This guide will teach you how to play TOUGH Vayne. TOUGH Vayne does not tiptoe around the edge of teamfights, poke at the tanks, and get dashed at and killed because her range is shorter than other ranged carries. TOUGH Vayne is IN THE FRAY. With this guide, you can expect to...

1) Get in their face from 500 range
2) TOUGH it out if they close in
3) TOUGH-ROLL into the BEST positions WITHOUT DYING and TOUGH-PIN MORE people against walls
4) Maintain Vayne's DPS, but do MORE DAMAGE and kill MORE CHAMPIONS over the course of the fight because you are TOUGH enough to last.

Theory

- Vayne has the best base damage in the game--8% every 3 shots. This is good early-mid game and imba late game--but only if you are TOUGH enough to hang around to keep dishing it out. The longer you stay in the fight, the more 8% CHUNKS you will be taking out of people's life bars.
- Most Vaynes build AS or AD. They are mediocre. Most people agree that this kind of sissy Vayne is just trying to do what other carries (like kog-maw, tristana, and ashe) can do better--plus Vayne has shorter range so she gets focused more easily and fails.
- TOUGH Vayne, with her 8% total health true damage ability is not unlike IRELIA, another TOUGH hero. Vayne is like a ranged Irelia--she stuns, she dashes, she runs fast (on offense), but she KILLS TANKS FASTER.
- Vayne's condemn is very cumbersome if you are squisy--you often have to put yourself in a very vulnerable position to get the shot off for a stun. However, if you are TOUGH, you are no longer vulnerable and you will find yourself maximizing the utility of this skill.

Note: This will be a very bare-bones guide. It's more of a "perspective" on Vayne. If you want tips on how to TOUGH-ROLL, TOUGH-PIN, TOUGH-CHASE, or TOUGH-TANKMELT, just go to other sissy Vayne guides, read, take out the sissy, add TOUGH.

One rule: +30% ATTACK SPEED

- ATTACK SPEED marks (red), seals (blue), and quintessences (big brown)
- HP or DODGE seals (yellow)

This and SILVER BOLTS are the keys to this build. If you do not have the runes for +20-30% attack speed, don't use this build. You will be shooting way too slow to be taking adequate advantage of SILVER BOLTS.

9-0-21

Just make sure you get the movement speed, flash CDR, attack speed, and exhaust masteries.

Core build:

1) Doran's blade (for damage and so you aren't a 4-bar-of-health cupcake early-game)
2) Berserker's Greaves (this and AS runes is all the AS you need, just trust me on this one)
3) Phage (damage, health, slow--all good things)
4) Chain Vest / Negatron Cloak
5) Negatron Cloak / Chain Vest (the one you didn't get in 4) (You don't want to complete either item just yet because getting the MR and ARMOR early is what makes this core build TOUGH. If you waste time-gold completing one of these items, you will be entering a lot of fights squishy to one damage type or another)

Beyond:

6) Phage >> Frozen Mallet
7) Chain Vest >> Atmas. The critical chance is actually not bad on this build. You see, the build is mostly geared towards abusing SILVER BOLTS--what this means is that we will be killing squishies only moderately faster than we kill tanks. Atmas, with the damage and the critical chance, will round out this build. You still want to kill squishies when you can and Atmas lets you do this.
8) Negatron Cloak >> Situational--look at their team. I highly recommend QUIKSILVER SASH if they are CC heavy--this will enable you to chase, run, pin (everything) better. If they have a BLITZCRANK, get BANSHEE'S VEIL. If you are getting bursted down by mages, get FORCE OF NATURE.
9) Situational--I'd recommend GUARDIAN ANGEL to really rub yourself in your enemy's faces. Trust me, the 8% of total health true damage of SILVER BOLTS will keep you slaying no matter how long the game goes on. Again, think about it like this--the tougher you are, the longer you last, the more 8% life chunks you take out of their team. However, if it's late game and your team is suddenly behind on DPS, get ATTACK SPEED--MADREDS BLOODRAZOR ideally. Do not, under any ci***stances, get crit or armor penetration--remember, we are maximizing SILVER BOLTS, the 8% total health true damage omni-slaying skill.

1) Tumble (best early-game harass and all-game utility)
1) Final Hour (ult)
2) Silver bolts (8% of all health true damage every 3rd shot)
3) Condemn (utility is highly situational and thus inconsistent so it's not worth sacrificing early points for this)

- EXHAUST for defense, offense, duels
- FLASH for escapes and POSITIONING FOR CONDEMN. Your roll only goes so far (pun intended), but with flash, you can make some truly epic and incredibly fun TOUGH-PINs.

- You can replace EXHAUST with something of your choosing since this build does get Phage quite early. I just like Exhaust because of its multi-situational utility. You can CC with it, you can escape with it, you can survive with it (shut down any AD ganking or hitting you), you can duel with it (recall all the duels that are won because of exhaust). You may also consider: GHOST for SUPER chasing (but really, it's redundant and unnecessary), IGNITE for finishing and heal reduction (not quite as much utility as exhaust IMO--an ignite is not going to save you from a xin zhao gank), TELEPORT, FORTIFY, etc.

Vayne is medium-bad at farming. She has no AOE. She has low AD (in many builds--this one included). LAST HITTING EARLY ON IS KEY (well, this is true for any hero). If you are getting harassed/zoned out, SWITCH. Do not sit in lane losing farm.

DO NOT INITIATE. You will be TOUGH, but you are not a TANK. Let someone beefier (or a misplaced squishy) initiate, let the enemy team blow their first salvo of skills, then TOUGH-ROLL IN AND START SLAYING. Your TOUGHness will keep you alive through autoattacks and sporadic nukes, AOEs, ults. This is key to this build. You can not take FOCUSED fire (so don't initiate), but you will EASILY TOUGH THROUGH the sporadic DPS of mid-fight and you will have enough life left over to chase down the fleeing scraps of the decimated enemy.

Note: FOCUS THEIR DPS. TOUGH Vayne is incredible because she can attack whomever she wants and she will melt their life bars. However, this does not mean that you are allowed to do stupid things like focusing tanks. This is where ATMAS comes in--so that we aren't just doing 8% flat damage and taking as long to kill squishies as we take to kill tanks. Focus their DPS. Focus their DPS. Focus their DPS. Then, when all the DPS are dead, melt the tanks.

- Help your team get buffs. You can take RED before you get your FROZEN MALLET, but once you get FROZEN MALLET, let someone else on your team get RED to maximize the slows.

Pros
- This build maximizes the utility of Vayne's skillset.
- Your damage is true
- With the TOUGHness, the true damage, the slow, and the chase, this is a VERY versatile build. It can fit into many team compositions. Low AD on your team? No problem, damage is true. Low AP on your team? No problem, damage is true. Too many squishies? No problem, you are TOUGH. No CC? No problem, you have roll/flash-pin (condemn) and a FOREVERSLOW (phage to frozen mallet)

Cons
- This build can not hard carry on its own. On your team, you will need other medium-high DPS heroes.

Vayne is an incredible champion. She is under-appreciated at the moment because everyone builds her as a carry. Her skillset is not optimized to carry. Her range is too short, her stun makes her run into bad positions, and she is actually bad at running away (Caitlyn can slow+flash over terrain, Ashe can kite like none other, Tristana can jump over anything, Vayne... Vayne can roll one inch and, depending on how bad you are, can roll into walls--effectively stunning herself for 0.5 seconds).

So this is why we build Vayne TOUGH. No more running. When the battle joins, TOUGH Vayne gets in, stays, pins, chases, kills, and wins.