WORK IN PROGRESS!!!!!!!!!!! currently 5 hours into this guide
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Hai Gaiz,

My name is CyanCryst and I've been playing Vayne for as long as I can remember and I just want to share my experiences with her. Vayne one of the few AD carries that requires the MOST amount of player mechanics. She doesn't have any true poking tools like Mystic Shot or Volley or Piltover Peacemaker but when played right she is just a beast in lane.

*DISCLAIMER* This guide is written by a 1400~ elo player if you are still counting the old ladder system. However I do not think this is any less of a viable guide for any skill level.

PROS!

• LATE GAME QUEEN!
• HUGE STEROID with ultimate
• Short invisibility
• Auto attack reset with tumble.
• Great chase potential
• Stun in her kit
• PERCENT TRUE DAMAGE
• MULTI LANE potential (top mid and adc)
• LATE GAME QUEEN!

CONS!

• 550 range
• No built in poke spell
• No skill shots (might be a good thing?)
• Global taunt if enemy team knows what's up
• Fairly squishy
• **No solid 1-6

**I will explain why weak 1-6 in Early Game chapter below.

Explanation:

MARKS:
I take flat AD marks simply because it is very easy to push against a Vayne as most other AD Carries. These runes will help you farm under turret better and let your Tumble have that extra *Ummph* to it.

SEALS:
Since you are in a lane FOR AD carries, naturally there will be a lot of AD damage. Some may argue that in the current meta, there are a lot of AP based supports like Lulu Zyra but to that I say: they all auto-attack you as well for the Pickpocket >:|

Glyphs:
AD carries do not have scaling Magic Resist at all. These runes will help you reach a team fight and not worry too much about getting pooped on by their AP Carries. Without these Runes, a flat M-pen build will true damage you if not more. These ruins alone will mitigate an abyssal aura at 18.
;) For those who wonders "GEE, why on earth would you take a flat AD glyph when MR is so much better?" Try it out, you will see that the end result, that one little glyph is worth more than a AD mark.

QUINTS:
Same reason as AD Marks.

Explanation:

"Why 21-9-0?"
As an AD Carry, Vayne benefits more from offense tree than spec-ing 21 points in defense or utility. Defense is nice for a tankier Vayne but that shouldn't be your focus unless you are going into a solo lane. If you don't have a healer like Taric or shields like Janna then just compensate by buying the few extra Health Potions. Pick good engagements and you will come on top.

Quick note: I did not spec into Butcher and Destruction simply because the benefits of Lethality and Frenzy are much better for late game. If you are having trouble farming under turret, which you shouldn't really with the flat ad marks and quints, then by all means replace with Butcher . It really is more of a personal choice but 4 damage to minions verses 10% critical damage and 10% attack speed after crits, you can quickly see which will do more for you and the team. That and you wouldn't really be the one trying to kill towers really fast as Vayne either, just not the best back door champion.

* if you guys want a detailed explanation on why each specific mastery, please comment below and I will add to this section when time becomes available.

OOOOOOOOH, this is the tricky part with Vayne. There are just so many paths Vayne can take as an AD carry simply because of Silver Bolts. I will attempt to cover the ones I have played around with but in all honesty, any of the following item combinations will work.

STARTING ITEMS!

and x3
or
and x2

These are basically the only 2 starters for Vayne as an AD Carry. Long sword for those who want to farm and if you really trust your support. Boots are well, boots. Such a standard start, works on any champion.

Situational:
and x5 for solo top Vayne.
for your 2v1 top lane swap.

First Item trip *ideally*

/ / / In any combination for what ever path you end up going with.
If you end up having enough for zeal, you can skip tier 2 boots until another trip back.
For playing against poke heavy bottom lane, vamp scepter would be best.
ONLY IF YOU DESPERATELY NEED STATS, go buy Doran's Blade (x2), one or 2 depending on your situation. If you can avoid, please do. Dorans's blades really cut into your item progress and Vayne NEEDS 2 major items before she can actually sufficiently help the team.

