Hello!

I am DoublePenguin, a Silver player on NA server and I have began writing this guide to show others how I like to play Vayne. I began playing League of Legends in 2012 and I find that Marksman is becoming my favorite role to play. Vayne is one of my favorite marksman. While not the best of players, I tend to try a lot of different builds and I know am slowly getting better over time. Right now, I find I am having the most success using this build for Vayne and thus I'd like to share it with everyone else. :)

I tend to have a very aggressive play style with Vayne with low sustain. Because of this I take slightly different items than what most players would recommend, however I by no means saying this method is better. You most definitely are able to carry using this way so I hope that you are willing to try it out and hopefully like it and upvote my guide! :)

Like I have mentioned previously however, I am low ELO and I am very open to any comments or suggestions in order to improve anything in this guide. If you feel something could be done better or is possibly wrong please explain how and I will try it out and / or fix it.

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Here's some benefits and consequences to playing Vayne using the way I play:

Pros

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Cons

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The runes I use are to help survive early game a little easier. I've noticed most high ELO players tend to run lifesteal quints however I shift away from this for more tankier runes because most of the time in order to carry a team full of players having a hard time you need to take risks and get fed early and if you're uber squishy relying on sustain it is a lot more difficult to accomplish.

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Seal of Health x9 -

More health = more likely to survive all-in encounter early.
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Glyph of Magic Resist x9 -

Most supports damage comes from magic damage so these are a big help. They could also make the difference between surviving a AP mid-lane gank that you didn't see coming or dying from it.
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Mark of Attack Damage x9
Quintessence of Attack Damage x1 -

These will help you with last hitting as well as dealing damage to the enemy laners.
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Quintessence of Armor x2 -

This will give you a little armor to help take less damage from the enemy Marksman's and Supports poke.

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In my Masteries I take as much damage as I can along with a little bit of the defensive tree to go with our health, armor, and magic resist runes. Most of the masteries are a little self explanatory but I'll explain them anyways. :)
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Offense:

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Defense:

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I tend to use Ignite for securing kills and for those pesky Volibears who end up in the bottom lane but you can also use Heal if that's what you feel more comfortable with. I DO NOT recommend taking Ghost over Flash simply because using my build you are already going to be fast.. very fast. Ghost cannot cross walls like Flash which is also another reason why I feel it's not a good choice. Another option would be to take both Ghost and Flash.

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Generally you will want to max R ~> Q ~> W ~> E.

And you will combo by using Final Hour ~> Tumble (For invisible) ~> Condemn (Against some terrain to stun).
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Why max Q over W?

The reason for this is because with this build you're looking to do burst type damage from Sheen and Trinity Force more than sustained trade damage. Normally you would max Silver Bolts first however since we don't gain any bonus attack speed while Sword of the Divine is on cool down this will make maxing Silver Bolts less effective. Therefore we max Tumble first for the extra damage from Sheen and then later Trinity Force once we have it.

However, I do prefer to take a second point into W Silver Bolts at level 5 because around that time I usually will go back for my Berserker's Greaves and Recurve Bow which gives a little easier time trading with the enemy laner and sets you up to be able to burst down them down with your Final Hour once you have enough to finish your Sword of the Divine.

At full build you will combo someone using:

1.) Sword of the Divine
2.) Final Hour
3.) Tumble
4.) Condemn
5.) Auto Attack x3
6.) Blade of the Ruined King
7.) Tumble
8.) Auto Attack

When you have your Last Whisper and Trinity Force you will just about instantly burst anyone no matter how tanky they are.

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Starting Items:

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Now on to the explanation for items. You will want to start every game using:

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This generally is the best start, we already gain health and attack damage from both runes and masteries so starting with Doran's Blade will add more to that as well as give us a small amount of sustain through the 3% Lifesteal and Health Potion to help heal some of the poke you will take during lane.

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Early Game

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The first time you come back to shop you should be sitting anywhere from 400 to 1700 gold, depending of course on how well you farm and how well your lane is going. If you're forced to go back very early or die and have 400 - 500 gold I recommend you pick up Boots and some Health Potion then farm as much as you can. Berserker's Greaves should be the first major item you buy because you are need the movement speed for both poking and escaping potentially bad situations. Getting this item first will also give you a little more attacking speed for proc'ing W. After you have your boots the next item you want to pick up is a Recurve Bow.

