Hello fellow summoners and welcome to my first guide (remake) of Talon, the blade's shadow. Talon is my favorite champion witch I learned to play league of legends with. Talon is a top-lane or jungle champion capable of doing very much damage in a short amount of time and get away with it. I will explain you how to utilize him:

Now that you have read the introduction you have an idea what kind of champion it is. Now I will tell you the abstract pro's and cons.

PRO'S

- Great mobility
- Massive burst
- Easy to play, hard to master
- AoE (Area on Effect)skills

CON'S

- No sustain
- Squishy
- Can be countered

Mobility and Burst, combined deadly. But as drawback he has no sustain. And is squishy at the same time. Thats too bad. But I have method's to fix this issue.

I use Flash. Its a great gap closer and escape tool. Ghost for the awesome mobility to chase these runners, or save you. I dont use Ignite because you need that utility as Talon. Only use exhaust if you now what you're doing. Exhaust is a great slowing tool, consider going this instead of ghost if you know what you're doing. Cleanse is also a great option. Talon needs that utility. Go this instead of Ghost if you think this fits better to your playstyle. I never actually tried Heal on talon. I think its a bit of a waste late game and I also never use Teleport, because you truly need these combat-like summoner spells.

The first thing you pick as a Talon (or actually any ad) are Greater Mark of Desolation and Greater Quintessence of Strenght. These runes let you deal more damage to your target. The reason why I pick Greater Seal of Armor and Greater Glyph of Magic Resist is because talon is squishy and has no things to keep his health up exept of buying health potion's. you can get forced to go back pretty easily without these runes and Talon needs to have that good early game to shine later game.

I use 21 offence and 9 utility. Lethality mixes up with your Trinity Force and Infinity Edge. You need your Sorcery aswell because talon is based on his cooldowns. in the utility tree I go with Meditation . I have no mana regeneration in my runes or item build, so this is neccesary.

The most important thing about every champion is the items he purchases.

note:

CORE BUILD:
Doran's Blade(s)
The Brutalizer
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
Infinity Edge
Trinity Force

Situational:
Bloodthirster
Banshee's Veil
Guardian Angel
Hexdrinker
Quicksilver Sash

Early game

V.S. and

Doran's Blade gives ad and health, everything Talon actually needs. The Boots and Health Potion give more sustain, and movementspeed. its very good early game. but you give less pressure to your opponent. Dorans items are pretty powerful and gives you that little extra you need in the game. If you really know what you are doing and you got your best friend jungling then I shall consider buying Doran's Blade. If not I shall stick to the Boots.

On my first trip back to base (probably after a gank or a push) I buy Doran's and a Sight Ward. If you can, buy a Long Sword for your The Brutalizer, try to get it as fast as you can..

Mid game

On the second trip back to base and if things go as planned, I buy my The Brutalizer. If things are going well on the battlefield, save your money for your B.F. Sword if you can. If not, buy your Ionan Boots of lucidity. I choose Ionan Boots of lucidity because the cdr (cooldown reduction) is a great deal to Talon. Most of his damage comes from on his abilities. If you can get your Noxian Diplomacy off quicker, you will deal more damage then when you get your auto attacks quicker off (so no Berserker Greaves. The only exception I make is buying other boots depending on the situation. If the enemy team has a pesky rammus or a sion. I shall get Mercury's Treads because of the Tenacity.

V.S.

Bloodthirster gives flat ad 60-100 and Infinity Edge gives 80 ad, aswell as 25% crit chance and 50% more crit damage, but is 800 gold more expensive. I use Infinity Edge because of the crits. Noxian Diplomay is able to crit. And as an assassin you need to get your burst up. The item fits very well in my build. it goes extremely well with Youmuu's Ghostblade, Trinity Force and the masteries I use. Bloodthirster, on the other hand, is also a great choice, but the lifesteal is not really neccesary. It is not where Talon will shine. You get focused or you don't get focused. The lifesteal wont save your life in team fights. You can get more out of Infinity Edge. However it is a better sustaining item than Infinity Edge. And it gives occacionaly more ad. So only buy it if you know you can farm really well.

Late game

After buying Infinity edge, start building towards Trinity Force. Take Zeal first for your mobility and crit chance (for IE), after that phage and then finish Trinity Force. Sheen's passive is great on talon's burst. But for the early game it isnt viable because you truly need that ad early. Trinity Force is expensive, but the items that are inside of it are pretty useful. So it's not a waste spending your gold on it.

Now talon has mobility, and significant damage. We will finish it off with some sustain.

