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Talon Build Guide by

Talon, Master of Solo Top

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Talon Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion More Talon Guides

Spells:

Flash

Exhaust

Ability Order

Talon Passive Ability

The Introduction

Welcome to my comprehensive, in depth guide to the newest edition to the league Talon, the Blade's Shadow

Throughout this guide you will become aware of many things:

The break down of team compositions, as well as the lane choices in Ranked and Normal gameplay
The Purpose of each lane and what it does to the champions placed in each lane
The individual goals of each champion in their specific lanes
What "Class or Role" Talon plays on a team
Talon's various strengths and weaknesses
How to build him before even entering a game, such as Runes and Masteries
What all of Talon's skills do and can be used for
The proper way to play and build him in game with your core items
Talon's early/mid/ and late game differences
Tips and tricks for assisting your jungler and keeping your team alive/safe from ganks
Being aware of where your jungler is and what he is doing as often as possible
Where the proper ward locations are on your map
And how to work with your team to achieve your overall goal of "Victory"

Technically speaking, Talon is an assassin, and he does his job insanely well following that "Class". He is one of the most bursty AD champions on the market, but at the same time, he has a rather sustained damage output. You could place him in literally any lane, Bottom lane as an "AD Carry", Mid as an "Anti Carry", or my favourite place for this guy, Solo Top Lane.

The Break down of Ranked, and Normal Gameplay

This is hands down the most important thing to know in this game, even more than your skill with a champion. Basically a well balanced team is broken down to this.

Now that you know the team break downs for any competitive team composition, we will now learn which are the proper lanes to put each champion on your team in and why. One thing I would like to add, before you complain that this has nothing to do with Talon, you are sadly mistaken, for a few games now I have Dual queued with my friend, he jungled and I requested top lane with Talon. Both games I was asked if I was being serious, and both games I carried the team to victory with the help of our fantastic jungler

It is crucial that you and your team understand what lane each of their individual champions belongs in, along with why. Certain champions or the classes they fit under belong in certain lanes.

One of the most basic components of deciding on your teams composition, is understanding your map and where each lane is. It's kind of self explanatory for most, but it is still important to know.

Lanes

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- The top section of the map
- A lane meant to be Solo'd
- The home of your Off tank / Assassin
- Is a great lane for an AD carry
- AP carries, can have issues in a solo top lane

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- The middle lane of the map
- Always a solo lane
- Home to the AP or AD carry
- Can be an excellent lane for an Anti Carry
- Extremely difficult for most tanks

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- The bottom section of the map
- Generally always a dual lane
- Home to the tank and the AD carry/Support
- Great lane to get the carry or tank farmed in
- Any champion type can lane here

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The Goals of Each Lane

To put it simply, each of the three lanes has an over all goal that isn't just push push push push push push... It's much more than that. There are some goals that all the lanes share, and some goals that are unique to each lane.

Common Goals Among the Lanes

To accumulate minion kills, or CS
To Protect your tower, as well as destroying theirs
To kill the enemy champions in the lane
To Properly ward the brush and other areas to protect your lane
To ALWAYS be aware of your teams jungler and help set up kills
To always be ready to assist other lanes when you have the chance
To be prepared to jump into a team fight whenever needed

The Goals of Top Lane

To "last hit" every minion possible
To maintain control of your lane by not over extending
To keep the minion waves close to the middle of the lane to ensure you cannot be ganked, as well as set up perfect ganks for your jungler
To Ward.Ward.Ward.Ward.Ward.Ward.
To always be aware of your middle lane as you are able to gank easily
To assist your jungler when ever needed!