CORE ITEMS:
Now this is the section that is basically ambiguous to the point of "this is a guide?"
In my opinion, there are 3 pairs of items you want on vayne, you only need one of the following pairs as core items:

/
This item combination is the best for a dueling focus vayne. If you know that you will be facing many 1v1, 2v2 or 3v3's then this itemization will be the best choice possible. There really is no way of knowing at champion select if you will be dueling a lot. The decision should be made after your first trip back. You will get a feel of the enemy team's intentions. Will their AD carry always try to pick a fight with you? Do they only have 1 or 2 divers that will go after you in a team fight and you have a fighting support like Taric or Lulu? or both teams are not organized enough for ONE big fight.

/
This is the bible of a build for all AD carries back in Season 1 and Half of Season 2 (until the holy AD trinity took over, Ezreal Corki Graves). This Item pair offers the MOST damage output for an AD carry in a team fight. The only draw back with this item is that you will want to invest in a Bloodthirster as item 3 before you can go off into defense, and in most cases, that's very hard to do without giving an edge to the enemy team while Bloodthirster is under construction.

/
WTFBBQ IS THIS?!?!?!?!?
With the new changes to Blade of the Ruined King in the up coming patch, this item with Zephyr will punch out a whole lot of pain. Both item will benefit your Silver Bolts and Blade of the Ruined King passive. Tenacity goes a long way on a AD carry the movement speed is nice as well. Only problem with this itemization is that there is no AD in this build. You will only get 45 bonus AD from items which can be a draw back if the enemy team has mostly squishy targets. I would really only recommend this to a tank focus team i.e. Singed Cho'Gath Dr. Mundo. With this Itemization, it is expected to level Silver Bolts before Tumble.

Defensive Items:

/ /

Warmog's Armor. what can i say? It's League of Warmogs, haven't you heard?

Frozen Mallet This item is just a beauty on Vayne. Defensively, it gives you only 250 hp less than a Warmog's Armor but the 30% slow on auto attacks just makes Vayne that much more potent in a team fight. Vayne specializes in single target take downs, you cannot out damage a Vayne 1v1 and between her Night Hunter and this, you are not going anywhere either.

Guardian Angel, this item got hit, pretty hard. As well, with all the new Armor and Magic penetration, this is just a icon to make you look fancy. I mean pretty veil around you is just awesome... right? However, despite the nerfs, the revive functionality is still just as amazing. Think of Guardian Angel as a Zhonya's Hourglass for AD carries, while you are reviving, no one can target or kill you. By the time you do revive, if your team is still going strong, you should only have 1 or 2 targets around you. If your support haven't left you by then, it's really easy for Vayne to dish out killing blows to the few targets on you. remember, Vayne shines when fighting small skirmishes, and this item makes it so that you get that chance.

Closing Items:
, if you haven't picked this up already, get it if you are against squishy teams and has a pretty strong peel team for yourself.

if you haven't..etc etc, get this if you want to sustain in a fight, life steal OP, don't worry about it. Also saves you from blue pill-ing if you happen to get dropped to 50% hp before a fight.

/ / , you really only need one of these items ever, but if you are feeling for more attack speed, pick up another one. Make sure it's a different one than what you have, it's not worth it to buy 2 of the same item. Their individual passives and stats are much better than to stack Phantom Dancer.

Get this if you are really having trouble against HP tanks. OR if you need for a fast peeling item. The active is nice with the Movement speed transfer and emergency heal. Despite what riot says, don't use it as an execute, it's not worth to exclusively save it to the end, you are a ranged champion after all, just shoot the guy.

This is a great item to get on vayne, clears any debuffs, and a Movement speed for 1 second, should be a must build... right? Well yes and no. Yes, I can't deny that this is just a wonderful item to have as any AD Carry, but like any other AD carry, I wouldn't build it every game. There are so many more items that are better offensively suited, but if you are against a Warwick Malzahar Trundle Mordekaiser or other champions of the like, then get it. Especially against Mordekaiser, do your team a favor, they don't want a fed ghost of you shooting them.

