Talon's earliest memories are the darkness of Noxus' underground passages and the reassuring steel of a blade. He remembers no family, warmth, or kindness. Instead, the clink of stolen gold and the security of a wall at his back are all the kinship he has ever craved. Kept alive only by his quick wits and deft thievery, Talon scraped out a living in the seedy underbelly of Noxus. His mastery of the blade quickly marked him as a threat, and Noxian guilds sent assassins to him with a demand: join their ranks or be killed. He left the bodies of his pursuers dumped in Noxus' moat as his response.

The assassination attempts grew increasingly dangerous until one assailant met Talon blade-for-blade in a match of strength. To his surprise, Talon was disarmed and facing down his executioner's sword when the assassin revealed himself to be General Du Couteau. The General offered Talon the choice between death at his hand, or life as an agent of the Noxian High Command. Talon chose life, on the condition that his service was to Du Couteau alone, for the only type of orders he could respect were from one he could not defeat. Talon remained in the shadows, carrying out secret missions on Du Couteau's orders that took him from the frigid lands of Freljord to the inner sanctums of Bandle City. When the general vanished, Talon considered reclaiming his freedom, but he had gained immense respect from Du Couteau after years in his service. He became obsessed with tracking down the general's whereabouts. Talon's suspicions led him to the doors of the Institute of War, where he joined the League of Legends in order to find those responsible for Du Couteau's disappearance.

"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

+ Best AD burster in game + Anti-AP champion + can make squishies entirely useless + no attack speed items required + squishy, yet survivability is high + has good CC, silence! + Rake very good farming ability and CC + can outburst the OP Akali + champions like Veigar are free kills + hard to target, can burst a enemy down and get away scott free

........

- silence is quite short, only 1 second - can still be easily hit when stealthed - **** burst early game - can be harassed in lane - on cd useless almost - ult deals really low damage - needs a buff on his damage amplification - passive useless if not used correctly - people hardly let you play him in ranked - worst skins ( my opinion )

My deaths are relatively high compared to my kills but i wasn't really taking end game serious, half of the games i play get surrendered early (explains the low kills). And believe me I am not insanely pro nor pro pro, im alright as a player, Talon just fits perfect for me so I dominate


Just more proof that Talon rocks, will update regularly if i play Talon like 5 times in a row. This time I didn't do so good, ELO HELL! but even if people feed be nice :)

When I started LoL believe it or not Talon had just come out, he was fresh and everyone was using him, I saw wild builds on him and people experimenting, as I levelled up and free week came I tried him out, I hated his guts, I thought he was weak and stupid and I just disliked him. What I didnt know, due to never playing these types of games from the start is that, he isn't DPS and his got a specific style to play.


I finally picked him up again after i hit about 450 winning games. I played about 40 games with him straight. And iv'e only lost about 10 from that. Ive had my build completed realistically about 15 times out of 40, including the selling of Doran's Blade, and the other games were all surrendered early. And I should note that i'm a decent player. I do really good with some champions and really bad with others. Talon striked me with the good. He is by far the best AD Burster in the entire game and that is fact.


Only regrett I have is not spamming his Rake before he got nerfed.


This is my third build, and it will inform everything about Talon. I know there are heaps of Burst Talon builds, but i believe this one will stand out more as a guide as a way to play talon. So don't just read 'EARLY, MID AND LATE GAME' read all the chapters as they all contribute a little information about how to play.


Talon is personally my facourite burster. The only champion I know that comes close is Akali but I believe she is outmatched since, usually the lifesteal I get from standard attacks is about 300 in a game that im doing really well. Max i have ever goten was 700 lifesteal back ffrom a standard attack when it critted :).

P.S view my other builds please =)

Talon is categorized as an assassin, his abilities and attributes make him an AD burster. You could say he is like the AD version of Akali, but with a much higher CD on his ultimate. He has stealth which fits in his assassin role, and has high burst damage meaning, he goes in lays down bombs ults in and ults out while stealted and walks away alive. This is what we should be aiming at in team fights ( more explanation in early,mid,late game chapter).



Mercy Mercy (Innate): Talon's autoattacks deal 10% additional damage to any target that is slowed, stunned, immobilized or suppressed.
Mercy is a passive ability. If Talon attacks an enemy unit under movement modifying crowd control, the base physical damage of his attack is increased by 10%.
■Mercy does not amplify the damage from on-hit effects, such as Noxian Diplomacy and items such as Sheen.

