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Recommended Items
Spells:
Ignite
Flash
Items
Ability Order
Draw a Bead (PASSIVE)
Tristana Passive Ability
Introduction
Anyway... this time I'll try to keep it brief. Just don't let the seemingly low AD total confuse you. Maximized attack speed is great for on-hit items like BotRK and the Black Cleaver.
PROS
Long-range DPS -- (703 attack range at level 18.)
Seven on-Hit effects (w/ Red Buff) x 3 (Runaan's Hurricane)
Maxed-out AS with this build -- (Able to apply more on-hit effects per second than any other champion.)*
She absolutely SHREDS tanks with this build -- (BotRK + BC = GG.)
She pushes incomparably with this build -- (Items + Explosive Shot.)
Her Rocket Jump makes her highly mobile -- (CDR provided by SotEL & BC.)
She's strong throughout the game with this build.
After Runaan's Hurricane she can apply up to 6 on-hit effects to 3 targets with one AA.
She's beefier than the typical ADC (Frozen Mallet and Black Cleaver provide 900 HP.)
She can self-peel with Buster Shot or BotRK's active.
She's cute as a button and as fierce as an AK-47.
CONS
Vulnerable to hard CC.
She seems to have a thing for Teemo.
Her attack range at level 18 is only 703.
This build was conceived by a no-name scrub.
This build isn't like all the others.
There are a limited number of pretty pictures in this guide.
Long-range DPS -- (703 attack range at level 18.)
Seven on-Hit effects (w/ Red Buff) x 3 (Runaan's Hurricane)
Maxed-out AS with this build -- (Able to apply more on-hit effects per second than any other champion.)*
She absolutely SHREDS tanks with this build -- (BotRK + BC = GG.)
She pushes incomparably with this build -- (Items + Explosive Shot.)
Her Rocket Jump makes her highly mobile -- (CDR provided by SotEL & BC.)
She's strong throughout the game with this build.
After Runaan's Hurricane she can apply up to 6 on-hit effects to 3 targets with one AA.
She's beefier than the typical ADC (Frozen Mallet and Black Cleaver provide 900 HP.)
She can self-peel with Buster Shot or BotRK's active.
She's cute as a button and as fierce as an AK-47.
CONS
Vulnerable to hard CC.
She seems to have a thing for Teemo.
Her attack range at level 18 is only 703.
This build was conceived by a no-name scrub.
This build isn't like all the others.
There are a limited number of pretty pictures in this guide.