I never seem to really need this item since Silver Bolts deal % true damage. But if you think they are just building WAY too much armor and your bruisers refuse to get Black Cleaver buy this for yourself.

I've seen some vaynes get it, I personally wouldn't. The item gives you 45% attack speed and loses it while on a 60 sec cooldown. Vayne doesn't need the 3 hit burst but if you really must build it or feed, then get it.

Passive: Vayne gains 30 movement speed when moving towards a visible enemy champion.

This passive is what makes Vayne clean up crew, and it is pretty straight forward. you chase enemy, you move faster. contrary to popular belief, you do not need to click on an enemy champion to get this buff, clicking ont he ground in their general direction is good enough.


Active: Vayne quickly rolls toward the cursor's location. For 6 seconds, Vayne's next basic attack's damage is increased by a percentage. This enhanced attack does not trigger against structures.
Range: 250
Cooldown: 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2
Cost: 40 mana
Damage increase: 30% / 35% / 40% / 45% / 50%

SO MUCH UTILITY!!!!! THIS, my friends, is what makes Vayne such a strong duelist and a strong laner. your success with Vayne directly relates to how well you know this spell. this spell is an auto attack reset after tumble animation. you can use this to get that farm that is *this* close to getting killed my your minions, or get that boosted dmg to last hit under turret. however if possible, use this spell to poke at enemy champions as well. try to time your tumble right after the enemy AD carry uses his/her auto attack. the AA reset will cause you to harass on command, and the enemy AD carry will still have theirs on a 1 second cooldown for you to get in get out without a scratch. Tumble after Final Hour will render you invisible for 1 seconds. you can use this to break vision, to juke in and our of brushes, to launch a sneak attack from a distance away with your Night Hunter. you can use this spell as a reaction dodge to most skill shots, if you time it right, and are paying attention, Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab should almost never hit you. HA take that OP support! NOTE! i kid you guys not, if you ever get caught in a Jarvan IV' Cataclysm, walk till you touch the ring of the ultimate and you can tumble straight out.


Passive: Consecutive attacks and abilities mark Vayne's target with silver rings. The third consecutive attack or spell against the same target will consume the rings, dealing true damage (capped at 200 against minions and monsters). The rings are removed if Vayne attacks a different target or doesn't attack for 3 seconds.
True damage: 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 (+ 4% / 5% / 6% / 7% / 8% target's maximum health)

This is the reason why vayne is dubbed the "late game queen" once you hit level 13, your dps explodes. this isn't like Kog'Maw's Bio-Arcane Barrage where it is magic damage, NO! This it mother F'ing TRUE damage. You mad 500 armor Malphite?


Active: Vayne fires a projectile at target unit, dealing physical damage and knocking the target back 470 units. If the target is knocked into a wall, the target takes the same damage again and is stunned for 1.5 seconds. Condemn also applies Silver Bolts once.
Range: 450
Cooldown: 20 / 18 / 16 / 14 / 12
Cost: 90 mana
Physical damage: 45 / 80 / 115 / 150 / 185 (+ 50% bonus AD)

This spell give vayne an amazing dueling potential. the 1.5 second stun, if you pull it off, will change the tide of any skirmish. it is very tricky to know how to condemn properly when starting out vayne, however the learning curve for this spell isn't large. Just keep an eye out for exposed opponents. there is a neat trick with condemn where if you AA > tumble > condemn > then AA due to condemn, you can pull of a quick 3 proc Silver Bolts for about 130 mana. *i will try to post a video of this at a later date* remember, condemn will count for any impassable wall on a map weather it be turrets inhibitors or nexus (if you get that far). however, this will not work with Jarvan IV's Cataclysm for some reasons. Anivia's Crystallize and Trundle's Pillar of Filth are glitch most of the time, so don't rely on them either.