Ability Description Leveling up

Noxian Diplomacy (Active): Talon's next 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.

Cost: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 mana

Cooldown: 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 seconds

Additional Physical Damage: 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 (+0.3 per bonus attack damage)

Total DoT Damage: 18 / 36 / 54 / 72 / 90 (+1.2 per bonus attack damage)

Noxian Diplomacy is an autoattack enhancement that grants Talon a buff for a few seconds. His next autoattack will consume the buff, dealing bonus physical damage to the attacked target. If the target was an enemy champion it is also debuffed for a short duration afterwards, taking physical damage every half second and granting vision in an area around itself to Talon.
■Noxian Diplomacy will pop spell shield, preventing the debuff being applied.
■Noxian Diplomacy resets Talon's autoattack timer on cast.
■Champions in stealth are not revealed, although they still grant Talon vision of their surroundings.



Rake (Active): Talon sends out a volley of daggers in a cone that then quickly return back to him, 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.

■Cooldown: 10 seconds

■Range: 600

Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 mana

Physical Damage Per Hit: 30 / 55 / 80 / 105 / 130 (+0.6 per bonus attack damage)

Slow: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%

Rake is a pass-through conic skillshot that hurls out 3 blades, dealing physical damage and slowing enemy units they hit. Upon reaching their maximum range the blades then return to Talon's location, again dealing damage and slowing enemies in their path.
■Both hits of Rake procs spell vamp and Rylai's slow similarly with all area of effect spells and abilities with diminished effect.
■Both hits of Rake pops spell shield.
■Both hits of Rake will not damage Black Shield but the slow is negated.
■A specific enemy unit can only be hit twice by Rake, once on the initial cast and once on the return.



cutthroat Cutthroat (Active): Talon instantly appears behind his target, silencing them for 1 second and amplifying his damage against that target for 3 seconds.

■Range: 700

Cost: 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 mana

Cooldown: 18 / 16 / 14 / 12 / 10 seconds

Damage Amplification: 3 / 6 / 9 / 12 / 15%

Cutthroat is a single target ability that causes Talon to blink to a location linearly behind a target enemy unit, silencing it for 1 second. For 3 seconds afterwards, any damage dealt by Talon to the target is amplified by a percentage.
■ Black Shield will negate the silence but will not block the increased damage debuff.
■Cutthroat has no cast time.



Shadow Assault (Active): 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.

■Radius of AoE: 500

Cost: 80 / 90 / 100 mana

Cooldown: 75 / 65 / 55 seconds

Physical Damage Per Hit: 120 / 190 / 260 (+0.9 per bonus attack damage)

Shadow Assault is a point blank area of effect ability that sends out a circular array of blades, dealing physical damage to enemy units hit. Upon cast Talon enters stealth for a short time, gaining increased movement speed while the stealth remains. Upon exiting stealth the blades return to Talon's location, again dealing damage to enemies hit.
■Both hits of Shadow Assault procs spell vamp and Rylai's slow similarly with all area of effect spells and abilities with diminished effect.
■Both hits of Shadow Assault pops spell shield.
■Both hits of Shadow Assault will not damage Black Shield.
■A specific enemy unit can only be hit twice by Shadow Assault, once on the initial cast and once on the return.
■Stealth is entered immediately upon casting Shadow Assault. Any action other than movement will bring Talon out of stealth, triggering the blade's return.
■For the duration of the stealth, Shadow Assault can be re-activated to exit stealth manually.

Okay now it's time to explain the runes, why these are picked, why it isn't the standard magic resist and armor and armor penetration and the list goes on.


Greater Mark of Critical Chance: Simply crit chance runes. Now most people do not even buy critical chance runes and spam Bloodthirster. But if you are a Talon user, you will know if critted Talons Noxian Diplomacy, it is his strongest ability. This is not meant in an utilizing way, I am referring to damage wise, I've had Talons 'Q' crit 1.6K damage and 500 bleed damage over 5 seconds. His ulty cannot deal that much damage, and his Rake surely cannot. So you see these runes are a must for his burst to work effectively, with Youmuu's Ghostblade and Infinity Edge and his quintessence ruins, his 'q' is possibly the most damaging ability in game. Also i should note if somehow the champion doesn't die with his burst, his next initial standard attack will do over 1k meaning that will finish the job. (this is with full build).


