Talon Build Guide by Atharil

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Here is the English version. There will be also the choice of the Polish version of the same guide if I had time for translate it. Welcome comments and ratings :)

Intro

Hi there. A couple weeks ago I bought Talon and liked play him. I've read many guides at mobafire.com, solomid.net and lolpro.com and decided to create my own guide. Just try to play as I have written here.

Talon is such a very good killer, assassin who can destroy every enemy mid if he is played well. He is coutner for many popular champions who usually can go to mid-lane for example Morgana, Kassadin, Gragas. He is strong AD champion so it's innovation in games at mid. Talon can do a lot of damage, because of his burst, he can use 2 auto-attacks (if you play well and got 399 speed at start). Both are amplified by 15% from Cutthroat, so why don't we easily kill the enemy?

Talon is a champion who should be played at Mid-lane. You can pick him when you are not first pick (you can easily counter enemy!) and when enemy take Veigar, Gragas, Ahri, LeBlanc. I do not recommend playing Talon at solo top, because there are a lot of champions who could delete u. Only versus Fiora, Talon is good. Or against weak Riven players. Try to avoid fighting versus Mordekaiser, Yorick and of course Malphite, terror of top-lane.

"The three deadliest blademasters in all of Valoran are bound to the house of Du Couteau: my father, myself, and Talon. Challenge us, if you dare." - Katarina du Couteau

Summoner Spells

Talon as Mid champion should has Ignite and Flash. Sometimes I see Talons with Heal and I do not encourage it. Other viable choice can be Exhaust & Flash but in my opinion, Mid needs Ignite to finish enemy off.

Runes

It would seem that as Talon should be played as every ad champ ;) but there a lot of choices. I prefer runes like these:

A lot of speed! 399 speed at the beginning* let us escape quickly and deal damage faster. Talon uses Mana so I think Greater Seal of Replenishment could be good to use our abilities more often. Greater Mark of Attack Damage are also good, we have more AD thanks to them. Greater Glyph of Magic Resist could be best side of defence before enemy Mid champ (Of course, we assume that our opponent will be standard form AP - eg Morgana, Kennen, because if we fight against AD character, we need to change our runes). When we fighting against Tryndamere, Pantheon, Xin Zhao at Mid we need to take Greater Seal of Armor. There are many ways which runes we should take. Sometimes runes like Greater Mark of Desolation could be better than Greater Mark of Attack Damage, but I like extra starting AD.

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* Of course, if we started with Boots of Speed.

Masteries

I suggest to take these:

We need to be a destroyer, so options called   Executioner , Deadliness , Weapon Expertise and Sunder let our opponents will not stand a chance, our arts of killing will crush them completely. "Only fools pledge life to honor" - beacuse Talon is a killer. Swiftness is good choice to make us faster. Expanded Mind give us extra Mana per level. I do not recommend Runic Affinity because if we play solo, not always our jungler could give us Crest of Ancient Golem, because he could think he needs it more - then it would be a waste of 1 point in masteries. This way is safer. And we do not need Havoc , it is unnecessary for Talon.

Skills

Mercy is our innate skill. Every time when Talon does autoattack target that is slowed, stunned, immobilized or suppressed, he deals 10% additional damage to that target. Talon is a good option for team if your allies have a lot of Crowd Control .

"Q" - Noxian Diplomacy is a skill which make next Talon's autoattack (within the next 6 seconds) deals additional physical damage. If the target is a champion they will also bleed for 6 seconds, taking additional physical damage each second and revealing their location for the duration. Sometimes it is a great in conjunction with the Ignite. This ability can be used at turrets!

"W" - Rake - Talon sends out a volley of daggers in a cone that then quickly return back to him, every dagger is dealing physical damage to any enemies it passes through. Each enemy can only be damaged once at the start of the ability and once at the end. Additionally the enemy is slowed for 2 seconds, refreshing the duration of the slow if they are hit twice.

"E" - Cutthroat - Talon instantly appears behind his target, silencing them for 1 second and amplifying his damage against that target for 3 seconds. Great way to catch enemy's caster out. And it can be used to escape - Cutthroat at enemy minion and run!

"R" - Shadow Assault - Talon disperses a ring of blades outwards and gains stealth for up to 2.5 seconds while gaining 40% movement speed. When Talon emerges from stealth, the blades converge on his location. When the ring of blades expands and contracts, enemies hit receive physical damage. Each enemy can only be damaged once at the start of the ability and once at the end. Great ability to escape or to kill anyone.

Items

Starting items

I suggest to start with Boots of Speed and 3 Health Potions. It is a good way to survive longer at your lane, and thanks to Boots of Speed you can avoid a lot of abilities - eg Cassiopeias Noxious Blast or Miasma, Morgana's Dark Binding, Lux's Light Binding, Zyra's Grasping Roots, Syndra's Dark Sphere and many others! But I've seen once Talon with Boots of Speed, 1 Health Potions and 2 Mana Potions. Spammed like a boss.

