(*support the artist of the picture used above: Hillekyo https://www.deviantart.com/hillekyo)

Hello everyone, I'm Drewmatth, a Taliyah OTP with over a million mastery points that reached Master Tier on EUNE two seasons ago and I am currently playing on EUW. Some other credentials: I have been numerous times no 1 Taliyah EUW on sites like Lolskill and as of 27.08.2019 I'm listed on OP.GG as the second most experienced Taliyah player on EUW (judged by LP and number of games). I am also the writer of the no 1 Lolking guide for Taliyah with over a million views, but sadly Lolking got deleted :(. For that guide I wrote over 30 pages and I am doing for the past 2 years numerous tutorials and guides on Youtube for ALL Taliyah players alike.

If you want to chat with me you can either leave a comment here below, on Youtube, on reddit.com/r/taliyahmains or add me in game. I fully dedicate to answer every question EVERY time. I doubt there was ever a time in the past years where I ignored someone that wanted to learn Taliyah. I also have a Taliyah Mains alike discord where you can chat with me privately: https://discord.gg/GrhM2qK .

For this guide I estimated that I wrote at least 30 pages again and you can expect, after going through it, to have a comprehensive understanding of Taliyah in general and in particular, in micro and macro cases. You will understand how to fight early on, how to roam properly, how to do teamfights and much more. Besides that I will provide tips on how to practice in the PRACTICE TOOL and I will give you numerous video links with examples for teamfights, for roaming and for other stuff. Remember, we cannot learn anything just by theory. Practice makes it perfect. You'll have to practice a lot if you really want to improve and get the sweet LP, but that's why I'm here.

I create weekly Taliyah tutorials, guides and high-elo full games reviews/gameplay on Youtube. If you're interested in more tutorials and guides leave a subscribe below to be notified of future videos.




Play Video


This clip sums up pretty much a lot of the stuff that you need to know for ALL lanes for Season 11 in under 10 minutes.





By writing this, I take a promise to update this guide as often as time allows. League of Legends is a constantly evolving game and I will try to do my best to keep up with it. I'm not sure if I will be completely able to update all matchups and synergies due to the sheer amount of work required but the tips given there are general and they usually work despite changes, unless the champion in cause gets reworked.


Thanks and let's start studying Taliyah !

FLASH + IGNITE: I use this in most matchups to actually be able to kill the target enemy midlaner on levels 3-5 before he actually gets his ult. Extremely useful on roams as well to finish the job. Pick it against annoying heals. Some examples of matchups where I may use it: Vel'koz, Ziggs, Yasuo, Karma, Vladimir, Ekko, etc.

FLASH + HEAL: More useful than Barrier, due to the synergy that it offers towards your Jungler. Moderately useful on roams. Some examples of matchups where I may use it: Katarina, Yasuo, Zoe, etc.

FLASH + BARRIER: I rarely use Barrier, useful for tricking the enemy on ganks/dives and pushing people under your tower with your W. Not useful at all on roams unless you fail the gank. This summoner spell combination is useful for large chunks of burst. Some examples of matchups where I may use it: Zoe, Katarina, Zed, Fizz, Talon, Malzahar etc.

FLASH + EXHAUST: I mostly pick Exhaust against Zed. Great ult nullifier and super useful in teamfights for hitting your combo. Extremely useful on roams. This summoner spell also allows you to easily set up your WEQ combo on ANY champion that has cooldown on their dash/blink/flash. Sometimes, if you use it properly on an ultimate, it can win you an entire teamfight by nullifying enough damage from them. Some examples of matchups where I may use it: Katarina, Zed, etc.

FLASH + CLEANSE: I sometimes pick Cleanse against the very best Zoe and Ahri players due to their heavy CC possiblities. This Summoner Spell works well against Sejuani/Rammus/Amumu and Ignite users such as Shaco (or any other midlaner that uses Ignite). However against Ahri if I feel I can beat her I just go ignite and try to outplay before she hits 6. Not useful on roams unless you get CC'd/Shoved away but usually the enemy does not have that much time to react if you ult properly. Some examples of matchups where I may use it: Zoe, Ahri, maybe Fizz etc.

*Thanks jhoijhoi for these amazing line separators!

Rune Page 1: You're so ElectroCUTE (Most efficient, all rounder)

PRIMARY:

Electrocute is the main rune that you will use due to the total damage potential that it can output. Your main way of proccing it is either Auto Attack -> Q -> Auto Attack or Auto Attack - E - Auto Attack. The second method implies that the enemy stays behind the minions. Obviously when doing your full combo (E + W + Q or W + E + Q) you will proc it regardless. Remember, in every trade that you do, you are interested in proccing Electrocute too, because if you don't you'll just generally lose the trade. If you cannot proc Electrocute in trades move to other rune choices that require no such setup such as the ones below. Auto Attack (AA) -> Small Q -> AA works as well.

Taste of Blood is a very reliant heal/sustain rune that can be easily procced by a simple auto-attack. Use it everytime you need some hp. This rune is better than the other two in the tree because of their reliance.

Eyeball Collection is the strongest rune in this tree because of the extra stats that it provides. The other runes are useful for vision but they are useful probably only at the highest of elos. If you are a Jungle main then the other two runes might seem more appealing but in our case let's stick to the basics.

Ravenous Hunter is an excellent healing tool for mid to late game. In some fights or after them you can re-heal to full hp if you find some targets to damage (or jungle camps, or minions). It is an invaluable tool for any Taliyah main.

SECONDARY:

This rune got changed so many times in the past, but with the latest changes this rune became sort of best in slot due to how much Taliyah is dependent on mana. Having mana increased on each take down is a huge advantage due to the severe mana problems Taliyah often has.

8% Increased damage towards lower hp targets. Extremely useful when doing a full combo on a target that's lower hp, most often ensuring the kill.

SECONDARY ALTERNATIVE (ASSASSIN MATCHUPS):

Biscuit Delivery, combined with Time Warp Tonic is a strong tool for dueling and winning 1vs1, 2vs2 in lanes or in jungle. It also provides the much-needed mana regeneration and HP sustain that we often lack.