Goals of Mid Lane

To last hit every single chance you get
To harass the enemy in your lane to keep them low
To have dominance over your enemy
To push through their tower every possible chance
To watch for you jungler's ganks, using your CC to accomplish this

Goals of Bot Lane

To pressure your enemies
To farm minion waves as well as the enemies
This is the lane that should be the last to loss its tower
To buy enough time for the tank to get gold for the items required to begin initiating team fights

Talon's Role

Talon can fulfill many different roles on your team, but for this guide we will focus on his strongest role, Solo Top Lane. Talon has an excellent skill kit that can be used to harass your enemy and even escape their jungler if you need to. Talon does extreme burst damage, and has a blink, and a cone... perfect for fighting champions at basically any range. I've tried to solo top with many champions, starting with items such as a or a but nothing, and I repeat NOTHING, works better then buying items that allow you to buy a even if you can only buy one.

For Talon, start with a and 1x and begin to farm and farm and farm. Another important aspect of being solo top lane is to be dominant in lane. Using to harass them often will keep them low, more often then not forcing them to go back allowing you to out farm them or take their tower. Another important thing to do as Talon is to Invade. Talon is an amazing duelist, he can shred through an enemy very quickly, and whats better then finding a with half health that you just destroy, and then get his buffs.

Ganking is another important role for Talon, getting Talon kills is high priority, he becomes as burst like as someone like or when fed. He has such amazing CC that his ganks are almost unmatched due to his massive damage out put.

Talon's Strengths, and Weaknesses

Strengths / Weaknesses

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Strenths

+ Very strong lane presence
+ Excellent skill kit
+ Enormous amount of CC
+ Amazing duelist
+ Does insane burst damage
+ Able to put out massive damage in a team fight

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Weaknesses

- Squishy at all stages of the game
- Tends to get focused very often
- Has an escape mechanism that can be easily predicted by a skilled player
- Relies on cool downs
- His base AD is low, so last hitting is difficult at first
- Can't jungle

Pre game Preparation

Alright, so now that we understand how to set up your team, the certain roles of each player, the lanes they are in, and you specifically as Talon. Next up is one of the most important aspects of playing a champion, and anyone would agree. Your pregame, such as your Masteries and Runes! When it comes to understanding how to set up your Rune page or Mastery page, you need to realize what your champion's class is, their role, and what lane you wish to take.

For Talon's Masteries i focus more on the offensive aspect then anything else. then branch into Utility for the extra gold and exp gain.

When it comes to runes I'm having issues deciding on certain runes combinations, where others I refuse to change on him. The rune build this guide is focusing on is this:

Runes

Precision

Fleet Footwork

Phase Rush

Greater Mark of Desolation
For Talon I chose to go with ArP runes due to the fact that every move he has is AD, so it just helps you deal more damage. Plus the three points in make his damage out put go even higher.

Talon tends to be hard on mana both late game, and early game. Do to the fact that you don't really rely on auto attacks, you need to focus on your mana issues. So I get Mana regen per level seals to help with this issue. By late game you will be able to stick in the team fight rather than have to run away for mana.

These are ALWAYS to be used on Talon, anyone that says other wise is crazy. Talon is reliant on skills correct? His massive damage out put from rake is amazing right? How about being able to use it more often?! Derp who wouldn't want to do that.. plus with these runes if you get blue buff, you go to 40% CDR which leaves your ult on a 24 second cool down, which is the same as 's mega death lazor.

Greater Quintessence of Desolation
These are also an amazing damage amplifier for Talon's burst out put. There are a few runes that could replace these and he would still do fine, but for now I think these are my favorite for him.

Other Possible Rune Builds

Runes

Precision

Fleet Footwork

Phase Rush

This page works really well once you have your

Runes

Precision

Fleet Footwork

Phase Rush

This rune build is aimed at optimizing your damage output after getting your hands on the

Talon's Skill Kit

MercyMercy Talon's auto attacks deal more damage if his target is affected by some kind of Crowd Control.
Mercy is part of Talon's greatest damage output due to the fact that each of his moves will inflict his target with some kind of CC. When Talon attacks a target that has been affected by any kind of CC, his damage is increased.

Noxian Diplomacy Talon's next auto attack will deal additional damage and makes his target bleed.
There are some very interesting tricks to this move, the first thing to know is that this move will empower your next auto attack to deal increased damage, and make the target bleed for a seconds (DoT). Also while the target is bleeding, you gain vision of that target for a few seconds. It is just a fantastic skill/finisher.