Active: Vayne temporarily gains attack damage and enhances her other abilities. While Final Hour is active, Night Hunter's movement speed increase is tripled, and using Tumble stealths Vayne for 1 second.
Cooldown: 70
Cost: 80 mana
Duration: 8 / 10 / 12
Bonus attack damage: 25 / 40 / 55

This steroid is so good, it should be illegal. pop this when you are engaging in any fight. it is on a short enough cool down for it to be up again next fight. the damage bonus and the extra effect on tumble and her passive makes securing a kill simply easy. This is only of those ultimates that you should use to save your butt with no hesitation unlike Unstoppable Force or Onslaught of Shadows. quite honestly, Vayne doesn't NEED this to win a fight but of course, its nice to have.

Summoner spells: 2 of these 3 are the most idea for summoners.

: CLEANSE
Removes all disables and summoner spell debuffs affecting your champion and lowers the duration of incoming disables by 65% for 3 seconds.

MUST MUST MUST! have this on vayne (according to this guide). this spell will remove exhaust, making their attempt at slowing your dps down useless, it will remove ignite to save you from dying from its DOT. you can cleanse any stun, slow, snare, bind, blind, taunt, and silence. only CC it wont work on is suppress. vayne should not be stopped to do damage nor do you want to stop melting faces..... right? ^^;;


: FLASH
Teleports your Champion to target nearby location under your mouse cursor.

this item is just a great utility on vayne. you can use it to flash into position to land condemn. flash across wall to escape a gank. use to reposition in a fight. you can use this to get out of Jarvan IV's Cataclysm but your tumble can do the same job.

: GHOST
Your champion passes through any unit and moves 27% faster for 10 seconds.

this spell is great for a top lane vayne build or if the enemy team have no aoe or single target lock down spells. this will basically let you kite for the full duration which can lead to a huge increase in damage otherwise wasted on running. this summoner spell is very situational.


OTHER SUMMONER SPELLS THAT ARE KINDA-VIABLE



: HEAL
Restores 75 + (lvl x 15) Health to your champion and 100% of that to nearby allies. All targets healed will have a 50% reduction in heal amount from other summoner heal spells for 35 secs

This spell is great if you want to surprise your opponent with an extra 200 HP in a fight. It will Make you last longer, but when you are getting CC'ed down late game, 300 hp won't hold for long. let your support pick up this skill if it is a must.

: IGNITE
Targets a single champion dealing 50 + (lvl x 20) true damage over 5 seconds. Also reduces the target’s healing and regeneration by 50%

this spell is used to reduce emeny healing and used in a last ditch effort to kill an enemy. this spell is practically useless unless the enemy team have Soraka Swain Dr. Mundo Fiddlesticks AND AP Master Yi, it's not worth for you to grab it.

: EXHAUST
Exhausts target enemy champion, reducing their movement speed and damage dealt by 30% for 2.5 seconds and reducing their attack speed by 50% for the duration.

This is a great spell for 1v1 dueling. ONLY take it if your support refuses to.


: BARRIER
Shields your champion for 95 + (25 × level) for 2 seconds.

Basically a heal but more instantaneous and more effective health. If you had to pick between Heal and this, I would pick this.

DON'T CONSIDER!!
: REVIVE
Instantly revives your champion at your team's Summoner Platform and grants 125% movement speed increase which decays over 12 seconds.

just no.... a good AD carry shouldn't die.

: CLAIRVOYANCE
Reveals an area of the map for 5 seconds.

support spell, has no place on an AD Carry

: CLARITY
Restores 40% your champion's maximum mana. Also restores allies for 40% of their maximum mana.

You shouldn't have a mana problem in lane. with vayne, when you run out of mana, usually it is a good indication to go back and buy.