Time Warp Tonic provides a lot of instant healing and can sometimes save you from a close ignite. Combine Time Warp Tonic with a Corrupting Potion or a Standard Healing Potion or a Biscuit and you'll survive much more ganks/1vs1 duels on lanes.

AND ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE (Roaming or MANAFLOW BAND for mana) + ABILITY HASTE):

Pretty insane rune to be honest post level 11 especially since we're struggling now to reach that early Ability Haste.

It's either this rune or Manaflow cause you will certainly might run into mana issues, but if you choose this... it's pretty good for roams all around (better than Scorh because that damage is so low and also better than Gathering Storm because Taliyah is an early game champ and you need all power here).

Rune Page 2: Prepare for a Dark Harvest (Constant Fighting)

PRIMARY:

Dark Harvest is the general rune for the ones who love to fight 24/7. You're main goal while using this rune is to be insanely aggressive either on 1vs1 duels on lane or on roams. If you feel that you have an early game comp this rune will help you transition into the mid game. Beware, in order to deal MORE general damage than Electrocute, you have to proc it at least 2 times for every major teamfight that you participate in. If you don't, in general, this rune is weaker than Electrocute.

[As above: copy-pasted'it for consistency, so you don't need to scroll]: Taste of Blood is a very reliant heal/sustain rune that can be easily procced by a simple auto-attack. Use it everytime you need some hp. This rune is better than the other two in the tree because of their reliance.

Eyeball Collection is the strongest rune in this tree because of the extra stats that it provides. The other runes are useful for vision but they are useful probably only at the highest of elos. If you are a Jungle main then the other two runes might seem more appealing but in our case let's stick to the basics.

Ravenous Hunter is an excellent healing tool for mid to late game. In some fights or after them you can re-heal to full hp if you find some targets to damage (or jungle camps, or minions). It is an invaluable tool for any Taliyah main.

SECONDARY:

Biscuit Delivery, combined with Time Warp Tonic is a strong tool for dueling and winning 1vs1, 2vs2 in lanes or in jungle. It also provides the much-needed mana regeneration and HP sustain that we often lack.

Time Warp Tonic provides a lot of instant healing and can sometimes save you from a close ignite. Combine Time Warp Tonic with a Corrupting Potion or a Standard Healing Potion or a Biscuit and you'll survive much more ganks/1vs1 duels on lanes.

Rune Page 3: Comets into space (POKE)

PRIMARY:

Arcane Comet is the rune choice you want to pick when you need to stay either far away from the enemy (such as a strong assassin) or when you want to match the poke of an enemy champion (such as artillery mages: Vel'Koz, Xerath, Ziggs). Beware when picking this rune: Everytime you do your W+E+Q combo your rune will miss because you displace the target with your W. In order to reach the full potential of this rune you have to always proc your rune with a Q or E before hitting your W! If you don't do that you will lose a lot of output damage. Also, remember: you have less damage for your full combo so you won't be able to one shot people as easily as with Dark Harvest or Electrocute.

Extremely useful rune since Taliyah lacks mana most of the time. Proc it as often as you can early in order to reach the mana cap. The other two choices are relatively meaningless in this tree.

Strong rune for getting that sweet CDR (*ABILITY HASTE*) and scaling. Post level 11 you should get some very useful basic abilities cooldown reduction.

Strong in combination with Arcane Comet and your long range spells. Very useful for poking from a distance. Another optional choice would be Gathering Storm, but I believe this rune is not that useful since Taliyah is focused on being an early game champion and so it needs to thrive there.

SECONDARY:

Biscuit Delivery, combined with Time Warp Tonic is a strong tool for dueling and winning 1vs1, 2vs2 in lanes or in jungle. It also provides the much-needed mana regeneration and HP sustain that we often lack.

Time Warp Tonic provides a lot of instant healing and can sometimes save you from a close ignite. Combine Time Warp Tonic with a Corrupting Potion or a Standard Healing Potion or a Biscuit and you'll survive much more ganks/1vs1 duels on lanes.

Rune Page 4: Full Glacial Comp (Slow your Foe)

PRIMARY:

Rarely useful for Taliyah since she is no Veigar or Ahri to make full use of it, but some people use it succesfully. What you want to do is to combine this rune with Everfrost(Currently EVERFROST is NOT an optimal item) and always hit your combo. Auto-attacks also help when you want to setup a gank or a full W+E+Q combo.

Strongest rune in the tree besides Glacial Augment. It's a free Stopwatch and I even take it sometimes in the Electrocute combination. It saves you from a Zed ult or a Fizz ult, or any nasty combo engage. People are always surprised when you do a random stopwatch in the early levels and it can turn the tide of the fight on its own if used properly. Just remember to use it!

Biscuit Delivery, combined with Time Warp Tonic is a strong tool for dueling and winning 1vs1, 2vs2 in lanes or in jungle. It also provides the much-needed mana regeneration and HP sustain that we often lack.

Time Warp Tonic provides a lot of instant healing and can sometimes save you from a close ignite. Combine Time Warp Tonic with a Corrupting Potion or a Standard Healing Potion or a Biscuit and you'll survive much more ganks/1vs1 duels on lanes.

SECONDARY:

Cheap Shot is more useful in combination with Glacial Augment. Taste of Blood is also a good choice for sustain but in this case I do not prefer it.

Ingenious hunter for the sweet Ability Haste on items is the perfect choice with this rune.

Stats Runes:

Used when their team is well-balanced. In general we will use 2x Adaptive Stats Runes and based on their team comp we will pick the 3rd Stat Rune. The HP Rune will be used for when you're either not sure who you are against (say there is a Yasuo and a Sylas, you won't know which one is mid) or when their team is well balanced (2 Heavy AP, 3 AD).

Pick the Armor stat rune against AD Assasins or Full AD Comps (Zed/Yasuo/Talon/Qiyana etc).

Pick the Magic Resist stat rune against AP Assassins, Mages or Heavy-AP Comps (4 Mages, 1 AD, or when you're on lane against Akali, Diana, LeBlanc, Ahri, etc).

Starting Items:

OR

Doran's Ring start with potions allows us to have an extra HP safety net which means that we can live on some ganks or on some nasty 1vs1 against assassins. Doran's Ring also gives some sweet mana regeneration and helps on killing minions by providing extra damage.

Corrupting Potion is good for sustain but I personally prefer the Ring. You get unlimited sustain but I prefer the extra damage on minions / HP / AP personally. You can definetly play with it if you like the sustain (especially against some champs that play with Corrupting + TP and shove you out of the lane).

Core Build:

Currently Liandry is the best with Luden's coming in close by. Everfrost is in a bad spot but generally you should try all 3 and see which one fits your playstyle. Liandry offers the most overall damage currently because of %mpen and the damage over time factor against tanks, offtanks and bruisers. If you like more mobility go for Luden's.

Best in slot boots, providing lots of magic pen. In comparison to other boots this is the strongest due to the stats provided. Buy these all the time unless you are losing the lane hard and you don't need extra damage (so you can go for Tabis or Merc Threads). I usually finish them before or after the Mythic item.

Extremely useful item early on which I consider core because Taliyah is generally targeted in teamfights due to her sustained damage. Most of the time a stopwatch will save your life against a lot of matchups. The better part of this item is that if you do not use it early you complete Zhonya and it's still a win-win. Practice using it at the right time because not using it at all is a pure waste of gold as it gives no other stats.

Final Build:

Good overal item for the ability haste and movement speed that it provides.

Your strongest item in terms of AP. Quite expensive and generally enables you to one shot people with W+E+Q. Get Zhonya before this if you feel like you are getting targeted often.

Defensive "practically core" item. This item is your only tool that can save you against some nasty engages such as a Malphite or Orianna ult. I usually buy it before Rabadon's if I am behind. Practice using it and never fight when it is on cooldown since it is an invaluable tool of survival.

Magic Pen late game resource against heavy MR comps or people that generally buy magic resist. Can be replaced based on needs (see Alternative Section).

Extremely strong ALTERNATIVE item against Heals. Most people forget to buy it when they are against a Yuumi, Soraka or Vladimir. Always, always buy it against those champions because it greatly reduces their healing (People often forget this at ANY elo).

First Base:

I get another Doran's sometimes in matchups that are difficult to deal with once the opponent hits 6. Examples would be: Zed, Katarina, etc (or most assassins).

Good tool to fight heavy AD assasins. Transitions well into Zhonya or Tabis depending on needs.

Get this as soon as you can every game. Upgrade before/after getting the Mythic into Sorc or Mercs if they have a lot of CC.

Your first part of your first core item. Provides huge mana regen per level up so it's a must buy before Blasting Wand or any other item that could be core.

Scales well into Mejai's Soulstealer if you are far ahead. I usually don't buy it because people start to target you more often in teamfights (which they would not normally).

Good early buy against AD Assassins. Generally bought before finishing your first big item. It's not necessary to upgrade it but it's generally good to later on.

Good early buy against AP Assassins. Generally bought before finishing your first big item. It's not necessary to upgrade it but it's generally good to later on.

Buy Order:

Rabadon's first if ahead because it will greatly improve your burst and total damage, giving you the possibility to one shot people.

Get Zhonya's before Rabadon's if you are behind. Your damage will not matter if you get instantly one shot'd by Rengar or Zed. I left this section up to specify the difference between getting Rabadon's first or Zhonya.

This order conveys enough of everything to be useful ALL-ROUND. Vision wards should be bought all time to a minimum of 2-3 PER GAME (!). The first half of your Mythic Item (Lost Chapter) enables you heavily due to the mana regen per level (and it will help you a lot on lane and off lane for roaming). I recommend switching to Oracle Lens somewhere around level 11-12 IF your jungler and support DID NOT switch to it. VISION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT! However if your jg/support have huge vision scores you could keep your warding trinket to find those nasty picks with your combo over some walls where the enemy does not suspect you. I added Zhonyas because it's an immense engage tool in most ults that you will do. Start a teamfight by casting R-> QWE someone -> Zhonya -> Followup by team can be deadly. I added even when I usually buy/need Stopwatch so you have a general idea.

I cannot stress enough how important Stopwatch is because if you are a bit ahead and you are keeping the game alive by winning lane/getting kills you WILL be focused by their Rengar/Kha'Zix/Hecarim/Kai'sa/insert DASH champ here. Stopwatch will allow you to fight them and will buy you enough time for your team to respond.

Alternatives:

Extremely useful against heals. You can get just the Orb for 800g and complete it later if you feel like it's too expensive. Get it versus Soraka, Vladimir, Red Kayn and any other annoying self healing champ.

Alternative starting item. You don't have the root of Everfrost but you get Burst and Movement speed and some magic pen. Probably has the most damage output for any starting item due to the passive, but your W+E+Q combo will be harder to hit.

Alternative starting item - currently in a bad state. A root would be insane but the usage is fairly clunky at the moment.

Pretty bad gold efficiency. You get better off with Cosmic Drive most likely 10 out of 10 times.

Get this item if they have lots of tanks and you didn't go for Liandry item path.

Good mana item with lots of AP but personally I don't see it fit anywhere in the build now that it no longer has an active shield.

Less useful than in the past, I rarely buy it. It provides slow on every ability that you use and it can setup your W/E/Q but it is generally weaker than other items. Can be used as a last-item purchase for kiting in late late game.

Situational item against Heavy AP matchups or Skarner/WW/Malza ultimates. You can just complete Verdant Barrier and finish it later if you feel like you lack damage generally.

Useful against Warwick, Malzahar and Skarner (and some others when you don't buy cleanse: Ahri/Zoe). Buy it against the first 3 if you feel that they camp you or ult you too often. It's a dead item in general because it wastes an item slot, but you need to get it if you find yourself targeted often.

Useful against Heavy CC and AP Assassins. Get it when behind or when the enemy has too much AP/too much CC.

Get it against AD Assassins or full AD Comps.

Get it when you are extremely ahead. Beware, it becomes useless if you die so proceed with caution. You will most likely be targeted by the entire enemy team when you buy it so you have to play smart with the micro and macro decisions. Transforms you into a killing machine when you have over 15 stacks due to the high AP Values.

Always buy it (after finishing item(s)) before the moment of the last fight of the game. You can generally spot that before a deciding Dragon Soul/Baron/Elder Dragon. You can also buy it after having a full build.

Always Buy:

Your Macro-Control tool. Buy them as often as you can because most of the time your team will not. Use it in river bushes in general to create paths towards botlane/toplane that are not warded by the enemy team. Buy them for drakes and barons or setting up one shots with your W+E+Q combo. Use them before getting into lane because you need to "hide" their position. Do not go and plant it somewhere when you are in the sights of the enemy team because they will instantly kill it. Defend it with caution or try to get a full combo on someone that tries to kill it - be careful on the followup and baits! You can also set up ganks for your jungler by using them in the side bushes of the river of the midlane.

PASSIVE - Rock Surfing

DESCRIPTION:

Innate: Taliyah gains up to 20% − 45% (based on level) bonus movement speed, which builds up over 1 second if she had been near terrain or structures for at least 0.4 seconds and decays by the same amount if out of range for at least 0.8 seconds.

Entering combat or casting an ability puts Rock Surfing on a 2 second cooldown that is continuously refreshed while remaining in combat.

EXPLANATION:

Taliyah main source of roaming "speed" - when you are near walls you surf, pretty amazing huh?

TIPS:

The number one mistake I see players doing with their passive is that they do not use it when they come from base to the lane. ALWAYS USE YOUR PASSIVE! It is useful to catch enemies after a teamfight that you won or it is useful to escape. Always try to stick near walls no matter what except when you are against champions that make good use of them such as Vayne or Poppy etc. On roams ALWAYS stick to the walls to reach your target faster.

Q - Threaded Volley

DESCRIPTION:

Active: After 0.25 seconds, Taliyah unleashes 5 Stone Shards in quick succession in the target direction over 1.5 seconds, dealing Magic damage magic damage to the first target hit. Units hit by multiple Stone Shards take 50% damage beyond the first.

Taliyah can move and cast other abilities while launching Stone Shards. After launching the third Stone Shard she's also able to basic attack.

Casting Threaded Volley creates an area of Worked Ground 450 units radius wide around Taliyah that lasts 45 seconds. While on Worked Ground, Taliyah only hurls one Stone Shard upon casting Threaded Volley and reduces its Mana icon mana cost to 1.

EXPLANATION:

You basically "Throw another rock" 4 times after you threw the first one. Joke aside, it is your main damage tool. When you first use it you will hurl 5 rocks and it will create beneath you a "Worked Ground". The Worked Ground mechanic allows you to throw 1 rock for 1 mana cost. It has a cooldown so after it goes away you will be able to throw again 5 rocks from that position.

TIPS:

Try to dance around Worked Ground. Small Q's (the ones from Worked Ground) are useful mainly for farming or quickly proccing electrocute. Also useful when you need some gold and you are out of mana. Try to always dance around your worked ground to get full Q's when you try to poke or to burst someone. Do not do your full W+E+Q combo on worked ground because you will lack damage and then you will have no damage to fight the enemy that at this point is on top of your head. Do not spam Q's as you will run out of mana fairly fast. You have to account for you mana needs the whole game but you can, however, spam Q's from worked grounds.

W - Seismic Shove

DESCRIPTION:

Active: After 0.25 seconds, Taliyah marks the target location and selects a direction. After 1 second, the ground erupts, dealing magic damage to all enemies hit and Airborne icon knocking them in the chosen direction for 1 second.

EXPLANATION:

Your "INSEC" spell, you practically have a basic ability Lee Sin "kick" that moves targets. Simply press W then drag in the desired direction. Useful in combination with your E.

TIPS:

Generally I recommend to use this spell without smart cast since it makes it easier to use. I also recommend going every day for 5-10 minutes in practice tool to get the hang of it because it is a difficult spell to learn. Your main use case for this spell is to throw people into your E or to push people away from you when you get engaged on (Jax jump, Sylas dash etc).

E - Unraveled Earth

DESCRIPTION:

Active: After 0.25 seconds, Taliyah scatters 18 boulders over the ground in a cone before her, dealing magic damage to all enemies hit.

The boulders then remain for 4 seconds, Slow icon slowing all enemies within the area by 20% (+ 4% per 100 AP). At the end of their duration, all remaining boulders explode, dealing Unraveled Earth's initial damage once more.

Enemies who Dash dash over or are Airborne icon knocked through the boulders will detonate them instantly, each dealing magic damage. Enemies can detonate multiple boulders, but they will only take damage from a maximum of 4, reduced by 0% − 45% (based on boulder hit).

EXPLANATION:

You throw boulders that hurt people who dash on them. Generally useful in combination with your W. Your E is also providing a slow, that can enable your W, so for beginners - it is generally more useful to throw your E before your W.

TIPS:

Combine E and W. Press E then drag enemies with your W into the boulders and into a full Q. This is your main combo. Your E also works for a simple combo: AA - E - AA -- doing this will proc Electrocute. Your E is also extremely useful for farming waves in combination with your W or even without it.
A Q and E usually will deal with a wave fairly quickly when you're interested in roaming.

R - Weaver's Wall

DESCRIPTION:

Active: Taliyah channels for 1 second before summoning a massive wall of spiraling rock that tears through the battlefield in the target direction, creating impassable terrain for 5 seconds and knocking aside allied and enemy champions it passes through as it emerges.

Taliyah can reactivate Weaver's Wall while channeling to Dash ride atop the wall at 1500 speed as it emerges. Taking damage during or after the cast time will force her off the wall, which will continue along its path normally. After 0.75 seconds she can input a movement command to manually jump off the wall.

Weaver's Wall can be reactivated after it reaches its maximum range to destroy it instantly.

EXPLANATION:

I think this one is pretty self explanatory from the description. Press R to cast a wall, press R against in quick succession to ride it. You can choose which way you want to jump at the end of it or at any point while riding. Just click in the desired direction to move and it will jump.

TIPS:

R is your main gank tool, your main way to close corners, to cut objectives from the enemy team, to engage and so so on. There are a lot of use cases and a lot of ingenious ways to gank and roam with this spell. We will further discuss that in the gank paths section where I will provide multiple examples. A hidden tip/trick that you can do with your R is that you can cast Q and then R twice which will fire Q's while you are riding the wall. A secondary important trick with your ultimate is that you can cast it in melee range to throw people away from you - useful for that nasty bruiser that won't leave you alone.

Things that mess up your R: Yasuo Wall, Braum Shield, Ornn Charge.
Things that can work with your R (regardless of team): Vayne E, Poppy E, Qiyana R, etc.

Spell Order / Aggro:

- Always max R>Q>E>W (Max R every time available, then Q, then E, then W).

- Taliyah spells do not trigger minion aggro, only her AA's do. If you hit an enemy champion on lane with an E or Q minions will not attack you if they have other minions in their range. This is extremely useful on early levels because we don't draw upon us unnecessary damage if we don't use Auto-attacks!

WINNING CONDITION(S)

BY DEFINITION: Win Condition

A solution to win out a game. Obviously to obtain that in League of Legends the enemy Nexus has to explode, but how can we get there?

OPTION 1:

Hypercarry / Bruiser: If your team has a hypercarry ADC such as: Draven, Kai'sa, Kog, Vayne OR a strong mid-late game Bruiser: Jax, Riven - your main target is to gank their lanes and get some early to mid advantage. Push your lane, go through unwarded paths (or buy control wards to clear them), move to their lane when the enemy is near the middle of the lane or pushing heavily or even when he's mid-low hp under tower and get them some kills. This option is usually the simplest but remember, the player has to also be decent/capable of carrying. If you see someone with 25-30% wr in 50 games on their champ is a high risk to gank his lane because he might not help you properly or might not even carry later on. OP.GG helps in this regard, find if the player is decent and then decide who in your team will carry and help them.

OPTION 2:

Getting fed yourself. Ever wondered why your carry does not actually carry you? Well maybe because you have the highest skill cap in your team and in this case, option 2 states that it is better to take kills for yourself and carry the game early by rotating around, taking towers, infernals, heralds, barons and so on. It's up to you to fully carry by clearing vision, setting up ganks/traps and so on. You can one shot people at a certain point in the game and you can create a 5v4 simply by nuking a target from their team - ANY target - without getting caught yourself, from a safe distance. You can also engage with your ult to create some nasty engages when the enemy is mispositioned. That is how you carry with Taliyah.

OPTION 3:

Arguably the most delicate option: find a player that is good, no matter what role or champion he is playing and carry the game WITH him. This can be done by either duoing or checking during the game on op.gg who is the decent/good player in your team. Usually if a player has a decent skill cap he will understand how to help you when you gank, or will gank himself your lane so you both get advantages. This is different instead of Option 1 because you focus on the player not on the champion.

WAYS TO END THE GAME:

Either try to close out a game early by doing massive ganks and get leads from plates or infernals or heralds, OR try to corner people with your ult, engaging into a nasty W+E+Q combo on a lone target or on multiple targets (with followup from your team) - this method can transition into inhibitors or barons and that can seal out the game. Some other ways to end the game is to get that sweet one shot and create a disadvantage or a free baron/infernal/elder.

Most of the time your game will transition into a mid/late game fight where your goal, your "win condition" besides doing what's above is to target with W+E+Q their most fed champion or the one that is dealing the most damage (usually hypercarries) OR to get that bruiser off your ADC with a sweet combo and nuking him down.

If you engage decently you have the upper hand so keep that in mind.

Your target is to check properly if their ADC needs to be killed or the bruiser that jumps on your ADC. Usually your support should deal with the peel for your ADC but you should help too in some scenarios.

* if this was not clear enough, on my channel I provide countless examples of full games and how they are usually closed.

Lane Phase:

Estimated levels: 1-8.

Targets:
- Warding Wraiths or enemy Topside main buff(Blue/Red) at around level 2 and a half (or 3) after you pushed the lane.
- Killing the enemy midlaner.
- Not dying.
- 8 cs/min.
- Winning scuttle fights when teamcomp allows (when you have better 2vs2 on mid/jg).
- Warding/Clearing vision with Control Wards.
- Invading the enemy jungler with or without your jungler.
- Roaming sucesfully bot (with or without tower diving).
- Plates.
- First tower.

Execution:
The targets above aren't meant to be all reached. Just in the perfect game you will reach most of these targets. Start small, focus on CSing on lane, then move up understanding the other targets. The most important 3 things aren't even roaming or ganking. They are: Farming well, not dying and helping your jungler whenever you can. The rest are pretty much optional but if you do these well you will certainly improve over time.

Try to kill the enemy midlaner as much as the lane allows. Call your jungler for ganks and use your W when your jungler CC's hits. Beware of the enemy jungler/counterganks. Always stick to the side that you warded. Early you can put a ward at wraiths to get information of the enemy jungler and to generally help your team.

If you cannot kill the opponent you can push and roam. Roaming can be done starting from level 3. Beware when roaming, you will lose xp if you don't roam properly. You target when roaming is either kills, plates, first tower OR an infernal/ocean drake since they are invaluable. Always ward river towards bottom with Control Wards. When the matchup allows invade the enemy jungle with your jungler and create pressure.

Focus on surviving, farming and vision control more than on roaming and ganks early, but transition once you have Lost Chapter into a push->roam tactic. Be careful on tower dives, they are the most risky business.

Mid Game Phase:

Estimated levels: 9-14.

Targets:
- Clear wards with red trinker if your jungler and your support didn't buy it.
- Create vision and traps with Control Wards.
- Farm and clear waves.
- Don't get caught away from your team.
- One shot people with your W+E+Q+Ignite combo from hidden spots, such as beneath a river wall.
- Engage in smart teamfights by casting your ultimate to separate the enemy team in ways that help your team (their carries away from their tanks).
- Corner objectives such as drake pit or baron pit.
- Corner towers and push people away from them in order to take it easier.
- Catch people off-guard or engage in teamfights with your ult.

Execution:
In the mid game if you are farmed or got some kills you have the ability, with a proper build, to eventually one shot their support or ADC or even their jungler / midlaner if they are a bit behind. An easy way to secure wins is to create 5v4 teamfights by doing exactly that. Another way is to catch people with your ult and quick followup of your team. You can separate enemy players from their teams with your ult and you can do easy picks. You can also corner baron pits and drake pits trapping the enemy team inside or far away, outside, when your team is doing baron. Try to poke from a general distance but be aware of who can engage on you from the enemy team. When you engage in a general teamfight, you should cast your R, do a full combo then immediately use Stopwatch. This is the most effective way to play Taliyah if you hit every spell.

Late Game Phase:

Estimated levels: 15-18.

Targets:
- Engage with your ult only if you can hit their carries with WEQ, else you will get one shot'd.
- Catch people off-guard, create 5v4 fights.
- Trap people far away from barons/drakes, cut their way towards the objective and quickly do it.
- Clear vision and work around a W+E+Q combo on 1, 2 or even 3 targets if you can.
- In the late game you transition from being generally aggressive to a more defensive stance: try to peel the enemy bruiser or assassin from your ADC.

Execution:
If on the winning side - get baron and push the enemy team behind their tower with your ult. Take the tower and engage on them after it is down. If on the losing side - stay beneath small walls and do a W+E+Q combo on an unsuspecting target. Usually you can get a member of the enemy team low enough for you to win a fight or make them back off. On both sides you should try to poke from a distance but you should be extremely careful to engages. If you get caught past a certain minute it could turn instantly into a lose. Unless you are ahead, don't try to engage with your ult into a W+E+Q+ combo and into a stopwatch because generally in the late game if you fail this you can turn the game on its head and lose it so play smart.

Combos:

Taliyah does not have over complicated combos and you don't need to stress much over them, you just need to practice.

The most simple one is AA+Q/E+AA for Electrocute proc.

ALL OF THESE COMBOS CAN BE ENHANCED WHEN PLAYING WITH Everfrost. Everfrost+ W +E + Q + Ignite is mainly the best complete combo you could probably do. Currently Everfrost is NOT an optimal item.

Combo 1: W+E+Q: Cast W and then immediately E+Q. Harder to hit because the E slow will not apply.
Combo 2: E+W+Q: Cast W immediately after the enemy is slowed by your E, then Q. Easier to hit but might deal less damage since the opponent has a split second to decide what to do.
Full Combo: Q+W+E+Q+Ignite (+Electrocute Proc).

Rules:

Always 1: Hit Q's whenever the opponent is not behind the minions.
Always 2: NEVER stay too much on a Worked Ground; Stay just at the edge of worked grounds preferably towards your tower so you have an escape path if ganks arrive.
Always 3: Hit small Q's on minions/cannons: They are much better than Auto Attacks and you can farm with them from a safer distance.

Tricks:

1. Q+Flash: If you press Q then immediately Flash the Q pellets will follow.

2. Melee R: Whenever an annoying bruiser tries to murder you, cast your ultimate in melee range to throw them away. You can practice this mechanic with dummies in the practice tool for maximum effect.

3. Q+R: If you want to style on opponents. You cast Q then immediately double press R and your Q will fire in the direction you initially pressed while riding the wall.

Example clip:

Play Video

4. Pushing 1: A good tactic is to W+E+Q the melee minions into the caster minions for maximum damage. Reversal also works killing the casters instantly. Be careful when pushing with your full combo. Your mana will dry up really fast if you spam your spells.

5. Pushing 2: Just Q spam. Cheaper in mana but takes a longer time to clear the wave.

6. Teamfight Engage: R+R on their team if your team is nearby -> W+E+Q+Ignite on their carry -> Stopwatch -> Flash away. This is the general combo for the good Taliyah players. It is a high risk high reward play but if the enemy flashes your combo then you just wasted everything for a Flash and now you are in a bad spot. Try to play smart around this as it could make or break a game.

Circle Management:

Circle Management by definition means how well you dance around the Worked Grounds that your Q creates. Whenever you press your Q the small circle underneath you will basicly weaken your total damage output, so we have to be always on the move.

The most important rule here is that whenever you do your W+E+Q combo you should not be on worked ground, unless you can kill your target without full Q. Generally you would want to create a dance motion around midlane whenever you push with full Q's. So, remember: if you are on worked ground never do all-ins.

In the video below I exemplify better:

Play Video

Roaming:

When roaming, you find yourself in one of the following cases:

1. Aggressive Roaming -- Aggressive and Defensive also means that you help your jungler at scuttles;
2. Defensive/Reactive Roaming;
3. Vision Wards/Vision Control Roaming;
4. Fake Roaming - when you "pretend" to roam - you just go into an unwarded zone into the river and go back to midlane. The enemy botlane will back thinking you are nearby and will lose CS. Do this when you have a fully warded area or you know there are no wards AND you have no CS in lane to take.

Always do a mental checklist of the following things when roaming:

1-8 levels or so:

1. Wave state management
- are your minions under your tower? then don't roam.
- are the minions under his tower and you don't have time to take a plate? roam.
- you have time to take plates and you think you cannot get kills botlane right now? don't roam.

2. Risk assessing - how worth the roam can be and how much XP/Gold do I win if I get it right, how much XP/Gold do I lose if I fail?
- calculate a risk percentage

3. Their jungler positioning - do I see him on the map?
- is he far away from bot?
- is he already there?
- can he surprise me when I gank so we lose the roam/fight?

4. Vision - did I step over wards? If they back of immediately it means that they have seen you somewhere OR their midlaner pinged.
- buy 1x vision ward every 4-7 minutes and put it towards botlane so you have a clear path.

5. Gank only when you see certain kills being made.
- Work on certainity

Things to always do
- Cross their path with ult but don't get mispositioned
- Ult in such a way that your team has time to reach you and them
- Roam smart by verifying the general risk

Below, I provide some maps as a general reference and a video guide on roaming.

MAP 1: Blue Side Gank Paths:

MAP 2: Red Side Gank Paths:

Video Example:

Play Video

In order to understand better her full kit and to reach her full potential, you can spend some time in the practice tool. Here, you can either practice farming, full combos on minions, small Q's on minions (last hitting), or even cast ults to understand fully the range and its use cases.

Play Video

In the video above I propose a practice tool drill that uses multiple targets to learn and to master her W+E+Q combo. Simply put some dummies and spam over a wall W+E+Q in a dance-like motion. If you do this 5-10 minutes a day for a week you will have no problem in mastering Taliyah's main source of damage. If you cannot hit your W often it might mean that you still have to practice.

Another useful drill that I recommend is to put two dummies on botlane simulating the "enemy-team botlane" that you'd see in a game. Try to cast ultimates and try to see which ways are the easiest to follow for ganking bot. Try to cut their corners and try to guess their reaction time/movements. Besides that you could try to cast some ults near barons and drakes to understand how to trap people away from baron OR in the baron pit. Same for Drake and Herald.

Lastly, I recommend for everyone to do practice tool farming drills. Put an enemy bot and try to poke the bot in between farming. Try to reach at least 8 cs/min in 20 minutes and try to poke the enemy champion as well, waving auto-attacks on minions and on the enemy champion bot.

Daily, you can alternate between these exercises.

Following these drills guarantee that your normal, flex or ranked game will go much better in general.

Practice makes it Perfect!

In this section I will discuss some of the hardest Taliyah matchups and some of the best synergies. You can find ALL matchups/synergies above in the "Threaths" and "Synergies" section

I don't want to spam you with videos but for the matchups below and many others I have FULL games on my channel that could help you understand the matchup better.

Taliyah Hardest Matchups:

These are some of the absolute most difficult matchups. I did not include champions like Azir, Kassadin, Diana and some others because I believe against them there are ways to outplay / win early. Most of the champions listed below can and will one shot you after level 3 if you do not build/play accordingly.

REMEMBER: NEVER FOLLOW THESE CHAMPIONS DIRECTLY WHEN THEY ARE ROAMING! TAKE OTHER PATHS! GET VISION WARDS IN RIVER/TOWARDS BOT! PLAY AROUND THAT VISION!

Ask your team to ban him if you can. A good Zed player can be deadly and will wreck you on lane if you do the smallest of mistakes. Exhaust could work against him or heal/barrier if you don't want to fight him on lane. Stopwatch on the inspiration tree also works. Extra Doran Rings and maybe Cloth Armor/Zhonya works too. The main counter to Zed is to either Roam or poke from a distance before he engages. Your main tool of surviving his ultimate is to Flash exactly after his ultimate lands on you, right when his Q cast animation starts, preferably under your tower or the direction of your tower. If Zed does not get ahead and you have Zhonya you can even win 1vs1 against him with proper positioning and Q/E from a distance, but I'd rather just focus on other lanes and win there since he has a lot of damage without his ult too. Try to stay away from him when you have no CS / when it is not necessary to be there. Exhaust can nullify him in teamfights and Zhonya is a very strong tool too.

Ban it if it's not in a nerfed state. This champion CAN be outplayed and can be played against rather well compared to the other champions listed here, but because of her numerous dashes and teamfight capabilities, a good Akali will wreck havoc on your team (not even necessarily you). The trick against this champion is to get either two Doran Rings or some early MR such as Mercs or Banshees. You have to be always careful pre 6 to her E and post 6 for her ult. Do not get distracted by her stealth mechanic because it is usually baiting for her jungler or her team to followup. Always try to use you E for her ult and dashes. Her R can be flashed but it is extremely difficult. If you do it you won the fight. Try to outroam if you got killed in lane, just push and go to other lanes but remember that she will follow and if you don't win the roam early you're screwed. Generally you'll do fine in roams if you do not die in lane. You can pull her into your tower with flash if she E's on top of you. In order to generally win the lane you have to poke her down with your Q from a distance and engage on her only after you got 50% of her hp down, then use E on her dash and Q/Ignite. Use Heal if you don't want to kill her in lane (or Barrier).

Common ban, ask your team to ban it if you can. Yasuo is not that difficult compared to Zed, Akali or Katarina since his kill power is enabled only later in the game AND he cannot 100-0 you that easily pre-6. You can even win against him if he's not extremely experienced. I usually play with ignite and get 2 Doran Rings and then I move for the full damage build. I try to poke from a distance and then get an engage on him with either W+E or wait for him to dash through minions so I can put an E down. Your minions are his dashes so you can predict when he jumps. Use Q to bait his Wind Wall and then try a full combo. Always proc his shield before going all in. Always dodge his tornado after 6 and be careful to ganks that can proc his ult. You can outroam a Yasuo easily. You need to be constantly careful to minions to see if he can reach you, when retreating go away from minions if you can.

One of the most difficult matchups because your team will most likely get caught before you can do anything. Your W is hard to hit due to numerous dashes, but you can pick Exhaust to deal with her ult and nullify her in teamfights. You need to be careful on roams since her followup is extremely deadly. Poke from a distance and stay away from daggers, go for dual dorans and some MR if necessary. In general you shouldn't try to fight her post 6 unless you have a jungler with CC that ganks. The CC of your jungler must be reliable and easy to hit. She can get double kill on you and your jungler if you do the tiniest mistake such as missing your W or your jungler missing his CC, so don't force it. Just roam and try to perma push her if you can. Early get her under tower because she will struggle farming but be careful to ganks.

Extremely annoying post 6, relatively easy pre 6. A good Fizz will generally just farm until 6 and then try to ult you. Consider Stopwatch, MR and double dorans, but be careful still. His ult can 100-0 you under tower with ignite and/or a small gank. You can either bully him early and keep him under tower but you need to be careful to ganks or you can roam and get kills elsewhere. This is a difficult matchup in general only against smurfers and OTP's because Fizz can be extremely difficult to play succesfully. His main spell of damage is also his Wave Clear so if you push him he needs to pick whether he jumps on you with E or clears the wave. Careful to the long range ult, if you bait it and he misses it then you have a free window of opportunity for ganks or for 1vs1.

Difficult matchup only if you or your jungler fail early. She can be easily killed 1vs1 if you dodge her Q's early and you don't get caught randomly by a gank or by her ultimate. Her wave clear is rather weak so you can push early but again, be careful to ganks. If she gets ahead early she can be an absolute nightmare due to her poke/engage. She will most probably try to roam with Mobi Boots so you have to follow her carefully or gank first. You never follow her through her direct path since she can one shot you with QWQER combo. Try to stay away from walls, this one is crucial. Try to cast your ult in such a way that she will not use it to cast HER ult (because it works). Try to get her to dash through your E. In general if you are a bit ahead and she is not you should be able to poke her down from a distance with Q/E then do a full WEQ+Ignite combo and win it. If you don't wanna fight her go Barrier or Heal.

