Talon Build Guide by Shinji Ikari 3D

Who are you?

Before i start talking about Talon, let me introduce myself.My name is Silas, but my friends nicknamed me as Shinji Ikari 3D (yes, the protagonist of Evangelion), i started playing League under the nick Call Me Ikari almost 1 year ago, being today a Platinum Midlaner in the Brazilian Server. As a Talon main, i have 4k Mastery points with the champion, having more than 500 matches with him counting Rankeds and Normal games. I really hope my guide helps you to get better with this amazing Assassin, so if you wanna support me for the Guide, please rate and comment, i would love to anwser all your questions n' thanks. By the way, i will make the detailed matchups later, since the new season is coming, i'll probably update (or make a new) guide about Talon, telling how these new items affects the Champion next year.

CONTACT:
Twitch
I have a Stream, so if you wanna contact me, make through there. Now please, enjoy the Guide!
Ah, and sorry for the non-perfect english, i am working on it, i promise, haha.

Pros & Cons:

PROS:

- One if not the quickest Assassin in the whole game. A really fed Talon can burst so fast as the Flash animation.

- Have a high Snowball potential and can "avanlanche" the game if he gets ahead.

- Has good Roaming\Ganking if used correctly.

- Has great wave cleaning with his W.

CONS:

- Weak laning phase against most trades.

- Hard to comeback if fall behind.

- Easy to gank, even after level 6.

- Unique gap closer.

Overall Review about Talon:

Talon is a melee Assassin, an AD Caster, which means that he is a Attack Damage based Champion that need his skills to aply concrete damage to the target. He's also a high risk but high reward Midlaner who starts with a vulnerable lane phase, but gets a power spike along time and then becomes strong between mid and late game, being capable of 100-0 any squishy Champion with one full combo.
Unfortunately, Talon is weak against any CC or high harass as most of assassins with the difference that he is way more risk than the major Assassin champions in the game, having just one gap closer that basically just work as a offensive blink and even his invisibility on Shadow Assault is easy to counter with a Pink or something like Lee Sin.

My boy Talon is indeed far from perfect (mainly after his silence removal), but he can still kick some ***es.

When i should pick Talon?

- When the enemy ADC has no mobility or is way squishy.
- When you counter the enemy Midlaner.
- When the enemy team lacks CC and tanks.

Your Synergies:

There is some Champions in each lane of this game that works pretty well with Talon:

Your Counters:

And, of course, there's some Champions in each lane of this game that counters Talon as well:


Sure, i am not saying that this 4 Champions you see above are Talon counters individually speaking, but as team, these four characters together are a good example of a hard time composition against him.

Can you learn with Talon?

Before i continue with my guide about a Talon's game i need to anwser this question: Yes, you can learn with Talon.

He's a complex mechanic champ like Azir, Zed or stuff like that? No, at least not in this way. Playing with Talon in the combos, jukes or anything like that is not that hard, really, the only "mechanic" thing that Talon has to offer is his cutthroat, which can be used in several different ways to make "plays" and stuff like that. My point here is pretty simple: Talon demands mechanics when it comes down to know your position in the match, in other words, it doesn't require a lot of "fingers" to say like that, but requires notion of game, when you can all in your opponent, when to jump, if you can push, if you have to freeze, if you can roam, if you can pick off the AD Carry, and much more.

So, just stating that Talon will teach you the basics and the complex side about playing with general Assassins among Mid, i'm not saying that his the best to start playing with this function or that he is the only one that does that, but you will indeed learn a lot about map control & game dominance, which actually helps you to became better in the Mid lane and doesn't matter what Champion you play there. I hope you guys understand what i'm trying to explain here.

Items:

Early Core:

There's 3 early core itens for Talon, so let me talk about it one by one:

The Brutalizer: Amazing item if you need an immediate power spike to confront toe to toe with your enemy and if you really need to do some roaming. If you're not behind but the enemy APC is building CDR, go for it, otherwise pick Tiamat or Last Whisper.

Last Whisper: The best early core item for sure, no other scales better with Talon than this one in so many ways. Take Last Whisper whenever you get ahead or if the enemy team has a good number of armor. If the enemy Midlaner is rushing Zhonyas but you're well farmed, go for it, if you not, take the Tiamat.