: SMITE
Deals 460 + (lvl x 30) true damage to target enemy minion or pet.

who do you think you are? Jungle Vayne? hmmmmmm might work.... I'll work on a build for y'all ;)

Skill order:


this is the most optimal vayne leveling route, if you are comfortable with her. it optimized the tumble damage and cooldown for you to use more effectively in harassing and in a small fight. however you do lose out in damage in a dragged out engagement.

With this leveling route, you may want to consider B.F. sword before finishing your attack speed item due to tumble's AD scaling.


This is if you are not very comfortable with vayne's Tumble just yet or you know that this will be a farm lane. Silver Bolts will serve much better in these cases. the power in this lies in that you and your support will never initiate a fight in lane, and the only fights you allow the other team to pick are all in's. silver bolts will easily out dps a vayne who levels tumble first, but it is the fact that you need time to land 3 AA's that hinders its damage out put.

With this skilling order, finish your first attack speed item ASAP! if you don't have for a Zeal, 2x Dagger is a good item to get.

Vayne, in the low elo community, is regarded as a very weak early game champion, and will only start to do damage when the game hits 35 minutes. This is a good generalization of all the games Vayne appears in how ever, this does not by all means make her weak in early game. considering vayne is the only AD Carry with an auto attack reset, on a fairly low cooldown, this gives her more lane pressure than most people can care for. many champions do not have the luxury to keep up an "on-call" damage spell. and because of this, you will out sustain most lane opponents mana wise.

Vayne has a decent 550 Range, with a tumble, you can reach a Caitlyn and trade 1 auto for 1 auto without having to give her the first shot on you while you are walking to get in range. As vayne, you want to take advantage of the low attack speed everyone start out with. until a champion reaches 1.000AS, there is about 1.4 seconds between each auto attack. With a tumble immediately after the enemy's ADC AA, you can get in, shoot, and get out before their AA comes off cooldown. the only way for them to retaliate is to commit or trade with a spell of their own. if they commit, that's where cleanse and silver bolts come in. if they trade with spell, just potion up and harass again, eventually they will run out of mana. The tumble reset should not cause you to miss creep, even if both of you attack at the same time to farm, you will still have enough time to tumbe AA and get out.

Vayne has one SINGLE GOAL for any game. Get 1 attack speed and 1 Damage item may it be Bloodthirster and Statikk Shiv, Phantom Dancer and Infinity Edge or Zephyr and Blade of the Ruined King, you just need any pair to have you go from that AD Carry to OH SH*T IT'S THAT AD CARRY! vayne's damage just EXPLODE after 2 major buys, so you need to farm, KS kills, Take All the jungle if you have to, just get there and your team will breath easy in your pick of our Late Game Queen.

once you finish your 2 major buys and are ahead of their ADC, i suggest taking this time to start on your Frozen Mallet. this item will make you from glass cannon to steel Hand grenades of awesome death and stuff. I usually keep building mallet until their AD Carry catch up to your 2 Item bench mark. when they reach that point, even if you have only a Phage, start on Damage item number 2 Infinity Edge or Bloodthirster if you haven't already.

once you make it to Infinity Edge Bloodthirster Statikk Shiv or Phantom Dancer and Frozen Mallet, this is where you want to start hugging your peelers and help the team as much as you can. take red buff when it is available. what ever you do, you CANNOT get caught. if that means running into the team fight even your team is half dead, so be it, just make sure you survive as long as you can while doing damage. with Frozen Mallet, it should be impossible for an enemy to catch out without a gap closer. kite around and just try to do damage. it is not always critical to aim for the priority targets. if you must, it is perfectly fine to take on the bruisers. your Silver Bolts do true damage to targets. regardless armor, you will still chunk targets. stay alive and you will do more for the team.

hope this will shed some light on this mystery of a Late Game Hyper Carry since her release. i will definitely add more content to explain the concept of "orb walking" or "stutter stepping" for y'all starcrafters, as well as some plays vayne can make with her kit. the invisibility condemn is definitely by favorite move to pull on unsuspecting enemies. stay tuned and thanks for reading this incredibly long guide.

-CyanCryst-