Greater Seal of Critical Chance: More crit chance runes, why? because with these and your items you will have over 50 percent crit chance, you cannot afford to not crit with your Noxian Diplomacy.


Greater Glyph of Attack Speed: For glyphs, it is simply based on taste. Some people would say his mana gets eaten so his Rake cannot harass or farm good enough so they might go with mana runes. I on the other hand do not. Glyphs don't really have the good type of runes for Talon I believe so I go with what I think is best, attack speed runes. But you are thinking Talon is a burster why the hell does he have attack speed runes? The truth is you sometimes or most of the times won't be able to burst down a champ with one go with your abilities since you cannot always be fed and such. So if lets say burst Xin Zhao half way, what is going to happen? you're going to die. So these runes are needed for those occasions. And it fits PERFECTLY with your Youmuu's Ghostblade. Activate it and for 4 seconds you are a DPS champion until your Noxian Diplomacy is off CD.


Greater Quintessence of Critical Damage: These runes, are what are going to get you fed, they are MEANT for Talon. What can I say? what would I do without these runes. For one I wouldn't pay Talon without them. It grants you a total of 13 percent more damage in your critical strikes. What does a burster need? high impact damage, this gives you that. How? I'll explain. Your silence at level 5 amplifies your damage output by 15 percent for 3 seconds, your passive amplifies the damage by 10 percent if an enemy is under any form of CC and lastly Infinity Edge grants your critical strike damage to increase from 200 percent to 250 percent. Now so add these up 250 percent add 13 percent from your runes, 15 percent from your cutthroat and 10 percent if you Rake them before you use Noxian Diplomacy (passive doesnt work for Noxian Diplomacy. That is 288% percent damage of your total standard damage along with Noxian Diplomacy's damage addition. However bleed obviously does not crit, but deals significant damage. This is why I have these runes. With Talon's 'q' having a 3.4 second CD at level 5. It clearly shows why he is the best burster in game. better than Akali, better than Veigar. Due to these. Don't suggest Veigar is better, I feed off him and so should every Talon player, tele and silence him with cutthroat and he is dead. He is anti-AP champion in my opinion.

Nothing much to tell really, its self explained, unless you started the game new. The masteries aim at being 100 percent leathal in the AD category, and also 9 points have been put to Utility as Talon needs extra foot speed in my opinion. That is the most important thing for me, you need to outrun champs with Phantom Dancer's, remember you need to escape without dying once you ult. Talon is a champ were his death ratio should be the lowest in the team since he is an assassin, his survivability is really good, with these masteries and second ranked boots his footspeed is 403 and with Youmuu's Ghostblade he is untouchable.


Even if ganked, ult stealth and flash out. Also for me Talon doesnt need Defensive points in masteries since he is a burster he isn't their to get hit, he is their to deal the damage and get out before anything. As for early game his rake and 6 percent lifesteal makes his impossible to push out of lane, I certainly never have. So with practice you shouldn't as well.

For items it is rather simple, you stack on damage, that is all. The sequence is up their in that order and usually should never have to change. Do not stack health on Talon nor buy magic resist or armor or waste time with Trinity Force. You shouldn't be in need to defend yourself, do you see Shaco buying defensive items? do you see tanky Akali's? My point exactly ( BTW Akali's with 3k health is not tanky, buying items with health does not make you tanky as that extra 1k heath can be taken in an instant, im referring to armor and magic resist). The only item that should be changed or put in different from my build example should be Last Whisper if their are many tanky champions in the enemy team.


HOWEVER!


I have personally never bought Last Whisper even if their are a full team of tanks, why you may ask? This is because you should be miles ahead of them in items, you should farm up, gank and kill as much as you can before they can even buy their armor items, I have vs'd several Shen, Rammus and so on with their Thornmail or sunfire scape, but it did not help them. Why? Because i was nearly full build by the time they got their items, i was miles ahead, always i was geting 400 lifesteal back in each critical hit, i bursted their tanks down. They were too behind to help their team. THIS IS WHAT WE WANT.


We want them miles behind us, and with Talon this is very easy and capable. This is why we dont need armor penetration runes and such. Ive crit tanks 600 when they had over 300 armor. They were useless, the lifesteal you can get puts their Thornmail to shame.


So follow item sequence i have put up and only put in a Last Whisper if you really need it.


ALSO! THE MOST IMPORTANT THING! EVERYTIME YOU GO BASE, BUY AN ADDITIONAL 2 MANA POTS, ALWAYS!