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Middle Game:

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After you have picked up Recurve Bow upgrade it into Sword of the Divine as soon as you possibly can. You should be able to have both Berserker's Greaves and Sword of the Divine now. The next item you buy depends on whether you are ahead or behind the enemy laner in terms of kills and farm, as well as how likely you are to survive a gank from the enemy jungle. Generally the next item you purchase should be a Phage, this will give you more damage, health, and move speed. Thus more survivability. However if you feel like you are far ahead or need the extra damage buy a Sheen. No matter which order you get them, make sure you pick both of them up after you have your Sword of the Divine.

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Late Game:

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-> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->
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Closing in on the late game, you definitely do not want to fall off. Players are starting to get tankier and the damage still needs to be there. Purchase Trinity Force as soon as you can and grab a Pickaxe and upgrade it into a Last Whisper when you have the gold. You now have all of your core items.

If you still are unable to finish the game after 30 - 40 minutes then it might be time to start looking into the situational items to find what you need to survive, or if you aren't having many issues with staying alive finish off your build using Blade of the Ruined King and Zephyr. With these two items you will be sitting at almost 2.5 attacks per second. You also gain another escape tool and a lot more movement speed.

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Situational Items

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• If you are having trouble surviving end game I would look to buy a Guardian Angel as soon as you can afford it.
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• If you feel like you aren't clearing waves fast enough buy Statikk Shiv in place your your Blade of the Ruined King. You can purchase this either early or late. This item does well against some lane opponents such as Jinx and Lucian since they both out-range you and push waves much more quickly than you do.
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• If you strongly believe you will be unable to burst down enemy champions due to them having too much crowd control or simply being too far ahead and tanky then I highly advise to build Infinity Edge in place of your Sword of the Divine. At times it might be better to sell off your Sword of the Divine early and cut your losses to work towards an Infinity Edge when you're unable to get fed using your Sword of the Divine.
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• If another AD based champion on your team is doing well or possibly better than you, it might work better to build Black Cleaver in place of your Last Whisper since it will reduce the armor of anyone you attack for everyone.
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• If at any point in time you feel the need for lifesteal build Bloodthirster in place of your Blade of the Ruined King. Once again, you don't necessarily need to wait until late game for this.
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• I do not recommend Phantom Dancer for my build, however you can build this in place of your Trinity Force if you would rather go for a cheaper item.

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If you are between Bronze and Gold, you can generally pick Vayne into any bottom lane match up. In my experience the game play in low ELO's is 80% skill, 15% farming, and 5% counter. As long as you understand the abilities and range of the champions in the enemy lane you should be able to outplay them. In Platinum, Diamond, and Challenger I am sure it is likely not an intelligent move to counter pick yourself but when you are a lower player such as myself I find this to be less relevant. As long as you can play your champion better than they can play theirs, you will most likely carry and win.

Works well with:

Supports:

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Braum's passive, slow, and ultimate make him a great lane partner.

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Lulu is able to help shield damage, speed you up, and give you surprise knockup if used with your stealth ult.

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Sona gives great sustain with heals, speed boost like Lulu, and an AoE stun to help set up fights.

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Thresh's range can help zone for you against some of the higher range marksman like Caitlyn and Tristana allowing you to farm more efficiently. He also provides a little crowd control as well so you can engage when necessary.

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Kill Lane:

At higher levels of play, players tend to be so good at farming that it would be VERY inefficient to attempt kill lanes. At lower levels of play however, most players are not good at farming and will miss enough farm to make a kill lane not such a bad choice at times. If you have trust issues, then don't support. Just make sure you are making good choices as to who you lane with because it could spell disaster.

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Caitlyn's poke range will keep any opposing laners from getting too aggressive early. Traps in the bushes will help set up easy kills when combined with Vayne's Condemn.

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Draven + Vayne bottom lane works quite well. Draven's slow will make it easy to move forward with Tumble and stun enemies into walls with Condemn.

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I don't usually screen shot my matches, so I do not really have many examples to give however I'll post more as I play more games and if you'd like to give some examples I'd be happy to post them as well! :)
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That's all for now! If you try my build and enjoy it please be sure to upvote my guide. If you have any comments or would like to point something out feel free to leave it in the discussions and I will respond. c:

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