Welcome to my Burst Talon jungler guide! This will be my first guide on here, so bear with me please.

Talon has became less mainstream and sits on the bench for many players since v4.17 when his silence was removed from his cutthroat proc. However, He still remains one of the best champions at burst damage, and since not many people play Talon anymore, many players don't know what they're getting into during mid-late game when his proc cycle can almost always kill a champion instantaneously.

Generally speaking, a good Talon can easily trump many champions they play against. Now I'll explain specific details on this build that make him a great jungler.

Talon always has, and always will be just pure AD. However, in alot of games this can just be countered with alot of defensive items. All of Talons armor penetration in this build will allow him to shred through about 52.2% of an opponents armor, leaving them more vulnerable to AD from Talon, which is where his burst style proc cycle comes into play.

This playsyle renders almost any defensive move against him, completely in vain. However, this does allow Talon himself to be killed quite easily, which is why someone using this build must be able to analyze a situation before jumping blindly into the fray. This change of pace is great, and makes you feel like an authentic Assassin in no time.

To clarify, I did play around with starting machete. Here's a screencap to show my results with a Hunter's Machete vs starting Long Sword.

Pros

High AD Potential
Good Mobility
High Skill Synergy
Doesn't Snowball, Instead He Avalanches

Cons

Very Squishy
Poor Performance in Team fights
Slow Early Game
Limited Escape Options


Now, this Talon build will be based upon mobility and pure damage. If done correctly, Lifesteal with high AD can make up for his poor stamina during a team fight.

The two spells we'll be using are Flash and Smite.

Smite is essential to a jungler build, simply for the high damage to large creeps during farming phase while you have low AD.

I use Flash because Talon's only real escape method is using Shadow Assault, this gives you more than one option or chance to escape.

The rune build is pretty self explanatory.

Greater Seal of Armor x9 to provide some degree of protection

Greater Mark of Armor Penetration x9 to add more arm pen, which is essential to this build.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction x9 to allow Talon to go through his proc cycle faster.

Greater Quintessence of Armor Penetration x3 Look at Greater Mark of Armor Penetration.

Talons masteries are pretty straight forward, but I'll go through each choice versus its counterpart.

Ferocity Masteries

Fury allows us to have a slightly better attack rate with Lifesteal for better sustain, whilst Sorcery doesn't have a large effect on this build.

Double Edged Sword gives Talon a decent AD boost, whilst Feast won't be enough of a sustain to justify taking it instead, and Expose Weakness would be good for team fights, but hopefully if you DO get into one, you can escape or pick off weaker champs/ supports on your own before you make your great escape instead of being IN the team fight for too long.

Vampirism gives Talon more much needed sustain, while Natural Talent wont be too beneficial as you'll already have a full AD + Arm Pen build.

I prefer Bounty Hunter over Oppressor , simply because late game you'll have killed each champ once, giving you twice the benefit as Oppressor .

Cunning Masteries

Wanderer helps chase down fleeing champs or even stealing a dragon kill, while Savagery only gives you 5 bonus AD against creeps and minions while maxed out, which is only helpful early game.

Assassin provides bonus damage against champs while not around other ally champs, which can secure a kill or even save your life (looking at you, early double kill on mid!)

Merciless deals 1% increased damage per level towards enemy champs below 40% whilst after early game, your mana should sufficiently regenerate before another full burst cycle easily, making Meditation unimportant.

Dangerous Game allows you to heal 5% max health and mana from champ kills and assists, which can be extremely useful for team fights or if you're caught in a 2v1 situation, while Bandit isn't useful on this build.

While Intelligence can make his proc cycle faster slightly, I've found that the extra Arm Pen from Precision is more effective with this build.

Now, many people would choose Thunderlord's Decree , I find Stormraider's Surge more effective because If you get interrupted mid burst or just dont completely kill a champ, it gives you a boost of speed to either, A: Catch running champs and KS, or B: Allow you to flee from a fed champ or a group you unknowingly jumped into.

Talon has quite a unique skill set, and it has amazing synergy for a burst AD build.

Passive: Mercy allows Talon to deal 10% bonus damage to slowed and stunned champs.

Q: Noxian Diplomacy adds increasing amounts of AD to your base attack for a "Powered" auto attack, essentially.

W: Rake sends out a fan of blades for a short distance that return to Talon, dealing damage while passing through opponents on both trips, and also slows enemies for 2 seconds.

E: Cutthroat Talon jumps to an enemy champ, essentially stunning them for .25 seconds and teleporting him to the champ, making it suitable for entering a fight or pursuing an enemy. It also increases damage received from Talon by 3% for every level into it.

R: Shadow Assault sends out a wave of rotating blades, dealing damage to hit champions, as well as increasing his move speed and turning him invisible. This can be both an escape tool, and an offensive weapon as the damage can become MASSIVE in late game.

What I like to do is lead into a fight with Cutthroat, jumping to them then allow an auto attack through then immediately use Noxian Diplomacy as it resets your Auto Attack instantly, and as they flee follow up with a Rake to slow them and grab the easy kill. Shadow Assault is more of a situational skill, as I only use it for a multi kill in a team fight or to escape from one.

While knowing how to use Talon is essential for the basis of a good game, knowing how to move around the map effectively is the general standard for an AMAZING game.

Many people would think coming from the side is the best way for a gank, or kill, as it's generally fast and catches them off guard. While that's true, it is NOT the best way.

If you come around from BEHIND them in lane, they won't even notice you until its too late, or especially in early game when it cuts off a low level champ from retreating to a Tower. This leaves them stranded between 2 enemy champs, with little chance of escape.

Now, this might upset some people out there, but DON'T gank a lane until they are at least half dead in early game. This is because your AD isn't high enough to kill them yet, and all it will do is force them back to the Tower where then YOU'll have to retreat from the Tower, all this does is waste time and mana you could've spent farming.

I'll attach a rough picture with flanking routes and the order you should be farming in, as well as ward locations.


Yes, it was made in paint, but it still communicates my points.

Towards late game, you should always be roaming between lanes looking for a gank, or just helping finish off a Tower. Keep an eye an respawn times for the Dragon and Baron Nashor, as it will be your job to ward and secure the perimeter around both areas, hopefully preventing the enemy team from ambushing you.

The Dragon spawns at 2:30 into the game, and has a 6 minute respawn timer.

Baron Nashor first spawns in at 15:00 and has a 7 minute respawn timer.

While I have not personally tested this Talon build in ranked, I do know that it is a very op build in regular games. Using it, I have gone from 24/4/6 to 26/2/18 on an almost regular basis using it.

However, If any ranked Talon players would like to test my build and give me feedback on ranked play, I would be happy to give you a special mention at the end of my guide.

I hope that my burst AD Talon build can help many people who struggle with jungling him, or even get him back into being somewhat mainstream. I've only encountered ONE other Talon in my last month of playing.

Please leave me feedback, whether it be an improvement on the build, or just a tip for making a better guide! Thank you for your time!

Good Luck, and Happy Hunting!

Special Thanks to: