Talon Build Guide by DrunkAsianFather

Introduction

Hello, welcome to my second guide, this time for Talon.
Talon is extremely fun to play in my opinion, and is currently my main champion,
so I am going to tell you how I play Talon.
I am Dutch so sorry for my bad english.

Latest Patch

Rake

Shadow Assault

Pros / Cons

Pros
Great ganker
Has a blink
Massive Burst
Nice ultimate

Cons
Squishy
Stopped by Exhaust
Not the best for solo top/mid

Abilities and Order

Passive: Mercy
This isn't really a great passive, since you are not a melee DPS, you are a burst assasin. But it helps getting more damage with your Q: Noxian Diplomacy

First Ability Q: Noxian Diplomacy
Really nice ability, it reveals your opponent and deals quite a lot of damage. Note that activating it will in fact reset your auto-attack timer, so use it to ensure you deal tons of damage. I take Noxian Diplomacy at level 2 and max it second.

Second Ability W: Rake
This is what we max first, this makes farming, harrassing, slowing enemies easy. It has a ridiculous low mana cost, even after the patch. I take Rake at level 1 and max it first.

Third Ability E: cutthroat
Your blink, use it to close the distance or to get you in range for harrasing. It silences the enemy for 1 second, not much but still preventing the enemy to flash right away. And it can be used on Nunu & Willump when he's channeling Absolute Zero, actually on every channeling spell, like Katarina's Death Lotus. Use it smartly. I take cutthroat at level 4 and max it last.

Ultimate R: Shadow Assault
GG, this ultimate has a lot of uses, escaping, chasing, damaging etc. For escaping just activate it and run away, the movement speed is A LOT, and the stealth will help too. The speed is also good for chasing, and the blades deal quite a lot of damage. I take Shadow Assault at level 6, 11 and 16, whenever it is available.

Runes

Greater Mark of Desolation
Armor Pen, this will ignore a bit of your opponents armor, dealing more damage.

Greater Seal of Armor
Armor, you are harrasing a lot, so you will get a lot of aggro, with armor you take less damage.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist
Mage Resist, you will ignore some damage from casters, nice if your opponent in mid is AP.

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed
You will be extremely fast with these, making you a deadly champion because you can basically chase everyone (:

Masteries

For masteries, I have 3 pages for Talon, depending on my mood (:
The first one is 21/9/0, taking everything in the offense tree and 3 points in both the mage resist and armor with 3 points in the health regen in the defense tree. This is if I want to play defensively.
The second one is 21/0/9, also taking everything in the offense tree and taking increased experience and buff duration. It's nice to have the increased buff duration because the lizard buff is very nice, and the experience is also nice if you gank a lot so you will get more experience.

The last one is 15/0/15, taking the attack damage bonus in the offense tree and the movement speed in the utility tree. With Movement speed Quints and these masteries you are really quick, especially if you start with boots.

Why no attack speed? Talon is a burst champion.

Playstyle

Talon is a nice champion for mid or solo top, because he needs the levels.
Your early game should be focusing on farming minions, try to do it with basic attacks but if your opponent is too aggressive use Rake untill you can start harrasing your opponent.
Start aggression at level 4: your combo should be:
Cutthroat -> Rake -> Noxian Diplomacy
Cutthroat and Rake give you bonus damage for Noxian Diplomacy.


After reaching level 6, and you're going for a kill:
Cutthroat -> Rake -> Noxian Diplomacy -> Shadow Assault -> Ignite*

*You can Ignite when you want.

Summoner Spells

I take Flash and Ignite:
Flash because I love blinks, I have Flash for every champion.
Alternatives: Ghost if you are a fan
Ignite because Talon is a burst champion.
Alternatives: Exhaust if your team doesn't have it, or needs more (enemy team has Tryndamere, Jax, Master Yi etc.

Items

CORE:
Boots of Swiftness/ Mercury's Treads Doran's Blade Youmuu's Ghostblade

END GAME:
Boots of Swiftness/ Mercury's Treads Youmuu's Ghostblade The Bloodthirster Trinity Force Quicksilver Sash Last Whisper

WHY?
Doran's Blade Early game boost, skip if you want but these are really cheap boosts for your early game.
Boots of Swiftness Massive Movement Speed, 24/7 ganks xD
Mercury's Treads Take these if there's loads of CC.

Youmuu's Ghostblade Armor Pen, CDR, Movement Speed, AD, why not?
Trinity Force You will deal massive damage since the proc will help your burst out a lot.
The Bloodthirster Damage, Lifesteal, GG
Quicksilver Sash Exhaust or any other annoying spell stopping you? Not anymore.
Last Whisper Armor Pen ftw.

OTHER VIABLE PICKS
Frozen Mallet Health, DMG, Slow
Warmog's Armor Health and Regen
Thornmail AD enemies
Banshee's Veil AP with CC enemies

The End

And that's it! That was my guide for Talon, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see y'all later.