Tiamat: Amazing core item when you are not doing well on the game, in other words, if you are not farming well and need some wave cleaning to push it faster. Is not really a cheap item, but it helps a lot if you're trying to comeback to the match.

Black Cleaver or Trinity?

This is a frequent question that a lot of people have, so read carefully:
Trinity Force on Talon is a mobility plus damage item. He doesn't scale with AP, but every other aspect of this item gives Talon a huge boost in the overall match when it comes to assassinating, aplying huge damage at a fast speed. A Noxian Diplomacy crit with Trinity's passive and Infinity Edge can simply destroy any ADC, in the best possiblity, you can take down 90% HP of an squishy Champion instantaneously.

The Black Cleaver instead it is a utility plus damage item since you get 20% CDR and 400 HP from it. This item doesn't make Talon a better assassin, but makes him a more utility one. With Cleaver you can stack armor for your team, has more sustain in health terms and does more damage to tanks in general.

Now, when you should pick one or the other?

- Enemy team has a lot of armor? The Black Cleaver
- You are snowballing the mid-game? Trinity Force
- Need extra health and just a little boost of Movement speed? The Black Cleaver
- Need extra burst damage cause you're actual one is not working? Trinity Force
- Have less money? The Black Cleaver
- Need to do some late-game pick-off? Trinity Force

Boots:

There are several boots that you can make for Talon. Check out:

Boots of Mobility: Mobility is the standard boot for Talon, and you should buy it almost every match as soon as you finish your early core and later trade for another one. This boot is cheap, gives Talon the mobility that he needs to put map preassure and is great for roaming. Obligatory early core boot, but it falls late game, so trade it afterwards.

Mercury's Treads: Mercury is a ok boot. You generally wanna make this item when there's heavy AP comp on the other side or if you're confronting some hard AP matchup on Mid like Swain. If you fall behind, this boot, with the early Hexdrinker can help you a lot fighting these type of Champions. Yet, this boot has some pretty good tenacity, which means that you gonna take less CC from these Ability Power threats.

Boots of Swiftness: Swiftness is probably the best late game boot for Talon in terms of mobility. Buy it when confronting high slow comps: AP characters using Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Sejuani, Braum and others occasions.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity: This is the perfect boot when you wanna built Trinity Force on Talon. Trinity and this boot with the alacrity enchantment works beautifully together, giving Talon 40% CDR and good move speed. There's no other reason to build this item except for use with Trinity, so, any other type of build? Make other boot either.

Other Items:

The Heavy Damage Items:
Infinity Edge: One of the best itens in the game for Talon, once you can increase your Q crit damage. You can buy as your third item if your snowballing, but in other cases you should wait more to build it. It gives a good power spike on your burst but is pretty expensive.

The Bloodthirster: Is cheaper and have better itemization than Infinity Edge, still, doesn't give you the same power spike. You should build Bloodthirster when you feel that Talon's need some extra sustain in Team Fights.

Mercurial Scimitar: Only Built this item if the enemy team have a skill that apply high CC and is making you useless because you can't dodge. I'm talking about Malzahar with his Nether Grasp and stuff similar to this case.

Defensive Items:
Maw of Malmortius: Maw is a poor item in general. I mean, is not bad, but, until the new season, this item is just not good enough for a 5v5 except for Hexdrinker in the itemization, still, if you're against a really heavy AP composition, you can buy it, will save you at least one time.

Guardian Angel: A basic defense item for almost every damage base Champion in the game. Make this item on Talon if you are the main damage on your team.

Dead Man's Plate: The only really good defense item for Talon that gives him a descent tankiness against AD characters. Built it when you're fighting a full Attack Damage comp. It also improve your mobility while giving you nice armor e health.

Frozen Mallet: Is a better defensive item for Talon than you might think. It gives a huge HP boost, descent AD, and is useful for winning some trades by extending the duel (for example: VS. Shaco). Another viable item against full AD compositions or if the enemy team has a lot of kiting potential.

Credits:

Thanks for reading! If you like it, please support this Guide and my Stream (link already posted above). This isn't complete, but i will make a full detailed guide next year with the new season items and patches, so you better be ready!

Thanks, this is it folks, see ya!