Talon Build Guide by Mpegial

So to main Talon it is mandatory to learn his lore (Not really but here we go anyways :D).

Talon lives in Noxus as a hood rat, killing for profits, with time he became so well known General Du Couteau took an interest and sent assassins to recruit Talon, after which their dead bodies were left to be found as his answer, seeing this the General decided to "check" it out himself, upon meeting and dueling Talon, it ended in the Generals and than he offered him two choices Live and serve or Die. Talon didn't take long to choose, he decided to serve but under the condition that he would obey the orders of the General because of his defeat as well as respect for the General. At some point after serving for years General Du Couteau vanished and none knew where he was, upon learning this Talon thought about leaving and regaining freedom, but through his years of service his respect only grew and he became loyal to the General thus since than he has been searching for him.

As for gameplay Talon isn't difficult to play nor master, however that doesn't mean he is easy to win with, main reason being the Late game if you get to that point the game will suddenly be much! harder, generally speaking he is a Solid champion with amazing early game and an extremely strong Roam.

1. Blade's End is applying a mark whenever an enemy is hit by an ability that deals damage. After getting 3 marks on an enemy once you auto attack that enemy they will bleed for a few seconds taking bleeding damage.

2. Noxian Diplomacy can act as a gap closer since it makes Talon leap to the target dealing damage and applying a mark, if in melee range Talon will perform a critical strike with his Noxian Diplomacy

3. Rake throws 3 blades applying 1 marks once when they come out and hit and 1 on the way back, it also slows the enemy hit on the way back for 40% at level 1 and 60% at max rank.

4. Shadow Assault throws 12 blades outwards from Talon's location dealing damage making him invisible for a short time and reactivating the ability will pull the blades towards Talon dealing damage and applying a mark , if the enemy is auto attacked or hit by Noxian Diplomacy during the Shadow Assault the blades will converge upon the target hit applying a mark. (Note: if Rake is used during this ultimate the ultimate will not converge on the target and will cancel the invisibility).

5.At last Assassin's Path allows Talon to jump over any wall setting that one wall in a cooldown during that cooldown Talon can not jump over the same wall , it also allows Talon to jump over champion made walls.

Muramana is the God tier item for any lethality build right now, the mana, flat AD as well as extra damage to auto attacks and abilities makes it way too good not to use. Edge of Night is a solid choice for pretty much any matchup as it is a free shield against any one ability. Serpent's Fang is an amazing item to take against any matchup where they have a lot of shields, instead of actually protecting them it will hurt them far more instead which makes champions like Karma and Lulu actually help you instead of just annoy you for once. The Collector is great just so the kill is either *confirmed or done faster, plus the extra 20% critical chance. Youmuu's Ghostblade offers passive movement speed as well as active movement speed which makes it great for Roaming. Sanguine Blade gives something that Talon lacks, a huge amount of attack speed, while it's not heavily needed it is great for split pushing and wrecking towers, the physical vamp is also really nice. Umbral Glaive is so-so, it's alright as it gives haste and allows you to spot ward 's which is really nice paired with Zombie Ward, however I'd argue that it is far weaker compared to other lethality items. Black Cleaver is one of the best tank shredders as well as giving you extra movement speed on attacks and making you more tanky. Death's Dance is very solid to help you survive most damage and makes a great pair with Eclipse and Ravenous Hydra, as well as the Goredrinker build, but still quite good even without those. Ravenous Hydra gives amazing raw damage, but it also offers a great amount of Omnivamp to easily heal. Sterak's Gage would mostly be better in the Goredrinker build, but it works fairly well with Eclipse, offering a very useful shield as well as healing. Maw of Malmortius is obviously taken *only against mages, usually it will save your life a few times, and is high priority early, but you always also have the option of going for Nullifying Orb instead, albeit it is fairly weaker. Serylda's Grudge offers a really nice slow as well as 30% armor penetration, it's simply great against tanky teams, especially so if they are weak on mobility. Guardian Angel is rather situational, as you would mostly need it in case you *really need to survive in a team fight or if they have absurdly heavy CC, or if you just want to secure victory on a team fight. Chempunk Chainsword naturally this is to cut the healing your enemies receive, such as Kayn, Nasus, Yuumi and the like, it also offers some HP which makes it fairly solid. Boots of Swiftness are mostly used to avoid a lot of slows from champions like Ashe, Dr. Mundo or perhaps Nasus. Mercury's Treads are *great against either mages, or heavy CC. Ionian Boots of Lucidity simply decrease your cooldowns further more importantly so, your Shadow Assault cooldown which pairs fantastically with Ultimate Hunter. Plated Steelcaps great against auto-attacks like most marksmen or champions like Yasuo, Yone, Fiora and others like that. Mobility Boots are a phenomenal tool when you are ahead and have the ability to roam, it allows you to go anywhere you want really fast, and combined with Youmuu's Ghostblade it is amazing to gank other lanes.

Talons combos are mostly to maximize damage but can be used to zone enemies too.

1. Early Game: Rake> Noxian Diplomacy> AA

2. Early Gmae: Noxian Diplomacy> AA> Rake> AA

3. Standar Combo: Rake> Noxian Diplomacy> AA> Shadow Assault> AA

4.Secure Kill: Shadow Assault> Noxian Diplomacy> Rake> AA

5. Big Boi Damage: Rake> Shadow Assault> AA> Noxian Diplomacy> AA

6. Quick Kill: Shadow Assault> Noxian Diplomacy> AA

7. One Shot: Rake> Shadow Assault> Noxian Diplomacy> AA

Farming is an essential for nearly all Roles, Talon while prioritizing kills over CS, still needs to farm as without it you lose a great deal of XP and Gold. Pushing mid lane and than Roaming is one simple way to do it, another thing you could do is, push side lanes while your team is protecting a tower or the like.

Your priority is to Roam the map like a tourist all over the place, Talon ability to jump over walls is an amazing tool to get to any place you want fast and with relative safety, ganking or catching the Jungler, is the best thing you can do, especially when your team isn't doing too hot. Other than that, picking up some kills from people going alone is really great to either end games or take objectives.

So, yes and no. Any champion can be played for ranked, Talon is really good at the early to mid game, however past that he starts becoming less and less useful, in other words you need to finish the game relatively faster. His potential fully depends on how good You are with him as with all champions, regardless yes he can be very good as long as you get kills fairly early and help your team overall with vision, ganking, or simply getting rid of the most troublesome enemy.

Thank you very much for reading the Guide to the end, I hope it helped you understand the champion better, and give you interest in playing him.

Now please go on and get First Blood on all those mages, and most of all have Fun