Hello and welcome to my first guide. Talon is my main and I use him to dominate mid lane. I am highly confident in my skills with this character and would like to teach others how I play him. He counters almost every AP caster in the game. If played sufficiently he can go up against any character in lane. He is more than capable of carrying teams to victory and can be used to reach higher elo. Please leave comments informing me of how I can make my guide better or of any questions you may have.

The Pros

He has great burst DPS
Great at Closing Gaps
Hard to Gank
Shuts down AP Carries and other squishys
Great Peel

The Cons

Easy to counter
Weak vs tanks
Squishy
Item Reliant

Mid Lane

Talon is a mid lane character! This is the lane he has the best presence in. Not only does counter almost all of the meta characters for this lane but he is almost impossible to gank. With such a short lane he can move around as he pleases. This is where he should be played most of the time.

Top Lane

Talon top lane can be very efficient the only problem is he has almost no laning presence to over half of the meta top lane characters. I wouldn't reccomend going top with Talon unless you know you won't get counter picked or you are very confident in your abilities as him.

Jungle...

First off Talon jungle is worthless. Yes he has some amazing ganks but there are to many other better junglers. Talon is very mobile and can easily move from mid lane to top or bot lane for ganks. Which elimantes any reason of why someone would jungle him. SO DON'T DO IT

Kill Lane Bot

I think that there should always be a support but if it has to happen Talon can run a great kill lane... I'm just saying.

Noxian Diplomacy When this ability is used your next attack will deal bonus physical damage and cause the target to take bleed damage giving you sight on them for several seconds. Something to take into account with this spell is if you're already auto attacking and you activate it, the attack is instant. To gain maximum skill capability make sure the target is slowed procing Mercy and using it instantly after an auto attack.
Rake has several uses and is one of my favorite spells. The attack is almost instantaneous making it extremely hard to dodge. It is good for getting cs, harassing, fighting, and chasing targets. I use it to dwindle my opponents hp down so I can kill them with a full combo. Also a great peel to save allies.
Cutthroat The reason why all the poor mages are so terrified of Talon. This spell blinks on top of targets, amplifies damage, and silences. If possible you should always cutthroat to your target before doing your full combo. In some situations this spell can be used to jump to enemy minions, whether to close in on a target or escape. It is also a wonderful juke tool. If you cutthroat while an enemy is chasing you Talon instantly turns in the direction he cutthroats.
Shadow Assault This is Talon's ultimate. It sends out a ring of blades that after a few seconds trace back to Talon. The Blades deal damaging going out and coming back in. The damage output is the same regardless of how many targets they pass through. If the ultimate is activated again while the blades are up they will be instantly returned to talon. During the ult you are invisible with a move speed buff giving you the chance to chase and get in front of enemies doing maximum damage. In some cases it is more useful to double tap the spell doing high burst DPS giving the target no time to escape the blades.

Early Game/ Laning Phase

When going for a kill early game I normally wait for level 6 but I take the kills before then obviously if they come. I use Rake to dwindle my targets health pool down. Once they reach around 50%-60% I go in with a full combo. Which consist of cutthroat, auto-attack, Noxian Diplomacy, Rake, double tap Shadow Assault. This combo keeps your cutthroat damage increase up for the entire combo and allows the mercy to proc for when you ult always keep ignite in mind. A lot of times those silly squishy mages will get down to even 35% health at this point they tend to always stay out of range of cutthroat and Rake. So what you do is cutthroatto a minion in close range, instantly Rake, Shadow Assault, Ignite. Ignite will cause your blades to come back to you so you won't have to double click the spell. Every time you get into a solo fight with someone throughout the game you should go with the first combo stated. Don't waste your ult unless you need to escape or you think you can get a kill.

Late Game/ Team Fights

In team fights Talon is so mobile he can be everywhere and he should. You are squishy and you must remove yourself from harms way. When a team fight erupts I tend to jump on a adc or apc do my full rotation and instantly kill them, but that can't always be the case. Instead of blowing my ult right away I normally Rake as many targets as possible and then cutthroat to a single out target. I use Noxian Diplomacy and Rake as much as possible when I notice several targets or one key target are getting around 35-50 percent health I use Shadow Assault trying to damage as many units as possible.

Greater Mark of Desolation - The simple reasoning for these marks over straight attack damage marks is you don't build armor pen until late to mid game.
Greater Seal of Armor - You're a squishy assassin and while you may be laning against ability power characters... Those sneaky janglers tend to be attack damage. Having these seals can buy you the time you need to get from mid lane to the oh so holy tower.
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - Not to be captain obvious but if your looking at this build you are probably wanting to counter some AP carries. So Magic resist always helps.
Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage - To be short and sweet these help with last hitting minions.

