Kassadin
Kassadin should be punished heavily early game. Try and make sure that he is forced to use his Q to last hit. If he decides to Q you instead, he should be punished when he walks up and tries to last hit a creep. With good trading and wave control you should be able to build a significant lead over Kassadin or his team pre 6. Post 6 this matchup becomes a nightmare, so you need a strong lead early game in order to stay even from this point. he worst thing to do against Kassadin is to give him any kills, as even when he scales throughout the game he’s not strong unless he can snowball and get ahead of everyone else.
Katarina
Katarina is a difficult champion for Taliyah to deal with. Make sure you don’t stand on any daggers and respect her level 2 and level 6 all in. For the most part Katarina will just look to spam roam and cheese kills from other lanes so placing good wards and pinging missing or retreat pings on lanes to keep her from getting kills is really important.
LeBlanc
LeBlanc is a difficult matchup for Taliyah to deal with. Early game you may be able to get a small advantage since her cooldowns (especially W) are so long. Merc treads or some other form of MR can be very helpful for avoiding her one shotting you in the mid game. Her main threat is her gank setup so be very very careful if you don’t know where their jungler is, and try keep the wave on your side or in the middle for added safety.
Lissandra
Lissandra has good push, strong skirmishing and is quite hard to gank. That being said she doesn’t scale as well as other mids and also has to choose between pushing the wave and trading with her Q. Do your best to match her push and prevent her from roaming to skirmishes or other lanes. Merc treads are also very useful against this champion for avoiding ganks and surviving engages in teamfights.
Lux
Lux is a pretty strong laner with her heavy E poke. Do your best to dodge as many of these as possible and make sure not to get hit by a stray Q. Her cooldowns are quite long and her main trading tool, her E, is also her main form of waveclear before level 6. Try not to group up with the wave and if she does use E on the wave look to trade aggressively while still avoiding her Q or just focus on clearing the wave. Merc treads can also be helpful for the movement speed, MR and tenacity.
Malzahar
Malzahar is one of the weakest early game champions in the game, he has essentially no form of trading power and his waveclear is easily dealt with as long as you kill his voidlings as soon as they spawn. Malzahar does scale well but you scale even better so even a small lead will generally be enough. You can buy a QSS early if you feel like you need it but you should outrange him in fights so I try skip it if I can.
Neeko
Neeko is one of the strongest laning champs in the game and also has immense teamfight and skirmishing power. In the lane phase it will all be about how many Qs and Es you can dodge so try and keep your movement very active. Merc treads rush can help a lot in this matchup too. Neeko is normally outscaled pretty hard so as long as you don’t give over kills you should be in a good spot coming out of lane.
Naafiri
Naafiri is a relatively weak laner but she snowballs extremely well so do your best to neutralize her in the 1v1 and prevent her from getting any roam opportunities.All her damage in lane comes from getting hit by 2 Qs in a row, so if you can dodge one you will normally win the trade. She can look to W directly onto you if you waste your E, so if you ever use it aggressively you need to back up and respect while the CD is down.
Orianna
The Orianna matchup can depend a lot on what keystone she takes. If she takes comet she will put 3 points in W and be extremely strong in lane. Your goal against comet Orianna is just to do your best to stay even and look to outperform her in teamfights. If you’re playing against phase rush Orianna, she will scale a lot better but the lane will be a lot more playable. She is immobile so hopefully you can look to gank her with your jungle or support.
Pantheon
Pantheon has strong gank setup and trading but he lacks waveclear and gets heavily outscaled. Try and neutralize the early game vs Pantheon and consider taking cleanse if you are scared of getting ganked. Make sure to keep eyes on him post 6 and if he ults to another lane you will most likely just want to punish by pushing the wave and hitting the mid tower, unless you think you can roam to the play in time with your ult.
Qiyana
Qiyana is pretty weak level 1 and 2 but spikes hard at level 3 and level 6. Make sure to avoid the level 3 all in by having the wave bounce back to you. At level 6 make sure to avoid standing too close to walls or the river as this will mean she can kill you with ultimate easily. Qiyana needs to snowball to be relevant so making sure you don’t die and try limit her windows to roam will go a long way. Consider taking exhaust for this matchup.
Ryze
Ryze has a lot of push, point and click gank setup and good roaming. However, he doesn’t trade that well especially if he’s using cooldowns on the wave and will normally lose trades against you since you outrange him. You should be able to build a slight lead in lane vs Ryze as long as you don’t die to any ganks. Make sure you keep the wave pushed post 6 to stop him from roaming to other lanes. In teamfights it will be impossible for Ryze to play, so even if you don't have a lead you should be much more useful by this point.
