Hello, my name is Forge24, and this is my Talon guide. Talon is a very mobile and elusive assassin, who preys on the weak to strengthen his own resolve. He can dart in and out of combat to deal his burst and dissapear, only to rinse and repeat once his spells are off cooldown. However, Talon is not an autoattack champion, and you'll die in a teamfight if you stick around too long. However, his elusiveness and burst potencial make him a great slayer type champion in dominion.

Talon says: "Read this guide or your bones will wet my blade!"

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pros: Good burst, can literally kill people in the blink of an eye. Reliable slow. Very useful blink ability. Good mix of single- and multiple targeted damage. Very tricky with his blink and his ult.

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cons: Relies on items for his damage, a bad early game can shut him down. Has to wait for cooldowns after his initial burst. His blink can only be used on enemies, difficult to escape with. Very ultimate dependant.

For runes, I take Greater Mark of Desolation because it's one of the most effective runes of ad champions, especially on Talon because he works well with armor penetration. I take Greater Seal of Health because of the bonus health (very important). Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction will almost max out your cooldown reduction, which is very useful for Talon. For quints, you can take whatever you want. However, I take Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed because Talon needs to dart in and out, and movement speed will greatly help with that. Note that I am by no means a rune expert. It is your opinion that matters, so send me comments if you think I should switch it up.

With masteries, I go 21/9/0, taking every ad oriented mastery there is, but with a few exceptions. I drop Havoc , Vampirism and Lethality , and take Sorcery instead. The reason for this is because Talon is not an autoattack champion, so he doesn't need lifesteal and extra crit damage. And Havoc can always be dropped. What he really needs, is cooldown reduction, as much as he can get. When you combine Sorcery with your runes and your items, you'll have almost 40%.

recommended summoner spells:

• Ghost is the best summoner spell for top rushers on dominion. It also allows you to escape or catch up to people. Movement speed is a very important stat for Talon, and Ghost will (temporarily) greatly increase it.
• Talon is definitely a slayer, thanks to his ability to pick off enemies very quickly. Therefore, Exhaust is a mandatory summoner spell if things aren't going as you please.

For abilities, I max Noxian Diplomacy first. Many people will dissagree with me in this, saying maxing Rake first is much more viable. Now, on classic, that might be true, since it gives multiple targeted damage, making it an excellent farming tool. However, this is Dominion, where it's all about killing enemies. Therefore, you need as much single target damage as you can get. And in this, Noxian Diplomacy will definitely beat Rake. After, that it pretty much speaks for itself: max Rake second and Cutthroat last. Take Shadow Assault whenever you can.

Order of prioritizement:
Shadow Assault> Noxian Diplomacy> Rake> Cutthroat

• mercy Talon's passive can be useful, but it's nothing game changing. The bonus damage doesn't apply to Noxian Diplomacy or Sheen procs, which makes it even worse. I'm not saying this skill is useless, i'm just saying that you wont be receiving the bonus damage very often since he shouldn't be autoattacking.
• This is Talon's main non-ultimate damage spell. At later levels, it gives him a reason to stay in fights, as the cooldown will become extremely low. The reason I max this skill over Rake is because it provides him with the best single target damage possible. Rake will outdamage Noxian Diplomacy on minions, but not on champions thanks to the bleed. Besides, in dominion you won't be farming that often, so you don't need aoe spells that much. However, the bleed component should not be forgotten either, since the reveal is very useful on dominion. The bleed damage also has a very high ad scaling(1.2).
• This is Talon's farming ability. On classic, this is his most important ability. However, on dominion it gets maxed 2nd. Sure, the slow synergizes with your passive, but not so much that you should max it over Noxian Diplomacy. It is still a very important part of your burst though, so don't forget about it either. This ability is also his main chasing ability, As it is easy to land and will be up very frequently on higher levels.
• cutthroatThis is perhaps Talon's most useful ability, as it allows him to close the gap with his opponents. However, the damage amplification and silence should also be taken into account. The damage amplification is very important for Talon, as it adds up to his burst damage. The silence is also useful. 1 second may not sound like a lot, but remember that Talon can literally take people out in a matter of seconds, and not catching a piece of crowd control to the face will greatly help with that. At high ranks it does have a fairly long cooldown, and you can only use it on enemies, so escaping with it is difficult, but juking is always an option. The reason why it gets maxed last is for the obvious reason that it doesn't deal any damage. However, good Talon players will notice it's importance and use it to its fullest.
• Talon's ultimate is his main damage spell, and it is the #1 reason why you should buy cooldown reduction. With maxed cooldown reduction and at max rank, the cooldown of this ability stands at almost 30 seconds, making it available for every duel you'll encounter. However, this ability is also a very effective gap closer thanks to the speed boost, and an escape mechanism thanks to the stealth. It is important to note that the rings will travel to your location after the stealth ends, immediately giving away your path of escape to the enemy. The blades will also be visible to enemies in the fog of war. However, most enemies will not look out for this, so using it to initiate ganks can yield great results.