Talon is a burst damage assassin so I go with most of the meta AD masteries. Although I make sure to put 3 points into vamprisim helping with sustain. Two more really important talents to be conscious off are Expanded Mind and Swiftness . Talon tends to have mana problems and the larger base mana pool really helps. Also the small bonus move speed from Swiftness can help talon get in range of a Rake or cutthroat diminishing all hope from his targets. Don't forget that you are the mid laner and buffs will more than likely be coming to you so Runic Affinity is always a good choice.

I start Boots and three Health Potion I find this to be the most optimal start to most characters. This start helps dodge harass, get around faster, and minimal sustain. I build two Dorans Blade next they give me enough sustain in lane, health, and attack damage for 950g. My next item is tier two boots normally Mercury's Treads but it depends on the opposing teams comp. I start building Bloodthirster next it gives me great sustain enough life steal to be a little more tanky and I can start getting stacks from the passive. My next item is a Phage it gives a chance to proc mercy with ad and health stats. By this point in the game a few people normally have at least Cloth Armor or a Chain Vest. So I build The Brutalizer to counter that. After that is built I either finish Frozen Mallet or Infinity Edge. The mallet keeps mercy proced at all times, while IE is just an amazing damage item. After those are built I finish my Youmuu's Ghostblade which has great stats and an amazing use affect. For my final item I get a phantom dance for the extra crit chance and move speed.

Maw of Malmortius

This item is great for counter mages with awesome passives.

Warmog's Armor

This item makes Talon more tanky and it is viable especially with Frozen Mallet.

Atma's implaer

is a must buy with these two items it gives bonus ad based on your health plus armor and crit chance.

Last Whisper

Sometimes they like to stack armor.

Warden's Mail

If you have to get armor I would recommend buying this and upgrading to Randuin's Omen for your last item.

Trinity Force

is a great item yes, but I've played around 200 games on Talon and from my experience it is not the way to go. It is a very simple explanation why so read this please before voting. Tri force procs every two seconds giving you 150% damage that is why people buy that item. That is pointless. Everything you would get out of tri force im giving you better. We are getting the Frozen Mallet which procs mercy every time you attack and makes you more tanky. Infinity Edge Makes your crits do 150% weapon damage the same as tri force. With my build you will have 70% crit chance while attacking once every second. Tri force procs every 2 seconds. If you do 100 attack at 70% crit 70/100 of those attack should deal 150% weapon damage. While Tri Force only procs with spells.

For my skill sequence I max Rake at level 9. Using it as my main harass and for csing if i'm being zoned. I max out Noxian Diplomacy next for the large instant damage it deals. I max cutthroat last always taking a point in it at level 2. Shadow Assault I do just like every other ult 6, 11, and 16.

Flash I think this is a must on almost every character. It can be used to clear gaps or escape. While Talon is a master of escape he has his limits. It is always nice having a tool to instantly blink over walls or get in range to finish an enemy.
Ignite This spell is simple it reduces healing done to a target and does true damage over 5 seconds. when in the mid lane you have to kill your opponent fast or cc the sh*t out of them. This is because the tower is such a short distance away. Your combo is not always going to kill the target and this spell can insure the kill. Just an FYI ignite counters dat swain ult giving you enough time to dps him down.
Exhaust is a good choice to it keeps your enemies from doing any real damage and it keeps your mercy proced.

Yes you will be putting out insane amounts of damage but you have the skills to peel your carries. If you see your adc getting targeted in a team fight throw out a Rake so he can kite. Make smart choices most of the time you are the most agile champion on the field. Target the right characters. In a team fight late game you can take an adc carry out before he knows what hit him. Just follow the combo I gave you. Don't give up free kills unless the team has a pink ward on the battle site or oracles, Shadow Assault makes you untargetable. You can leave the fight for a second then come back in with a rake and the rest of your CDs.

Talon is a great champ and should be used to counter pick AP Carries. He should be built to put out a lot of DPS and be able to move around the battle field with ease. He is a dominant champion and can be used in all settings. This guide is an outline and you should always juxtapose your opponents to your build while playing Talon and with every character. For people new to Talon I highly recommend you watch his summoner showcase. It shows him in action. Letting you see the range of his spells, how they work, and etc. Play Video