The skill sequence is sequenced in the way I personally level Talon so you can meddle around with it, however, levelling his Rake then cutthroat then Noxian Diplomacy is a must. Them three much be in that order for early game. Level his ult regularly at 6,11,16.

For spells i take Flash and Ignite. Flash is because it is the most important spell for your survible, a constant dying Talon is embarassing just as a constant dying Tryndamere is. If you need to activate and deactivate your ult spontaniously to get a kill in the middle of a team fight you need that Flash ready along with Youmuu's Ghostblade passive.


For Ignite it is an awesome finisher. I'll give you a perfect example of how to use it. Their is a Teemo bot lane (for example), i have my Youmuu's Ghostblade and Bloodthirster bought (for example). He is tower hugging and i have about half my health as well as Teemo. He can blind me which will ruin my Noxian Diplomacy and most likely get me killed. So i cutthroat in, silence him, I Rake him so he is slown down, i hit him with Noxian Diplomacy ult in and out instantly and Flash out with minimal health (due to tower hits) all whilst i ignite him. He is immdiately dead, if not, the average 200 damage from bleed and 300 damage (for example) from Ignite gets me the kill.


This is how I utilize my spells and so should you :).


OTHER MENTIONABLE SPELLS.

+ = PRETTY GOOD

+ ANYTHING = WTF ARE YOU DOING

+ = too defensive

+ = This is what my second best combination of spells would be

EARLY: Grab a Doran's Blade level your Rake and go down to bottom lane, make sure you lane with either someone durable or has ranged. Harass with your Rake, and level your cutthroat and Noxian Diplomacy next. Rake in the minion kills (no pun intended), and poke in and out and harass the squishiest enemy in your lane. Poke in with cutthroat, hit them with Noxian Diplomacy and aim your Rake at both champions and try hitting them both at the same time. Now when you are walking back you will definately get hit and lose a good chunk of your health if their ranged player has any intelligence. So while on you way out let your laning partner come in next to you if their melee let him or her scare off the enemy so they dont hit you or if their range let them come in a bit and harass them with attacks to frighten them. once you have your ult go and gank mid the jungler or jsut burst down a champion in bot lane and start getting fed.


MID: you should have your Youmuu's Ghostblade by now and mayby even a Bloodthirster. You should have ganked, killed and farmed all good by now and hopefully not been killed :P. How is this possible with Talon's mana issues. Okay first of all try getting blue or their blue whilst being protected if possible if not, since Mid always hogs it (with good reason). Everytime you go back to base i want you to buy 2 mana pots, The entire game i want you to hold two mana pots in your item slots, ALWAYS. It is crucial. I sometimes find myelf running from a champion with half health while mines even lower, and if im not on CD I use my mana pots gain enough mana and cutthroat in, Noxian Diplomacy their ***, ult in and out spontaneously and finish them with Rake or use rake after Noxian Diplomacy.

LATE: It is crucial team fighting time. This is where Talon shines at his best. your duty as an assassin is to catch people off-guard alone or take one of them out whilst in team fights. Now you do not wonder with your team mates around no, you are in the bushes, you ARE the bushes. I want you to circle their team around like a vulture. Hang if possible even behind the enemy team. once the team fight initiates. you strike form the back, take down that squishy Vayne or Sivir OR EVEN BETTER AIM FOR THEIR AP CHAMPION SILENCE THEM BURST THEM TO DEATH AND WITHOUT THEIR MAIN AP CHAMPION TEAM FIGTHS ARE SURELY TO BE A LOSS. use your abilities in order,


cutthroat-> Noxian Diplomacy-> Rake-> Shadow Assault. Now if their not dead reactivate your ult so they get dealed more damage and get killed, But if they are killed do not end your ult make sure you run for your life. run back the way you came into the bushes, and then strike again from the same angle or different angle, depending on your CD cutthroat in or just run up to them with Noxian Diplomacy. ONLY IF THEY HAVE LOW HEALTH SINCE YOU DIE QUICK IF TARGETED. Poke in and out play wisely get them annoyed and frustrated that they cant kill you. If your team loses the fight flash out, activate Youmuu's Ghostblade and say your byes to the enemy team.

Hope you enjoyed my BUILD/GUIDE :) and please check out my other Builds/Guides on mobafire and comment and vote and tell me what you think, weather you think it is good :) or bad :(.

Happy raping with Talon :D