I mostly buy Banshee's Veil because of the passive. No random alistar or annie stuns or whatever! :), you could also go for a Guardian Angel if they dont have these ap heroes After that I go with Bloodthirster or Last Whisper, depends on what kind of situation you're in. if you're able to farm well go for the Bloodthirster, if they are going to stack armor however, take the Last Whisper. and after that build your Youmoo's Ghostblade, its not that important. brutalizer stays very powerful. So only spend money on it late game.

Situational items

Hexdrinker is one of the items I mostly buy against an ap opponent. Like a Mordekaiser or a Requiem. Buy it after the The Brutalizer if neccesary. the mr and passive is great to counter these ap champions.

Quicksilver Sash is also very useful if you get these ap teams including Annie or Alistar. The active will save your life many times. Buy this later in the game, because it gives no offensive stat.

Mercy - Does more damage to immobilized targets, it's useful. But dont stick to much effort in it. See it as a nice addition, nothing more.

(Q) Noxian Diplomacy - It instantly does damage, gives a bleed and reveals the target. This ability resets your auto attack. Pretty awesome. Just after you dive someone with Cutthroat use an auto attack and Noxian Diplomacy in Succession for the most burst damage.

(W) Rake - Throw three blades in front of you that will damage and slow enemies everytime it passes through an enemy. This is the skill you need to time very well in team fights and harass with early game.

(E) Cutthroat - Blink to target enemy champion and briefly silence him. You will also do more damage for a short amount of time. Use this ability as an initiator.

(R) Shadow Assault - Talon throws a ring of blades arround him and becomes stealthed. He gains movement speed and when activated again or when the stealth ends. The blades return back to you and deal damage. This ability can be used in many different ways, as a damage or escape, even as a gap closer or farm minions with. Use it when you know you will hit your foe with most of your blades, or when you want to escape ofcourse.

Now that you've read my guide and came to this part. You have information how to build him, but you have no idea what to do with it. So i'm going to give you some tip's and tricks.

Early game

As a Talon you take the Mid Lane (occasionaly top). Get as much gold as possible, if you can last hit 3 creeps with your Rake, just use it. Try to harass with your Rake if possible. But not too often because of the limited mana. After a gank or when you push too far, go back to buy items and pots. If your opponent pushes to far ask for a gank. When the jungler walks in for a gank pop Flash when your e or jungler is not in range, then use your Cutthroat, auto attack and quickly after your Noxian Diplomacy and Rake to slow him, if you have your Shadow Assault and you want to get him down as quickly as possible, use it twice in a row for fast damage the key is to use all described abilities as fast as possible (from flash to shadow assault). If he flashes away try to stick with him with the slow you put on him. If not and you know you can get the kill. Use Flash (if you have it up) and/or Rake. The key is doing these abilities in quick succession, who knows when he will Flash away, plus you get your cooldowns faster up. Try to hit with every ability you have, dont let your Shadow Assault or Rake miss him. It makes a big deal.

Mid game

You have your The Brutalizer and B.F. Sword. Just stay in your lane until his tower is down or when someone needs help. If bot or something is heavily under pressure and if there are more than 2 man for more than like 5 minutes pushing, you can try to gank. When your target is standing next to his allies, Cutthroat on your target and quickly use your Shadow Assault twice so you hit them all twice. After that hit your target with Noxian Diplomacy and aim your Rake towards the running enemies. If your team keeps up you get at least two kills.

Late game

You have your Infinity Edge, your damage will be over the top. the enemies top turret is down, you can farm creeps and jungle a bit. Try to gank often and help teammates, but stay in the jungle. You need to open on them not them on you, keep that in mind. Surprise attack is the best attack. Use the same ability rotation as in what I described mid game.

Tips and tricks

- When escaping, use your Shadow Assault when not slowed. you get in stealth but if you get slowed you're still screwed. use Cleanse or Quicksilver before your ult is a great idea.

- Timing is everything. Dive your foe just when you need to. When they just make a mistake or when your team or your opponents team is in the perfect position. Make it count.

- Before you dive in, think first. Does Alistar has his cooldowns up? Does my target have Flash up? Can I get a kill? Can I survive? Can my mates help? Etc.

- Your Noxian Diplomacy resets your auto attacks. So use it right after an auto attack for the most damage output.

So this was my first guide (which is updated) about how you play Talon. :) I hope you enjoyed reading it. I dont know much about making guides so the edit is terrible (and my english). I really appreciate every comment, good or bad. but try the build first before you vote :) My in-game name is Bavalurst on EU-West servers. so /w me for a chat or a game. x)

Changes

26-3-2012:

fixed some grammar and added icons! enjoy :)

24-9-2012:

added changes to the build. and rewritten some stuff. enjoy :)