Hi, welcome to my guide for Talon. My name is Vibby1999 and I have been a Talon main since season 5. I play on the EUW server, and while im not ranked Diamond or something insane I still feel I can share some of the things Ive learnt on Talon. I've noticed that most Talon guides out now are sort of awkward in the fact that they dont utilise the tiamat effectively, so I decided to create my own. I want to say a huge thanks to Vapora Dark, as it was his old Talon guide that I learnt so many of these things from. Before I start I want to say that there may be other viable build paths for Talon without Ravenous Hydra, but I want to create one involving it as I

Pros:

Good Burst potential
Roams well
Strong early game
Good waveclear
AoE damage source

Cons:

No CC apart from a slow
Gets shut down by hard cc/peel
Is squishy
Becomes pretty useless if he falls behind

Overall I think after weighing out the pros and cons, Talon is definitely a champion worth playing if you want to assassinate one single target in the enemy team, or wreak havoc onto their backline with your AoE. While he does have his weaknesses I think his strengths outdo them if you know how to play Talon right

Alright. For summoner spells I recommend taking Flash and Ignite

Flash:
Flash is an essential summoner spell on most champions in the game as it has an extremely versatile use case scenario. It can be used to chase/ gap close or escape ganks or from a bad position. While your E can also take you over walls, if you are caught with no walls to jump to and your ult is on cooldown then you would be in a bit of a pickle. I cant count how many times I have flashed to a wall and hopped over it, saving my life. In addition, flash can be used to get into melee range for the Q bonus damage if you need it, or can be used to get closer if your Q is just outside its jump range. As you can see there are so many uses of this versatile summoner spell that it would not make sense to forgo it for something else

Ignite:
Ignite is a great summoner spell on assassins. It adds a true damage damage over time effect that allows you to finish off low health champions that you wouldn't have been able to kill. Its a great offensive summoner and allows you to maximise your damage output in lane/ during a teamfight if you really need to kill the enemy ADC or mid laner. Personally, there has bee nmany times where I have secured kills with ignite that I gouldnt get otherwise. Furthermore, it adds the effect of reduced healing, so if you plan on fighting someone with a lot of lifesteal igniting them just before you burst them will make it much easier to dispose of them as they wont be able to lifesteal back up your damage.

Other Options

Exhaust:
While I dont personally like exhaust on Talon, this summoner spell can be useful against champions like a Zed, Syndra or high damage/ attack speed enemy ADC. Also, you can use it to slow down targets allowing you to catch up to them, and makes it hard for them to trade back with you as exhaust reduces attack speed. While it doesnt have the same in lane kill potential, it can also deter others from trying to burst you down, and thats always nice :)

Teleport:
Generally not taken on mid lane Talon, because the lane is so short you can parkour back easily when you get homeguards, and your roam potential is very good since you're in the mid lane and can roam both bottom and top. However for top lane Talon I can see the reason you would take it, as it offers you the ability to split push and join your team on the opposite side of the map, as well as teleport bot, which is pretty far from top, to make a play or save your bot lane.

So for skill max I go in the order of R>W>Q>E.

Obviously I max the ultimate whenever I can as this is a really good source of AoE damage, an escape, and gives you movement speed and stealth allowing you to make some interesting play I will talk about later on

The W is the first normal ability I max. Your W is your main harass, poke and waveclear tool early on in the game. Its very good for laning phase because it also adds two stacks of your passive if you land it twice, which is why Talon is so strong early on. Later in the game your W still does a good amount of damage and functions as a niche slow if you need it.

I max Q second, as this ability is your main gap closer. Maxing Q second is really good because it lowers the cooldown allowing you to gap close and chase really well. In laning phase you mostly use your Q for clutch lasthitting minions and trading after you land both parts of your w, and it gives you a small heal which is nice. A big part of your Q is the ability to crit inside melee range to do a LOT of damage, which means the Q is also useful for massive damage later on in the game, where you will be finding yourself up close and personal with enemy adcs and mid laners.

Lastly, I max E third because it is mostly used as a wallhop escape and roaming tool. The cooldown stays the same from rank one to 5 and is quite low at 2 seconds. The only thing that changes is the duration before you can hop over the same wall again, which you wont need much until later on in the game anyways. Tjis also outputs no damage, and as a burst champion that relies on assassinating, you want as much damage *** you can do

Now I now that the item set looks a little weird at first, but let me walk you through it

The very first item you want to rush is the tiamat. The reason I build tiamat on talon is because firstly im just used to it from old season 5 Talon where it was the best build, and secondly because it really boosts your waveclear and damage output. You can fit it really well into your damage combo to maximise damage output too.

After the tiamat, you should get yoummus ghostblade. This is an undeniable core item on Talon, as it gives your lethality, which is very good on talon and allows you to assassinate things quicker. It also gives you a very nice attack damage bump which is always god on Talon as he purely scales off AD and no AP. Furthermore, You get 10% cooldown reduction which feels really nice as your abilities are on lower cooldowns, esoecially that ultimate which you want to use quite often later in the game. Finally, its active gives you a boost in movement speed and attack speed which allows you to roam even better, catch target, and pull off some realy interesting and sneaky combos. Overall this item synergizes really well with Talon's kit and compliments him nicely.

Once you have built these two items, you are free to pick whatever you want from the item pool, although I would not recommend randomly building without thinking, as they are all good items on Talon. Depending on the situation you should chose which item to build. Nowadays most people build lethality on Talon, which is probably the best way to go for raw damage output as it's very strong right now. But you can also build the other items if you need to. For example, against strong AP burst like Syndra you can build Maw of Malmortious as it gives you a nice sheild from the AP burst. If the enemy mid laner has one CC spell that is super important to dodge, like a lux Q, you can go for Mercurial Scimtar, even though Edge of Night functions similarly it has a channel time, which means if you are caught of guard you are still boned.