Seraphine
Seraphine scales and teamfights very well but she is weak in lane and lacks waveclear after the changes. She has long cooldowns so if she uses Q or E to farm or harass look to punish by forcing a trade on her or zoning her off the wave. Once you get some waveclear you should be able to push her in and prevent her from joining any fights. She also can’t really side lane so normally in the mid game you can build up a big CS lead over her.
Swain
Swain can depend a lot on the rune page he is running and what he builds. If Swain goes for an aery/scorch/chapter build he will be a lot stronger in lane than normal, but he will lack the scaling he normally has. Against this page you should expect to go even or slightly ahead. If you’re against any other setup you should be able to build a lead in lane by abusing his long cooldowns and dodging his E. Swain also has very weak waveclear so can be spam pushed in and you counter him heavily in teamfights.
Sylas
Sylas lane is all about dodging his E2. If you get hit by his chain you will almost certainly lose the trade, but if he misses it you can punish him heavily. Stay close enough to the creeps that he can’t easily E you, but far enough away that he can’t just hit both you and the creeps with his Q. Sylas snowballs extremely hard but if he doesn’t find a lead he won’t be too hard to deal with, and you can usually build a small lead in lane as long as you don’t die solo or to his gank setup. Try keep the wave on your side after the initial couple of waves for extra safety. Sylas is another champion you hard counter in teamfights so just don't lose the game before you get there.
Syndra
Syndra matchups are mainly about how well you can dodge her Q as well as punishing her E cooldown. You mustn’t give any kills to Syndra so rushing something like merc treads or null magic mantle can be very useful. Merc treads are especially OP because the movement speed, tenacity and MR are all crucial to going even or winning lane against this champion.
Talon
Talon in the laning phase is all about his W. W is both Talon’s main trading tool as well as his farming tool so you mustn’t stack with the wave so he has to choose between hitting you or hitting the CS. It’s also extremely important that you do not get hit by both sides of W as that will make it very easy for him to jump on you and proc his passive which almost guarantees a hard losing trade or a death. If he casts W on you immediately move to the side rather than back as that makes it a lot easier to dodge W on the return. Be very careful of his level 2 and level 6 all ins with ignite and consider building HP or armor early in the lane. Exhaust can go a long way in this matchup too.
Tristana
Tristana in lane has a huge amount of push and all in potential. You will want to do your best by neutralizing and keeping the wave on your side as well as holding E defensively. If Tristana doesn’t snowball through solokills or tower plates she will have a very hard time teamfighting against your E and Q spam. Do your best to slow the game down and don't let her snowball begin.
Twisted Fate
You outrange TF pretty heavily so the only thing to be careful of is his gank setup. Try and keep TF locked in lane as much as you can either through trading or pushing the wave so that you are in a position to either stop him from roaming or punish the mid tower if he does.
Veigar
Veigar early game is very weak and lacks waveclear. The only thing you really need to be careful of is not lining yourself up with the creeps so he can easily hit the creep and you. He does have some gank setup so you may want to build merc treads if they have a ganking jungler.
Vel'Koz
Vel'Koz has a lot of poke and waveclear but doesn't have any kill threat until 6. Positioning in the creep wave can make dodging Qs easier and make sure to not get hit by Es as that’s Vel’Koz’s best way of trading. After level 6 if you get by an E it’s possible Vel’Koz can kill you with ulti so keeping your movement active is key.
Vex
Vex isn’t the strongest laner pre 6 but has very good all in at level 6 onwards. After level 6 Vex may look to all in you if she ever hits an R on you so buying a small amount of MR such as a null magic mantle can go a long way in stopping her from being able to 100-0 you (if she has ignite). If Vex doesn’t snowball she has a hard time teamfighting into your E, so make sure she doesn’t pick up random roam or skirmish kills.
Viktor
Viktor is a very strong 1v1 laner and scales very well, but he’s extremely weak in early skirmishes and very gankable. Keeping the wave in a gankable position or dragging Viktor into early skirmishes is also very beneficial. Eventually you will have enough waveclear that you won't need to interact with him much.
Vladimir
Vladimir is a very unique champion to play against. In the early laning phase Vlad is quite weak, he has fairly long cooldowns and his sustain is not particularly great so try and build a lead in the first 5 levels. After 6 and first base Vlad becomes quite strong, try and trade efficiently and abuse his lack of waveclear. If you get the chance, try look to punish him whenever his Q is down, especially immediately after he uses his empowered Q. You can do this by either just focusing on pushing the wave or trying to force a trade.