I start out with 2 Long Sword's and Boots. This will give me a kickstart into my build, and it'll allow me to purchase The Brutalizer on my first return. However, I only recommend you do this if you have experience with playing Talon. If you don't, get Prospector's Blade instead, and then start building into The Brutalizer.

On your first return you finish The Brutalizer and upgrade your boots to Ionian Boots of Lucidity. The cooldown reduction is really going to help you out. Besides, there aren't any other valuable boots options for Talon. If you still have some gold left, start building into a Phage.

After you get your Phage, upgrade it into an Entropy. Entropy is a very useful item on Talon. It gives you a lot of attack damage and some health. After that, buy a Sheen, for the obvious reason that it's a very good item on Talon thanks to the autoattack amplification.

After your Sheen, finish your Youmuu's Ghostblade. Then finish your Trinity Force, taking the Zeal before the phage. This'll give you an even better Sheen proc, and the extra attack speed and movement speed will help out too. The only downside is that the slowing effects of Trinity Force and Entropy Won't stack with each other, which is why I purchase the Phage component last.

The game should be over by now. If not, buy an Infinity Edge, starting with all the attack damage related components.

Some people may argue that I don't buy a Sanguine Blade. The reason for this is simple. There is no way you'll be able to keep up the stacks, unless you're an autoattack chapion. And, like I said a thousand times already, Talon is not an autoattack champion. It still gives you some good base stats, but if you're not going for the stacks, you might as well get a better item.

• Sanguine Blade is in my opinion a very bad item for Talon, since you have to be able to keep up the stacks in order for it to be cost effective. However, if you feel you can keep up the stacks for this item just fine, by all means purchase this item.
• Though it is situational, if the situation does call upon it, Last Whisper is an awesome item for Talon. It gives him 100% beneficial stats. Rammus is being Rammus and is stacking armor? Too bad, you bought a Last Whisper and that armor ain't gonna do **** for him.
• Also a very good shredding item, though it is also very effective on squishies thanks to the flat armor reduction. The attack damage/attack speed balance on this item is just right for Talon. However, you will have to land 3 auto-attacks for the full efficiency of this item to take effect, so don't buy this item until late game, when you have at least a little bit of attack speed.
• Very effective against a caster team. It also provides a nice chunk of attack damage.
• Though you should prioritize offense over defense in dominion, if you feel you are getting focused a lot, buy this item for the big chunk of health it provides. It will make you a chasing machine and it'll allow you to proc Mercy indefinitely. However, it is advisable that you swap this item with either Trinity Force or Entropy, because 3 Phages will be a little bit too much of the good stuff. Also very good in conjunction with Atma's Impaler.
• Crowd control is one thing that can really shut Talon down, as it'll disallow him from darting out of combat. For this reason, you may choose to buy Cloak and Dagger to help against this.
  
  Lastly, Talon may wish to switch up is boots, though this is not recommended. If you do this however, you'll miss an important part of cooldown reduction. For this reason, if you wish to take Boots of Swiftness, Mobility Boots, Berserker's Greaves or otherwise Mercury's Treads, you may wish to buy an extra The Brutalizer along with your Youmuu's Ghostblade to partially fill up the gap.