Rake Sends out a boomerang like cone in front of Talon slowing all enemies hit.
Welcome to Talon's greatest move, Rake. Rake is a skill cast in a cone near Talon, he sends out three boomerang like blades in the direction of his choice. These blades will strike all targets in the area when they are sent out, as well as when they return. In addition, all targets hit by Rake are slowed for a few seconds. This move brings HUGE burst to a team fight, if positioned correctly in a team fight you can hit their entire team.

CutthroatCutthroat Talon blinks to target enemy, silencing them when he arrives.
Now we come to Talon's blink. Talon instantly blinks behind his target silencing them, if used correctly you can smash a single target very hard, by activating then blinking, you will instantly attack when you arrive activating your Q's damage.

Shadow Assault Talon sends out blades in all directions and enters an invisible state for a few seconds.
This is probably one of the coolest moves Riot has ever come up with. When cast Talon sends out a ring of blades from his location damaging all enemies hit, then becomes invisible for a few seconds. His movement speed is increased by 40% at it's highest level. After the duration of your invisibility, the blades pull back to Talon causing damage to who ever they fly threw. You can also reactivate your ult by auto attacking or pressing R.

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

How to build Talon

Talon's Core Items

Infinity Edge
Stats: 80 Attack Damage,25% Critical Strike Chance.
Basically with Talon, your goal is to dish out as much burst damage, as fast possible. The Infinity Edge adds the third highest AD out of all items in game at this present moment. Another interesting feature about the Infinity Edge is it's passive. UNIQUE PASSIVE: Critical hits now deal 250% damage instead of 200%. This will add huge damage considering your AD is so high you will probably already hit crits of close to 600 before this, and now you will hit for close to 900-1000. Another interesting thing about Talon and critical hits, you do more damage if the target if affected by CC, and that includes critical hits.

Boots of Swiftness
Stats: Enhanced Movement 3.
Alright so whats an assassins goal? To kill people. In order to kill people you need to be able to catch them, and with these your movement speed will be around 435 I believe. Plus with this specific pair of boots you can be in combat and still move the same speed rather than if you used which if you get into combat your slowed, which can be rather annoying...

Frozen Mallet
Stats: 20 Attack Damage, 700 Health.
Okay okay, now we make our way to one of the most important items on this CC prince. The Frozen Mallet is the perfect item for a dps assassin especially Talon. First it gives you AD, which is nice. Then it gives you 700 hp which is amazing, plus you get an later on. The next interesting thing would be that every single auto attack now slows, guess what. That is a form of crowd control... DING DING DING!!!! Talon does more damage if they are CC'd and now EVERY hit slows... this will increase his damage output by a lot.

The Bloodthirster
Stats: 60 attack Damage, 15% Lifesteal.
As I said before you want to put out a huge amount of damage really fast. The Bloodthirster is not lacking on damage by any means, it is the second highest amount of AD added by any AD item. But there's one flaw, it's a double edged sword. When you first get this item, it only adds 60 AD and 15% life steal. Now if you kill champions or minions it gets a stack, it is filled after 40 stacks and it's stats change to 100AD and 25% life steal!

Banshee's Veil
Stats: 375 Health, 375 mana, 50 Magic Resist.
Since your a champion that does a ******ed amount of damage, you WILL be focused.. I promise you. So in order to stop from being killed instantly we need to find a way to stop you from getting held in place. UNIQUE PASSIVE: Cancels the effect of the next incoming unfriendly ability. Meaning you can get your *** out of there, or turn around and kill them all. Plus it adds almost 400 health, which again helps you get more AD from your .

Atma's Impaler
Stats: 45 Armor, 18% Critical Strike Chance.
Here is your last item, and one of the most important ones. First it adds 45 armor, which is good because your really squishy, next it adds critical chance, which again is nice because of your . But the real power behind this item is it's passive. UNIQUE PASSIVE: 2% of your maximum health is turned into AD. You have a and your which when added together will add a pretty decent amount of AD.