Xerath
Xerath is a fairly strong 1v1 laner but is very vulnerable to getting ganked. His cooldowns are fairly long and can definitely be dodged so try keep your movement active and punish when they are down. Make sure you don’t stack with the wave so he has to choose between hitting you or pushing the wave. Make sure to rush tier 2 boots in this matchup for the extra movement speed.
Yasuo
Yasuo has a very strong 1v1 laning phase but is extremely gankable and isn’t very good at using his priority. This means you will want to keep the wave on your side for the most part which will keep you safe from his extended trades and put him in a gankable position. Try keep wards down to make sure he doesn’t get a roam off for free and play to go as even as you can in the lane phase and then outperform him in teamfights.
Yone
Yone can be bullied hard in levels 1 and 2, but level 3 onwards you will want to keep the wave in the middle or on your side to prevent him from chasing down the lane. Try respect when he has his Q3 and E up, and then punish their long cooldowns after he uses them. Post 6 be very careful of his strong gank setup and ability to chase you down the lane with T2 boots. Once you get to teamfights you should have no trouble, just avoid 1v1ing him at all times.
Zed
Zed can be abused levels 1 and 2, try and make him choose between getting a CS with Q or using it on you. Once Zed hits level 3 you can still be aggressive but make sure you don’t get hit by both shurikens from his WEQ combo otherwise you will take a lot of extra damage. After level 6 be careful how far you position up in the lane as he can chase you down and kill you. It can be a good idea to buy a cloth armor in this matchup and just sit on it since it will negate a lot of his lethality. Exhaust can help in this matchup too, especially if you find the Zeds in your elo typically take ignite instead of TP.
Ziggs
Ziggs can be fairly strong in lane if you can’t dodge his skillshots. If you can avoid the poke though you should have no problems. If he’s using his abilities on you, he won’t have any control of the wave as long as you are standing far enough away to not be splashed by it. Make sure to rush boots in this matchup and try move aggressively into him when his cooldowns are down.
Zilean
Zilean is very abusable in lane. He has long cooldowns and his only way to farm from long range is also his only trading tool AND it’s a dodgeable skillshot. Make sure Zilean has to choose between hitting you with Q or farming with Q and when his Q is on cooldown move very aggressively into him. While you can’t normally kill Zilean in lane, you should be able to build a fairly big CS lead by spam pushing waves into him. After 6 it’s much harder to stop him from waveclearing so look instead to pressure the map.
Zoe
Zoe is a lot about positioning and punishing cooldowns. Try and avoid taking damage from Q or her bubble by keeping the creeps in between you and her. Make sure to respect the windows when she picks up summs or items off the ground. Zoe is also very gankable and lacks waveclear, but her all-ins are very powerful. Merc treads can also be a good pick up if you need them.
Jarvan IV
Taliyah is excellent with AD ganking junglers (especially ones with CC) such as Jarvan, Xin Zhao or Volibear.
Xin Zhao
Taliyah is excellent with AD ganking junglers (especially ones with CC) such as Jarvan, Xin Zhao or Volibear.
Volibear
Taliyah is excellent with AD ganking junglers (especially ones with CC) such as Jarvan, Xin Zhao or Volibear.
Graves
Taliyah is decent with AD junglers that don't have CC, but you are more reliant on setting up your own W.
Kindred
Taliyah is decent with AD junglers that don't have CC, but you are more reliant on setting up your own W.
Karthus
Taliyah is pretty weak with AP junglers, you function very well as a solo AP damage threat and most AP junglers don’t bring reliable CC for you.
Nidalee
Taliyah can work with Nidalee if you have a Renekton top or a hard CC support like Leona, Rell or Naut. You can move around as a mid jungle duo and try force plays onto the sidelane together.
Evelynn
Taliyah is pretty weak with AP junglers, you function very well as a solo AP damage threat and most AP junglers don’t bring reliable CC for you.
Lillia
Taliyah is pretty weak with AP junglers, you function very well as a solo AP damage threat and most AP junglers don’t bring reliable CC for you.
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Jarvan IV
Taliyah is excellent with AD ganking junglers (especially ones with CC) such as Jarvan, Xin Zhao or Volibear.
Xin Zhao
Taliyah is excellent with AD ganking junglers (especially ones with CC) such as Jarvan, Xin Zhao or Volibear.
