Talon like Nasus is a situational champion. In normals have fun have a blast but in ranked. It all changes. I played Talon twice in ranked and both got EMBARASSING scores. Why? Because I did not think. Everyone on the enemy team countered me.

Lee Sin, Malphite, Amumu, Vladimir. They were all off-tank. Amumu busted me in my own jungle countless times killed me three people jumped on him and he ghosted without a scratch. Do not jungle when there jungler can counter you.

Mostly in ranked go Mid, you can counter several Ap champions.

Veigar, katarina, Kassadin and the list goes on.

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

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 reworked 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 from a standard attack when it critted :).

P.S view my other builds please =)

+ 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 cd high for burster - needs a buff on his damage amplification - passive useless if not used correctly - very situational pick in ranked - no good skin really

Play Video

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, but meh

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

greater mark of desolation greater mark of desolation: This is rather simple. YOU NEED TO PENETRATE ARMOR. WHY?! BECAUSE YOUR A BURSTER IF YOU CANNOT BURST THROUGH THERE DAMAGE THEN YOU WONT BE ABLE TO BURST THROUGH THEM IN ONE GO. That said also it is very good early game against tanks and off-tanks as your damage will be much higher. Late game it isn't important on tanks but to carrys with there minimal damage, your armor penetration runes and Youmuu's Ghostblade you will be raping them.

Greater Seal of Armor: Flat armor runes, good for jungling, wolves, blue, red all deal less damage and it also helps a lot in early laning against ranged carrys. However it is not THAT important you can go crit chance, mana regeneration etc

Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction: 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. I go for COOLDOWN REDUCTION runes. Now why? Because at level 18 you will have 9 percent CDR. This along with Youmuu's Ghostblade is 25 and if you get blue even better. Your Noxian Diplomacy one of the strongest abilities in game will be 2.4 seconds. That is amazing. Also most importantly you cannot fight without cutthroat]ing in, this is the weakness of [[talon his CD on cutthroat is long so he needs this. You cutthroat in a team fight Rake, Noxian Diplomacy, ult in and out Noxian Diplomacy once again get out of there cutthroat once again Rake and Noxian Diplomacy AGAIN and AGAIN since its only 2.4 second CD.

Greater Quintessence of Life Steal: Other than Dodge the greatest runes to have arrived. 9 percent lifesteal at level 1 without the includance of Doran's Blade. Lifesteal is essential, in bottom lane phasing so you are sustainable, so you don't get pushed out early game to base, it saves your arse in early fights because of it, in jungling it helps so freggin much to keep your health up. And Late game its almost cheating, the life you get back once you hit is enormous. Especially when you crit.

However my taste once again, other than this I see two very viable runes, movement speed runes and crit chance runes if your basing your build off your Noxian Diplomacy. I've once gotten it to deal 1.6k damage, 3 second CD. It works lol.

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 Defensive as Talon needs that extra 30 health, and armor etc.

Going 21-0-9 is VERY viable also. It is one of the most important things 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.

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).


Note: Don't follow this build/guide blindly loyal, change your items if necessary. If your mid up against Veigar please do not go and get brutalizer first, go get Hexdrinker. If you going bot up against Ashe and Caitlyn for instance do not go and get a mana pot but get three health potions since you will be getting harassed crayzie.

Now that said lets move on to why I am using these items.

Firstly for boots it is all situational, but 6/10 times i go Berserker's Greaves since Talon doesn't get DPS items sometimes I need that extra attack speed to finish off the job. Youmuu's Ghostblade is a must for obvious reasons, its CDR {cooldown reduction) is NEEDED! extra armor never hurts and critical chance, attack damage AND great armor penetration is just awesome, along with your runes people like ashe are going to be as if they have no armor at all. But most importantly its Active ability. Grants footspeed and attack speed great to get away or battle it out with DPS champions.

Bloodthirster is obvious choice, lifesteal, 100 attack damage if stacks are full. Talon need high damage in numbers, more damage, more bursting power, simple.

Last Whisper very important for off tanks, thats what its for basically. Please do not go ahead and try bursting the tanks you will most likely be killed. Do your job as an assassin and get the carrys.

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.

Although Rake does the least damage, you need to level it first to easily farm up. Noxian Diplomacy deals the most damage so I max that out second and leave cutthroat last, even though its damage amplification is really good its teleporting utility is what is needed and the damage output of Talon's 'Q' and 'W' outweigh the need for damage amplification.

For spells i take Flash and Ignite. Flash is because it is the most important spell for your survivability, 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 active 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 :).

+ = If no one has it in the team go for it so in team fights it helps, other than that do not get it

+ ANYTHING = WTF ARE YOU DOING

+ = too defensive and not needed if you position yourself right

+ = awesome with these two spells and Youmuu's Ghostblade you practically will never die

EARLY: Grab a Boots and two health pots as well as one mana pots. 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 just burst down a champion in bot lane and start getting fed.


MID: you should have your Bloodthirster by now and mayby even a Youmuu's Ghostblade. 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.

Theres really nothing to discuss here, Level your Rake first, move on to cutthroat then Noxian Diplomacy and then max out your Rake as soon as possible. You can counter many ap champions. But there is no real playstyle to it, its your skill against theres its 1v1 but you have the advantage.

Buy Cloth Armor and 5 health potions and level Rake first, standard procedure. Let your team guard blue and get it leashed and move along. Now do not gank until level 3. This is because unlike playing in bottom you need to level your Noxian Diplomacy first so you clear jungling faster.

When your farming, auto-attack then immediately use your Noxian Diplomacy for more damage output at a faster rate. Once you have levelled cutthroat gank mid, notify your team, and hopefully you will pick up a kill. Top should be your priority.

Start off with blue move on to wolves then to the wraiths then to the two golumes, base it, then go get red, wolves, wraiths ETC. Or get red buff early so together with your bleed on Noxian Diplomacy you shall get a kill.

On your way back buy Boots sell cloth armor and get heaps of health pots, farm crayzie buy a vampiric sceptor and move on to brutalizer.

Repeat general playstyle after this

Don't do it.

You cannot trade blows with off-tanks and they deal much more damage than you early game and you cannot harass them with your Rake, don't bother trust me. I've seen Olaf and Nasus stand there whilst I spammed Rake while there lifesteal outweighed my Rake damage.

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