Early-game items

After first return to base, I usually take 2 Doran's Blades and (if I had a lot of gold) - The Brutalizer. Sometimes, when is really hard, third Doran's Blade could be our hope to achieve win.

Boots

I usually use Mercury's Treads, I love the tenacity bonus they give. Mercury's Treads is our "must have" item. Never take Ionian Boots of Lucidity, because you need to have tenacity fighing against every mid-champion, who can stun or slow you. Also Boots of Swiftness are bad for Talon. These shoes give us only +3 enhanced movement, so there is no extra bonus like cooldown reduction or tenacity.

Mid-game items

Great item for Talon is The Bloodthirster, it is something as Rabadon's Deathcap for AD. If you want you can replace Doran's Blades for The Bloodthirsters. Also Hexdrinker is a good item for Talon. More The Bloodthirsters = more fun!

Late-game items

I suggest take Hexdrinker and we need to quickly improve it into Maw of Malmortius to defend against AP-mid characters when someone like enemy Ahri or LeBlanc is fed. Frozen Mallet will give us a lot of extra health and it make our enemies slower if we are hitting them. Maybe it is not the best way to increase our health, but it works. Sometimes these 700 hp can save us. But right, an assassin have to deal a lot of damage, you should kill the heavy damage dealers. I use it only when I am first aim to die. Infinity Edge - I will use it to deal more critical hits and it give us more AD, but, IMO, Last Whisper is just ideal to finish every who buy a lot of armor. For sustain I use Banshee's Veil, but sometimes usefull could be Frozen Heart if enemy AD is strong and fed. Or... a lot of The Bloodthirsters can save our life during fight :)

Situational items

As I usually say: "We need to play as our enemy let us". Sometimes we should protect ourselves firstly, then deal damage. If game is hard, we need to buy Quicksilver Sash, especially against Veigar or Malzahar. It let us stop theirs abilities. Guardian Angel is a great choice if we need to be initiator - we could count that we can die easily. Guardian Angel is so good, because it let us resurrect. Remember - all items are depended how enemies play.

I do not recommend

Sheen - we're not AP character. Building of this item is a waste of one of the six places in our inventory. We have no place for it. The same is true of Trinity Force. You can ask, why DO NOT buy Trinity Force, so I answer: Trinity Force is too expensive for Talon. For 4020 gold u can buy The Bloodthirster and there will be something extra for another item. Moreover, I agree with the opinion which Vapora's said there in the best Talon's guide about Trinity Force at Talon. I refer there, because the boy has counted all completely and I agree with him.

Pros / Cons

Pros:
+ very mobile champion, so we are able to gank with easily,
+ we can counter most AP carries,
+ Talon is great for single target focusing,
+ can be invisible for a moment,
+ strong auto-attack damage.
+ something like Kassadin played as AD champion, don't you think?
+ great synergy with Janna's Eye Of The Storm - it gives us a lot of extra AD, and a shield, so if you have Janna as support in your team, you could be happy.
+ dark, mysterious, assassin!

Cons:
- our team could need strong AP carry in late game,
- weak against AD characters or skilled Ryze and Cassiopeia, and against bruisers eg Mordekaiser,
- very mana hungry if we are samming abilities,
- it needs skill for play,
- if they have oracle, we are lost.

How to play?

Burst

After 3rd level, you can harass your enemy using Cutthroat, Noxian Diplomacy, and Rake in that order.

Poke

When you can, use Rake. Once, twice, and poof! Enemy is 200 hp...

Dodge

See that Morgana's using her "q" ability, Dark Binding? Just fastly use Cutthroat at her, she will be silenced and she will fall in panic! And of course, you avoided her trap.

Good bye, my lover

Start with Noxian Diplomacy - next autoattack will deal extra damage and effect, fast Cutthroat, autoattack and Rake, another autoattack, then Ignite and time for fun: use Shadow Assault to finish him! Remember to press "R" twice to deal damage, beacuse first "R" causes we are invisible surrounded by a magical blades.

Ganks

Remember to our innate ability Mercy inflicts increased damage weakened and stunned characters, so try to combine your activities with someone who can stun the opponent, in order to maximize your damage. Talon is good when you play with Udyr, Pantheon, Nautilius or Taric. Use autoattack when enemy is stunned by your ally. Next use all your skill to get the kill ;) Every time, when you can, go for a gank. It can help your team to achieve victory.

Summary

I really like to play as Talon. Sometimes I had a pleasure to counter Morgana and it was very nice. Playing as Talon give me a lot of fun and make me happy. Of course, one can say that Talon is not for everyone, but I think he is one of my favouirite champions in League of Legends. Come and enjoy to playing Talon and "Another body for the gutter" - as he says...


Thanks for every advice! Comment and vote please :) Enjoy!