Overall her abilities provide a lot of great utility. But the centerpiece of her skill set is the attack speed buff from Rapid Fire which really allows her to put the hurt on the opposing team. It should also be pointed out that this build provides only 24% CDR -- so her cooldown can still be lowered by the blue buff.
The items I'm about to discuss all work very well with each other and with Tristana's Q
Rapid Fire. As I've mentioned before... this is primarily an on-hit AS build but I think you'll find that it provides a decent amount of raw AD as well. I have not seen any other guide which recommend more than half of these items as part of Tristana's basic ideal build. But I truly believe I'm on to something here and I hope you'll consider my reasoning while also considering the way these items work so perfectly together. I was going to list as a "con" the relative lack of flexibility in regard to what items should be purchased on Tristana, but I really don't think that's a weakness. I believe these items are strong against almost any team comp. And if enough of you are kind enough to upvote this guide I have little doubt that this could end up being the standard Tristana build -- viable in even the highest levels of play. The main potential divergence from this build consists in the final defensive item. And I will address that in due order.
----
Starting Items
Boots 3x
Health Potion and a
Mana Potion
The boots are a good idea to start with because Tristana has fairly low MS. The potions are plainly just to keep her sustained in lane for as long as possible so that she can keep last hitting. If you're laning with a support who has powerful heals, like
Sona or
Soraka, the you can start with a
Doran's Blade if you so desire. But I generally recommend starting with the boots.
First Back
Vampiric Scepter and consumables as needed. Sustain is the name of the game in the early part of most matches. While it's nice to get a bunch of kills early on... that just not always possible for any number of reasons. So, at the very least, you should try to stay in lane as long as you can -- and as close to top health as possible. Grab a
Health Potion if you are getting zoned (as unlikely as that might be) and get a
Mana Potion if you have trouble managing your mana. And, if you can, get a sight ward every now and then. If you didn't start with boots of speed you should probably get them on your first back if you can afford it.
Early Core Items
After you get your Vampiric Scepter on your first trip back to the base you'll want to get your upgraded boots. As with most ADCs,
Berserker's Greaves are the standard -- Tristana is no different in this regard. They will help her overall DPS (working toward maxed AS when the build is complete) and will help compensate for here relatively slow movement speed.
Next you'll want to get your
Spirit of the Elder Lizard. This is a cost efficient item even without the passives and it provides some great stats for Tristana. (+35 Attack Damage +14 Health Regen per 5 seconds +7 Mana Regen per 5 seconds +10% cooldown reduction. UNIQUE Passive - Butcher: Damage dealt to monsters increased by 30%. UNIQUE Passive - Basic attacks and spells that do not inflict damage-over-time deal 6-40 (Based on Level) bonus true damage over 3 seconds on hit.) As with blue Ezrael, "Butcher" is largely wasted on her but I believe she wields this item even more effectively. The "Incinerate" passive, while seemingly inconsequential, will be applied constantly and to three different targets after you've build Runaan's Hurricane. Even before that though... SotEL will allow you to start pushing hard as soon as you purchase it.
Next I like to get a
Phage. The extra health ir provides is more meaningful earlier in the game before your opponents are capable of doing "tons of damage." The 20 AD is ok for the price and the passive Icy will proc evermore frequently as you level up
Rapid Fire and add AS items. In most instances I recommend upgrading this to a Frozen Mallet as your final item.
The Brutalizer adds +25 AD, +10 Armor Pen, and provides 10% cooldown. It's a nice item for the early/mid stages of a game and you will eventually make your Black Cleaver with this item.
Final Items
Blade of the Ruined King is a very powerful item which works best on champions with high attack speed. Tristana will have maximum AS before this build is completed. Although this item works great on health stacking tanks, it does a pretty good job of ripping through squishy champions too -- especially with your other items. This builds out of your Vampiric Scepter and provides Tristana with all the sustain she'll need. BotRK's active is a mini-nuke which not only deals 15% of the targets maximum health as damage, but it also steals 30% of their movement speed and gives it to Tristana for 4 seconds. The passive on-hit effect of this item deals 5% of the targets current health. It also provides: +25 Attack Damage +40% Attack Speed +15% Life Steal. It's nice. And it''ll be nicer when it's hitting 3 targets at once after you get Runaan's Hurricane.
Black Cleaver is another tank shredding item which also does excellent damage to squishy targets. The stats it provides to Tristana are fantastic: +200 Health +50 Attack Damage +10% Cooldown Reduction UNIQUE: +10 Armor Penetration Passive: Dealing physical damage to an enemy champion reduces their Armor by 6.25% for 4 seconds. This effect stacks up to 4 times. When her AS is maxed out she can apply all four stacks of the passive in about 1.5 seconds! And since she'll have Runaan's Hurricane, she'll can apply those debuffs to 3 opponents at a time. Ouch.
Runaan's Hurricane provides +70% attack speed and pushes Tristana's attack speed to the limit when her Q is activated. But it's the passive which makes this item so incredibly powerful in this build: UNIQUE Passive: Your basic attacks fire minor bolts at 2 nearby targets, each dealing 10 + 50% of your Attack Damage. These apply on-hit effects. OMG, there is "rocket in my pocket." That's right... this item makes it so that all your procs, from all your items (and the passive from Explosive Shot) can proc on 3 targets simultaneously! 3x the passive from BotRK, 3x the debuff from Black Cleaver, 3x the "Icy" effect from Phage/Frozen Mallet, 3x the Red Buff effect (whenever she has it), and 3 times the chance to proc Explosive Shot. This is on top of doing 50% of your total AD to two extra targets! And every other item besides your boots are providing a decent amount of AD! When you get this item... waves of enemy minions simply disappear in front of you. And in team fights your DPS and utility is inevitably effecting the whole of the enemy team. AND AND AND... because your cooldown on Rocket Jumps resets for every assist you earn... any stray bolt from Runaan's that hits an enemy which gets killed will reset your ability. And this, subsequently, is a PentaKill in the making.
Frozen Mallet is the final item in the standard build I'm presenting here. But, really, most games will be over by the time you complete this item. Did I tell you what Runaan's Hrricane does for Tristana? Anyway... Frozen Mallet builds out of
Phage and makes the "Icy" proc 100% of the time. It also adds a total of 700 HP. This item makes Tristana beefier, adds to AD, and with the help of Runaan's potentially perma-slows 3 enemy champions at a time. This is my preferred final item.
Alternatively, if you are being focused hard and have plenty of other slows on your team... you might choose instead to sell your phage and equip Tristana with a
Guardian Angel. This item can dramatically improve your survivability. After she revives from its passive she can then decide whether to keep applying more DPS or to instead Rocket Jump to safety. I should add that when the GA's passive is on its 5 minute cooldown you might consider selling it to buy the Frozen Mallet after all. That's most likely a good idea if you can afford it at the time. Then, when the 5 minutes have passed, you can buy another Guardian Angel.
At some point Tristana should also upgrade her
Berserker's Greaves with the Encantment: Furor. It's also reasonable after the complete build to sell Berserker's Greaves and instead get more defensive boots. She won't really miss the +25% AS at that time and defensive stats might be more useful at this point.
Regarding Tristana's On-Hit Capabilities*
In the "Pros" section I made the claim that Tristana is "Able to apply more on-hit effects than any other champion." I stand by this claim and believe it to be true. Even if another champion built exactly the same way as this, Tristana would still have the proc from Explosive Shot. And even if another champion also had an on-hit ability she'd still be able to achieve a higher attack speed because of her q. So let me be specific... it is my contention that Tristana at level 18, with the full build presented here (including Runaan's Hurricane) is able to apply more on-hit effects over a 3 second period than any other champion in the game. I challenge anyone to prove me wrong on this point. The on-hit effects granted by this build come for BotRK, Black Cleaver, Frozen Mallet, SotEL, Furor Enchantment, Explosive Shot, and the Red Buff she has it. x3 with Runaan's Hurricane.