Early/ Mid and Late Gameplay

Early Game

Philosopher's stone

Early game for a champion is very important, especially when they have control over a very vital lane, Top. When your team dominates Top lane, they can push almost non stop which messes with the other team synchronization. For Talon, start with a and 1x then make your way to where your jungler is to protect him until everyone is in lane, then head to your own lane. If possible stay until you have roughly 2400 gold. Go back and buy your philosopher stone, and a .

Your goal during this section of the game is to last hit minions, and try to kill your opponent as often as possible, pretty basic right? It's very complex but it does take a lot of skill. Not many champions in this game have a great early game, Talon's is eh.. He just does no damage.

Mid Game

Alright so now you have made it to about like 20-30 minutes, you have been doing pretty good up top, lets say your 4/2/1. That's a good score! But now here's where Talon starts his path to destruction. By this point you will grab your finished and making your way towards your . As explained in the section above, the frozen mallet is gonna make your damage sky rocket, and it gets ever better in this stage. Soon after you will get your hand on the . Basically you could now officially walk up an and probably kill her with just and followed by an auto attack. Talon just gets better and better with each stage, but it just massively the second he hits mid game.

Late Game

This is the final stage of the game, where basically everyone is level 16-18, people have near finished builds and we get to see Talon's power just once again. The might not add damage, but in a sense you're going to be doing more damage, because you're going to die less. The magic resist and health are nice, but its passive to cancel the next unfriendly ability is amazing for an assassin. Then we get to see the power of the ... get ready to auto attack for like 1200 damage. By this point if you and in a team fight, you should literally half hit their entire team, maybe even lower for the squishies. Your goal by late game is all team fights, it is to be dominant to a point where the other team feels like they have no chance at victory.

Warding

This section will explain what warding is, where to ward, and why it is so important.

Order of priority:

Baron/Dragon Wards:

However you decide to set these up with your team, whether it be orderly among the team or supports only buy wards, make sure these are always laid out! Baron and Dragon are what we're primarily keeping an eye on here. Early in the match it's not as important obviously, however, you still need to know whether top, mid, or bot will be set up for a gank when enemy laners/junglers are wandering about. These early kills can help the enemy sculpt the rest of the match and land a victory. We don't want to be allowing the enemy to kill either Baron or Dragon. That's a good chunk of gold that will distribute among their team, not to mention Baron's handy buff. Again, don't overlook these wards!

Self Privacy Wards:

There's orange points at top, mid, and bot hiding locations. I would hope that your entire team would try to ward the areas entitled to them. These wards are not entirely important, however, they are lifesavers. Junglers and wandering laners will use these bushes to set up for early kills. If you're pushing your lane, then it would be a good idea to ward the bush(es) that are closest to you.

Team Privacy Wards:

These are crucial wards to put out if the match can go either way by eliminating possible ambushes when pushing minions or entering your own jungle.

Game Changing Wards:

Of course all of the wards posted on the map are capable of changing the outcome of a game, but these wards are placed in a location that both teams will always drift by. Reasons to go through the wards (for both teams): Getting to Baron and dragon, changing lanes, shifting from allied jungle to the enemy's jungle (either by self or team) to steal mobs/buffs, shifting as a team to gank the enemy team, etc. If you just have a ward on either Baron and/or dragon, you can still miss the enemy slipping by into your jungle never knowing it. This allows enemies to set up ganks. Therefore, these wards change the outcome of a game because you know whats coming.

Invading Wards:

I thought it was appropriate to name these wards in this manner because you can enter their bushes knowing whether they're there or not before you attempt to set up a gank. The enemy usually walks through these bushes hoping to freely enter their jungle for experience/gold and/or buffs.

Buff Wards:

Monitor your's and enemy's buffs with these wards. Good to set in your own jungle if they start playing dirty and snatching buffs early game from your jungle. These wards are primarily for the junglers of each team.