This is my first guide, and I just signed up to MOBAfire today after surfing guides for a few months now. I hope you enjoy this guide, as I'll most likely be taking comments/criticism and using them to shape this guide for future reference.


-TO LEARN ALL THAT I HAVE TO OFFER, PLEASE READ THE FULL GUIDE. IT'S ACTUALLY A PRETTY SIMPLE READ...c'mon guys.-

Talon to me seems like a perfect character; he does high attack damage with extremely low CD's on his spells (particularly his amazing ultimate) and has the ability to farm with his W (Rake) skill early game with the very low mana requirement. His W skill also comes in handy throughout the game, as it slows enemy champions AND provides Talon the +10% bonus damage from his passive. Not to mention, it hits whoever it goes through TWICE. His E ability is great for chasing down characters/silencing and flashing away with the 1 second stealth, and combined with his Q skill, can do some massive damage.

IMPORTANT: Talon should be played as all stealthy assassin character's should be played. Do not engage, you really need to work well with your teammates to display Talon's true prowess. Combining spells (Such as your Ult with Amumu's, Nunu's, Fiddlestick's, etc.) is by far the most effective way to play with Talon. With this guide you will be utilizing speed and heavy burst damage.

Many people say Talon is a very weak character in ranked games. This isn't true at all, I've won every ranked game I've played with him, simply by playing intelligently, putting myself in good positions, and waiting for the right moments to mount an assault with my teammates. With the high speed, you can easily roam from lane to lane and through the jungles getting massive amounts of minion kills, all while being able to readily help your teammates.

Pros

-Extremely low cooldowns on ULT and other spells
-Very little mana required to spam some skills and farm with W. Rake
-Great escapability in his ultimate combined with high speed mid game
-Very good damage when combos are done right
-His Q spell can be used to do extra damage to towers, kind of like Nasus' Q.
-Possibly the best user of Yuumuu's Ghostblade's active.

Cons

-Quite squishy
-If you don't have your ult, BE CAREFUL

For runes, I felt like I didn't need to change much from my original AD rune setup. The armor penetration (+25 from 3 Quints of Deso and 9 Marks of Deso) is useful for the entire game, especially early seeing as it allows Talon to do true damage.

I chose Seal of Resilience for the extra +13 armor. I originally had 9 Seal's of Clarity, but the Seal's of Resilience make laning against a good team much easier.

The glyphs I chose Glyphs of Celerity (which was also already set up on my AD rune page). These come in handy throughout the game, seeing as how they can shorten his already low ultimate CD into a basically non-existent CD.

For quints...I can see some versatility here, but I chose the 3 Quints of Deso.

Pretty basic. I put one point into Cripple because Exhaust is a GOD spell for Talon. This is insane for early game damage and first bloods.

Well...the items is the main part that everyone comes to look at a guide for. So here it is. I chose this item sequence after playing a few games with Talon. Of course, it is true that items are very, I repeat, VERY DEPENDENT ON THE TEAM YOU ARE FACING. I chose this main setup after playing a few games with Talon, and it seems to be the best way to SCALE YOUR ITEM BUILD

First of all, Doran's Blade is obvious. Extremely useful with the +100 health, +3% lifesteal, and +10 damage, it's the best item to start with.

Second, Merc. Tread's are insanely useful. The magic resist and the tenacity are god-sends for Talon. I recommend getting these ASAP.

Third, The Brutalizer. Good damage and armor penetration, along with 10% cooldown reduction is perfect. This will allow you to do heady damage early on and jungle pretty easily for a bit while you farm for your next item, Zeal.

Zeal is a necessity for Talon early on. The speed/crit/att. speed is just an all around great thing. With Merc. Treads you will reach 395 speed with Talon (unless you decide to get Quint's of Swiftness). 395 speed is NOT ENOUGH for Talon. I highly suggest getting Zeal and either going straight for Phantom Dancers, or getting your fairly cheap Yuumuu's Ghostblade and then getting Phantom Dancers.