Volibear
Taliyah is excellent with AD ganking junglers (especially ones with CC) such as Jarvan, Xin Zhao or Volibear.
Graves
Taliyah is decent with AD junglers that don't have CC, but you are more reliant on setting up your own W.
Kindred
Taliyah is decent with AD junglers that don't have CC, but you are more reliant on setting up your own W.
Karthus
Taliyah is pretty weak with AP junglers, you function very well as a solo AP damage threat and most AP junglers don’t bring reliable CC for you.
Nidalee
Taliyah can work with Nidalee if you have a Renekton top or a hard CC support like Leona, Rell or Naut. You can move around as a mid jungle duo and try force plays onto the sidelane together.
Evelynn
Taliyah is pretty weak with AP junglers, you function very well as a solo AP damage threat and most AP junglers don’t bring reliable CC for you.
Lillia
Taliyah is pretty weak with AP junglers, you function very well as a solo AP damage threat and most AP junglers don’t bring reliable CC for you.
Hey guys I'm Shok, multi Rank 1 Challenger mid laner and content creator! I played league professionally from 2017-2021 and have been rank 1 in multiple seasons, as well as rank 13 on the NA ladder in season 9.
I upload regularly on YouTube, and stream everyday on Twitch so feel free to follow me on either of those platforms :)
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Laning Phase
In the laning phase Taliyah mostly acts as a neutralizer and will look to thin out waves early and focus on scaling. Against other ranged champs you will normally need to play defensively, although you can sometimes poke with your E and you will almost always have the waveclear advantage. Against shorter range targets you can harass them pretty heavily with your E, Q and auto poke but will have to be more careful about being all-inned.
If you're against champions with dashes or gap closers you may want to hold your E defensively as well as keep the wave closer to your side to avoid being chased down the lane as well as setup ganks of your own. Eventually, you will have enough waveclear that you can just one shot waves and look to move around the map, especially post 6.
You aren't really expecting to build up a lead in the lane phase as Taliyah, although if you play it well you probably can. A successful early game as Taliyah would just look like having high CS, low deaths, and hopefully a couple KP from impacting some skirmishes around mid or maybe ulting to a sidelane for a roam.
Mid Game
In the mid game as Taliyah you will want to do your best to continue to keep up your gold/xp while also being at all the major objective fights. The best way to do this is try shove the side wave as far as you can without dying. If you don't have TP up, it can be a good idea to group with your team instead and just catch sidewaves when they are going to crash on your tower until your TP comes back up. Sometimes you can go sidelane with just your ult, even if you don't have TP, but this only works if your team takes a fight around mid instead of on the other side of the map. If your sidelane matchup is really easy + your team is winning and you have vision then sidelaning should be very easy, if the opposite of these things are true then you will need to be a lot safer on side.
For objective fights, it's a good rule to try and base around 1 minute before dragon spawns, that way you can spend all your gold and get all your hp and mana back to full. This will give you the best possible chance of grouping up and winning a dragon fight.
As Taliyah it can be a good idea to try take some the AOE jungle camps like Krugs or Raptors, especially if you can take them away from the enemy team or if your jungler is too far away to farm them. Taliyah is very good at doing jungle camps so always look for opportunities to do this.
Teamfighting and Skirmishing
For teamfighting and skirmishing as Taliyah you will most likely just be looking to play a simple front to back teamfight. Try and position behind your tanks, and just hit whoever is in front of you. Be careful about wasting your E, the cooldown isn't super long later on in the game but in early skirmishes it can make the difference between winning and losing a fight. You can also look to save W to follow up on other people's CC to make it more guaranteed. Fights in chokes or small areas are also very valuable for Taliyah as you have a huge amount of AOE and disruption.
Finally you will want to think about various threats to you and your target priority. Normally as Taliyah you will be stuck hitting whoever is in front of you, but if an enemy squishy mispositions they should take priority and you should aim your abilities on them first. Threats are also important, think about specific abilities (for example Blitzcrank hook) that might threaten you and how you can position around them. Sometimes you may have to wait until some abilities are used before you can fully commit to the fight because it might be too dangerous to do so otherwise.
More Taliyah Content
That's all for this guide, but if you want to see more of my Taliyah content there is a video guide and several gameplay videos on my YouTube channel, and if you want to ask me questions about Taliyah feel free to drop by my Twitch or send me a message on discord (shokoce)
[14.8] Shok's Rank 1 Challenger Taliyah Guide
Build Guide By ShokLoL
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