Difficult matchup only if you get caught, or if you fight him level 2, or if he hits his full W (both the ongoing and the returning part). Talon can 100-0 you if you are not careful. In general good Talons will want to pretend to roam then jump on top of you from a nearby wall so you have to be extremely smart on roams and on ganks. Ping as much as you can because following a Talon is rather difficult. You can kill him on lane with some jungler help but you have to move him away from walls since his E can just make him escape easily. If he cast his ultimate to escape you have a window of opportunity due to his low combined damage on other abilities, but he can still kill you if he hits full W on you then engages. Play aggressive when his ult is on CD and defensive when it is not.

Roamers Matchups:

These are the matchups that will require more macro knowledge than micro as you will most of the time roam or follow their roams instead of fighting them on lane. Most of the time it is difficult to kill them without ganks due to their repelling stuns or dashes. Be careful when getting ganked because they can easily setup ganks with their stuns/cc spells.

REMEMBER: Always ping-spam when they are leaving the lane, always calculate if it is worth to follow (can I get plates? can I do ganks elsewhere? can I follow and get kills? Answer these questions! GET VISION WARDS IN RIVER/TOWARDS BOT! PLAY AROUND THAT VISION!

Relatively even matchup but his roam potential with his ult is stronger. Always ping when his ult is up and you think he can roam or is going to roam. Keep a vision ward in river bush. Try to kill him on lane but beware of his Gold Card gank setup for his jungler. He cannot kill you 1vs1 unless you fail. He cannot 100-0 you but he can setup easy easy ganks for their jungler. His roam is much faster than yours if he goes first and ults, but if he follows a gank of yours he can be caught. If you fail your gank expect him to take advantage of it and roam elsewhere or roam exactly where you are. You will struggle against the TF players with outstanding macro but you will do fine against any other TF players.

Probably one of the most even matchups, dictated only by which player has better macro understanding. He can set up easy ganks for his jungler with his Q and he can roam faster than you early on, but you can kill him on lane or you can setup up ganks too due to his predictability. Don't let him outpush you too much early and try to punish him when he returns from ganks. Beware, a good Sol player will not be obvious when he roams (he will come from base or unusual paths). Always spam pings OR wait him on bot if you can reach first and then get the kill. Difficult matchup if your team does not listen to you. Easy matchup if you gank first and get kills or he fails his ganks and loses mid pressure/bot pressure. Keep vision ward in river bush.

Easy matchup pre 6, poke him always with E/Q/Auto attack electrocute proc because if you don't he will out-trade you with his Q. After level 6 he starts to have kill potential and roam potential but early, in general, you can deal with him. Go Ignite if you can kill him or TP if you feel you don't. If he gets ahead be careful since he can absolutely solo carry late game without a problem. Gank as often as you can, before him. Always push him early but be careful to ganks, ask your jungler to gank him early too. Difficult matchup after level 9 because he might 100-0 you if you get caught in a bad position. Difficult to kill after 6 so don't bother much with ganks on him with your jungler.

Synergies:

Generally you'd be interested in duoing with a jungler that plays something along the likes of scaling/bruiser-ish champions such as Rengar, Kindred, Jarvan, or even Xin/Rammus. Besides that you can duo with an ADC player that gets the hypercarry (Draven, Kai'sa). Lastly you could duo with a support to set up engages for your ults. Below I provide some examples and their context.

Playing with a good Rengar makes the games much more simple due to the damage potential combined of those champions. Normally a good Rengar will use his flash on midlane for either an empowered E or a quick-jump-kill. Rengar is strong with Taliyah due to his incredible scaling into mid/late game as a hypercarry-assassin. His ultimate gives him movement speed so he can easily follow you on ganks and roams. Always go where he goes for maximum potential and help him on scuttles. Do not block his R with your R.

While incredible tanky, this champion has a strong CC that will guarantee your W+E+Q combo on any champion. His speed will secure followup on your roams (or provide engages). With some coordination, this champion can be deadly in combination with Taliyah.

Another scaling champion, perhaps a bit trickier to play or duo with. You have to help Kindred reach her marks and you have to win early trades with her on scuttles and such. You can also kick people out of her ultimate for a surprise kill. Normally you'd be interested to pass kills to a Kindred for her marks. Usually a good Kindred can solo carry a game if the midlaner helps.

Youtube Channel/Links

For the past 3 years I made numerous video guides and tutorials on Youtube for Taliyah and you can find about everything you need on my channel regarding Taliyah.

Play Video

If you feel that this guide has helped you and you want to partake in continuous learning you can join our community on Youtube or on Discord. I will probably keep uploading at least a video a week.

Conclusion

In conclusion, after all these chapters, by reading through here, you should now have a complete, general understanding of how Taliyah functions and works, how to roam, how to use her main combo, what are her counters and which champions synergize well with her.

You now understand about practice tool drills and win conditions and you know what you have to do to get better. Obviously these tips will work best with a clean no-flame attitude and a constant will to improve. If you have a bad day just don't force your mind in rankeds and take a break doing normals or something else entirely that's fun for you.

Useful Links

In general if you want to improve this guide as a standalone thing will not help you that much. You have to practice and you have to watch other people play. I recommend watching some replays from Ucal or any other pro player that knows his stuff. For micro/macro you can watch also Dopa and Faker for their outstanding understanding of the game.

Here are some links that could help you understand better Micro gameplay, Macro gameplay or Taliyah in general:


https://lol.gamepedia.com/Taliyah - pro-player Taliyah games through history


https://reddit.com/r/summonerschool - learn all-year-round about League of Legends


https://reddit.com/r/taliyahmains - Taliyah Mains dedicated subreddit


https://www.probuilds.net/champions/details/Taliyah - Pro-player builds - find who plays Taliyah currently and how


https://op.gg - Taliyah statistics


https://mood.gg/choosechamp?championname=Taliyah - Taliyah-specific soundtracks

I will generally try to answer every comment/question below or anywhere else, feel free to start a discussion!

Thank you for your time reading this, I hope it helped you in any way!

-Drewmatth