For boots, I generally go for boots of mobility, because it augments your roaming potential and has synergy with your E as well. However, you can also opt for other boots. Say they have a lot of slows, then boots of swiftness can be a good choice. If they have a lot of CC, then merc treads may be a good option, and lastly with the popularity of lethality, ninja tabis are a really good option to recuse the AD damage you take.

As I said earlier, Runes are really down to personal preference.

Marks:
I like to go for lethality reds, as lethality is a really strong stat right now on Talon and they offer really good increased damage early game. However, you can also go for flat attack damage marks, as attack damage is always a nice stat to have on Talon as he scales purely off AD.

Seals:
Personally, the seals I use are scaling health seals because it gives me some nice health and durability later on in the game, however it is definitely viable to run flat armor yellows as well, especially if you are against an AD match up. I will often switch to flat armor seals if playing against a Zed, Jayce, or champion of that sort

Glyphs:
I run 6 scaling MR glyphs, because AP damage dealers take some time to scale up usually, and the scaling MR glyphs offer more MR later on in the game than flat MR. However, I also run 3 flat MR glyphs just in case I am matched against an AP champion that does good early game damage and trades well. You can also run scaling CDR blues if you would like, as it gives your spells a much lower cooldown which is always nice. However, I personally reach 30% CDR anyways most of the time so I dont find this necessary personaly.

Quintessences:
The best quint in my opinion on Talon, is the flat AD quint as it adds to your early game damage, trading, and csing. As Talon is strong early game, doing more damage in the early game is a very good bonus and makes it more likely that you will snowball. Another viable option is quints of lethality, as this is a strong stat on Talon as well. But since I get lethality from my marks anyways I generally dont find it necessary to get lethality quints.

For masteries, most Talons run 12/18/0

This is simply because thunderlods decree is the best synergy for most burst champions, to help with their burst damage and laning. The rest of the small mastery choices are down to personal preference as well, but I will cover the most important ones.

Precision > Inteligence:
While I said that CDR is a nice stat to have on Talon, lethality is even better. And precision gives you a boost in lethality making it a better choice

Wanderer > Savagery:
Savagery helps with csing, but it only 5 more damage and Talon is AD anyways, which makes it easy to physically last hit. Wanderer compliments your roaming, because you are out of combat. Therefore, I choose wanderer

Sorcery > Fury:
Since Talon's main damage comes from abilities, you want increased ability damage and not attack speed

Natural Talent> Vampirism:
Like I said, Talon's main damage is abilities, so you want as much ability damage as possible

Bounty Hunter> Battle Trance & Double Edged Sword:
This is a hard choice as they all offer damage increase but each is unique in its own way. Here bounty hunter gives you the most at 5% so I chose that, but if the enemy has some unkillable tanks then battle trance or double edged sword may be a better choice.

Welcome to the Combos chapter. Here you will find intricate Talon combos that can be pulled of in different situations

Main Damage Combo:
Your skill sequence is : Q + AA + W + T(iamat) + AA + R
This combo is the standard combo you use when you want to assassinate a target fairly close or with his team. It gives you a good amount of damage and allows you to use the R stealth to get out afterwards.

Full Damage Combo:
Your skill sequence is: AA + Q + AA + W + T + AA + R + R + Ignite
To use this combo you must be in melee range of the champion to begin with, therefore this is good if you want to all in someone in lane, they are a melee champion, and you have the time to do so. This combo makes use of all your damage including both parts of your R and Ignite if you have it up. However, this combo takes longer to do that the first one and if your already ahead then most people will not come into your melee range. Therefore, this isnt the most practical combo to use. Note: you might want to ignite first against certain champs.

Stealth Combo:
Your skill sequence: R + Y(oummus) + Q(Flash optional) + AA + W + T + AA
This combo is very good if you want to assassinate someone off in a side lane, or roam and dont want them to see you coming. This makes use of your R stealth to sneak up on unsuspecting enemies and basically has the same effect as the old rengar ult without the indicator. However, this combo is hard to pull off as you have to R at the right time so you ult before they can see you, but not so much before that you dont reach them in time. I still sometimes mess this combo up.

Laning/Trading Combo:
Your Skill sequence: W + Q + AA
This is just your basic trading and harass combo in lane, it procs your passive as long as you hit both W parts and does good damage, especially at level 2 where it can be the start of an all in. It doesnt kill the enemy usually though.

During early game(pre 6), you should aim to bully your lane opponent if you can and win the lane matchup. Once you hit 6 you should try to either look for an all in, or if you can then shove your wave into his/her tower and look for roams. If you haven't backed already back when you can afford tiamat.

Mid - Late Game you should look to work with your team to get successful flanks of onto their backline, or alternatively if you team isnt the co operating type look to get picks on people in the side lanes. Group with your team for objectives however, and while they take it you can wait nearby for any unsuspecting enemies. You can also wait for a wave of you minions to build up in a side lane and hide in a bush nearby. If the wave is large then an enemy is bound to come to clear it. If it is an enemy squishy then you can surprise them and kill them, and if it is a tank rotate back to another lane where your team is and pressure that tower. If the jungler comes you can either kill him and go for an objective or just rotate and tell your team to do the objective. If no enemies show up just split push and pressure their tower and take it. This is a good way to create an advantage for your team

In conclusion Talon is great champion to play if you feel like having some fun while doing good damage to enemy squishies. While he suffers against tanks, Talon can gain a great advantage early game and snowball it to help his team gain victory. Thanks you for taking your time to read this guide, even though it may not be as visually pleasing. I hope you learned something or gained some valuable information on how to play Talon and his role in his team.

Peace Peace