----
Starting Items



The boots are a good idea to start with because Tristana has fairly low MS. The potions are plainly just to keep her sustained in lane for as long as possible so that she can keep last hitting. If you're laning with a support who has powerful heals, like



First Back



Early Core Items
After you get your Vampiric Scepter on your first trip back to the base you'll want to get your upgraded boots. As with most ADCs,

Next you'll want to get your

Next I like to get a



Final Items





Alternatively, if you are being focused hard and have plenty of other slows on your team... you might choose instead to sell your phage and equip Tristana with a

At some point Tristana should also upgrade her

Regarding Tristana's On-Hit Capabilities*
In the "Pros" section I made the claim that Tristana is "Able to apply more on-hit effects than any other champion." I stand by this claim and believe it to be true. Even if another champion built exactly the same way as this, Tristana would still have the proc from Explosive Shot. And even if another champion also had an on-hit ability she'd still be able to achieve a higher attack speed because of her q. So let me be specific... it is my contention that Tristana at level 18, with the full build presented here (including Runaan's Hurricane) is able to apply more on-hit effects over a 3 second period than any other champion in the game. I challenge anyone to prove me wrong on this point. The on-hit effects granted by this build come for BotRK, Black Cleaver, Frozen Mallet, SotEL, Furor Enchantment, Explosive Shot, and the Red Buff she has it. x3 with Runaan's Hurricane.
I hope this edited down version will be more acceptable to people now. And I hope people actually read the guide before commenting this time.
I want to reiterate that Tristana (if you count Furor & Explosive Shot) can cause 7 on-hit effects to proc at once. And with Runaan's Hurricane all those procs can be applied to 3 targets at a time. And with the maximized attack speed from the build (within a few percent of the limit) those procs will be applied multiple times very quickly. Runaan's is not a "bad item" it's just not something which should usually be built along side critical strike damage. But it's perfect for on-hit champions like Tristana.
I'd be more than happy to respond to any criticism or questions about this build/guide. But I do request that you give me a chance to respond to your comments before you cast a down vote. I'm open to criticism and corrections, but I think a lot of people just don't realize the true power of an on-hit AS build.
I want to reiterate that Tristana (if you count Furor & Explosive Shot) can cause 7 on-hit effects to proc at once. And with Runaan's Hurricane all those procs can be applied to 3 targets at a time. And with the maximized attack speed from the build (within a few percent of the limit) those procs will be applied multiple times very quickly. Runaan's is not a "bad item" it's just not something which should usually be built along side critical strike damage. But it's perfect for on-hit champions like Tristana.
I'd be more than happy to respond to any criticism or questions about this build/guide. But I do request that you give me a chance to respond to your comments before you cast a down vote. I'm open to criticism and corrections, but I think a lot of people just don't realize the true power of an on-hit AS build.
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