PHANTOM DANCERS BOOST YOUR SPEED TO AROUND 446 - THIS IS CRUCIAL FOR THIS BUILD. SPEED IS KEY WITH TALON

Now, for your next main damage item...I chose Blood Thirster. Now you can go either Infinity Edge or Blood Thirster, but I like the sustainability that comes with Blood Thirster, and if you can put it to use and get that extra +40 attack damage it will be great for every skill you use. Infinity Edge is also a great option, with the 250% crit. damage. Obviously this build is built around crit/heavy burst damage.

Lastly, Frozen Mallet. I haven't gotten far enough into a game with Talon to purchase this item, but I could see it being perfect late game. Many guides show Frozen Mallet as a mid game item...I don't. It's very expensive, it adds only +20 attack damage (which is extremely low for such an expensive item, seeing as how attack damage affects ALL OF YOUR SKILLS). The 700 health is great, but not as necessary as high attack damage/speed. The slow proc. on the Frozen Mallet is why people purchase this item, but mid game the +10% damage from Talon's passive is really not effective, especially if you buy this item BEFORE you get a main damage item. Plus - with the cooldown runes/Yuumuu's Ghostblade, you will have a very low cooldown on your Rake spell.



-So basically, imagine you're in a huge team fight and your team's tank is doing work. First of all, you need to ulti, this will allow you to do damage to everyone and stealth for 2.5 seconds. While stealthed, you can do a lot of things, but possibly the most useful one is activating Yuumuu's Ghostblade. This allows you to attack 50% faster and allows you +20% movement speed for 4 seconds. Oh wait..it allows this for 12 seconds, as long as you get 4 basic melee attacks in. This can be incredible for draining any one on any team and can allow your ult to be even MORE of a gamechanger.-

Trinity Force. I see this in every guide, and I see it on every Talon I've played so far. Guess what - I end up winning every battle, and every game.

INCLUDING RANKED GAMES (which I have yet to see a guide that Talon has won ranked games in)

I'll say it again

- I END UP WINNING EVERY BATTLE AGAINST A TALON WITH TRINITY FORCE WHEN FOLLOWING MY GUIDE -

If you crunch the numbers, you will see what I mean. The benefits of SCALING your items heavily outweigh the benefits of an overpriced, mediocre Talon item.

W. Rake. USE IT ALWAYS. When in a team fight, use Rake and go to town. The slow/extra damage it provides you is great. This spell is your bread and butter for farming, and can also clean up those pesky last hits when your Cutthroat skill is on cooldown.

Q. Noxian Diplomacy. A great skill for combining with E Cutthroat and attacking towers. This skill has a very low cooldown and the blood trail it leaves on enemies can be great for getting your E Cutthroat skill off if they flash away or get behind a barrier

E. Cutthroat. You need a point in this by level 2. It allows you to finish up those last hits, and with the one second stealth/silence you can get out of sticky situations if you're good with it.

R. Shadow Assault. WOW is all I can say for this. Just an amazing spell with an incredibly low cooldown. Use this in team fights/use it in general seeing as it has such a low cooldown. This is your greatest escaping ability. The 2.5 second stealth is insanely awesome. You can use this to fool people if you're very quick about it. This ultimate is just awesome all the way around.

I would say...the best example of what you would want to do would be...

W (Rake them for extra damage/slow) -> Q (Charge up spell) -> E (Cutthroat to silence/attack)

or

R (Ult them, put some damage into them, while in stealth you...) -> Q -> W -> E

or

E -> R -> Q -> W

or..

well you'll figure it out. There are a lot of different combos he can do. Sometimes using E Cutthroat to teleport in onto them and attacking them once/raking them and THEN using Q is the way to go, seeing as how Q will cancel out the delay in attack speed, basically allowing you a double attack.

-DON'T FORGET, YOU HAVE YUUMUU'S GHOSTBLADE ACTIVE-

Exhaust - Godlike. Perfect for first bloods and applies Talon's passive.

Flash - Great all around, can be devastating if combined with Talon's ult and stealth.

Talon is a very easy character to use, but to truly master him may take some time. Playing him in ranked games often poses a challenge, but his ability to farm with Rake can boost a bad early start into a strong late game.

Also, make sure you use your ultimate as often as possible, seeing as it has a low cooldown. But make sure you don't chase or engage without it.